all yesterday, even when I’d texted, and now he was hanging out and smiling up at me.
I leaned against the wall and stared down at him. “What are you doing?”
“Waiting here for you.”
“Duh. Why?”
“Because you said duh.”
“When?”
“Just now.”
I blinked at him. “You’re sitting on my stairs because I said ‘duh’ just now?”
He patted the stair two steps above him in invitation. “Join me and I’ll catch you up?”
I stayed put and eyed him.
“Please?” he added.
None of this made any sense, but I sat on the step he indicated because he’d at least asked nicely. “You didn’t answer my text last night.”
“I’m sorry. That’s why I came in person today. I was so busy, but I wanted to explain everything to you in person, and I kept meaning to text you that I was going to explain everything in person, and suddenly it was ten o’clock, and I had a feeling I was already going to be in trouble, so I decided to come today to explain and also beg your forgiveness.”
I’d never heard him speak such a long, uninterrupted sentence before. He was losing breath toward the end there. “I’m listening.”
“I did too. Listen, I mean. That’s what I want to tell you.” He leaned forward to grip my knees, and even though I was still annoyed with him, my belly did the same flip it always did when he touched me. “I thought about it, and you were right. So I dragged Aaron out of bed yesterday morning and put him on the case. We were working our contacts all day yesterday. And get this, Channel Five is coming to do a profile on us next Tuesday for the evening news.”
“Wow.” It was a sincere wow. “That’s great.”
“And look at this.” He handed me his phone. “I put it on Instagram and everything. And I called Anneke, and she’s coming.”
“That’s good.” I tried to keep my tone neutral, but I didn’t like that he was so excited about that. I didn’t fool him.
“Seriously, don’t worry about her. She’s friends with a couple of guys on the Saints who will show up because that’s what athletes do: hang out with swimsuit models. She’s doing me a big solid because once the word is out that those guys are coming, the tickets will sell out, the news story will keep the buzz going, and we can sell out the next few weeks of shows too.”
His clear enthusiasm made me smile. His energy was back. I put my hands on his and gave them a light squeeze. “That all sounds great.”
“You were right.” He flipped his hands over to grab mine and tugged me until I tumbled into his lap. “It doesn’t matter if the buzz is people trying to be where the party is. If it sells tickets, it’ll get our artists the attention they deserve.” He buried his face in my neck and took a long, deep breath of me. “I should have been listening to you from the start. And I’m sorry again I didn’t call you yesterday. I do this sometimes, get hyper focused and shut everything out. Fair warning: it gets bad when I’m putting together an album. I can disappear into my head for a while.”
I brushed my fingers through his hair. “You feel better about everything?”
“Yeah.”
I could feel it in the lines of his body, his thighs beneath mine, his chest against my side, his arms around me. Every bit of him was more relaxed than I’d seen him in weeks. “You don’t have to apologize for being hyper focused. But you’re probably going to have to apologize every time you don’t return a text.”
“Fair,” he murmured, but his tone was distracted as his mouth nuzzled toward mine, looking for a kiss I was happy to give him.
We didn’t break apart for a few minutes until there was a groan from the top of the stairs where Chloe glared down at us.
“Seriously, you guys? Again?”
“Here, there, and everywhere,” Miles said cheerfully. Chloe reached into her purse and hurled a small packet of Kleenex at him. It bounced off his shoulder. He just grinned.
She skimmed down the stairs and stepped over us, disappearing through the rear exit, no doubt in a hurry to get her bakery coffee before she tried to deal with the rest of the day.
“Forgive me?” Miles asked.
“Forgiven,” I promised, and kissed him until not only he believed it, but until he had no room left for any other thoughts.