Heart of the Music (Saints & Sinners #1) by Kaithlin Shepherd Read Free Book Online Page A

back right now—from the label, from management, hell, even from us. Add her feelings for you to the equation, and you’ve got one hell of a confused woman, who’s afraid of letting anyone down. If you love her as much as I think you do, you’ll have to fight for her, man. We both know she’s worth it.” Sam got up and left him alone at the bar, leaving him more determined than ever to make her his.
    The next morning, Jarrod woke up feeling like shit, and spending the day on a bus with Trish ignoring him the day before hadn’t helped either. He forced himself out of bed and changed into workout clothes. The one thing that had always helped him focus while on the road was working out. There was something satisfying about pushing your body beyond its limits. When he walked into the hotel gym and he saw her on the treadmill, he was convinced she would tuck tail and run. But when she saw him, she smiled at him like nothing had ever happened, and just for that, he knew he would have to run a couple extra miles to get that look out of his system.
    “You look like you’ve been at it for a while,” he told her as he climbed onto the treadmill next to her. He always loved watching her exercise. There was something captivating about the way her body moved. She had a woman’s body with curves in all the right places, and he loved that they shared a passion for healthy living.
    “I had some extra energy to work out before we hit the bus.” Her answer shocked him. He grinned because it meant what happened in the elevator was affecting them both.
    “I know the feeling,” he said as he started running at a steady rhythm.
    “What happened in the elevator can’t happen again, Jarrod. I let myself go yesterday. I should have had more control. I work for you, and I just can’t.”
    “You have all these excuses for why this shouldn’t happen, but what about all the reasons why this was meant to happen? What do you do about those? Because I can’t deny the way I feel when we’re together, and if that makes me an asshole, I don’t care. You can keep telling yourself this shouldn’t happen, but we both know it needs to. I fucking care about you, Trish, and I know you feel the same about me. So when you’re ready to admit it, I’ll be here, but don’t think, for one second, that I’m going to stop pushing for what we both want.” He didn’t give her a chance to say anything. Instead, he put his earbuds in and blasted the band’s new album mix in his ears as he watched her walk away—again.
     
    Patricia
     
    She had never been more thankful in her life to have five shows in a row. Staying busy was the only thing keeping her mind off what happened in the elevator and their run-in at the gym the following morning. Jarrod’s words were on replay in her head, and the intensity on his face haunted her dreams. She couldn’t get a break from the man. So far, she had managed to avoid being alone with him, but she knew it couldn’t last forever. They shared a tour bus and were together more than any married couple.
    She was aware that the guys had noticed the fact that she was avoiding him, but none of them asked about what had transpired in the elevator. As much as they shared every detail about their lives, she loved them for giving her the space she needed and not pushing the issue. Sam kept asking her if she was all right, and every time she told him she was fine, he gave her a look that said bullshit, but he didn’t push the matter. She suspected Jarrod had told him what had taken place in the elevator, or at least part of it. She wanted to forget about how it felt to come undone under him, but she couldn’t do it because no matter how many times she had fantasized about it, nothing had ever come close to reality.
    After a long stretch of back-to-back shows, the guys had insisted that they all go out to dinner. She had tried to talk them into not making her go, but the one downside about working with friends was that