Say You're Mine (The Gallaghers Book 1) by Layla Hagen (digital ebook reader .txt) 📗

“Coordinated everything with Flynn and Sasha. All the fans were already here, so there was no one at the hotel. It was easy. And I wanted to see you sooner than the gazillion hours it took until you came back.”

His grin widened. “You do realize there are three hours between now and the time I’ll be at the hotel.”

I nodded, bracing both hands on his chest. “Yes. That’s a gazillion. I wanted to see you sooner.”

“And why is that?”

“So you have no doubts about how much I love our crazy life.” I frowned. “Why are you not sweaty at all? I kind of found it sexy.”

He threw his head back, laughing. “We’re not outside. The AC is on, and I do mostly sit at the piano. But I’ll keep that in mind.”

I kissed his jaw, and my heart was so happy just being here with him. He wrapped his strong arms around me, keeping me flat against him.

“We only have three minutes left. You know, in case you want to get to the kissing,” Lars said loudly.

“There are too many people for a hot kiss.” My voice was barely above a whisper, but Brayden understood me perfectly.

“You counted?”

“Hell yes.”

Brayden laughed, looking around the room, coming to the same conclusion as me.

“Everyone, turn around and pretend you’re not here. I’m serious.” His voice dripped with authority. But surely no one would pay him attention?

To my astonishment, the team turned around. Everyone from the sound technicians, to the band, to Sasha!

“See? Problem solved,” he said in a low, seductive voice before capturing my mouth in a kiss so deep and dirty that my whole body hummed.

Oh yeah! Definitely hot as hell.

Chapter Twenty-NineFive weeks laterIsabelle

“I can’t believe we’re back in New York. Nothing against the guys, but I don’t want to see their faces for the next two weeks,” Brayden said as the car slowed in front of Josie’s brownstone. I’d decided to join him on the second stretch of the tour as well. I loved every crazy minute of it. After three weeks away, I scheduled a meeting with the sibs first thing. We were coming directly from La Guardia.

I giggled. “You mean the next three days, after which you’ll semi-threaten them to rehearse again?”

He pinched my left buttock, making me giggle even louder. “Smartass.”

“What? I catch on fast. You’re a bit hard on them.”

He glanced at Paul in the front, then back at me. If we were alone, I was sure that remark would have earned me a lot more than an ass pinch.

“Are you sure you don’t want to join us?” I asked him.

“Go have fun with your family. I’ll just relax at the penthouse and wait for you.”

“Okay.” I gave him a quick kiss before getting out of the car.

Hmm... he’d been suspiciously happy when I told him I wanted to see my siblings today. Perhaps he needed some time alone after either being surrounded by the band or being with me for so long.

I made a mental note to remember that about him once I moved in. I wasn’t sure when that was happening, because he hadn’t brought up the topic again, and I didn’t want to pester him about it on the second leg of the tour. During the two-week break he had before this, I’d been too caught up with my clients to give it much thought. A lot of them were happy to finally see me in person again, but they didn’t object when I told them I’d be leaving for three weeks again—mostly because I lowered their fee for the duration when we were meeting exclusively online.

I couldn’t believe we’d been away for three weeks. It felt more like three days what with every moment of the day being carefully planned. We hadn’t had any more incidents with leaked information about the hotels where we stayed. Lilian got her due. Sasha explained to me that while they couldn’t sue her, she made sure to mention Lilian’s indiscretion to everyone she knew in the industry. As a result, not only hadn’t she gotten a job yet, but she was unlikely to work in any music-related job in the future.

I knocked at the entrance door excitedly. I couldn’t wait to see the sibs again. It was a good thing it was Sunday and we all had time.

Josie opened the door, holding Sophie in her arms.

“Oh my God, she’s so big,” I exclaimed. “And looks totally different.”

“Babies change a lot in the first few months.”

“Yeah, but I’ve only been away for a few weeks.”

Sophie immediately stretched her tiny hands toward me, and I took her in my arms. Josie had put her on camera once while we were talking. At first she seemed happy, but then she tried to reach for me, and when she touched the phone, she started crying. We decided not to do it again since it was obviously confusing her.

She snuggled with her tiny head against my chest. She was so adorable!

“How are our brothers?” I asked Josie before we entered the living room. I’d spoken to them a lot while I was away, but certain things I could assess better in person, especially body language.

“Good. Sort of. They don’t give each other as much shit as before, which is a sign that they’re tiptoeing around each other.”

Dylan and Ian were in Josie’s gorgeous living room. The fireplace was truly my favorite place. In winter, they lit it up regularly, and it looked magical.

I kissed each of them on the cheek, assessing their stance. They weren’t showing any confrontational signs, which was good. They weren’t just brothers but best friends, and I didn’t like seeing them at odds.

“How’s the jet-setter life treating you, Sis?” Ian asked.

I sat on the floor, putting Sophie on her belly on her colorful rug.

“I have to say, living in hotels, where room service is available twenty-four seven and the room gets cleaned every day is totally my thing.”

Ian glanced at Dylan. “Did she say she missed