Falling for Mister Wrong (21 page)

She slumped on the couch, the previous
night’s lack of sleep catching up with her, until finally the dizzy
spirals of her thoughts sank into a restless sleep, plagued by
nightmares of Carnegie Hall, filled with hundreds and hundreds of
Daniels, all applauding wildly and telling her she was happy and it
would all be okay, as she played until her fingers broke against
the keys, bent and mangled.

She woke with a jolt, holding her hands up in
horror until the dream cleared enough for her to recognize the
nightmare for what it was.

Sunlight streamed through the windows,
painting her apartment in morning, and a low knocking came from her
door. Caitlyn stumbled to her feet, smoothing her slept-in clothes
and made her way to the door. The peep hole showed Will and her
heart leapt wildly before she firmly informed it that he was pissed
at her and had been a total jerk about the TMZ thing.

She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and
cracked open the door, squinting up at him dubiously.

“I’m a dickhead.” His expression was abjectly
repentant. “I’m sorry I freaked about the TMZ thing. I tried
calling, but your voicemail box is full.”

She let the door open a little more. “I’m
sorry you got caught up in the show drama.”

He shrugged. “You’re worth it.”

And just like that her heart rolled over in
her chest.
Still off-limits, dummy
, she told it. She may or
may not still be engaged to Daniel, but she was still absolutely
forbidden from having relationships for another six weeks.

“Have people been staring at you as much as
they’ve been staring at me?” he asked.

“I’ve been hiding,” she admitted. “Is it
bad?”

“You’d be amazed how many people want selfies
with me now. I think half of them didn’t even recognize me, they
just saw other people wanting pictures and jumped on the bandwagon.
I’m the most popular guy on the mountain.”

She groaned. “I’m so sorry—”

“I know. Look, yesterday was nuts so I traded
some shifts to clear my schedule today. Give it some time to die
down. I was thinking of ditching my phone and skipping town for the
day. I wouldn’t mind some company. Wanna get out of here?”

“God, yes.” She flung the door open all the
way, not caring if he saw at her rumpled, slept-in worst as long as
they could escape. “Give me five minutes to get dressed.”

Chapter
Twenty-Four

Caitlyn leaned her shoulder against the
passenger door and sighed, eyeing Will as he drove, tension she
hadn’t realized she was holding releasing. “How do you always know
exactly what I need? I was just thinking about how badly I want to
escape my life right now and poof, there you are with a plan to do
just that.”

Will shrugged, steering his Jeep down the
winding road toward the main highway. “Just my natural genius, I
guess. Though my sisters will probably want to take credit. They
like to claim responsibility for the fact that I am a
sensitive
man
.” He jerked his chin at the road sign ahead. “What do you
think? East or west? Vegas or Florida?”

“I appreciate the ambition, but I do have to
be back for my lessons on Monday.”

He grimaced. “Yeah, and I was only able to
swing one day off. I guess it’s just Grand Junction, then.” He
pointed the Jeep west.

Caitlyn leaned against the window, letting
the chill of the glass seep into the skin of her arm even as the
warm air from the vents blew her hair back from her face. They were
only fifteen minutes from home and already she felt lighter, freer.
No cameras, no comebacks, no one staring. Just her, Will, and the
road disappearing beneath the tires.

She only felt bad that her messy life had
spilled over into Will’s and made him into a fugitive as well.

“I’m really sorry about all this.”

“Did you arrange for those pictures to be
taken?”

“Of course not.”

“Did you want to be gossiped about from
Sacramento to Savannah?”

“No, obviously, but—”

“Then it isn’t your fault. I lost my shit the
other night, but it was more because I found out about the first
article from my ex than because of what it implied about us. I
shouldn’t have gone off on you like that.”

“This is the ex-fiancé?”

“Yeah. It’s no excuse, but it was definitely
a trigger. Six months later and the sound of her voice still makes
me want to spit nails.”

Caitlyn studied his profile, the way his hair
flopped over his forehead. “Are you still in love with her?”

He laughed, shooting her a look out of the
corner of his eye. “Don’t hold back, Caitlyn. Ask me anything.”

“Sorry. It’s the reality television. I feel
like I have the right to everyone’s secrets now.” She said it
flippantly, but it was a bald-faced lie and they both knew it.
She’d asked him because he was Will, and even though they’d only
known each other a few weeks—not even a month—she felt like she
could ask him anything. They were just
easy
with each
other.

And she knew she hadn’t offended him with the
question. Just startled him.

“No,” he said finally. “I’m not in love with
her anymore. I’m angry with her, but it’s because it feels like she
stole the life we planned right out from under me not because I’m
harboring some secret desire to win her back. Honestly, I can’t
imagine getting back together with her now.”

“Does she want you back?”
Because what
woman wouldn’t?
“Is that why she called when she saw you on
TMZ?”

“No. Nothing like that. We have a… legal
issue.”

“Like an annulment?”

“No. We never got as far as a ceremony. But I
did buy us a house. Which she now lives in. With my ex-best friend.
And since I’m not going to get raise my kids there, it seemed
reasonable to me that they should buy me out of my down payment.
They disagreed. Now our lawyers are disagreeing. And it looks like
they’re going to lose, so she’s trying to ‘work something out’ with
me.”

“So when you said she stole the life you
wanted out from under you—”

“I pretty much meant literally, yeah. I moved
in below you so I wouldn’t have to be a twenty-eight year old
living with his parents.” He hooked his wrist over the wheel,
surprisingly casual for one talking about his broken heart. “Hey,
speaking of the chalet, did Les talk to you?”

“Les, the landlord? Last time I spoke with
him he said he’d take care of Dale’s bill. I haven’t heard anything
else. Why?”

“Apparently the insurance company is dicking
him around and he’s decided it’s too much of a hassle to own a
rental property. He called me to see if I wanted to buy the place.
I figured he’d do the same for you.”

“He might have. I had my phone off most of
yesterday.” Her head whirled with the heady idea of buying her
place. She’d never owned anything. Never had anywhere that was
entirely
hers
. Yes, her mother had lived in the same Upper
East Side apartment for years, but Caitlyn had spent most of those
years traveling and it had never felt like home.

When she’d first moved to Tuller Springs, she
hadn’t wanted to buy. She’d had the money, but she’d hoped she
would buy her first house
with
someone—kind of like Will had
before it blew up in his face. Now…

Daniel, Will… her love life had never been
more complicated and her future more uncertain – so why was the
idea of buying her place and slamming down some roots suddenly so
appealing?

“Do you want to buy it?” she asked Will.

“Not particularly,” Will admitted. “I can’t
afford it until I get my money back on the other house, and even if
I could, the lower level has a little bit of a dungeon thing going
on. Your apartment is all sunshine and happiness, but mine is like
something out of an Indiana Jones movie—all doom and darkness. What
about you?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.” She grinned. “Don’t
worry. I’d be a good landlord. I might even give you discounted
rent if you teach me to ski.”

His head whipped around, though the Jeep
stayed steady in its lane. “Tell me you’ve been skiing before.”

“A sport where I could break an arm? Not
exactly encouraged for concert pianists.”

“Oh, honey. You haven’t lived.” He grinned,
all wicked promise, and for a moment she forgot they were talking
about skiing. “I’ll take you next week. You’ll love it.”

I’ll bet I will
.

Caitlyn was grateful most of Will’s attention
was taken by the road. She didn’t think she could handle the full
force of his sex appeal aimed at her right now. She squirmed in the
seat, pointing the heater vents away from her—she was quite warm
enough on her own. She forced her attention away from the mountain
of solid muscle in the driver’s seat and toward the sharp, familiar
lines of the mountains outside the car.

Nothing to see here. Just two friends out for
a drive. Nothing to see.

But so much to feel…

#

The woman sitting in his passenger seat was
driving Will crazy. He’d been half hard for the last hour. Not that
she’d been doing anything particularly seductive. Apparently all
she had to do was sit there, with her legs tucked up under her on
the seat and her auburn curls twisting over her shoulders and he
wanted her.

Who was he kidding? All she had to do was
breathe and he wanted her.

He told himself it was because she was off
limits. Or because he’d been seduced by her music long before he
met her. He could tell himself any number of reasons, make up a
thousand excuses, but the truth was he wanted her. And there wasn’t
a damn thing he could do about it but wait.

She took the contracts she’d signed very
seriously. Until the show was over, he had to keep his hands off.
But that didn’t stop him watching her out of the corner of his eye
as they drove. She had a little half smile on her lips and her eyes
were bright and open, with none of that guarded nervousness she’d
had since the first TMZ spread hit.

This had been a good idea. A road trip to
nowhere. Something to clear his head and chase the shadows out of
her eyes.

“Do you think I’m too fragile to go bungee
jumping?” Her fingers tapped out a quick, complicated rhythm
against her thigh.

The question came out of the blue and Will
laughed, until he realized Caitlyn wasn’t smiling. “Wait, are you
serious?”

“I’m an adventurous girl. Just because I’ve
never done much of anything and I’m sort of shy doesn’t mean I’m
not brave.“

“You already know I think you’re brave. And
of course you can go bungee jumping. And sky diving and whatever
the hell else you want to do. Did someone tell you that you
couldn’t?”

She pulled a face. “I just feel like that’s
how the world sees me sometimes.” He had a feeling
the world
was code for
that dickhead on the television show
. “Like I’m
made of glass or something and I’ll shatter at the first sign of
strain. There are all these crazy adventurous dates on
Marrying
Mister Perfect
and I never got to go on any of them. I’m not
saying I wanted to jello wrestle on national television—”

Will choked, nearly swallowing his tongue at
the mental image of Caitlyn, in a bikini, dripping jello.
Dear
God
.

“I just don’t want them to be right. I don’t
want to be the kind of girl who can only survive if you keep her up
on a pedestal.”

“You aren’t that girl. They aren’t
right.”

“Are you sure?” she asked, and there was such
heartbreaking vulnerability in the question he had to do
something.

“Positive. And we’re going to prove it.” He
flashed her a wicked grin. “I have an idea.”

#

The highway-side bar had a corrugated metal
roof and cattle horns sticking out of the door. Caitlyn eyed it
dubiously. Will hadn’t told her what his idea was, but this place
looked like the kind of bar where the peanut shells were
permanently stuck to the floor thanks to the help of bodily fluids
she didn’t want to think about. Not exactly her speed.

“I’m not much of a drinker,” she murmured,
her steps slow and reluctant as they approached the door and those
long white horns, her sense of adventure tamping down somewhat. She
might want to go zip-lining, but getting in a bar fight with a
motorcycle gang was an experience she’d just as soon forgo.

Will grinned and snagged her hand. “We aren’t
here to drink.”

There was no bouncer guarding the door at
two-thirty on a Saturday afternoon. Will shouldered it open and
held it for her as the stench of the place—sweat and beer and
French fries, not
entirely
unpleasant—assaulted her
nostrils.

“Then what are we—
Oh
.”

The bar was built around three rings – two
smaller ones on either side and a giant one in the center. And in
the center of each ring was a massive mechanical bull. Two of them
were silent and stationary now, but a woman was rocking back and
forth on the smaller one to the left, laughing and flinging one arm
back and forth.

It looked jarring and uncomfortable… and
completely outside her comfort zone. And
fun
.

Caitlyn swallowed. “I’ll have that drink
now.”

Will grinned.

#

“You hold on here.”

“Here,” Caitlyn echoed, squeezing with a
white-knuckled grip.

“If you’re falling, don’t try to fight it,
just let yourself slide right down to the pads.”

“The pads,” she repeated, nodding
jerkily.

She was doing this. Caitlyn Gregg, child
prodigy who might as well have
reserved
as her middle name,
was straddling the padded back of a mechanical bull in a virtually
abandoned honky tonk outside Grand Junction. She might have lost
her mind.

She lifted her head and her eyes locked on
Will, draped over the rail, a little smile quirking his lips as he
watched. When he caught her gaze, he winked, broader smile
flashing, and gave her a thumbs up.