The moment he kissed me, we were connected on a level that far surpassed the physical contact. No matter what he does or doesn’t believe himself to be capable of, I felt it, the way he gave himself over to me, every feeling that emptied out of him when that wall between us finally came down.
Our kiss gave life to an idea that I hope will work—one I have no idea how to proposition him with. My mind continues to hammer down the specifics of what I need him to agree to in order to make him see that he is capable of so much more than he is allowing himself to have.
“Dixie. Listen to me.” Gavin’s face is a hard plane of determination. “I don’t do more than one-night stands. I don’t make promises about the future and forever and all of that nonsensical bullshit because it doesn’t apply to me. I could never give anyone that.”
He’s wrong. I can feel it. I felt it.
Gavin Garrison is capable of love, and I am going to prove it.
He closes his eyes briefly and shakes his head. My fingers tighten their hold on his hips before he can pull away. Music from the surrounding stages pulses and throbs against us as we stand in the sea of bodies coming and going.
“I have a plan,” I say just before a breeze whips a strand of hair across my mouth. I’m afraid to relinquish my hold on him to move it for fear he’ll back away from me. I don’t have to debate on those odds for long before he moves the hair for me, sending a shiver down my spine as he teases my lips with his fingers.
“A plan, huh?”
I nod. “I’m not asking for a commitment or a label, or even that we tell Dallas. Not right now while he’s so stressed-out, anyway. I’m nineteen, Gav. I’m not going to start shopping for rings or making lifelong-commitment demands. Obviously I won’t turn into a crazed maniac and stalk you like some of your other groupies have. Pretty sure I know where to find you most hours of the day.”
His lips press together in a speculative look of contemplation. So far so good. “So what exactly are you asking for, Bluebird?”
I swallow hard, pulling in a lungful of cool night Texas air and all the courage I can gather with it. This is it, my shot to make him see why my plan is a good idea.
“After MusicFest ends, I want one night. Me and you. Alone. We have things to discuss and . . . and well, if something else were to happen, we can figure it out from there. But I can’t keep hiding behind my brother and neither can you.”
Gavin fingers a strand of my hair, twirling it between his fingers and giving it a gentle tug while I wait for his response.
Looking up at him, I see that love-starved little boy I met ten years ago. Gavin Garrison the man is tough. Hardened by a rough life full of unfairness, he’s intimidating to the naked eye. But I see so much more than that. I see how closely he guards his fragile heart and how rarely he lets his actual feelings show.
“I was right about touching you,” he says absently, still eyeing the curl entwined loosely around his finger. “Now that I started, I can’t stop.”
“I don’t want you to stop.” My confession is barely loud enough to be heard over the bedlam around us.
He clears his throat and glances around. I know he’s checking for Dallas and I try not to let it upset me. “One night?”
I nod.
His brows dip inward as he contemplates my request. “And what are you expecting from this one night?”
The images of what I’m expecting form so quickly I’m afraid there’s a slide show presentation showing an erotic montage in my eyes. For you to see that you can love and be loved. There’s no way I can admit this. So I give him the only answer that I can.
“Nothing. No expectations. Just us, being honest with each other. No outbursts or brothers or meltdowns or waitresses in the way.”
“Why? Why is this suddenly such an issue?”
“Why did you wait for me to get home from my date last night?” I ask without thinking.
His eyebrows lift and then lower, drawing together as his gaze grows darker. “I needed to know that you were safe.”