Music of the Heart(46)
I think my mouth dropped so far open it banged against the table at him once again giving me such a heartfelt apology. Just when I thought I couldn’t get any more shocked, he continued on. “You’ve been nothing but caring and compassionate to me even when I didn’t deserve it. And trust me when I say it, that I really and truly am sorry.”
“Thank you. I appreciate it.”
“So are we good? No hard feelings and all that?”
I laughed. “You believe in instant forgiveness and no grudges, huh?”
“Not exactly, but I hope you won’t hold what happened against me for long.”
“I’ll try, okay? I mean, you just can’t act the way you did to me and expect me to fall into your waiting arms.”
His brows furrowed. “I can’t?”
“Um, no, it doesn’t work that with me. Maybe with your harem of female admirers, but I’m different.”
“You can say that again,” he murmured. As his spoon scraped across the bottom of his bowl, I rose up to get him some more. “No, I’m good.”
“Are you sure?”
He smiled. “Don’t want to overdo it.”
I laughed. “I would think even two spoonfulls was overdoing it, but I don’t know your body, right?”
When Jake widened his eyes slightly, I knew I had made a mistake even innocently mentioning his body.
“Listen, I need to ask you something else about earlier.” My breath caught at the thought of even remotely revisiting what happened before. “Did I say something embarrassing to you before I puked and passed out?”
“Jake—”
His blue eyes blazed with emotion when he finally met my gaze. “I remember some of it. I know I said I wanted to fuck you, but didn’t I say something else? Something more…heartfelt, I hope?”
“Yes,” I whispered.
“What was it?” he prompted.
Somehow I remembered everything he had told me verbatim, so I repeated it. Jake’s eyes widened, and he sucked in a sharp breath. “But don’t worry about the wanting someone-like-me-to-love-you part. I mean, I know you were drunk,” I quickly added. I popped out of my seat like a Jack-In-The-Box and grabbed his bowl. After hustling over to the kitchen, I put it in the sink and turned on the water.
I gasped when Jake’s body pressed into my back. “Angel,” he murmured, his breath hot against my neck. I shivered in spite of the heat. “I meant every word of what I said—the good and the bad.”
Spinning around, I stared into his eyes. When I saw the sincerity in them, my heartbeat accelerated. “You did?”
“Yes, I really want to have sex while you’re wearing cowboy boots,” he deadpanned.
I laughed in spite of myself. I knew for someone like Jake, all the feelings stuff was getting too intense for him, and he needed to lighten it. “That’s good to know, but sadly, I don’t see it happening any time soon.”
“Bummer,” he replied. He reached over to sweep a lock of hair out of my face. Once he pinned it behind my ear, he smiled.
The sound of my phone ringing brought me out of the moment. When I glanced at the Facetime request, I grimaced. “Sorry. I have to take this.”
“Your parents?”
“No, it’s the guy opening for my brothers. We’re supposed to be singing a duet my first night and throughout the tour.”
“Hmm,” was Jake’s reply.
As my thumb reluctantly slid across the button, I plastered a smile to my face. “Hey Garrett.”
His smiling image reflected back at me. In some ways, Garrett reminded me of a late 20’s version of Justin Bieber, although he was a lot more talented. “Hey beautiful. How’s it going?”
“Good thanks. You?”
“Just ‘good’ is all I get? I mean, your brothers told me all about your little adventure on Runaway Train’s bus.”
I laughed. “Yeah, I’m sure they did. I’m kinda the family black sheep at the moment.”
“You’re kinda my black sheep too. I mean, I’m going to be denied precious rehearsal time with you for our duet.”
I gasped. “Oh no! I totally forgot about that. I’m so sorry. Listen if you don’t think I’ll be ready, I don’t have to do it.”
Garrett chuckled. “Abby, I’m only teasing you. I know you’ll be fine if we get only one run through.”
“Oh,” I replied before exhaling in relief.
“I’m just bummed I miss out on all that time with you.”
As my cheeks warmed, Jake muttered, “Douchebag,” under his breath.
“Excuse me?” Garrett said.