She closed her eyes and didn’t say a goddamn word.
Devastated, I hit the garage door button and started to walk away. I counted the seconds as the door opened, holding my breath. The silence mocked me.
I walked out into the blazing Vegas sun, heart already breaking all over again.
“Stop.”
I spun on my heel, heart racing. She’d never used that word with me before.
“I’ll fight for it this time,” she said. I waited, too scared to hope. She ran to me like she couldn’t stand being out of my arms any more than I could stand leaving her.
She said, “We’ll find a way to make it work. I can maintain oversight of my work from the road in the short term to stay with you on tour. I might need to come back for some work stuff, but I’ll come back to you.”
A tear steamed down her cheek and I kissed it away. “That’s all that matters. I love you, Maia. I’ve always loved you.”
Between kisses, she said, “I never stopped loving you.”
I held her close, scared to let her out of my arms again. Seeing her with the Vegas desert in the background suddenly made an idea click. “You said we work best in this stolen bubble in Vegas. What if I could make the bubble our real life once the tour is over?”
“How?”
“They’d give us a residency here in a heartbeat. It would be smaller shows, but we could do better pyro in a setup where bold is the expectation and we weren’t breaking down and setting up every few days. We could do the shows without the travel and demands of a regular tour. The guys tried to talk me into it years ago, so I know they’d be on board.”
She laughed. “I could work from Vegas. Hell, I already own two restaurants here. And I am pretty fond of your kitchen here…”
Between kisses I said, “It’s your kitchen now.”
“Promise me you’ll take a break between the tour and the residency.”
I grabbed her ass to pull her against me. “We’ve got years to make up for. I’d take a year off and spend it in bed with you if I thought I could get you to stay put.”
Her eyes flashed with mischief. “Make me…”
I kissed her again, then swung her up into my arms. “Should we put them out of their misery and tell them?”
She called out, “You can stop pretending not to listen and come in now!”
In seconds, we were swept into hugs from our friends, surrounded by love and support.
“You know what this means?” Dan asked. “Your girl’s gonna be in my faction when we play in Paris!”
I smiled wickedly. “Hey, O? How would you like to join us for game night in Paris? Sounds like I need a secret weapon in my army.”
“Is this code for kinky shit?” she said eagerly.
Dan sighed. “With you involved? When does it not devolve into kinky shit?”
We had dinner together like family and as Maia and I served everyone, I could see the fantasy through her eyes. A home. A family. Both of our careers.
A broken love made whole again.
A future.
EPILOGUE
Maia
* * *
