Restless Heart Read Online Free Page A

way she wanted to. For a moment, she rested her forehead against the cool metal in an effort to get her emotions under control.
    “Destiny!”
    With a sigh, she pinned on her gold name tag and headed out, knowing that despite her red heels and extra makeup, this Saturday night was shaping up to be just like any other.
    Busy but boring.
    In other words—dangerous.
    Boredom had always made Destiny restless and edgy.
    Now, as she entered the crowded bar, she wistfully eyed the still-empty stage in the corner of the room.
    “Miss?” A customer waved an empty longneck at her. “We need another round over here.”
    “Be right there.” She chewed the inside of her cheek, wondering where Mandy was.
    “Excuse me,” called a disgruntled-looking woman from a table filled with disgruntled-looking women. “We need menus!”
    “Sure thing, just a sec.”
    Again, Destiny looked at the vacant stage, then cast a glance around the room.
    No Mandy.
    No Ralph, either, though he must be lurking nearby.
    You’d better get busy , Destiny told herself.
    Yet she was fixated on the microphone, sitting there like a silent beacon.
    “Excuse me,” the woman called again. “Our menus?”
    Destiny nodded politely. She meant to head toward the stack of menus over by the hostess stand . . . yet somehow, her pretty red shoes seemed to have taken on a life of their own, carrying her toward the stage instead.
    What the heck are you doing?
    I’m taking charge of my life for a change—that’s what.
    For a change? Come on, you’ve been in charge of your life ever since you left home, and look where it’s gotten you. Lying to your family about being successful—
    “Waitress!”
    Tuned in only to the voices in her own head, Destiny kept right on walking and wrestling with her conscience.
    Dreams don’t come true overnight, and you know it.
    Right. That’s why you can’t sit around waiting for someone else—someone like Billy Jackson—to make things happen. You have to make it happen.
    Yeah, but there must be a better way.
    Oh, come on, this is a golden opportunity. What can possibly go wrong?
    Surely once her voice filled the room everyone would forget about eating and drinking. And Ralph would be grateful that she stepped in for his magnificent little Mandy who still hadn’t graced the stage with her presence. Right?
    Maybe in your dreams.
    Undaunted by her own better judgment, Destiny moved on toward the stage, pulled by some invisible music magnet. Her heart thumped harder when she reached the first step and suddenly her heels were glued to the floor.
    Feeling very alone in the crowded room, she looked again at the mike and the tall oak stool beside it. Then her gaze fell on the guitar propped in the corner. It wasn’t hers . . . but it would do.
    If only Cooper were here to dare her . . .
    “Hey, just what do you think you’re doing?” Mandy Mason shoved past her with a loud huff.
    Destiny staggered backward and felt herself falling . . .
    But instead of hitting the floor she landed on something human.
    “Uh, sorry, but this seat is taken,” a familiar male voice said low in her ear as a pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist.

TWO

    F or four years, Destiny had managed to pick herself up and get herself past every little mishap life had thrown her way.
    But she might have just reached her breaking point.
    Seth Caldwell.
    In Nashville.
    With me in his lap.
    At a glance, she concluded that he somehow looked exactly the same, right down to the familiar red baseball cap with a scripted letter W. Then she allowed herself to take in his rugged features at close range and saw that while his warm brown eyes and easy grin remained just as she remembered, Seth had matured from a cute high school boy to a hard-bodied man. His once shaggy brown hair that had given his mother fits was neatly trimmed close to his head from what she could see beneath the cap. Recalling how proud he’d been of the appearance of scraggly facial hair, she