TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3
“Everyone decent in here?”a male voice echoes throughout Jersey’s condo.
She groans and rolls out of bed, grabbing her robe off the hanger and flinging it on before leaving the bedroom. “There’s Roman. I thought he was joking when he said he’d bring us breakfast this morning.” She shakes her head. “Guess not.”
I chuckle and pull on my sweatpants and a shirt before following her out of the bedroom. I flew in late last night, desperately counting down the minutes until I got to hold her in my arms again. We barely let each other go throughout the late nighttime hours—the perfect way to start a bye week, if you ask me.
Jersey has her twin in a tight hug and he sways her back and forth, though he releases her when he sees me, wrapping his arm around her neck. “Sorry to interrupt.”
I hold up my hands. “No problem here.” My eyes fall on the box of bagels he’s brought. “Thanks for breakfast.” I help myself to an everything bagel and slather on a heaping dose of plain cream cheese.
“I wanted to meet you face-to-face and see my little sis before I leave,” Roman says, and Jersey rolls her eyes. “Figured meeting you this morning would be my only shot for a while.”
“I’m sure your schedule is about to be super hectic,” I say before taking a bite of the bagel.
Roman nods. “It is. I’ll be back in a few months, though, and we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled shenanigans. Hopefully, by then you’ll have another Super Bowl ring, and Jersey will have a fully recorded album.”
“Ugh, one can only hope,” Jersey says, shooting me a wink as she puts strawberry spread all over her chocolate chip bagel.
“That’s for damn sure,” I agree.
“I’ll get out of your hair. Just wanted to stop by. You’re in good hands, Jersey,” Roman says. When he releases her, he reaches out and gives me a firm handshake. “It was good to meet you, man. You take care of her, okay? I don’t want to have to fight you because I’ll probably lose.” He sizes me up. He’s a few inches shorter than me and not nearly as broad.
“Hopefully, it will never come to that,” I reply with a chuckle.
“I have a feeling it won’t.”
Jersey’s eyes glisten as she looks at her brother. That one little comment seems to mean the world to her. Roman gives his sister one last hug and then heads out the door, leaving the two of us to eat our bagels and continue getting ready.
A few hours later, Jersey and I sit side-by-side in a conference room at Silver Shadows. Jersey has an iPad in front of her and her worn-down notebook open to a clean page. She’s been humming a few bars over and over to herself, scribbling some words down, toying with them, and then usually scratching them out to start over again.
At her request, we got here early, before her scheduled time in the recording studio. She’s got another half-hour before she’s due to start.
“What’s it like to record an album?” I ask her.
She looks up at me with dazed eyes for a second before she focuses back on the present. “What do you mean?”
I shrug a shoulder. “I’m just wondering if it’s like in the movies or TV or anything.”
Her lips quirk. “I suppose a little bit. I record vocals either with or without a backing track, and then we play it back to make sure it came out how we want it to. Rinse and repeat.” She runs her tongue over her bottom lip, thoughtfully. “Do you want to come in and watch?”
I raise my brows. “Can I?”
Her brown eyes take on a defiant edge to them. “I mean,technically, no, but I like the idea of you being in there with me.”
Leaning toward her, I cup my hand at the nape of her neck and pull her into me for a kiss. I can’t wait to watch her creative process unfold and I can’t wait to spend more one-on-one time with her after the fact. She whimpers as I kiss her, making a dissatisfied sound when I break away.
“Let’s go out tonight,” I suggest, twirling a strand of Jersey’s hair around my finger.
Surprise fills her. “Out?”
“Yeah, like out on a date. A real one.” I can’t fight the grin off my face. Already, I love the idea of walking around downtown with her on my arm, me getting to show her off to the whole world.
“In . . . public?” she squeaks.
Now I arch a brow at her.“Yeah?”
She swallows thickly and glances back down at her notebook. “I’m not sure.”
