Page 31 of Country Heat

He shakes his head again, but there’s a grin on his face as he turns back to the game.

“Are you nervous about the release?” I ask him.

He takes a sip of coffee and exhales long and hard. “I don’t know. It’s weird.”

“What is?”

“I’m nervous, but I’m not.”

I try to sit up, but it’s hard when you feel like a pregnant walrus, so I collapse back down with a sigh. “What do you mean?”

“Recording that album with you was the time of my life,” he says. I smile because I feel the same way. Losing yourself in a creative fog is fun enough, but when you’re lost in that fog with your soul mate? God, nothing beats that. I’ll treasure the memories for the rest of my life.

“The album is perfect,” he says. “At least, to me it is. I wouldn’t change a word or a chord or anything. It’s my favorite thing I’ve ever made.”

“So, what are you worried about?”

He sighs. “I’ve never cared much about what the fans think,” he says. “But this time… I don’t know. I don’t want to let them down.”

I smile as I force and grunt and struggle my way up into a seated position, losing my breath in the process. “Aww. You care about the fans.”

His face twists up and I laugh. “Is that what this is?”

He’s so adorable, I can’t even. “This is a good thing, Cash. It shows you appreciate them.”

He turns back to the TV, but he’s not watching the game. He’s thinking.

“You know, I think you’re right.”

“You’re a good man, Cash,” I say as I reach for his head. He leans over so I can kiss his spiky hair. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

We spend the morning lounging around in domestic bliss and I couldn’t ask for anything better. Our first baby is due in a month and everything is ready for our little girl. We can’t wait.

As soon as we found out we were pregnant, we got married. I know he didn’t propose just because I was pregnant. My wonderful man already had the ring. He whipped it out right there in the bathroom, putting it on my finger while I was still holding the positive pregnancy test.

He truly has been the perfect man. Before we met, there were tabloid rumors about him drinking and smoking too much, but I’ve never seen the man take a sip of alcohol and he’s never smelled like cigarettes once. He’s never said anything about it, but his manager Bret told me once that he quit all of it the moment he met me. Is that not the sweetest thing ever?

After dinner, my manager Karen calls. We’re sitting outside, watching the horses run around the ranch while the sun sets.

The record is a monster. We break so many records that I can’t even remember them all by the time she’s done listing them off.

“You’re at the next level,” Karen says. I can hear the pride in her voice. She met me when I was in high school, uploading videos onto YouTube from my bedroom. “No. You’re on a new level. You’re in uncharted territory.”

I smile as I thank her for everything.

I’m not on a new level. I’m just me. And Cash is just Cash.

We’re just people. People who are madly in love and about to start a new phase of our journey.

We have to stay humble. We can’t get big heads.

We’re about to have a baby in less than a month and that baby won’t care who her parents are. She’s going to cut us back down to size no matter how big we think our breeches are.

“So?” Cash says, looking at me with those gorgeous brown eyes. “Are we good?”

“So good,” I say as I strut over and sit on his lap. I’m heavier than ever, but he fights back a groan as I put my weight on his legs.

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