Somethin' Dirty: Country Fever, Book 4 (23 page)

“It’s just not what I’m looking for.” What she meant was nothing looked like the garments sold in the store where Molly worked. Nola pictured something sleek with a hint of country rock. Silver conchos or even some rhinestones. These bikinis looked like city girls trying to be country.

What am I thinking? Country girls skinny dip.

Heat washed over her flesh at the thought of a chance to skinny dip with Griffin.

Jessica thrust half a dozen suits into Nola’s hands. “Go to the dressing room.”

No point in arguing. Nola slipped behind the curtain and peeled off her clothes. As she tried on each bikini, she could only imagine Griffin’s reaction to them.

Baby blue with a thong bottom?

No fucking way. That’s
my
ass.

Red strappy top and high-cut briefs?

I love you in red, baby doll.

Her nipples hardened. As swiftly as possible she slipped on another. Her hair straggled over her shoulder in a loose ponytail, and she swept it back to get a better look at the leopard print bandeau top and matching bottoms.

It said new country with a serious dose of wildcat.

Griffin’s eyes would be hooded with desire. And that’s exactly what she wanted.

Jessica was thrilled with her decision, and they headed for the checkout. But on the way, they passed a table with itty bitty garments, items Nola was so familiar with folding. Onesies and little jeans. Footed pajamas with a cartoon rodeo bull on the front.

“Nola?” Jessica said over her shoulder.

“Just a minute.” She picked up a pair of felt booties made to look like infant-sized cowgirl boots. Cobalt blue with silver thread detailing.

Nola’s heart contracted, and tears jumped to her eyes. At one time she’d fantasized about Lyric toddling down the aisle ahead of her, headed straight for her daddy’s arms. Then Griffin would scoop up his daughter and lock gazes with Nola.

The world would stop rotating in that moment when they accepted their futures were finally about to be meshed together.

A fat tear splashed down Nola’s cheek.

“I need to head back to the office. Bryant has someone coming in this afternoon,” Jessica complained.

Nola cradled the boots, not bothering to dash away the tear. As she paid for the overpriced bikini and the boots, Jessica shot her confused glances.

“For a special little someone,” she said quietly, avoiding Jessica’s gaze. Someone so special she couldn’t bring herself to share her with Nashville. No, Lyric belonged back in Wyoming with her daddy.

And their song has no business here either.

Chapter Fifteen

“Come on, Lyric. Come here.” Griffin encouraged his daughter by waving his hands.

Lyric got up on all fours and rocked back and forth. He laughed at what he called her “revving her engine pose”. She crawled like crazy to the coffee table and pulled herself up. For a week she’d been about to let go and take a step, and he couldn’t wait. The faster she walked, the sooner he wouldn’t be so tied to the house. His little girl could tag behind him and he could explain the world to her.

So many exciting things to teach her, such as how to keep her fingers flat when feeding a horse a carrot. Or where the whippoorwills hid their nests.

He wished he could explain why Nola hadn’t taken his call that night months ago or bothered to call him back, as he’d requested in the voice message.

He passed his hand over his face, wishing he could wipe the pain from his heart. While he sat in Needle’s Pass pining over her, she was probably having the time of her life in Nashville.

Hell, he hoped that was the case. He just wished she hadn’t forgotten about him so thoroughly.

Lyric dug her toes into the carpet and launched forward. For a precarious moment he thought she might do a face dive. But she gave an excited whoop of laughter and shot toward him.

He held out his hands. “Come on! You’re doin’ it! What a good girl.”

Her hair was getting thicker, and he’d been experimenting with a tiny ponytail on top of her head. It stuck straight up, and everyone who saw it smiled a little bigger. The new nanny had oohed and aahed over it.

The woman was in her sixties, a grandma whose grandbabies lived halfway across the world, part of a military family. Tessa had taken over Lyric’s care without a bat of an eye. No instruction from Griffin was necessary.

Recalling those first days with Nola made his heart pang. He looked into his daughter’s happy eyes and tried to imagine what it would be like for Lyric to grow up with a woman in her life. It was only a matter of time before his fumbling efforts at a ponytail no longer did the trick.

The baby was two short-legged steps from his open arms, but she came to a dead stop in order to pick a piece of lint off the carpet. She plopped onto her behind, pinched the fuzz between thumb and forefinger and directed it right at her mouth.

“Nooo.” He tried to get it, but she was too quick and popped it into her mouth. “You know what this means, don’t ya? You’re getting the finger sweep you hate.” He dug through her mouth for the lint, and she squirmed and grew red-faced. “If you don’t like it, quit eating stuff off the floor.” Between him and Tessa, they were vacuuming daily, but it wasn’t enough. No lint was safe when Lyric was in the room.

“Oh there’s my precious girl,” his ma said from the doorway between kitchen and living room.

He looked up and gave her a crooked grin. She was improving. Not healed, but so much better. Living on her own again, doing for herself. Just being on her feet again made her stronger, it seemed.

Hooking an arm around Lyric’s middle, he swept her off the floor and gained his feet in one fluid motion. Lyric saw her nana and flapped like a baby bird about to fly the nest.

They shared a laugh, and for a moment, it was enough. Not having a mother figure was all right. Lyric would be okay.

“Come to Nana.”

Griffin held Lyric like an airplane and swooped her close to his ma’s hands. When his mother tried to catch her, he pulled back and Lyric giggled. It was a game they played, and one Lyric couldn’t get enough of.

“Get over here, you flying baby,” his ma scolded, eyes sparkling.

Griffin passed her close. His ma’s fingers trailed over the baby just before he snatched her away. In the kitchen, the radio he’d forgotten was turned on switched songs.

And his heart stopped.

He almost dropped Lyric, and she squealed.

“Son?” His ma’s concerned tone made him get a grip.

He tucked Lyric close to his body and ran into the kitchen. He reached for the radio and cranked up the volume. Nola’s throaty tones reverberated through his kitchen, and she was singing his song.

His ma plastered a hand to her mouth. “Oh my God.”

“It’s her. And my song.” He could have repeated it ten times and still not get the meaning. Just hearing her goddamned voice made him want to jump that cliff again.

Or storm Nashville with a ring in hand.

And a paddling in mind.
Damn her for taking that song!

As Nola’s voice dipped and grew fainter, invoking more emotion into the ending of the song than he’d ever dreamed possible, he couldn’t deny it was perfect coming from her lips.

Except it was his song, crooned to her during lovemaking. And for Lyric. He could sing it for his ma too. Hell, the song was for every woman in his life he loved.

He didn’t know much about the music industry, but for her to have that song recorded and already hitting the airwaves, she must have been discovered pretty damn quickly.

Maybe that’s why she didn’t call back. She was knee-deep in her music. His heart jerked with hope.

He turned his gaze to his ma. She returned his stare, obviously as shocked as he was.

“You have to go, Griffin. The fact that you love that girl is written all over you. I’ve never seen you…” She swallowed hard and smiled. “Just go.”

“I’ll take Lyric.”

“Yes. It’s only right.”

A grin spread over his face, and joy poured into his veins, shooting him into motion. “Help me pack.”

“Of course. But give me that little airplane.” His mother echoed his excitement.

He planted a noisy kiss on Lyric’s head before gliding her outward. The baby’s squealed in delight as his ma snagged her out of the air.

The instant the bell on the door of the boot shop announced Griffin’s arrival, Molly was bearing down on him. As soon as she saw it was him though, panic crossed her face.

Yeah, Nola’s success wasn’t a surprise to her sister.

Griffin pulled the ring box from his pocket and snapped it open as Molly came to stop before him. Her gaze flickered from him to the ring, and she sucked in a breath.

“I need her address.”

“You heard the song.”

He nodded. “I don’t know whether to put her over my knee for stealing that song—”

“Stealing?” Molly’s voice raised in pitch.

“Yeah. That song’s mine. I wrote it.”

“Oh.” Molly deflated before his eyes.

“Give me her address.”

She glanced at the ring again. It was a platinum band with a fat white diamond solitaire flanked by two pink diamonds. He’d taken one look at it and envisioned it on his girl’s hand.

When Molly hesitated another heartbeat, he snapped the ring box shut. “Fine. I’ll find her on my own. Can’t be that hard now that she’s famous.” He swung away.

“Hold on,” Molly called to his back. “Let me write it down.”

He trailed her to the counter, where she pulled out a slip of paper and jotted down the address from her phone display.

Meeting her gaze, he accepted the paper from her. “Thank you.” His words were infused with genuine gratitude. He pocketed the paper and the ring.

“Wait. You’re gonna take the baby with you, right?”

“I’m planning on it, why?”

She pushed a thick lock of red hair behind her ear in the same gesture Nola used, and his heart flexed. “I just think it’s best. She’s in love with your little girl as much as she’s in love with you, Griffin. Once she’s faced with both of you, she won’t be able to turn you down.”

He grinned so wide his cheeks ached. And he kept on grinning all the way to his truck parked in the street, then up the long, snaking road to Needle’s Pass. There he gathered two bags of luggage and his infant daughter, gave his ma a kiss goodbye and headed to the airport.

To Nola.

Flicking her hands to rid herself of nerves, Nola cast a look over the park. This outdoor concert wasn’t her first, but lordy, there were a lot of people. Only a few snatches of lawn were visible between the bodies, and a few people even sat in the branches of trees.

All here for me
. That song had hurled her right onto the charts. She was currently sitting at number five, but it changed hourly. Jessica took it upon herself to text Nola with updates.

As she scanned the crowd and the band that was now officially hers, it was impossible not to realize the magnitude of her accomplishment.

It was Griffin’s song that put me here though
. Had he heard it on the radio yet? He often kept the radio on in the kitchen. His love of music was just one more thing she adored about him.

Four months away, and her heart still beat for him. In the days since being discovered, she’d met the hottest men in Nashville. Country music artists, music executives, videographers. She had a bodyguard with muscles any girl would drool over.

But Nola longed for a cowboy daddy.

She flicked her fingers again.

“You’re on in five,” the stage manager told her. She nodded.

Weather permitting, these concerts in the park were one of the highlights in Nashville. Yesterday she’d come down to watch—then meet—an artist she’d only once dreamed of seeing. Now she was about to stand in the same spot as that Country Music Award-winner.

Her heart throbbed faster. She wasn’t opening with “One Lyric”. No, she had four other songs to ramp up the crowd with, then she’d lay the ballad out for a grand ending.

“Two minutes, Nola.”

She dragged a deep breath into her lungs and bounced on her blue boots. In the past few weeks, she’d grown more and more accustomed to being primped and dolled up for the public. Bryant had hired a stylist to dress her. She’d eaten at restaurants where she had no idea which fork to use first but had learned in no time.

Still, she longed for a big old rack of ribs she could pick up and sink her teeth into. She wished she hadn’t missed Reedy’s annual summer days, including a parade and a picnic in the high school football field. How would it have felt to put her hand into Griffin’s and let him lead her around from booth to booth, buy her cotton candy and then kiss it from her lips?

“Break a leg, Nola.”

She surged forward to the cheers of the crowd. Up front Jessica and Bryant stood smiling. She gave them a nod and strode right to the microphone. As she looped the guitar strap over herself, a sudden case of the jitters struck her.