Nicole Edwards - Chasing Dreams

“He’s going home with me tonight if I have anything to say about it!”

“Oh, he will. Maybe we’ll just surprise him. You know, tag team,” the blonde woman exclaimed, giggling between words like a school girl.

Figuring she wasn’t going to be able to outlast their elation over meeting another famous singer, Tessa turned around, smiled at the ladies before squeezing past them and out the door. Once she was in the dark, narrow hallway, the familiar noises and the perfume-slash-cologne mixture assaulted her senses, and she pasted on another smile as she turned the corner.

“Holy crap,” she muttered to herself, pushing through the wall of bodies as she tried to finagle her way back to the bar.

An influx of women had descended upon them during her short reprieve. Tessa sighed as she wove through the commotion, realizing that tonight was going to be one of those nights. If anyone ever thought men were high maintenance in a small country bar, they clearly hadn’t met the women Tessa had. Especially when there was supposed to be a hunky, big time country music star in their presence.

With her back to the stage, she made her way through the throng of people to the bar on the other side of the room, smiling at Eric as she approached. “What the hell happened while I was gone?” she asked, not expecting a response.

“You have him to thank,” Eric said, nodding his head in the direction of the stage. Due to the sheer volume of people filling every available inch of floor space, not to mention her height deficiency, Tessa couldn’t see who he was referring to, but she could pretty much guess.

“Hey, can we get some beers over here?”

Tessa glanced over, nodding her acknowledgement to a table of women who looked as though they’d prepped themselves for prom. Wow. This guy certainly had quite the following.

 “Why didn’t you come get me?” she asked, grabbing her apron before turning toward the first customer she came to.

Within seconds, Tessa felt frazzled. Unlike Eric, who was standing just a couple of feet away, looking just as cool and confident as ever although the oversized bar with its hardwood top scarred from years of customer abuse – her favorite part of the entire place – was completely engulfed by people.

“What? You think I can’t handle this?” Eric laughed and, once again, heads turned. Geez, these women were easy.

“Hey, Katie!” Tessa had to raise her voice over the din of the now overcrowded section. “Can you check on that table? They want beers, and Miranda is not here yet.”

Katie Clarren was one of the two waitresses that Tessa employed. Young, beautiful, and almost too smart for her own good, Katie was also one of the best servers she had. Not too long ago, Tessa had been under the impression that her younger brother, Jack, actually had an interest in Katie. According to Katie, she didn’t have time for dating, although she seemed flattered.

As it turned out, Katie was juggling college and another part time job outside of the bar, so her days and nights seemed to be full. Considering Jack’s history with women, she was actually grateful for Katie’s busy schedule. No need to have another broken heart left behind in her brother’s wake.

“Sure,” Katie said sweetly, her long, silky black hair swinging behind her as she nodded energetically.

For the next few minutes, Tessa didn’t have a chance to look up from the horde of people demanding drink after drink. Just when she was beginning to think she would need to call in some backup, a gruff voice echoed through the speakers, causing the noise to dim as everyone turned toward the stage.

“Howdy, y’all,” the deep southern drawl, followed by a rough, raspy chuckle, silenced the rest of the chatter.

Tessa spared the voice a glance, but she couldn’t see over the sea of heads standing around, so she returned to pouring beer, taking money and making change.

The disembodied voice continued talking, and Tessa smiled at the sweet, sexy drawl that drifted through the room. He gave a brief introduction, followed by casual conversation with a few people in the audience, and Tessa decided immediately that she liked the intimate sound of his voice. Especially his laugh. Hearing his voice in person was a lot different than on the radio.

Managing a bar in the middle of nowhere, Tessa had the pleasure of meeting a few future hopefuls, but not generally anyone who actually had made a name for themself. Tonight’s entertainment was an exception. Granted, in the last year, Adam had raised the bar on the talent he brought in, but to have set it this high, Tessa was amazed.

Screaming and carrying on from the cowboys and cowgirls reacting to Cooper’s presence was once again quickly building to a dull roar and Tessa forced herself to tune out the noise. Over the years, she’d become successful at drowning out the steady rumble of voices and music, mainly because her sanity required her to. She couldn’t help but wonder what kind of guy could garner this much enthusiasm.

From what she knew of Cooper Krenshaw, thanks to the stories Adam had told her, he was an old friend from college. Even though Cooper had made it big in the country music world, Adam still kept in touch with him on a regular basis. Adam never did give her a viable reason why Cooper was in Devil’s Bend though. Seemed odd that he was just passing through their tiny neck of the woods or that he was just craving the scenery. And she seriously doubted his busy schedule would just allow him to make the trek this far south to play here.

But she didn’t really need a reason, and based on the scene in front of her, the crowd was more than thrilled that he’d made an appearance. The women obviously liked him if their screams and catcalls were anything to go by. Tessa knew of Cooper Krenshaw, had seen pictures in magazines, but since she wasn’t much into music – country or otherwise – she couldn’t have named even one single song of his. Most of her downtime was spent listening to the comforting serenity that being outside in the country afforded her. After nights like this, her eardrums thanked her for it.

Listening to him chat and laugh with the fans, Tessa realized she could get onboard with this guy’s voice. Very sensual. Seductive even.

“All right, all right. I’m sure you’re tired of listenin’ to me ramble. I’ll get on with it.” The voice somehow managed to calm the group again and the deep, rusty chuckle that followed had Tessa’s head popping up. Despite her disinterest, his voice had a strange effect on her.

“This is something new I’ve been working on in my spare time. Let me know what you think,” he continued, a few brief guitar strums followed and then the crowd was eerily quiet. The sound always surprised her.

As all of the heads in the room turned to face the stage, Tessa realized they’d stopped demanding alcohol, and she shot Eric a smile, noticing he still didn’t appear ruffled. He was a patient man, she would give him that. Considering he had to put up with her best friend Izzy on a daily basis, he had to be.

Knowing he could handle what few customers they might have in the next minute or two, Tessa snuck out from behind the bar and over to the long wooden shelf along the south wall that was a catchall for empty beer bottles. Not seeing Katie anywhere, she decided to help the girl out by disposing of what she could while the masses were engrossed in the man now crooning out a slow, country love song.

Grabbing a handful of bottles, Tessa eased through a few cowboys lining the outer edges of the room to one of the large barrels used for trash. Interesting how they couldn’t seem to find it on their own, she thought to herself. Tossing the bottles in as quietly as she could, Tessa looked up, noticing the man on stage for the first time.

She couldn’t see much of his face which was in the shadow of the black Stetson sitting low on his head and covering most of his features as he looked down at the ladies in the front row. What she could see was an incredibly well developed torso, clad perfectly in a dark gray t-shirt that clung deliciously to a set of well-defined pecs.

It somewhat baffled her how many hot, well-built cowboys graced her stage week after week. A dime a dozen they were. It was just unfortunate that they all came with an ego the size of Texas and more baggage than the TSA handled in a week.

Cooper Krenshaw could’ve performed all night in a place like this. The scent of sawdust and hardwood drifted up as a handful of people at the edge of the stage began slow dancing on the cramped dance floor, making him smile as he belted out the tune, enjoying the happy faces he could see peering up from the floor below. The last time he’d played for a crowd this small had been several years back at a rodeo down in Austin which seemed like an eternity ago.

These days, his songs were blasted through amphitheaters and stages that would rival most football stadiums and they lacked the intimacy he found in a place like this. In fact, it had been his last concert in Chicago that Cooper found himself escaping as soon as his last set was complete because he couldn’t seem to shake that disconnected feeling. Without even talking to his manager, Cooper had set out on the road, nowhere bound. He hadn’t known where he was headed until he reached the Texas border. It was then that he gave his buddy Adam Dryden a call and beat feet toward Central Texas.

Having met Adam during his first year at the University of Texas, he managed to keep in touch with him through the years despite the chaotic lifestyle Cooper found himself wrapped up in. Something had clicked between them from the moment they met, and keeping in touch with Adam had given Cooper a way to ground himself to his roots. A gentle reminder of where it all started.