“I’m concerned,” I disagree and then laugh. “Okay, I’m nosy.”
“Call me later and let me know what’s going on.”
I shrug and frown. “The meeting is late today. You’ll probably be busy with the sound check.”
“You can and will call me anytime, baby. I don’t give a fuck what I’m doing. I need you to know that even when I’m not here, you’re the priority. I want to know what’s happening here.”
I shrug again and sit back as the waitress sets our plates before us. “It was good to see Lori last night, even if it was just for a few minutes.” I throw him a sassy grin and he laughs out loud.
“Way to change the subject, brat.”
I take a bite of my eggs and blink innocently, making him laugh more.
“She wouldn’t have missed the show last night for anything.” Leo nods. “Plus she wanted to meet your family.”
“Meg seemed over the moon to see her. How do you guys know her?” I ask and nibble my bacon. “Besides her being Gary’s wife,” I add.
“Meg and Lori always got along really well. It hurt Lori that Meg and I didn’t speak for a while.” He takes a bite of his bacon and a sip of coffee. “I’ve known Gary forever.” Leo begins. “Aside from Meg, and now you, he’s probably the closest person to me. We met Lori after a gig here in Seattle. She had been in town and came to a show, and being a celebrity, came to the after party to hang out with us. I was determined to fuck her.” He laughs and leans back in the booth, his face full of humor.
“What happened?” I ask and push my plate aside and lean on my elbows.
“She wanted nothing at all to do with me.” He shakes his head ruefully. “She took one look at Gary’s ugly face, and it was all over for both of them. If I’d have made a play for her, he would have shoved his foot up my ass.”
I chuckle and trace his tattoos on his hand again. “Poor guy, you lost the girl.”
He grows quiet, and I glance up to find him quietly watching me. “What’s wrong?”
He shakes his head, as if pulling himself out of a daydream, and flips his hand over to link his fingers with mine. “We’ve come a long way since the first time we sat in this café.”
“Yes, we definitely have,” I nod and tilt my head at him. “Are you happy?”
“Oh sunshine.” He sighs and pulls my hand up to his lips, brushes them over my knuckles and smiles widely at me. “Happy doesn’t begin to cover it.”
Epilogue
Two Months Later
~Leo~
God, it’s good to be home. We left Atlanta immediately after the show last night and flew straight home, arriving at SeaTac at around two in the morning.
Sam and I still haven’t slept.
Instead we’ve made love, cooked breakfast, fucked on the kitchen counter, and gone back to bed, lounging and enjoying each other after being apart for two weeks.
Two weeks at a time is all I’m willing to do.
“Oh, look!” Sam is sitting with her back propped against the headboard of her bed, her Sunshine Tour t-shirt on and her iPad in her lap. “There’s a picture of us on Yahoo!.”
The cat is curled on my stomach, purring as I pet him, my other hand tucked under my head. I’m staring at the ceiling. I don’t bother to look over at the iPad.
“Are we naked?” I ask, only half kidding. I’m terrified every day of the photos Melissa threatened us with showing up somewhere.
“No, thankfully not.” Sam laughs and pushes her fingers through my hair. Fuck, I love it when she does that. “This is from the show in Phoenix last week. Wow, they even printed my name under it, not just ‘Nash’s girlfriend’ or ‘Luke Williams’ sister.’”
I push the cat off my belly and turn over, cradling my head in my arms and sigh as Sam traces the sun on my shoulder blade.
“Oh, these are cute,” she murmurs. “God, look at that bag. The new Michael Kors line for the spring is to die for.”
“Are you shopping now?” I ask with a chuckle.
“Yeah, I don’t spend too much time on the rags, I just want to make sure my hair looks good in the photos.” She smirks. “Oh, fuck me, those shoes are going to be mine.”
As she goes on and on about shoes and bags and whatever the hell else she’s shopping for online, my mind drifts to later tonight. I think I’ll take her dancing. She loves to dance, and watching her sweet ass move makes me crazy.
On second thought, I’d better not. I’d have to kill every fucker who looks at her.
“I think I’m outgrowing my closet,” she mutters.
“Mmm hmm,” I mumble, almost falling asleep from the gentle sweep of her fingers over my back.
“I think I need to look into building a new one.”
“Wait, what?” I push up onto my elbows and stare up at her. “What are you saying?”
“I need a bigger closet,” she repeats as I pull the iPad out of her hands, set it on the bedside table and pull her down into my arms.
“Keep going,” I mutter and tuck her soft blonde hair behind her ear.
“Well, maybe we should start looking for an architect.” She bites her lip and eyes me speculatively, and I want to crow in happiness, but I just nod thoughtfully.
“You want to remodel your apartment?”
“Don’t be an ass.” She smacks my arm and then traces my tat there. The woman is forever touching me.