Don't You Wanna Stay Read online

  Don’t You Wanna Stay

  Kait Nolan

  For Erin Nicholas,

  This is all your fault.

  Kisses!

  Kait

  Contents

  Invite

  A Letter to Readers

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Epilogue

  Sneak Peek Second Chance Summer

  Sneak Peek To Get Me To You

  Other Books By Kait Nolan

  About Kait

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  A Letter to Readers

  Dear Reader,

  This book is set in the Deep South. As such, it contains a great deal of colorful, colloquial, and occasionally grammatically incorrect language. This is a deliberate choice on my part as an author to most accurately represent the region where I have lived my entire life. This book also contains swearing and pre-marital sex between the lead couple, as those things are part of the realistic lives of characters of this generation, and of many of my readers.

  If any of these things are not your cup of tea, please consider that you may not be the right audience for this book. There are scores of other books out there that are written with you in mind. In fact, I’ve got a list of some of my favorite authors who write on the sweeter side on my website at https://kaitnolan.com/on-the-sweeter-side/

  If you choose to stick with me, I hope you enjoy!

  Happy reading!

  Kait

  Chapter 1

  It was the cast-iron skillet that saved Deanna James from certain death.

  In sheer instinct, she flung it up to block the projectile hurtling toward her head. The thing struck hard, sending reverberations down her arms, even as glass shattered and sprayed her with heavy glass shards and bright yellow crumbs.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” From inside the room, an unfamiliar voice dripped with shock and an accent that was more Motor City than Music City. “You asked for cornbread! That was freaking cornbread!”

  “Jiffy Mix is not cornbread!” the country music diva shouted, then let out a noise that was…not musical.

  At the banshee shriek, Deanna hunched in the doorway and dared a peek around her makeshift shield at the woman in the trailing silk robe, her glossy mahogany hair piled on top of her head in a cluster of fat rollers that spoke of the pageant queen she’d once been. Mercy Lee Bradshaw. Reigning princess of country music and current pain in Deanna’s ass. Mercy Lee’s nostrils flared and her cold blue eyes bored like lasers into the guy huddled behind a chair to the left of the doorway. This young man’s ignorance, and a call from Mercy Lee’s manager, Gavin Waters, were the reasons Deanna had fought her way through the ungodly and perpetual construction to downtown Nashville, after work on a Friday.

  “Now, honey, be reasonable.” Gavin’s tone set Deanna’s teeth on edge. Clearly, he knew nothing about women, and he sure knew nothing about cornbread. That knowledge had prompted Deanna to grab her grandmama’s skillet on the way out the door a mere five minutes after she’d gotten home. Dealing with the hissy fits of entitled celebrities was not an eight-to-five job. Given what Mercy Lee paid the boutique PR firm, Deanna’s bosses had decided that pacification was now part of her job description.

  “Reasonable? Reasonable? I gave them the recipe in advance. For cornbread. My granny’s cornbread. Real cornbread. Not this… this… sweet monstrosity.” She waved a manicured hand toward what remained of the cheap ceramic baking dish of Jiffy Mix cornbread at Deanna’s feet. “I’m not asking for $900 titanium straws like Beyonce or a booze slushie machine like Kanye. It’s a simple and easy request. No cornbread. No performance. How is that not reasonable, Gavin?”

  Mercy Lee’s obsession with her grandmother’s cornbread wasn’t remotely the strangest celebrity rider Deanna had dealt with in her career. In truth, she had to agree with the woman on the fundamental point that Jiffy Mix was some sad Yankee’s interpretation of cornbread. But it wasn’t worth the publicity nightmare that was going to ensue if Mercy Lee didn’t walk out on stage as contracted, or if she trashed any more of the venue dressing room in her outrage. Containing that prospective PR furor was why Deanna was here.

  “Okay, look. Everybody just calm down.” Stepping gingerly over the cornbread carnage, she lowered the skillet and brushed off the shrapnel. “You’re going to get your cornbread. I brought my own personal cast-iron skillet, and a runner should be here any minute with the rest of the ingredients. If somebody will point me to the kitchen, I will make it myself to ensure it’s done right. But I need you to finish getting ready to go on. It’s curtains up in half an hour.”

  The country diva folded her arms. “I’m not going on until I’ve had my cornbread.”

  Deanna struggled to keep her temper level. She didn’t get paid enough for this shit. “I understand your frustration. But you and I both know, it’s going to take longer than thirty minutes to preheat the oven, cook the bacon, and get the cornbread baked.”

  “Then I go on late. That’s the deal. You know how I feel about this, Deanna.”

  Yeah. She did. It was why she had Suellen Bradshaw’s cornbread recipe committed to memory.

  Mr. I-Thought-Jiffy-Mix-Was-Cornbread spoke up. “Now hold on. I’ve got a sold-out show out there. They’re all waiting on you.”

  Gavin opened his mouth, but Deanna held up a hand to forestall whatever he was about to say. “What is your name?”

  “Tony Moretti.”

  “Tony, where is Nina?” The venue manager had to be MIA. No way would this have happened on her watch.

  “Out with the stomach flu. She left me in charge.” And after Mercy Lee got finished, the wet-behind-the-ears rookie would probably be lucky to still have a job.

  Not my problem.

  “Okay look, Tony, here’s what we’re gonna do. You’re going to take me to the kitchen. Meanwhile, you’re gonna find someone to go on before Mercy Lee as a surprise warm-up act to buy us some time.”

  “Where am I gonna find somebody this close to showtime?” Tony demanded.

  “This is Nashville. You can’t throw a rock without hitting an aspiring musician. If you don’t have someone readily available, I’m sure Gavin can help you come up with some options. He has a stable full of artists at his disposal.” Deanna very deliberately did not think about one particular member of that stable. It wasn’t her business anymore.

  “I’m on it.” Gavin already had his phone out, furiously texting someone.

  Tony cast a glance at Mercy Lee that said everything they were all thinking―with probably considerably more profanity―but he wisely kept his opinion to himself. “Sorry for the misunderstanding.”

  Mercy Lee just sniffed.

  Sending up silent prayers that the situation wouldn’t devolve, Deanna followed Tony through the bowels of the building.

  Once they were well out of earshot, he glanced at her. “Are they all that crazy?”

  “If you think this qualifies as crazy, you’re in the wrong business. Talent and fame often come with entitlement, eccentricities, and bad attitudes.” And sometimes those things came even in the absence of talent or fame, as Deanna we
ll knew.

  “I’m just in it for the music.”

  “So says everyone in the beginning.”

  By the time they made it to the commercial kitchen, usually manned by whatever personal chef or caterer was attached to the talent, the runner had arrived with the ingredients Deanna had ordered. She paid the kid and got to work, sending Tony back to deal with finding interim entertainment and cleaning up the mess from Mercy Lee’s Jiffy Mix protest.

  Once the oven was preheating to 450 and the bacon was sizzling on a low flame, she set to measuring and mixing the remaining ingredients. After the chaos of traffic and the shitstorm she’d walked into upstairs, the empty kitchen was a welcome break. It had been a helluva week, and she’d been looking forward to a quiet night at home with a bath, a glass of wine, and some HGTV while she added to her never-ending Pinterest boards. Instead, here she was, babysitting yet another entitled celebrity.

  Fishing out the bacon, she swirled the hot grease around the perimeter of the skillet to coat the edges and added the requisite amount straight into the buttermilk batter. Once it was stirred in, she poured the batter into the skillet, satisfied with the pop and sizzle that would make a proper crust, and slid the whole thing into the oven. Nothing left to do but wait.

  She could’ve headed back upstairs to check on the status of the warm-up act, but that would require she have further interaction with the circus, and she’d had enough already. Instead, she grabbed the bacon and munched as she slipped out her phone to see if she’d managed to head off the damage. When none of her alerts for Mercy Lee’s social media referenced the Jiffy Mix incident, she opened Instagram for a little bit of dreaming.

  Almost her entire feed was made up of old houses in need of saving. If there was an account that curated them, Deanna followed it. The houses were all over the country, in all kinds of styles and various shades of disrepair. Many were in foreclosure. Plenty were under threat of being torn down. The idea of being able to one day buy one of these historic gems and bring it back to life was her dream. New construction simply didn’t have this kind of history and personality. She wanted to own a piece of that. Maybe because she wanted to rewrite her own history.

  A picture caught her eye. The shot was terrible. Too dark and the angle was a little funky, with part of the house obscured by the message Save This House photoshopped across the image. But Deanna opened it anyway, trying to get a better glimpse of the antebellum house set at the end of an avenue of old-growth trees. It was white―or had been, in some long-ago incarnation. A quartet of columns marched across the front, giving presence to what looked like a square box of a house with a second-story gallery. There was no way to tell how far back it went. She swiped through the other two pictures―one of some body of water visible from the house, and one of what might once have been a truly magnificent stairway inside that now had paint peeling in strips from every tread.

  She scrolled down to the description.

  Save this antebellum beauty in Hamilton, TN.

  A frisson of excitement shivered down Deanna’s spine. Hamilton was one of the bedroom communities of Nashville. Maybe she’d actually get a chance to see this one. She favorited it to look at later.

  Her phone began to ring. She tensed, expecting Gavin again, but saw her mother’s name flash across the screen, even as muffled strains of music sounded from the distant stage. Obviously Tony and Gavin had sorted something out, and she had further reprieve from the crazy.

  “Hey, Mom.”

  “Hi, baby. What are you up to tonight?”

  “Putting out fires. The usual. I’m hoping to head home in a little while to get some chill time in. I was just looking at photos of this really cool old house outside Nashville.”

  “You and your old houses.” Deanna could practically hear her mother shaking her head. “You know those things are just money pits. You’re not in a position to do something that foolish.” She didn’t actually say since your divorce, but the words hung between them, nonetheless.

  Deanna deflated. “I know, I know. I’ve used up my quota of foolish.” Like she really needed that reminder of the years she’d wasted on Blake. But she understood that her parents only wanted the best for her, and the best included not making impulsive decisions. She’d more than learned her lesson on that score.

  Wanting to shift the conversation away from her, she asked, “How did Dad’s doctor’s appointment go?”

  “Oh, fine. His cholesterol is down. He’s hoping that means he doesn’t ever have to eat oatmeal again.”

  They continued to chat about safer topics until the timer went off, signaling the cornbread was done.

  “Listen, Mom, I’ve gotta go. Give Dad my love, okay?”

  “Will do. Talk soon.”

  Removing the pan of perfectly baked buttermilk cornbread, Deanna hunted up a knife and plate, slicing and arranging the whole thing to Mercy Lee’s exacting standards. Then she carried the plate of steaming cornbread and the fresh package of sweet cream butter up to the dressing room.

  Mercy Lee pounced as soon as Deanna came through the door, shoving a hunk of cornbread into her mouth and moaning. “This. This is cornbread.” With barely more than a glance at Deanna, she yanked the plate out of her hands and carried it over to a table to slather on butter. Hearing male voices coming down the hall, and knowing she wouldn’t get a proper thank you, Deanna brushed her hands off. “Okay, well, are you good to go now? Because it sounds like your warm-up act is finished.” The music had stopped a couple of minutes ago.

  Mercy Lee nodded, continuing to shovel in cornbread and guzzling water.

  Celebrities were weird.

  “I’m gonna go then. You have a good night.” Deanna turned and walked straight into an all-too-familiar chest.

  Her body recognized the hands that came up to catch her arms before she even dragged her eyes to his face. Blake Fucking Lucas. Her cheating bastard of an ex-husband.

  “Whoa. Hey there, darlin’.” Blake grinned that single-dimpled smile that had melted her heart and her panties back in college.

  Setting her jaw, Deanna ignored Blake and looked to Gavin, who was right behind him. “Really?”

  “You said you wanted someone available immediately.”

  She highly doubted there hadn’t been other alternatives. “Fine. Whatever. The crisis has been averted and Mercy Lee is ready to go on. I’m going.”

  “Oh now, don’t be running off so fast,” Blake wheedled.

  Deanna glanced down to where his hands were still curled around her upper arms. “If you don’t take your hands off me right now, I’m going to take them off at the wrists.”

  He let her go, lifting his hands in the universal sign of no threat.

  She wished she had the skillet in her hand. Then again, the fact that she still wanted to bash him over the head with it almost two years after their divorce probably meant it was a good thing she wasn’t armed. Shoving past both men, she stalked down the hall, yanking her phone out to send a text to the one person who could rectify her suddenly foul mood.

  Deanna: Close-encounter of the asshat variety. I need detox.

  Bennet: I’ll bring the wine.

  “This place is a dump.”

  Wyatt Sullivan smiled at his companion’s assertion and continued to pick his way through the piles of old newspapers, boxes of jars, and other detritus filling the rooms of the 1980s split-level. “Ah, but it’s a dump with potential”.

  “The potential for a CDC lockdown, maybe. What is that smell?” Simon demanded.

  “My guess is a mouse nest somewhere. But look.” Moving to a corner, Wyatt shifted a pile of wilting boxes and used a pocketknife to pry up the moldy shag carpet. Beneath were dull oak floors. “These can be refinished. I’m betting they run through the entire first floor.” Letting the carpet drop, he straightened. “You have to learn to look past the surface to the bones beneath.”

  “I know, I know. Fixtures and paint can be changed. This isn’t my first rodeo with you
. But why is it you always seem to go for the really horrible places?”

  “Because I can see what most people can’t. This place belonged to somebody’s relative. Obviously, they were a hoarder. Whoever inherited the house doesn’t want to deal with the mess, so they’re willing to make a hell of a deal to get the property off their hands as is. If the bones are good, that means bigger profit on the flip.”

  “I get all that. But dude—you live on site while you flip. How can you even consider doing that in a place like this? Obviously there’s mold.” Simon tugged his T-shirt up over his nose, as if that would help.

  “I can couch surf for a bit until we strip all that out. I admit it’s not always ideal, but that’s how I maximize profit and minimize cost. I’m not wasting thousands on maintaining my own residence, where l’d have to commute who knows how long across Nashville to the job site every day. That saves time, and time is money, too. It works for me.” Though he had been considering investing in a small camper that he could tow behind his truck and park on site. Maybe if this next project was profitable enough.

  “I feel sure it contributes to your perpetually single status.”

  Amused, Wyatt shot Simon a mock glare. “You saying I don’t have game?”

  “I haven’t even seen you try to play.”

  Yeah, well... Wyatt had been burned on that front a long time ago and had little interest in trying again. He had options if he wanted short-term female companionship. He just hadn’t pursued any in a while. Too much work to do. There was always the next flip, the next episode of his home improvement show, DIWyatt, to put together for posting on YouTube. Maybe he’d think about that after he’d reached his goal. After he’d proved himself.