Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 53605 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 268(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 179(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53605 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 268(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 179(@300wpm)
Fucking mine.
Then she starts to nod.
And I grin. “Yes?”
“Yes,” she says. “Yes, yes. But…”
“But what?”
“But I think… I think the baby is coming.”
Fuck.
The baby is coming. Jesus Christ.
I’m on my feet in an instant. “Into my truck. I’ll get you to the hospital faster than any fucking ambulance. Come on. The fucking baby is…”
She’s laughing.
“You should see your face,” she says, bending forward over her bump, heaving with laughter. “This baby is staying right here until it’s the right time. Isn’t that right, little one?”
I glare as I watch her rubbing her belly in slow circles as she starts to calm down. Then she glances at the ring and turns it this way and that so that it catches the light. I’m dripping wet, but I don’t care. Seeing her happy?
That’s my sunshine.
I sniff. “Well, if you’re not going to take things seriously, I guess you can’t have your surprise.”
“Already got it,” she says with a grin. “You think you can surprise me more than you have already?”
“I think so.”
She narrows her eyes. “Really? Let’s hear it.”
“Baby, I can do better than that. I can show you.”
“No.” Nancy shakes her head, pulling back, trying to get back in the truck. “No, take me home.”
“I knew you’d be pissed.”
“I’m not pissed, I’m just… It’s a really nice gesture…”
“I knew you’d be pissed at first,” I tell her. “Then you’d be grateful.”
“I am grateful,” she says, looking up at the private jet, where a stewardess is waiting to welcome us both on board. “But… I can’t…”
“Yes you can.”
“No. You don’t understand, I… I can’t sing in front of anyone else. I can’t do it, I get stage fright.”
“It’s a studio, baby. No audience.”
She’s still shaking her head. “There’s an audience. The people recording, the people who will listen to the recording. If anyone ever listens to it and I don’t just completely flop. Do you know how difficult it is to break into the music industry these days? How many people try and—”
“And they’re following their dreams. And you can too. And I’m going to make fucking sure they come true.” I take her hands and pull her up. “Baby, I’ll be right there with you. Come on. Your voice is amazing. I want you to have this.”
Her eyes dart to the plane, and truth is, I fucking get it. It’s hard to do that thing, to put yourself out there in front of the world and take that leap, but I’m going to step off the ledge right alongside her. And I’ll never let her fall.
“Okay,” she says, grimacing a little. “Okay, I… I can do this. I want this. But if I suck, you’ll tell me, right?”
I kiss her, then pull her with me. I’m not making that promise, because there’s no way on earth that she could ever suck.
I’m grinning as I listen to my girl sing her heart out.
The moment she stepped into that studio? It was like she was a different person. Maybe it’s being here in Nashville, maybe it’s the acoustics, maybe it’s the fact that she got a hug from her fucking idol as she was leaving the same fucking studio, but my stepsister, my fiancé and the mother of my children is giving it her all.
And it’s fucking perfect.
The technician gives me two thumbs up as Nancy finishes her set. “That’s it, man. Where did you find this girl?”
“My mom married her dad,” I tell him, and he chuckles.
“She’s a fucking diamond in the rough. You managing her? Because if not, I know a few people who would be—”
“I’m managing her,” I growl, the thought of anyone else taking that role almost more than I can stand.
“Okay, okay, just saying.” He holds his hands up. “I’ll get this cut into a demo disk for you.”
I slap his back, then head through to the studio at the same time as Nancy is coming out. She throws her arms around me and I lift her up against the wall. I’m instantly hard for her. I always will be. She’s my girl, my stepsister, my angel. I’ll never stop loving her and wanting her, wanting to be inside her every second of every day.
“Did you see who was coming out as I went in?” she says, her head still in the clouds as she comes to terms with what’s just happened. The first step on the journey to her dreams coming true.
“I did.”
“Taylor Swift! I got a hug from Taylor Swift. I have to text Azra. She’s never going to believe this. Do you think I can put in a call to Mason in prison? He’ll be so jealous—”
I cut her off with a kiss, pressing her hard into the wall and listening with satisfaction to her moan of contentment.
“Lil’ bit,” I say as I pull back, staring into her eyes. “You can tell whoever you want. You can play them the demo. I’m sure Mason can get a CD player in his cell, or at least something that will play the digital thingy. But there’s something you have to do first.”