Текст книги "Unsung"

Автор книги: Shannon Richard

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Текущая страница: 19 (всего у книги 20 страниц)

“I shouldn’t have lied to you, I’m sorry.”

“It’s not the first time, Harper.”

“That’s not fair.”

“None of this is fair. When it gets hard you run. That’s why you were up here in the first place. You didn’t want to be in Mirabelle the weekend that would’ve been your wedding. So you ran. You ran when you realized you were in love with me. You ran from the truth when you suspected you were pregnant. You’re running now. And I don’t know how long I can keep chasing you before it kills me.”

She stared at him for a second, her shaky breaths filling the air. “So what are you saying?”

“I can fight for you for the rest of my life, but this is never going to work if you don’t let me in.”

“Where do we go from here?” She wiped at her face again; the constant stream of tears running down her cheeks hadn’t let up for even a moment.

“I don’t know.”

“I don’t, either,” she sniffed before a sob broke free from her mouth. Her head bowed as she folded in on herself and lost it.

He couldn’t take it anymore, couldn’t just stand there and watch her break down. He crossed the few steps between them, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her in close. She pressed her face to his neck as she started to shake uncontrollably, each sob ripping through her one after the other.

His entire world was in his hands, and the only thing he could think about was he might lose it all.

Chapter Twenty-Three It Was Always You

Harper’s flight back to Mirabelle was that afternoon, and her leaving really couldn’t have come at a worse time.

It would be a week and a half before she was going to see Liam again, and that fact had her stomach all tied up in knots. Yeah, she’d asked for more time, but time apart didn’t feel like the answer.

But what was she supposed to do? She needed to get back home to her job…to her life. She’d already pushed the limits with so much time off. All she needed was to lose her job on top of everything else.

And while she was returning to Mirabelle, Liam would be spending a few more days in Nashville shooting the music video for “Forever.” They were starting it that morning, and the plan had been for Harper to go with him and spend a couple of hours watching and hanging out before taking a car to the airport.

But the painful uncertainty between them was too much. There was a space that neither of them knew how to cross, and it was way more than she could handle. Add to that the fact that they were filming at the Second Hand Guitar? Yeah, there was no way in hell she’d make it out of that and not have a breakdown.

Who was she kidding? She lost it anyway when she said good-bye to him that morning. He was a mess, too, and she had no doubt he would’ve canceled that day’s shoot if he could’ve. But he’d be rocking a boat that was already close to tipping.

He and his manager had fought pretty hard with the record label on what they were shooting. The label had wanted to tell the love story of the song with one couple in various stages of their relationship, Liam as the lead with some woman as his co-star.

He told them it wasn’t going to happen. So instead they went with three different couples falling in love at the same show where Liam was performing. They’d already rented the space, hired the six actors, and got the extras to fill in the crowd at the bar.

Liam was going to have to get up on that stage and act his freaking heart out while singing the song he’d written about her. She knew it was going to kill him. She knew it and she couldn’t fix it.

It made her hurt even more.

He’d kissed her before he walked out the door, his mouth moving over hers slowly as he held her close.

“No matter what I love you,” he whispered.

“I know. I love you, too,” she said as she pressed her face to his neck and inhaled.

But the unspoken words between them lingered in the air…sometimes love wasn’t always enough.

It was Celeste who picked Harper up at the cabin that afternoon. The ride to the airport was not a chatty one. Unlike Delilah, her aunt wasn’t pushy. It sometimes shocked Harper that they were related because they couldn’t be less alike.

They said good-bye at the curb, Celeste giving Harper an extra-long hug before she headed inside. Because conversation or not, her aunt knew exactly what was going on.

The line at the baggage check was about ten deep, so Harper pulled her suitcase behind her and got in at the end. Her eyes wandered to the TV set up by the group of chairs off to the side and everything in her froze as she saw Liam’s face on the screen.

Liam James Steps Out on Kiki Jean Carlow with Another Woman

A second later another picture popped up, this one of Harper and Liam outside Bourbon and Brine on Friday. His face was unmistakable, and Harper’s long black hair and curves proved that she wasn’t Kiki. Apparently those girls outside the restaurant weren’t the only ones snapping shots.

“Another one bites the dust. Liam James isn’t the good guy we all thought he was. This picture was taken just this weekend at a local Nashville restaurant.” The volume was off, so the words of the E! news anchor were scrolling across the bottom of the screen in subtitles. “And that is most definitely not Kiki Jean Carlow kissing Liam James.”

The screen switched to a clip of the “Beyond the Limits” music video. Even though it had been released the week before, Harper still hadn’t watched it. Avoidance being the best policy and all, because obviously that was working out so well for her.

“It appeared that Liam and Kiki were hot and heavy for a moment there, but appearances can be deceiving,” the anchor continued, switching to another photo of Harper from outside the concert on Saturday, this one with Kiki just a few feet away.

“But as the other woman in question looks to be more than a few months pregnant, it leaves people to wonder when the two ladies overlapped. And as you can see here, their first meeting isn’t a pleasant one. Kiki left Nashville on Sunday morning, heartbroken over the betrayal.” The last photo was a picture of Kiki at the airport, big sunglasses on her face as she avoided looking at the cameras.

“And now for the video. What do you guys think of these racy scenes between the former couple?”

The video for “Beyond the Limits” started to roll. The camera zoomed in on an old shack in the middle of the swamp, a hammock tied up between two trees. Isaac and a redhead with bright green eyes were wrapped up in each other’s arms kissing as his hand moved up her thigh and under the skirt of her dress.

The next shot was of Hunter driving down a dirt road like a maniac with a massive grin on his face. A woman with caramel skin and black hair rode shotgun next to him while she hooted and cheered, throwing her arms up in the air. The shot panned out to the bed of the truck where Liam and Kiki were sitting. Bags surrounded them and she was holding a T-shirt to the cut above his forehead.

The video played on. The three couples doing various illegal deeds mixed in with steamy shots of them all over each other.

She’d really thought the ones with Liam would kill her, but they didn’t. Because that look in his eyes when they were on Kiki? It was all an act. It was nothing, nothing, to how he looked at Harper.

She needed more time? More time for what? To figure out if this was what she wanted? That Liam was what she wanted? He said they had to fight together, and she was walking away…no, running away. She was about to fly away from him when what she needed to be doing was proving that she was all in this.

All. In.

There was no dipping her toe into the shallow end of the water to adjust. Nope. She’d already jumped right on in to the deep end. Which had been more than shocking at first, but that was the reality. There was no getting out. No un-jumping.

This whole time she’d been trying to figure out how to adjust to having another man as her life raft. But Liam wasn’t the life raft. He wasn’t the thing keeping her from drowning. No, he was the person who was by her side learning to swim with her. Learning to survive it all. Together.

“What the hell am I doing?” she whispered to herself.

“Well, you could move forward.” She jumped at the sound of the voice next to her.

She turned to the man in the suit, before she glanced back to the line that had shifted. Almost half of the people in front of her had been helped.

“You’re right. I need to move forward. And there’s no going back,” she said as she grabbed her suitcase and walked out of the line, heading straight for the doors.

*  *  *

It was a damn good thing that none of these recordings of Liam singing “Forever” were going into the actual video. Because God help anyone who was forced to listen to that crap. He had a pretty good feeling that the extras out on that floor were in about as much pain as he was.

It was getting ridiculous.

But really, what in the world was to be expected? He was in the actual building where he’d met Harper, singing the song he’d written about her, and it was torture.

He shouldn’t have let her leave like this. He should’ve fixed it. How? He had no idea, but he should’ve figured it out.

“Cut!” Jim the director shouted for what was probably the twentieth time. Liam had worked with the guy on a handful of other videos, and the two had actually become friends. Though, Jim looked like he wanted to throttle him at the moment.

“Can I get a minute?” Liam pulled the strap from his shoulder and set his guitar down, leaning it against the speaker.

“Sure, I’m getting a smoke,” Jim said before he moved away from the cameras.

“Five minutes,” the woman next to Jim shouted to the room.

As the crowd dispersed, Liam’s manager Gary moved from where he’d been standing on the edge of the room and went up on the stage. “Man, you really need to not look like someone just killed your dog.”

“I need a fucking shot.”

A small smile turned up Gary’s face. “You and me both. Whiskey?”

Normally that would be Liam’s poison…but not now. “Tequila?” he asked, thinking about the last time he’d been in that room doing shots with Harper.

“Sure thing.”

Both men jumped off the stage and headed for the bar. The man behind it was actually one of the regular bartenders at the Second Hand Guitar. Everyone in the crowd got two free drinks. It was part of the ambience after all.

“Cheers.” Gary held up his glass in the air when they got their shots.

Liam clinked it before they both tossed it back.

“What’s going on with you?”

“Harper left today. And this stuff with Kiki is making her second-guess everything.”

Gary knew everything about Harper. Liam had to tell him what was going on as the days around Sofia’s due date were off limits to booking anything. There was also the fact that Liam wouldn’t be in videos where he was acting out anything of the love variety with another woman. And last but certainly not least, the Kiki fiasco bullshit bomb that was about to explode.

That’s what managers were for, right? Well, that and drinking a shot of tequila in the middle of the day. But it was five o’clock somewhere.

“You’re pretty torn up about her, huh?” Gary asked.

“I love her more than I’ve loved anyone, but she doesn’t know if she wants to spend the rest of her life with me.”

“And you need to make her realize that she does.” Not a question from Gary, but a statement of fact.

“Yes.”

“You finish this shoot up today, you can be on a plane to her by tonight.”

“Seriously?” Hope flared in Liam’s chest.

“Most of this video has to do with the other three couples. They get all of the shots with you and you’re done, my friend,” Gary said as he reached for his pocket. His phone must’ve been vibrating because he picked it up and put it to his ear. “This is Gary.”

The murmuring on the other end was barely audible as the crowd of people around Liam talked.

“What?” Gary asked, his eyes coming up and landing on Liam. “Okay, I’ll be right out.” He hung up, sliding his phone in his pocket. “I’ll be right back.” He reached out and grabbed Liam’s shoulder. “You get up there and kill it. Understand?”

“Yeah.” Liam nodded, taking a deep breath before he turned around and walked through the crowd.

He got back up on the stage, grabbing his guitar and pulling the strap over his head. He glanced up, catching Gary as he passed by Jim. The two men spoke for just a second. Gary probably telling the guy that Liam was going to pull his head out of his ass. Jim nodded before he headed back to the camera.

“You ready to get this shit done?” Jim asked as he settled in.

Liam took a deep breath and let it out. “Yeah.”

“Then let’s go.”

His fingers strummed the chords of the guitar as the lights focused in on him. “Love at first sight was something I’d never seen. But you walked in and became every one of my dreams…”

It was at that moment that he saw her. The crowd disappeared and it was only Harper standing in the middle of that room and looking up at him.

“Violet eyes and the lips of a goddess. I knew I’d want more than just one kiss…”

Her mouth curved up in a smile as she watched him, and her eyes closed for just a second as her body began to move to his voice.

“A day, a week, a month, a year. It would never be enough. I want forever, honey. Forever, honey…”

Her eyes opened and she looked up at him again. “Forever with you,” she sang along.

He kept going, Harper’s mouth moving in sync with each and every word of the song until he got to the very end. “I need forever, honey. Forever with you.”

The second his fingers strummed the last chord he was pulling the guitar from his body and jumping from the stage. The crowd parted and when he got to her he pulled her into his arms, his mouth coming down hard on hers as his fingers speared in her hair.

He tasted her mouth for a good minute before he pulled back and looked at her. “You didn’t get on the plane.”

“I didn’t get on the plane.” She shook her head. “I was wrong. I don’t need any more time Liam. No more catching up. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. None of the other stuff matters. This is what matters.” Her hand moved to his chest, her palm over his heart. “You and me.”

“No more running?”

“I’m done running away from us. As long as you’re next to me, I can handle anything.”

“It’s you and me, honey. From here on out.” He leaned down, his mouth right against hers, their breath warm on each other’s lips.

“From here on out,” she agreed.

*  *  *

The second the front door of the cabin closed Harper found herself pushed up against the wall by the solid weight of her perfectly muscled, attractive as sin man.

Yeah, that was right. Her man.

“Haven’t we done this before?” she asked as she looked up into his green-gold eyes. Eyes that had seen her from the very start. Eyes that didn’t hide how much he loved her.

“I believe we have. But things have definitely changed since the last time we were here together.”

“In so many ways.”

“Buying you that beer is still the best decision I ever made.” He grabbed her hands, pulling her arms up and pinning them to the wall above her head.

“Stole. You stole that beer.”

“It was only fair. You stole my heart first.” He grinned as he twined their fingers together.

“You’re still using your lines on me. Apparently not everything has changed.”

“Not a line.” Liam shook his head, his lips brushing hers with the movement. “That’s a fact.”

“That so?”

“Yup. Want to know what else is a fact?” He skimmed his nose across her neck as he inhaled.

“What’s that?”

“You smell incredible. You always smell incredible. Honey.” He whispered the word, his warm breath hitting her skin before he pressed his lips to the spot just under her left ear. “My honey.”

“Always yours.” How had she ever doubted what they had? For even a second? Never again. Never, ever, again.

Liam’s mouth left her skin as he pulled back, his eyes finding hers. “I’m going to kiss you now. So if you have any problems with that, you should speak now or forever hold your peace.”

She couldn’t stop herself from grinning at his words, the same words from their first night together. “No objections.” She shook her head.

His mouth came down hard on hers, their tongues tangling together. It was a good long couple of moments before he pulled back. “Still no objections?”

“I’m objection-less.”

“Thank God.” He gave her a wicked grin before he let go of her hands and bent, sweeping her up in his arms.

“Liam!” she gasped, her arms going around his neck and holding on tight as he carried her through the house.

“I’ve got you, Harper.”

“I know.” Of that she had no doubt. She kissed his jaw, his beard rasping across her lips.

When they got to the bedroom he set her down gently. The second her feet were firmly stationed on the floor and she was standing up straight, his hands were on her hips and he was pulling her in close to his body.

“So I decided something,” she said as she dropped her arms from where they were looped around his neck, running her palms down his chest.

“And what’s that?” He took a step forward, moving her back through the room.

“I’m not going to let the lies in those stupid tabloids get to me. We’ll make our own headlines.”

“Yeah? Like what?”

“Well, the first one will say, ‘Liam James and Harper Laurence Don’t Care What Anyone Else Has to Say About Their Relationship, and Kiki Jean Carlow Is a Lying Piece of Work That Absolutely No One Should Listen To. Ever.’ Though that might be a little wordy?” The back of her legs hit the bed and they stopped moving.

“A little.” He nodded. His hands had descended down and were now under the skirt of her dress.

“What about, ‘Liam James and Harper Laurence Tell Everyone Else to Shove It’? How does that sound?”

“Probably not the best for publicity.” He grinned, palming her ass.

“Okay, ‘Liam James and Harper Laurence Are Madly in Love’?”

“No.” He shook his head. “‘Liam and Harper James Are Madly in Love.’”

She froze, as she looked up at him. “What?”

“Yeah, and the next will say, ‘Liam and Harper James Settle into Their New Home in Mirabelle, Florida’ and after that ‘Liam and Harper James Welcome Their Baby Girl into the World.’ I think I’m forgetting one though…” he trailed off, his eyes narrowing in thought as his mouth turned up at the sides. “Oh, the first one. ‘Liam James and Harper Laurence, His Beautiful.’” He kissed the side of her mouth. “‘Stunning.’” He kissed the other side of her mouth. “‘Sexy as Hell Wife.’” He pressed his lips to the center of hers. “‘Wed in a Small Beachside Wedding Surrounded by Friends and Family.’”

“You want to marry me?”

His hands dropped from under the skirt of her dress, and her hands fell away from his chest as he reached over to the nightstand next to him and opened the top drawer. A second later he was holding up a little black velvet box, showing it to her before he flipped it open.

There, nestled in the white satin, was a cushion cut diamond, surrounded by a square of tiny diamonds that continued on to the band in two separate rows.

“Oh my God,” she whispered as she looked down at the most stunning ring she’d ever seen in her life.

And okay, maybe she shouldn’t be this shocked. Them heading toward marriage wasn’t too much of a stretch. But he already had a ring. He’d already been planning to propose.

“I told you from the start, told you that the second I tasted you.” He leaned forward and nipped at her bottom lip, pulling it into his mouth before he let go. “I’d want everything. But it happened before that first kiss, Harper. I wanted everything the second I found you. I’ve just been waiting for you to say yes.”

She reached up again, her hands on his chest and moving over his shoulders. And then they were at the back of his head, her fingers in his hair as she brushed her lips across his. “You still haven’t asked me the question.”

“You’re right. I haven’t.” He dropped to his knee in front of her. Both of her hands were still in his hair, and he grabbed the left and pulled it away to hold it in front of him. “It’s always been you, Harper. You’re it for me, have been from the very start. I didn’t know something was missing from my life until I met you, and I never want to go back to how it was before you.” He pulled the ring out, setting the empty box on the nightstand. “Will you marry me?”

“Yes.”

He grinned up at her as he slid the ring onto her finger. Once it was firmly in place he was getting up off the floor, his arms wrapping around her waist as he kissed her.

“I love you, Liam James,” she said against his mouth, her lips brushing his with every word that she spoke. “This is the life I want. The one with you in it. And it’s the only one I will ever want.”

“Promise?”

“I swear.” And she sealed it with a kiss.