Page 20 of Sweet Music (Sugarville Grove #7)

Bella loved Sugarville Grove at every time of year, but right now it was so beautiful that it made her ache. The sun was just beginning to set, and the snow was tinted peach and pale pink. The evergreens were frosted with pastel snow, and everything looked so soft .

She wondered what it must have been like to grow up on this farm, with so much space around, and animals everywhere. She wasn’t a city girl, but she was a suburban one for sure.

Bella felt a pang of guilt at the thought of all the space and animals. Cody had let it slip recently that he really wanted a dog. But they had practically no space for a pet, and no time to spend with a bored, cooped-up dog, except at night and on the weekends.

Her compromise had been to sign them up to volunteer at the shelter, so at least he’d have the chance to be around some dogs once in a while. Monday was going to be their first day. She only hoped it didn’t break both their hearts.

“Hey,” Cash said, coming back out again.

“Hi,” she replied, turning to see him holding a stack of something in his hand. “That was quick.”

“Acoustic guitar strings,” he said. “I figured Cody would like them. They’re the same kind I use.”

“That’s really nice,” she told him, meaning it.

“I wish you’d let me do more,” he said.

“For now, it’s better to do little things that show him you’re really getting to know him,” she said. “Like this.”

“Any reason I can’t do both?” Cash asked.

She’d had a deep and visceral reaction the first time he’d offered her money, and she hadn’t been able to figure out why. But now she realized what she was worried about.

What if he just tries to replace time and care with money?

He certainly had enough of it. It would be all too easy for him to open his wallet and then direct his attention elsewhere.

“Let’s not muddy the water with money,” she said, not wanting to insult him by telling the truth.

“But you’ll tell me if you’re in trouble, right?” Cash asked. “Do you promise you won’t let anything bad happen without talking to me?”

“Of course,” she told him, meeting his eyes. “I will never let anything bad happen to Cody, especially if I think you could help.”

He nodded slowly.

“Promise you won’t take him away from me?” she heard herself ask before she had time to think better of it, her voice breaking at the end of the question.

“Bella,” he breathed, moving to her and taking her hands in his. “Why would you even ask me that?”

“He’s your son,” she replied. “And he’s not even really my nephew. Harper was my cousin, not my sister. But I’ve known him all his life, and I’m all he has from his past. Even if he won’t talk to me about it yet.”

The secret fear she had been trying to repress since Cash first appeared took hold of her again and she felt the tears coming before she could stop them. She looked down at the ground, hoping he wouldn’t see.

“I would never, ever take that boy away from you,” Cash told her, lifting one hand to cup her cheek and tilt her face back up to him. “I promise.”

Relief slammed into her and the gratitude that followed had her leaning into the hand that held her face, and closing her eyes for a moment.

“Bella,” Cash murmured.

She opened her eyes to see him leaning closer.

This time, there was nothing to distract him from her. The world seemed to stand still as his lips touched hers, gently at first, sending shivers through her, and then more forcefully, until she forgot how to breathe, how to do anything but be kissed by Cash Law.

“ Wow ,” he murmured, pulling back .

His eyes were hazy with need, and he tilted his head slightly as he studied her.

“ Who are you? ” he whispered.

Bella’s heart was pounding too hard for her to be able to think straight.

“What?” she asked.

“Nothing,” he said, shaking his head. “We need to get out of here before I ask you inside again. Come on.”

She let herself be led down the porch steps. By the time they got down to the snowy grass again, her cheeks were hot with embarrassment. What had gotten into her? She wasn’t some silly fangirl, kissing a man who wasn’t hers.

“You’re going to love dinner,” Cash said, not letting go of her hand as they walked. “My dad is making his famous roast chicken. And West’s wife, Dulcie, is helping out. She loves to cook.”

“Dulcie,” Bella said. “She’s the one who crashed into a snowbank last year.”

“Yeah, she crashed into my brother’s heart too,” Cash chuckled. “He’s always been the serious one. When his wife left, we just figured he and his little girl would go it alone.”

“He’s a good man,” Bella said. “He did free flu shots for seniors at the library one time, and insisted on giving them to all the librarians too.”

“That sounds like West,” Cash said, nodding.

“Will Allie be there tonight?” Bella asked.

Allie was the Lawrence boys’ little sister. She was a kindergarten teacher over at the elementary school, and she stopped by the library all the time for fresh books to read to her kids. Her optimistic energy was contagious.

“Yeah, I think so,” Cash said. “She has weekends off, at least.”

“She brings a lot of work home with her?” Bella asked.

“Oh yeah,” Cash said. “I’ve barely exchanged two words with her since I got home.”

Bella nodded. That made sense.

They had almost reached his parents’ house again when Cash stopped in his tracks and turned to face her.

“We can’t keep ignoring this,” he said, his deep voice so intimate that her eyes flashed right to his.

“Of course we can,” she told him firmly. “Whatever this is, it could make things harder for Cody.”

“Do you really think so?” Cash asked, looking taken aback.

“He doesn’t need to feel like I’m taking your focus away from him,” she said. “Or that you have some kind of ulterior motive for spending time with him. You’re finally in his life. You can’t make it about anything but him.”

“But he loves you. He might like to see someone make you happy,” Cash said. “And it might take the pressure off him a little.”

“What do you mean?” she asked. “What pressure?”

“I just mean that it might actually be nice for him if he’s not the only one I’m there every day to see,” Cash said, shrugging. “He’s a teenager, so he’s not going to want me breathing down his neck.”

Every day?

“Come on,” Cash said. “You can think about it later. Right now, we have to concentrate on dinner. My family’s never going to forgive me if I keep you all to myself.”

He didn’t let go of her hand though, so she had to slip it out of his when they headed up to the house.

She stole a glance at him, wondering if it would make him mad.

But there was a knowing smirk on his handsome face, like he knew very well that she wanted to be holding his hand, even if she wasn’t.

She couldn’t keep in a little burst of laughter.

“What?” he asked.

“You,” she said, shaking her head. “The industry has made you cocky.”

“Some might say rightfully so,” he teased, arching a brow at her.

She wanted to giggle like a schoolgirl. He brought that out in her, made her silly instead of so serious all the time.

He opened the front door for her, and she took a single step inside.

“Shoes,” a chorus of happy voices sang out from the back of the house. Making her pause in the doorway.

“That’s for Tripp,” Cash explained, rolling his eyes. “He always forgets to take off his boots and he tracks mud and snow into the house.”

“Wow,” Bella said. “Even now?”

“Who knows?” Cash said. “We always yell shoes , so he has no excuse to forget. Come on.”

Bella hesitated for half a second. But there was no way she could expect Cody to do this if she was afraid to go in herself.

She stepped the rest of the way inside and took off her boots, ready to see what the Lawrence family was all about.

I know pretty much all of them all individually in some way, she reminded herself. So at least there won’t be any surprises…