Keeping You

  Keeping You

  A Summerville Novel

  Always a Bridesmaid Series 2

  By Jessie Evans

  A marriage of insanity...

  Aria March and Nash Geary's first summer fling ended badly, very badly, and they haven't spoken a civil word to each other since they were teens.

  Twelve years later, Aria is back in Summerville, fighting for custody of her little girl, and it sure wouldn't hurt her case to be in a committed relationship. Fresh from a nasty breakup, Nash will do anything to one-up Rachael, the woman who broke his heart a few months ago, even agree to a marriage of inconvenience to Aria March.

  But all too soon the line between reality and fantasy begins to blur, and Nash and Aria find there are better things than revenge. There is forgiveness, and sexy second chances with the one who got away.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

  Copyright © 2013 Jessie D. Evans

  This book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the author. This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously. Cover image by Yuri Arcurs for Fotolia. Cover design by Bootstrap Designs. Editing by Linked In Editorial Trademarks Acknowledgment The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction: Chiclet c. Cadbury Adams USA. Coke c. Coca-Cola Company. Michelob Ultra c. Anheuser-Busch. Sesame Street c. Sesame Workshop. VW Bug c. Volkswagon.

  Other Novels by Jessie Evans

  Betting on You

  Wild For You

  Catching You

  Taking You

  Dedicated to Second Chances

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Prologue

  Aria slipped through the woods on silent feet, her heartbeat louder than the cicadas buzzing and clicking in the trees.

  It was almost too dark to see the trail, she didn’t have a flashlight, and it was against every rule in the camp handbook for her to be out of her cabin after lights out. If she were caught, she would be thrown out of camp in disgrace. Mama and Daddy were on the board of the Arts Council that helped fund the camp, but Aria was pretty sure even that wouldn’t help her avoid the ultimate punishment.

  She really didn’t want to be sent home—her two best friends were here, camp meant another four weeks away from her bratty little sisters, Lark and Melody, and she was having the time of her life sketching and painting and experimenting with new mediums during her five hours of daily art classes. She loved camp Arts Under the Elms, and wouldn’t put her future here at risk for anything.

  Anything except him.

  Nash Geary.

  Just thinking his name was enough to make her shiver all over. He was the most delicious boy she had ever met—taller than all the other boys at camp by at least five inches, built like a contestant straight out of some ancient Olympics, with moody green eyes a shade lighter than her own and a silky Georgia drawl she could feel brushing over her skin like warm satin.

  He was flat out, no holds barred, drop dead gorgeous.

  Every girl at camp had had her eye on him the first day, but by the time the sixty-five young artists selected for the competitive summer intensive walked through the dinner line to pick up their burgers and hot dogs, Nash had made it clear he only had eyes for the redhead with the long, straight hair and the tie-dyed dress swirling around her skinny white legs.

  Aria had dated more than her share of cute boys—especially considering she was not quite sixteen, and still not allowed to go on car dates—but she had never caught the eye of someone as close to a full-grown man as Nash. She knew she was pretty, with clear, pale skin, deep green eyes, and red hair that had darkened to a flattering auburn after her twelfth birthday, but no matter how much she ate, she stayed a little too skinny. Heck, she barely filled out an A cup.

  Meanwhile, Nash was six foot four, muscled all over, with hands big enough to wrap all the way around Aria’s waist, and an aura that practically seethed experience.

  She had no doubt that he’d gone all the way with at least one girl, maybe more.

  At first, she had wondered what he saw in a scrawny thing like her, a girl who still looked like a twelve-year old if she made the mistake of forgetting to slip the padding into her two-piece swimsuit. But then they’d started talking and things had just…clicked.

  Within a few hours, they were cracking jokes like old friends, making each other laugh so hard they snorted Coke out their noses. By the third day, they were taking long walks together during their free time after dinner—talking about their lives back home and school and family and which bands they liked and art and everything else—and by the fifth day they were stealing kisses behind the mess hall dumpsters before lights out.

  And what kisses they were…

  Just thinking about them made Aria’s body hum and her footsteps move faster along the path, already anticipating the deep, mind-numbing kiss waiting for her in the clearing where she and Nash had agreed to meet tonight.

  Kissing Nash was heaven and hell all at the same time, enough to make her soul light up with joy and every cell in her body ache with a hunger that was almost painful. Up until now, kissing and some light over-the-clothes action had been all she had been interested in with the boys she dated, but now…

  Now she wanted Nash’s big hands to slide underneath her t-shirt. She wanted to feel her bare skin pressed against his. She wanted to let him touch her wherever he wanted, do whatever he wanted, because she knew anything she did with Nash would feel amazing, perfect, and so, so right.

  It had only been three weeks, but she was ready for Nash to be her first. She could feel how much he cared about her, and she had never been so completely gone on a boy. In her secret thoughts, she had imagined growing up to have a string of gorgeous lovers, each one more dashing and dangerous than the last, but now a part of her wondered what it would be like to find “the one” the first time around, to spend her life making love to only one man.

  When the man in question was Nash, the possibility didn’t seem boring or typical. Not in the slightest.

  “Hey,” he whispered, moving out of the shadows at the edge of the clearing as she finally arrived at their meeting spot.

  Aria smiled and skipped the last few steps off the path and into his arms. He picked her up with a soft moan she felt vibrate through her bones, and kissed her, long and hard, until her breath was coming faster and that delicious hunger rose inside.

  “I was beginning to think you’d changed your mind,” he whispered against her mouth, as his hands wandered down to cup her bottom in his big hands.

  Aria’s throat constricted and an electric jolt surged through her in response. “No,” she said, breath already coming faster. “I just had to wait until Molly fell asleep. She was reading in her bunk forever.”

  “I’m so glad you’re here,” Nash murmured. “I’ve been dying to be alone with you.”

  They kissed for another long minute, until the clearing was filled with the sounds of their swiftly drawn breath and soft sighs and moans, and Aria’s head was spinning.


  Finally she pulled away. “Did you bring…something?” she asked, feeling a little nervous for the first time.

  “Yes ma’am,” Nash drawled in that silky voice of his. “I brought a blanket from the storage room. It’s over here.” He took her hand and pulled her deeper into the shadows.

  As Aria’s eyes adjusted, she saw a dark gray camp blanket spread out on the grass. She let Nash pull her down onto the blanket next to him, rolling her beneath him with a calm assurance that made her blood pressure spike, but when he moved to kiss her again, she put a finger on his lips.

  “I didn’t mean the blanket,” she whispered in a shaky voice. “I meant…something.”

  Nash paused for a long second before his breath rushed out. “Oh…I didn’t… I have something. In my wallet, but…”

  “But what?” Aria asked. The hesitation in his voice might have made her anxious any other time, but it was impossible to feel anxious with him leaning protectively over her, his big hand running up and down her side in a gentle caress.

  “I didn’t think you wanted to…you know…tonight. I thought you might want to wait.”

  “Do you want to wait?”

  “Hell, no,” he said, with a soft laugh. “But…it’s not my first time.”

  “Does that make you nervous?” Aria asked, knowing some guys avoided virgins, thinking they were too clingy or too much responsibility or something lame like that that she had never quite understood.

  She might be a virgin, but she didn’t expect to be rendered idiotic and helpless because her privates and a boy’s privates met up for the first time. She was inexperienced, not a fool, and her brain was just as much a part of this decision as the rest of her.

  “A little,” Nash confessed after a moment. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “You won’t.” Aria snuggled closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck. “All you ever do is make me feel amazing. I doubt this will be any different.”

  “Are you sure?” Nash asked. “I don’t mind waiting. I…”

  “What?” Aria asked, letting her fingers play with his spiky, light brown hair, wishing she could see his eyes.

  “I really like you. A lot,” he said. “I don’t want this to just be a camp thing, you know?”

  “Me, either,” Aria said, realizing the words were true.

  She and Nash hadn’t talked about anything long term, but now it seemed like a no-brainer that they would last longer than seven weeks. Sure, they went to different schools and lived on opposite sides of town—Aria in a big house in a new subdivision, Nash out in the boonies with his parents and ten brothers and sisters—but there was no reason they couldn’t make a relationship work.

  “I don’t have a lot of time during the week,” Nash said. “I have football most afternoons and help out with my brothers and sisters at night, but I could come to Summerville every Sunday.”

  “And I could come out and help you babysit some nights,” Aria said, catching Nash’s excitement for their future.

  “I’d like that,” Nash said, before adding in a softer voice, “I’d like as much of you as I can get.”

  “How about all of me?” Aria asked, tugging gently at his neck. “Come on, Nash. I’m almost sixteen. I know what I want.”

  Nash resisted for a moment, but Aria could hear the way his breath hitched. “On one condition,” he said in his husky drawl, his voice enough to make Aria squirm with wanting him. “You’re my girlfriend. It’s official, starting tonight.”

  “All right,” Aria said, suddenly feeling shy.

  She had never had an official boyfriend before, especially not one who made it sound like such a major deal, a commitment that meant more to him than a casual, high school connection. When Nash called her his girlfriend, it was intimate, possessive, and irresistibly sexy.

  “I’m your girlfriend.” The words sent a thrill through Aria, giving her the courage to say, “Now, will you make love to me?”

  Nash didn’t say a word, but the next second he was kissing her so hard and deep that, after only a moment, his breath was her breath and Aria swore she could feel his heartbeat echoing inside her chest.

  A few moments later, his hand slid beneath her shirt, and not long after her shirt was off and he was kissing her in places no boy had ever kissed her before and it was…mind-blowing. Aria’s head spun and her fingers fisted in Nash’s hair as he kissed and licked and, god, the things he did, and the way it made her feel. It was more amazing than she’d ever imagined.

  And then, his hand was sliding beneath the waistband of the old gym shorts she slept in, down until he found the place where she ached and needed and wanted him so badly and his fingers began to move, building the tension inside of her until she was breathing hard, body tensed as his lips trailed hot kisses down her neck, her eyes squeezed so tight that she didn’t see the flashlights coming through the woods until it was too late.

  Too late for her and Nash to pull apart; too late to avoid being caught in a very compromising position.

  What followed was one of the most mortifying nights of Aria’s life.

  After scrambling back into their clothes in front of three senior counselors, she and Nash were taken to the camp director’s office and forced to sit silently on opposite sides of the room while they waited for their parents to arrive.

  Since the Gearys lived closer to the camp, Nash’s mom arrived first.

  She wasn’t anything like what Aria had imagined she would be. She was tiny, for one thing—only coming up to the middle of Nash’s chest—and dressed in cheap, ill-fitting jeans and a faded t-shirt, with her thin brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. It was obvious she had once been very pretty, but now she looked worn out, and not just because she’d been awakened in the middle of the night.

  Nash had mentioned that his mom and dad both had to work really hard at their jobs, and often work extra night shifts to pay for everything their children needed, but Aria hadn’t understood how hard, or how poor Nash’s family must be.

  The realization came to her in a rush, the moment Nash’s mom’s watery green eyes met hers with a knowing look that made her feel small and stupid and very, very young.

  Nash’s mom listened to the report of the incident without saying much then asked, “Am I going to need to take him home?”

  The director, Phil, a man close to Aria’s daddy’s age who looked sick to his stomach with nerves, exchanged a loaded look with his wife, who stood in the corner across the room, biting her lip. “Well, that’s up to Aria’s parents to decide,” he said. “Since she’s the minor in this situation.”

  Nash’s mom frowned. “Nash only turned eighteen last month.”

  Phil sighed again, a sound that seemed to pain him. “I know, but she’s fifteen and if Mr. March wants to press charges, I—”

  Phil never got to finish his sentence.

  Aria’s daddy came roaring into the room like a rampaging rhinoceros, his thinning blond hair standing up in a crazy fuzz-halo around his head, his deep voice making the walls vibrate. Even dressed in suit pants and dress shoes paired with an old Bob and Sue’s Smokehouse t-shirt from before Aria was born, back when Mom and Dad opened the first of their chain of BBQ restaurants, he managed to look terrifying, not ridiculous. Daddy was only five ten, and on the slim side for a man with a deep and abiding love of red meat, but he had a presence about him that could knock larger men off their feet at ten yards.

  He took one look at Nash and started breathing fire.

  He used words Aria had never heard come out of his mouth before, but it was the moment he called Nash a “low life piece of white trash not good enough to lick the ground his little girl walked on” that would always stick with her.

  She couldn’t believe her dad would judge someone for having less money than they did. She was still in shock from it when Daddy demanded Nash be removed from the camp immediately, and promised to press statutory rape charges first thing in the morning.

  It was then that Ar
ia started to cry, loud, terrified, panicked tears that made her father come sit next to her on the couch. He put an arm around her and drew her in for a hug, finally acting like the dad she had always loved to bits.

  By the time she pulled herself together, Nash and his mother were gone, led away by a senior counselor to Nash’s cabin to collect his things.

  Nash wasn’t there to hear Aria convince her daddy that he couldn’t file charges against Nash. He wasn’t there to hear her father apologize for saying things he shouldn’t have. He wasn’t there to hear Aria tell her dad that she and Nash cared about each other and wanted to be together, or to hear her daddy say they’d talk more about that when she came home from camp in four weeks.

  In the days that followed, Aria called directory assistance from the pay phones in the rec room, and tracked down Nash’s number. But for some reason, she couldn’t bring herself to call him, not while she was stuck out in the wilderness. She convinced herself it would be better to call when she was back in Summerville, when she could get a ride from one of her friends to meet him and talk face to face.

  She called him the second she got home, but an answering machine picked up. She dropped the phone back into its cradle, too nervous to leave a message.

  What if his family hated her for getting Nash kicked out of camp? She didn’t think Nash would blame her, but she didn’t want the first time he heard her voice again to be on an answering machine, either.

  So she waited, and called again. And again and again—five times in her first week home—but she was never able to get anyone human on the line.

  The first time she saw Nash outside of camp was a week before school started, at the Summerville Mall where she was shopping for a first-day-of-school outfit with her friends. She spotted Nash and a few other boys from River Valley High School in the food court and rushed over. She didn’t hesitate for a second, not imagining Nash would be anything but happy to see her.

  Though, looking back on it later, she realized she should have.