Bitter Truth (Hawthorne Vines #1)

It’s been two weeks since I went to LA and met with Todd and Vivian and the team at Humble Roads. I’ve been working on music here and there, mostly in my undies in Wes’s bed in the morning before I have to get ready for work.

My first deadline is coming up, and I want to impress them. So taking the day off today and giving myself permission to just enjoy the time with my dad was an active sacrifice on my part.

But I also skipped out on driving with Wes to San Francisco again to see his brother. Originally I was supposed to go, but there was a part of me that just felt like Wes really needed alone time with Ash after what happened with their mom.

Sonia’s disappearance from the hospital was really hard on Wes. It brought up all these feelings from childhood, and I know he’s still processing things. When Ash found her a week later, she was already wasted again and back with one of her boyfriends. She had turned Ash away after only a few minutes.

It didn’t feel like a good time to try to force an upbeat, meet-the-brother lunch. So I told Wes I wanted him and Ash to have some brother time, and I planned to stay behind and work on my music.

“How did it go? How’s Ash?”

Wes grimaces, his lips twisting to the side. “He always gives me a brave face, but I know the stuff with my mom is wearing on him.” He shrugs a shoulder. “There isn’t much we can do except continue to be there for each other.”

When he doesn’t offer anything else, I set my guitar aside and shift closer to him, placing my hand on his warm thigh.

“I know it doesn’t make things better, but I’m here for you.”

His arm wraps around me and pulls me even closer, his hand squeezing my shoulder. Then he presses his lips against my temple and just holds himself there, almost like he’s breathing me in.

“It does make things better,” he tells me, his voice a whisper. “You always make things better.”

He kisses me again, and my heart soars.

Wes holds me closely. Reverently.

Like I’m precious.

Like I’m everything.

And I hope he never lets me go.

Epilogue

WES

Three months later

The sound of a strumming guitar is what wakes me, and I smile into my pillow at the familiar melody. Murphy’s been working on this one song for weeks now, and I’m starting to enjoy the way it brings me gently out of sleep in the mornings.

I also enjoy the fact that she normally writes music wearing nothing but her panties.

That thought is enough to push me out of my warm cocoon. I roll over, push up onto my elbows, and peer over the edge of the bed. Sure enough, Murphy is sitting cross-legged on the floor with her guitar in her lap, a notebook open in front of her, and a pencil between her teeth.

She doesn’t realize I’m watching her—she rarely does when she’s as focused as she looks right now—and I take advantage, tracing my gaze over her bare skin. I wish the guitar wasn’t perfectly positioned to hide so much of her body, but I also like the tease of it. My morning wood begins to demand more attention as I imagine her dusky nipples pressed up against the back of the guitar.

“I can feel you watching me.” Her eyes flick up to mine as she stops strumming, but then she’s looking at the notebook and making a few marks.

Flipping my body around, I bring my head to the end of the bed and cross my arms, resting my chin against them.

“Here I was thinking I was being sneaky.”

She giggles, and the sound twists itself around my heart the way it always does.

“Not a chance in hell. I can always feel you watching me.”

It doesn’t surprise me that she senses my attention, because I feel the same way. There have been more than a few instances over the past several months we’ve been together that I’ll look up from what I’m doing—whether it’s chopping veggies in the kitchen to prep for the next meal service, or rinsing in the shower, or just sitting on the bench in the vineyard—because I know she’s there.

It’s like my heart and hers are magnets, and something inside me notices when she’s near. It’s wild, and I love everything about it.