“I won’t have a problem paying my share,” Natalie assured me. “The trust fund Drake and Shane started for me will be able to cover that and college in the spring.”
I blinked, surprised by the girls words. Shane and his brother hadn’t wanted anything to do with their father, and by default Natalie. But that hadn’t stopped them from taking care of their sister. I felt my heart fill with such love I was sure it was shining in my eyes.
“If we had known about Jenna she would have had one too,” Shane told his sister. “I’ll have Emmie set one up.”
“Were you telling the truth, Shane?” Natalie asked. Her eyes, so like her brothers’, were sad. “Can Jenna really come and stay on weekends?”
“If Stella allows it.” Shane shrugged. “I can’t force her hand, Nat. But as determined as Jenna seems, I’m sure she will get her way in the end.”
I picked up my cup of coffee, hiding my grin behind the rim. “Sounds like Jenna is a lot like her big brother.”
Epilogue
Shane
I parted ways with my brother at the airport.
For two weeks we had been on tour on the West Coast. I wanted to go home, but I wasn’t done in California. So I told Drake I would see him in a few days and watched as he boarded a plane that would take him back to New York and Lana.
Jesse, Nik, Emmie, and Mia had already left for Malibu. Normally, if I was staying on the West Coast, I’d just go home with Emmie and Nik and crash in my old room. But I wasn’t sticking around LA for them. I had other things I needed to take care of.
Important things.
Harper had been in LA for more than a week now. She was working on the cover for the latest issue for Rock America . She had come far with her carrier over the last six months, and with the editor of photography retiring in a few more months, the rumors spread like wild fire that she was up for the job.
I took a taxi to Rock America’s headquarters, anxious to see my girl after being without her for two full weeks. The last time Demon’s Wings had gone on tour, she had come along with us, having been assigned the job of covering the entire tour. That had been the most fun I ever had on a tour in my life.
Traffic was a bitch and my legs were twitching by the time the driver pulled up in front of the magazine’s building. I tossed cash at the driver and grabbed my duffle bag, the only luggage I had even bothered to take with me on the tour this time. Fifteen minutes of talking my way through security and I was on the elevator up to the executive offices.
I had to keep myself from jogging down the corridor and bit my lip to stop myself from calling out Harper’s name as I searched for the office she had been given for the week as she tried out the possible new position.
At nearly twenty three, she would be the youngest editor on staff. I knew that it was going to mean she had to relocate, and I wasn’t against the idea. I had already asked Emmie to start looking for a house.
A vision in pale pink cashmere stepped out of an office ahead of me in the corridor, and my heart stopped for a moment. Oxygen was trapped in my chest, and it took all my willpower not to run and tackle her. My duffle fell to the floor.
“Beautiful…”
The words had come out a whisper, but Harper’s caramel head snapped up as if I had yelled it at her. Violet eyes darkened to indigo, and a smile lit up her beautiful face. She had on three inch spiked heels, but that didn’t seem to bother her as she dropped the stack of pictures in her hands and ran toward me.
Her lips met mine and I devoured her.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded, breathless. “You said you had to go straight home after the tour.”
I dropped another kiss on the tip of her nose. “Don’t you know by now that you are home, baby? Wherever you are, that’s where my home is.” At one point it had been Emmie that was home for me, but now it was Harper.
Her eyes glazed over with tears, and she blinked rapidly to keep them at bay. “I love you.”
“I love you, Harper.” My head turned when I noticed a few people had come out of their offices to watch us. I ignored them. “How much longer do you have?”
“I was just taking the prints to my boss. Then I’m finished for the day.” She glanced down at the mess she had made when she had carelessly tossed the pictures she’d been carrying. “It might be a little longer now. I have to put these in order again.”
I was reluctant to leave her, but I had a few things to get ready. “Okay, then. You do what you have to then meet me at the hotel.”
“Okay.” Her bottom lip pouted out. “I won’t be long.”
Grinning, I bent and sucked that lip into my mouth. “Take your time, beautiful.”
I wasted no time getting back to the hotel I had insisted on paying for that Harper would stay in for the week. I grabbed a copy of her room key and headed upstairs. From the tour bus I had called ahead to make sure that everything I needed was already waiting in her room for me.
I spent thirty minutes getting the room just the way I wanted it before taking a two minute shower. By the time I was dressed, there was a knock on the door and I opened it to find room service with the champagne and strawberries. I gave the man a huge tip and rushed him from the room. Harper wouldn’t be much longer.
Now all I had to do was wait.
Harper
The last week had been bitter sweet. And now I was at a crossroads. I left my boss’ office with my head clouded.
After seeing the cover for the next month’s issue for the magazine, I had been offered the job dreams were made of. Of course that meant relocating to California permanently. I didn’t know if I was ready for that. After all, I had a great life in New York. Cecil was there, and so were Linc and Dallas.
Shane.
Most importantly Shane. I didn’t think I could live that far from the man that had become as much a part of me as another limb. So of course I was conflicted when I left the office. I was still debating the pros and cons when I stepped off the elevator and walked toward my hotel room.
I had argued with Shane for all of an hour over the room. I didn’t want him to pay for it and had planned on staying somewhere else that didn’t scream over-the-top. But he had kissed me into submission until I agreed, and then he had stepped onto a plane that took him away from me and off on tour.
I used my key card to open the door to my luxurious suite. The room was in complete darkness, and I reached for the light switch.
“Shane?” I called out. Maybe he had gone to Malibu to visit with Layla and Lucy for a while…