Page 38 of Hard Rock Temptation

I looked at the time on my phone. “Shit, did I wake you up? I’m sorry.”

“Language,” she admonished. “And no, I was just in bed reading. What were you up to?”

“Kay was over and we were working on a song,” I explained.

“Oh?” Her voice perked up. “And how are things between you and our lovely girl?”

I couldn’t help the grin that spread across my face. “Things are good.”

My mom waited a beat. “Just good?” she asked.

“Really good,” I said, then added, “I’m not going into the details of my love life with my mom.”

“Oh ho ho,” she said with glee. “So it’s a love life now, is it? You two finally…?” She trailed off excitedly.

“We’re together now,” I admitted.

She let out a delighted sound of joy.

“Then make sure you bring her around some time soon, okay?” she said. “I want to give my future daughter-in-law a big hug.”

My whole body went light and airy, as if I might float off the ground, but I didn’t give myself away. “We’re not there yet, Mom.” Yet. But maybe… soon? Fuck, was I insane for even considering it? Probably. But… Shit.

My phone pinged. I pulled it away from my ear to check the screen.

‘kay’s home safe’Zain messaged.

‘thx’I typed back.

‘her face is glowing btw’he continued. ‘are you sure you two didn’t get up to anything?’

’fuck off’I wrote back. ‘can’t talk, on phone with mom’

‘how’s Nancy doing?’ Zain asked. ‘say hi for me’

“Honey? You there?” my mom said.

“Yeah, sorry, Zain just texted,” I replied. “He says hi and wants to know how you’re doing.”

“You tell that nice young man I’m doing very well.”

I nearly choked on a laugh at my mom calling Zain a ‘nice young man’. He’d probably cringe but secretly love it. He always said he was my mom’s favorite. Finn disagreed vehemently, of course.

“It’s late, I’ll let you get back to your book,” I told her. “Love you, Mom.”

“I love you, too, honey,” she replied before we hung up.

I put my phone down then dropped onto the sofa with a heavy thump, and let out a breath.

Whenever I talked to my mom I worried she’d be worse off than the last time, but she had sounded better on the phone. Maybe it really would be okay to bring Kay over for a visit. I knew my mom was overjoyed that she might one day be able to officially call Kaylee her daughter for real.

One day.

My thoughts went back to their previous maelstrom, my mind working overtime like a hamster on a wheel.

It was too soon. Way too soon. I knew that. Intellectually, I knew that marriage was out of the question. This relationship was too new. Kay was too young. We had too much going on, professionally.

But even though I knew all that, it didn’t stop those crazed ideas from flooding my imagination. I wanted Kay to be mine, unequivocally. And I wanted to be hers. I didn’t want anything to come between us.