the opposite of a voodoo doll,” she informs him. “I put armor on it, to keep you safe. Not because I like you, but because you need to take care of Callie.” She starts blinking very rapidly to hide the sheen of tears in her eyes.
And if I didn’t know better, I could swear he had an answering gleam of moisture in his own eyes.
“This isn’t the worst present I’ve ever gotten,” he says solemnly. “I don’t hate it.” I smile at him with appreciation. He knows exactly how to talk to her.
“Hey, guys! We need to be on the road in five!” The driver yells out to us.
My family starts crowding around me.
“You enjoy that honeymoon,” Gramma Mae tells me. “If you need any tips or suggestions—”
“Gramma Mae!” several of us, including me, scream at the same time. I clap my hands over my ears.
“What?” she huffs. “You try to be helpful… Fine, I’ll have Daisy help me write one of those computer mail things with all the details and send it to you."
Ha! Daisy looks suitably horrified, and I clap my hand over my mouth to keep from laughing.
After a round of hugs, and tears, and goodbyes, I’m finally able to go.
It’s going to be an interesting year. I’ll be home half the time, on the road half the time. At the end of the tour, Sebastian and the band will be based in Bitter End, doing a resident artist gig at our arena for another year. And after that, they’re looking at making Parker more of the front-man and having Sebastian scale back. He’s even talking about founding a music school here and teaching some music classes.
“Let’s move along, folks,” Monica calls out.
I quickly make my way to the tour bus. If I stay any longer, I’ll probably start crying.
When we get to our room, Sebastian shuts the door firmly. “Alone at last.”
He wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me up against him. The muscles of his arms bunch as he squeezes me in a hug, and he looks down at me with a smile curving his full lips.
“What did Mayor Culpepper say to you? I’m almost afraid to ask.”
Sebastian throws back his head and laughs, a clear, happy sound that bounces off the walls and bathes me in light. “You should be! He was giving me honeymoon advice. Yes, that kind of honeymoon advice.”
“Oh dear God. Gramma Mae tried to do the same but we shut her down. She’s going to send me an email, though. And I’m going to burn the computer when I get it.”
“He also told me to take good care of, as he put it, ‘our girl’, and to hurry back home.” He clears his throat.
The bus engine turns over, and the floor shakes a little as we start moving. I stumble and his arms tighten.
"I’ve got you,” he says. “Always.”
I tilt my head back and smile up at him. “I know.”
“You all right? My beautiful bride looks a little misty- eyed.”
“Shut up.” I sniffle discreetly. “I’m not crying, my eyes are perspiring. And I swear you got teary-eyed back there when Fiona gave you the doll.”
“Are you kidding?” He laughs. “We’ve been swarmed by the entire population of Bitter End 24/7 ever since that bastard kidnapped you. Leaving them all behind is going to feel like a blissful vacation.”
“But you’ll miss them.” I snuggle comfortably into his arms.
“I will miss them,” he admits. “Like a toothache. Because when it stops, you realize how good it feels… Okay, okay, fine. I’ll miss them. But somehow I think I’ll manage to get through it.”
He brushes his lips across mine, then gently nibbles my lower lip.
“With you by my side, I can get through anything. Callie Monroe, I’m sorry it took us so long to find our way back together.”
“Well, there’s only one thing we can do about all those wasted years.” I press up against him, enjoying his tortured groan of pleasure. “Make up for lost time.”
In one swift move, he tumbles me onto the bed. “Babe? That’s music to my ears.”
About the Author
Kenzie Reed lives in beautiful New England and is addicted to happily ever afters. She lives with a pack of rescue dogs and is constantly in danger of adopting more. She has a black belt in sarcasm and makes the worst puns ever—just ask her kids.
She spends her days clearing dog fur from her keyboard and dreaming up snarky dialogue for sexy heroes. Her taste in books ranges from science fiction to thrillers to romantic comedy, and her bookcases have multiple personality disorder.
This book is a standalone, but if you want to see where it all began, start with Book 1 in the “Fake It 'Til You Make It" series, A Billion Times No, and then check out Book 2, The Belle and the Biker.
For news of freebies, contests, and latest releases, sign up for Kenzie’s newsletter:
https://kenziereed.com/newsletter/
She swears upon a stack of romance novels that she will only email you when she has something important to say.
THE END