Page 22 (1/2)
But now she’d never know
Jesse breathed a sigh of relief "So they just talked to you?"
"They touchedto lie She just wasn’t going to tell him she was in love with someone else
Thunder booh that I understand the appeal of the e and what draws you to do it
I never expected you to change your sexuality for me So I tried to adapt for you" I tried to find out what fascination a crass, difficult soldier had for ot burned
The answer see woman
But You’re not like the whores and bi you Not with Ryan Not with anyone If I ood rub off on hing They really needed to get past this Virgin Mary i to share me with Ryan"
Jesse leaned over, pulled her close "You’re et half of you You’re the only one who really knows e for"
"I didn’t ask you to change"
"But for you, I want to For you, I want to be a betternear you …but confusing Why did he think he needed to change so badly? When had this all come about? And why had he pinned it all on her?
"Maybe we can compromise You be a little better, I’ll be a little badder It’ll all work out then"
He hesitated "Badder, how?"
"I hadn’t planned on being a virgin forever"
Why not give her innocence to Jesse? She’d saved it for him for years, and Deke wouldn’t take it, no matter how badly he wanted to
Jesse didn’t respond to that right away "That ive me a little time It’ll all work out, babe You’ll see" He finished with that smile he frequently flashed for the cameras It wasn’t his real sether, was kind of goofy and lopsided Mischief lurked in one corner, happiness in the other This smile was symmetrical and phony Kimber frowned
"Cut the crap, Jesse What sort of plan?"
"Nope, you can’t ruin it for me I’ve had this worked out for a while Come on the tour and all will be revealed"
"When do we leave?" After five years of waiting and a broken heart, why put their relationship on hold any longer? She wanted to get on with her life, to find soet Deke He was past He’d driven her away, so she wasforward
Soon, she hoped she and Jesse would find the right footing
"A week froreat to have you withto be different I’ll make the surprise worth your wait"
"You’re where?" her father booht
Curled up on the couch in Jesse’s suite while the band rehearsed, she clutched her cell phone "I’m in Houston With Jesse He’s in the States for the next few ether"
Her father paused "You knohat the press says about hih she was far fro a child "Yes, Daddy We’ve worked it out" Tie of subject, before he asked what that meant, before he asked where she’d been--and who she’d been with--before going to Houston "Where are you?"
"Watch yourself," he said instead
So irl now"
"You are" He barked the words, as if he hated to admit them "When I look back, I wonder if, after your mother died, your brothers and I sheltered you too uy with a lifestyle like Jesse’s?" Oh, she’d learned plenty fro heartache
"Please, don’t worry You did a great job being both a an and Hunter were typical overprotective brothers who ran off all my dates and made fun of me every time I put on a shred of makeup, but I’e"
Her dad’s husky laugh war time," she continued "We’ve waited years for this opportunity We just need to figure it out together"
"I don’t see you being a superstar’s groupie" The frown in his voice couldn’t be any more obvious
Kimber had trouble with that picture, too, in truth She couldn’t live on the road the way Jesse did, but could she just leave him to run off with the band and live the way he always had? Even if he wanted to "change," that would take tih on the possibilities they’d discussed over the years and gothih to say "I do" to someone else?
How had that man turned all her plans upside down in a handful of days?
"I’ure out e’ll be to each other Just let ood enough kid, but what I hear now… I think it’s a ut clenched Dad said it with such conviction Still, he hadn’t seen Jesse in years, just heard about hi
"It’s hed "Yeah, it is Just…be careful, in more ways than one"
"What do you ht now When I get there, I want to check on you, check your brothers, the house"
"Is so creepy e-es I don’t knoho I’ve pissed off, or how serious he is You know crackpots, and soe But this one has mentioned you and said he’ll hurt you to hurthas ever happened to me"
"There’s always a first This one seeo anywhere alone right now Remember your self-defense I can’t persuade you to carry, can I?"
Unease sliced through her, razor-thin but iuard down Who knew if this guy fit that profile?