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The buzzing goes off again.

“Phone,” I grumble. My words are muffled by the steel of Tanner’s chest.

I twist my body and do my best to slide out of the grip of his arms. The buzzing is coming from the ground. His phone must still be in his pants pocket.

I’m rifling through our discarded clothes. The buzzing stops for a long pause and then starts up again. Whoever called is calling again.

I find the phone in Tanner’s jeans. Bryce Sexton’s name appears on the screen.

“Tanner, wake up. Your brother is calling you.”

He’s hard to wake. It makes sense, considering it’s the middle of the night and we just had a marathon of emotions from the long day with my parents and a fight with Aaron—oh, and a declaration of love and marriage in the future. We really know how to jam-pack a day.

I shake Tanner. “Bryce is calling. I think it’s important.”

He blinks a few times, coming to. When my words register, it’s like a bolt of electricity has hit him, and he jolts up in bed. He rubs a hand over his eyes while simultaneously grabbing the cell from my hand.

“What happened?” Tanner asks into the phone, fear obvious in his voice like this has happened before. He runs a hand through his hair, which is wild and unruly. “Fuck,” he snaps. “I’ll try to get on a plane, but I probably won’t be able to get out until late morning.”

My heart drops to my stomach. Late-night calls are never good news. My dad’s called before to say my mom was being rushed to the hospital because she had fallen and hit her head or broken a wrist. It’s a terrible feeling, finding out news when the world is asleep.

I slide my arms around him and feel the rigidness of his back as he talks to his brother. If he’s talking about leaving town in a few hours, this must be serious.

When I kiss the skin over his spine, he lets out a heavy breath. “Yeah. Definitely.”

“Is everything okay?” I ask.

He puts his hand over the phone and whispers to me, “Austin was in an accident.”

I bury my face into his back and close my eyes. If he has to be on a plane, this wasn’t a fender bender.

He turns to me, and I raise my head to see his face. He doesn’t look as nervous as I feel. He moves a hair out of my face and cups my chin.

When Tanner’s eyes meet mine, he tilts his head and smiles lightly as he speaks into the phone, “My muse.” The smile vanishes as Bryce continues to talk, and Tanner gets offended. “It’s not like that, man. This one is special. I’m bringing her with me.”

My brows rise. I swing my legs off the bed and start to put on my bra and panties. I toss on one of his T-shirts and walk over to his laptop on his desk. If he needs to book tickets, we should do it now.

Tanner’s place is just a large room with the only wall being the bathroom, so even though I can hear him, I try to give him privacy. I pull up a travel website and unplug the laptop. Tanner is hanging up the phone when I return.

“What happened?”

He sighs, running his fingers down his face and then back through his hair. “Austin is a street racer. It’s his vice and one we’ve all been begging him to quit. All Bryce said was, Austin’s in surgery. He didn’t tell me more. I have to get out of here.”

“Here.” I hand him the laptop, already open to a search for flights to San Francisco.

He scrolls through and finds a nonstop flight with two open seats, but it doesn’t leave until four o’clock this afternoon.

“I don’t have to go,” I say with hesitation, especially when I see the cost of the flights this close to departure.

He ignores my comment as he reaches for his wallet on the side table and pulls out a black Amex.

I place my hand on his. “That’s too much money. Besides, you can probably find an earlier flight if you go alone.”

The expression he’s giving me could cut diamonds. “Alone is not an option.” He raises his left hand and wiggles the finger holding the ring he made a vow with last night. “I meant what I said. You own me. I need you with me, and I want to introduce you to my family.”

My gaze softens as I stare at him. “I want to be there for you, but these flights are really expensive.”

He runs his hand down my cheek, cupping my face in his palm. “Money’s not important. I’ll even book a flight to have you on the red-eye tomorrow night, so you’re back for work. Sweet Harper, you are my everything. I need you by my side.”