Me: Thanks for that…
Will: Hey, at least you aren’t alone in that confession. Raise your hand in this group text if you’ve been clean your whole life.
Braden: I raised my hand.
Zane: Sit down, young protégé. I, too, raised my hand. But to be fair, the whole facade was that I did cocaine with strippers so… putting hand back down.
Will: Exactly.
Jaymeson: All right, I gotta run. I have a pair of five-year-old twins who just got really quiet, and it’s not because we’re on set.
Demetri: I just shuddered on your behalf.
Trevor: May the force be with you, and may no Legos exist on your chosen path.
Me: Amen.
Ty: Legos are the devil.
Zane: It only takes one to crush your soul. What else can you say that about?
Demetri: Birds?
Me: Horses?
Braden: You guys are weird.
I checked the time.
Me: OK, I gotta go. I’ll text when I’m getting ready to go record.
Zane: And may the odds be ever in your favor as you try to seduce Braden’s mom.
Ty: Blessings, child.
Braden: Could we not encourage him?
Will: He never needs encouragement to whip it out.
Braden: LA LA LA LA LA LA LA. I didn’t see that.
Me: He’s not wrong…
Trevor: And on that note.
Me: Guys, I have some good songs ready, I promise. I just want to spend as much time with her alone as possible, without Braden breathing fire down my neck. Plus, she’s inspiring me.
Ty: Yeah, she is… haha.
Braden: Sigh.
Demetri: Good luck, bro.
Alec: Don’t crash and burn, and when all else fails — flowers.
Ty: Wise words.
Me: Thanks.
I tossed my phone on the bed and smiled, not because my friends and bandmates were hilarious idiots, but because Will, somehow, believed in me.
And I had proof he’d said it.
My smile didn’t last long. As I stared down at my screen, it lit up with Skye’s name. I really needed to get a new number, but I’d been so distracted with Bronte, and I didn’t want to have to take any time away from her.
I ignored the number.
And the sinking feeling in my gut. But as I walked into the shower and tried to rinse the smell of fear off my body, slowly my grin returned. Maybe things were looking up.
And tonight… I was calling in all the favors from Bronte.
I had ridden a horse for her.
And now?
Now I was going to propose a different sort of riding.
CHAPTER 16
Bronte
I stared down at the alert on my screen. I’d been home for maybe one hour. Had fixed dinner for Amelia and for Drew, who said he was going to shower before he graced me with his presence.
My birthday was tomorrow.
Forty.
Hands shaking, I set the phone down and tried to focus on the positive. Maybe I’d travel? Maybe I’d pick up a hobby? Start running with Amelia?
The worst part was I didn’t feel forty.
I still felt in my twenties, just exploring life and learning. I wondered if every parent felt like a fraud as if they were just winging it.
I felt like that every single day and sometimes wondered how my kids had ended up okay, despite all my multiple failings as a mom.
My reflection stared back at me via the oven. My cheekbones were high, my jaw sculpted, and while curvy, I still had an okay body. Nevertheless, I frowned at my reflection, wondering what he saw in me.
Why did my insecurities always come back to haunt me? Was it because my ex had never wanted me in the first place? Was it because he’d abandoned us without a second glance until his son got famous? Any time a man measured your worth and found you wanting, it was impossible not to feel the effects.
So, if my normal high school boyfriend hadn’t deemed me worthy…
Why in the hell would Drew?
Part of me wanted to find an answer for it because if I had a reason that actually made sense, I wouldn’t be waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Today had been too perfect for words.
I wanted a million todays.
And I couldn’t imagine tomorrow getting any better unless I woke up in his arms, but that was the problem. I was afraid of giving that last part of myself to him. What if he really did leave? What if this was seven days of him just being generous, and years from now, we’d meet at different concerts or events, and I’d see him with another woman? Or multiple women? What if he settled down at got married?
I had so many things I wanted to say.
Questions.
Insecurities.
And that was when I felt him.
He was standing right behind me; his tattooed arms wrapped tight around me as he rested his chin on my head. “Thinking all the thoughts?”
I wondered if he realized how captivating he was, even when he wasn’t trying. His arms felt safe, he smelled like heaven, and I kept imagining our moment in the cave… over and over again. “Maybe.”
“You made food.” His grin mirrored mine in the oven. “Does this mean I get to partake?”
“Mmm, maybe.”
“Where’s Amelia?”
“At the movies.”
He stilled, his body tensing around mine. “So… we’re alone?”
“Yeah, but—”
He spun me around in his arms, and before I knew what was happening, he was lifting me onto the kitchen counter, spreading my legs, stepping into my personal space, and kissing the hell out of me.
Was he never satisfied?
A groan erupted from his lips as he dug his fingers into my ass.
No. Apparently, the answer was no.
“Can’t get enough of you,” he said between kisses. “Want to earn whatever smells so ridiculously amazing. Can I trade orgasms for food?”
I laughed, my lips parting just enough for him to swoop in. His tongue tasted like minty toothpaste, but his mouth was hot. I had no idea how he learned how to kiss like this, but I wasn’t complaining.
Every girl grew up dreaming about her favorite star finding her, kissing her.
I was doing exactly that.
The sound of his phone going off filled the empty kitchen.
“Ignore it.” He kissed me deeper.
The ringing
