Just Between Us (Nashville is Calling, #2)

by Madison Wright

“Hey,” he whispers, no longer needing to yell when I’m this close, wrapped around his body like English ivy. I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to untangle myself, and I’m not sure I want to. I hum against his chest, and it rumbles with laughter beneath me. “Want to get some fresh air?”

My eyes catch on a flash of light in the night sky behind him. “Shooting star,” I whisper. “Make a wish,” he says before brushing his lips against mine in the gentlest of kisses. I sigh into him, everything inside me melting until I see, taste, and feel nothing but him.

“I’m just saying I think this time away will be good for you.” Which is exactly why I agreed to come. I needed out, just for a little while. I just need some time to figure out what I want my life and career to look like when I go back to California. “Yeah, maybe.”

“So let me get this straight,” she says when I finally finish. “You, Camden Lane, went out last night?” “Yes, Hazel,” I grumble. “You act like I’m a hermit.” “You’re not a hermit. You just hate people and activities.”

But when I got here last night, with no responsibilities looming before me except working with my laid-back best friend again, I felt lighter than I had in months. I wanted to explore—to see this new city and see if I could find some inspiration again.

“Are you going to see her again?” Hazel asks, ignoring my laughter. “Well, here’s the kicker. She’s Lo’s friend—the one who runs the apartment complex I just moved into.” “She what?” “And she didn’t seem very happy about it.”

“If Ellie made you happy, and you were having fun, chase that feeling.”

“So, um, small world, huh?” Cam asks wryly. The poor attempt at a joke loosens some of the tension in my shoulders, and I find myself smiling, just a little. “The smallest,” I breathe.

Cam’s eyes could convince me to do just about anything.

I’m noticing he doesn’t use more words than necessary to get his point across, but he doesn’t seem reserved or shy. He exudes the easy confidence of one completely comfortable in their own skin, and I wonder what that must feel like.

the guard I’m trying to keep up around Cam slips the tiniest bit. It’s dangerous, this line I’m walking, but it also feels too good to stop.

Wes and Lo are dressed as Black Widow and Captain America,

I want to know what makes him laugh and how he takes his coffee and if he’s kissed a stranger under the stars before, or if he reserved that just for me.

“LoLo!” I swivel to see a couple dressed as Danny and Sandy from Grease walking hand in hand toward us. A smile breaks out on Lo’s face. “Rod, Camilla—hey!”

Wes has doubled this outing as both a Halloween scavenger hunt and a random acts of kindness video—Lo, Camilla, or Rod will give him a specific costume to look for, and he will find it, chat with the person wearing it, and then allow them to pull out a slip of paper from his plastic pumpkin basket. On the slip of paper is a prize from one of his sponsors, like a coffee gift card or sporting events tickets.

Ellie’s made it abundantly clear she wants nothing to do with me, but she looks like a present wrapped up in the red bow tied right atop her head. My fingers itch to find hers, to pull her close and see if she would welcome my kiss a second time.

My gaze snags on her chest, on the name tag stuck there, the one just like mine. Hers reads Hi, my name is Daisy. Reaching a hand out, she says, “I’m Daisy. Nice to meet you.” I wrap my fingers around hers, feeling that same electric zap between us that was there the night we met. “I’m Dave.”

“Daisy,” I say, enunciating the name, and loving the way her lips curve in a smile at it. “Truth or dare.” “Truth,” she says without a moment of hesitation. “Why did you come tonight?”

“What does it say?” Camilla asks. Ellie’s gaze finds mine, her expression unreadable.

Finally, she says, “Kiss the person who dared you.”

“We can skip it,” Lo says. “You know what? Let’s just be done. We can play something else or watch a movie or—” “It’s fine,” Ellie says so quietly that everyone pauses, straining to figure out if we heard her right.

“You want me to kiss you?” I blurt and then want to shove my entire head into that pumpkin.

“Sorry,” I say, low enough so only she can hear. “I didn’t mean it to come out that way. I just meant…we don’t have to.”

Her eyes meet mine, pools of dark chocolate I could get lost in.

“It’s fine,” she breathes. “Just a game, right, Dave?” I nod. “Just a game, Daisy.”

Her breath hitches as I lower my head, fusing her mouth to mine. She tastes just like I remembered, but better, like the weeks between this kiss and the last have worked to dull my memory.

I don’t know how Cam sees me, just that he does, and it terrifies me as much as it thrills me.

“Ellie, is this—” he gestures between us with a finger, “is this going anywhere?” “No,” I breathe before I can think better of it.

Cam may be kind and good and so achingly sweet, but he’s also a match held over the gasoline, threatening to catch my life in flames.

He keeps showing up in my life, making it harder and harder for me to ignore that pull between us.

Ellie looks like a perfect fall day.

She’s a photographer’s dream study in contrasts. Dark hair and creamy skin, bright outfits and wine red lips.

“I’ve been thinking about staying here,” I finally tell Hazel on an exhale, surprised by my own words. “Oh,” she says, her voice so quiet I can barely hear her.

“Is this about that girl?” Hazel asks when I don’t respond. I don’t know quite how to answer her, but I say, “No,” and it’s the truth, if only partly. “Things with Ellie are…complicated. But working with Wes again is good. And I’ve been having time to explore with my camera over the past couple weeks. I’ve just had time.”

“Nothing is going to happen between Ellie and me,” I tell her. “She’s made that very clear.” “Her loss,” Hazel says, but it doesn’t feel like it. That hollow spot beneath my sternum definitely feels like it’s mine.

“You’re always taking care of everything and everyone. Let me take a turn.” The smile falls from her face, her lips almost forming a frown. “You shouldn’t say things like that.” I stare down at her, confused. She must see it too, because she murmurs, “It makes it very hard to stay away from you.”

“I told you that you don’t have to stay away from me, Ellie.”

I wonder if she’s ever let someone take care of her the way she does for everyone else.

“That’s what makes you so dangerous.” She straightens her shoulders, gathering strength from somewhere deep inside herself, and says, “I’ve gotta go. See you around?” “Come find me if you need me,” I say.

“Dave, you found me.” I rest my head against hers, trying to steady my breathing. “Yeah, Daisy. I told you I’d be here if you needed me.” “You’re really good at that,” she whispers, her head falling to the crook of my shoulder.

“You’re so hot,” I say, a frown tugging at my mouth. “Thanks, Dave. I’m not feeling up for that right now, though,” she mumbles. I glare at her. “That’s not what I meant.”

“You don’t think I’m hot?” I let out a sigh and roll my shoulders back. “I think I’ve made my feelings on that front pretty clear.”

Bending down so we’re eye to eye, I say, “Yes, Daisy. I think you’re very hot.” “I think you’re really hot too,” Ellie murmurs, her voice so low and smooth it sends a shiver up my spine.

“You smell good,” Ellie murmurs as I move up the stairs. “You smell good too,” I whisper into her hair, where that familiar scent is strongest.

“Will you stay with me?” I shouldn’t. If the state of my heart the last two weeks is any indication, I should stay far, far away. And she will probably regret asking in the morning. But with those green- and gold-flecked dark eyes fixed on mine and my thumb still rubbing a gentle back and forth pattern on her chin, there’s no way I can tell her no. “Yeah, Daisy. I can stay.”

“Cam?” “Hm?” I ask, my own eyes starting to flutter shut. “Thank you for staying.”

“You do too much, El. You have to let people help you sometimes. You’re running this place, filling in for Gary, caring for Ethel, and taking on every spare task you can find. What’s going on?”

“What happened with Ellie?” Lo asks. I push a hand through my hair. “She has the flu, and I stayed over at her place last night to take care of her,” I say in a whoosh. When I look back at them, they both have wide eyes and matching shocked expressions. Lo speaks first. “So what happened between now and then?” “I came here, and she texted you instead of me.” “Oh,” Lo says, almost too quiet to hear.

“I’m not mad at her. I know the rules. But she asked me to stay, not the other way around. She just…changes direction so fast, and I never know which way we’re sticking.”

Things with Ellie are…complicated. Ellie is complicated, in the most frustrating of ways, but she’s still sick.