Her eyes get a little misty. “What does that mean for us, though? We’ll have completely separate careers. We’ll be playing different places at different times and we might not get to see each other very often. I’m getting a place in LA and I assume they’ll want you in San Diego but we’re just at the start of this so I don’t really—”
I cut her off when I lean forward and kiss her to stop her. She’s babbling, and while it’s adorable, it’s also not going to get us anywhere.
I pull back and our eyes lock. “We’ll figure it out. We’ll navigate it together. MFB’s on hold a few more months, so we have time to get to know one another and see where what we’ve started here takes us. And once you’re recording and playing gigs, I’ll be in the crowd as your biggest fan every single night I possibly can be.”
“I’ll be there for every MFB show,” she promises. “Well, as long as they want me there.”
“Those guys love you, Lex. They’ll be thrilled to have you around. But their opinion doesn’t matter. I want you there, and that’s all that matters.”
She smiles at me, and she looks a little relieved. I press a soft kiss to her lips.
“I was nervous to tell you,” she admits.
“Why?” I ask.
She lifts a shoulder. “Because I was worried it would come between what we’re starting. And even though we’ve been through more than some couples go through in years together, it still feels like we’re at the start of something.”
“We are,” I say. I lean my forehead to hers. “We’re at the start of forever.”
CHAPTER 62: LEXI
Three Weeks Later
I stare out over the water, and then I look at the paper on the clipboard on my lap. I cross off the line I just wrote and replace a few words.
That’s better, I think to myself. I toss the clipboard to the side and stretch my legs out on my towel, and then a few seconds later, Gage comes running up, droplets of water shaking off his wet body and onto my legs.
“Hey!” I protest, and he doesn’t care. Instead, he shakes his hair out and gets me even wetter.
Though, to be honest, he’s pretty good at finding ways to make me wet.
Yeah, I said it. He tends to have that effect on me—making me wet, yes, but also making me just a little on the cruder side than usual.
“How was the water?” I ask once he’s done laughing and he’s lying on his towel beside me.
“Freezing,” he says. “Whose idea was it to come to the beach in late September?”
“Uh, yours, genius.” I tug my sweatshirt on over my head since my legs are now covered in goosebumps. It’s in the high eighties, but we’re nearing dusk and there’s a light breeze coming off the water.
He laughs. “Right. Get any work done?” he asks.
I nod. “Not much, but something I think I can work with.” I’ve been working with my rep at the label on music for the album I’ll start recording in a few months. I have a lot of songs already written since it’s something I’ve worked on for many, many years, but I want some fresh options, too. And coming to the beach seemed like a tranquil way to get some new words down.
“Can I see?” he asks.
I shake my head. “Not ‘til it’s done.”
He rolls his eyes, and I giggle.
It’s my quirk. I don’t want to share until I’m happy with the draft.
“Let’s get pizza for dinner,” he says. “And then have lots of sex.”
“Okay. Your place or mine?”
“Yours. Always yours.”
He’s gotten close with Rascal since they’ve been living together, but I live alone.
And the place Shana found me is two blocks over from Gage’s place. It’s made for an incredibly convenient and easy transition for the two of us.
Once his hands are dry, he grabs his phone to place an order for pizza. “Whoa,” he says once he looks at the screen.
“What?”
“Uh, we might have to scratch pizza and sex for tonight.”
“Why?” I ask.
“All the guys are at the hospital. Emily’s in labor. I think I’m supposed to go. They’re all there, so I should be too. Right?”
“Definitely,” I say, and I toss my clipboard and pen into my bag. I stand and start rolling up my towel. “Families come together at times like this, and you’re part of their family now.”
He stands and grabs the extra towel we brought. He runs it over his hair and makes sure his body is mostly dry, and then he grabs me into his arms. “And you’re part of mine, so I want you there, too.” He plants a kiss square on my mouth.
“Maybe they have pizza at the hospital cafeteria,” I murmur, and he laughs.
“Maybe they have an empty room for sex.”
I wrinkle my nose, and he looks offended.
“You don’t want to have sex?”
“Not in a hospital. And not when someone’s having a baby. I don’t want babies on the brain when I’m doing it.”
He laughs as he folds his towels. “Well, neither do I, and hospitals aren’t my number one choice of sex locations, but beggars can’t be choosers, you know?”
I laugh. I guess that’s one way of putting it. “Oh, but I’ll still make you beg for it.”
He pulls a shirt on over his head. “If it’s with you, I’ll get down on my knees.”
I raise a brow.
“To beg.”
I giggle, and then we head toward the hospital in San Diego where Emily’s having the baby.
On the way there, he shocks me with a question. “How many kids do you want?”
My eyes dart over to him, but he keeps his focus on the road. “Uh...what?”
“Well, we’re on our way to the hospital because a baby is coming into the world, and I was just curious. Have you thought about it?”
“Of course I have,” I say softly. I’ve thought a lot about it, actually. I’ve thought about what a great dad I think Gage would make. He cares so dang much, and he’s so kind and ridiculously protective. But I’ve also thought about what it would be like to raise a kid with our completely separate careers. I suppose that’s a conversation for much later. “I’ve always imagined having two. You?”
He lifts a shoulder. “I always imagined four or five.”
“Really?”
He chuckles. “I was raised with my cousins, and there were six of them. It was a big family, and I loved that there was always someone around. Always someone who had your back, someone who you could rely on.”
“I hated being an only child,” I admit. But four or five? That’s a small herd.
“It’s not like we need to decide right now,” he says.
“We?” I ask, raising a brow, and if I’m not totally mistaken, I think I see Gage Hoffman’s cheeks color with just the slightest tint of red.
The men of MFB (minus Adam) are already in the waiting room with their women, and Kane is there, too, along with Ruby Ray, who I’ve grown close to since Gage is living at Kane’s place and that’s where Ruby Ray practices.