Page 142 of Hope & Harmony

“You...” He pulled into traffic. “I’ve had a lot of time to think about you.”

“I hope it was miserable.”

He shook his head. “No, it was everything.”

CHAPTER 5

HILLS

One Year Later

“Stop panicking!” I pulled Lyric against me and kissed her hard on the mouth. She moaned and deepened the kiss, her tongue soft, flicking against my lower lip.

I growled and pulled away.

She pouted. “What?”

“Not the time. I can’t perform like this.”

She looked down and grinned. “You’ll be fine.”

“Famous last words.” I adjusted myself. “But seriously. It’s your song, and I have to do it right and stop looking at me right now or I’m going to walk away.”

“Never again, you said.” She winked. “And you’ll do great.”

It was my first performance with the group since returning from the military, and, of course, it had to be the music awards of all places. I’d already nailed my solo performance, but this felt different, harder, because I had more people I could let down.

I’d sweat so much leading up to it that I was afraid something was physically wrong with me.

The song hit number one in over thirty countries, the album held strong on Billboard at number one for three weeks straight, and our Spotify listens were absolutely insane.

Not to mention our music video had hit sixty million views in under a week.

The pressure was on.

And she’d written half the album.

We’d moved in together after the chicken.

I’d proposed a week after that.

And life was chaotic and messy.

I looked down at her stomach.

About to get messier in the best of ways.

We ignored people who speculated on our relationship, who wanted the worst for us when we’d only ever wanted the best for others, for the world, through music. And when it got hard, I just thought about her forcing me to sing a damn near perfect song again and again.

Again.

It was my least favorite word for so long.

Now it was my favorite.

Again, meant more. It meant her.

Again was all I needed to hear for the rest of my life.

“You’re up.” She winked. “Again.”

I cracked up. “Yup, again.” I leaned in and kissed her across the mouth. “And again, and again. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

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