Page 169 of Play Dirty (Brooklyn Dawn 1)

Lila shoved him in the gut. “And you better not try a move like that.”

“Couch forever,” he mouthed to me over her shoulder, making me laugh.

They were so cute together. Something panged deep inside me, a wish I didn’t dare make. But God, I wanted this. I wanted laughter and inside jokes and history. I wanted a guy to look at me the way Nick was looking at Lila right this moment, although her eyes were narrowed and she was giving him her best stern face.

None of us were fooled. She was as head over heels for him as he was for her.

I’d never focused on anything other than my career. But maybe I had a chance at finding that kind of happiness myself.

Maybe I already had.

Another song had started swirling around in my head on the plane. A legit love song. I hadn’t written many of those. It wasn’t a shock why I was on the verge of composing my first true one without Jamie’s legendary snark for balance.

This was simple. An acoustic piece laid bare in all ways.

I smiled. “You know, Nick, you should play a song with Elle tonight. The crowd would love it. That thing you did with her during Warning Sign’s first big concert back last year was a huge hit. Million views on YouTube in a few hours, wasn’t it?”

He shrugged. “I don’t keep up with that shit. I mean, it’s awesome, but that’s the way to make yourself fucking mental. I have enough issues with getting out on stage to begin with, thanks.”

I frowned. What was he talking about? But he was already speaking softly to Lila.

“Not tonight, but maybe later on in the tour. Work your magic. Find a good spot.”

Lila sighed, but she was smiling. “Woke the monster, didn’t you, Lindsey?”

He shrugged. “Just saying. It’s fun for the fans.”

“It is. Fun for you two too.” She brushed her hair away from his face like I’d done with Alex earlier. Such an instinctive gesture yet I could see the love in it.

Had felt it when I’d done it myself.

“Well, duh.” He patted her ass and finally nudged her off his lap, a place she’d seemed all too happy to stay. “Guess I’ll go relieve the nanny and detach Charlie from the ceiling so mama can get some work done.” The lascivious way he said mama made it sound as if he was doing the voiceover track on a porno.

Not that I knew anything about such things.

“See you later.” Lila gave him a quick kiss and a light shove and he ambled off, wearing a grin.

“How long have you been married?” I asked.

“Five years in a few months. Fairly crazy, since I hated him on sight.” Lila picked up her iPad and tapped a few buttons, clearly texting a response to someone. “Bringing him and the girls on this trip wasn’t planned. But we’re trying to have another baby, so…timing.”

It took me a second, because babies were so not on my mind in any way, shape or form. “Oh. Oh.”

“Sorry if that’s too personal.”

“No, it’s fine. It’

s okay. I understand.” I didn’t, not really, but I couldn’t quite wrap my mind around marriage yet either.

At least I was closer than I’d once been to grasping the concept.

“I wouldn’t have normally shared, but my mind’s half in this room and half elsewhere. Donovan has an issue. And if he has an issue, so do I.” She propped up her iPad on a little stand and went back to tapping on the screen with her French manicured nails.

I gripped my throat. That didn’t sound good. Hopefully, it didn’t have anything to do with my band.

“About what Oz did—”

Lila waved it off. “It got you in the news. People still love a good episode of rockstar badassery. No one was injured and there wasn’t any serious damage, so don’t worry about it.”

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