Rainey fast blinked. “Wait, what? You want me to tell you whyyoulikeme?”
Jacques nodded, his self-satisfied smile dangerous upclose.
“I-I can’t do that. That’sridiculous.”
He glanced at her pinned arms and their surroundings. “Well, we’re not going anywhere until you do, so you’d better take a shot atit.”
Rainey just stared. And then she squirmed. She could see by the look on his face he had no intentions of moving. How in the hell had she gotten herself intothis?
“Jacques, I don’tthink—”
“C’mon. You know you gotthis.”
Did she? Rainey let her eyes drift down to the relative safety of his neck. He was beautiful there, too. She hoped she’d have a chance to kiss him there. Then her eyes flew tohis.
“You like myneck.”
Above her, Jacques threw his head back and roared with laughter. Then he collapsed on her and laughed more. The feeling of his jubilant weight on top of her was unparalleled. Nothing in her life had felt sogood.
His lips found her neck, and he kissed her three times. “Yes.” He laughed again. “Yes, I love yourneck.”
The wordlovestroked like a feather down her spine. “And I make you laugh,” she said, this time with moreconfidence.
Jacques raised himself up on his elbows again so he could look down into her eyes. His own were shining. “My God, yes. You make me laugh more than anyone I’ve ever met,” he said. “Which means with you, I feel better than I’ve everfelt.”
She sucked in a breath. It took a moment for speech to return to her, and when it did, she felt out of practice. “Well, that’s… I mean… I’m glad to hear that.” And then she forced a swallow and held tight to her courage. “I feel the same way about you… Being with you feels better… better than anythingelse.”
His eyes warmed as his smile suffused his whole face. He nodded, seeming to take in this truth. “Keep going. You’re doing well. What else do I like aboutyou?”
“Really? I have to keepgoing?”
He gave her a grave smile. “Oh, yes. There’s a lotmore.”
Rainey gusted a sigh of frustration, but then she looked at Jacques. Really looked at him. It would be incredibly easy to enumerate a list, pages long, about what she adored about him, but that wasn’t going to help her out now. It wasn’t likeshewas about to become a famousmusician.
But then a thought struck her. “You like that I know you’ll be successful — as a musician, Imean.”
Jacques pinned her with his gaze. “I like that youbelieve in me,” he corrected. “I don’t know if you realize how rare that’s been in mylife.”
The look in his eyes, so serious and penetrating, made her breathstill.
“Outside of Pal, nearly everyone I know has questioned my goals, my plans,” he said. “When I dropped out of UL to pursue music, my business professors told me I’d regret it. My girlfriend, Emmie, broke up with me. She said she couldn’t be with someone whose future wouldn’t bestable.”
Rainey frowned because when he said those words, she could see the hurt, even though it must have been years old. A flicker of ire sparked toward this old girlfriend.How dareshe?
“Even members of my own band.” Jacques gave a bitter half laugh and shook his head. “A guy I’d played with for years told me I needed to growup.”
“What?!” Her temper flared. “I can’t believe he said that. He’ll regret it for the rest of hislife.”
With a blazing look, Jacques’s focus sharpened. “And then there’s that rightthere.”
Her chin drew back. “There’swhat?”
“Not only do you believe in me, but you defend me.” His voice was drenched in awe. “You always take my side… and you always look out for me.” He was quiet for a moment before his mouth quirked. “Even when I don’t need youto.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “I don’t know what you’re talkingabout.”
He gave a low chuckle. “Defending me and looking out for me? You don’t know what I’m talking about?” He shook his head in amused disbelief. “Well, there was that time with Casey North — I’m pretty sure I wrote a song aboutit…”