“What about Libby?” he asked Quinn.
Quinn sipped his girlie drink. “Libby will be on board with whatever. She telecommutes, so joining me for a few weeks at a time won’t be a problem with her boss. Plus, we’re talking about a world fucking tour.” He high-fived Paul.
Two seconds ago, Hunter had been ready to join in on that high five. Hell, he would have raised it with a round for the entire bar. It would have been an all-night-long, caution-to-the-wind kind ofcelebration that would require a taxi ride home and two days to sleep off the hangover.
Only the satisfaction that should have come with the gold-plated icing on this cake of a deal, playing sold-out stadiums and securing their spot in the spotlight, eluded him. And damn if that didn’t leave him confused.
“A world fucking tour doesn’t require any thinking, it requires action,” Quinn added.
“It also requires a real round,” Paul said, standing and heading to the bar. Quinn followed.
Brody waited until the two were gone before he spoke. But when he did, his expression was an annoying combination of all-business and brother-knows-best. “What about you? Have you thought about what this will mean?”
Hunter sat back. “Which part are you talking about? The extra exposure that bands dream of? Or checking off one of my biggest career goals? Or how the hell I’m going to make this work with Mackenzie?”
“All of it,” Brody said quietly. “Have you considered that you would be putting yourself in the same position you were in with the last album? This kind of schedule doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for anything else. I just don’t want you to come back to find the rest of your life a disaster.”
Like last time.
Hunter remembered the empty house he’d come home to, the paralyzing guilt he’d carried from failing at the two things his father had botched: family and love. Not to mention that while Hunter had been nursing his wounds and throwing the pity party of the century, he’d nearly cost the band their future. It took him months after Hadley to process what had happened. A year before he could even begin to piece things back together.
That was a place Hunter never wanted to revisit.
“I won’t let that happen again,” he vowed. “I know I put everyone in a bad situation. You, the label, the band. But it all worked out. I mean, our ass was to the fire, but we pulled through.”
“For the record,wedidn’t pull through. Mackenzie did.” Brody went from serious to shit-just-got-real. “And without her, we wouldn’t be here toasting to our future successes. How does Mackenzie feel about you being gone for eleven months on the road?”
“I’m not sure if she could do the full eleven months, but we’ll work it out,” he said, wondering who he was trying to convince. Hell, he hadn’t even been able to get her to come with him to the bar tonight.
“You’re not sure she could do the whole eleven months?” Brody repeated, his eyes wide in disbelief. “You’re actually considering asking her to come on the road with the band?”
“I don’t know, man. I just signed the contract and haven’t had the chance to tell her.”
“Yeah, well, maybe you should have talked to her before telling the guys you’re all good with the plan, even though it’s clear you aren’t.”
“This tour is great for the band, and I’m not going to screw this up for everyone because I can’t figure out my personal life. After the show tonight I’ll talk with Mackenzie, and I’m sure we’ll find a way to make it work. Because that’s what people who respect each other do,” he said, feeling all kinds of mature man in a mature relationship. “They talk it through.”
“And just how will that talk go?” When Hunter didn’t answer, Brody shook his head. “Mackenzie will hear ‘world tour’ and put her needs behind yours. Which will leave her with two options: let you go or suffer through a revolving door of venues and hotel rooms, each with different obstacles and a different floor plan.”
And each with a different aisle five.Frustration began to build, along with something a hell of a lot scarier: uncertainty that, in doing the right thing, he’d somehow screwed everything up.
“I hear you, man. I didn’t say I had a solution. I just said I know that between her and me, we can figure one out.” They had to, because this was too important to screw up. “I need to call her,” Hunter said, fishing his cell from his pocket. He dialed Mackenzie, and the second her voice came through the earpiece, he found himself smiling. It was that big, stupid-ass grin again. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Mackenzie said, her voice shy and sexy as hell. “How did the meeting go?”
Hunter looked at Brody, and Brody was looking back—as concerned and overwhelmed as Hunter felt.
“Amazing.” He excused himself from the table and walked toward Cash’s office before saying, “What are you wearing? Part of me is hoping you’re in that black number I saw hanging in the closet. The other part is praying you’re in nothing but lace and those sexy little house boots you always strut around in.”
There was a long, tense silence, followed by a breathy little giggle that had him prepared for a little world domination of his own.Herworld, to be exact.
“Have I told you how much I’ve come to love those boots?” he asked.
They were pink suede with pink fur around the calf and little rhinestones on the cuff. More crazy cat lady than sex kitten, but on Mackenzie he found them, oddly, a turn-on. It was what she wore when they were home and relaxed. What she let him remove when she felt safe.
He heard her clear her throat through the phone, and he rested a shoulder against the wall. “You’re wearing the boots, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” she said, a strain in her voice he couldn’t decipher. “And I’m sitting at the kitchen table with your cousin, who says he’s here to pick me up for the symphony.”
