Not that it’s even come up. We’re happy, just the two of us. I try to envision a future version of us with a baby, but I can’t quite make it work. Maybe someday? But Viola’s never mentioned wanting kids.
With a laugh, Marcus drains his beer and stands. “Don’t overthink it, dude. I was just curious.”
Frowning, I watch him wander over to Kendra where she stands with Sam and Viola in the kitchen. He wraps his arm around her and gives her a kiss, leaning close to say something that makes her laugh.
With a big smile on her face, Viola heads for me, slipping onto my lap and putting an arm around my shoulders. With her other hand, she smooths her fingers across my brows, then cups my cheek and pulls my face to hers for a chaste kiss.
When she pulls back, she examines my face with a soft smile. “That’s better. No frowning. It’s a party. We’re having fun together to celebrate the end of another successful tour before we all go our separate ways for a while.”
I chuckle. “Not that separate. We all live in the same building.”
She shrugs. “True. But if the breaks we had are much to go by, we won’t see each other much for at least a month.”
“Good point.” I pull her in for another kiss, still unable to get enough of her even after over a year together.
She settles in more comfortably, surveying the others as they talk and laugh and drink. Sam’s drinking ginger ale, and Aaron’s doing the bulk of the work with Maddie, getting her snacks and drinks and intervening when she gets a little too bossy with Eli and Mila. Maybe Marcus is onto something.
I turn my attention to Viola, trying to decide if she’s watching the kids with longing in her eyes. Does she want babies?
But she’s paying more attention to Kendra and Sam over in the kitchen than the kids.
“Sam’s pregnant,” she confirms like she could read the question in my thoughts.
“Oh yeah? Is she happy about it?”
Viola nods, her eyes still on Sam and Kendra. “Yeah. It was on purpose.”
“Cool.” I swallow hard, not sure if I should ask the next question or not. “What about you?”
She splutters out a laugh, looking at me. “No. I’m not pregnant. I’m pretty sure you’d know if that was even a possibility.”
The tips of my ears heat up, but I forge on. “No, I know. That’s not what I meant. Do you ever … do you want kids?”
Her smile falls away, and she studies me. Then she lifts one shoulder in a shrug. “Maybe someday? I don’t know. Not right now, though. Why? Do you?”
Breathing easier, I shrug too. “Same. Maybe someday, but not right now.”
“Good,” she says, laughing a little. “I’m glad we’re on the same page.”
Wrapping my arms around her, I hug her closer to me, slouching down a little more to settle us both more comfortably. We are on the same page. And we have been for a long time.
Yeah, we’ve had some ups and downs. And we’ve both been talking to therapists to work on communication and healthy boundaries. But mostly, it’s been smooth sailing.
Pressing a kiss to the side of her head, I smile, watching everyone around us. This, all of us together, this is our family. And it’s the best family I could ever ask for.
The Arrangement—Coming late Summer 2020
One minute my career is tanking ...
The next I’m clawing my way back to the top.
The catch?
It’ll take marrying a guy I just met in a bid to rehab my bad reputation. As long as I take him with me.
But what starts as a business arrangement quickly turns into more. The raging chemistry between us can’t be denied.
When I no longer need him, my agent encourages me to cut him loose or risk losing the career I married him to save.
But that means not only breaking my promise to him, but also giving up the man I love.
Do I choose my lifelong dream? Or the love I didn’t expect? Why can’t I have both?
Click here to preorder now!
Dear Reader,
Thank you so much for reading Mason and Viola’s story! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I know so many people have been looking forward to Mason’s story for so long. I hope it lived up to your expectations.
If you liked it, please go leave a review somewhere. I’d appreciate it so much!
Some people have already asked if this is the last Cataclysm book, and the answer is yes, it is. Everyone else has their story already. Though I wouldn’t be opposed to doing some kind of spin off if there’s a character somewhere who you love and want to see get their own story. Send me a message or shoot me an email and let me know, and I’ll keep it in mind for future reference.
The good news is, there’s a free bonus scene for you if you’re not quite ready to let go of Mason and Viola. Download it here. It asks for your email address, but you’ll only get emails from me if you click the box saying you want them. Otherwise it’s just for Bookfunnel to email you the download link.
Though if you want to keep up to date with new releases, I recommend clicking the box.
Sadly, this is the last book in the Cataclysm series. If you haven’t read the other four books, you can get them here.
So what’s next?
I have another rockstar romance series called Songs and Sonatas, and the last book in that is called The Arrangement. It’ll be out in late summer, once editing and all that jazz is done. It features one of the members of Golden Enigma, the band that opened for Cataclysm in this book. (They got a brief mention early
