Nashville by Heart: A Novel Read Online Free

she were to wipe off all that makeup, a natural born country girl would
emerge. That’s what he liked to see in a client, but rarely found any more. So
much of country music was all about being flashy these days.
    “Thanks
a bunch,” she said. “I’ll see you later.”
    His
heart raced at the thought of seeing her again, but unlike her, his experience
as an agent had taught him how to hide his emotions. He glanced at his watch—a
vintage gift from his parents—remembering he had to get going too, but couldn’t
help stealing another minute. His music agent side wondered how she’d look on
stage as he surreptitiously glanced at the string of beads draped across her
chest, the only thing at all country about her outfit, then the man side of him
glanced down a little lower before raising his gaze to meet her eyes.
    Caught
staring, he cleared his throat and looked at his boots. He was a jerk, but that
skirt and those silly high heels sent his mind in directions they shouldn’t go
if he was thinking about giving her a chance as a client.
    She
smiled then, making him wonder if she knew the effect she was having on him.
She had to.
    “I
know you’ve gotta get going,” she said. “So do I.”
    But
he didn’t want her to go. In fact, he wanted to take her home right in broad
daylight, but somehow he knew that underneath that sexy outfit, she wasn’t the
type. And then he wouldn’t be able to pursue her as a client. It was a
frustrating, and enticing, quandary he found himself in. Fortunately, even
though he was having trouble curbing his roaming thoughts, he was a changed
man. His former womanizing ways went all the way back to when his preacher dad
kicked him out for trying to steal his girlfriend’s virginity in the back of
the church van—as well as for stealing the van and a long list of other things.
As a thirty-year-old man, he’d redeemed himself to his father a long time ago,
but sometimes, when he was around a beautiful woman like Gillian Heart, he
turned back into a bit of a Casanova.
    “Right,
I do need to get out of here,” he said, wishing it weren’t true, but glad too.
“I’ll see you soon. Just call Josie.”
    She
nodded, bobbing a little sideways.
    He
grinned, watching her rush toward the revolving door that spun her out of the
Adams Music offices and away from Music Row.
    From
the window he could see her hurrying down the sidewalk, toward the bus stop he
presumed. Holy smokes. The jut of her cute little chin and the maddening wiggle
of her hips from walking in those terrible shoes was delightful—even if he did
prefer cowgirl boots on a woman.
    He
hurried through the doors himself and stood staring after her. He was just in
time to see her stop and remove her shoes. She looked back, giving him the
tiniest wave before disappearing around the corner.
    He
cocked his head and smiled, glad he’d kept her CD, if for no other reason than
to have an excuse to see her again. He hoped he didn’t have to break her heart
about her voice, which would completely mess up any possibility of taking her
out. Then again, if she could sing, that would mess everything up too.
     
    ~~~~
     
    Will
glanced at his buzzing phone. It was a text from Audrey. Her time was precious.
Everybody’s time in Nashville was precious, but since she was his most
promising new star, he obeyed her summons. Climbing into his brand new black
truck, he left to meet her at The Sweetest Tea Café, but he slowed his truck
when he spotted Gillian at the bus stop around the corner, standing
beautiful—and steady—without those blasted shoes of hers. He chuckled, watching
her disappear in his rearview mirror, then pressed down on the gas pedal. He
was already late.
    On
cue, his phone rang. “Yep, Audrey. I got your message. On my way.”
    Audrey
was his ticket to get out of this mess the business had fallen into. And even
though she was the newest big name in Nashville, she’d paid her dues by singing
back-up for an impressive list of