Invisible Strings

Chapter Twenty-One

And then, we were alone.

Brnatley sank down onto the couch beside me, being careful to keep a little space between us so that I wouldn't feel crowded. And then his hand was wrapping around mine, forcing me to look up and over at him.

"Like I said out on the porch, Laney, I'm so fuckin' sorry about what happened that night." said Brantley. "All of it –the good, the bad, and the down-right ugly– have replayed in my head almost on a constant loop. Its been fuckin' torture."

I shifted on the couch then, turning so that I was looking directly at him. "I get that, B. I really do." I said. My fingers tightened around his, making sure that I had his attention. "I talked to Mama about some of it. I left out the details but she knows that things were progressing between us when... well, you know what happened. That led her and I to talk about Amber. She made me realize that while you know that Amber and I are different people, there are similarities there that could mess with your mind."

"Still not an excuse," he said, suddenly standing from the couch. I sat, watching as he ran his fingers through his hair and paced the living room. He paced for a few seconds before turning back to me. "I just... fuck, Laney. I'm not good with words so I don't know how to say what I'm feeling here."

"Don't think, just say them." I said, standing. I wanted to go to him, to wrap him in my arms, but I didn't know if I was ready for that or if he was either. So instead, I walked close to him but not close enough that I had to fight the urge to touch him.

I watched as he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and seemed to sort his words in his mind. His eyes popped open and his stunningly green eyes danced with emotion when he spoke. "Losing Amber was the worst thing to ever happen to me. And that's saying something since I almost died in a car accident years ago because of my addictions. And for the past year, I have just been rolling through the day-to-day, shoving down my feelings and wants for the sake of my children. But all that changed when you showed up here with your daddy and your kids. For the first time, I felt like I was alive again." Brantley closed the distance between us then, his hands landing on my cheeks as he tipped my head back and looked down into my eyes. "That night –the day you came and picked up the puppies– I can swear I heard Amber telling me that she would want me to be happy. I don't know if you believe in that sort of thing, but it was almost like she was giving me permission to move on with my life."

"I do." I whispered, emotions clogging my voice.

"Well, I promised her that night that when I felt a connection with someone, I wouldn't fight it since I knew that she would have hand-picked someone for me that would treat me as not just the country star that all the girls wanted but would want to be with me for who I am when the outside world isn't looking in. The guy who liked to lounge around in his sweats, play on the living room floor with his kids, the guy who liked the simpler things in life. And with you Laney, I feel that. I know you see me as more than Brantley Gilbert –Country music's resident bad boy. I know you see me as the vulnerable man that is stumbling his way through life, trying to figure out where to go and if I'm doing things the right way as far as the kids are concerned. But more than that, you make me feel like I can be happy again."

Tears sprang to my eyes and began falling from them before I even realized they were falling. I only knew I was crying when Brantley's thumbs swiped across my cheeks and he whispered softly, "don't cry''. Brantley pulled me into him then and instantly, my arms wrapped around his waist.

I don't know how long he and I stood like that, but when I finally lifted my head in order to look into his eyes, I felt like a weight had been lifted off of me. I knew that Brantley and I still needed to figure out where we go from here but in my heart, I already knew. I knew that I wanted to be with this man, to fix the broken parts of him. I just hoped that he was capable of fixing the broken parts in me.

Brantley's POV:

"I want to kiss you." I said the words in a rush, the urge to kiss her too strong for me to hold back.

"Then do it." said Delaney. She didn't have to say that she was thinking about me getting lost in the moment again and calling her the wrong name. It was written all over her face.

So to quiet those feelings in her, I cupped her cheeks with my big hands and let my thumbs trail over them, my eyes locked with hers the entire time. I lowered my head until my lips were so close to hers that I could feel the soft puffs of her breath against mine. This close, all I had to do was whisper and she could hear every single word I said. "Delaney Rose Connor, thank you for giving me a second chance. I promise not to fuck it up again." And then my lips were on hers.

The kiss started out slow, both of us testing the waters, making sure things weren't going to implode again. But it didn't take long before she was leaning more into me and I was taking over the kiss, adding the level of possession to it that I always seemed to do with her. And as the kiss went on, Delaney's hands fisted in my shirt and one of my hands moved down so that it was gripping the back of her neck. She moaned, and it made my cock throb incessantly. Fuck, I want her... But after what happened last time, I knew that my chance to have her moaning in more pleasure than what one could get from a kiss was a-ways off.

While I still had the power to stop things before they went too far, I broke the seal of our lips and rested my forehead against hers. We were both breathing heavily. "I swear Laney, I'll do everything in my power to never hurt you again. You are becoming too important to me for me to ever see you hurting again."