I switch off the TV and shift my body down the length of the sofa, adjusting her so she’s halfway on top of me with her palm flat against my chest, resting gently over the heart that already belongs to her.
She takes a deep breath in and releases a contented sigh. “Thanks for coming with me,” she murmurs.
I glance down at her pillowy soft lips, those long lashes fanned out across her sun freckled cheeks, and the slight upward curve of her nose, marveling at how goddamn lucky I am to call her mine. There’s a lightness to her that wasn’t there when she first arrived in Oak Ridge, and I hope like hell I had something to do with it.
“You know I’d go anywhere with you.”
“Well, you’re gonna have to follow me into my dreams because I’m sleepy.”
Brushing my fingers up and down her arm in a soothing motion, I whisper, “Sleep, Goldie. I’ll find you there, too.”
I watch her drift off, her soft snores echoing off the ceiling of the quiet penthouse apartment.
“Ruby?” I murmur. “Youawake?”
When she doesn’t so much as twitch, I let my quiet confessions drift out.
“I don’t know what I did in this life to deserve you. I run headlong into danger in the name of playing the hero, but the most terrifying thing I’ve ever done is let myself fall for you.”
I glide my knuckle over her jaw, but she doesn’t stir. “I’ll go to the ends of the earth for you, baby. I’ll even take your last name if you let me. I?—”
My phone vibrates in my pocket, stealing the last words from my tongue. It’s the group chat with all of my best friends and their partners.
Miles has renamed the group chat: Oak Ridge Baddies and Daddies
Mags: Really, Miles? I told you I wouldn’t call you that.
Miles: I have a child!
Mags: Max is a dog.
Paige: Personally, I’m a fan.
Mags: You would be. ??
I type out a reply, careful not to jostle Ruby in the process.
Liam: I’m with your wife on this one, Barlow. Only ? of us are actually daddies.
Miles: Daddy is a state of mind.
Mags: So is delusion.
Suppressing my laughter so I don’t wake my girl, I swipe out of the group chat and open the camera app. Resting my cheek on her head, I hold up my hand and snap a photo. Only my beard is visible in the shot, with Ruby taking up the rest of the frame. I set it as my lock screen and silence my notifications, placing the phone face down on the coffee table.
When sleep finally takes me, I find Ruby waiting for me on the tailgate with the stars overhead and a soft melody drifting on the breeze.
“Knew I’d find you here,” I murmur.
I wake to the soft sound of an acoustic guitar coming from somewhere above me. I follow the music up the modern staircase, past a wall full of gold and platinum records, which leads to an expansive music room. Ruby’s sitting beneath a huge disco ball on a pink leopard print rug in that goddamn T-shirt she wore on tour. There’s a white baby grand in the corner, and a lineup of guitars hanging on the wall.
“Nice shirt.”
At the sound of my voice, her head snaps up. She smiles. “You jealous?”
“If it belonged to another man, I might be. But that’smyshirt.”
She smirks. “Is it?”
