“Deal, and Jesus! I nearly broke my damn hand slapping your gorgeous face. What are you made of… tungsten steel or something?” Joseph asks, shaking his head and walking back to the stove.
We laugh, and I look up at Colt.Thank you, I mouth.
He smiles, leans down, and kisses me.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
One Year Later
I’m at the rehearsal studio in New Jersey.
We flew in a week ago to settle and prepare for the re-launch of12GAUGE-Slayedat this year’sSuper Bowl, being held at the MetLife Stadium tomorrow.
Anna’s sitting next to me as we watch the guys performing like they’ve never stopped. I’d almost forgotten how amazing they are. They get to the end of their latest song, “Symphony,” which is a different sound for them but one I still love. It’s one of those awesome blended songs that have the hard rock with an orchestra in the background. It shows how much their music is evolving, just as the band members are.
“Okay, I think we’re good guys,” Sia says as the song wraps up.
Anna and I both clap and cheer.
Colt smiles, and I look down at my forearm at my matching ‘D & C Until the End of Time’ tattoo. I am so beyond happy right now. My boyfriend’s about to perform again for the first time in a year, my best friend is pregnant, and Joseph and Danny are so run off their feet with the restaurant that they’re looking at opening a second.
Everything is going right.
Warmth wraps around me, while Colt is holding me tight. “So, can I get an early anniversary present tonight?” he whispers seductively.
“Valentine’s Day is only a week away. Surely you can wait till then?” I raise my brow. His mouth drops open in shock, and I laugh.
“Don’t worry, Mr. Slade will be getting laid tonight. I’ll just have to think of something special for the fourteenth,” I whisper as he groans, leaning in to kiss me.
“Get a room,” Dingo calls out.
“Good idea,” Colt says and takes my hand, dragging me outside to a cab and back to our suite next to the penthouse at the Rutherford Regent Hotel, where we make love most of the night.
After hours of ecstasy with Colt, I’m lying in bed, cuddled into him, and just about to drift off.
“You laughed,” Colt exclaims loudly, like it’s a revelation.
I look up at him. “What?”
“You laughed because I had a boner.”
“What are you on about?”
He looks deeply into my eyes. “Our first kiss, I remember. It was in the hallway of the club at the after-party. I kissed you, and you laughed because I had a massive hard-on for you,” he says with a gigantic smile.
“Wow! Youdoremember,” I say, surprised.
He nods. “I told you I want to remember every second we have together. I can’t believe I forgot,” he says, leaning down and kissing me, starting another round of lovemaking.
***
The stadium explodes with noise as the halftime siren blares through MetLife.
Seventy thousand people on their feet, screaming, chanting, drunk on adrenaline at theSuper Bowl.
Anna bumps her shoulder against mine, grinning as we soak in the energy. This moment is unreal. But when I turn to Colt, the world around us fades. His fingers struggle with the shoulder strap of his guitar, his chest rising and falling a little too fast.
For the first time, I see it.
