“I thought I was fine
Didn’t need anyone
Could make my own way
Find my place in the sun
Then your path crossed mine
And from our first kiss
You were the part of me
I never knew I missed
You challenged me
Shook up my world
Lived by your own rules
To hell with who cared
Took me to places
Made me long for more
Taught me to sing
Like I’d never sung before.”
Had Mike really written this for him? Couldn’t be.
This sounded too much like a love song. Still, Mike could’ve sung Happy Birthday. As long as the words were for Killy alone, they’d still have had him blinking back tears.
Yes, it was sappy. Might possibly be the sappiest thing Killy’d ever heard.
No one had ever said such things about him. Was that how Mike saw him? Not as a pathetic has-been but someone living by their own rules?
Or were the words actually meant for someone else? They’d not discussed past loves. Did the cowboy’s heart belong to another?
The song ended and Mike gave Killian a bashful expression. “It’s mushy, I know.”
Killy said nothing, not trusting himself to speak. He crossed the floor, took his man into his arms, and said without words how much he appreciated the gesture.
Always before he’d laughed at sticky-sweet love songs. None had ever been about him, though. Come hell or high water, that song would be on Trickster’s next album.
The fans would eat it up.
* * *
Killy called Valerie to the side during a break. “I know you’re a professional. You’ve always been when you worked with me.”
Valerie gave him a puzzled frown, causing her eyebrow piercing to glint in the fluorescent light. “Isn’t that a good thing?”
Killian winced. “Yeah, it is, but here’s the thing. You’re with Trickster now. You don’t have to follow the notes precisely if you have a better idea. I’m not asking you to play with us for your skills alone, but for your creativity. You get a say.”
She blinked spiky silver lashes. “I do?”
