Kelly made a shooing motion. “Now, ladies. It’s two hours past your bedtime. Tomorrow will get here pretty early so get moving back to your beds. Kensey, stop singing to annoy your sister.”

She and Vaughan put them back to bed, tucked them in and kissed them good-night.

He took her hand as they walked down the hall, back to her room. “I can do that now. Cool.”

“You might as well move your stuff in here,” she said as they got to her door. “Okay, not your clothes. You can keep them in that room.”

He pretended offense. “My clothes aren’t good enough to live in that fantasy closet of yours?”

She shook her head. “My closet is sacrosanct.”

He kissed her, clearly tickled that he could, which only charmed her more. “I can live with that. Be back momentarily.”

Boy, oh, boy did she have a lot to tell Stacey the next day at lunch.

* * *

VAUGHAN STOOD IN the middle of his room. No, the guest room. And he smiled.

He grabbed his basics; he’d complete the full move the next day, wanting to get back to her as soon as he could while still giving her a bit of time to process.

The new Kelly needed that so the new Vaughan tried to give it to her before he was drawn back to her.

This feeling, utter joy and satisfaction, was one he really fucking loved. The ache that he could have had it all these years had become less sharp, though the dull ache of it kept him remembering it was his choice. A painful lesson for them all.

That part hurt the most, still. He loved his girls more than anything, but after three weeks of caring for them daily through school and dance classes and dinner and all that, he realized the connection between them all had deepened.

He’d never be able to get those years back.

Vaughan shook his head as he took his Dopp kit and a few other basics over to her—correction their—room.

“I cleared out a few drawers for you in that dresser.” Kelly pointed to a tallboy-style dresser in a corner.

“I’m really not that bothered to have my clothes next door.”

She looked up from where she’d been pulling things from a bedside table. “That dresser was pretty empty. I’d been working on it for eighteen months and only moved it up here in the early spring. I don’t mind sharing that much.”

He liked her grin. Easy. No sign of wariness.

“All right. Thanks. I’ll keep the closet over there so yours can remain free of my boy cooties.”

She laughed. “I haven’t lived with anyone since you. I mean, the girls, but they have their own rooms. I should probably tell you I’m totally selfish about some things like my closet.”

No apology for it. That was a now Kelly thing, too.

* * *

EVERYONE NEEDED SOMETHING to be selfish about. He’d been too selfish and she hadn’t been selfish enough. They could balance one another without tipping over. If they did it right.

“I should also tell you I’ve staked a claim on the apartment above the garage.”

Instead of upset, she appeared to be happy. “Really? I’m glad. I knew you moved some stuff into it, but it’s a relief you like the space.”

“It’s got great light. It’s set far enough away from the house and all the surrounding properties that I can work out there and not get the cops called.”

“Okay. Good. Yeah. I know you need a place to work. You’ll also be able to work uninterrupted.”

He’d have to work at the barn, the custom recording and practice studio on the ranch, when the band was ready to work on their next album. But that wouldn’t be for another eighteen months or so at the earliest. Damien was about to be a father. Ezra was falling in big giant love, Paddy was skirting around proposing to Natalie. Everything was changing and each of them had to put their focus on their personal lives for a while.

“I want to do some solo stuff,” he said quietly, testing the waters, “so I’m going to get the guy who made our space in Hood River out to get it customized.”

“Solo? Wow, Vaughan, that’s amazing.” Kelly moved to him, sliding her arms around his waist.

“Well, I don’t know about that. I’ve been writing a lot lately. Some of it isn’t going to fit in what Sweet Hollow Ranch does. And I’m cool with that.”

He’d butted heads with Paddy over and over as they’d made their last album. Vaughan had ideas he wanted to pursue that he knew his older brother would always be trying to micromanage to change them.

He didn’t want to change it. He did need to talk with his brothers about it. Vaughan had no plans to leave the band or even take a hiatus. But he had some bluesy country stuff in his head and he wanted to see what shook out.

They’d support him in this endeavor. It was who they were as brothers and as a band. And apparently Kelly did, too.

“All right. Let me know if you need anything. I’m...well, I’m excited for you. I’d really like to hear stuff. I miss that a lot.”

He used to make music for her all the time. Always singing, playing guitar. He did that at his house and even with the girls, but he had a lot of music in his heart for this woman he looked at.

“Yeah?”

She nodded.

He kissed her. Speaking in between sips and tastes. “I miss it, too. I’ll be sure to do it when I’m not deep inside you.”

She gasped and he nipped her lips, pulling back so he could get her tank top over her head.

“Damn, these are spectacular. If I could walk around like this, with your breasts in my hands all day, I would.”