We pullthe white sheet off my couch and curl up together beneath a dusty blanket. My head is on his chest, listening to every heartbeat. His hands are in my hair, stroking rhythmically.
“Felicity.”
“Mmm?”
“We haven’t talked about it.”
I crane my neck to meet his eyes. “About what, love?”
“About what we’re going to do, now that the tour’s over,” he says gently. “If this is where you want to be — we can stay.”
My brows go up. “Here?”
He nods.
“You’d stay here with me, in this tiny little cottage, so far off the grid even the paparazzi won’t be able to find us?”
“Felicity. If you asked, I’d live inside a fucking volcano.”
I grin. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“I’m being serious. If this is where you want to be, if this is the life you want… we can do it. We can stay here. Walk away from everything.”
“How could you do that?” I ask. “You love being in the spotlight, Ryder. You were born to be on stage.”
“I was born to be with you,” he corrects, leaning down to brush his mouth against mine. “I have no interest in being on a stage unless you’re standing on it by my side.”
I blink back tears, weighing my words carefully. “You know… much as I love this crappy little cottage… I don’t want to start our life here. This place… it was what I needed, back then. But I’m not the same girl who ran away to the edge of the world, trying to escape her life. The thing is, Ilikeour life. Actually… Iloveour life.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” I smile at him. “I have a different spot in mind for our house…”
His brows lift.
“As it turns out… I inherited a pretty sizable chunk of land, not too long ago. About forty acres, to be exact.”
There’s a long beat of silence as he stares at me, a slow smile stretching across his face.
“Nashville?” he asks.
“Nashville,” I confirm, grinning.
He kisses me with the promise of a lifetime’s worth of bliss. When he’s finished, I’m out of breath, every atom of my body buzzing with desire. I roll more firmly onto his chest, so my hair falls around us in a curtain, and drop a kiss onto the tip of his nose.
“Ryder?”
“Mmm?”
“How does this sound: six bedrooms, four bathrooms, an in-ground pool, a recording studio, maybe some stables if we want horses someday…”
“Felicity.”
“Mmmm?” I hum innocently.
“Repeat what you just said.”
“About the pool?”