“It’s okay,” he says, running his warm hands over my thighs. “Just tell me if anything makes you uncomfortable, and we’ll switch things up.”

Chills and a rushing white heat go to war inside my body as I let go of my fears, trusting that he won’t let me fall. When I relax onto the soft pillow and dig my heels into the blankets, I turn into a whole new girl—a woman.

He looks up into my eyes. “By the way, this is what normal guys want in bed.”

And the hands that play the most beautiful melodies on guitar gently grip my hips, and I bury my fingers in his hair, and without a word, we make a new song together.

• • •

We lie tangled in the sheets, my head on Jesse’s chest, which rises up and down under his heavy breathing. I trace the underside of his elbow and twine my feet with his. The lights of New York fill the dark room with a silvery glow, making this moment feel magical.

“What does the tattoo on your back mean?” I ask.

“It’s the Celtic symbol for music.”

Music really is his life and soul. “That’s perfect.”

“You need a tattoo.”

“Of what? The Celtic symbol for the Jesse Scott Fan Club?”

He laughs and murmurs into my hair, “You’re okay with us being together, right? I kind of made that call today without asking you.”

I smile into his chest. I’ve never said I love you to a guy before, and when I do, I’ll be giving him all of me, trusting him to take care of my heart. And I want to try for that with Jesse.

“Definitely,” I say. “I can’t believe Jesse Scott is my boyfriend. You’re so not my type.”

“Are you sure you don’t wanna have sex with me?” He laughs so hard at his own joke he snorts, and I pinch his arm.

“I’ll think about it when you get home from tour.”

His head lolls back on the pillow. “Great. I was already desperate to get back to Tennessee to you, but now it’s gonna feel like my tour will never end.”

“You’ll survive.”

“Maybe we can practice beforehand, you know, on the phone?”

“Oh my God, I will not have phone sex with you!” I say, tickling him, and speaking of phones, his rings.

He grabs it from the nightstand and answers. “Yeah…yeah…okay.”

He hangs up and stares at me for a long moment. “They’ve made some sort of decision. Mark wants us back at Radio City.”

• • •

After we locate our clothes and underwear that we flung all over his hotel room, freshen up, and get dressed, Jesse leads me downstairs and outside to his limo. It’s nearly eleven o’clock.

“Can we pick up my mom and brother on the way?” I ask, and Jesse makes arrangements with the driver. It turns out Mom and Sam aren’t far. Only about five blocks.

We spot them standing on a sidewalk in front of a small coffeehouse, bundled up in their coats and scarves. Jesse has the limo pull over. Mom smiles broadly when she slides across a leather seat and starts pushing buttons just like I did, which makes Jesse laugh.

“I’ve never been in a limo before!” she says.

“Hi, Sam,” Jesse says, and my brother gives him a long, scary look that says I know what you’ve been doing with my sister.

Jesse’s Adam’s apple shifts as he swallows hard. I hope my brother learns to like my boyfriend, because he’s not going anywhere. I grin to myself and my face heats up as I replay our hookup in my mind. Jesse loved how I touched and kissed him everywhere.

Mom sits next to me on the bench and takes my hand. “Do you know what the decision is?”

“Not yet,” I reply. Jesse squeezes my other hand. “What have you been doing tonight? Did you guys go to dinner or anything?”

With a wide smile, Mom looks over at Sam, who has a sheepish grin on his face. “We were wandering around and ended up in the diamond district, and all these store owners kept asking us to come inside and browse…so we did.”

My heart starts thumping wildly. “Did you, um, buy anything?”

Sam shakes his head, continuing to smile. “Not yet. Got some good ideas though. I’ll go back tomorrow.”

I squeal, excited this is finally happening. My brother and Jordan have been best friends since they played football together in elementary school. Everyone always knew they would end up together—it just took about forever for it to happen, and then they had to date for, like, a million years.

“Do you know how you’re going to ask Jordan?” I ask.