My Lucky Days: A Novel (13 page)

The inside was beautiful with a fireplace and dark wood. It reminded me of some posh cabin in the woods. I turned around, looking for the stuffed grizzly bear. Instead, I got a full view of granite countertops and stainless steel appliances.

“Colt didn’t originally have this as part of his house. He added it about two years ago. You know, every country superstar needs a place to hide from the cameras.”

“Oh, so
now
you think you’re a country superstar?” I gave him a playful whack to the arm.

Lucky grabbed me from behind, wrapping his arms around my whole body, pinning my hands to my sides. He kissed the side of my jaw and then pressed his lips on my neck. “If you start hitting me, I’ll just have to hold you down and torture you.”

I relaxed into his chest. I liked the feel of him. The way he curved around me. The way he fit against my body. I tipped my chin back, seeing the smile on his face. He was too cute for his own good. And last night, I did see a superstar on that stage. But I wouldn’t let him in on that little secret because it would just make his head blow up ten times bigger.

Lucky let go and went into the kitchen. “You want something to drink? I got Coke and beer. Maybe some lemonade if Mia didn’t drink it all.”

“Coke’s good.” I walked into the living room, seeing several guitars on a stand and scattered papers by a keyboard. “You play piano?”

“Yeah, sometimes I write on the piano. I play by ear, which makes writing songs interesting. I have to go back and figure out the notes I’m hearing in my head.”

“So you play regular guitar, electric guitar, and piano.”

I glanced over, seeing his amused grin. “Acoustic guitar.”

“You play that too?”

“No, that’s what you’re calling a regular guitar.”

“Oh.” My fingers ran over the keyboard. “I’m impressed.”

I expected one of his funny comebacks, but he didn’t say anything. Lucky just flashed that lazy grin as he watched me. I blushed and went back to my tour of his place.

He had a record player with hundreds of albums stacked on the shelves. And then in a slot on display at the top, I saw an old cover with a signature. Leaning up on my tiptoes, I peered at the writing.

I gasped. “You’ve got a signed Johnny Cash.”

“I do,” he said as he came back into the living room with my glass of Coke. “Have you actually listened to something on vinyl before?”

“I . . . well—I guess not.”

He gestured toward the shelves. “Pick something out.”

My fingers moved softly over the edges. Pulling out one here and there, seeing the classics. Some I recognized and some I didn’t. Then I was surprised. He had a whole shelf of new ones. “They still make records?”

“Yeah, they still make records.” He shook his head. “This is sad, you know.”

I went to the next shelf. It was an entire collection of Conway Twitty. Well, this must be someone he really liked. I pulled out a random greatest hits album and handed it to him.

Lucky carefully took the giant disc out of the cardboard holder. “Most of these came from Wally. He played a couple of tours with Conway.”

As the room filled with sound, Lucky came over to me and lifted my drink from my hand, setting it on the coffee table. “Come on.”

And before I knew what was happening, his hand was on my waist and we were dancing. My head fell back in laughter as Lucky spun me around in a circle. He pulled me against his chest as his hips swayed back and forth.

“I’ve heard this one before, but I thought it was an Elvis song.”

He stared back in horror. “Oh, no. You didn’t just say that.
It’s Only Make Believe
was written and recorded by Mr. Conway Twitty himself in 1958.”

“I’m sorry?” I shrugged. “I don’t know that much about old country.”

“Well, I guess we have some work to do.” He kissed me softly as the next song played on the record. The words of
Hello Darlin’
filled the room.

“This song always makes me feel sad,” he whispered.

“It does?”

“He loved her yet somehow he lost her. And he sees her after all this time, maybe at a grocery store, while all these people are moving past them. And it’s loud. But he just stares at her. Tries to have this normal conversation, which is the music. But on the inside he’s dying, which are the words.”

I didn’t say anything as I listened to the song. Such a steady beat on the outside. Then on the inside, heartbreaking. It was very deceiving. “You’re right. It’s actually a very sad song.”

As we continued to dance, the record player switched to a fast song. Lucky started singing the words to
Tight Fittin’ Jeans
and gave me a little slap on the butt.

“You’re funny.” I laughed.

And then I found myself spinning out in a circle again before he moved to a real country two-step. I stumbled along. My feet went in the wrong direction, and I slammed into his body.

“Katie, you gotta let go and let me lead.”

“What?”

We stopped moving as he stared into my eyes. “You’re trying to lead. That’s not how this works. You have to let go and let me control this.” He put one hand on my waist and then held the other. “Close your eyes and trust me. Just listen to the song.”

The room went dark as I took a deep breath. The music moved with a solid beat. We moved across the floor, slowly as I got used to him. He pulled us a little closer together and whispered in my ear. “See how much better this is.”

The warm tingles spread through my body each time he brushed against me, which was actually more seductive than holding me tight. His hips bumped against mine. It was a teasing dance as he moved me across the floor while my eyes remained closed.

I heard the song playing softly.

I heard him breathing.

I heard the sound of my own heart as it got faster with every step.

The record switched to the next song. I continued to concentrate on the words and the music instead of my feet. As the lyrics played in the room, a nervous feeling moved slowly through me. We danced slower and our bodies got closer until there was no space between us. And then Lucky sang the words to
I’d Just Love to Lay You Down
next to my ear.

My eyes flew open, but I couldn’t look at him. Not when I felt every finger touching me. The way his chest was warm against my breasts. And his hips. They were pressed tight, so very tight against me while Conway Twitty sang causally about having sex in the grass—at least, I think it was in the grass.

“You’re not going to look at me now, Katie?”

“During the song about sex?”

“You’re funny.” He laughed, placing a soft kiss on my cheek. “There’s more to the song than sex.”

I finally met his gaze. Our eyes held for a moment as I searched his face for the answer to a question I had yet to ask. The one I knew would come up eventually since he got back yesterday. “Do you want to have sex with me? Is that . . . is that why you brought me here today?”

“The truth?” His eyes soften. “Yes, I want to have sex with you. But not until you want to.”

I nodded. But I felt the overwhelming pressure of how quickly this was moving between us. And sometimes I just needed a moment to catch up. I took a step away, separating us. “This is all moving really fast, Lucky. Maybe not for you. But for me. This is fast. We just met.”

He seemed worried for a moment, reaching up and tugging on his hair until his smile returned.

“Darlin’ . . .” He exaggerated the word, turning on his teasing charm. “I didn’t invite you over to get naked today. But if you said yes right now, then we’d be in the bedroom. But I’m okay with just dancing. ’Cause I really like dancing.”

I couldn’t help but smile even as the confusion stayed intertwined in my thoughts. Sometimes he was just so sweet and addictive, pulling me in, making everything seem okay. He closed the space between us, placing one hand on my waist and another on my cheek. His thumb ran over my skin.

“Don’t be afraid of me or what’s going on between us. Maybe it’s fast. But if you spend your whole life worrying, then you will forget to live. Don’t get caught up in the maybes.”

“The maybes?”

“Maybe this is forever. Maybe it’s for now. Maybe we will have sex. Maybe we won’t. It doesn’t matter because we are having fun right now. I like you. And I like spending time with you.” His arms circled around me, holding me close again. “And right now, I like dancing with you. That’s all that matters.”

I knew he meant it. And that was even harder. He was a guy who lived in the moment. And I wasn’t. My smile faded a bit. “I’m sorry to be this way. It’s just hard, Lucky. Being with you. Not knowing the future. And not having some sort of plan. Everything about you is like the complete opposite of a plan.”

“True, but it makes it an adventure. Don’t you think?”

“And the pain harder in the end if we don’t work out.”

“That’s the risk, I guess. But nothing good comes without a risk.” His eyebrows knitted up. “I would never intentionally hurt you, Katie. You know that, right?”

“Yeah.” I nodded.

“So just let go. Have fun with me.”

I felt a sudden wave of emotion. His soft words. The sincerity in his gaze. The record switched to a slow song, and I fell under the spell of the music.

He leaned in, kissing my forehead before running his nose down mine. Our faces were almost flush as his lips brushed mine with a feather-light touch. “Have fun with me.”

“Okay,” I whispered.

Lucky smiled as our feet began to move again. I laid my head against his chest, feeling the beat of his heart against my cheek. I liked dancing with him too. Closing my eyes, I thought about what he said. “So you like dancing better than sex?”

“That’s not what I said.” He chuckled.

“That’s what I heard.”

“You’re funny.” He kissed my cheek. “And beautiful. And sometimes I forget to breathe when I look at you.”

The nervous waves floated through me. His words made me feel special in a way that was hard to accept sometimes. He was just so free with them, like he said whatever popped in his head.

“You should put that in a song,” I whispered. “Might make you famous.”

“Maybe.” I heard his laugh as he held me a little tighter. “Or maybe I just want to say it to you.”

We danced through the next song on the record. No twirling or spinning this time. Just two bodies pressed together as the music played.

“Whatcha doing?” The tiny voice came from next to us.

My eyes flew open. Lifting my head up from his chest, I saw a little girl with brown pigtails and a large shaggy dog. Lucky laughed. “Well, Mia. We’re dancing.”

“Oh. Who are you?”

I bent down to her level and saw the dog watching me with crazy eyes—one blue and one brown. “I’m Katie. Who’s your friend?”

“Big Teddy.” She grinned, throwing her arms around the strange animal.

“Nice to meet you, Big Teddy.” I reached a hand in his direction, but he leaned away.

“Go slow with him.” Lucky bent down next to us. “He’s a rescue and doesn’t take to everyone. I think he had a hard life before here. He was found in a sewer drain.”

“You pulled him from a sewer drain?”

“No.” He grinned as the dog let him scratch his head. “I was walking past this rescue setup in town. Red Dirt Critters or Claws or something. And I saw him. Had a sign on the crate that said Gator. For some reason, I couldn’t leave the big guy there. So I brought a dog called Gator home for Mia and Zach. Smart move, right?”

“His name is Big Teddy. He doesn’t like it when you call him that other name.” She looked back at me. “Daddy was really mad at Uncle Wucky about Big Teddy.”

Uncle Wucky.
I smiled, hearing her little voice mush the words into the sweetest sound.

“Yeah. Colt wasn’t exactly happy with me. But he got over it the first time he walked into Mia’s room and she had Big Teddy wearing a dress. He sleeps in her bed now too. Don’t you, big boy? You ain’t no Gator.”

I looked between him and the girl with the dog. His face had many grins. The one he gave the audience. The one he gave me. But I had never seen this version. The happiness consumed everything. His eyes and lips. The way his voice sounded as he laughed.

“I came to get you, Uncle Wucky. You’re late.”

“I’m late for . . .”

“Tea. I got it all set up.” She grabbed his hand and tugged.

The smile grew even bigger. “Well, Katie. Looks like I’m gonna need a raincheck on our dance. The Mad Hatter has a date with Alice and the White Rabbit.”

“Okay?” I was intrigued by this bit of information. The idea of him having tea as the Mad Hatter was funny. Like, really funny.

Mia pulled him toward the door and Big Teddy followed. Lucky motioned for me to come with them. “Come to the house. You can meet the rest of them.”

I nodded with a hesitant smile. I was going to see his family. This was a big step that seemed so casual with him. I wasn’t planning to meet them until Christmas.

His niece pulled Lucky a good five steps in front of me around the pool. She turned around once to make sure I was still coming. Reaching for the door, Lucky held it open for me and whispered in my ear. “Don’t freak out. They’re really nice.”

“I’m not freaking out.”

“That petrified look in your eyes is not very convincing.” He put a hand on my waist as we stepped into the kitchen. A curvy blonde woman was at the stove cooking what smelled like chili.

“Hey, Callie.”

She smiled at us before turning her eyes to Mia. “Did you go to the pool house after I told you not to bother him?”

“But Wucky said he would come to tea. And he wasn’t busy. He was just dancing.”

Callie’s glare shot to Lucky next. “You better keep that door locked. Or I’ll make you be the one who explains things to them. Do you really want to have that conversation?”

He raised his hands in surrender as he laughed. “Now, Callie, I promise. There’s nothing that needs to be explained. Katie and I were just dancing. Right, Mia?”

“Yeah, but not the fun kind. The stupid slow kind. Yuck.”

Callie looked between Mia and Lucky. Her lips quivered as she tried not to smile at him. She looked back over to me, shaking her head with a laugh. “Sorry, Katie. I’m a terrible host. Welcome to our house. Having
three
kids can be challenging. So are y’all staying for dinner?”