Page 134 of You Found Me
It felt a little bittersweet, watching his little brother get the girl, but it was shoved aside by a flicker of pride. “Heisgood, isn’t he.”
“That’s an understatement. If Renic were here tonight, Mason would have a contract before he left the stage.” She gripped the railing with both hands. “When this is all over, I’ll introduce them.”
He tried to picture his brother living Della’s life and couldn’t. “I think he should focus on graduating first.”
“Oh, me too.” Della waved away his words. “He should doallthe high school things. Especially prom. I always wanted to go toprom, but we moved around too much for a permanent school. Hey, maybewecan go. Whenisprom?”
“Spring.” This conversation was headed in an uncomfortable direction. “We should be long gone by then.”
“Oh. Right.” Disappointment flitted across her face. “You know, I like this place a lot more than I ever thought I would. It’s like something out of a movie. I keep expecting fireworks.”
“That’s tomorrow night,” Ward said. “They shoot them off to close out the festival.”
She gestured with an open hand. “See? It just feelsreal, you know? Solid. Like…everything in my regular life is just pretending and this is how it’s supposed to be. Like this is the thing I didn’t know I was missing.”
The wistful longing in her tone pulsed a dangerous impulse through him to wrap his arms around her.
He looked away. “A lot of the people down there would rather haveyourlife.”
“I know.” She nodded. “I get it. It’s a good life. I love being onstage. I love sharing music with the world. I wouldn’t trade that.” Della watched the next act assemble. “But why can’t I be DellaandLucy? Why can’t I have both?”
He could picture coming back here in the spring to show Della the wildflowers and take her to prom. He could almost feel her in his arms as they moved across the dance floor.
But was it Della he saw in that imaginary future, or was it Lucy?
Was there really as much of a difference as he liked to pretend there was?
How much of what he felt for her was because they’d played house too long?
He’d known coming to the festival was a security risk, but he hadn’t anticipated the real danger would come from the redhead standing next to him. Rule one was starting to feel likeit shouldn’t apply to them. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe in it, it was that he was starting not to care.
It was almost three in the morning when they returned home.
Ward’s back and shoulders felt used and abused, and Della was as wilted as he’d ever seen her.
“I didn’t think it was possible for you to run out of energy,” he commented as he locked the door.
“It’s not gone. It’s hibernating.” Della plodded up the stairs. “How early do we have to be there in the morning?”
“It’s already morning.” Watching her climb in those jeans was mesmerizing. The back-and-forth of her hips sparked all kinds of fires in the lower parts of his anatomy.
“It’s not morning”—Della interrupted herself with a yawn that ended in an adorable little squeak—“until the sun comes up.”
“Dawn’s in four hours. But we should be there by ten.” He followed her down the hallway to her bedroom, inspecting the rooms along the way to make sure they were empty. None of the security measures had been breached, but it didn’t hurt to double-check.
Della leaned against the wall by her door. “Go on, Rambo. Do your thing.”
He checked the closet, the windows, then the bathroom.
Towels were draped neatly on the towel rack, a short robe hung on a nearby hook, and the smell of citrus hung in the air.
He couldn’t help but picture her in the glass-enclosed shower. Naked. Steaming-hot water pouring between her breasts. Over her back. Down her thighs.
Ward swore and took a deep, deep breath. Held it. Let it out slow and steady while he glared at himself in the mirror.
It took seconds to verify that nothing was out of place. He had no business picturing hisclientin here. He had no right to imagine her naked. He was a thousand different kinds of fool for wanting anything with her.
Get a grip, asshole.