Brinley was getting tired of being ignored. Or disrespected. Either way it wasn’t a classy way for a woman to act around another female. In a million years she would never act like that around a guy with a girl sitting right next to him.

Looking over her shoulder at the waitress, Brinley tightened her grip on Jason’s hand to get his attention.

“Is there some history with you and her that I’m not aware of?”

He gave her an abashed look. “She and I dated for a little while in high school. That’s it, I swear. But she’s like that with everybody, not just me.”

Brinley arched her brow at this man who was looking pretty embarrassed. “Really? She didn’t act like that with me. She didn’t do it with the other guys or the people at that table. I don’t like it when women don’t respect other women. I saw that all the time at my sister’s pageants.”

“Nell knows nothing is going to ever happen between us.” Jason caressed the skin of her bare arm, sending tingles straight to her toes. “She does that to feel better about herself. She’s had a hard time of things. A divorce. But you’re right—it’s not respectful. I guess people around here have just gotten used to it. If you want me to say something to her I will.”

“No.” Brinley shook her head, feeling crappy now that she’d heard more about Nell’s life. “I’m overreacting because of the things I’ve seen. You weren’t disrespectful to me at any point and honestly that’s all I care about.”

“I’ll never do that.” His expression was solemn and truthful. He leaned closer, his words only for her. “This means something to me, honey.”

Her throat tightened and she laid her head on his shoulder, snuggling as close as she could to his warm body. He smelled delicious, a mixture of citrus and spice that made her head spin and her heart pound.

“It means something to me too.”

The other guys got to their feet and lumbered back onto the stage, their first song a cover of one of her favorite Rascal Flatts tunes. For the first time in days Brinley truly relaxed, letting the music carry all her troubles away. At that moment she wasn’t a woman with a murder problem and he wasn’t the ex-cop trying to help her. They were just two people – a man and a woman – having a wonderful time.

The song came to an end and Zeke stepped up to the microphone. “Thank you, everybody. I hope you all can help me tonight. We have a good friend in the audience who sometimes joins in but he might need some convincing. How about we put our hands together and convince Jason Anderson to come up on stage?”

The applause was thunderous. Bar patrons stood, some even on the tables and chairs, clapping, whistling, and calling his name to exhort Jason to hop up on stage. Whether he played an instrument or sang she had no idea, but clearly her date was embarrassed. He’d groaned and then ducked down so he was hiding behind her shoulder.

“Damn that Zeke. He’s always pulling shit like this.”

“Is he serious? Do you really join in?”

The entire crowd looked like it might riot if he didn’t do it, and she couldn’t deny she was bursting with curiosity herself. She wanted to see him up on stage performing.

“Sometimes. We had a band in high school.”

Jason was still hunched over, his elbows on his knees. Brinley looked over her shoulder at the rabid fans screaming for a show.

“If you don’t get up there I doubt we’ll get out of here alive. And I have a lot to live for.”

She’d made a joke but actually she was semi-serious. This crowd wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

“Aww, hell. I’m sorry, honey.” Jason stood and bounded up on stage. Holding his hands up, the crowd quieted down enough for him to speak. “Thanks, everyone. Maybe just one tonight.”

Brinley didn’t know what to expect so when he and the band launched into Todd Rungren’s “Hello, It’s Me” her mouth fell open in shock. Jason’s voice was good. Better than good, it was excellent. He’d been handed another guitar and was playing alongside Zeke and clearly having a ball.

Her boyfriend was a freakin’ rock star.

He looked every inch the part up on stage, a sheen of sweat on his face and neck. Handsome and sinfully sexy in a pair of well-worn jeans and a button down shirt, he belted out the lyrics as if he’d done it a thousand times. For all she knew…he had.

And she was every inch the starry-eyed groupie watching him strut his stuff. She couldn’t tear her gaze away as the band moved into their version of Tim McGraw’s “Real Good Man”. She had to wipe the drool from her chin as Jason gripped the microphone, his cowboy hat casting a shadow over his face under the hot stage lights.

She was caught in his web so securely that when he hopped off the stage and came right up to her, pulling her to her feet and laying a kiss on her lips, she didn’t once protest or even demure. With the raucous crowd screaming and stomping their boots, she allowed the sexiest man she’d ever met to sweep her off her feet.

And then some.

Because when she finally came back to earth, she wasn’t watching from the audience. She was standing at the steps to the stage, right next to him, and he was urging her up the stairs.

“You wanted to take a chance, honey.” Jared was grinning ear to ear. “I’ve heard you sing when you do yard work. You have a great voice.”

“Jason Anderson, you are out of your mind,” she hissed while still trying to smile. Strangely enough with the lights directed at the stage, she couldn’t see past the first row of people. Everyone else was a black mass of sound. “I can’t sing up there.”

“Why not? I promise you’ll feel like you can climb a mountain when you’re done. It isn’t dangerous but you are definitely doing something out of the ordinary. Something remarkable.”

She wanted to be pissed off at him but she wasn’t. After all, she’d said she wanted to get out of her comfort zone. Take chances. Live life to the fullest. But she’d been thinking smaller. Much smaller. Maybe waiting until the day her power bill was due to pay it. Things like that.

“What will everyone think?” Even as the words came out of her mouth she realized how silly she sounded. She’d lived too long in the slot her parents had created for her. She’d worried about what they would think. What her friends would think.

Anyone that would judge her harshly wasn’t someone who cared. This was a chance to be brave and he was holding it out to her on a silver platter. The only question was whether she had the guts to grab it with both hands.

“Everyone is probably too drunk to think anything past how fucking gorgeous you look. But I won’t drag you up there with me if you don’t want to go.”

The crowd was hooting and hollering. The band was smiling and beckoning, and even Jason looked encouraging. She wanted to do it. But she also wanted to crawl back to her chair and stay out of the limelight.

Like her whole life. She’d lived in the shadows of both her brother and sister. It could get cold and dark there. Jason was offering a chance at something else. This was the entire reason she’d moved to Montana.

Brinley placed her hand in his and smiled before she lost her nerve.

“Let’s do this.”

Chapter Eighteen

‡

Brinley soared on a rush of endorphins. Terrified but resolute, she’d taken her place on stage next to Jason. Chance had asked what song she wanted to sing and she’d opened her mouth but nothing came out even as her heart galloped in her chest and a fresh spate of sweat broke out on the back of her neck. Jason had suggested “Remind Me”, a song originally sung by Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley that she luckily knew the words to. As the band swung into the song Brinley had been standing on two trembling legs, but something in the way Jason looked at her helped her through the first few notes.