Page 102 of Mic Drop

He pulls me into his embrace. “I’m sorry the Pope is away, but somehow I’m not sure how he’d take to giving me a blessing.” Bennett chuckles. “Wouldn’t want to get struck down by lightning in a fancy church.”

I stretch like a cat, entwining my fingers behind his head and pulling him down to me. When we break apart, I tease, “Then you’d be immortalized as a statue and people would pray to you.”

“I’d be sure to grant them all their dirty fantasies.” He pulls back. “People pray for them, don’t they?”

My head shakes. “I honestly don’t know. But if you were the one reviewing their prayers, I’d bet they would.” I rest my head on his chest. Melancholy, my perennial friend, rears her ugly head. If only I could’ve taken Ma here. She would’ve loved it.

My husband’s palm rests on the middle of my back, as if he knows I’m going into a dark place. “You know,” he begins. “She’s here with you, experiencing everything. You carry Faith in here.” He moves his palm over my heart. Which, convenient for him, is right above my boob.

“I hope so.” I smile as his thumb caresses the flesh under his palm. “I think you said that because you wanted to cop a feel.”

He smirks. “Guilty.” He skims over my nipple, then settles me next to his body. “Right now, though, I want to offer you strength. And you’re lucky...”

When he doesn’t continue, I prompt, “How?”

“Your mother loved you. She even wrote you a last note with all of her wisdom. She was super proud of you, with your physical therapy clinics. She told me so.”

“She really was my biggest cheerleader.” His comment brings me to yet another conundrum. My return flight is scheduled for tomorrow, and I don’t want to leave my husband. However, my business requires my attention. How can I be so happy, so miserable, and sotorn all at once? I need to return to Aroostook and focus on my clinics. Which only ushers in more depression.

“At the risk of ruining our perfect moment?—”

“Don’t.” His lips kiss my nose. “We’ll figure it out.”

I can’t help myself. “My flight back is scheduled for tomorrow.”

He rubs two fingers over his nose, a tic I’ve come to understand he does when he’s thinking. “You can stay with me. UC has a plane and there’s plenty of room. Let your seat on commercial go.”

It sounds so easy when the suggestion pops out of his mouth. But he doesn’t have a business that depends on him in the Hamptons. He’s not in the process of building a third clinic and scouting out a fourth location, not to mention running two others. Although Court’s been doing an amazing job while I’ve been here, in Europe, reconnecting with my husband.

“I can meet up with you in a couple of weeks. Where will you be then?”

A frown mars his gorgeous face. “I don’t know where, but I can tell you I’ll be miserable. The guys will try to cheer me up but won’t be able to. All our fans will see my sorry ass performing without my heart. It’ll be awful.”

“Oh, come on. So long as you’re rocking those black leather pants that Nese got for you. I doubt any of yourfemalefans will even notice.”

My teasing falls flat. “I’ll know. What can I do to convince you to stay with me?”

“I have to focus on my business, the same way you have to tour with UC. It’s what you do—and it’s what I do.”

“I guess so. But if I only have today, I better make sure you don’t forget your husband while you’re away.” His lip ticks upward.

“I’ll try to be as productive as possible and get back to you ASAP. Now that you got rid of both Lissa and Michelle, my job is a lot easier.”

He kisses me with blatant sexual desire, which rouses what I thought was my dormant libido. I mean, he did give me three orgasmsalready. It’s never enough with Bennett. Before we can get started, my phone pings with a text.

He breaks away from my lips long enough to order me, “Ignore it.”

“What if it’s Court?” I murmur between kisses, and roll over to grab my cell.

LUKE

Got a proposition for you.

I stare from the text to my husband. These two have been thicker than thieves lately, as Ma would say. What have they cooked up? “It’s Luke.”

One eyebrow shoots up. “Really? What does he have to say?”

I read the text. “What proposition, Bennett? What’s going on?”

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