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I clasp a hand on his shoulder and meet his stare head-on, pushing forward every bit of appreciation I have inside of me for him. “Don’t laugh at my speech, you asshole.”
His laugh is brash. “Fuck off and get cheesy for your woman.”
“Take notes, yeah? Watch a master at work.”
“Only notes I’ll be taking are what not to do.”
I flip him off and leave him standing alone as I step up onstage. With a quick flip of the mic, I take a breath and call for everyone’s attention.
“Welcome, everyone, to the new Thistle and Thorn salon. Thank you all for bravin’ the cold to come out and celebrate the openin’ with us.” The entire crowd is watching me now, but I only look at Anna. “At the risk of makin’ a lovesick fool out of myself up here, I just wanted to say a couple’a things before handing over the mic to the phenomenal owner of this beautiful business.”
Anna’s expression grows curious as she watches me, tapping the corner of her smile with a pink-painted nail. I swallow, my heart thumping like a feral beat in my chest.
“For those who don’t know Anna yet, I really hope you take the time to do so. I had no idea that she was goin’ to swoop in and change my world the way she did, but I’ve never been more grateful for anything. I’m so immensely proud of you, Anna, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds. Gettin’ to love you has been the greatest honour of my life.” She places a hand over her heart and whispers my three favourite words. I do the same before forcing myself to glance out at the crowd. “Can we give a big round of applause for her, please? Thank you all for bein’ here.”
The clapping is instant, but I don’t pay it much attention. Not when Anna’s moving through the crowd toward me. I catch her in my arms in a blink, spinning her around on the small stage and burying my face in her neck as her laugh rings in my ears like my favourite melody.
“Thank you, Brody. For everything,” she breathes in my ear.
I meet her stare before pressing my mouth to hers, knowing damn well she doesn’t need more of my words. Not when we have forever for that.
Three hours later,I’m leading Sky past the guest house and the trees outlining it with Anna against my chest. There’s a calm, comfortable silence before she finally caves, asking, “So . . . where are we going?”
“Only a couple more minutes.”
“You’re lucky I don’t mind surprises.”
My lips quirk upward. “How was your night? Feelin’ good? Everyone loved you.”
“Changing the subject, I see. You’re not as coy as you think you are, Brody Steele. But, to answer your question, I feel amazing. Still nervous, but I’m really excited to open for real.”
All of the previous clients and employees from when Wanda ran the salon decided to stay under Anna’s new ownership, so she’s going to be real busy for her first shift as boss next week.
I’ll be home to help—I made sure of that when planning my next steps with Swift Edge. Reggie was more than happy with what I brought to the table, but Garrison was harder to convince. Tough shit for him, though, since I didn’t budge on a damn thing.
They agreed to let me record at the new Swift Edge Records office in Calgary when it finally opens this month, and once that’s finished, I’ll announce my first North American tour. It took several hours of back-and-forth video chats to work out the dates and cities, but with Anna’s approval, we finalized everything.
The discomfort that fills me every time I remind myself of leaving for tour threatens to appear again, but Anna squeezes my thigh, pressing back further against my chest, distracting me.
“I can hear you thinking,” she says.
“Sorry, sweetheart,” I murmur into her hair.
She moves so much easier on Sky now, more fluid with every jolt and bounce. I tighten my arm around her middle and relax against her.
“Want to talk about it?” she asks softly.
Sky recognizes the trail to the plot of Steele Ranch land I’ve ridden her to a dozen times in the past few weeks, and I let her lead the way, loosening my hold on the reins.
“I’ve been thinkin’ about a lot of things, Buttercup. All of them revolvin’ around you.”
“Wanna give me something more than that?”
I press my fingers into the sensitive area beneath her ribs and grin as she starts to laugh, shoving me away. “Not yet.”
Sucking in a long inhale to catch her breath, she says, “You’ve never taken me out here before.”
“I haven’t. This piece of land hasn’t been used once in all the time the Steele family has owned it.”
