Getting His Way: Sapphire Falls Book Seven (10 page)

There were twelve kids signed up to audition for the show, and she really could only take eight. If she let all twelve in, the show would last forever. It had been strongly encouraged—by people who had sat through a longer talent show in the past—that she make it only six acts. But she didn’t want to turn anyone away, especially kids. She didn’t like turning this into a competition. If someone loved something, they should just be able to do it for the joy of it, not because they wanted to be better than someone else. She’d really tried to work ten in, but she’d finally realized eight was the only realistic number with the time slot they had to work with. There were too many other things going on that would need to be rearranged.

Tess thought they could really take the pie-eating contest off the schedule altogether—no one needed to eat that much pie—or that they could run bingo at the same time as the show. That had been met with all kinds of protest though. A lot of the bingo players had grandkids in the show and wanted to see the performances. Tess had suggested, since bingo was being held just on the other side of the Community Center, that they could take a quick break when it was their grandchild’s turn. But it had been pointed out that bingo got rowdy and they cranked up the old time country music and the boisterous shouts of
bingo
would be disruptive to the show.

Tess had rolled her eyes a lot during that meeting.

So now she had to eliminate four acts in this audition tonight. She frowned as she took her seat in the same chair Bryan had occupied during the fashion show rehearsal. Hell, he wanted to be involved and on her good side? She should make him do this thankless job.

“Okay, Kelsey,” she called at six o’clock sharp. “You’re first.”

Kelsey Somers took the stage with her guitar. She was thirteen and had dreams of going to Nashville. Tess looked at her and knew she wouldn’t be eliminating Kelsey. The girl had a dream. Far be it from Tess to tell her she couldn’t sing in her hometown’s talent show.

Kelsey was partway through her Carrie Underwood cover when someone pulled a chair up next to Tess. She glanced over, not shocked, but not pleased, to see Bryan.

“Sorry I’m a little late,” he whispered, his eyes on Kelsey.

“How can you be late for something you’re not supposed to be at in the first place?” she asked through gritted teeth.

God, he looked good. And she couldn’t help that the word
banging
wouldn’t stop repeating in her mind.

He leaned closer, putting his mouth near her ear. “You smell amazing.”

His warm breath touched her neck and everything in her clenched. Hard.

Kelsey finished her song, and Tessa forced herself to look up at the girl. “Very nice. Thanks, Kelsey.”

“So what do you need from me?” Bryan asked as the next performers, three little girls in sparkly tutus, took the stage.

He was sitting close enough that his shoulder touched hers. There was no need for him to sit that close, and she could point that out. But it probably also didn’t
hurt
anything for his shoulder to be against hers for a few minutes. Of course, it made her incredibly aware of him and made her want to climb into his lap and kiss him. But she’d feel that way even if his shoulder
wasn’t
touching hers. In spite of the lackluster kiss in his office. She knew Bryan had hot and sexy in him. He just wasn’t using it on her. And the idea that she could get to him, get him to turn it on, was tempting.

Damn. She was in so much trouble.

“I don’t need anything from you,” she whispered back.

She felt his eyes on her but she refused to turn and look at him.

“Oh, Tessy,” he said softly, using a nickname she hadn’t heard from him in easily ten years. “I think we both know that’s not true.”

She gripped her pen tighter and glued her gaze to the stage where Sydney, Molly and Taryn Peterson were performing their dance routine. Even though all she really saw were purple ruffles and a lot of sequins.

Her mind wouldn’t stop obsessing over the man next to her.

She wanted hot, amazing, blow-her-mind sex. She wanted the fantasies she’d been holding on to for all these years, the fantasies she’d played out in her mind so many times.

She also wanted to run. To be…free. She loved the feel of her blood pounding through her body, her lungs expanding and contracting, her muscles burning and tingling. But she also wanted to run through the mountains, along beaches, through fields and woods. She wanted to see the national parks. She wanted to run along the rim of the Grand Canyon. She wanted to breathe the air in Hawaii and in Italy and in Mexico and feel that air on her face while she ran.

Those were some fantasies she’d envisioned with just as much detail.

Okay,
almost
as much detail.

Tess had spent her life in Sapphire Falls. Not running—literally or metaphorically. She hadn’t wanted to run. She hadn’t wanted anything more than what she had. Except for Bryan. She’d basically been happy. Until she’d put on those running shoes the first time. It was like they were a portal to a new world. It sounded silly, but it
felt
true. She had suddenly
wanted
something, and it was something she could get for herself, something she was in control of. That was so much better than a crush on a guy who was out getting what
he
wanted. Which hadn’t included her.

Three years ago, she’d planned to have the same life her parents had and her grandparents had and her aunts and uncles had—a local job, a house in Sapphire Falls, the same people and scenes and routines. It wasn’t a bad life. In fact, it was really good and would have been enough. More than enough even. If it hadn’t been for Bryan and his blog.

She’d started following to keep up on his rehab, but she’d gone in to the archives and found podcasts, YouTube videos, Instagram and Facebook posts about running and training and pushing and growing. He’d talked about everything from the health benefits to the personal challenges, how running had helped and changed him. Then he’d shown her the world—his photos, his travel journal. His enthusiasm for the trips had been obvious. And contagious. She’d started running because of him, and now she wanted to run around the world.

The girls finished their routine, and Tess and Bryan clapped appropriately.

Next up was Hunter Cranston. Doing stand-up comedy.

When Hunter finished, Bryan leaned over. “I don’t think I understand what’s happening.”

She so wanted to turn her head. If she did, their lips would be only centimeters apart.

After that very
nice
, and nothing more, kiss the other night? Why was she thinking about being close to his lips?

Because she wanted him to use them on her. All over her.

“There are twelve acts auditioning,” she said, looking straight ahead. “They can bring any talent they want to.”

“Auditioning?” Bryan asked. “This isn’t a rehearsal?”

She shook her head. He couldn’t have put his hands up her shirt the other night? Or grabbed her ass? He couldn’t have slid his hands into her hair…and pulled just a little?

Then she shook her head. No. She didn’t want that. She wanted him to be sweet and romantic. It would be a lot easier to walk away from once Jake Elliot accepted her into his program.

“They’re auditioning. There are twelve acts and we only have room for eight.”

“But…that’s ridiculous,” he said as Mary Jo Robins took the stage and went to the microphone.

When she finished, Bryan leaned over again. “We have to let them all in.”

Tessa did turn her head this time. She couldn’t resist it any longer.

And sure enough, only centimeters separated them. Bryan had been trying to whisper, which was why he’d gotten so close, but when she faced him, he didn’t pull back.

“We can’t let them all in,” she said softly, studying his mouth.

She’d certainly studied it before, but never this close up. He had an amazing mouth. Made for smiling and kissing. And lots of other stuff she wanted to know a lot more about.

“These kids are willing to stand up there and let it all hang out like this, we have to let them in,” he said. “I can’t tell any of them no.”

She felt the same way. “There’s not enough time to get everyone on stage.”

“Sure there is. We double up.”

That pulled her attention up to his eyes. “Double up?”

“The little girls who danced? They can dance along to Mary Jo’s song instead. And this piano solo coming up? She can play while this guy,” he pointed at the page, “juggles.”

Tess started to protest that it would never work but…it would totally work. Why not? “Okay, let’s find four more acts that can be blended and we’re good.”

Bryan settled back in his chair, looking very proud of himself. “Bring ’em on.”

Tessa was aware that four little kids were on the stage getting ready to perform a tumbling routine, but she couldn’t look away from Bryan.

“Thank you,” she said.

He gave her a smile. “What for?”

“For…being you. This morning with the ladies, you were totally
you
, and it ended up making them all feel good about themselves and smile. Now this—you want everyone to have their chance in the spotlight.”

Bryan’s expression grew serious and he sat forward, angling toward her slightly. “For being me? Wasn’t that the thing that made you leave this morning?”

She swallowed and nodded. “You being you makes my life very complicated.”

He looked at her for a long moment. “I want to talk more about that later.”

Crap.

But, yeah, maybe they should. Maybe she should just tell him how everything had gotten turned upside down. Surely he’d be happy about her running and flattered that he’d had something to do with it. Of all people, Bryan should understand her desire to see the world. He’d talked about how important it was to see other places, to understand how big and diverse and beautiful the world was. Yeah, he would understand. And then he’d want her to go and he’d stop talking about being her boyfriend.

And she’d be able to sleep at night again.

“Okay,” she agreed softly.

They watched the next six acts with only basic comments back and forth, but she was acutely aware of him the entire time, and her skin seemed to tingle with that awareness to the point she was feeling jumpy and wound tight.

While she was hyper-focused on Bryan,
he
seemed to be paying more attention to what was going on around them. Which meant their roles were right back to how they’d always been, Tessa realized, with far more humor than she’d ever found in the situation in the past. But thanks to Bryan, they easily found four more acts that could combine into two and everyone was going to have some spotlight time. Megan Newman could play her guitar while Cassie Carson, Stella’s granddaughter, hula-hooped; and when Brittney Watson showed up and said her duet partner had to quit because she was getting her tonsils out, Dawson Miller had offered to fill in and the two acts had easily became one.

As act number eleven took the stage, though, Bryan leaned close again.

“Oh, and by the way, we should definitely talk about the virgin thing too.”

His voice was low and gruff and seemed to rumble through her. She soaked all the sexiness in…for the three seconds it took her to realize what he’d actually said.

She swung to face him. “
What
?” But she forgot to whisper.

“The virgin thing,” Bryan said quietly, his eyes on the audition, as if he were telling her he’d like chicken salad for lunch. “I have some thoughts.”

“You have some
thoughts
?” Tessa asked, again much above the level of a whisper.

“Do I need to read louder?” Nicole Gordon asked from the stage. She was reading a monologue from an off-Broadway play Tess had never heard of.

Tessa turned to face forward in her chair, working to not hyperventilate. He’d said
virgin thing
. He knew she was a virgin. Which meant someone in Sapphire Falls had told him that.

“No, you’re perfect,” Bryan told Nicole. “Go right ahead.”

“I’m going to kill Ty Bennett,” Tess said in not-quite a whisper but not as loudly as before.

“It wasn’t Ty,” Bryan said, still watching Nicole.

Nicole squinted down at Tess. “Is everything okay?”

“No,” Tess said honestly. And just how
not
okay everything was hit her. Bryan was
here
in Sapphire Falls wanting to kiss her chastely and
date
her and give her some
thoughts
on her
virginity
. While she wanted to be in Colorado, running marathons in the mountains and being kissed like the man was starving for her and happily surrendering her virginity in hot against-the-wall sex.

In a very unlike-herself move, Tess stood swiftly and turned to face Bryan, not caring that Nicole was still auditioning.

“Dammit, Bryan, you can’t ask me to date you and you can’t have
thoughts
about my
virgin thing
.”

Bryan seemed unable to respond, so Tess swung to Nicole. “You’re in, Nicole. You’re all in!” she called to everyone standing around waiting for the auditions to end. “It’s going to be a great show. Thanks for coming.”