Risk (Gentry Boys #2)(88)

Chase looked around. A few pretty college girls looked back at him. “Nah,” he shook his head. “Think I’ll head home with you guys.”

Millie wanted Brayden to take her out dancing.

He grimaced, looking very much like his cousin. “I hate dancing.”

Millie batted her eyelashes. “But you love me.”

Brayden grumbled but relented. He shook Creed’s hand one more time and escorted his girlfriend out.

Saylor yawned some more and Cord nudged Chase to tell him they needed to get going. Creed kept his arm around me as we walked out with the boys and Saylor.

“How about you?” he murmured in my ear as we waved goodbye to the others. “What does Miss Truly Lee want to do?”

I leaned into the warmth of his hard chest. Being close to him never failed to thrill me. Almost immediately I felt how he responded my touch.

“A private concert?” I asked, touching the guitar in his hand.

We ended up driving to Tempe Town Lake again. A slight autumn chill was in the air as Creed led me over to a bench.

“You know The Beatles?” he asked, strumming his guitar lightly.

“Not personally.”

Creed flashed me a look and I laughed. “I know The Beatles.”

“All right. I’m gonna start and I want you to join in when you know what song it is.”

“You want me to sing with you?”

“Yes. I know damn well you know how so don’t try to tell me otherwise.”

Creed began singing and I immediately realized the name of the song. He raised his eyebrows at me when I hesitated joining. Finally at the end of the first stanza I began singing along to the poignant lyrics of ‘Let It Be’.

When the last note faded he gave me a heartbreaking Creedence Gentry grin.

“It is, you know,” he said. I must have looked confused. He seemed a little embarrassed as he explained. “It’s because of you.”

I took his hand. “What, honey?”

He held me close. “I never let anyone in before. I always had the boys but that was it. I didn’t think I had it in me to really be with a woman. And I sure as hell wasn’t making any plans on getting up on a stage no matter how much the rest of them begged. You changed my mind about all of it, Truly.”

I smiled. “You make it sound like I was doing you a favor.” He was staring at me intently. I put my hand on his knee, just needing to touch him more. “Creedence, I couldn’t admit to myself how much I’d given up until you came along. One too many times I’d been a gaping wound and I wasn’t planning on risking that misery again.” I took a deep breath. “I love you, Creed. No, don’t say anything,” I begged, brushing my fingers across his lips when he started to talk.

He grabbed my hand, slightly irritated. “You can’t stop me.” Then he took my other hand, holding me in such a way that I couldn’t retreat from him. His voice was thick with emotion. “You damn well better listen when I tell you this; I love you.”

I breathed a sigh of pure bliss. Whoever claimed that words were nothing next to actions never heard the ones ‘I love you’ spoken to them. Creed loosened his grip on me and I moved closer to him.

“Then take me home, Creedence. Take me home and dance with me.”

He was already pulling me off the bench, eager to oblige. “All night long, baby. All night long.”