Knox (BBW Bear Shifter Moonshiner Romance) (120 Proof Honey) (55 page)

Almost an hour passed before, exhausted, Addy returned to collapse under the big maple tree once more, panting. Mark lumbered up and plopped down beside her. He wasn’t even slightly winded.

“That’s not fair, you know,” she said, as she Shifted back to herself without any noticeable effort. It seemed suddenly so easy, and she realized it had a lot to do with how relaxed she now felt about the whole thing, thanks to Mark’s presence and understanding.

Mark was laughing as he, too, Shifted. “You started it,” he said, lying beside her, propped up on one elbow. “You’re a pretty good pouncer.”

Addy blushed, embarrassed by how good it had felt to physically play with him. Another “first” in her day.

“And you didn’t have any trouble Shifting in either direction,” he said. “Did you?”

She met his eyes, then, as golden as her own. “I guess not. It’s never been like that for me before. Did you pick it up that fast?”

“Shoot, no. I was three when I started training, but real control didn’t come until I hit puberty. It was like that with all of us. Since you’re a mature adult, who’s had years of experience Shifting without any guidance, it makes sense that you should pick it up faster than we did. After all, you don’t have to learn how to Shift. You only have to learn how it feels to control it.

“And to not be afraid of it,” he added, gently cupping her face in his hand.

Addy wanted to pull away from him—or at least, she thought she
should
want to pull away from him—but she had never been able to trust anyone—other than Granny—the way she already trusted this almost stranger.

When she didn’t pull away, Mark leaned in to lay his lips on hers. His kiss was as gentle as his touch, but she felt it all the way to her toes. He didn’t push her, but she suddenly found herself kissing him back.

When he finally ended the kiss and sat back, she thought they were both trembling. She sat up and turned away from him, confused.

“Maybe I shouldn’t’ve done that,” he said, and she heard regret in his voice.

She took a deep breath and glanced over her shoulder at him.

“Why did you?”

Mark smiled. “Because I like you. I think you’re beautiful. And so far, it’s been a really good day.”

Honestly shocked by his words, Addy abruptly stood, not certain if she believed him or not. When he came slowly to his feet beside her, she looked at him again. There was nothing in those deep golden eyes that offered anything but complete honesty, and after a moment, she surprised herself by reaching for him and kissing him back.

This time it went on longer, and as the kiss deepened, she felt something inside her shift, which had nothing at all to do with mountain lions or bears. This time, when they broke apart, they were both short of breath.

“Maybe I shouldn’t’ve done that,” she offered shyly.

He smiled. “Why did you?”

She took a deep breath. “Because I like you, too.”

Mark’s smile broadened into a grin, and he kissed her once more, hard and fast.

“We should get back.”

“Definitely.”

He took her hand, and their fingers locked.

“Shall we Shift or stroll,” he asked.

“We’d better stroll,” she said, glancing at his teasing eyes. “Bear hunting season is only a week away, and I don’t want to take any chances.”

Mark laughed and pulled her along.

“So, does this mean you’ll go to Nashville with me?” he asked after a time.

Addy sighed. “I think I want to. I think I have to try, anyway.”

“I won’t let anything happen to you, Addy,” he said, his voice sober, now.

“I know.”

She glanced up, and their eyes met once more.

“Thank you,” he said.

“For what?”

“For trusting me. It means a lot.”

“Okay. Then you’re welcome. Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For believing in me,” she said. “For believing I can really do this. And for offering to be there to pick me up, if I fail.”

He stopped and pulled her close to lightly kiss her brow before taking both her hands and stepping back. “You’re not gonna fail, Addy.”

“You haven’t even heard me sing, yet.”

Mark smiled. “I don’t have to. I’ve heard you speak, and I’ve played your music. That’s enough.”

With that kind of faith, Addy supposed it was.

Addy couldn’t stop staring out the window. They had been on the road for over three hours, but every mile had brought more excitement, more new things to see, from the narrow, winding roads leading away from the farm to the terrifying jumble of traffic flying around Knoxville, to the seemingly endless expanse of four concrete lanes called Interstate 40 that led to Nashville. For the first time, she was aware of what she had been missing by staying in her little valley. Oh, she had read books, watched television, heard Granny talk about the outside world, but she had never experienced it for herself. And once the first wave of guilt for leaving Granny alone had passed, Addy had been determined to remember every little detail, so she could share it with Granny when she returned home.

“Only another fifteen, twenty minutes,” Mark said then yawned.

“This must be tiring,” Addy said. “Driving like this, I mean. All this traffic.”

“It’s not too bad,” Mark said, “though I rarely get to drive, since Uncle Bart usually grabs the wheel.”

“Tell me about your Uncle Bart. You’ve told me about your brothers, and growing up on the farm, but where does Uncle Bart fit in?”

“I told you my dad’s one of ten.”

“Yes.”

“Well, Dad’s the oldest, and Uncle Bart is the youngest—he’s only seven, eight years older than Matt. Bart and Dad are the only two Shifters in that generation, so they’ve always been close.”

“And because Uncle Bart is a Shifter, he’s close to all of you, too?”

“Somethin’ like that. Unlike Dad, though, Uncle Bart went to college. He went to East Tennessee State over in Johnson City. When you meet him, you probably won’t believe he majored in theater—though he’ll be the first to tell you he only got on stage a couple of times when he couldn’t avoid it, and the rest was all stagecraft, design, and lighting. He did an internship at one of the big casinos in Las Vegas, but he hated it and came home as soon as it was done. That’s about the time the family started wondering if the four of us boys could make it as a professional band. Not that they wanted to send us off to Nashville, but things were getting’ pretty tight on the farm, and the money would sure come in handy. Dad put Uncle Bart in charge of us, and it’s worked out pretty well.

“Of course, snagging the Konstantine Talent Agency—thanks to Mel—is what’s allowing us to get a decent recordin’ studio and some pretty classy live gigs, but Uncle Bart’s still in the middle of it. Thank God.”

Addy smiled. He obviously loved his uncle, and it made her feel safe to know the Saint family was a close one in which everyone seemed to look out for one another. She thought about her own family and frowned.

“What’s wrong, Addy?” Mark asked.

She sighed. “Nothin’. I’m just breaking one of the Ten Commandments.”

“Oh?”

“I’m coveting your family. I can’t imagine what it’s like to have so many people care about what you do, what becomes of you. I have Granny, of course, but...”

Mark reached across the space between them and took her hand in his.

“You’ll know soon enough, Addy. You’re bringin’ your music to us. That’s gonna make you family real quick. I promise you that.”

Addy squeezed his hand in return, praying it would be so.

After a time, the traffic began to pick up again, and he released her hand to place both of his securely on the wheel.

“Gettin’ close to our exit,” he said. His eyes never seemed to stop moving as he continuously checked his mirrors, keeping a close eye on all the traffic around them. She wondered if his other life as a bear made him all the more attentive when living as a man.

As they exited the Interstate, Addy took a deep, fortifying breath. It wouldn’t be long, now, before she met the people who meant so much to Mark—the people who would help to decide her own future.
 

“How do you do it?” she asked after she had lost track of the times and directions they had turned at various intersections. “How do you know where we’re going?”

Mark chuckled. “I do it by takin’ the exact same route home every time,” he admitted. “I sometimes end up goin’ a long way out of my way to get there, but at least I get there, as long as I stick to what’s familiar.”

“How do other people do it?” she asked, genuinely perplexed, as she watched all the cars and trucks jockeying for position at every intersection.

“How is it you can find your sugar maple tree from anywhere in the forest?”

“Well, I’ve sat under that tree all my life,” she said.

“Same goes in the city, I figure,” Mark said. “And if you’re new, you get a map—lots of street maps of Nashville available. Or you can do like Uncle Bart and cheat with that thing he calls a GPS. Funniest thing you ever saw. It’s this little box with a screen that shows you moving along the roads as you go. Then there’s this cranky soundin’ woman’s voice that tells you when you make a wrong turn. Uncle Bart named her ‘Prudence’ after this one teacher we all had in elementary school. She was a cranky old bat, too.”

Addy laughed, but she realized quickly that Mark was aware of how tense she had gotten and was trying to help her relax. It almost worked until they pulled into a small parking lot behind an old, three-story house.

“This is Mel’s place. She lives in the apartment on the top floor. Uncle Bart’s tryin’ to wrangle a deal to buy the whole building, so the rest of us can live in the other two apartments. It’s not that we have to live in each other’s pockets, but we’re still feelin’ our way in the city, so we’d like to stick together. Matt’ll be movin’ in with Mel, after they’re married, of course, but we figure we’ll save a lot of money with the rest of us sharin’ space we own, too.”

Addy wasn’t paying Mark much attention as she got out of the SUV and stared up at the grand old house. Even her inexperienced eye could tell it was a very old building that had had extensive, quality renovations done. It was a lifetime removed from her cabin in the woods in more than distance.

“Everythin’s gonna be fine, Addy,” Mark said, wrapping an arm around her and giving her a reassuring squeeze. “They’re gonna love you. I promise.”

Addy took a deep, fortifying breath and turned to the back of the SUV to get her guitar. If she was going to meet her future upstairs in that apartment, she wanted the one weapon she had at her side.

The music rang through the recording studio, sending Addy to a place she had never been before. The four male voices—all baritone or bass—should have been overpowering, but the four brothers were so in tune with one another, so focused on the music, they held her in a kind of spell she’d never even imagined before.

“I told you they were good,” Mel whispered, nudging Addy with her shoulder. “I’ve got dibs on the guitar guy, but they’re all pretty, aren’t they?”

Addy could only nod. They were that: pretty and special. Mark had been right, of course. His family had welcomed her with open arms, and Mel, especially, had taken Addy’s part, instantly bonding with the other woman against the mass of Saint men, who could be a little overwhelming when they were in one room together. Following a quick lunch, they had piled into a van and the SUV to head over to a studio they had reserved that afternoon for some music rehearsal. As the brothers warmed up, Addy felt the sudden urge to join them.

“Sounds good, boys,” Uncle Bart said through the intercom from where he sat with a sound man on the other side of the glass. “And you were right about that bridge, John.”

“You know I hate to admit it,” Matt said, “but he really was.”

“The mandolin made all the difference, there,” Mark agreed.

“Don’t let it go to your head, kid,” Luke said, laying down a quick pattern on his drums.

“Like I’d ever have the chance to,” John, the youngest, said with a grin.

Everyone laughed, including Uncle Bart in the booth, but finally the older man called a halt to the fun.

“All right, all right. The clock’s runnin’, so let’s move on. Why don’t you try Addy’s new song and bring the pretty lady in to show you how it was meant to be sung?”

“That’s you,” Mel said with a grin.

Addy wiped her suddenly damp palms on her jeans and opened her guitar case. As she pulled it out, Matt let out a low whistle.

“Is that what I think it is?” he said, leaning closer for a better look.

“I guess that depends on what you think it is,” Addy said. “My great-granddaddy got it in trade back in the ‘30s. I know it’s not much to look at, but it still sounds pretty good.”

The guitar had an ebony finish on a mahogany back and sides and a red spruce top, with ivoroid binding. A rosewood fingerboard was accented with mother-of-pearl tuners. Under the studio’s bright lights, she could see clearly every scratch and scuff mark, but the familiar trademark Gibson headstock logo made everyone anxious to hear how it sounded.