Every Heart Sings (Serenity Island Series) (19 page)

“All day, huh?” she asked.

His brave, brave girl.
His
. He wasn’t sure when he’d begun to think of Jordan Drake as his, but she was. Somehow, despite their very different lifestyle choices, he planned to make this work between them, because he knew they had something special here. Something that only happened once in a lifetime. If ever. 

He pressed a kiss to her soft mouth, then nuzzled her ear. “Yeah, all day, babe.”

She rolled him onto his back and straddled him. “I’m all yours, all day long.”

And, damn, if his cock didn’t respond to her whispered words. But his heart kicked painfully in his chest that she’d added the all day long, because he wanted more from her, much more. Whether Jordan Drake knew it or not he was going to work hard to convince her to commit more than just one day to him. Because she was all his, now and forever. He just had to prove it to her and convince her what they had was all that mattered in the world, even if her fear of his lifestyle scared her.

He ran his hands up her back, pulling her down on top of him so he could see the flecks of gold dust in her beautiful hazel eyes. Her soft, sensual mouth glistened from his kisses.

Josh ran the pad of his thumb over the corner of her mouth. “If you’re going to let fear keep you from doing something, you’ll never know what could have been. You never really live life.”

“I’m okay with the life I’m living.”

“Someday, when the right guy comes along, you won’t be,” Josh said simply. He didn’t add that he believed he was that guy and that her someday had already arrived.

“I’ll let you know when that happens.” She responded with a flippant little toss of her head.

He touched his lips to hers in a tender kiss, pouring all his love into that one connection. Yes, he loved Jordan. But she wasn’t ready to hear it. No. The depth of what he felt for this woman amazed and scared him. No telling what it would do to a crazy strong woman who had controlled every bit of her life from the age of sixteen and who was afraid to trust her heart because it had been broken too many times by those she’d loved. He’d probably send her running. And he didn’t want to do that right now. He wanted her close.

He deepened the kiss, his tongue caressing hers as he slipped his already stiff cock into her slick opening to mimic the slow rhythm of his mouth.

One day soon she’d realize he was the right guy for her.

Until then, he just had to keep showing her with his words and actions that he loved her.

One day at a time, until she couldn’t live without him.

Or he couldn’t live without her.

Either one worked for him.

Chapter 15

Family, Ties That Bind

Saturday night came. Even though Jordan wished it away. She would’ve liked a few more days to ride the wave that was Josh Nicodemus before the fans and industry professionals arrived to ruin it all.

She fastened an earring, shook her hair so it fell behind her shoulders, and straightened the tight blue dress. It hugged her hips like a second skin. Clever satiny material hid all her imperfections. She smoothed her hand over her belly.

Josh would like it.

If he noticed her at all tonight.

She didn’t know how he reacted to performances. Some people got in a zone and didn’t recognize anyone apart from the show. She’d never seen him in-person when he performed. So she had no idea how he responded.

Grace scurried into the room. She wore a little black dress, the zipper hanging open in the back.

“Could you?” she asked, turning around. She ran her hands down her hips and over her thighs. “I’m so nervous, you’d think I was performing.”

Jordan pulled the zipper up and threaded the hook through the eyelet. She patted her sister’s shoulder.

Grace turned. “How do I look?”

“Like a million bucks. Certainly not like you have a sixteen-year-old son.” Jordan squeezed her in a hug. “You look great, honey.”

“Thanks.” Grace scrutinized Jordan in return. “What I’d give to look like you. Flat stomach, no stretch marks.”

“No, you wouldn’t. Because you’d have to give back Tony, and you’d never do that.”

“You are right.” Grace smiled, a wistful look in her eyes. “But he’ll be gone from me soon enough.” She blinked fast, Jordan assumed to keep tears from falling.

“You’ve got time yet. He’ll be a senior this year. You’ve got another year. Breathe. It’s going to be okay.”

“I know. I know. There’s nothing I can do. I can’t keep him with me. He has to go out, find his own way in the world. I’m just afraid.”

“Don’t worry about it yet.” Jordan gripped her sister’s hand. “Are you sure about tonight? I mean, maybe Tony shouldn’t—”

Grace held up a hand to stop Jordan. “No. This is what he wants. It’s okay. I trust him, Jord. He needs to begin to flex his wings. And what better time than now, while I’m still here to guide him? Plus, you and Josh are both here. You won’t let anything bad happen to him.”

Jordan wasn’t so sure about the last part. There were some things no one could protect you from in the entertainment business, no matter what good advice came your way.

“I really like Josh.” Grace centered the diamond pendant she wore so it dangled perfectly on the bare skin the low-cut dress exposed. “Any chance he’ll stick around?”

Jordan turned away from her sister, using the excuse to check her backside in the mirror to avoid her intense gaze. “No. I doubt it, but I like him.” Her voice had gone soft. “Maybe a little too much.”

“Uh oh.” Grace turned Jordan back to face her. “You’re falling for him?”

“No. There’s nothing between us.” She tried to keep her tone light and pasted on a bright smile, but her sister knew her better than anyone and could always tell when she’d donned her performance mask. “Nothing lasting, at least.”

Grace crossed her arms and tapped her foot, studying Jordan. “My built-in bullshit meter just hit ten.” Grace pinned her with narrowed eyes. “Really? Nothing? Huh. Now that’s not what the panties I found shoved in the chaise lounge on the porch last night told me. Unless I need to be cornering my sixteen-year-old and asking him probing questions about his sex life. Tell me it was you. Please?”

“All right. Yes, it was me. We started on the back porch, but it pretty quickly escalated so we moved to my bed.” Jordan stretched her neck one way then the other, trying to ease the tense muscles. “But it’s nothing.”

“Uh huh. Sure.”

Jordan opened her eyes wider, trying to exude innocence in the face of her sister’s sarcasm. She did not want to talk to Grace about Josh and her sex life. “What?”

“You don’t do
nothing
, babe.”

“What do you mean?” Jordan bit her lip. Grace was right.

“When’s the last time you brought a guy home?” her sister said.

Jordan thought about it. “Well—Hmmm. Maybe—Okay. Never. I get it. But I didn’t bring him over. He just showed up.”

“Okay, let me rephrase the question. When was the last time you didn’t chase a guy away who tried to get close?”

Jordan bit down on her lips stubbornly. Grace was right again. But she wouldn’t admit it. She couldn’t. Because if she did, it changed everything.

“Come on, Jordie, ’fess up. You’re falling for the rock star. The girl who ran away from the business is falling for a guy in the business. Kinda ironic, wouldn’t you say?”

Jordan blew out a deep breath and stared at the ceiling. “Past tense.”

“Past tense what?”

“I’ve fallen for him. Hard.”

Grace squealed and clapped her hands. “I knew it. I knew it.”

When Jordan didn’t return her sister’s elation, when she remained sober-faced, Grace came down off her giddy high. “What’s wrong? He’s sexy, smart, and successful. You deserve to be happy, Jord.”

“It can’t ever work.”

“What do you mean? You’re compatible, right?”

“We’re combustible. We go up in flames when we’re near each other.”

“Hot damn. Then where’s the problem?”

“Josh doesn’t want forever and I can’t settle for anything less. I want a quiet life here. He’s a high-flyer. Sure he’s here for a short time, but he can’t stay in Serenity.”

“He’s opening a music café in Serenity. Sounds like he’s planning to spend some time here every once in a while. He’s put in an investment. Could be he’s investing in you, too.”

“Well, as we both know, I’m not a good bet.”

“Bullshit. You look at me, Jordan Drake.” She tapped Jordan’s chest with her index finger. “You are beautiful and smart and totally worthy of that man’s love. You’ve spent the last several years pouring yourself into this village community, trying your hardest to keep it together. Sure, you might be hiding from the world, but you’ve done your part. You’re valuable, you’re loved, and you have a place here—in the hearts of the villagers. They’d do anything for you and you’ve proven again and again that you’d do anything for them. Don’t listen to those lies.”

Jordan shook her head, tears blurring her vision as she sucked in a shuddering breath. “No. I’m not a good person. Look at all the mistakes I made.”

“Damn it, Jordan. You need to move on. I know I wasn’t around when you came here. But you’ve made something of your life, you’ve turned yourself around. Who does that? It’s not an easy feat. Many people never change. And yet you did. You kicked addiction and you lead a quiet, productive, and rewarding life here on the island. I’d say that’s something.”

Jordan hung her head, her loose hair fell in a curtain to obscure her face, her pain, from the observant eyes of her sister.

Grace pushed Jordan’s hair back, tucking it behind her ear, and lifted her chin to look into her eyes. “Honey, that is ancient history. You need to see all the good you’ve done. You’ve taken me and Tony in. You help all those kids at the PIC-U. And the Misfits—look at what you’re teaching those teens. You’re amazing. You’re good.” She tapped Jordan’s chest right over her heart. “Here.”

“I wish I could believe you.”

“You need to start to take steps of faith. Even if you don’t quite believe it, you need to trust me. Embrace it. Begin to focus on all the good you do and have done, instead of everything you haven’t done right and all the mistakes you’ve made. We all make mistakes. It’s getting beyond them that matters more than making them.”

Jordan pursed her lips. She wanted to believe in herself, but she’d been there. She’d seen first-hand just how bad she’d been for so many years.

A tear plopped onto Jordan’s cheek and tumbled, leaving a hot trail. “I don’t know how. I hear her voice, how I’m never good enough. One more script, Jordie. Just another audition, Jordie. Another ten grand, Jordie.”

“Aw, honey.” Grace hugged her tight, then held her away from her. “It’s easy. Just begin to replace those tapes in your head. The lies you listen to—the ones put there by our lovely mother. Reprogram your brain. When you hear the criticism, stop yourself, and bring up a mental list of all the things you’ve done right in your life. All the hope you’ve brought to others.”

“I’ll try.”

“Fair enough.” Grace gripped Jordan’s shoulders. “And, in the meantime, give that guy of yours a chance.”

“He’s not mine.”

“Oh, I beg to differ. He is most certainly yours. And I’ll prove it.”

“How?”

“You watch. Tonight when you walk into the café, watch Josh. He’ll only have eyes for you. No other woman. It’s been that way since he stepped onto this island. The man is smitten.”

“No way.” The corner of Jordan’s mouth lifted.

“Yes, way.” Grace nudged her sister’s shoulder, bumping her with her own shoulder. “You’ll see.”

Jordan rolled her eyes and looked at her watch bracelet. “We need to get going if we hope to be on time.”

“Oh my God.” Grace ran from the room. “Tony’s going to kill me. Let’s go.”

Jordan scooped up her purse, shoved her feet into her matching peep-toe platform pumps, and followed her sister out the front door.

She didn’t believe Grace for one minute. Josh liked her, but he wasn’t invested, not heart and soul invested. And even if he were, it would never work. Because at the end of the day, she had to let him go. Let him fly. Just like the phoenix he wore tattooed on his gorgeous body. To live, he had to soar. Not molder away here on some quiet, desolate island where his fans would never find him.

Josh straightened chairs at high-top tables on the outer edges of the room, putting finishing touches on the new café’s appearance an hour before they opened its doors for the opening night. His mom and sisters had been in, oooohing and awwwwing over the place before they went to settle into their room at The Seashell Inn.

The place did look great. Hank and his team at Nailed It had outdone themselves. The space looked new, trendy. They’d added a paint texture to the concrete floor, new lamps stretched with a fabric that looked like heat-treated cow hide. The booths and chairs had been reupholstered by Thread Bare, three doors down. And an updated stage and the music pit had been constructed at the center of the café.

The Down Dog Café was now a trendy place where artists would want to come perform.

A lightness Josh couldn’t remember experiencing in a long, long time descended on him. Maybe it has something to do with the day and night he’d spent with Jordan yesterday. However, he knew it went deeper than rockin’ hot sex that blew his mind. She meant something to him. This place, this café, these people . . . they all meant something to him. They made him happy. And it had been a long time since something other than his own career had made him happy. He was in a good place.

He adjusted the switches on the wall so that a single spotlight shown on the piano. Then he walked to the enhanced stage and sat down on the piano bench. They’d created a kind of performance pit or ring that was hedged in by a low railing on all sides. A music pit, where artists would go head-to-head in competition, sparring like boxers.

The stage now sat in the center of the café. During non-performance days, the area would be filled with tables. Tonight, the space held an acoustic and electric guitar, two stools, Sidewinder’s piano, a few amps and sound monitors.

There wouldn’t be a bad seat in the whole house.

The lights were dim where the patrons would sit to order drinks and food. But the lighting over the tiny performance arena was professional grade. Could be turned up or lowered, depending on the artist’s preference.

He faced the piano and started to play, warming up with the single from the new album he planned to debut tonight. “Bridges.” A song he’d based on his grandfather’s classical piece, “Tranquil Waters.” A tribute to the old man. He played the intro.

His fingers caressed the ivory keys, tapping out a soft opening that built to some pretty amazing runs before he started to sing into the microphone positioned near the piano:

Words spoken, so many years ago

I was young then, you were old

You knew better, but I didn’t want to be told

How to run my life

How to live and be free

Music ran through my veins like a rush of flood waters

Only I could tame the torrent

But we couldn’t agree

We let it rip us apart, get between us

Built walls constructed of harsh words and retaliations

Bitter thoughts and silent recriminations

I was young then, you were old

You knew better, but I didn’t want to be told

How to run my life

How to live and be free

So much water under the bridge now

But it runs tranquil, ready to be crossed

If only I will build a bridge over still water

Mend broken hearts, take a chance

Let love heal and build that bridge

I was young then, you were old

You knew better, but I didn’t want to be told

How to run my life

How to live and be free

Roots run deep under still water

You can see who you are

Living keeps you alive, pushes you far

Love is what really sets you free

All I want, all I need, is to be me

I can’t be someone I’m not

Wouldn’t try, it’s a battle better not fought

I was young then, you were old

You knew better, but I didn’t want to be told

How to run my life

How to live and be free

Standing on that bridge over still water

I look at my reflection and you is all I see