I take a bite of the slider. “Delicious.”

“Wasn’t talking about the food.”

I blush, aware that we’re not alone, and I don’t know the Montgomery family well. But Will laughs as he walks past Jace.

“Good one, dude. You’re going to fit in just fine.”

“So, she was engaged,” I inform Jace after the show as we watch Starla take photos and sign autographs during her post-show meet and greet. We’re with Meredith and Jax, Jules and Nat, and most of the Montgomery clan as we wait for Starla to finish up and celebrate with us.

“Was?” Jace asks.

“Yeah. His name was Rick. He was a race car driver and died in an accident just a few months before their wedding date. It was really sad.”

“That’s horrible,” Jace says. Levi stands a few feet away, watching Starla and her fans closely.

“What the fuck is her security doing?” he demands. “Do they always let people touch her like that?”

“She doesn’t seem upset,” I say, watching as she says goodbye to the last person, takes a deep breath, and then walks over to us with a tired smile.

“That was fucking epic,” she says, offering her fist to the others for a fist-bump. “Seattle always rocks the house. And having Mer and Jax with me again was just . . . amazing.”

“It was wonderful and humbling,” Meredith says with a laugh. “I’m reminded that I had two babies and haven’t toured in about five years.”

“You kicked ass,” Starla assures her.

Jace and I are good at being wallflowers. We like to people watch, always have. We drink, stand together, and take everything in, then talk about it all after the event is over.

The good thing about tonight? It’s loud enough that we can talk about it in real-time.

“Your brother has the hots for Starla.”

Jace frowns. “How can you tell?”

“Seriously? Look at him. He’s been watching her like she’s the president and he’s the secret service all night.”

“The secret service doesn’t watch the president,” Jace says, shaking his head. “They watch everything but the president, in case they have to jump into action.”

“Okay, he’s been watching her like she’s a chocolate cupcake and he wants dessert real bad.”

Jace snickers. “He does enjoy a chocolate cupcake.”

We watch in avid fascination as Levi approaches Starla, and they step to the side so they can speak privately.

“I wonder what he’s saying,” Jace says.

“Let’s do the lip-sync game,” I suggest and take another sip of my martini. “Oh, Levi, you’re so big and strong. I love that leather jacket you’re wearing.”

“Yes,” Jace says, playing along, “my jacket is impressive. But you should see what I have going on under it.”

“Really? Do you have muscles? Tattoos? Are you packing heat?”

“I do get very hot in the summertime, wearing this jacket.”

I spit my drink out in laughter, then nudge Jace with my hip. “Maybe you should take your jacket off.”

“No, I need to keep it on, to look mysterious. You sure are pretty. When are you going to sing?”

“Aww, you’re making him sound stupid,” I protest, frowning up at Jace. “We already heard her sing.”

“He is stupid,” Jace says with a laugh. “Okay, she’s talking now. You go.”

“I think we should go back to my place. I’ll play my favorite playlist for you.”

“Is that all you want to do?” Jace asks. “We could take a shower, and I could show you the size of my gun.”

I giggle and then gasp. “Wait. Holy shit, they just traded phones. Your brother just snagged Starla’s number.”

“Atta boy,” Jace murmurs.

“Levi has game,” I say, impressed.

“I taught him everything he knows,” Jace says, puffing out his chest, and I dissolve into laughter.

“You’re so full of shit.” I shake my head and take a sip of my drink. “You don’t even know how to spell game.”

“I’m hurt.” He covers his heart with his hand. “Truly devastated.”

“There, there.” I pat him on the cheek, putting some force behind it. “I’ll make it up to you later.”

“I don’t know, you’re in a rough kind of mood.”

“I’ll be gentle with you.”

He sweeps me up into his arms and kisses me soundly, then plants his lips next to my ear in that way he does when he has something just for me to hear.

“I’m not going to be gentle with you.”

“Thank the baby Jesus.”

~Joy~

“Room two needs her temperature taken again, please,” I say to Susan, one of four techs on the staff today. “And three needs some immunizations drawn. I made a note in her chart.”

“Done,” she says with a smile. “You have a visitor in your office. He’s hot and he brought lunch.”

I sigh and throw my latex gloves into the trash. “I don’t really have time today.”

“Take twenty. I’ll draw up the meds and take the temp. Dr. Myracle is caught up on his patients, so we’re not behind today.”

“Well, that is a miracle,” I reply with a wink, wash my hands, and hurry into my office.

Jace is sitting at my desk, eating a burger from Red Mill. “Hungry?”

“So hungry, and I have seventeen minutes.” I root around in the bag and retrieve my burger and fries, digging in immediately. “Mell me mm happnn.”

Jace cocks a brow and chews his fries. “Come again?”

“Tell me what happened,” I repeat after I swallow. “At your meeting.”

He shrugs one shoulder. I can see by the tense lines in his face that it didn’t go the way he wanted. Jace had his second meeting with the attorneys this morning.

“More of the same,” he says. “They think they’re closer to getting the family to settle out of court, and to say that I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Do they want money? Is that what this is?”

He shoves a fry into his mouth. “Maybe. In their shoes, if I was convinced that the doctor caused the death of my father, I wouldn’t settle. It wouldn’t be about the money for me, it would be about proving that the doctor was in the wrong.”

“Right. So, if they’re willing to settle for a certain amount of money, which I’m assuming isn’t peanuts, and say you did nothing wrong, it tells me they’re just after the money.”

“Exactly.”

I sigh and chew on my burger. “I hate that.”

“Me, too.”

“I’m going to have to run for about ten miles after this burger,” I say with a smile. “But damn, it tastes good.”

“You work hard, you’ll burn it off,” he says and scowls. “I, on the other hand, need to step up my workout game since I’m not working. I don’t want to lose these abs that you seem to enjoy.”

“I’m not worried,” I say, waving him off.

“You’ll still love me with a dad bod?”

I laugh and toss my wrappers into the paper bag, then pull out a mirror to make sure I don’t have anything stuck in my teeth before I stand. “You won’t have a dad bod. If we’re going to your house tonight, do you mind picking up Carl from my place? I don’t want him to be alone all night.”

“I can do that,” he says with a smile. “I already got a litter box for him.”

“You did?” He smiles, making my stomach clench. “You’re so good to me.”

I lean in to quickly kiss him, but he yanks me into his lap and kisses the fuck out of me.

“I have to remember how to be a doctor,” I remind him when he comes up for air. “And I can’t do that when you kiss me that way.”

“I’m not sorry,” he says with a satisfied grin as I maneuver my way out of his lap. “Have a good day, dear.”

“See you later.”