Small Town Pretender by Brighton Walsh
Nat had seen Asher be a lot of things in the years they’d spent together. She’d seen him be a rebel, a troublemaker, a partner in crime. An adrenaline junkie, a musician, a loyal friend, the getaway driver, and the person who had paid her bail more times than anyone else. And now, her days were filled with seeing him be a loving husband—to her, of all people—and a doting father to two kids he hadn’t planned for but loved all the same.
The first couple months after Asher had asked her to stay had been tricky. Things had already been in motion and shoots previously scheduled, so she’d gone to Ireland then to Barcelona and Liechtenstein. But after each shoot, instead of going to Portland or some other random destination she picked on a whim, she went home.
To him. To them. And tomorrow, the four of them were about to set off on Route 66 with no itinerary except for them to stop whenever she was inspired. She could say that, in all her adventures, there’d never been one that would be as adventurous as this—traveling across the United States in a converted van with a fourteen-month-old and a four-year-old. And she couldn’t wait.
With her arms full of laundry, she strode down the hall and dropped the clothes in a pile on their bed, her ears perking up at the strum of a guitar. She tiptoed down the hallway to Owen’s room and peeked her head inside. The baby stood in his crib, gripping the side rails, grinning at Asher and June.
Asher sat in the rocking chair with June perched in his lap, a guitar held in front of them. “You’ve gotta hold it tight, bug. It might hurt your fingers a little bit till you get calluses built up like I do.”
“What’re calluses?” June asked.
Asher held out his hand, palm up, so she could see the rough patches on the tips of his fingers. Ones Nat knew the delicious scratch of intimately. “These. Fingers need to harden up to play.”
“Are they there forever?”
“They will be as long as I’m playin’ guitar. So, yeah, they’ll be there forever.” He pressed a kiss to her temple. “You wanna try again?”
“Yeah!”
“And maybe Nat wants to come in and listen instead of spyin’ at the door.”
She huffed out a laugh and stepped into the doorway, leaning against the jamb. “I don’t understand. I tiptoed here.”
“Cement blocks, wifey. I’m afraid you’re never gonna be able to sneak up on me.”
“Was that a challenge? Because it sounded like a challenge.”
He laughed low and shook his head before placing June’s fingers back on the strings. “All right, let’s play this, and then it’s bedtime.”
“But I’m not tired.” June’s shoulders slumped as she appraised them each with a pout.
“You’re gonna be real tired in the mornin’ when we leave if you haven’t gotten any sleep.”
“Oh! I forgot to show you!” June shoved the guitar away and jumped off Asher’s lap before flying out of the room.
“You wanna talk about cement blocks? That girl runs like an elephant,” Nat said, thumbing over her shoulder to where June disappeared.
Asher laughed and set the guitar down next to him. “She must be learnin’ it from you.”
At one time, a comment like that probably would’ve sent her running for the hills. The idea that she was influencing impressionable children with how she lived her life was scary, to say the least. Unconventional, but that was okay. And though she’d only been a staple in their lives for a few months, she couldn’t imagine her life without them.
“Look what Mimi and Papa got me!” June ran into the room, a piece of paper flapping over her head.
“What do you have there?” Nat grabbed the paper from June and held it out in front of her.
“The Aunties got me colors and markers and paints, too, so we can so we color where we’ve been.”
The map of the United States was outlined with a thick black line and mostly blank, save for a tiny heart on the northern part of Mississippi. Across the top were the words, No matter where you go, you can always land back home.
To everyone else, this was probably just a map. Just a series of black lines on a white piece of paper. Something that could be ripped or crumpled or thrown away. Discarded without a second thought. But to Nat, it was encouragement. It was acceptance of who she was. Who they were as a family. Made all the more meaningful because it’d come from her parents.
She swallowed down the lump in her throat and met June’s smile with one of her own. “I love it.” She squatted down and wrapped an arm around June’s waist. “And I love you, Junie B, but it is bedtime.”
“Love you too, Nattie.” June squeezed Nat around the neck and hit her with the sad puppy eyes. “But we can still read a story, right?”
Nat never thought she’d see the day when she was wrapped around the fingers of two tiny people, and yet there she was. “Yes, we can. While Uncle Asher puts your brother down, weare gonna go on an adventure with Junie B. before our adventure begins tomorrow.”
* * *
June must havesuckered Nat into more than one chapter because she didn’t come strolling out of the bedroom until thirty minutes later. Asher sat on the couch, guitar in his lap, as he scribbled notes on the song he was currently writing.
Working as part of a stable of songwriters had been amazing. He’d always loved this part of the job—the creation, the possibilities. That feeling of exhilaration when just the right verse poured out of him and he found the perfect notes to go along with it. And considering what his life looked like now, he’d been finding it real damn easy to write songs. He’d known pain and heartbreak, grief and sorrow. But he’d also known laughter and excitement, new possibilities and endless love. And the love he had now, for Nat and those kids, was unlike any he’d ever known before.
“What’re you workin’ on?” she asked.
“Something new.” He scribbled one last note in his journal before closing the book.
“How’s it goin’?”
“Good,” he said, glancing up as she strode toward him wearing nothing but a tank top and a tiny pair of sleep shorts. “Especially when my muse is around.”
“You’re gonna be around this muse of yours twenty-four seven for the next month.” She took the guitar from his lap and propped it up next to him on the couch before straddling his lap. “But durin’ the next month, we’re gonna have to be incredibly creative about our grown-up time.”
He grinned. “I foresee a lot of outdoor activities in our future.”
“No doubt. But while we still have a great big bed, I was thinkin’ we should probably take advantage of that.”
He slid his hands up the outsides of her thighs, tucking his fingers beneath the material of her shorts. Palming her ass, he tugged her closer until their lips were a breath apart. “Oh yeah? What’d you have in mind?”
“How about you take me in there, and I’ll show you?”
In the five months since he’d asked her to stay, she’d shown him so much. Patience and adventure. Love and understanding. Acceptance and joy. He and the kids had joined her in Nevada for a shoot at Valley of Fire. Then the four of them had traveled to Portland to pack up her apartment, then to Nashville to do the same for his. They were nourishing little travelers in those two kids.
But even through all the trips the four of them had taken, he and Nat had also made sure June and Owen knew Havenbrook was home.
“I think that might be the best idea you’ve had all day.” He stood, palming her ass with her still wrapped around him, and strode toward their bedroom. The one they’d shared since the beginning.
A couple months ago, they’d cleaned out Aubrey and Nathan’s room, sorting through their things and donating what they could to the shelter, while keeping anything they were attached to. Now, it was a playroom, a place where the kids could go if they missed their parents. A place where all of them could be together, surrounded by what started it all. Images of Aubrey and Nathan, of June and Owen, and the four of them together were interspersed with newer photos. Snapshots of him and Nat and the kids and this amazing, unexpected life they had together.
He stopped short in the doorway and met her stare with a raised brow. “Didn’t think this one through, did you?”
“What?” she asked before turning her head toward the heap of laundry piled on the bed. “Um…wall sex? Shower sex? Floor sex?”
He breathed out a laugh. “Thought the whole point was to take advantage of this great big bed.”
She unhooked her legs from around him and slid to the floor. Slipping her hands under his shirt, she tugged it up and off him before pressing up on her tiptoes and nipping his bottom lip. “I’ve misled you. The whole point is to have you inside me.”
With a groan, he gripped her around the waist, tugging her up and against him as he lowered them both to the bed, right over the clean laundry. He notched himself between her thighs and pressed down hard against her heat, knowing by the arch of her back, by the speed of her breaths, by how tightly she gripped his hair, that she wanted this now.
In the months they’d been together, he’d learned every facet of her. Every shadow, every secret was now for him, and he loved every complicated, unique, incomparable inch.
He thrust hard and brushed his lips down her neck, eliciting a loud moan from her. “We’re gonna have to get those sounds under control.”
She slapped her left hand over her mouth and caught her next moan with her palm. But that wasn’t going to do. For the next month, they may have to be quiet, but he sure as fuck was going to hear her sounds now.
He gripped her wrist, brought her hand to his mouth, and pressed a kiss on her wedding ring before pinning her arm above her head. “Tonight, those noises are mine.”
After stripping her down, he worshiped every inch of her body with his lips, tongue, and hands. Made her call out his name before he yanked her to the edge of the bed and stared down at this gorgeous creature. This wild thing that had somehow settled with him. His wife. Her ring glinted at him as she cupped her breast, running her thumb back and forth over her nipple, a mischievous smile curving her lips.
He never could’ve imagined this would be where he’d end up. Where they’d end up. Never could’ve foreseen that using downpour for the first time meant she’d be on that life raft with him for the rest of their lives.
It might’ve started out as nothing more than a lie to get the kids, but as he slid inside her, as he stroked them both toward their peaks, he knew he’d never felt anything more real than Nat’s love.