The Rock Star's Baby Bargain - Lili Valente Page 0,23
your head breaks the surface of the Love-sick Ocean and you start gasping for air, okay? I will be there in a hot second to pull you out and get you the help you need.
* * *
Zack: I appreciate that. Don’t think I’ll need it, but I appreciate it. Oh, and I sent a rough track of the song I wrote last night to your Dropbox. It’s a cappella—I didn’t want to wake Colette getting out the guitar—but you’ll get a feel for the direction I’m headed. See what you think. Because I kind of want to scrap everything I’ve written so far and start fresh with this vibe.
* * *
Chip: Oh God. Now I wish I had a girlfriend so I’d have someone to fucking hold me right now. I’ll listen, but remember, you’re going up there to make demos so we can narrow down the list of choices for the final recording session, not to write an entire album from scratch. In two weeks, I’m going to need thirteen to seventeen demo songs to take to the label.
* * *
Zack: I know. Go listen to it. We’ll talk later.
* * *
Chip: Oh God… It’s always the quiet ones. Never trust the quiet ones.
* * *
Ten minutes later…
* * *
Chip: Dude. It’s good. It’s really good.
I take it all back.
Keep that girl as close to you as you can get her. If she inspires this kind of magic, it’ll be worth losing a foot in the end.
Hell, it’ll be worth losing the whole leg.
Chapter Eight
Colette
I wake up feeling like two million bucks covered in dark chocolate sauce and with no memory of where I am.
I open my eyes, watching the unfamiliar ceiling fan whir and still…nothing.
Then I turn my head to see my dress folded neatly on the bedside table, propping up a note that reads—Ran downstairs to grab coffee and chat with my manager. Text me when you’re up, and I’ll bring you breakfast, beautiful. Last night was amazing. XO, Zack—and a smile springs onto my face so fast it makes me dizzy.
And fizzy.
And before I know it, I’m rolling around in the rumpled sheets giggling like a crazy woman and throwing pillows into the air.
I’m just so happy.
So, soooooo happy, and not because Zack and I might have made a baby.
The chances that I’m ovulating are pretty slim —I’ve been tracking my cycle like a ship’s captain charting a course during hurricane season, and I won’t be in my fertile window for at least four more days—but it doesn’t matter.
Last night wasn’t about the endgame; it was about every incredible moment.
Just being with Zack was enough to make me feel like I won the lottery, found a puppy under the Christmas tree, and learned that cheesecake doesn’t have calories—all wrapped up together and topped with a multi-orgasmic bow.
Pondering what color an orgasm bow would be—Pink maybe? Or red? Rainbow with extra glitter?—I grab my phone from beside the note.
I’m about to text Theo and tell her that she was so right about Zack, but I hesitate and then pull up Zack’s number instead.
I’m usually a girl’s girl. I tell my girlfriends everything. If there’s a problem in my relationship, they’ll know about it at least two weeks before my boyfriend of the moment. I know some people think that’s strange, but all my best girls have been in my life for a decade or more. They’ve loved and supported me through good times and bad and never dumped me because they don’t care for my unconventional opinions or met someone they’d rather sleep with. No man I’ve met so far can say the same.
But with Zack…
I don’t know why, but it feels different. Maybe it’s because this is already about so much more than sex.
We could potentially be co-parenting very soon. That’s a BIG deal. We’ll be making decisions for a precious little human together. That’s a sacred duty, and not something that should start with gossipy texts to my BFF about how amazing her other BFF is in bed.
Additionally, Theo probably doesn’t want all the raunchy details about a man she’s known since she was in junior high.
Additionally, additionally… I don’t want to share Zack. I want to keep all the steamy memories to myself, paste them into my mental scrapbook, and flip through them later when I’m alone and wondering if I’ll ever have sex that good again.
I’m not a fool. I know that having a baby on my own is going to make dating