there’s a child out there in the world who belongs to me, he or she is going to know it. They’ll know they’re mine and that they’re loved and wanted and supported every step of the way.”
Tears spring to my eyes, and my throat goes so tight all I can do is nod again in complete agreement with every word he just said.
God, this man…
He’s even more incredible than I thought he was.
“So if we decide to try,” he continues, “then I’d want us to work out a shared custody agreement that works for both us and the baby. But I haven’t decided if I’m fully on board yet. I need some more time to think it over. It’s a big decision.”
Swiping a tear from my cheek with my free hand, I rush to assure him. “Of course. It’s huge. Take as much time as you need,” I say with a breathy laugh. “I honestly can’t believe you’re even going to think about it. It’s so totally out there.” I wince. “And now I can’t believe I said that out loud. I never know when to stop talking.”
Zack smiles. “I like people who say what they’re thinking. And I’m considering it because I want kids. I always have. But touring makes it hard to find someone to date, let alone keep a relationship going, and I don’t see that part of my life changing anytime soon.” He arches a brow. “Unless the album I’m about to make crashes and burns. Then I might be around a lot. So that’s something you should consider, whether you’d want a co-parent who was up in your business all the time.”
“So far, I like you in my business,” I murmur, skimming my nails up his wrist to his forearm. “Honestly, I’d like you even more up in my business at your earliest convenience. I’ve been thinking about it pretty much constantly since we got in the car.”
He smiles, a broad grin that makes my stomach flip. “Me, too. You are so sexy in that dress…” He lets out a shaky sigh. “I’m afraid if I look at you too long, I’m going to have to drag you into the back seat, high school style.”
“Well, it’s a big back seat,” I tease. “And parts of high school were fun.”
He laughs. “I think we’re both mature enough to wait for a bed and a closed door, don’t you? As much fun as it is to get caught making out by the cops…”
I wrinkle my nose. “No, that isn’t fun at all. Or janitors. My boyfriend and I got caught kissing in just about every closet in my high school.”
“At least he was good at something.”
My cheeks heat. “He wasn’t, actually. I was just young and…really into kissing.”
“I’m still really into kissing,” he says, leaning his face closer to mine.
“Me, too,” I whisper, meeting him halfway for a long, sweet, sexy kiss that promises tonight is going to be a night I’ll never forget, no matter what.
Chapter Six
Zack
I’m completely off the rails.
First, I shove a man into a piss puddle, then I ask a woman I barely know to come with me to my song-writing retreat, and now I’m seriously considering making a baby with her.
A baby. A child.
A life I will be responsible for and beholden to for the rest of mine. This is not something to be taken lightly or a decision to be made when I’m obviously not in my right mind.
So why am I ninety percent sure I’m going to do it anyway?
At the hotel front desk, I ask for one room—and one king-sized bed—without thinking twice. And when Colette asks if I want to grab a drink at the hotel bar before we head to dinner, I order whiskey on the rocks instead of a sanity-retaining beer.
Whiskey is trouble, but apparently, so I am.
I don’t know who this new Zack is or what I’m going to do with the mess he’s made of my life once Normal Zack is back behind the decision-making wheel, but right now I don’t care. Right now, all I want is Colette under me, begging me to fuck her with nothing between us but skin.
“You want to hear something funny?” she asks, crossing her legs on the barstool beside me, sending one curvy thigh emerging from the slit in her dress.
Christ, this dress…
It’s been killing me slowly all day long, but what a way to go.
“I do want to hear something funny,” I say. Anything to keep