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She says goodbye and hangs up. I wish I’d said I love you, but I’m already saying it with everything else. If she’s not ready, that’s fine by me. I’ll wait until she is, and then I won’t stop saying it.

It takes a couple days to get us out of Nashville. During the day, I spend hours in the studio with Mason. I expected it to take longer than it does, but my brain is locked in, and everything spills out. He loves it, his agent loves it, his mom loves it. We’re cruising, and I’m feeling so fucking good, I think there might be a brand new bounce in my step. Jamie says something about it when we leave the studio at the end of the third day.

“You were looking pretty rough when I put you on that plane,” he says.

We’re standing on my back porch, having a quick smoke before we go inside. Jamie has a meeting in a few minutes, but I’m getting ready to turn in.

Our flight is at nine tomorrow morning.

Finally.

“When?”

“When I sent you out there.”

“Oh yeah. Well, I wasn’t doing too hot.”

He shrugs, inhaling and exhaling. “Mind if I hitch a ride with you tomorrow?”

“Out to Wyoming?”

He shrugs, nonchalant. “Yeah, might hang out for a couple days. Make sure you’re settled in.”

I don’t bother to conceal my smirk. “Oh yeah? That’s all?”

He just puts the smoke between his lips and shakes his head. I know damn well what he’s going to get up to, and that’s none of my business. Not when it’s with Sabrina’s sister, and I fully intend on eventually calling her my sister-in-law. Jamie and I tell each other everything. We’ve had some pretty explicit conversations, but this isn’t one of those times.

“Good luck,” I say. “She’s got some fire to her.”

“I’m just looking for a quick breather. Nothing like that.”

“Alright, man,” I say, grinding out my smoke. “You better hit the road, or you’ll be late for your next meeting.”

He jerks his head, heading down the porch steps. I watch his sports car pull away. Then, I go inside and reach for my phone so I can call my girl one last time before I see her tomorrow. She picks up right away. I know she was waiting.

“You had a good day?” I ask.

“It was long,” she says. “I miss you.”

“I miss you too.”

Silence. I head to the bedroom and sink down against the headboard.

“You alone?” she asks.

My stomach gives a pleasant little lurch. “Yeah, just sat down on the bed. Why?”

Click—that’s her door shutting. Then comes a familiar creak.

“You want to talk me through it, cowboy?” she says, voice dropping to a whisper.

Fuck yes, I would like that. Right away, I’m rock hard and throbbing beneath my zipper. Switching the phone to the other shoulder, I hit the speaker button and unfasten my pants.

“What are you wearing?” I ask.

“Shorts. My shirt.”

My hand grazes my cock, and it jumps. “Goddamn it. Unzip your shorts and slide your hand in.”