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I laughed through my happy tears as I hugged her back. “This is the best surprise ever,” I told them as I got squished in a step-sandwich between my brother and sister.
Angie was the first to pull away. She lifted a set of keys and wiggled them at me. “This is for you. I picked it out. What do you think?”
I glanced from the keys now in my hand to the white Range Rover. “For me?”
“Of course for you, silly. Who else would it be for?” Caleb teased as he draped an around my shoulders and lifted one of my cases in his free hand.
“Let’s give this bad boy a test drive,” Angie urged as she opened the back so that Caleb could put my case inside before he went back for the others. She jumped into the passenger seat and I slid behind the wheel.
Laughing happily, I waited until Caleb was in the back seat before pulling out of the driveway. On the drive over to my new apartment, I asked the twins about their trip. They kept me entertained with their flight until I pulled into the garage of my new apartment building. It was just a few blocks from school so I could have walked if I’d needed to, but with my new Range Rover I wouldn’t have to.
Caleb carried my cases up to the top floor of the apartment building and I used my keys to unlock the door. The super was supposed to let in the movers the day before, who were bringing the furniture I’d picked out with Jace the weekend before. Carter had given me a nice little budget to play with for the odds and ends I needed and I’d found some great items.
“Happy birthday!”
I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard the voices yell from the kitchen. Why was everyone trying to give me a heart attack? I turned to find Carter and Jace both standing in the kitchen with a cake on the small island counter between them. At the sight of Jace my heart did that crazy little somersault that it always did and I was assaulted with a wave of love for him that left me breathless.
It took me a few seconds to tear my eyes away from him and turn them on Carter. He was standing there with a broad grin on his still-handsome face. “Happy birthday, Kin,” he repeated and stepped forward to hug me close.
Happy tears blinded me and I tried to blink them away but a few escaped anyway. “It really is now.” I hugged him tight, breathing in the familiar scents that I’d always associated with love and happy memories. “It’s so good to see you.”
“So, how do you like our apartment?” Angie asked as she moved across the kitchen to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water.
How long had they been there? I hadn’t stocked the fridge yet. Then what she had said registered.
“Our apartment?” My heart was racing with the possibilities.
Angie closed the fridge door, a grin splitting her beautiful face. “Yep, ours.” She opened the water in her hands as if she hadn’t just rocked my world. “Mine and yours.”
“But… what about school?”
“I’m taking the semester off and starting UCLA in the fall,” she told me as if she were telling me she had ordered pizza and not just uprooted her life to be closer to me.
I couldn’t stop the tears as they rushed forward. “Angie…”
“No tears,” Carter interceded. “Today is going to be a happy day, and by God I will make sure it stays happy.”
An emotion-filled laugh bubbled out of me. “I’m happy,” I croaked out in a hoarse voice. “Any happier and you’ll kill me.”
Strong arms wrapped around my waist and I leaned into Jace’s heat. “In that case, I shouldn’t tell you that I’ve been talking to Emmie, huh?” he murmured in my ear.
Something in his voice had me turning in his arms so I could see his face. “What were you talking to her about?” He talked to Emmie every day it seemed now that his contract with First Bass was getting closer to being over. She had plans for Tainted Knights. I knew with her as their manager they were going to skyrocket into the rock world.
“Oh, nothing really.” He brushed a kiss over the tip of my nose. “Just that I really like your music and wondered if she would be interested in us recording a demo for the record labels to listen to one of your songs. She liked the idea.”
My stomach clenched with excitement. “You did? She did?” I was already bouncing up and down. “Oh, my God. You…She…I can’t even talk right now.”
He chuckled and kissed me again. “Happy birthday, baby. I love you.”
I wrapped my arms around him, knowing I would never let him go. “I love you, Jace. So much.”
Next from Terri Anne Browning
Un-Shattering Lucy
Defying her Mafioso (Book 1 of The Vitucci Mafiosos Series)
Tainted Kiss (Book 1 of the Tainted Knights Rocker Series)
