With Me in Seattle Bundle One

by Kristen Proby

  It’s the best.

  My voice is strong and sure, and I’ve never enjoyed myself more during a show. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that my city and my girl are in the audience.

  “Are you having fun, Seattle?” I ask and hold the mic out for their response, which is a deafening scream.

  I look down front and see Lionel gather Meg for me, escorting her to the wings.

  Here goes nothing.

  “We have a special guest with us tonight, Seattle. Back in the day, we played in bars and clubs around the city, and this gorgeous girl”—I gesture to my left as Meg walks confidently onstage, a big smile on her lips and a mic in her hand—“was a part of Nash at that time. She’s agreed to sing with us tonight! Megan McBride, everybody!”

  The crowd cheers and applauds, the front row going ballistic. Jules is screaming and jumping up and down.

  Just wait, sweetheart.

  “Hey, everybody!” Meg calls out and waves and is met with more applause.

  I asked her to join me onstage a few weeks ago, and she vehemently rejected the idea at first, but I roped Sam and Jules and the other girls into talking her into it.

  I always get my way.

  I nod back at Gary, and he starts the first notes on the keyboard, Eric joins him on the drums, and we begin the song.

  It’s not one of ours. Will asked me to change the arrangement of Kiss Me Slowly by Parachute into a duet and have Meg sing it with me. I lied to her and told her it was for Sam.

  She bought it.

  I sing the first verse, she takes the second, and we join together for the chorus.

  God, my girl can sing.

  The song comes to an end, and the crowd is on their feet, cheering for us, and Meg’s smile is simply incredible. She should perform with us more often.

  She waves and turns to leave the stage, but I grab her hand.

  “Not so fast, Megan.” I speak into the mic, and she turns back, surprise written on her face. “So, I’m sure you don’t know this,” I tell the crowd, “but Megan is my little sister. She went and got involved with someone you all know and love. I think you’ll recognize his name, a Mr. Will Montgomery.”

  The crowd goes manic, jumping and screaming, and Meg scowls at me. She thinks they’re going crazy at the mere mention of Will’s name.

  She’s wrong.

  “Turn around, Meg-Pie,” I shout in her ear, so only she can hear, and her eyes go wide in shock and then well with tears when she sees Will approaching her from behind.

  He’s dressed in slacks and a button-down, the sleeves rolled, and he has a mic in his hand. He nods at me, and I release her hand and step a few feet away to let him do his thing, but close enough so I can watch with the rest of Seattle.

  “Hey,” Will says into the mic, his eyes on Meg’s, and then he waves to the crowd, which immediately erupts in joy again.

  This is a fan-fucking-tastic crowd.

  I glance down to the front row to find Sam’s eyes on me, and she’s smiling broadly. All of the Montgomerys are clapping and whooping, the women crying. Will and I kept this a secret from all of them.

  “Meg,” Will begins and steps close to her, turning her so the family can see both of their profiles. “So, I obviously didn’t have to go out of town this weekend.” He smiles down at her and shrugs. “Leo helped me with this surprise.”

  Meg glances over at me, and I just smile and shrug.

  “The song you just sang was also not from Leo to Sam like he told you it was.” He laughs as she lowers her mic and swears a blue streak at me for lying to her, and then he turns her chin back toward him. “It was from me to you. You see”—he clears his throat—“I wasn’t sure where this was going to go when I first met you, all I knew was that I wanted you.”

  The crowd has gone dead silent, listening in rapture to Will pour his heart out to Meg.

  If I didn’t love her so much, I’d call him a pussy, but she deserves every pretty fucking word, and so much more.

  “There’s a line in that song you just sang that says, ‘And it’s hard to love again, when the only way it’s been, when the only love you knew, just walked away.’ Well, I’m here to tell you, in front of all of these people and all of the people we love, that I’m never going anywhere, Meg. I’m never letting you go. I love you more than I ever knew was possible to love someone. So…”

  He lowers himself to one knee, and Meg covers her mouth with her hands, tears streaming down her pretty face. Will pulls a small blue box out of his pocket and opens it, showing her a fucking huge rock.

  Attaboy, Will.

  “Megan, will you do me the honor of being my wife? Marry me, babe.”

  You could hear a pin drop in Key Arena right now. No one is even breathing as they wait for Meg’s answer. The Montgomerys are standing perfectly still. Tears continue to stream down Meg’s face, and a few seconds feel like hours.

  “Uh, Meg,” I mumble into my mic. “The answer is yes, sweetie, put the man out of his misery.”

  The crowd laughs, and finally she sinks to her knees before him, drops her mic on the floor, cups his face in her hands and says, “Of course I’ll marry you.”

  The crowd goes wild as Will wraps his arms around her middle and pulls her into him, kissing her long and hard.

  Too long and too hard.

  “Hey, Montgomery, put the rock on her finger and get lost. I have a show to do.”

  They laugh, and Will slips her ring on her slim finger and kisses it, then helps her to her feet. They both wave at the crowd and exit the stage through the wings to my left.

  I turn back to my band, raise the mic to my face and scream, “Okay, Seattle, let’s fucking rock!”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  ~Samantha~

  The after-party is in full swing backstage. Fans who won backstage passes for autographs and photographs have come and gone. The band made it very clear that this party was just for them and their families.

  There are still more than thirty of us.

  “The show was ah-mazing!” Stacy exclaims and snuggles into Isaac’s side, a drink in her hand.

  “It was.” Brynna nods and smiles at Meg and Will, sitting on a couch, Meg in his lap. “Will, that was quite possibly the most romantic proposal I’ve ever seen.”

  “I’m a romantic guy.” He shrugs and offers us all a cocky grin.

  Meg explodes in laughter. “You’re a lot of things, babe, but romantic isn’t one of them. Did Luke give you pointers?”

  “Hey! I have my romantic moments!” Will frowns at her and then leans in to whisper in her ear, making her blush.

  “Oh, yeah, that’s right.”

  “I don’t want to know.” Matt shakes his head and then turns to Caleb, who has been silent all night, even during the concert. His eyes have been narrowed, his body on high alert. “You doing okay, man?”

  “Fine,” Caleb confirms with a nod.

  Brynna frowns up at him. “Are you sure?”

  “I’m fine.” His jaw is tight, but his voice is firm and leaves no room for questioning.

  “Hey, Sam.” Jules approaches us from across the room. “Leo was looking for you a few minutes ago. You must have been in the restroom.”

  “Do you know which way he went?”

  “Out into the hallway.” Jules points toward the door.

  “Okay, thanks.” I check the time on my phone as I head out into the corridor. I wonder how long we have to stay before we can tactfully leave. The guys are leaving in the morning for the tour, and I want as many hours alone with my man as I can get.

  I hear voices murmuring in the hall as I turn a corner. Leo is standing with his back to me, facing Rick, his manager, who is facing me but hasn’t seen me yet.

  “You’ll destroy her, Leo. She loves you.”

  “I loved her, too, but I sure as fuck can’t trust her now. What would you propose I do? The sooner it happens, the better.”

  What the fuck did I do?

  Rick glances over L
eo’s shoulder and sees me. His mouth flattens in a grim line, and he exhales hard. “Hey, Sam.”

  “Fuck,” Leo mutters under his breath, lowers his head and props his hands on his hips, and my heart feels like it’s going to beat right out of my chest. “Go back to the party, Sam.”

  His voice is cold. Angry. He doesn’t turn to look at me.

  Rick shakes his head. “No, I think this is a conversation you need to have.” He slaps Leo on the shoulder and pats my own shoulder as he passes by me, leaving Leo and I alone in the stark white, quiet hallway.

  “Yeah, it sounds like we need to have a conversation.” I pull my walls up around me. Do not let him see you hurt, Samantha. I walk around to stand where Rick was moments ago. Leo won’t look at me. He keeps his eyes trained on the floor. “Look at me.”

  He pulls his head up, but instead of looking me in the eye, he focuses over my shoulder.

  “Fucking look at me, Leo.”

  He shakes his head, clenches his eyes shut and swears under his breath again.

  “Look, Sam…”

  “No, fuck this. Just tell me what I did wrong.”

  His head whips up, and finally he pins me in his stormy, gray gaze, scowling. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “But you just said you can’t trust me. I heard you.”

  “No.” He shakes his head adamantly and rubs his hands up and down my arms. “You didn’t do anything. I wasn’t talking about you, baby.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “Fuck,” he mutters again, sighs and swallows hard. “I don’t know how to tell you this, Sam.”

  “You’re scaring me,” I whisper.

  “I’m just gonna say it, but before I do, please know that I am so, so sorry.” He’s looking in my eyes again, worried and sad and so pissed off.

  “What?” I ask, exasperated.

  “It seems that someone took photos of us in LA, at my house, making love on the balcony.”

  “What? How? Your beach is private.”

  “Yeah, well, who knows?”

  “How do you know this? Have you seen the photos?”

  He scowls and shakes his head. “No. Melissa is blackmailing me. She says that if we fire her for the photo leak of you, she’ll post the photos online.” He shoves his hands through his hair and paces away. “So, I won’t be firing her until I can figure out how to handle this clusterfuck.”

  “Fuck that.”

  “What?” He turns back to me, his eyes wide.

  “She is not going to bully you into keeping her damn job, Leo. Call her bluff. Fire her. If she posts the photos, so be it. We’re consenting adults in a loving relationship. If anyone doesn’t like it, they can kiss my ass. I won’t have her turning the most beautiful moment of my life into something dirty.”

  He just stands there, his mouth gaping open, and then blinks rapidly. “Wait, where is this coming from? With as pissed as you were about the photo last week, I thought for sure this would destroy you. I’m not worried about me, but I won’t have something like this surfacing about you.”

  “Look, I might have overreacted over that photo. This shit’s going to happen. It’s just a part of being with you.” I pull my fingers down his face and offer him a small smile. “I love you, Leo. We’ve established that I’m yours and you’re mine, and we’re in this for the long haul. I refuse to have people like Melissa dictating how we live.”

  “This could turn into a major shitstorm for you, baby.”

  I shrug and wrap my arms around his still-naked waist. “I bet she doesn’t post them, Leo. She doesn’t want to ruin her own reputation in this business. She’d be an idiot to let them leak. We don’t even have proof that they exist.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “The bitch is gone,” I confirm. “Now, let’s go enjoy our families, have some drinks, and then go home so you can give me some orgasms.”

  “Lead the way, sunshine.”

  ***

  “What time do you have to leave?” I ask quietly, not wanting to disturb the sweet silence of the early morning. We’re curled up in bed. It’s not quite daybreak. The cat is curled up on Leo’s stomach, purring, and I’m draped against his side, my head on his chest.

  We’re still sweaty from early morning sex. My skin is still humming, and Leo’s fingertips are brushing up and down my back.

  “I have to be at the airport at nine,” he whispers.

  “What do you want to do until then?” I ask and trace the letters tattooed over his chest.

  “I think we should go for a run.”

  My head whips up so I can look him in the face. “Seriously?”

  “Yeah.” He grins down at me. “I won’t get to run with you for two weeks.”

  “I’m going to meet up with you in New York this weekend,” I remind him. Even five days seems too long.

  “We won’t be running in New York, baby. We’ll be lucky if we make it out of the hotel room.” He chuckles and kisses my forehead. “Come on, out of bed. Let’s go.”

  I follow him out of bed and we pull on our running gear and head down to the street. I realize he’s wearing the same shorts and T-shirts he wore the morning of our first run.

  “You know,” I mention casually as we jog down our usual path through the city, “I can run farther than we normally do.”

  “Just run. I’ll follow you.”

  “You don’t want to know where I’m going?” I ask with a smile.

  “Nope, I’ll go where you go.”

  “Okay, but you’ll have to keep up. I’m not slowing my pace for you.” I throw him a mock glare as he laughs.

  “So noted.”

  Damn, he’s sexy. He’s just as sexy to me now as he was that first morning we ran together. Even more so now that I know the man beneath the tats and the piercings.

  “So, who’s your favorite band?” he asks with a grin.

  “I don’t know.” I shrug and keep my face neutral. “I like Daughtry a lot.”

  “Try again.”

  “Train.”

  “I will spank you.”

  “I might have a thing for Nash,” I reply, laughing.

  “We’ll work on it.” He chuckles.

  We run, side by side, our breathing and steps matched…thud, thud, thud, all the way to the park where he pulled me onto that picnic table to rub my legs.

  “My legs aren’t shaking today,” I boast with a grin.

  “I’m not inside you. Of course they aren’t.”

  I raise an eyebrow and then burst into laughter, shoving his shoulder. “You’re such an arrogant ass.”

  He nuzzles my ear, breathing hard, as we stroll down to our café. “Am I wrong?” he murmurs.

  “No. Just arrogant.”

  A waitress shows us to a booth, hands us menus and takes our drink orders of juice and coffee.

  Neither of us needs to open the menu.

  “How is your job going, baby?” Leo asks and leans his elbows on the table, his eyes happy, a half smile on those kissable lips.

  “Good.” I nod. “No assholes named Bob at this one, and it’s unlikely they’ll want me to do a story on my family, given that we run exposés on wines.” I wink at him and reach over to grab his hand so I can trace the ink on his fingers.

  “Are you excited for the tour?” I ask and watch my finger on his skin.

  “It’ll be fun to play and be with the band for a couple weeks, but I’m already looking forward to coming home.”

  “It’s only for two weeks. That’s better than nine months.” I snicker. “Nine months would kill me.”

  “Nine months isn’t going to happen unless you’re with me,” he states, as though that’s the end of the discussion.

  I nod, just as my phone vibrates in my bra, and Leo chuckles as I pull it out.

  “I do love your storage system.”

  I stick my tongue out at him and check the text. It’s from Caleb.

  Family meeting, today, 6pm. Brynna’s house. Mandatory.<
br />
  I frown and turn the phone to show Leo.

  “What’s that about?” he asks, his eyes narrowed.

  “I don’t know.” I shrug. “Probably has something to do with Brynna’s security issues. I wish she’d just tell us what the hell is going on with her.”

  “It’s probably none of your business.” He reminds me with a smirk. “You’re just nosy.”

  “I’m concerned,” I disagree and then laugh. “Okay, I’m nosy.”

  “Call me later and let me know what’s going on.”

  I shrug and frown. “The meeting is late today. You’ll probably be busy with the sound check.”

  “You can and will call me anytime, baby. I don’t give a fuck what I’m doing. I need you to know that even when I’m not here, you’re the priority. I want to know what’s happening here.”

  I shrug again and sit back as the waitress sets our plates before us. “It was good to see Lori last night, even if it was just for a few minutes.” I throw him a sassy grin, and he laughs out loud.

  “Way to change the subject, brat.”

  I take a bite of my eggs and blink innocently, making him laugh more.

  “She wouldn’t have missed the show last night for anything.” Leo nods. “Plus, she wanted to meet your family.”

  “Meg seemed over the moon to see her. How do you guys know her?” I ask and nibble my bacon. “Besides her being Gary’s wife,” I add.

  “Meg and Lori always got along really well. It hurt Lori that Meg and I didn’t speak for a while.” He takes a bite of his bacon and a sip of coffee. “I’ve known Gary forever,” Leo begins. “Aside from Meg, and now you, he’s probably the closest person to me. We met Lori after a gig here in Seattle. She had been in town and came to a show and, being a celebrity, came to the after-party to hang out with us. I was determined to fuck her.” He laughs and leans back in the booth, his face full of humor.

  “What happened?” I ask and push my plate aside and lean on my elbows.

  “She wanted nothing at all to do with me.” He shakes his head ruefully. “She took one look at Gary’s ugly face, and it was all over for both of them. If I’d have made a play for her, he would have shoved his foot up my ass.”

  I chuckle and trace his tattoos on his hand again. “Poor guy, you lost the girl.”