She hadn’t stopped by their house since starting the preparations for the fund-raiser. Her life had gotten too busy. No, that wasn’t the only reason. She’d also been spending almost every night at Shaw’s place in the city. Driving to Long Acre just to grab dinner with her parents was too much of a hassle. A thread of guilt tried to wind its way through her, but she tamped it down. She was an adult who had a life. She loved seeing her parents, but they had to accept that she wouldn’t always be visiting weekly and texting them each night. Right?
“Everything all right?” Shaw asked from his spot in front of the music books.
“Yeah, it’s just my mom inviting me to dinner. She said she misses me and is worried I’ve been so quiet.”
Shaw set down the sheet music he’d been looking at and turned to her. “Are you going to go?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know.”
He frowned. “Baby, if you want to go, you should go. Don’t worry about me.”
“That’s the crappy thing,” she admitted. “I don’t want to go. I love them, but I feel like every conversation revolves around my research and program. I haven’t told them yet that I went on leave from my job. I’m not in the mood to go into it and answer all their questions. And I don’t want to explain where I’ve been or who I’ve been spending time with.”
“Right,” Shaw said softly. “That would get complicated.”
She sighed. “It’s just been kind of nice breaking away a little, living my own life. Which I know sounds ridiculous for someone my age to say but…”
“It doesn’t sound ridiculous. They’ve put a lot of pressure on you to be that involved. You have the right to some breathing room. I know you worry about them, but they’re grown-ups, too.”
Her phone dinged again.
Mom: I had a bad nightmare last night. I dreamt someone was trying to kidnap you. Are you being careful on campus at night? I know you’ve been working late.
Taryn groaned, guilt edging back in. “I should probably go.”
Shaw stepped closer and put his hands on her shoulders, a dimpled smile on his face. “I thought we were both working on not giving in to ‘shoulds.’ Tonight, you wanted to buy a guitar, eat some Indian food, and then have ridiculously amazing sex with yours truly. If that’s the plan you want, you should stick with it. Your parents are fine. If you’re not up to it, they can survive without seeing you for dinner.”
She stared at him, his charm hard to resist. She knew he’d have no problem with her going to her parents’ house if that was what she wanted to do, but he knew she didn’t. She shook her head and laughed. “You’re a bad influence.”
“That’s the best kind.”
She stepped back and texted her mom.
I’m sorry. Working late tonight. Yes, I’m being safe. I’ll stop by soon. Love you.
She looked up and smiled. “Done.”
“Good. Now let’s get you something to play with, rock star.”
“I thought I was playing with you,” she teased.
He grinned and pecked her on the lips. “Later. That is most definitely on the agenda.”
He grabbed her hand and led her to the other wall with the fancier guitars. She tried too many to count, playing songs and laughing with Shaw when she forgot the notes.
They’d had a long, emotional day, but when she fell into bed with him that night, she wasn’t thinking of his confession or that she had to write a song. She wasn’t thinking about all the work still to be done or if her parents were angry at her for not coming over. All she could think was that finally, finally, she felt…happy.
Chapter
Twenty-Two
Shaw checked the time as he maneuvered his vacuum into his bedroom to get the place cleaned up. Taryn had said she was going to be working until five and then planned to head over. He’d seen her at work this week, but she hadn’t been over to his place in a few days because she was wrapping up the final details of the big event with her friends. But tonight they were going to celebrate, so he wanted the place to look nice. After weeks of hectic planning, Taryn had managed to get fifteen area high schools to sign up for the fund-raiser. Each school was offering two athletes—one girl and one boy—to represent their school. She’d also worked in a best friends/pairs event.
Shaw couldn’t believe all that Taryn and her friends had accomplished in such a short time, but he knew it was mainly because Taryn had worked her ass off. She’d been at the gym every day. She’d made calls and had given her pitch hundreds of times. The woman was something to behold when she was doing her thing.
He had tried to help with what he could behind the scenes, but this was her show. Instead of getting in her way, he’d made sure she remembered to eat, take breaks, get her workouts in, and come over to his place for some relaxation in between. She’d spent more nights at his place than her own. Partly because it was easier than having her make the hour commute home every night, but really, he flat-out just loved having her there.
Even when they were tired and just shared a meal and watched something on TV together, it felt like breathing rare air. He’d been flying solo for so long that this was downright foreign. He couldn’t remember ever feeling so…at ease. Even before everything had happened with Joseph, his life had always been at full speed. Endless training and practice. Traveling to competitions. Filtering everything through the frame of how it would affect his performance. What he ate. How he slept. Even whether or not he had sex if he was close to a competition. Then after the shooting, all of that had been swept away, leaving behind just chaos and grief—both in his world and in his head. He’d never felt truly calm or comfortable in any one place or time since.