Sweet memory the painted.., p.5
Sweet Memory (The Painted Daisies #1), page 5
“I’d never hurt you,” he growled.
“I know that!” Paisley insisted.
“But she doesn’t,” he said. The thought made him inexplicably sad, and when Paisley didn’t respond, all the insecurities he battled pushed to the forefront of his mind again.
His hands were suddenly sweaty, and he took turns wiping them off on his jeans as he drove. In truth, he was exactly what Landry saw―a boy from nowhere with a shady past and a future he was scrambling to claim. With anger issues and a violent streak. But Landry couldn’t see his hopes and dreams or the progress he’d made. She couldn’t know that just talking with Paisley gave him not only a sense of peace but a vision of a future where they both could have everything they’d ever wanted. Love. Success. Family. Home.
Paisley’s index finger rubbed a small circle over her star, and he realized his silence―his glower―had made her nervous. More things to regret.
He pulled her hand from her face, running his thumb over the knuckles. “I’ll prove to her I can be the man you deserve.”
And he meant it. He’d show the entire world that Paisley Kim wasn’t settling for a boy from the wrong side of the tracks, but a man who held her up and made her shine.
CHAPTER FIVE
Paisley
KISS ME
Performed by Sixpence None the Richer
Paisley’s heart hammered inside her chest at his words. Sweet and bitter all at the same time. Words she knew he meant and came from years of not feeling as if he could ever be good enough. From being abandoned by a mother who’d been so high she hadn’t even known he was in the back seat when she’d crashed the car and killed another driver. She hated that Landry had made him feel that way all over again.
When she looked at Jonas, all she could see was a man radiating strength and character and honesty. He looked handsome and strong in the blue-and-white-striped dress shirt and snug fitting jeans he’d worn for their date, even though it was too hot for either. The heady scent of him mingled with the leather and oil and history of the car, tapping out a story in her head that she wanted to pound out on her keyboard.
“You have nothing to prove, Jonas. Not to me. Not to Landry. You’re beautiful just as you are.” She grimaced as soon as the word escaped her. Idiot. The voice in her head screamed. Who calls a man beautiful?
He shook his head. “I’m just your average Joe, Paisley. You…you’re pure magic. Like the shimmer of colors along the water at sunset. Like…holding a rainbow in your hand.”
Her breath caught at the sweetness of the words, wanting to add a rhythm to them so they became a song that was called “Them.” If she hadn’t been friends with him for so long, she might have thought they were a line to get in her pants, but she heard the sincerity in every syllable, and when she looked over at him, his eyes reflected the truth. There was so much emotion in his gaze that she had to close her eyes to stop them from overwhelming her. Hope. Desire. Gratitude. Belonging. But there was heartache there as well.
Or maybe that was in her because she knew the truth. Their time together was limited. Measured in a handful of days before she’d have to leave again. And then what would happen to them?
“It physically hurts when you say things like that,” she breathed out.
“Why?”
Her throat closed. She didn’t want to ruin the beginning of their night with talk of the end they both had to realize was coming. Wasn’t she allowed to have these precious first moments without tainting them with reality? Couldn’t she pretend, for just a few hours, that somehow an answer would come to her even when she knew, from harsh experience, that no matter how long you stared at a page, the answers wouldn’t just show up?
She was saved from having to respond as they pulled up outside his sister-in-law’s restaurant next to the music studio. A small group of reporters was still there, and before she and Jonas could duck inside, they were already taking pictures.
Dylan blocked them as best he could, attempting to hurry them into the café, as Paisley’s blood ran cold and her feet attempted to take root in the ground. Landry was going to be furious.
She stumbled, and Jonas caught her before she fell, steadying her and twining their hands together. The sensation of his warm skin settled over her, bringing her back to where they were, grounding her like normally only Landry had been able to do, and she finally was able to walk again.
Inside, Jonas led her to a table at the back, hidden behind the enormous metal tree of life fountain that took up the middle of the restaurant. Twinkle lights glimmered and wind chimes blew from its branches, filling the space with sparkling vibrancy. The restaurant was one of her favorite places in Grand Orchard.
While they ate, the conversation turned lighter only because Jonas had a knack for making it so. They talked about her favorite parts of the tour, the classes he’d taken, and his family. He made her laugh with stories about his foster mom, the huge family she had back in Austin, and the pranks they played on one another.
“If Landry or I had ever pulled a stunt like that, we would’ve been grounded for life,” Paisley said with a small smile.
Her childhood had not been full of laughter. While she hadn’t suffered any of the abuse and poverty Jonas had before Maliyah had taken him in, the expectations of her parents had been a heavy mantle she’d failed to carry.
“What’s your favorite memory of your parents?” he asked as if sensing the dark thoughts that spun through her.
“Making kimbap with Mom,” Paisley replied immediately and easily.
Jonas frowned. “What’s that?”
Paisley smiled. “Like sushi rolls but Korean. Mom would have the ingredients lined up on the counter, and she’d play ABBA music while we spent an entire afternoon making them.”
“Ah-ha. This is the real reason you like ABBA!” he teased.
She laughed but thought he might be right.
Her parents had loved her, but it seemed as if the love had been infected by their disappointment. They’d been embarrassed by her academic struggles, brushing it under the table and insisting she try harder rather than admit there was a real issue. Her failures had somehow become theirs. Not even Landry’s escapades in school could keep the focus off her for long. It had only gotten worse when discussions about grades had turned into arguments over the band and Paisley dropping out of school completely.
Jonas reached across the table, taking her hand in his and squeezing it as if he’d heard where her thoughts had gone. He helped her out of the booth, and the spark of awareness dancing between them called her back from the heartache of her childhood.
“Want to take a walk?” he asked.
She nodded, and he hooked his pinky with hers, leading her out the back of the restaurant instead of the front. She knew instinctively he’d done it so she could avoid the press, and it warmed her heart in a way that Landry’s protectiveness no longer did.
The sun had set, but the sky hadn’t turned completely to night yet as they weaved behind the quaint red-brick shops that made up Grand Orchard’s downtown. He took her through the back streets to the Wilson-Jacobs campus where old cobble paths mixed with ivy-covered buildings. The summer humidity clung to the air, and a quiet hovered over the university absent of the students who’d be there in the fall.
Dylan followed behind at a distance, giving them a degree of privacy, and when Jonas stopped at a bench partially secluded by foliage, the bodyguard stepped farther away into the trees. She and Jonas sat quietly for a moment in the semi-darkness, watching the lightning bugs dart over the grass, and breathing in the heady scent of apple trees that always seemed to surround the town.
“So, this is where you’ve spent your evenings while I’ve been gone,” she said.
“Yep, and in the fall, I’ll be back,” he replied, pride in every syllable.
“Pretty impressive, Mr. Riccoli,” she said it as a tease, but it was also true. She’d never go back to school.
“Says the Grammy-award-winning rock star,” he teased back, holding her gaze.
The air suddenly felt thicker. Heavier. More intense. She wanted to kiss him. She wanted his body pressed against hers just to feel the zap of electricity that flew through them when they touched. But she was nervous to make the first move. Fee would have laughed at her and told her just to take the leap, but Paisley wasn’t known for taking leaps. She was known for freezing when the action hit. She hated it. She didn’t want it to be her anymore. She wanted to reach for him and this moment with both hands. To hold on to it before it disappeared like the twilight.
CHAPTER SIX
Jonas
I’LL NEVER LET YOU GO
Performed by Steelheart
Paisley looked beautiful. Soft and feminine. He ached to touch her―had been aching to touch her since she’d first arrived at the studio this morning looking exactly like the rock star she was. As they sat on the bench with only the hum of the night surrounding them, her silence spoke to him, something heavy coasting through it.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
Instead of replying, she slid closer to him on the bench until their legs were touching from hip to knee. She put a hand on his arm and glanced up into his face, and Jonas thought he might lose his mind just looking at her. Even though there was barely any light left in the sky, he still felt like she was glowing. Bright. Beautiful. Stunning.
“I’m afraid,” she said, and it was even quieter than she normally was.
“Why?” His throat bobbed. He would never hurt her. Never.
“I’m afraid I’ll fall completely, head-over-heels in love with you, and that you’ll fall back. I’m afraid we’ll discover we’re the missing pieces of each other’s souls.” The words had a beat―a rhythm―like it was a song she’d already written.
“And that would be bad?” he asked, trying to hide the apprehension her words caused. He was already too far gone. He’d already lost his soul to her.
“I think it would be wonderful…but then…” She looked like she was going to cry, and he couldn’t stand it. He wrapped his arm around her waist, and drew her even closer, tugging until her legs were over his lap and their chests were aligned.
“But then?” he asked, meeting her gaze.
“But then I’ll leave, and all we’ll have left is a handful of sweet memories, right?” She said it as if they were destined to be pulled apart, and it stabbed again at the dark places inside him.
He’d loved two women who’d abandoned him. His mom had done it repeatedly, never once answering the hundreds of letters he’d written to her in jail. And Mel had walked away without ever looking back. He wasn’t sure what he’d do if he lost the friendship he already had with Paisley. But he also couldn’t sit next to her and not attempt to turn their friendship into something more. She might only be in town for mere weeks, but there was no way he wanted the end of her time there to be the end of them.
“Just because you leave Grand Orchard doesn’t mean we have to be apart forever.”
“Wh-what?”
“Why do you think I’m doing all this?” He waved to the campus. “The music production and the studio time?”
“Because you love music.”
He chuckled. “Well, yes. Being behind the mixing console…feels right. Like I’ve found what I’m supposed to do with my life. But it also means I might be able to find a place in your world.”
Every minute he’d been in class, he’d been thinking about her. He wanted to learn everything he could about the industry and making music, not just for himself, but for Paisley. So he could somehow earn a place at her side.
She looked a little shocked, and he was glad the dark hid the red in his cheeks. It was ridiculous to have said it out loud, to assume she’d want him in her life or that there would be a place for some newbie who was just learning the ropes. Everything he’d learned with Brady in the last two years was still just a drop in the bucket compared to what he didn’t know.
Before he could really register what she was doing, she leaned forward, put both her hands on his cheeks, and drew his face toward hers until their lips met, soft and easy, the barest of pressure. A mere touch that felt both too much and too little all at the same time. His chest seized for one painful moment. He’d been longing for this, aching for it for so long that it seemed impossible to actually be happening. His hands went to her hips, gripping, holding on as if to make sure it was real.
A sigh escaped her, the air coasting over him, and he groaned, sliding his tongue into her parted mouth and sweeping inside. Exploring. Touching. Tantalizing. He tangled one hand in her hair and another at her back, pushing them together in an attempt to remove every molecule of space left between them. He held on tightly as if she was a lifeline pulling him toward his future.
They sat that way, intertwined in the most beautiful way, for what felt like hours. He was hard and uncomfortable. She was panting, nipples taut against his chest through her thin dress. And then he finally remembered they were on a bench in the middle of campus with her bodyguard watching from the trees.
It was enough for him to slowly remove his lips from hers and tip their foreheads together, allowing them to catch their breath. The zing of desire wafted between them, matching the flicker of the fireflies flitting about the grass around them.
It was a moment he’d never be able to forget.
She pulled away from him a bit more, but the smile on her face made him groan. It was sweet and happy and full of lust all at the same time.
“Don’t look at me that way, sweetheart. I won’t be able to stop,” he grunted out.
She surprised him by laughing, a tinkle of joy that darted through the night.
“Thank you,” she said.
His brows drew together. “For?”
“Making my first kiss so beautiful.”
Damn. He hadn’t forgotten that she’d never been kissed before. He’d even said as much to Marco earlier, but lost in the moment, he’d taken her first kiss too far. He should have stopped at a simple press of lips.
“That was probably more than it should have been,” he said tenderly, hand rubbing along her arm and thrilling at the goosebumps that rose at his touch. Shivers that had nothing to do with the night air that was warm and heavy about them.
“Don’t do that,” she said. “Don’t put it down. It was perfect. You’re perfect.”
“We’re perfect,” he replied, and he meant it in every fiber of his being.
Her smile grew.
He pulled her up from the bench, wrapped her fingers in his, and started back toward Main Street. Dylan emerged from the trees and trailed along at a distance, and Jonas tried not to be embarrassed at the thought of him watching as they’d made out on the bench.
When they got to the car, Jonas opened the door for her and couldn’t help dropping a sweet kiss on her forehead as she slid by him. This first taste he’d had of her would never be enough. Not in a million years. It only fueled his determination to do whatever it took to bring their worlds closer together.
♫ ♫ ♫
Jonas was unable to sleep, mind tossing with everything that had happened the day before and his promise to Paisley that this wouldn’t be the end of them. Doubts had circled through him once he was alone in the dark of his bedroom because she’d never really replied when he’d said he was going to school to bring their lives closer. She’d just kissed the hell out of him―or started to kiss him and he’d kissed the hell out of her? He wasn’t sure which. All he knew was he’d had to take a cold shower when he got home, and the scent of her had still lingered on his skin and his tongue.
Giving up on sleep in the wee hours of the morning, Jonas headed for the studio. The only good thing about being there so early was the press hadn’t set up camp yet. Instead, the Garner Security team was there, putting up barricades to hold the media away from the studio. Jonas nodded to them as he unlocked the door, turned off the alarm, and stepped inside.
Yesterday, they’d recorded the rehearsal just for shits and grins. So, they could rewind and hear what had been said about the music and the changes. He replayed some of it, losing himself in Paisley’s quiet voice. The only time she ever spoke with a hundred percent confidence was when she talked about music. She doubted herself everywhere else…but last night, when she’d kissed him, he’d felt it again. Her strength. Her certainty. He was stupid to let doubts in the dark of the night get to him.
He lifted his head hours later when the bell above the door jingled, a leftover from when the studio had actually been a music store owned by Brady’s wife’s family. The band strolled in with Brady on their heels, and everyone was laughing at something he’d said. Jonas’s gaze met Paisley’s, and a blush settled over her cheeks as her eyes fell to his lips.
“Hello, lover boy,” Fee said, bumping his shoulder with a fist. “Paisley was all smiles last night, so I guess you must have done something right.”
Most of the band chuckled, but Landry didn’t. She just wore her ever-prevalent frown as she led the way into the live room. Paisley gave him a soft smile as she followed her sister.
Jonas watched them for a moment before turning his eyes back to the mixing console. Brady joined him, running through the schedule Jonas had made for the band’s time in the isolation booth. Jonas barely heard anything Brady was saying as his eyes kept drifting back to Paisley. When Brady nudged him, Jonas looked up to see a goofy smile on his boss’s face.
“So…anything I need to know?” Brady asked, eyes twinkling.
Jonas shrugged, keeping his emotions tucked inside. “We went on a date.”
Brady chuckled, the warm sound bringing a smile to Jonas’s lips, but before either of them could say more, Fiadh’s voice cut through the air, sharp and brittle. “What the feck?”
