Page 57 of Sing You Home (Nashville Star 1)

Jace grins. “I’d say Sal owns you, man.”

A chuckle rolls off his lips as they step into the elevator. “I’d say you’re right.”

I’d say she brings me to my knees, he thinks. Jace has him pegged. He’s never belonged to anyone else, because he sure as shit always made sure Sal knew he was coming home to her.

In a matter of seconds, they exit the elevator and turn the corner into the lobby.

Who Luke sees has him stopping dead in his tracks.

Alabama Forester.

The woman who’s made Luke’s life a living hell for the last year.

She’s at the front desk, signing in. When she turns around, she freezes. Her gaze moves to each of the Brothers Kincaid, then zeroes in on Luke.

Her gray eyes widen. Her nostrils flare slightly.

Then, “Luke,” she says by way of a greeting. With that, she walks fast for the elevator, keeping her red head down the entire time.

Beside him, Seth swears low under his breath. He slides a hand over Luke’s shoulder, trying to steer him away, only Luke’s unmovable.

He stares after Alabama, remembering the last time he saw her. Remembering that kiss.

That damn kiss that spun his entire world off its orbit.

It was part of his publishing deal with Mort. Recording a duet with Alabama Forester, an up-and-coming pop-country artist Mort represented.

The song was shit. Sal knew it and fought him on it. The first time they had ever been at odds over a damn song. Still, Luke agreed. He put the music before his wife, despite all of Sal’s misgivings that it wasn’t his sound. That something was off.

And she was right.

After the recording, Alabama kissed him in the parking lot of the studio. Luke took her by the shoulders and pushed her away. “We’re recordin’ a song,” he told her firmly. “That’s all we’re doin’. Nothin’ else.”

Alabama got the message plain and clear.

Sal was it for Luke. Always.

Then why didn’t he tell her the truth?

Because he was a chickenshit coward, that’s why. Because Sal been puking her guts out for days because of the pregnancy, because the kiss meant nothing, because he wanted to protect her.

The kick of it was—if he had been honest in the first place, she would have believed him.

But he wasn’t. And the worst thing happened.

There was a photo of the kiss.

A week later, Clive Jasper sent it to Sal. He had been waiting around with a camera and snapped his shot of Luke and Alabama. Why, Luke didn’t know. Blackmail, revenge, good press, but whatever it was, the damage had been done.

Determined to get answers, Sal took off to get the truth from Luke. Only she was distracted thinking about the the photo and missed the stop sign at Hellier Curve. An oncoming truck T-boned her, and Seth, who had been on his way to the house that night, stumbled upon the accident. He pulled Sal from the wreckage, saving her life.

That night they lost the baby, and Luke nearly lost Sal. The first time.

Lying. Cheating. That was her father. It was Sal’s deal breaker.

She told him a story once about her mother hooked up to chemo, sick as a dog, and all she could do was cry over a man who never came home.

Sal vowed never to be that woman.

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