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***
When we pull into the large shopping district that’s about an hour away from the house, Wren squeals excitedly and darts out of the car before I’ve barely put it in park.
I chuckle as I get out and raise a brow in her direction. “Excited much?”
“What woman doesn’t love shopping? It’s a guilty pleasure,” she says, her mouth tipping into the biggest grin – one that rivals the sun shining down on her.
“Guess that means we should get moving, yeah?”
Wren rolls her eyes. “Men, they’ll never learn.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
She chuckles and glances over her shoulder, winking at me. “You’re never supposed to take a woman shopping unless you want to spend hours doing so.”
Luckily for her, I’d already planned to be out most of the day, and it doesn’t bother me one bit – especially when it seems to make her this happy. We start down the street, passing other pedestrians in the process, and I breathe a sigh of relief that no one immediately takes their phones out to snap pictures.
I can’t imagine what Mack would do if he came across a picture of me and Wren walking along the street, looking more comfortable together than a therapist and client should be. There’s no doubt in my mind that Wren would end up losing her job and possibly be blacklisted from being able to find another one.
Mack is cool when he wants to be, but when it comes to us and his family that’s when the harsher version of him comes out. If he knew that Wren and I had been sneaking kisses, among other things, he’d immediately call whoever was necessary to have her character questioned.
Now that I think about it… maybe it wasn’t a good idea to do something in public, where anyone could recognize me and disrupt the private bubble I’ve built since getting here.
I’m about to tell Wren as much, but she’s pulling me into a small boutique before I can get a single word out and smiling brightly at the attendants standing like statues behind the counter. One of the girls gives her a small smile in greeting, one of those practiced ones that most customer service workers perfect, and goes back to having a conversation with the woman standing next to her.
So far, so good.
Wren makes a beeline for a rack located in the back of the room, dragging me right along with her, and I can’t even bring myself to be mad about it when we come to a stop. I never thought I’d be the kind of guy who could stand around while the woman I’m with shops, but there’s something captivating about the way her eyes light up when she sees an article of clothing she likes.
It makes me want to be around to see it more often.
If only she didn’t live in Arizona and could travel with me while on tour.
“Hm, I don’t think the blue would look right,” she mumbles, but it gains my attention, and I study the dress she’s holding out in front of her.
I glance at the rack and pull another one out – the same one, just in a darker blue – to hold out to her. “This one would look great with your blue eyes.”
She scrunches her nose at it, then looks up at me. “You’re giving me fashion advice? It seems as though we have come pretty far in such a short amount of time, huh?”
The woman who greeted us with a smile clears her throat behind us. “Is there anything I could help you two find?”
Wren shakes her head. “No, but could you point me to a fitting room, please?”
While she follows the worker toward the fitting room, I stick back and push through the racks surrounding me. There’s a dress hanging up that Wren would look phenomenal in, but is that something a guy would do?
There’s commotion in front of the store, but I’m too absorbed in my dilemma to worry about what’s going on, and I drape the dress over my arm before I change my mind. There’s an opening at the stomach, and the straps crisscross in the back to show off the nice curve Wren’s got along hers, and I smile knowingly.
This would be perfect for a nice dinner together.
Why do I feel the need to make Wren smile? It’s like there’s nothing I want more in this world than to see her lips curve into one, but I don’t understand.
My heart thumps wildly in response, and I nearly fall over from the realization.
I’m falling for her.
In the years since getting into the band, I’ve never fallen for anyone. I swore off it the moment my parents made me feel as though I wasn’t loved by them—the emotion came with nothing but heartache.
So, how could I possibly feel something like that for a woman I’ve only known a short time? Until I got to Arizona, she was a complete stranger to me.
