Why not give her innocence to Jesse? She’d saved it for him for years, and Deke wouldn’t take it, no matter how badly he wanted to.
Jesse didn’t respond to that right away. “That makes sense. I have this plan. Just give me a little time. It’ll all work out, babe. You’ll see.” He finished with that smile he frequently flashed for the cameras. It wasn’t his real smile. His real smile, she remembered from their summer together, was kind of goofy and lopsided. Mischief lurked in one corner, happiness in the other. This smile was symmetrical and phony. Kimber frowned.
“Cut the crap, Jesse. What sort of plan?”
“Nope, you can’t ruin it for me. I’ve had this worked out for a while. Come on the tour and all will be revealed.”
“When do we leave?” After five years of waiting and a broken heart, why put their relationship on hold any longer? She wanted to get on with her life, to find some semblance of a happily ever after.
And forget Deke. He was past. He’d driven her away, so she was moving forward.
Soon, she hoped she and Jesse would find the right footing.
“A week from tomorrow.” He grabbed her hands. “It’ll be great to have you with me, keep me in line. Everything is going to be different. I’ll make the surprise worth your wait.”
“You’re where?” her father boomed over the phone later that night.
Curled up on the couch in Jesse’s suite while the band rehearsed, she clutched her cell phone. “I’m in Houston. With Jesse. He’s in the States for the next few months, and we’re spending some time together.”
Her father paused. “You know what the press says about him? About his sex life?” The man was still a parent, even though she was far from being a child. “Yes, Daddy. We’ve worked it out.” Time for a change of subject, before he asked what that meant, before he asked where she’d been—and who she’d been with—before going to Houston. “Where are you?”
“Watch yourself,” he said instead.
So much for the subject change. “I will. I’m a big girl now.”
“You are.” He barked the words, as if he hated to admit them. “When I look back, I wonder if, after your mother died, your brothers and I sheltered you too much.
What do you know about a guy with a lifestyle like Jesse’s?” Oh, she’d learned plenty from Deke and Luc, including heartache.
“Please, don’t worry. You did a great job being both a mom and dad. Logan and Hunter were typical overprotective brothers who ran off all my dates and made fun of me every time I put on a shred of makeup, but I’m not too mentally scarred.
I’ll manage.”
Her dad’s husky laugh warmed her heart.
“I’ve known Jesse a long time,” she continued. “We’ve waited years for this opportunity. We just need to figure it out together.”
“I don’t see you being a superstar’s groupie.” The frown in his voice couldn’t be any more obvious.
Kimber had trouble with that picture, too, in truth. She couldn’t live on the road the way Jesse did, but could she just leave him to run off with the band and live the way he always had? Even if he wanted to “change,” that would take time. And what would happen if, someday, they followed through on the possibilities they’d discussed over the years and got married?
Could she stop loving Deke, wanting him, enough to say “I do” to someone else?
How had that man turned all her plans upside down in a handful of days?
“I’m not going to be a groupie. And right now is our time to figure out what we’ll be to each other. Just let me handle it.”
“I don’t like it. He used to be a good enough kid, but what I hear now… I think it’s a mistake.”
Her gut clenched. Dad said it with such conviction. Still, he hadn’t seen Jesse in years, just heard about him. Not the same thing.
“It’s my mistake to make.”
Her father sighed. “Yeah, it is. Just…be careful, in more ways than one.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m on my way home from Thailand right now. When I get there, I want to check on you, check your brothers, the house.”