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“It’s been a wild couple of days, hasn’t it?”
Ian stepped forward, wrapping his arms around her waist and tugging her against him. “It’s certainly not what I expected when I came up here. My life is completely different driving down the mountain than it was driving up it.”
She looked at him with a smile that showcased her full pink lips and straight snow-white teeth. “Life doesn’t always turn out the way you plan. Sometimes, it turns out even better than you can imagine.”
“This is way, way better.” Ian leaned in to capture her lips with his own. Bree melted into him, every soft curve pressing against his hard angles. He wanted to pin her body to the SUV, strip off every inch of her clothing and make love to her one last time. “Can you stay just one more hour?” he murmured against her lips.
She shook her head, reluctantly pulling away. “No, I’ve got to get on the road. Yesterday I told Natalie I’d get back in time to help them break down and clean up the rest of the Conner wedding.”
“You gain an hour going back with the time change.”
Bree smiled, kissing him softly, then disentangling from his arms. “I’ve already factored that in. Sorry.”
Ian nodded. “I tried. Have fun cleaning up the reception hall.”
“I’ll see you on Thursday,” she said with a bright, encouraging smile that seemed a little forced. She didn’t seem to want to leave any more than he did.
“That’s right,” he said, nodding. “I’ll pick you up about seven Thursday night.”
“I’ll be ready. Don’t forget to take your guitar home with you,” she added. “After that party Thursday night, I want you to play for me again. This time, naked.”
Her words were meant to be a promise of a seductive night to come, but Ian felt every muscle in his body involuntarily stiffen at her words. He didn’t respond, he just smiled tightly. “Drive safely.”
Bree hugged him, then pulled away to climb into her car. He moved back to the porch, watching as she backed out and then headed down the winding road to the highway. The minute her taillights disappeared around the bend, the ache of anxiety started pooling in his stomach.
What, exactly, was he doing?
He was living in a fantasyland. Ignoring all the signs that his pleasant river cruise was about to go straight over a waterfall.
This should’ve been the end. He’d told himself he could handle this. That it was just going to be physical and everything would be fine. But now it was anything but fine. He should’ve waved goodbye to Bree and put their relationship back on the shelf where it belonged. Instead, he’d asked her to go to that party with him. He wanted her to go. He thought she’d have a good time. He was excited about the idea of seeing Bree in a slinky dress and extending this relationship beyond their time here in the mountains.
But that wasn’t the problem. The problem was that he was just delaying the inevitable.
They weren’t going to work out. He knew that the minute he’d laid eyes on her again. Things might seem okay when they were here in Gatlinburg, but back in Nashville it would fall apart. Because Bree didn’t want Ian Lawson, record producer. She wanted Ian Lawson, the musician. She wanted to roll the clocks back nine years and pretend that SpinTrax and everything else he’d done in his life didn’t matter.
Bree had pushed too hard. Harder than just a well-meaning person would. She’d pushed him to play. Pushed him to sing. Pushed to photograph him while he did. She’d asked him to write new songs. A moment ago, she’d asked him to play for her again on Thursday night. It was abundantly clear that Bree didn’t want him with his contracts, business meetings and A-list musical roster. She wanted the fantasy that didn’t exist, and she would do whatever she could to change and mold Ian into what she wanted.
That wouldn’t work. The ship had sailed and Ian could never return to being the idealistic musician he’d been back in school. He had been young, ignorant of the world and so excited by the potential of his future. Once all those things come crashing down around you, there’s no going back. He had grown up. He wished Bree would do the same.
With a sigh, Ian went inside and started closing up the house. He turned down the thermostat, shut doors, pulled curtains and checked locks. He quickly cleaned out the refrigerator of anything perishable and gathered up the trash in the garage so Rick could take it down to the dump later. Finally, he ran through his bedroom and bath, looking for anything left behind and then carried his bag into the entryway. He paused, looking at the guitar leaning against the wall by the front door.
Now he had to make a choice. He’d come to a fork in the road. If Bree were still here, she would needle him until it was loaded into his car. With her gone, it was only up to him. It was a tougher decision than he’d expected.
Ian was fighting with himself over wanting that same fantasy she did. It was easy to ignore his dreams when they were buried in the closet along with his guitar. At the same time, Bree spoke about his potential and his music so passionately that it made him want to believe that he could have his musical dream and his company. She insisted there was no reason he couldn’t have both.
With her miles ahead of him on the highway, the realm of possibilities was starting to crumble. It sounded like a good idea. A perfectly nice idea. Yet he knew it was impossible. His company took up so much of his time, he could barely date. Before Missy crashed into his life, he hadn’t had a date in months.
How could he possibly manage working at SpinTrax, dating Bree and rebooting his musical career? It was impossible. At least one of the three things would suffer and he was pretty sure he couldn’t let it be his record label. A hundred people depended on that succeeding. What would that mean for his future with Bree? She wouldn’t tolerate being anything but number one on his priority list. That shoved his future in music to the bottom rung. Could he stand to play knowing it wouldn’t lead anywhere?
As if the universe were answering his question, his phone rang. It startled him, having been off for the past few days, but he’d turned it back on as they were getting ready to go. He looked down to see his talent manager’s name and number on the screen.
“Hey, Keith.”
“Looks who’s back in the land of the living. Did you enjoy losing contact with the modern world?”
Ian chuckled. He didn’t think he would, but it had been easy to pass the time with a naked, willing Bree beneath him. Who needed Candy Crush when you had that? “I needed a break and I got one. Now I’m ready to jump back into the fray.”
“Good because the fray has been anxiously waiting for your return. I don’t know if I’m a talent manager or your public relations officer. Several magazines have called looking for exclusives on your side of the Missy story. Ryan Seacrest and Howard Stern both want you to call in to their radio shows. If I were you, I’d go with Seacrest. Stern would ask a bunch of creepy questions about Missy’s sex life. I’d feel like I had to listen to support you, and I really don’t want to know.”
