Read With Me in Seattle Bundle One Online
Authors: Kristen Proby
“Good.” I nod. “No assholes named Bob at this one, and it’s unlikely they’ll want me to do a story on my family, given that we run exposés on wines.” I wink at him and reach over to grab his hand so I can trace the ink on his fingers.
“Are you excited for the tour?” I ask and watch my finger on his skin.
“It’ll be fun to play and be with the band for a couple weeks, but I’m already looking forward to coming home.”
“It’s only for two weeks. That’s better than nine months.” I snicker. “Nine months would kill me.”
“Nine months isn’t going to happen unless you’re with me,” he states, as though that’s the end of the discussion.
I nod, just as my phone vibrates in my bra, and Leo chuckles as I pull it out.
“I do love your storage system.”
I stick my tongue out at him and check the text. It’s from Caleb.
Family meeting, today, 6pm. Brynna’s house. Mandatory.
I frown and turn the phone to show Leo.
“What’s that about?” he asks, his eyes narrowed.
“I don’t know.” I shrug. “Probably has something to do with Brynna’s security issues. I wish she’d just tell us what the hell is going on with her.”
“It’s probably none of your business.” He reminds me with a smirk. “You’re just nosy.”
“I’m concerned,” I disagree and then laugh. “Okay, I’m nosy.”
“Call me later and let me know what’s going on.”
I shrug and frown. “The meeting is late today. You’ll probably be busy with the sound check.”
“You can and will call me anytime, baby. I don’t give a fuck what I’m doing. I need you to know that even when I’m not here, you’re the priority. I want to know what’s happening here.”
I shrug again and sit back as the waitress sets our plates before us. “It was good to see Lori last night, even if it was just for a few minutes.” I throw him a sassy grin, and he laughs out loud.
“Way to change the subject, brat.”
I take a bite of my eggs and blink innocently, making him laugh more.
“She wouldn’t have missed the show last night for anything.” Leo nods. “Plus, she wanted to meet your family.”
“Meg seemed over the moon to see her. How do you guys know her?” I ask and nibble my bacon. “Besides her being Gary’s wife,” I add.
“Meg and Lori always got along really well. It hurt Lori that Meg and I didn’t speak for a while.” He takes a bite of his bacon and a sip of coffee. “I’ve known Gary forever,” Leo begins. “Aside from Meg, and now you, he’s probably the closest person to me. We met Lori after a gig here in Seattle. She had been in town and came to a show and, being a celebrity, came to the after-party to hang out with us. I was determined to fuck her.” He laughs and leans back in the booth, his face full of humor.
“What happened?” I ask and push my plate aside and lean on my elbows.
“She wanted nothing at all to do with me.” He shakes his head ruefully. “She took one look at Gary’s ugly face, and it was all over for both of them. If I’d have made a play for her, he would have shoved his foot up my ass.”
I chuckle and trace his tattoos on his hand again. “Poor guy, you lost the girl.”
He grows quiet, and I glance up to find him quietly watching me. “What’s wrong?”
He shakes his head, as if pulling himself out of a daydream, and flips his hand over to link his fingers with mine. “We’ve come a long way since the first time we sat in this café.”
“Yes, we definitely have.” I nod and tilt my head at him. “Are you happy?”
“Oh, sunshine.” He sighs and pulls my hand up to his lips, brushes them over my knuckles, and smiles widely at me. “Happy doesn’t begin to cover it.”
Two Months Later
~Leo~
God, it’s good to be home. We left Atlanta immediately after the show last night and flew straight home, arriving at SeaTac at around two in the morning.
Sam and I still haven’t slept.
Instead, we’ve made love, cooked breakfast, fucked on the kitchen counter, and gone back to bed, lounging and enjoying each other after being apart for two weeks.
Two weeks at a time is all I’m willing to do.
“Oh, look!” Sam is sitting with her back propped against the headboard of her bed, her Sunshine Tour T-shirt on and her iPad in her lap. “There’s a picture of us on Yahoo.”
The cat is curled on my stomach, purring as I pet him, my other hand tucked under my head. I’m staring at the ceiling. I don’t bother to look over at the iPad.
“Are we naked?” I ask, only half-kidding. I’m terrified every day of the photos Melissa threatened us with showing up somewhere.
“No, thankfully not.” Sam laughs and pushes her fingers through my hair.
Fuck, I love it when she does that.
“This is from the show in Phoenix last week. Wow, they even printed my name under it, not just ‘Nash’s girlfriend’ or ‘Luke Williams’ sister.’”
I push the cat off my belly and turn over, cradling my head in my arms, and sigh as Sam traces the sun on my shoulder blade.
“Oh, these are cute,” she murmurs. “God, look at that bag. The new Michael Kors line for spring is to die for.”
“Are you shopping now?” I ask with a chuckle.
“Yeah, I don’t spend too much time on the rags. I just want to make sure my hair looks good in the photos.” She smirks. “Oh, fuck me, those shoes are going to be mine.”
As she goes on and on about shoes and bags and whatever the hell else she’s shopping for online, my mind drifts to later tonight. I think I’ll take her dancing. She loves to dance, and watching her sweet ass move makes me crazy.
On second thought, I’d better not. I’d have to kill every fucker who looks at her.
“I think I’m outgrowing my closet,” she mutters.
“Mmm hmm,” I mumble, almost falling asleep from the gentle sweep of her fingers over my back.
“I think I need to look into building a new one.”
“Wait, what?” I push up onto my elbows and stare at her. “What are you saying?”
“I need a bigger closet,” she repeats as I pull the iPad out of her hands, set it on the bedside table and pull her down into my arms.
“Keep going,” I mutter and tuck her soft blond hair behind her ear.
“Well, maybe we should start looking for an architect.” She bites her lip and eyes me speculatively, and I want to crow in happiness, but I just nod thoughtfully.
“You want to remodel your apartment?”
“Don’t be an ass.” She smacks my arm and then traces my tat there. The woman is forever touching me.
I hope she never stops.
“What are we hiring an architect for, Samantha?” I ask and nuzzle her nose.
“Well, we’ll probably also need a kitchen.” She shrugs. “And a place to sleep.”
“What else?”
“It takes months to build a house.” She lowers her gaze to my chest, and I tilt her chin up to meet my gaze. “I don’t want to move all of our stuff into either this apartment or your town house. I’m not quite ready, and besides, I think we should start somewhere fresh.”
“Okay.”
“But by the time we find and hire an architect, approve plans, and the house is actually built, I think we’ll be more than ready.” The last few words are whispered.
“I’m gonna rush this process, sunshine. I’m warning you now. The contractor is going to hate my guts, because I’ll be pushing him to finish every day.”
“I’ll warn Isaac,” she responds drily.
“Are you sure?” I whisper. Please, God, tell me you’re sure.
“Yeah, my shoes are really overcrowded in this closet. They deserve better.”
“I’ll give them whatever they want.” I chuckle. “Sam, I want to give you the world. I love you so much, and I want to be with you, every day.”
“We can start with a big-ass closet and sunken bathtub.” She grins and runs her thumb along my lower lip. I kiss the pad of her thumb softly. “I love you, too, Leo Nash. Every damn day.”
THE END
I hope you enjoyed ROCK WITH ME as much as I enjoyed spending time with these characters. When it came time to release the book, Lori of Lori’s Book Blog asked me to write a bonus scene. She thought it would be fun to see where these two were about six months after the book ends.
I thought it would be fun, too, so I wrote it. Here it is. Enjoy!
***
I unpack the last item from the last box, set the shoebox of gorgeous Choo shoes on their rack and sit back on my heels with a happy sigh. Levine is curled up in a ball beside me, happily snoring in his new home.
We are home.
It’s been six long months of architects and plans and Leo screaming at the construction crew to work faster, not to mention more family drama than our family has ever seen, but here we are, safely on the other side and settling into our house on the cliffs overlooking the sound.
I never want to leave.
“Here you are.” Leo saunters into the closet, his gray eyes happy and lips turned up in a smile.
“I’m never leaving this closet,” I reply.
“In that case…” He sinks to the floor beside me, leans his back against the island that sits in the middle of the room that houses my underwear and bras, and pulls me into his lap. “I’ll just have to give you this here.”
“What is it?” I ask.
He doesn’t answer. He just kisses me deeply, pushes his fingers through my hair, and then rubs his nose over mine with a deep sigh.
“I love this closet,” I whisper against his mouth. “Thank you for building it for me.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Did you finish unpacking the kitchen?” I ask and trace the tattoos on his fingers.
“Yep, we’re all done.” He sighs and kisses my forehead. “Thank God. I’ve been ready to have you here, in our home, for months.”
“I know.” I smile and turn my face into his chest and pull in a deep breath, enjoying his clean scent. “We made it.”
He tips my chin back with his finger and thumb so he can look me in the eye. “Did you think we wouldn’t?”
“No.” I shake my head and pull my fingers down his cheek. “What did you want to give me?”
“Everything you want,” he immediately responds, and I grin widely.
“I have everything I want, right here.”
“That’s sweet,” he murmurs, and I can’t help but have fun with him a little.
“It is.” I nod and look around the closet filled with colorful fabrics, leathers and jewelry. “Every thing in here is fantastic.”
His eyes narrow, but he’s not fooling me. He thinks I’m funny.
“Is that so?” he asks, his voice deceptively quiet.
“Mmm,” I confirm with a nod, but then stop as though I’m reconsidering. “Well, there’s Levine, too.”
“Of course, Levine, too.” Leo laughs and shakes his head. “What am I going to do with you, sunshine?”
“Love me,” I whisper and kiss his chin.
“I do love you.” His face sobers, and he closes his eyes for a heartbeat before finding mine again.
“What’s wrong?” I ask and cup his face in my hands.
“Absolutely nothing.” His voice is raspy and full of emotion, and I’m completely thrown.
Something has him all in knots.
“Talk to me,” I whisper.
“I can’t tell you what it means to me that we’re here.” He swallows and pins me in his gaze. “I want to give you something.”
Oh, fuck me, he’s going to propose.
He must sense my horror, because he laughs and mutters, “No, I’m not proposing, sunshine.”
“Okay.” I sigh in relief, but my guard goes back up when he pauses again, looking so uncertain. “You’re freaking me out, Nash. Spill it.”
“Today is a new beginning for us. Not that we need it, because we’ve been doing great so far, but it feels like this makes everything official.”
I nod, encouraging him to continue.
“I never had a home like this, Sam. Not since my folks passed. This, you, is all I ever wanted.”
I feel tears threaten as he continues.
“My parents had this, and I knew even when I was small that they were crazy about each other. My dad gave my mom this”—he pulls a small white box with a red ribbon out of his pocket and holds it up for me—“when I was pretty young.”
“You went through their things,” I whisper.
“Yeah. Open it.”
Inside is a silver chain bracelet with small sun charms hanging from it. “Did he call her sunshine?” I whisper.
“No, but she loved this bracelet. She wore it almost every day, and I think it’s appropriate that you have it.”
My eyes turn up to his, and he smiles softly. “Thank you,” I say, “so much.”
“My pleasure. Welcome home, sunshine.” He tips his head down and brushes his lips lightly across mine, and then settles in for long, demanding kisses.
My breasts grow heavy, and I feel him harden against my hip as I push my fingers into his hair and hold him tightly against me.
He suddenly stands with me in his arms and strides out of the closet and into our spacious master bedroom.
“Enough of the mushy shit,” he growls and lays me down on the soft down comforter. “It’s time to christen this bed.”
“Good plan.” I grin.
The Boudreaux Series:
Easy Charm
and on
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The With Me In Seattle Series:
Come Away With Me
and on
audio
Under the Mistletoe With Me
and on
audio
Fight With Me
and on
audio
Play With Me
and on
audio
Rock With Me
and on
audio
Safe With Me
and on
audio
Tied With Me
and on
audio
Breathe With Me
and on
audio
Forever With Me
and on
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The Love Under the Big Sky Series, available through Pocket Books: