Gypsy Hearts Read Online Free PDF Page B

popped cut
through the hum of wheels rolling over the pavement.
"What are you belly-aching about, Miles? You've got
two days off," Brock's manager said, taking a sip from
the can and then licking his lips.
    "It's not the time off I'm worried about. It's being
stuck on this bus with the likes of ole Roy, here. I know
how foul smelling he is in the morning."
    "Didn't I tell you? You're sharing a bunk with Roy,"
Will said laughing, thumbing toward the brawny sixfoot-five bass player who was taking up the space of
two people with arms and legs spread wide as he sat eating from a large bag of barbeque chips. Roy stopped
eating long enough to blow a teasing kiss at Miles.

    "Oh, Lord, I'm in trouble. Just don't eat anything
with beans."
    Brock laughed as he made his way to the back where
Josie was sitting. She'd been quiet since they'd boarded
the bus, but she'd been taking everything in. He'd been
watching her.
    As he dropped down beside her on the small seat, she
rewarded him with a smile that made his mind play
tricks on him. He never quite knew what the woman
was thinking or what she was feeling behind those
beautiful eyes.
    She motioned to Will with her head as she continued
to stroke the cat's fur.
    "So what's the deal with Will? How'd you meet him?"
    Brock glanced over at Will, who was still giving a
good teasing to Miles since he was off the phone. In a
way, it felt strange to be going on the road with people
he'd hardly known three months ago. Of all of them, he
knew his manager the best.
    "Will Harlen scooped me up out of nowhere less
than a year ago after seeing me play a solo impromptu
gig outside Steerage Rock."
    Her eyebrows rose. "You were playing without a
band?"
    "I hooked up with these guys after I met Will. You
could call it fate. I hadn't even been scheduled to play
that night. Will had come down from Houston to see
another country band he'd heard about. I was only there
that night to see them."
    "How'd you end up on stage?"

    A tractor-trailer whizzed past the bus, momentarily
drawing their attention out the window. When Brock
turned back to Josie, her attention was fully on him.
    "The drummer came down with an untimely case of
the stomach flu."
    "Oh, no."
    "Yep. The rest of the band wanted to go on with the
show, but having their drummer puking his brains out
wasn't going to make it happen."
    Josie giggled and covered her mouth with her hand.
"That's awful."
    "Yeah, it was a tough break for them since Will was
there to see them. I didn't even know who he was, just
heard some people talking about he'd come down to
our neck of the woods in search of the next Grant
Davies."
    She flinched only slightly with the mention of Grant's
name and then recovered.
    "Isn't that what everyone wants these days? Another
Grant Davies?"
    "His music has been playing on all of the country
stations. He's touring and making money for the record
label that had scooped him up a few years back and
everyone wanted to emulate the kind of success the
man has achieved."
    "Is that what you want?"
    "I told you. I prefer his earlier work."
    She smiled at that, something warm and kind and he
forced himself not to reach out and touch her face.
    "That you did."
    She turned to look out the window again, her hand
still poised on Dexter's back. Through the rumble of the bus, Brock could still hear the cat's purr. Yeah,
something was purring in him these days and he knew
it had a lot to do with this woman.

    "Finish your story," she said.
    He shrugged. "I spotted Will and he was looking
really bored and impatient like he was ready to leave. I
figured it was my open window."
    Brock thought back to that night and how it had
turned a small town country boy into something that
people were starting to talk about. He'd heard the
rumor that Will Harlen had connections in Nashville.
He could make things happen. And he was there that
night for a band that didn't stand a chance of even stepping on the