Page 105 of The Last Dance

Brad nods, his chin scrunched into a smile as he tries not to give anything away too early. ‘It is. It’s written for the woman who changed everything.’

‘That’s kinda vague.’ She laughs. ‘You think she’ll even know it’s about her?’

He nods. ‘I think she’ll figure it out. Do you want to hear it? We were actually going to play it for the first time tonight and we’d love to try it out early.’

Ambri giggles her fangirl giggle from the other day. ‘Yeah. I’dloveto hear it.’ She looks back at me with her eyes wide, a grin across her face that could make everyone in the world smile back.

As she watches the band, I back away, allowing another camera guy to sneak in as the lights dim. She doesn’t look back; she’s mesmerized by watching them on the stage. She has no idea what I’ve actually done.

Everything is planned out to the second. The song is about her, I helped write it, with a lot of help from Brad – I’m definitely no songwriter. The film crew is going to film this as part of the video. She’s probably gonna kill me, but the whole thing releases on the Infusion website tomorrow, with her new website info. If it can go viral, I think it can drive enough traffic to her site to set her up to succeed not only locally for the music side.

I can’t help but watch her watch the band she loves the most. When she reaches her hand to her chest and glances around the room for me, I know she’s starting to notice the song is about her and what she means to me. Brad steps off the stage, sliding an arm around her and dancing with her as he sings, distracting her so they can get enough footage to fill the space in the video that they need. I make my way towards them a minute later, the anticipation of what she might say building in my chest. She’s never looked this beautiful as the lights shine on her in the dark. He steps back, twirling her to a stop in front of me. She immediately covers her face with her hand as she starts to cry, but reaches out, taking my now outstretched hand. I pull her against me, her crying into my chest.

‘I think this song is about you,’ I say into her ear nervously. ‘I’m completely in love with you, Ambri. Even more than before if that’s possible?’

‘You did all this?’ She steps back, staring into my eyes as the song winds down.

‘I did.’

‘You wrote this?’

I nod, a nervous smile on my face. ‘Well… Brad and I wrote it, but you are the complete inspiration. Totally lame?’

She shakes her head as she wraps her arms around my neck with a sigh. ‘I’ve never loved anyone more.’ She kisses me in a way that just about sends me to my knees right in the middle of the room.

I’d never even considered falling in love with Ambri until I already had. Now it’s time for me to make up for the mistakes I made. I know I’ll probably make mistakes in the future, I’m human, but I know one I won’t make again. I’ll never leave her behind. Not ever. You don’t find a love that consumes every part of you without first walking through a lightning storm to get to it. Which is exactly what we’ve done.

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