The Happy Ever After Playlist - Abby Jimenez Page 0,45

definitely know your best friend.”

Chapter 17

Jason

♪ I Feel It | Avid Dancer

I could have written a love song about that chicken Sloan made for dinner. Hell, maybe I should write a love song about that chicken Sloan made for dinner. It would be better than the shit my label sent over, even in my current state of writer’s block.

When it came time for me to go home, I wanted to stay again. I even considered asking this time if I could spend the night on the couch, but I figured if she wanted me there, she wouldn’t be kicking me out, so I sucked it up and left. Stepping out onto the porch that evening, kissing her good night, and driving off in my truck felt as counterintuitive to me as anything I’d ever done, like leaving my guitar behind on a sidewalk.

No guy in his right mind ever did anything to fuck up a chance like this.

I was getting this shot with her on a technicality. I’d slipped in under some wire. She’d been isolated and grieving so no other man had gotten to her. I knew how lucky I was. And every moment I spent with her, I was more and more aware of it.

I wanted to do things for her. Bring her gifts that made her smile, hold her doors open. Take out the damn trash in her kitchen, watch her paint. I wanted to be useful to her and see what she looked like before she went to bed and watch her laugh at something on TV.

I definitely didn’t want to go home without her, that was for damn sure.

When I got back to my trailer, it felt hollow and cold. I sighed and tossed my keys on the kitchen counter, taking off my jacket. I looked around and felt no attachment to any of it. It was my place, filled with my things, but it didn’t feel like home. Oddly enough, Sloan’s place did, and I had a feeling it had more to do with the company than the house.

Tucker, the Panty Bandit, jumped on the bed, and I let him. No crate for him tonight. We were in this together. Why make him any more miserable than he had to be, stuck here, with me instead of with Sloan, sniffing around my laundry basket instead of hers?

I showered and was rubbing my hair with a towel when I heard tapping. Tucker hopped off the bed and ran for the door, scratching and whining. I looked at my watch. It was almost midnight, a little late for Ernie to be wandering the yard.

I jumped into some sweatpants and opened the door to Sloan standing outside, rubbing her arms in the cold. Tucker spilled out of the trailer and circled her happily, jumping on her.

“Um…maybe I should have called first?” she said, patting Tucker’s head and eyeing my bare chest. She bit her lip uncertainly and I broke into a grin.

“Get in here.”

She climbed the step and I pulled her to me.

“I…I just missed you,” she said, looking up at me shyly after I’d given her a proper kiss hello.

“You shouldn’t have let me leave,” I said. “I would have slept in the living room.”

“You would?”

“Oh yeah.”

I leaned down and kissed her again, standing there by the open door of the trailer. The kiss was a grateful one. She’d delivered herself to me like a gift.

“You’re staying the night, right?” I asked, beaming at her.

I wasn’t suggesting anything other than sleeping. If she didn’t usually kiss on the first date, we weren’t having sex on the third one, no matter how charming I might be. And I would never push her into it.

“Only if it’s just sleeping,” she said, eyeing me warily.

“Of course.”

“Will you put a shirt on?” She glanced at my chest.

I chuckled. “Yes.”

“And you promise to behave?”

“Absolutely.”

She smiled, looking relieved, and nodded. I would have agreed to any demand she made if it meant she’d stay. I would have slept on a floaty in the pool if that was what it would take.

I tore myself from her. “You want some water?”

“Sure.”

While I filled her glass, she wandered to the fridge and took down the tour itinerary I’d stuck there. “Is this your tour schedule?”

“Yeah.” This one was for my US dates. I hadn’t told her about the extra two months or the UK portion yet. Hitting her with, “By the way, I’m going to be gone for fourteen months” felt a little heavy for