Rock Star Kisses (Romance on the Ranch Book 6) (11 page)

All Sean wanted to do was get some shuteye. He'd
been back on the tour scene for over a week and he was exhausted. Today he was
in Dallas, tomorrow he'd be in El Paso, after that, he knew all the major
cities would be in the mix: Phoenix, San Diego, L.A., Sacramento, San
Francisco, Portland, Seattle, and then off to the east coast. His head was
pounding just thinking about it. He had to keep reminding himself that he had
less than a year to go until freedom. Of course, with Tessa out of the picture,
his future still didn't look bright. What the hell was he going to do? As much
as he loved Paxtonville, he couldn't imagine living there and seeing her. She'd
probably marry Preston and the two of them would ride off into the sunset
together.

The guys in the band were milling around the
sitting room in his suite and he wished they'd just leave. They were rehashing
the night's performance and talking about some of the hot girls. He said
evenly, "Hey, guys, as much as I hate to break up the party, I'm going to
bed. See you–"

Mark stepped into the room. "Oh, boy, have
I got a groupie to die for! Wait 'til you see her. She said she only wants to
see Sean, but maybe we can change her mind. I might even turn monogamous for
this one."

All eyes turned from Mark to Sean. Sean was so
angry he couldn't see straight. He shouted, "How many fucking times do I
have to tell you I don't do group–"

Tessa walked into the room.

Sean's mouth dropped open and Mark sniggered,
"What Sean? Have you changed your mind?"

Sean shot warning glances to all the guys and
said, "Get out! Now!"

Although they tried to act mad, the affect was
ruined when they couldn't stop grinning.

Finally, he was alone with Tessa. He couldn't
breathe and he was afraid to hope. His brilliant first line was, "What are
you doing here?" She looked so pretty and sexy that he had to hold himself
back from begging her to reconsider marrying him.

She twisted her hands in front of her. "I
enjoyed the concert."

"Did you have a good seat?"

"Not really. I was about halfway
back."

"You should have let me know you were
coming. I would have made sure you were in the front row or you could have
watched from backstage."

She twisted her hands some more.

He couldn't stand it any longer. "Why are
you here, Tessa?"

Her beautiful green eyes stared directly into
his heart, like always, and he held his breath.

"Because I love you and I want you to give
me another chance."

That was all he needed to hear. In a moment of
time, his life had just skyrocketed from zero to infinity. He was across the
room and pulling her into his arms before her next breath. He buried his face
against her neck and said, "I love you so much, Tessa. I'm sorry for the
way I just left. I should have stayed and talked with you some more. I should
have–"

She stopped his rant when she planted her lips
on his. She kissed him long and deep and he wanted to sink into her softness.
She pulled back and said, "You were right to leave. I was being an idiot
and believe it or not, it was Preston who made me see the light. I'm here
because of him, and also my dad."

Sean must have looked confused because she said,
"I'll explain it all later. Right now, I just want to be with you."

He studied her flushed cheeks and understood.
"Oh, baby, those are the sweetest words I've ever heard." Holding his
hands on either side of her face, he kissed the corners of her mouth, her eyes,
her pert nose, her forehead, and finally her dimple, before slowly walking her
backward toward the bedroom. Inside, he kicked the door shut and said,
"We're never going to forget this night."

Much later, Tessa breathed in Sean's scent,
snuggled closer, and said in a trembling voice, "I'm ready to talk about
some things if you want to listen?"

He wrapped his arms tightly around her and put
his chin on her head. "I'm always ready to listen to whatever you have to
say."

She didn't want to cry, but the tears came
anyway. "I've done a lot of thinking since you left and I need to share
some things that I've kept bottled up."

"You can tell me anything, Tessa."

"Okay, here goes." She inhaled a long
breath. "I've tried to understand what drove me to Jared when he was
always so cruel to me, and I just can't. And what's worse, I keep wondering why
he was drawn to me after high school. Is there something about me that says, 'Hey,
I like abuse; I'll be your punching bag'?"

She felt Sean's breath on her temple as he moved
his mouth to kiss her cheek.

"You know, Tessa, the first time I saw you
and talked to you, I thought you were the sweetest and prettiest girl I had
ever met. And every year when I returned for visits with my family, you were
the first person I wanted to see." He lifted her chin until their eyes
met. "There is absolutely
nothing
about you that cries out for
abuse."

"Then what happened? Why did I marry him
and why did he want to marry me?"

"Baby, I don't know if there are answers to
those questions, but if I were to speculate, I'd say that you have an innate
desire to help others and you knew Jared needed help. And if you'd always been
attracted to him, it stands to reason you'd fall for him when he fell for you.
And I have no doubt he fell for you, hard. He probably knew that if anyone
could save him, you could, and I'm just betting he's kicking himself right now
for losing you."

He brushed her lips with his. "Perhaps
there's something in his past that makes him so angry he physically lashes out.
I'm not excusing him; I'm just trying to make you see that it wasn't you."

Tessa stared into Sean's eyes, so dark and
fathomless in the meager light slanting through a crack in the drapes.
"You know," she whispered, "it wasn't always bad. He had his
moments and things were good for a few months. He even apologized for the names
he'd called me in school. But then he started to change. We were living in
Denver and he was trying to balance work and school, and his parents kept
trying to get us to return to Paxtonville, but he told me he'd dreamed of
moving away from there for as long as he could remember. Although he never said
anything openly, he hinted that his dad was a bully. It was after he lost his
job at the sporting goods store that things got bad. It seemed that I could
never please him. I told him everything would work out just fine and that we
could live on my paycheck and savings until he found another job, but after two
weeks of applying everywhere and getting nowhere, he slapped me for the first
time." She sobbed, "I couldn't believe it. And then he apologized,
but then it happened again. I kept making excuses for him until I got so scared
I went to a shelter just to talk to someone. The counselor told me I should
leave until he sought help, but I just couldn't. I kept remembering how happy
we had been the first few months." She started crying huge sobs. "I
should have listened because the next day he was so mad he punched me with his
fists and I fell on the ground. Then he kicked me and then–" She gulped
for air. "Then he raped me."

Now she felt like she couldn't breathe and she
gasped for air. Sean shot off the bed and she heard him in the bathroom. He
returned and knelt over her, rubbing a cool cloth along her face and shoulders.
He kept repeating, "You're okay, baby. You're okay, baby. No one's ever
going to hurt you again. You needed to talk about this so you could heal."

Finally, she sucked air into her burning lungs,
and then more air. Sean pulled her upward into his arms and said such loving
words it made her wonder what she had ever done to deserve such a sweet man.

When her breathing was normal, she said weakly,
"Thank you, Sean. I don't think I could have told anyone about this but
you."

She felt him grin against her face. "Do you
know what this moment is?"

She shook her head.

"It's the beginning of your healing."

"Sean, I can feel it. I don't hate Jared
anymore and I don’t love him, either. I just feel sorry for him and I hope he
gets help."

"And you're not berating yourself any
longer?" he questioned.

She moved her head so she could stare into his
eyes. "No. I'm not. Something my dad helped me understand is that the
heart can't be fenced. Even though we try to bend it to our will and make
choices for it based on what our head says, the heart will do what the heart wants."

Softly, he asked, "And what does your heart
want, Tessa?"

Her answer was simple. "To love you."

A bumpy flight to L.A. International and then a
long line at the rental car check-out had Preston in a funk. He hated flying and
he hated standing in line. He also hated traffic and, of course, he hit the
evening rush hour. By the time he found Freckles' uncle's house by following
the rental car's GPS, he was fuming. Why the hell did the woman just up and
leave? Why couldn't she at least have had the courtesy to tell him off in
person so he could explain himself?

Her uncle's home was in an average neighborhood
and Preston knew she was staying there. A week earlier an internet search had located
the uncle and he'd asked Midge to call, pretending to be a customer. They had
blocked the phone number so Freckles didn't know where the call was originating
from. When she'd asked where her potential customer lived, Midge had said Long
Beach, and then held the phone to her car radio, turned up the sound of fuzz,
and pretended their call was breaking up to prevent more questions. Preston was
impressed by the woman's ability to deceive so easily.

There were so many cars parked on Freckles'
street he had to park a block away and walk back to the house, which made him
even angrier. He pounded on the door and a rotund man with bright red hair answered.
Preston said, "Ah, yes. I'm looking for Freckles."

"What do you want with her?"

"I have several dogs that I need to hire
her to walk."

"Several?"

"Yes. I'm in the business of caring for
animals."

"What business is that?"

The man's questions were irritating. "I'm a
vet."

"So don't you have people who work for you
that can walk them?"

Preston narrowed his eyes. "Yes, but
Freckles comes highly recommended."

"By who?"

Preston ground his back teeth. He was about to
invent another answer when he heard Freckles call, "Who is it, Red? Anyone
for me?"

Red yelled, "It's some guy who says he's a
vet and has a passel of animals he wants you to walk. I don't know if I trust
him."

Suddenly, the door was slammed shut and Preston
heard the lock click. Freckles was looking through the small window at the top
of the door and she wasn't happy. Although her words were muffled, he could
tell by the way she mouthed them that she was calling him all kinds of crummy
names.

Now he was
really
pissed. "Open the
goddamn door, Freckles!"

She slowly mouthed the words, "I'm calling
the police."

He jerked out his phone and held it up to the
window, shouting, "Here, use my phone!"

From the tall window beside the door, her chubby
uncle had pulled the drape aside and was watching him with a cross between horror
and fascination. He kept glancing between Preston outside and Freckles inside.

Preston spread his legs in a wide stance and
folded his arms across his chest. Maybe that would make her realize he wasn't
going anywhere.

Suddenly, the door was jerked open and Freckles
took up the same stance. They glared at each other and then she said,
"Cowboy, you can just get on your horse and gallop out of here. I don't do
cowboys anymore—ever! You could grovel on your knees and it wouldn't change my
mind. You're a lowdown, no good, lying womanizer!"

"Are you finished?" he asked calmly.

"No. I'm just getting started."

"Tessa is not my dream girl. At one time
she was, but not since I met you. I never told you about her because there was
never anything to tell. She was my teenage fantasy that lasted into
adulthood."

"It doesn't matter because I'm nothing like
your dream woman. I eat like a horse and never gain weight, so I'll probably
always be skinny. I'm not shy and sweet like Tessa. I don't have any dimples
except on my bu–. And I hate monster trucks. So there. Get in your rental car,
or is it a truck, and get the hell out of Dodge."

He moved his gaze sideways to see Red still in
the window watching them, but now wearing a grin. Preston shook his head, stared
back at Freckles, and said, "Victoria Amelia Genevieve Martinique, will
you marry me and add one more name to your repertoire?"

Freckles unfolded her arms, lifted a thumbnail to
chew on it, and said, "Okay."

Sean finished his first song and after the roar
of the crowd died down, he said, "As most of you are aware, this is my
last concert."

For several minutes there were boos from the audience.
Finally, he was able to speak above the unhappy voices. "Later tonight, I'll
be turning the mic over to Lanny Arias, the band's
fantastic
new lead singer.
In fact, as you already know, Endangered Species' latest song is performed by
Lanny, and it's moving up the charts fast. But for tonight, I'm going to sing
the song for a special reason; I wrote it for my beautiful wife, Tessa. And even
though Tessa and I have only been married six months, we've known each other
since our teens, and I have to tell you, she's the best thing that ever
happened to me.

The crowd roared and applauded.

"I also want to thank all my fans who have
been so welcoming to my wife and for the awesome gifts and cards you've
sent."

There was more applause.

"So, maybe I should bring Tessa
onstage?"

The crowd went wild.

Sean grinned. "Yeah, that's how I feel
about her, too" He motioned offstage. "Come on, honey. This song is
nothing without you."

As Tessa walked across the platform, Sean's
heart burst with pride. She looked beautiful, but petrified, and when she
reached him, he bent and kissed her cheek.

The crowd cheered!

He said, "Tessa is shy and she only came
onstage because I wanted the world to meet the woman who rocks my world."

When the crowd started shouting "Tessa…Tessa…"
her eyes widened and Sean laughed. He said, "Honey, do you have anything
you want to say?" He held the microphone toward her and winked.

She winked back and said into the mic. "You're
in trouble when you get home."

The fans loved it and changed their chant to
"You're in trouble…you're in trouble."

Everyone in the band was laughing as Tessa
headed back offstage and the drummer did a roll that ended with the clang of a
cymbal.

Sean lifted the microphone close to his mouth while
watching his wife walk away, grinned, and said, "Promise?" He set the
mic in its stand.

Suddenly, he lifted one hand and pointed to the
drummer, who hit another roll to start the band's latest hit. The bass thumped
some really low notes and Mark, the lead guitarist, came in with a rift. The
keyboardist and rhythm guitarist joined in and Sean did a short lead duo with
Mark. The music mellowed and he sang
Heaven for Me.
When he reached the
chorus, the audience joined in.

She's the gal I've
always known came from heaven just for me.

Oh, how can I make an
angel believe…how can I make an angel believe…

In the beautiful family
we were meant to be.

After the last chorus ended amidst applause and
shouting, Sean leaned close to the microphone and said, "Thank you, Tessa,
for sharing your life with me."