I smile. “Turns out.”
“Okay, so you’re new to this scene. How much has your life changed in the last few months?”
“Well, I’m not so invisible anymore. When I used to go out with Ryder and his daughter, the paparazzi always ignored me. It worked in protecting little Kaylee from the media. Oh, actually, I promised her I’d say hi to her if I ever made it here.” I turn to the camera and wave. “Hi, Kaylee.” Then I point. “You should be in bed.”
The audience snickers.
“Are you still in contact with Ryder, then?”
Still in contact? We share a bed every night and make each other come as many times as possible while the kidlet is asleep.
“Ryder produced my single, and we’re working on my album together. I’m actually crashing at his house while we’re recording. It’s a real family vibe at Valentine Records.”
Boom, another plug. If I wasn’t the only act on Harley’s label, I’d say I was the favorite.
“You know, when Harley announced the label, fans around the world started screaming for an Eleven reunion. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”
Yeah, I know both Mason and Blake are holding out harder than Harley thought they would, but I’m not allowed to say that.
“They don’t tell me anything. Apparently, I tell stories I’m not supposed to.”
The crowd laughs again.
“That’s right. I read an article where you told the interviewer about throwing up on Cash Kingsley.”
The audience gasps.
“Great memories,” I say.
“Wait, so it’s true?”
“Oh, have I got a story for you.”
As I get into it, I think back to a promise Ryder made me in his small studio in his large house. That one day I’d be on a talk show just like this one and I’d tell this story.
I don’t think either of us assumed it would happen so soon, but it makes me wish, not for the first time since arriving out here, that he was with me.
I know without a doubt that signing with Harley was the right thing to do now.
I get the best of both worlds, and I get to go home to a man who loves me, our child, and the work-slash-family balance my father was never able to achieve.
I have everything I’ve ever wanted.
All because of Ryder Kennedy.
We finish up the interview, and I take my time getting back to the hotel. I’ve never seen New York City, so I wander around Rockefeller Center until I’m recognized by someone on the street.
No fucking shit.
Someone stopped me for a selfie and an autograph. Me. I love it, but I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it.
At home, it happens, but more often than not it’s when I’m with Harley or Ryder. Very rarely on my own. I’m not that recognizable yet.
I can’t wait to get back to the hotel so I can call Ryder and tell him about it.
I’m itching to get to my room, pulling up Ryder’s number as soon as I get into the elevator.
I hit Call when I get into the hallway, and it starts ringing when I get to my door.
Fiddling with my key and juggling the phone at the same time, I don’t even register the ringtone echoing around the place.
When I open the door and see my man and Kaylee on my hotel bed, my heart melts.
“What are you guys doing here?”
Ryder holds his finger to his lips, pointing at where Kaylee is napping.
He slowly climbs off the bed and approaches me. “We missed you.”
“It’s a school night,” I whisper.
“She was going to stay with Maggie, but when she found out I was coming to see you, she put her foot down.”
I can’t help smiling. “Our five-year-old put her foot down, so you both flew five hours to come see me?”
“Yup. Because we love you.” He glances back at Kaylee. “Both of us. I know we won’t be able to do this for every show or every appearance, but this is your first time. We belong here with you.” He seals it with a kiss that makes my knees weak and my heart full.
I could live without fame.
I could live without creating and making music professionally.
I can’t live without Ryder and Kaylee.
They’re like the melodies I can’t get out of my head and the lyrics that itch to be written. They’re part of me. They consume me.
“Ryder?”
“Mm?”
“If I haven’t said it enough, you guys are my everything.”
He smiles. “Careful, Lyric. You’re sounding a hell of a lot like a boy band cliché.”
I gasp. “Never. You take that back.”
“Never,” he mimics. “Because I know, deep down, you love my boy band-ness.”
“I love everything about you,” I whisper. “Even your demons.”
Ryder bursts out laughing. “We should wake Kaylee up and go have dinner so we can watch your big interview together.”
Epiphanies and big moments are supposed to happen at monumental times in someone’s life.
Standing in the entryway of a cheap hotel room is not where I’m supposed to have a giant romantic revelation.
“I want to marry you,” I blurt.
His eyes widen.
“I mean one day. When Kaylee’s old enough to kick paparazzi in the nuts.”
“Wow. What a … romantic proposal?”
“Not a proposal. A revelation.”
“That … you want to marry me. And what exactly brought on this revelation?”
“The perfect picture of what I want my future to look like. You—” I lean in and kiss his cheek. “—me—” I kiss his other cheek. “—and Kaylee eating dinner together.”
“That sounds positively boring and unexciting.”
“But it’s my boring and unexciting. With the kind of crazy our lives are, I can’t think of anything more permanent and normal than sitting down with the two people I love most and shutting out the rest of the world so it’s just us in our bubble.”
Ryder’s face softens as his bright blue, hypnotic eyes fill with warmth and love. “Now that you put it that way, it does sound perfect.”
Thank You
Thank you for reading Spotlight!
Who’s up next?
I have no idea.
Who do you want?
Stay tuned for more Famous guys in the near future.
I need to give special thanks to my readers for their suggestions.
Thank you to Jeannie Cooper for suggesting the name Eleven for my boy band. When I hear that name now, I can’t help thinking of my boys.
And to Samantha Blundell for giving Harley, Ryder, Denver, Blake, and Mason their names.
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Also by Eden Finley