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But did she want a label? Did she yearn for a declaration?
Or were his actions speaking louder than words?
Whatever they’d become, it had worked its way into her heart.
She wasn’t easily rendered starry-eyed. Snark, sass, and a general attitude of badassery were her modus operandi.
Emphasis on the wordwere.
Now, she was the living embodiment of walking on sunshine.
Spending each night in Landon’s arms and waking to him humming a melody against her neck as they greeted the day wrapped around each other, gasping, and drenched in moan-inducing ecstasy, felt as close to completely and insanely happy as one could get.
But it wasn’t the core-clenchingly amazing feats between the sheets that had her floating through the days.
Making music with the man was as much of a turn-on as when he’d turned his soulful brown eyes on her, peeled off her clothing, then make her hit those opera high notes as she flew over the edge into Orgasm Country, USA.
They’d been working around the clock writing and composing additional songs over these last few weeks. They had twelve new tracks—a solid set by any standard.
The only time they took a break from eating, breathing, and sleeping music was when they were with Aria, which wasn’t exactly a true break from music. It was more like a shift to Aria-centered music.
And how was the toe-tapping seven-year-old badass doing?
Pretty freaking great.
The kid thrived at her new school.
She had friends and was slaying the second-grade curriculum, thanks to the educational modifications at Whitmore. That, however, didn’t mean she’d lost her surly edge. The girl was still a force to be reckoned with and could serve up a helping of side-eye like nobody’s business, but the undercurrent of anger that had permeated every aspect of her life didn’t bubble to the surface quite as much anymore. A contented rhythm had taken over. And while she wouldn’t sing with them or at school in her music class, the kid had started to sing when she was alone. Landon had caught it first. After school about a week ago, Aria had bolted out of the car and hightailed it up to her room. Their first clue she was up to something was a keep-out sign the kid had hastily taped to the door. Risking life and limb, Landon had disregarded the warning. He peeked inside the room as Aria slipped into the closet and closed herself inside the snug space. Then, like the nosiest aunt and uncle on the planet, they stood in the hallway, straining to listen to the child hum and, finally, sing. In a rich, rolling tone, Aria started with the song about Penny’s sisters, then veered off, toying with rhyming lyrics about Phoebe and Sebastian and Oscar.
Oscar Elliott is not so smelly-it. He gives me his dessert every day.
It had taken everything they had to hold back their giggles, but they were teary-eyed as they listened to the little girl pour her heart into her sweetly silly songs.
If it wasn’t entirely obvious, an enthralling happiness had taken over the house. The rhythm they’d settled into was a balm to her heart. Granted, she had to come up with almost fifty thousand dollars to save it, and she remained bull-headed and wouldn’t accept a penny from Landon or her friends. Still, their little trio possessed an unstoppable quality that made her believe it would be all right.
And there was that word again.
Believe.
She stole a glance at her husband as the glowing lights coming from the stage warmed his chiseled features.
With the scent of chocolate in the air, she sighed a dreamy rush of breath, knowing she’d fallen hard for the guy.
Just as the thought took hold, a reflex kicked in—a practiced reaction that triggered a faraway voice in the back of her mind to send out a series of alerts whenever anything seemed too good to be true.
Protect your heart.
Don’t forget, you’re the girl nobody wanted.
You’ll never be good enough. Cut your losses before you lose everything.
“Earth to Harper, are you with me, Harper?” came a low, velvety voice.
She blinked. “Yeah, of course, I am. I was thinking about…”
“Yeah?” He sized her up.
She held his gaze, and the prickly whispers in her head quieted. “I was thinking about how we’re going to kick some baking butt in this challenge.”
