Page 90 of Inheriting Miss Fortune

I glanced at Dev, worried we were intruding. Dev shook his head. “Zane’s just in the middle of an exhausting tour, and his medical advisor wasn’t happy about adding in this show at the last minute.”

“It was hardly the last minute,” Zane said before grinning at me. “Ignore Ryan. It’s his job to keep me safe, and for some reason, he thinks that includes protecting me from heat stroke and exhaustion. Which is ridiculous since I’mfine.”

He angled this last part toward the bodyguard and made sure his voice was loud enough to carry.

Dev took my hand in his and held it tightly as we moved down the narrow corridor to the small dressing room. Thankfully, there was a small love seat for us to sit on and remain out of Zane’s way after exchanging pleasantries.

He was a lovely man, more beautiful in person than he appeared in the media. I shouldn’t have been surprised to learn he was personable, but I was. He definitely wasn’t stuck-up or too important, and he was surprisingly not surrounded by tons of people fussing over his hair and wardrobe. He wore jeans with a faded red T-shirt with a scriptedMajestic Rockson it over an outline of Three Daughters.

He must have caught me looking around in surprise because he laughed. “This is much quieter than normal. Rowe and Bash haven’t arrived yet, Landry wandered off to find Silas and Way, and the security team is feeling a little squirrelly, so they’re keeping me isolated from everyone else.”

Ryan’s voice came from outside the open dressing room door. “Protected,” he corrected in a mutter. “Isolated, my ass.”

“Fine,” Zane snapped. “Protected. From people and, you know… fun.”

“Or danger,” Ryan muttered in a lower voice. “Puh-tay-toe, puh-tah-toe.”

Zane rolled his eyes and turned back to me. “Anyway, ignore him. There’s some stuff going on that has his hackles up, but I’m sure it’s fine.”

“Fine,” Ryan muttered again. “Jesus fucking Christ.”

I glanced at Dev, who just shook his head as if to say, “Don’t ask.”

As soon as Zane took a seat on the stool in front of the mirrored table, an older man came bustling in to begin applying makeup. He was noticeably silent and behaved like he was more of a set piece than a team member.

“I met Lellie earlier today when we arrived,” Zane said. “She’s adorable. I told my manager to block out some time over the holidays to come play Santa. Dev can’t be trusted to do it right.”

He winked, which sent the makeup guy into a round of soft curses.

“Do you have many more tour dates between now and then?” I asked, unsure of how to get to know one of Dev’s friends while he was moments away from performing in front of thousands of people. Small talk seemed a bit awkward under the circumstances.

“Oh yeah. We’re heading to Europe next week for a bit, then we’ll be back doing some recording in the studio. The Shaky Knees festival is in October in Atlanta, which I’m excited about because I’m from Georgia and still have family there. Lots of my friends from high school will probably come and say hi.” He turned to Dev with an affectionate smile. “I was hoping the guys would come and join us there, too, to say hi to my Gran, but now that Dev has Lellie, I’m not sure how much travel he’ll want to do.”

“As long as I have a nanny by then to help out, I can probably swing it,” Dev said. He hadn’t let go of me, and I tried not to hyperfocus on the feel of his thumb stroking the back of my hand.

“You should come, too, Tully,” Zane said with bright eyes. “I’ll get Kenji to arrange it. If you can stay a few days, you can come out to my family’s place in the sticks. We’ve got plenty of room.”

Ryan made a disgruntled sound from outside the doorway, but Zane pointedly ignored it. The makeup guy left and was replaced by a younger person who started adding product to Zane’s hair while he seemed not to notice.

“We can go to the Varsity for a frosted orange. Have you ever been to Atlanta?”

I shrugged. “I went once a few years ago for a legal conference, but I didn’t see much other than the scene in Midtown.”

Zane groaned. “Ugh, so good. Piedmont Park and the gym at Ansley Mall. Fuck. Sooo many sexy guys. Our friend Kayzo from Yale lives there. Dev, we should see if he wants to come backstage at Shaky Knees. Or maybe we can plan an after-party like we used to.”

Ryan leaned his head through the door to glare at Zane. “Are you doing this on purpose? Are youtryingto bait me?”

Zane waved his hand in the air. “It’ll be fine. I’m sure the current… situation… will resolve itself by then. Once we’re out of the country a couple months, they’ll drop it. Don’t worry so much.”

I glanced at Dev, who shot me a look that promised to explain it later. Ryan disappeared from the doorway just as Kenji breezed in with Silas and Way.

The following few hours both flew by and seemed to last forever. Zane was amazing onstage, especially from our locationin a roped-off section right up front. He charmed the crowd, alternating between high-energy choreographed numbers and heartfelt ballads sung while propped on a stool with his guitar in hand and fingers teasing the frets and strings.

Through it all, Dev’s hands never stopped touching me. He held my hand or stood behind me with his arms wrapped around my waist. He threaded his fingers into my hair or leaned in to press a kiss against my ear while whispering something. It was heaven and hell.

By the time he took me back to the ranch, it was late. The cool night air breezing through the windows chilled my sweat-damp skin as old country classics crooned softly through the speakers.

We didn’t say much on the drive, simply held hands when Dev didn’t need his for the steering wheel and glanced at each other from time to time.

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