It’s exactly where she would go right now, given the chance.
He smiled sadly. “Now it’s you with the wows.”
“I know. But—they’re the good kind of wows.”
“Do tell.”
“I’ve spent these past few weeks doing a lot of thinking—a lot of thinking. Some of it’s been painful—well, a lot of it has, honestly—but it’s been good, too. I’ve got twenty more weeks on the road, and then I will actually, truly be able to drive my own existence. If ticket sales hold up the way they’re looking like they will, I’ll be okay financially for a while, and that gives me some space and time to figure out what I really want my life to look like. And where I want to be.”
“And…who you want to be with?”
Cooper’s words were quiet, but she heard the underlying current of hope loud and clear, and a subtle, glowing electric pulse started thrumming in her ears.
“Actually, I already know that part.”
“Yeah?” He smiled, raising his eyebrows. “How do you see that playing out?”
“Well? It’s all a little new—like, sort of developing as I go here—but first, I think I need a new head of security.”
“Oh?”
“Yes!” She waved her arms around her. “I mean, seriously! I’m out here in the middle of Boston, in a hookup park, where anybody or his brother could kidnap me, and do you see any of my security team?”
“Not one, no.” He was totally biting his cheek, she could tell. “But hookup park? What?”
“Not important.” She shook her head. “I could be dead right now, and nobody would even know where I disappeared from.”
“All true. They should be fired.”
“I’m going to look into that.” She nodded fiercely, then shook her head. “I’m totally not. They’re really good. I’m just a big sneak.”
“Your father taught you well.”
“He did! But obviously I’m understaffed in this area. And you can see the effect.” She pointed to the straggles of people paying them absolutely no attention at all. “I’m being mobbed here.”
“You clearly have a security issue. Agreed. Know any officers of the law who might have a clue about these things?”
She sat back, narrowing her eyes like she was sizing him up. “As a matter of fact, I just might.”
“Nobody on the right side of the law ever wants to work with a celebrity diva. Just saying.”
“Then it’ll be a tough hire. I’m okay with that. I need just the right guy for the job.”
“What would be the qualifications?”
Shelby smiled. “You interested?”
“Might know a guy who could be.”
She laughed. “He’s gotta be smart.”
“Check.”
“Funny.”
“He’s funny-looking.”
“Has to have acute cop senses.”
Cooper winced. “Rusty, but recoverable.”
“And be sexy as hell.”
His eyebrows flew upward. “You might run into some issues getting these qualifications past the equal opportunity peeps. Just saying.”
“Not a problem. So what do you think?”
“I don’t know. I’ve heard Tara Gibson can be pretty tough to work for.”
“You have?”
He laughed. “Just kidding. I’m sure she would be incredible to work for.”
Shelby heard the compliment, but also heard an undercurrent of doubt that put her on edge.
“But?”
“I can’t take a charity job from you, Shelby, no matter how well-intentioned it might be.”
“I’m not offering you charity, Cooper. There’s honestly an opening, which is probably why I escaped the hotel so easily. One of my guys’ wife just had a baby, and he doesn’t want to be on the road anymore, and I don’t blame him. He got off in New Jersey, and he won’t be back.”
“You’re not making this up?”
“Baby’s name is Lily Rose. She was born two weeks ago. I swear.”
He looked around like he was sizing up the park and its inhabitants. “You really are at risk out here, you know.”
“That’s what I’m saying!”
“Someone should be assigned to you, twenty-four/seven.”
“Absolutely. I agree. Someone who wouldn’t stifle me, preferably. Someone who…knows me.”
“I don’t know.” He shook his head. “On one hand it sounds heavenly. On the other, it sounds like a monumentally bad idea.”
“Because?”
“Because rule number one in security is—you can’t fall in love with the person you’re protecting.”
She paused. “Because then your head is all clouded with rainbows and hearts and unicorns, and you lose your ability to be objective and protective?”
“Exactly.” He smiled. “But without the unicorns and…other stuff.”
“I get it. All right, then. I also have an opening for personal masseur. Mine quit back in New York.”
Cooper raised his eyebrows. “I have no training.”
“It’s one of those on-the-job-training sorts of positions. Not really a problem.”
“You seriously have a personal masseur?”
Shelby rolled her eyes. “No, I don’t have one. But I would like one. And I’ve already sort of—interviewed you for that job.”
“Have you, now? I wasn’t aware I was being graded.”
“Oh, no worries. Total A-plus. You’re a shoo-in for the position.”
“So this masseur? He’d travel with you?”
“Yes.”
“In your bus?”
“And in my hotel room, yes. I keep my masseurs close at hand, at all times.”
“I see.”
“Never know when I might need a—you know—massage, right?”
Cooper nodded seriously. “I understand.”
“I know it sounds like kind of a lousy job, but there are perks, too.”
“Oh?” His eyes crinkled again. “Like?”
“Great food. The craft tables backstage are ridiculous.”
He nodded again. “That’s important. Good to know.”
“Good after-show parties, too.” She cringed. “Or so I’m told. I don’t actually ever go.”
“To your own parties?”
“No.” She shrugged. “Not really my scene.”
“You’d prefer to head back to your room, with your masseur?”
“You are a quick study, Mr. Davis. I may have to hire you, whether you want the job or not.”
“Oh, I want the job.” Cooper stood up, reaching down to grasp her hands in his. “I want that job more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my entire life…but let’s maybe go with the security thing as my official job title. I’ve only recently gained back my self-respect, and heading out on tour as a diva-masseur? Not really going to help me there.”
Shelby laughed as she let him pull her to her feet. “You’d really come with me on tour? Really?”
“Well, you just offered me a pretty plum job. I’d be an idiot to refuse the opportunity.”
“I agree.” She looked over his shoulder, at the skyline of downtown Boston, and felt a pang of guilt. Could she really ask him to give this up? To be with her? Would he end up resenting her, ten tour stops from now?
“What’s the matter?” He tipped up her chin with his finger.
“I just—I want you to come with me for the right reasons. For the right job. I don’t want to take you away from your life, Cooper.”
He looked at her then, long and hard, his eyes traveling her face, her hair, her hands in his. Then he took a deep breath and squared his shoulders before he spoke.
“Shelby, I think—and I don’t understand it, so don’t ask me to explain it—I think the one thing I’ve realized over the past month is…I want you to be my life.” She swallowed hard, feeling the prickle of happy tears at the corners of her eyes. “And if that means we spend the next five months living out of a bus and random hotel
s while we figure out what’s next, then that’s okay with me. It really is.”
“Really? Really really?”
“Really,” he whispered as he cradled her face in both hands, then leaned down to kiss her gently. Her knees went wobbly as his lips touched hers, and she wrapped her arms around him, unable to hold him tightly enough.
When they finally pulled back, a little dazed, a lot breathless, she traced his jaw with her fingertips, hardly able to believe she was living this dream, and wasn’t waking up.
“Thank you, Cooper. For looking for me…for finding me.”
He pulled her close, tucking her head under his chin as his arms held her tightly.
“I told you I’ve never lost a princess.” He kissed the top of her head. “And I never will.”
Epilogue
“Denver, you’ve been the perfect place to end this tour!” Five months later, a breathless Shelby used her hand mic to give a final shout-out to the roaring crowd. She was in her final set, and had changed into a long, flowing dress for her last few songs. It was a change she’d requested six cities ago, and they’d tried it once, then tried it again, then cemented it when the audiences had obviously eaten it up.
Her songs. She was singing her songs. Yes, she was also singing Tara’s for the majority of the concert, but at the end, just before the encores, her team had approved her doing three of her own.
One of those was a song she and Cooper had written on a layover in San Diego, after a long day driving down the coast, and it promised to be the first song she recorded for her new album next year. The first song they recorded, she corrected herself, practically giddy with the knowledge that in only a few days, she’d be her own boss, with her own label.
Liam had helped with logistics, and a brand-new recording studio was being built right now, smack-dab in the middle of Carefree, right around the corner from his shop. It wasn’t L.A., and it wasn’t Nashville, but it was hers, and she’d decide what kind of music her label put out.
Phoebe had joined them for two short legs of the tour, and Cooper had convinced his parents to send her to Montana next summer, so things were working out better than Shelby ever could have imagined.
He’d turned out to be an excellent head of security.
And an even better…masseur.
She’d convinced him to come out onstage with her in L.A., after she’d spent an entire week convincing LolliPop to let her. Nic had worked her magic on the spin, and Tara’s audience had embraced Cooper harder than she ever could have dreamed. He’d joined her onstage again in Phoenix, and by the time they’d hit Vegas, he’d just rolled his eyes and grabbed his guitar when she’d pointed to him.
Shelby paused and waited for the audience to hush. “As you know, I lost somebody really special to me not too long ago, and this year’s been kind of a long journey for me.” A picture of her and Daddy on a long-ago stage lit up the big screens, and she had to swallow a lump in her throat before she could continue.
“I’ve cried a lot of tears, and I miss my daddy every day, but I have a pretty strong feeling he’s pulling some strings up there in Heaven, because his passing led me into the life of someone very, very special.” She took a shaky breath. “My father never thought I’d find a man who was good enough for me, because that’s what dads are supposed to think. And for a long, long time, I had a feeling he was right.”
She squinted and looked to her right, where Cooper waited just offstage, and her nerves fled when he smiled.
She turned back to the audience. “I was wrong. Dead wrong. I found a knight in shining armor, and finally, I can write about love from an honest place.”
The audience cheered, and Shelby couldn’t stop smiling as she motioned to Cooper.
“Do you guys want to meet him?”
More cheers erupted as Cooper walked onstage, shaking his head. He kissed Shelby on the cheek, and the cheering escalated.
She laughed as he rolled his eyes, adjusting his guitar strap. He leaned into the microphone. “I told her I don’t play in public.”
“Uh-oh.” She took the mic. “He’s feeling shy.”
“Shelby.” He raised his eyebrows in warning, but it was all part of the show. She dragged her poor, unprepared guy out in front of the crowd, and then he wowed them like a seasoned pro. It had worked for five cities now. It would work again tonight.
“You guys want to hear Cooper play?” she asked, turning the mic outward, laughing at the expected shouts of approval. “We’ve got a little duet for you, if it’s all right.”
The audience was loud as she clipped her mic to its stand, then picked up her guitar, propping herself on the stool next to Cooper’s.
“Ready?” he asked, but there was a mischief in his eyes that she hadn’t seen before. Not onstage, anyway.
“Ready.” She nodded, and strummed the first chord.
But instead of chiming in with his matching chord, Cooper shook his head, then stood up and walked to the mic stand.
“I’m sorry. I just—there’s something I need to say before we sing this song.” He unclipped his guitar and handed it to her bass player, who—now that she thought about it—seemed to be standing awfully close to the mic.
And seemed to be handing something to Cooper in return.
A box.
A tiny, black, velvety box.
Oh. Her. Holy. God.
And then Cooper was on one knee in front of her, and the earnestness in his eyes, the comfort in his voice, the promises in his words all combined in a kaleidoscope of swirling, flashing colors and light.
“Say yes, say yes, say yes!” the audience chanted, as if she needed assistance with her answer, and she laughed as he slid the ring on her finger, then squeaked as he stood up and pulled her off her feet, swinging her around in a wide circle while the audience went nuts.
When he finally set her down, she was speechless, just staring at the gorgeous diamond on her finger. The cameraman crept in close, and as she looked up at the big screen to her left, she saw her own hand, flashing with the gemstone promise.
She cleared her throat, not knowing if she was going to be able to speak, and pulled the microphone close as Cooper’s arm settled on her hip.
“I—um—I said yes,” she finally said, then stood on her tiptoes to kiss Cooper squarely on the lips.
After the audience finally stopped cheering, he winked and leaned toward the microphone. “Sorry for the interruption. You guys want to hear that song now?”
The crowd whooped and hollered as Shelby’s bandmates launched into the opening lines of the new song, and she clipped on her guitar as Cooper did the same.
“Happy, princess?” he asked as his fingers found their places on his instrument.
“Happiest exile Neverlandia ever had, cowboy.”
She smiled, then pulled the mic forward. “This one’s a song Cooper and I wrote, about falling in love, even when—to quote our friend Lexi—it’s a no-good-very-bad-terrible idea.”
Cooper leaned forward toward the mic, a knowing smile on his face as he winked at her. “It’s called ‘Something in the Water.’ ”
To my parents
Acknowledgments
I’m honored and humbled to thank the following people for their assistance with this book:
~~My editor, Junessa Viloria—for her sweet, supportive generosity and her fabulous editorial eye. I’m so thrilled to be on your team!
~~My agent, Courtney Miller-Callihan—always a gem of the sparkliest kind.
~~The entire Loveswept team, for the gorgeous cover, the fantastic book-love, and for helping me bring more Whisper Creek books to life.
~~My street team, for their support, their kindness, and their incredible naming skills.
~~My family—for, quite simply, everything.
BY MAGGIE MCGINNIS
Whisper Creek Series
Accidental Cowgirl
A Cowboy’s Christmas Promise
Once Upon a Cowboy
Unlu
cky in Love
Meant to Be
PHOTO: GEOFF MCLOUGHLIN
MAGGIE MCGINNIS is the author of Unlucky in Love, Once Upon a Cowboy, A Cowboy’s Christmas Promise, Accidental Cowgirl, and Driving Without a License, which was a finalist for Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart Award. A former high school English teacher, an accomplished musician, and a certifiable pen addict, she lives in New England with her family.
maggiemcginnis.com
Facebook.com/MaggieMcGinnisAuthor
Twitter: @Maggie_McGinnis
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