Only The Beginning (Rockin' Country) (12 page)

“W
e’re heading out guys. Keep the car, we’re gonna take a cab,” Garrett told the rest of them as he helped Hannah up and put his arm around her.

“Bunch of wusses!” Bradley heckled as they turned to leave.

Garrett flipped him the bird as the two of them walked out the exit door. He had already asked the bartender to call them a cab and was pleased to see that it was waiting for them as soon as they stepped out onto the curb. Also outside was a line of people waiting to get in.

“Reaper! Harmony!”

People called out to them as he popped the back door of the cab open. Hannah was nice enough to turn and wave at everyone, he did the same. Carefully, he ushered her into the cab and told the driver where to take them. His phone buzzed in his pants, and he took it out, holding it very close to his eyes.

“Are you okay?” she asked as she saw him holding the phone so close to his face.

He blushed. “Something I haven’t told you about me. The reason I wear those sunglasses on stage?”

“Yeah?” She had always thought it was part of his onstage persona, but apparently this was something a little more personal.

“They’re prescription. I can’t see for shit.”

Hannah laughed. “Are you kidding me? I wondered why you always wore them. You don’t wear anything else?”

“Every once in a while I’ll wear contacts, but I have astigmatism, and they hurt after a while. I thought that going to the bar; it’d be a bad idea because if there’s smoke in the air, they hurt worse.”

“So you haven’t seen me at all tonight? You have no idea exactly how I look?” she asked, putting her hands on her hips.

“No, I took them out while we were driving to the club. It was dark enough in the SUV that you didn’t see me. But I didn’t have any solution, so I just threw them in the cup holder. Now I can’t see, and I’m getting all kinds of notifications. I think one is from my Mom too, damnit.”

She giggled so hard she had to grab her stomach. “This is crackin’ me up.”

“Seriously? Me not being able to see is this funny to you?”

“It’s just that,” she bit her lip and scooted over closer to him so that he could see her, “you’re this badass guy who looks like he could kill somebody if they looked at you the wrong way, and you’re telling me you can’t see. Do you wear glasses at night? Like real glasses?”

“Yeah,” he sighed. “I do have regular glasses, and I’ll be putting them on as soon as we get back to the suite. I’m starting to get a headache.”

“It’s cute,” she told him, running her hand along the back of his neck. “Really.”

His shoulders shook as he blew out a deep breath. “So much for looking like a badass, huh?”

“If it makes you feel any better, old-timer, I have glasses for when I read.”

He glanced over at her, his mouth wide open. “Old-timer? Oh my God, you’ve hurt me so much.” He held his hand over his heart. “You aren’t that much younger than me. Damn, Hannah.” He shook his head.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized as she wiped at her eyes. “That was mean and I’m sorry. You’re still sexy, even if you can’t see me.”

“Oh yeah?” He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. “There, I can see where your lips are now,” he whispered as he dove in, brushing his lips against hers.

*     *     *

“So how do I look?” Garrett asked as he walked down the stairs and into the living area of the suite.

The two of them had headed in different directions when they arrived. She’d gone to one bathroom and removed her makeup, putting her hair up in a ponytail. She debated on which pair of pajamas to wear. At Victoria’s Secret she had purchased sweatpants and a tank top as well as a nightie. Hannah had debated with herself for more than ten minutes about what she should wear. In the end, her insecurities won out, and she put the sweat pants and tank on, cursing herself the whole time.

While she waited on him, she started the fireplace and got comfortable. It was warm by the time he walked down and faced her, modeling his glasses.

“You look distinguished,” she told him honestly. The wire-rimmed glasses gave him a little bit of a Clark Kent/Superman vibe.

He laughed when she told him so. “I’d much rather have a Bruce Wayne/The Dark Knight vibe.”

“Why does that not surprise me?” she grinned, moving her feet so that he could sit next to her on the couch.

“I am who I am,” he shrugged, checking his phone as it went off. “Hell, it’s my mom. If I don’t answer this, she’s just going to keep calling.”

She waved her hand that she was fine with it and grabbed her own phone, she had a ton of notifications from the picture she had posted with him before going out for the night. Reception seemed to be pretty good among both her and his fans. There were quite a bit of new followers on her Instagram, and she had a couple of private messages on some of her accounts. One of them was from a Marie Thompson. She wondered if this woman was related to Garrett. To the side, she could hear his conversation; she would have to ask him later.

“Hey mom.” He smiled indulgently over at Hannah, making a talking motion with his hand.

“What?” he asked, holding the phone away from his ear. “Where’d you hear that from?”

Hannah couldn’t hear the other side of the conversation, but she could tell his mom was giving him an earful.

“She’s here with me right now. Trust me we aren’t shacking up at the moment. Right now I’m on the phone with you. You’re cockblocking my game.”

Hannah smacked him in the arm. “I can’t believe you just said to your mother.”

He laughed, putting his mom on speaker phone. “She’s used to me, right mom?”

“Unfortunately, I am used to you. I take it this is Harmony?”

“Her name’s Hannah. I thought I told you that,” he told her, holding the end of the phone up towards his mouth.

“You might have, but let’s be honest, son. You tell me a little bit of what you want me to know and then a lot of BS. I have to figure out what’s the truth and what’s not.”

“What can I say?” He looked over at Hannah. “She knows me so well.”

“Hopefully, I raised you with some manners,” his mom quipped over the phone.

“You did, I promise. Hannah, this is my mom, Marie Thompson. Mom this is Hannah Stewart, better known to the world as Harmony.”

“Nice to meet you,” Hannah grinned, even though the other woman couldn’t see her. She scooted over to sit next to Garrett. “Question, did you just friend me on Instagram? I have someone by that name who sent me a notification tonight.”

“I did, it’s the only way I can seem to get pictures of my son. I think he’s posted more with you in the past few days then he’s posted for the last year. I hope you don’t mind.”

Garrett interrupted. “She likes to think she’s social-media savvy.”

They ignored him. “It’s fine; you can friend me on whatever you want.”

“Be careful what you tell her. She’ll be sharing pictures of me as a baby on Throwback Thursday. She has no shame.”

“No matter how old you are, Garrett, you’re my baby,” Marie told him through the phone.

“If you don’t need anything else mom, we have an early day tomorrow. I’d like to get some shuteye.”

Hannah blushed involuntarily, she couldn’t help but think about what getting shuteye would include. They would be sleeping in the same bed. It made her just the least bit uncomfortable mentioning it in front of his mother. With Ashton, they had never spoken about anything like that in front of other people. They were never affectionate or posted any kind of pictures of each other. He always had to appear to be the single country singer turned movie star. Now she could see exactly what she had been missing. A real relationship was so much different than what she was used to, and Garrett wasn’t threatened by anything. He wasn’t scared to let others know how he felt. He really was who he was, and you either liked it or you didn’t.

“Alright, the two of you have a good time tomorrow. Garrett, you better be on good behavior, and Hannah, I can’t wait to get to know you better.”

“Me neither,” Hannah piped up from where she sat next to him.

“I will be, Momma. Love you,” he told her, his finger over the end call button.

“Love you too,” she told him before he disconnected.

“Do you always hang up on her?” Hannah pointed to the phone. “That’s not nice.”

Garrett defended himself. “Either you hang up on her or she hangs up on you. She doesn’t say ‘bye’. You’re still sittin’ there talking, and then you hear a damn dial tone. It’s become a game now. To see if I can hang up on her before she hangs up on me.”

“What if she has something else to say?”

“She’ll call back; she’s had to do it before. It’s just kind of how we are.”

“That’s so funny. You compete with your mom to see who can hang up on each other first.”

He lifted his shoulder up in a shrug. “Sometimes I’m just happy to get her off the phone. She was on good behavior tonight because you’re here.”

“Are you going to be on good behavior because I’m here?” She couldn’t believe she had just asked him that question, couldn’t believe that she flirted with him now, even though she hadn’t been able to before.

“I don’t want to, but I think I should.” He grabbed her hand and held it against his leg. “And that’s the truth. I don’t think you’re ready for what comes with me.”

“What does that mean?” she asked, enjoying the feel of his fingers as they made patterns on the palm of her hand.

She watched as he ran his tongue along his bottom lip. “I’m an intense kinda guy. I think someone like you will have to be eased into my bed,” he told her honestly.

“What do you mean intense?”

“Answer me this, what was the craziest thing you did with Ashton?”

She didn’t exactly know what he meant by that question. “I’m not sure I know what you mean.”

“That’s my answer right there. If you knew what I meant, then you would know what kind of lover I am and what kind of a man I am. I’m not going to scare you off; I’ll be patient with you,” he told her very matter-of-factly.

Just when she thought she got a bead on him, he surprised her and changed directions.

“Am I going to be able to keep you?” she asked quietly. “If we do get into this kind of relationship, who’s to say you won’t think I’m a cold fish like Ashton did.”

“I can tell just by the kisses we’ve shared and just by looking in your eyes that you’re going to be perfect for me.” He used his other hand to move behind her neck and cup her jawbone, forcing her to look him in the eyes.

“I wasn’t perfect for Ashton.”

“But you are for me. He didn’t know what to do with you. He didn’t know how to let you know what he wanted. I do.”

“You seem very sure of yourself,” she told him, not believing entirely what he said.

“I am and I haven’t been wrong when it comes to a woman yet. You’ve got it, Hannah. You just need to tap into it, and I can show you how to do that.”

She sighed heavily and let her eyes drop.

“But like I said, that’s for another night. Let’s go get that shuteye. It’ll be time to get up and have our adventure before we know it.”

His easy smile stilled her heart, but the worry that she wouldn’t be able to keep him was there too. It nagged the back of her mind, even when he pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly, pressing a kiss to her temple. Would she be able to keep this man? She just wasn’t sure.

*  *  *

“I
can’t tell you how excited I am about this.”

Garrett glanced over to the passenger side and grinned at Hannah. “I’m glad that you are. Sorry it’s so cold today. I’m not even sure that there will be anything in the zoo, but at least we’ll be able to check out the aquarium,” he told her, taking a drink of the coffee they had stopped to get.

“Either way, it doesn’t matter. I’ve never done either before,” she admitted, sitting up taller in her seat as they approached the exit for the aquarium.

It was nice to see the world through someone else’s eyes. None of the guys would ever be excited about going to a zoo or an aquarium. He had to admit because she was so looking forward to it, so was he. They pulled into the parking area, both breathing deeply as he turned the SUV off.