Page 25 of Forever Country (Forever Bluegrass #24)

A nnaleigh snuggled up to Holt. They had spent the whole day in their apartment hoping the paparazzi, who were walking around Main Street looking for them, would go away.

At first, she was pissed off about it, but then she discovered there was a positive side to being stuck in a room with a bed in it for most of the day.

They found lots of ways to stay occupied.

Maddie texted that she thought Cody was dreamy and was now on her way to New York. However, it was three in the afternoon and the real world was knocking at the door. Literally.

“Stay here,” Holt whispered as he slid from the bed. She watched his glutes flex as he walked to the door and looked out the peephole. “It’s your new lawyer. You might want to get dressed,” Holt told her. “Give me one second, Henry!”

Holt grabbed a pair of athletic shorts and pulled them on and then looked over his shoulder as if that were enough time for her to have gotten out of bed and dressed.

She rolled her eyes at him as she dug around for a bra, panties, and then slipped a wrinkled dress over her hair that was clearly mussed from twenty hours of sexcapades.

Holt opened the door and then Annaleigh blinked. Their curtains were pulled, but the windows were arched so the sun still streamed in from the curved top of the arch. The sun reflected off the shiny lizard-green suit and blinded her.

“I know you must be from Tennessee,” the man who must be her lawyer, Henry, said, holding out his hand for her to shake. “Because you’re the only ten I see.”

Annaleigh froze with her hand held out. Did this man who looked old enough to be her father just hit on her? And did he do it in front of Holt?

“You’re hotter than a tin roof in the summer sun,” Henry winked.

Annaleigh looked over to see Holt roll his eyes and grin.

“If you wear your country boots and I wear mine, we can knock boots all night long.”

Annaleigh snorted. “I’m pretty sure that might be a country song.” It was dawning on her that instead of giving her the ick, Henry was actually making her laugh.

“Let’s go fishing. I’ll be the rod, you be the fish, and when we get together we’ll hook up.” Henry smirked and Annaleigh laughed out loud. Holt laughed and shook his head, which further backed up her read that this man was a harmless flirt.

“Want to shift my big truck or do you want to see my mighty pen?”

Annaleigh paused, taking that in. “If that means continue the horrible pick-up lines or get to work, I’m torn. I’m curious how many more bad lines you have.”

Holt groaned. “Do not encourage him. I’ve known him my whole life and he hasn’t run out of them yet.”

Annaleigh laughed but now she was getting worried. She needed a shark of a lawyer, not a sleazebag who had bad pick-up lines.

“Fine, the fun is over.” Henry held out his hand to her.

“Henry Rooney. It’s nice to meet you. I’ve gone over Olivia’s contract and made some notes.

” Henry handed her a thick packet of paper marked up in red.

“While Sebastian is doing you a favor, Olivia is not. She’s the most cutthroat lawyer I know.

We won’t get all of these asks, but they’re worth asking either way.

If we don’t get enough of the main ones, I’ll ask for a face-to-face with Olivia Townsend-Fox.

She’s Sebastian’s attorney based in New York and Shadows Landing, South Carolina.

Usually, I can break her in twenty minutes or so for a couple of additional asks. But that’ll be the best we can get.”

“How do you break her?” Annaleigh asked, getting worried.

“My legal pick-up lines are legendary. It’s how I met my wife.” Henry smiled and Holt shook his head.

“It’s all an act. You make women so uncomfortable that they give you better legal terms.” Annaleigh couldn’t tell if she was angry with the women or impressed by the creativity.

“Uncomfortable? Never. I let them know I worship women. And that’s sexist to think I only use them on women.

Some attorneys like to overwhelm you with case law.

This is much more fun. Besides, since I became a GILF,” Henry showed her a picture of a cute baby girl wearing a crown.

“I have a whole new category of pick-up lines. It’s a true art form, just like songwriting really. ”

“First, your granddaughter is adorable. That’s a really cute crown. Very sparkly.”

“It should be. Those are real diamonds. Now, about your contract.”

Annaleigh blinked and shook her head. There was something about that photo. She’d seen something like it before on a news site. “Um, no. We need to talk about the fact that the baby has a million dollars of diamonds in the photo. That’s your granddaughter? Why does this picture look familiar?”

Henry smiled at the photo on his phone with so much love. “That’s my little princess. Her name is Yasmin.”

That’s when everything clicked into place. “Holt,” Annaleigh said, “Let’s get Henry some water before we start.” She headed to the kitchen and turned on the water.

“What’s the matter?” Holt whispered.

“Your attorney needs professional mental help. The suit, the pick-up lines, and thinking the new royal heir of Bermalia is his granddaughter? You told me he was eccentric, but this is delusional.”

Holt chuckled and she wanted to shake him to make him realize how serious this was.

“Sweetheart, Henry is Queen Addison’s father.

Princess Yasmin really is his granddaughter.

I was at the royal wedding and the celebration of Yasmin’s birth.

I promise you, that’s his granddaughter and he’s not delusional. He’s a rather brilliant attorney.”

“You totally left that part out when you were telling me about your town,” Annaleigh whispered, feeling stupid for questioning a poor grandpa. Well, not poor. He had enough confidence to pull off a shiny green suit. She figured he could deal with her not believing his granddaughter was a royal.

“Okay, Henry. Let’s talk contracts.”

Three hours later and they’d made it through the contract, line by line. She laughed to herself several times thinking of some of the attorneys from Nashville’s record companies working with Henry. If you discounted him and he’d make you pay for it.

“I’ll send these to Olivia. We might get a handful of them.

The good news is that since Sebastian likes you, Olivia sent her ‘nice’ contract.

You should see the ones for people they don’t like.

I once read her contract when another of her clients was buying out a rival.

I nearly pissed my pants. The best way to think of her is if Ahmed was an attorney. ”

There was another knock on the door and Holt crept toward it.

He opened it a second later. Sloane walked in holding a brown wig the color of muddy water and wearing a smile.

“We thought you’d need our girls’ night,” Sloane said before turning to Holt.

“We switched it around. The guys are at Cady’s distillery and the girls are at my house.

We figured you’d both like having the security of the gate and armed soldiers. ”

“How am I going to get out of here? Paparazzi have been wandering all over town all day,” Annaleigh asked as excitement for some girl time dwindled.

“Riley wore a Keeneston High sweatshirt and jeans into the café wearing this wig. I brought the sweatshirt and wig for you to wear out of the café. Riley will then walk out later with her sister wearing something different. There’s a group of us who will walk out with you.

Nikki is in town getting the last few things from her house packed up since she and her husband are going to be in D.C.

full-time. They’re going to stay at the B&B when they come to town to visit in the future. She said she’d provide a distraction.”

“One woman can provide a distraction?” Annaleigh questioned as she grabbed the sweatshirt, a tank top, and a pair of jeans along with the wig.

“You haven’t met Nikki.”

“I can join you,” Henry told her. “You know, to help Nikki out.”

“What about Holt? We don’t want them to know we are staying here,” Annaleigh asked, hoping Holt could get his guys’ night too.

“Colton will come to the rescue for Holt,” Sloane said with a wink.

Annaleigh looked over to Holt who was nodding. “Go. Have fun. I’ll meet you back here and if you can’t get away, I’ll meet you at Desert Sun Farm. I’m sure Mo and Dani would let us stay there if we need the privacy.”

Annaleigh was excited. The more she got to know the women of Keeneston, the more she liked them and the more she felt a part of this community. “Okay. Just give me a couple of minutes.”

“At least they’ll all leave when we go back to Nashville for the festival and the awards show,” Annaleigh overheard Holt say before she closed the bathroom door and got ready.

The wig changed her appearance so much. She was completely makeup-free except Sloane had her add some freckles with her eyeliner to look more like Riley. She found herself excited and nervous for tonight. Annaleigh kissed Holt goodbye and then she, Sloane, and Henry snuck into the back of the café.

“There’s my girl. How are you doing? I’m really looking forward to getting to know you tonight. I know we only met for a second because you had Holt do that hat and the doorframe thing and then my sugarbear did it and lordy, I think I might have gotten pregnant again. Anyway, I’m Aniyah.”

“Annaleigh. It’s nice to meet you. I gotta say, damn, your shoes are incredible.”

Aniyah had to be all of five feet nothing but with the five-inch heels on, she was rocking her curves and had the confidence to match it. Her shoes were covered in pink sequins and would look fab with Henry’s shiny green suit.

“Aw, thanks, sugar. You can borrow them anytime. Now, let’s get you out of here so we can all drink and gossip.”

“Do you all talk about how if I were an angel, I would be the angel of good sex?” Henry asked.