Page 19 of Stuck With My Rockstar Boss (Soul Sounds Brothers #4)

Lucas

“I think it’ll be great, Lucas. It sounds like you’re both really ready for this,” Dana says with a soft smile, her brown eyes magnified by her thick lensed glasses.

I swallow and try to smile back. “Yeah. I mean, I know it’s fast, but–”

“It’s all relative,” she cuts me off.

“Exactly.”

Dana puts her notebook aside. “You two have been through a lot together. I think it’s only natural that this level of commitment and attachment has come so quickly.”

“Well, she hasn’t said yes yet, so…” I chuckle even though my heart is throbbing.

“I don’t want to say I know what she’ll say. That’d be irresponsible. But having met her and seen how you two are together, I would be very surprised if she said no.”

Dana has been my therapist for six months now.

The first two, Mika came to the sessions with me.

It was Dana’s goal to get me to a place where I felt safe enough with her to express my feelings without Mika around.

And I was shocked when that day came. We were in the car right outside the therapy office and Mika was about to get out when I said, out of nowhere, “I think I got this one today.”

Now, I go to therapy alone. And I’ve come a long way.

Being able to talk about the things that have happened to me, the roots of my anxiety, has alleviated not just the frequency of my panic attacks, but my fear of having them.

Which means Mika has gone from my “security blanket” to just my amazing girlfriend.

Mika’s parents were able to pay off the entirety of the house and get back on their feet.

And that helped Mika let go a bit. After a few weeks, we agreed that it would make sense for her to move in with me, although we don’t spend a ton of time at home.

We travel often between band obligations.

Road trips, international trips, even a river cruise during which the weather was rainy every day that we spent more time in our cabin trying not to get motion sickness while having sex.

We’ve had a lot of fun. Gotten incredibly close. I’ve never felt as close to someone.

And I’m ready to make it official. I picked out the ring a few weeks ago and have it in my pocket. I’ve planned the proposal out perfectly. I just need to get my nerves in check. Which is why an emergency session with Dana was necessary.

I check my watch. “Shit, I should go. Gotta catch my flight.”

“Of course. Thanks for coming in, Lucas. I always love chatting with you and hearing where your head is at. And feel free to be in contact at any time if you want to chat,” she says, getting to her feet and opening the door for me.

“You’re the best, Dana,” I smile.

She shrugs. “I’m okay, I think.”

I give her a hug. I never knew a therapist was someone you’d feel close to, at least not like this. But I’m sure grateful for it.

“It’s gonna go great,” she whispers in my ear. “You’ve got all the tools.”

I take a deep breath. I do have all the tools to stay on an even keel. I’ve got this.

When I get to the airport, Mika is already waiting for me.

Her hair has grown so much in the past months since tour; it’s tousled and curling down to her shoulders.

She’s wearing her signature plane look; sweatpants, long-sleeved crop top, and her neck pillow perched on her shoulders.

And even though I’ve seen her in the outfit a million times before, even though I’ve seen her done up and dressed to the nines, this is the most beautiful she’s ever looked.

“Thank god you’re here, I was worried I wouldn’t have time to hit up the bookstore,” Mika says as I walk over to her.

“I’m happy to see you too!” I smile.

Mika grins and jumps up to kiss me. I want to keep her right there forever because then I have her and don’t have to sit with all the nerves of this ring in my pocket. “Come on, the line for security is getting worse by the second.”

We get through security fairly quickly. The whole time, Mika chats about our trip: we’ve talked about India for a long time and decided to finally pull the trigger.

Two weeks of traveling the country, full of exciting adventures we’ve planned and a proposal a couple days in…

after we get over the jet lag of a twenty-two hours of plane travel.

I know the therapy is working because airports used to make me so nervous, and now I’m pretty nonplussed except for when a TSA agent yells at me to take off my shoes.

Once we get through security, Mika heads straight for the bookstore. I wait with our bags at the gate and keep my hand on the ring box in my pocket. I know I should keep it in my bag, but it makes me nervous to have it off my person. I turn it over and over, the velvet brushing my fingers gently.

“Hash brown?”

I jump at the sound of Mika’s voice and pull my hand out of my pocket in an effort to not look suspicious, although I’m sure it looks even more suspicious. Mika holds up a McDonald’s bag with a grin. “Sure, sounds good,” I say.

She hands me a sleeved, greasy hash brown. “You okay, babe?”

“Hm?”

“You okay?”

I feel the color drain out of my face. “Uh. Yeah. Yeah. I’m good.”

Mika smiles but her brow pinches at the center. “You sure? You seem preoccupied.”

“Oh, I don’t know. Just thinking about how long this trip is gonna be and dreading it,” I try to play it off with a laugh.

Mika grabs my hand and massages my palm. “Your anxiety acting up?”

“No, it’s fine,” I sigh. I focus on the feeling of her hand in mine. Focus on her empty ring finger. We’ve talked about marriage. Eventually. I don’t know how eventually she meant, though. Am I rushing things? Will she be ready?

Mika leans into me and puts her head on my shoulder. I play with a strand of her hair. “So, mile high club or…?”

I laugh. We always joke about the idea of having sex on a plane trip but haven’t ever had the confidence to do it. Not to mention, plane trips make me feel so crusty that sex is the last thing on my mind.

I catch sight of a teen girl walking toward us, her hands clasped nervously in front of her. I can tell she’s a fan. And instead of my heart racing in anxiety, I’m calm and cool. “Fan at eleven o’clock.”

Mika sits up. Fans like me but love when they see her. She grins at me. “Showtime.”

Our flight is delayed. We weren’t informed of this until we were all seated.

At least we are in first class and we have more leg room, but it’s still a fucking airplane.

We’re all taking turns getting up and stretching our legs in the aisles.

We’ve been cooped up for an hour now. Turns out there’s an issue of getting planes off the tarmac.

I couldn’t care less at this point. This ring box is digging into my side.

I’m so aware of it that I’m thinking about it no matter what I’m doing.

“Oh my god, I’m out of water,” Mika groans, holding up her empty bottle.

“I’ll get you some,” I say, starting to stand.

“No,” she says and pulls on my sleeve. “Just sit with me.”

I will gladly sit with her. I push the arm rest up so we can be as close as possible. Mika groans into my chest. “I wanna go homeeee.”

“I know, baby,” I say, chuckling.

She wraps her arms around my waist, resting her hand on my stomach. Her hand is dangerously close to my pocket and I’m starting to sweat.

How the hell am I going to make it through a twenty plus hour flight without losing my goddamned mind over proposing?

Not to mention, I’m going to have to wait several days for the proposal which I have planned at the Valley of the Flowers which is an eight-hour drive from Delhi.

I’m an absolute idiot for thinking I’d be able to handle the nerves.

We get word it’s gonna be another half hour before we’re able to start taxiing. This is hellish. Mika’s been napping on and off on my shoulder. I can’t take it anymore. “Mika,” I say, nudging her with my elbow.

“Hm?” She squinches her eyes open. “What? Are we moving?”

“No, no… I…” I swallow. “Listen, I thought I’d be able to wait until we got to India, but I can’t.”

“Do you have to pee? You should pee before we get to India.” Mika asks, her brow folded in bewilderment.

I laugh. “No, no, not…” I get caught in her pretty blue eyes that are looking at me with eager expectation. “I love you.”

Her confusion melts away and she smiles like a kid who just got a gold star on their math test. “Aw. I love you.”

“I want to marry you.” It just comes out.

Mika doesn’t reply. Her eyes widen slightly.

“What I mean is… will you marry me?” I ask.

“Is this… just spur of the moment or are you actually proposing?”

I remember the ring. “Fuck, I’m doing a bad job at this, um—” I reach into my pocket. “I had a whole proposal planned for when we get to India. But I’m too nervous to wait.” I pull out the ring box and open it. The fiery ruby beams splendidly.

Mika is stunned beyond belief. She stares at the ring, then looks at me, tears collecting in her eyes. “What?”

“Will you marry me?” I repeat, holding the box out to her.

A grin splits across her face. “Yes!” She grabs me and kisses me hard on the lips. “Obviously,” she murmurs, the word buzzing into my mouth.

“Yeah?”

“Yes, of course I’ll marry you!”

I can’t help beaming ear to ear as I take the ring out of the box. My hands are shaking as I slide the ring onto her finger. A perfect fit.

“Who picked this out?” she asks, twiddling her fingers and admiring the ring.

“Me,” I answer sheepishly.

“You?! Really?”

I blush. “It just… reminded me of you. Bold and different and...” I sigh. “Totally perfect.”

Mika rolls her eyes. “Shut up.” But I know that’s just because she doesn’t know how to accept such a compliment. “ You ’re perfect,” she says quietly to me and kisses me again. “And I still want that proposal in India.”

“Of course,” I smile.

She squeals and bobs her head side to side. “We’re getting married!”

This sets off a chain reaction of other passengers whispering, trying to figure out if they’ve just overheard a proposal. I couldn’t care less about the buzz, though. Don’t care if someone recognizes us and takes photos. Who do we have to answer to but each other?

Okay, actually , maybe one person.

“Hold on, I have to tell Amy before this leaks,” I mutter and pull out my phone. Mika clings to me, watching me put the call through.

Amy picks up after the first ring. “Don’t chicken out.”

“I won’t. I already did it.”

She screams. I can hear her jumping up and down. “I thought you weren’t doing it until– “

“He got nervous,” Mika says into the phone.

Amy screams again. Mika and Amy have only spent a handful of days together, but they were fast friends and now talk almost daily. “Oh my god, oh my god. Mika, it’s like we’re sisters.”

Mika and I laugh. Her hand tightens on my chest. “And I can’t think of a better person to design my dress than my one and only sister-to-be.”

I look at Mika with surprise. We hadn’t discussed this at all. My heart feels even fuller if that were possible.

There’s silence on the end of the line.

“Amy?” Mika asks. “You okay?”

A final, shrieking scream. Mika and I bend away from the phone. “Of course, I’ll do it! Of course, of course, of course!”

One of the flight attendants moves to the loudspeaker and says, “Folks, thank you for your patience. We will be starting our taxi now and we’ll be getting your journey started.

We are so sorry for any delay. I’m also happy to report it sounds like there’s been an engagement in row five, so please, let’s congratulate the happy couple. ”

We exchange a glance and a smile as the passengers of the plane applaud.

Seems like our relationship is constantly surrounded by applause.

It’s an unusual way to have a relationship, in the spotlight like this.

But Mika’s the only woman who has ever made me feel like even though I’m famous, I’m still just a guy who gets to have the thing every guy wants: a woman who loves him through everything.

And I’ll do anything to keep her happy.

Thank you for reading Stuck With My Rockstar Boss.

If you loved this book, then you’ll LOVE Unexpected Baby For My Brother's Best Friend

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