“Or it’ll look like a pissed off woman fighting back.”
A nervous flutter starts low in my belly. I’ve never done this on my own. When I signed my first contract, I was a small-town nobody playing in downtown dive bars, auditioning for the occasional reality TV show until I got a lucky break. In hindsight, maybe it wasn’t luck. Maybe the label executive who showed up to open mic night saw a naive girl who could be easily manipulated.
I lean forward and pinch the bridge of my nose. “Is it worth the risk?”
“Only one way to find out,” Abby says, clearly amused by my dilemma.
She’s always been my voice of reason. If she thinks we should do it, I’ll trust her judgment. “I have to go back to Nashville.”
“Yep. Time for your comeback, babe.”
I follow the well-worn path down the front steps to find Liam exactly where I expected him to be. My mind travels back to ten years ago, when he sat beside me on the tailgate with my battered guitar, writing the song that set all of these events into motion.
He almost kissed me that night. I wish he had. Maybe we wouldn’t have wasted ten years.
“I have to go back,” I murmur.
“I know.” He wraps his jacket around my shoulders and tugs me closer.
His warmth envelopes me as the cool air whispers across my cheeks. Quiet moments like this make it so much harder to leave.
I lean my head on his shoulder and inhale his woodsy scent. “I wish we could stay like this forever,” I whisper. “Maybe stop time for a little while.”
He turns his head and kisses my hair. “The world needs Ruby Lynn Hayes. I can wait. Even if it might actually kill me.”
I let out a humorless laugh, but inside, part of me is breaking. I’m torn between the people I love and the career that fulfills me. “Long distance isn’t the worst thing in the world. People do it all the time.” The words are hollow at best. Everything feels meaningless when I can’t have my cake and eat it too.
Liam winces. “Being without you when I’m on shift is fucking agony. Longer than that and I might not survive.”
“I’ll only be an hour away. You can drive down for a visit whenever you want. Bring Aiden. I know some great places for kids.”
“And what about when you’re on tour?”
I shift until I’m straddling his lap. He leans back on his hands and gazes up at me.
“Just imagine all the fun we could have.” I smirk and trail my palm down his abs. “You on one side of the country, me on the other. Just our words and our hands. Almost like that first time.”
I infuse my voice with a sensual undertone, and his cock stiffens beneath my ass. I can almost see his mind replaying memories from the day he walked in on me pleasuring myself. It was one of the single hottest experiences of my life.
“If you don’t want me to fuck you right now, I suggest you stop talking,” he says gruffly.
I rock my hips against him.
“Ruby…” My name is a warning, but I take it as a challenge and do it again.
He palms my ass and flips our positions faster than I can register the movement.
“You know better than to tempt me when we’re outside where anybody can see us.” He hovers above me, his lips barely a breath away from mine. “I’m starting to think you like getting caught.”
I reach a hand between us and palm his erection. “Maybe I do.”
“Fuck, baby. We can’t.”
He sits up and pulls me with him. “I’m gonna miss the hell out of you, you know that?”
I cradle his jaw between my palms. “Me too. But we’ve done this before. Maybe we weren’t together then, but it still felt like I was missing a part of myself.”
“I wish I’d known you felt that way. Fuck. How many years have we wasted?”
