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Her eyes widened, and she eyed her husband out of the corner of her eye. "You wouldn't."
"Try me."
"Fuck. Fine, I'll keep my commentary to myself, at least until you walk away." She leaned back and folded her arms across her chest.
I'd have to remember how well that worked for future reference. I knew Kennedy wanted to have kids with Zen, but she'd do it in her own time. Zen wasn't as patient, though.
"Well, I'm not afraid of your threats, and I swear you two are disgustingly cute. Like the kind of cute that makes you want to rip your eyes out because you can't even handle it." Montana shuddered, sloshing her drink a little over the rim of her cup.
Amara rolled her eyes. "You guys, we're not that cute."
"I beg to differ. We're thecutest." I teased.
She giggled. "Probably because it's impossible to get mad at you. You've got certainthingsabout you that I like too much."
"You know what they say, happy wife, happy life." I laughed and took a sip of my beer, fully knowing what I'd just said even if we weren't actually married yet. I knew Amara was it for me. I'd known pretty quickly after I'd met her, and when she told me she was pregnant, it just solidified my feelings. I would marry her someday and hopefully someday soon before the baby came.
Her eyes widened. "What?"
"You heard me." I winked. "If you ladies don't mind, I'm going to go watch my brother beat the shit out of the Devils." I stood up and left Amara to talk with her girls. It took me so long to get her to come around to even giving me a chance that I knew getting her to marry me wouldn't be easy. But the first seed had been planted, the idea dropped in her lap. I knew she'd come around if I gave her enough time before I asked her for real. If she hadn't been thinking about it before, she was now.
I wanted our baby to have my last name. No, Ineededour baby to have my last name. Amara, too. I'd do anything and everything I had to to make it happen, but I only had five months to figure it out.
I was sitting on my surfboard, bobbing up and down in the Pacific ocean staring at Harrison as if he was insane. "Why can't we talk about it here?"
He scoffed. "Mate, I like to keep business and personal separate. The waves are my relaxation time. We can talk this afternoon at the office."
"You're going to make me spend an hour in traffic getting to your office when you could just talk to me right here?"
He smiled at me as if I was stupid. "Yes. Now shut the fuck up and let me surf."
My jaw clenched, and I wanted nothing more than to shove him off his board. I had better shit to do with my time than meet him in his office. It was clear he wasn't about to tell me his supposedly genius marketing idea for my album right now.
I tried to center myself, taking a couple of deep breaths and closing my eyes. The rocking of the water was gentle this morning and soothed my irritation at my publicist. He might be my friend and in charge of my image, but he could also piss me the fuck off.
When I opened my eyes, I decided to call it a day. The next wave would be the one that took me into the shore. "I'm heading in." I shielded my eyes from the rising sun behind Harrison.
"See you in…" He glanced down at his watch. "Four hours?"
"Yeah, fine. See you then." He nodded, and I waited for the next swell and paddled until I could hop up on my board.
When the wave died out, I jumped into the water and swam the rest of the way before making my way to my Jeep. I just hoped Harrison's idea wouldn't take me away from Amara and the baby much. I knew he'd throw himself and I both in the deep end when it came to getting every bit of publicity we could. He was also excellent at his job, which meant he always came up with some out-there shit that we didn't ever want to do, but he was a big part of why Shadow Phoenix had the level of success we did.
Stepping into my condo, it was silent. Amara wasn't the early riser that I was. I bet if I walked into the bedroom right now, she'd be sprawled out in the center of the bed, her hair a wild mess totally asleep. My chest clenched when I stepped into the room, and sure enough, she was passed out. God, she was fucking stunning. Her hand rested on her belly as she slept, and I fell a little bit more in love with her.
Rather than wake her up, I jumped into the shower to rinse off the saltwater. I knew she'd want me when she woke up, and I didn't want to smell like the ocean or get sand in our bed. In a short time, Amara and my lives had woven together pretty seamlessly. We'd fallen into a routine that worked for us both, and I didn't want to let it go at the end of this week when she had to go back to Washington.
I was nervous that Harrison's plan would involve something that made me stay in LA while she left. I didn't think I could go through with that again. If it hadn't always been my dream to record my own solo album, I'd probably just bail on this whole thing. I had to see it through, though. I couldn't get this close and just give up. I didn't want to have regrets when I looked back on my life, and not taking this opportunity would definitely be a regret someday.
* * *
Steppinginto Harrison's swanky high rise office, I was afraid to touch anything. I wasn't exactly clumsy, but I wasn't used to so much glass and breakable shit around me. I was scared to leave a fingerprint on anything and dirty up his pristine office.
He sat behind his glass desk but stood up and buttoned the top button of his suit jacket, waving his hand toward the chairs in front of his desk. I lowered myself into the nearest one, and he sat back down. "Well, you dragged my ass all the way out here. Ready to explain?"
Harrison steepled his hands in front of his mouth before flashing me his cocky grin. "Bugger off, mate. I'll get to it."
He could be annoying, but he really was the best at what he did. As much as I hadn't wanted to come here today and I couldn't wait to get back to Amara, I needed to hear him out. I figured he'd want me to do some touring and probably a shit ton of interviews. But I also knew Harrison liked to get creative. He hadn't risen through the ranks by playing it safe. He took risks, which was why we'd hired him in the first place.
