Page 77 of Thirsty Bodyguard Summer

“That’s fair.”

“I know I don’t want to pretend distance won’t matter. I also don’t want to use it as a reason to walk away before we try.”

“You won’t have to.”

“The label has your time after this.”

“For a recording block. Not forever.”

“And SBS has mine.”

“I’m not asking you to leave.”

“You never asked me to.”

I brushed my thumb beneath the edge of her tank.

“When the recording block ends, I’m coming back here.”

Her gaze lifted. “You don’t need a threat to visit Sunbreak Harbor.”

“I’m hoping the next trip involves fewer weapons and more time in your bed.”

“That can be discussed.”

“I appreciate your openness.”

She gave me a dry look.

“And when you have a work break,” I continued, “you come to me. Not as my bodyguard. Not because you’re supposed to fit around my career. Because I want you there while I’m living it.”

“So do I.”

I reached for my phone on the counter. “Then let’s make the visits real.”

I opened my calendar to the first free weekend after the recording block and handed it to her. “I come back here.”

Cassidy added the visit, then opened her own schedule. “This is my first three-day break after that.”

“Then you come to me.”

She added the second visit and returned my phone.

I kissed her forehead.

“We start with those two visits,” I said. “Then we keep making the next one.”

“And we see where it takes us.”

“That’s the plan.”

“We’re not making impossible promises, are we?”

“I promise to be extremely attractive at every reunion.”

“That’s a dangerous standard.”

“I’ve maintained it so far.”