Page 68 of Still Her

“You finished it?” I start nodding, “Please, I want to hear it.” His smile is faint but sweet, and his gaze sensually locks on mine as he starts strumming. I hear the same words I heard the morning he first started writing this song, and they wrap me in comfort, at the same time sending a thrill up my shoulders, hearing them put to the more solid, self-assured rhythm Jack is putting out. I let it overwhelm me as I hear new lyrics that make it complete. Jack goes between looking down at his strings and looking up in my eyes with those dark blues of his.

A wall you can’t tear down

A bond that you can’t break

A love that’s too damn deep

A heart that you can’t take

The lyrics build and Jack sings louder and then abruptly stops, before lowering his voice to sing the rest.

And she’s still her…

Still setting me on fire

Still her,

We’re still climbin’ higher

Still her…

Still mine

He ends in a long, slow strum across all of the strings, the notes trickling like water; and I am stunned. I can’t bring myself to react in anyway other than to stare at him, mesmerized by what I just heard, the emotion living in every note and lyric of it, and everything it made me feel.

“What do you think?” Jack’s eyes are on me, searching. “Should we put it on the next album? Because if you want it, it’s yours.”

I swear my heart stops and the air catches in my throat when I register what he just said. He’d give me this song. This epically beautiful, mind-blowing song. He’d forego making it an unbelievable smash hit, just to let me keep it close to my heart. In this life of ours, that’s the same as offering me the world. I’ve barely processed the wonder of the song itself, let alone the idea of him…

“What?” is all I can manage in my state of disbelief.

“I mean it,” his gaze fixes mine with sincerity. “We can keep it between us, if you want to.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Because I’m in love with you,” he states simply as he rests a hand on my knee.

“Jack…” his name comes out on a shuddery breath. I consider his words and what he’s offering while I look around the room for the answer, but it’s no use because I already know it. I bring my face back to him and hope he can see how very much I love him, showing in my eyes. “It would be just plain… wrong… to keep that from the rest of the world. That song needs to be shared. It needs to be heard.”

Not taking his eyes from mine, he reaches across me to lay his guitar down on the bed beside me but doesn’t lean away. “Are you sure? It can be just for you.”

“I already have one of those,” I remind him of the song he wrote me years ago when we were first falling in love. The one we eventually namedOnly Ours. “And I have no problem being selfish with that one. Think what this song could do out in the world, what it could make people feel.”

Jack smiles softly. “Wow,” he says on an exhale.

“You won’t regret it,” I tip my head to the side and arch a teasing eyebrow at him. “You know you won’t. That song…” I shake my head, still blown away. “It’s not even a risk, Jack,” I encourage softly.

He gently presses me back so that I’m lying back down with him hovering over me, his forehead resting against mine.

“Will you be in the video?” his lips pull up on one side, knowing it’s a longshot.

“No,” I answer firmly.

“Maaaze,” he groans at me, dropping his face to the mattress beside my head. “Come on…” he prods.

He’s asked me on a few occasions to appear in one of the band’s music videos. I was in the first one, but that was different. They were not yet in the public eye, and I had no idea I was going to become his wife shortly after. Fans have been intrigued with our relationship ever since, and I don’t want that to be the focus of their interest. I want Turn it Up to be about being a band, the one they’ve always been.

“Jack,” I return plainly.