Incidental Happenstance (12 page)

            But then Bud entered the picture, and he’d had to go to her rescue. She’d understood his coded message, and jumped headfirst into his game. Even then, though, he’d had the opportunity to let her go—chalk it up as an interesting experience, a great story to tell the guys, and walk away. Only he was too intrigued that she was so willing to walk away too—it bothered him, on some strange level that he couldn’t quite put a finger on. He had to try and find what made her tick. But now? Now he knew without a doubt that he wanted to see her again; he wanted to make a date with her and spend more time getting to know her, even though he knew it wasn’t fair to either of them.

            Sean had said he didn’t want to see her hurt again, that he had her back, and Dylan had assured him that he wouldn’t hurt her. Seeing her again could be a huge mistake. What if they really decided they liked each other? What if he had to leave with unresolved feelings on one or both sides of the equation? He knew it would be better for both of them if they just walked away after tonight, but he still pulled out his phone and made the call that could open a door better left closed.

            Tia was still trying to calm her heart when Sean slid up and plopped into Dylan’s empty seat.

            “So, how’d I do? Did I at least do him justice?”

            “Better than that—you were great! He would have been so proud Sean, really.”

            “He’d be proud of you too, Tia, you know that, don’t you?” he looked toward the door Dylan had exited and tipped his head. “He’s a nice guy. I like him.”

            “Yeah, he’s pretty great.”

            “So, is it serious?” He waggled his eyebrows at her and smiled.

            Tia smiled back sadly. “He lives out of state, Sean, and he travels a lot for work, so, I don’t put a lot of hope in it going anywhere,” she sighed. “But, I’m really glad he was with me tonight; he really helped me through a lot.”

            Sean smiled mischievously. “Yeah, I saw how he did that. That was a pretty intense dance there. You were the only two people in the room, and it was getting pretty steamy.”

            She reached over and slapped him playfully on the arm. “Knock it off, Sean.” He winced dramatically and grabbed his arm in mock pain. “I’m not there yet—I can’t even imagine being there yet.” But in the back of her mind, she could imagine it going somewhere with Dylan if their circumstances were different. “He’s a great guy, and I’ll leave it at that.”

            “As long as he’s good to you; that’s all that matters,” he said seriously. “You deserve to be happy, and Nick would want that for you too.”

            “I know,” she said, giving him a hug, “and I’m getting there. I’m finally ready to move on, and it feels pretty good.”

            “I invited Dylan for poker night,” he said.

            “He told me. That was nice of you.”

            “I meant it,” he replied. “Make sure he knows the offer is real, and not one of those things people say in bars when they’ve had too much Guinness and Tully.”

            “I will.” She looked over and saw Dylan stepping back in.

            Sean jumped up and turned to Dylan as he approached the table. “Just checking in with my biggest critic,” he said smiling. “I used to jam here a lot with Nick, and we’d always try to get Tia on stage with us.”

            “I’ve heard her sing—she’s amazing,” he agreed, glad to have another comment that made it sound if they knew each other better than they did. “Hey—really impressive set, man,” Dylan said. “Great song choice, too.”

            “Yeah? Thanks a lot. You a fan of Incidental Happenstance?”

            “I’ve followed them since the very beginning,” he replied with a wink at Tia.

            “Well, no one can quite match Miller, but I do what I can.” He started away and turned back. “I meant it about poker night, bro. Any time.”

            “Thanks,” Dylan answered. “I’ll do what I can.” 

            They stayed until Paddy closed the bar at two am. Dylan was thrilled just to sit and talk with her, and was amazed that their conversation was so comfortable. He learned that she hated horror movies and most chick flicks but would definitely go see his on opening night, that she absolutely loved dogs, that she loved her job, was an only child, and a hundred more trivial things that he liked about her immediately. He was disappointed when Paddy announced last call, but he was more determined than ever that he wanted to see her again.

            Outside the door there were more rounds of hugs and promises to call, and more invitations extended to Dylan for poker night. When they stepped out into the street, Tia shivered, and not just because of the chilly spring air. She couldn’t believe this night—couldn’t have dared to hope for something more perfect, and now it was over. Dylan would be just a vivid memory that she would see in her dreams, both sleeping and waking, and she would go on, try to start over, and find herself again. In just one night, she already felt more for him than she ever thought she could feel again, and now, because of the life he led, he would be gone. Why couldn’t he just be a car salesman or something? Why did the guy she’d already come to like so much have to be a star so far out of her league that they weren’t even in the same universe? She tried to compose herself, control all the emotions that threatened to betray her calm, and turned to him as her friends jumped into their cars and drove off into the deserted neighborhood. She and Dylan started walking back toward her car, and to her delight, he draped his arm around her shoulders. 

            “Wow,” she breathed. “I don’t even know how to describe what I’m feeling, or how to say what I want to say. There aren’t words invented yet for me to tell you how much this night has meant to me Dylan—how much you’ve meant to me.” She hesitaed, tried to stop herself, but the words came tumbling out anyway. “Damn it, why can’t you just be a normal guy?”

            “I am a normal guy, Tia,” he said, pulling her closer. “I’m just not in a normal situation.”

            “But it’s over too soon. Tomorrow you’ll be gone forever—a little ant on a big stage far, far away…it’ll be like I never even knew you, like a wonderful dream I’ll never dream again…” she couldn’t help herself and started to giggle, dropping her head. “I’m sorry. I swore to myself I wouldn’t do this.”

            “Do what? Show some emotion? Bloody hell, Tia. You’ve been through hell the past year. I know. And look how strong you are. Look what you faced tonight! You amaze me.”

            “
I
amaze
you
? I don’t even know what to say to that.” She looked down at the ground. “I certainly don’t do anything amazing…”

            “You don’t?” he asked incredulously. “Really? You have no idea, do you? And that’s what’s driving me so crazy!”

            “I’m sorry…?”

            He tightened his grip on her shoulder and pulled her into an alleyway between two buildings. He held her arms, and looked straight into her eyes. “You want to know what you did, Tia? Let me tell you what you did. First, you keep saying how I saved you, but you really have no idea what you did for me, do you? You treated me like a real person, and I haven’t had that happen in a very long time. Then, you shared your friends with me. You never called me out, and never even hinted that I was anyone who might be different from the crowd. Do you have any idea how long it’s been since I played darts in a bar with a bunch of strangers? I couldn’t even tell you. And because you treated me like a normal person, so did they.  And I had a great time!”

            “I’m so glad, Dylan, really,” she said, looking at the ground humbly. “But I didn’t make that happen—you just are...”

He put his finger under her chin and raised her head to meet his gaze.  “Wait, I’m not done yet.” He looked at her with an intensity that made her feel dizzy.  “You trusted me with your story, and helped me see that I haven’t moved on from Shelby’s death the way I should. But, the kicker is, you never asked me for anything. Never once did you take a picture of me, ask for an autograph, nothing. You just took me as I am and let things roll. All night you’ve been telling me how I saved you. But don’t you see, Tia? You saved me too. There are perks to being famous, and I’ll be the first to admit it, but there are sacrifices, too, and one of the biggest ones is that you lose your sense of self—you forget who you really are. Tonight you helped me find myself too, Tia, and I can’t thank you enough.”

            She couldn’t believe her ears. She’d helped him? It was crazy, she thought. But as she opened her mouth to speak, he silenced her by placing his index and middle fingers over her lips.

            “Please, let me finish.” His eyes darted around as if he were contemplating something serious and the agitated look returned, twisting his features into confusion. “I’ve already gone this far, and it’s probably a big mistake on my part, because the last thing I ever want to do is to hurt you…but damn it, Tia you’ve made this such an incredible night for me, and…” he paused, and focused his gaze on hers. “…you have no idea how badly I want to kiss you right now.” He reached up and took her face in his hands and looked deeply into her eyes, her soul. “Please say I can kiss you right now.”

            The question was so unexpected, so unbelievable, that it took a moment for her process it. But once she did, there was no question in her mind. She looked into the burning embers that were his eyes, flecks of gold blazing in sapphire blue, and didn’t hesitate before she whispered, “Please, yes.”

            He cupped her face in his hands and stared into her—through her—before bringing his face down to meet hers. Their lips met, gently at first, and he whispered against her mouth, “Tia, Tia, I can’t believe that I found you tonight,” and then the kiss deepened, slowly rising to match the intensity she saw in his eyes. Her arms slid up around his neck and his moved down around her waist and he pulled her to him. She could feel his heart beating against her own, and when his tongue brushed her lips she accepted it gladly, rushing out to meet it, giving herself completely to the hypnotic rhythm until they were both breathless. She felt a bloom of heat start to simmer in her heart, and as the temperature of the kiss increased—when it became hot and hungry and full of need—it flared into an inferno that took her over. When the kiss ended, he held her still, running his hands swiftly and sensually along her back, through her hair, along her cheek, and she nearly exploded with the beauty of it, the incredible feeling of being so close and open with another human being. Lexi was right again—shut out from life for so long, she felt herself opening into his arms, felt his breath in rugged gasps against her ear and she raised to kiss him again, to belong to someone, if only for a moment, and to give herself to the feeling. She was still here—she could still feel joy, and she could definitely still feel passion. Parts of her that were closed for so long were bursting open, and she was almost embarrassed at the way she was kissing him back—had to pull back to maintain some dignity. He returned his burning gaze to hers.

            “It doesn’t have to be over Tia,” he whispered. “I really want to see you again.”

            She looked at him wide-eyed and started to speak, but he silenced her with a kiss before he continued. It was hard to say it, but it had to be said.

            “But we have to be honest with each other here. I’m here for a couple days; that’s it. It’s not a matter of choice. Then I have a European tour this summer, and I start filming a movie after that. In New Zealand.”

            “I know. I read the book,” she offered weakly.

            “I just can’t make any promises to you Tia. And I don’t know if it would be worse to spend more time together and stir things up even more.”

            “Worse than saying goodbye right now and never seeing you again?”

            “Worse than hurting you more in the long run,” he said sadly. “The last thing I want to do is hurt you. You’ve been through so much pain already.” A tear slipped down her cheek, and he caught it with his fingertip. “But I do want to see you again. If you want to.”

            “I want to,” she managed to whisper, trying to hold on t her emotions. “I definitely want to.”

            “That phone call I made when I left? I arranged things. I was hoping you’d say yes.”

            “Oh, Dylan,” she breathed. “Did you doubt it for a minute?”

            “One thing I’ve learned in life is that you can never tell what a woman’s thinking.” She smiled at him. “But I was hoping.” He saw the look on her face change to disbelief and smiled back and nodded. “I was pretty sure.”

            He was hoping? Her heart leaped in her chest and she leaned into him. “Just tell me when and where. I’ll be there.”

            “Well, unfortunately, I don’t have a free day tomorrow. It’s our first show here with some new mixing equipment, and I have to do some sound checks, a couple phone interviews, and one personal one, but I was hoping maybe you’d come and hang out backstage with me tomorrow, kind of spend the day together. You could maybe help me sound check the mikes for the backup vocals…hardly a quality first date, but I’ll pretty much be stuck at the arena…”

            “It sounds great!” Her mood immediately lightened. He wanted to see her again! “I’ve never been back stage before. Do I get a laminated pass and all that?”