Stevie couldn’t stop the thrill that ran through her when Nate pressed his hand to the small of her back as he guided her into Starbucks. She didn’t want to still feel this way about him. She wanted to be aloof and nonchalant, but being close to him again, feeling the warmth of his hand on her back, breathing in his scent…she had no control over the way her body responded. It had always been like this and he had been oblivious, he probably still was.

They ordered and moved down the counter to wait. It was busy and he stood close to her, which she both loved and hated with equal measure. She needed a bit of space from him to catch her breath and clear her head, but she had craved his nearness for so long that she was loathe to leave it so soon. She could feel the heat rolling off his body and she wanted nothing more than to press back into him as he stood behind her in the crowd.

Finally their order was called and he leaned over her to grab both cups before leading her to a table near the back. She knew that the eyes of every woman in the place followed him. Not only was he gorgeous, he was also famous. Seeing celebrities in this part of Nashville wasn’t unheard of, but it didn’t mean the people were blind to him. He may not be at the top of his stardom right now, but he was still a household name.

“You don’t have security?” Stevie asked as they sat down.

“Don’t really need it these days,” he said with a self-deprecating shrug, his eyes down.

They sipped their coffees in silence until it became uncomfortable. She had so many things to say, but she didn’t know where to start and she doubted that this was the time or the place to get into them. She’d chosen Starbucks because she knew it would be busy and she wasn’t quite ready to be alone with him.

He looked up at her, piercing her with his blue eyes. “So, how have you been, Stevie?”

She smiled a tight smile. “Good,” she said, “really good.”

“God,” he said with a shake of his head, “I was such an idiot. I should have turned Gina down flat that night.”

She’d waited a long time to hear those words and now that he’d said them, they didn’t have the effect that she’d expected.

She shrugged. “I was angry for a long time.” He huffed out a laugh and she couldn’t help but smile. “But… things have turned out well for me. It’s taken five years, but I’ve managed to build a career that I love. It may not have been the path that I dreamt of taking, but in the end I made it to the same place.”

“You’re an incredible woman, Stevie Jacks,” he said softly. “I know that you are going to take the country music world by storm.”

She flushed, embarrassed by his praise. “What about you?” she asked, wanting to shift the attention off her. “How’ve you been, really?”

He sighed and sat back in his chair, taking a sip of his coffee before answering. “The first couple of years were ridiculous. I lived large, you know?” He seemed ashamed of his success, or maybe it was what his success had brought him. “I lost my way. The label kept pushing me to change, to compromise. For a while there I didn’t really care. I had everything I’d ever wanted and never imagined that it would come to an end. I thought I was invincible, that I could do no wrong. I wasn’t proud of the music I was producing, but it was what Rocksteady wanted. After that last album, I kind of had a wakeup call. I used to love music - playing, writing, singing, performing - but that last album made it into a chore and I was glad when it was over.”

She hadn’t expected him to be so open with her and had thought he’d try to justify himself. It surprised her and something inside her opened up a little. Some of the hurt that she had harbored against him softened.

“When I heard your song on the radio,” he laughed and shook his head, “it all came back. I missed that feeling, the feeling of when a song reaches into your heart and squeezes. I got that when I heard you sing and I knew that I wasn’t done making music and that I needed to get back to my roots and back to what I loved.”

He looked so earnest and humble as he bared his soul to her. It made her reevaluate her opinion of him and she reached across the table to cover his hand with hers. His skin was warm, like she knew it would be. He flipped his hand over so they were palm to palm and she took in the callouses on his fingers, running her own fingers across the toughened skin. This was their truth, this shared evidence of their deepest love. It was music that had brought them together in the first place and these callouses told the story of what was pure in his life. He may have lost his way for a while, blinded by the bright lights and the money and the fans, but his hands told the real story.

“I’m glad you found your way back,” she murmured, looking at the contrast between her small hand next to his larger one. She looked up into his eyes. “Because that last album was shit and if I ever hear that crap come out of your mouth again I’ll have to disown you.”

His face split in a grin that tugged at her heart. She resisted the temptation to lean across the table and kiss him, although she wanted to do it more than she wanted to breathe her next breath, and sat back, sliding her hand away from his and picking up her cup. She couldn’t let him into her heart again, that’s not why he had come back into her life. They were going to make music together. That was it. She just had to keep reminding herself of that.

Stevie walked into the studio and stopped in her tracks. That fucking song was playing and she could already feel a headache forming.

“What the hell Derek?” she asked.

He turned to her and grinned, a twinkle in his eyes. “What’s up Stevie?”

“Turn that shit off,” she said with a huff as she dumped her bag and rolled her shoulders.

“You don’t like it?”

She snorted and crossed her arms over her chest, “It’s a piece of crap. It sounds like some tween pop-star should be singing it. It’s like a piece of candy; sugary shit with no nutritional value.”

“Whoa, Stevie, tell us what you really think.”

Stevie turned and grinned at Vanessa. Vanessa, her sister Nadine and their brother Jace were just walking into the studio. They were all studio musicians and back-up vocalists and tended to work together a lot.

“So you don’t like Nate Nash’s new song?” Vanessa asked, twirling her drumsticks in her fingers while she looked at Stevie with her head tipped to the side.

“Seriously?” Stevie asked. “You can’t tell me you do.”

“I’m with Stevie,” Jace said. “It’s a piece of crap.”

“He didn’t even write it,” Nadine said setting her violin case down.

“I can tell you,” Derek said with a grin, “that he thinks it’s a piece of shit too.”

Stevie raised her eyebrows at Derek’s comment. “Then why the hell record it and release it?”

“Studio orders,” Derek said. “They want him to become more mainstream.”

Stevie just shook her head in disgust. It seemed he was still selling out. The man would never learn.

She had bought his second album and had wanted to hate it, but secretly loved it. She’d bought this new one too and, apart from a couple of songs, she thought it was a complete piece of shit. It made her sad to think that he would produce something so subpar, especially when he had made such a splash with his second album. The songs had been real and raw and she’d felt everything he felt when she listened to it. It was classic Nate Nash, the Nate Nash that she had loved to partner with. She’d sung along with the album, adding her own harmonies and feeling melancholy because it was the closest she would ever come to singing with him again. Nate Nash was way out of her league now and she wished him well… most of the time.

“Did you see his interview?” Derek asked as he punched some keys on the board in front of him. The screen lit up with a shot of Nate in torn jeans and a Stones shirt, mirrored aviators on his face looking every inch the rock star that he had become. She was lost at the sight of him, seeing his mouth move, but not hearing what he was saying until she heard her name.

“Stop, what did they say?”

Derek rewound the clip and hit play.

“What happened to the songwriter from your first album,” the reporter paused to look down at his notes, “Stevie Jacks?”

Stevie sucked in a breath. She watched as Nate’s jaw tightened and felt the butterflies in her stomach.

“Stevie’s a very talented songwriter,” he said. “I’d love to work with her again if the opportunity arose.”

Fuck. Would she work with him if he asked? She didn’t know. Her anger and hurt over the way they parted had burned hot and any feelings she’d had for him had been consumed by the flames. What was left was ash and sadness at what could have been.

“Wow,” Nadine said when the interview finished and the screen when dark. Four pairs of eyes turned to look at her, pinning her with their gazes.

“Did Nate Nash just ask you to write a song for him?” Vanessa asked.

Stevie scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous,” she said.

“But you worked with him before,” Nadine said.

They didn’t know about Jacks & Nash. Nobody did, although that thought was turned on its head when she heard the opening chords of a song that took her right back in time to the very stage it was performed on at The Red Boot.

“Holy crap,” Vanessa said.

“Fuck me,” Jace whispered.

She turned to the screen, knowing exactly what she was going to see. It was the clip of her and Nate that Darla had uploaded to YouTube, the one that had brought Gina to The Red Boot that fateful night and destroyed her dreams.

“Turn it off,” she said.

“NO!” Vanessa and Nadine cried at the same time.

It was a song from his first album. It was supposed to be a song on their first album. He’d stolen it, stolen her dreams and made them his own. Oh, there was that old anger that she’d thought she’d misplaced.

She blew out a breath and let the song play out. When it finished, the control room was quiet.

“You were a duo,” Jace finally said.

“Yup,” she said, popping the ‘p.’

“What happened?” this from Nadine.

“Gina Fucking Grimes from Rocksteady Records happened,” Stevie said. “Now can we get to work?”