Cross My Heart (A Contemporary Romance Novel)

tucked in his right front pocket as Jenna led the way to a deserted dressing room.
    “Is this okay?” she asked, leaning back against the Formica counter that lined the room.
    He nodded. “Yeah, this is great.”
    He hesitated a moment, gathering his thoughts, but Jenna spoke before he did. “I have something to say, too. I want to apologize for avoiding you this past week. That last morning was pretty intense, and I...I guess I needed a little space.”
    “Of course,” he said. “I understand.” He hesitated again. “I need to apologize, too.”
    “For what?”
    “For being a selfish jerk.”
    She stared at him. “Michael, you’re not a jerk. If I said something to make you think—”
    “Jenna. I really need to get this out, okay?”
    Her eyes searched his before she nodded. “Okay.”
    He took a deep breath. “When I asked you to stay with me...I didn’t understand.”
    “Didn’t understand what?”
    “I didn’t understand this part of you. I thought I did, but...deep down, I don’t think I really took your music seriously. Not the way I should have.”
    She tilted her head to the side as she looked up at him. “I haven’t always taken myself seriously.”
    He nodded. “I know. And instead of helping you get over that, I treated your music like a hobby. Like something you could give up to be with me.” He took another breath. “But tonight I found out that it’s not your hobby. It’s your calling. I saw you on that stage, and...” he shook his head slowly, words failing him again. “My God, you were incredible. You were incandescent.”
    She smiled at him. “Incandescent? I like that.”
    “It doesn’t do you justice. Watching you tonight, I realized how selfish I was to suggest you give this up for me. You shouldn’t ever give this up, Jenna. Not for me, not for anyone.”
    She stared at him in silence for a moment. “You mean that?”
    “Yeah, I mean it. And I hope you can forgive me for asking you to be less than you are, just so I could keep you with me.” He smiled a little. “My only excuse is that I’ve never felt this way about anyone before, and it made me greedy.”
    She was looking down now, and he couldn’t tell what she was thinking.
    He knew he should tell her the rest. Even though they couldn’t be together—even though she’d never belong to him—he wanted her to know how he felt. Especially because he didn’t expect to feel this way again. Once in a lifetime was probably all you got for this kind of thing.
    So it would be a damn shame if he never got to say it out loud.
    “I’m madly in love with you, Jenna.”
    She looked up then, her eyes wide and her cheeks flushing. “Michael—”
    “Don’t,” he said quickly. He wasn’t sure which would be worse—finding out she felt the same, or finding out she didn’t. “Whatever you were going to say, you don’t have to. I just wanted you to know because—well, I thought you should. But it’s not going to keep us from being friends,” he added. “Nothing’s going to keep us from being friends. If only so I can get free tickets to Red Mollies concerts.”
    That made her smile, although her eyes were suspiciously bright.
    “We should probably get back now,” he said after a moment.
    She nodded. “We probably should. But...before we go...” She hesitated. “Would you kiss me goodbye?”
    He couldn’t have said no to save his life.
    He pulled her into his arms and kissed her softly, slowly. He savored the taste of her, the scent of her, knowing it was the last time. He pulled her closer, until he could feel her heart pounding against his.
    And then he let her go.
     

 
    Chapter Thirteen
    A month and a half later, the Mollies’ reunion tour officially ended. They’d played Kansas City and Omaha, Madison and Minneapolis, and finished up with two shows in Chicago.
    They’d been a raging success.
    So much so that Derek’s old manager from his Irontown days wanted to take them on. That, of course, would mean an exhausting tour schedule and recording sessions—and an official launch into the big time.
    Jenna should have been ecstatic.
    Instead she was lying awake in a Chicago hotel room, thinking about Michael.
    She’d been sure that touring would be the perfect distraction, that it would fill every corner of her mind so there wouldn’t be room to miss him.
    She’d been wrong.
    She missed him every day, every hour, every minute. It didn’t affect her playing—if anything, she was better