She's Still The One: A Brother's Best Friend, Rockstar Romance by Kaci Rose (websites to read books for free txt) 📕

to take every little thing to just pay bills, but to be honest, I feel like such a freeloader not paying my share." She says.

"As if we would let you." I smile at her. "Plus, you’ll get money from the records and the tour. Really, you don't have to work." I remind her.

"I know, but..." She hesitates.

"But what?"

"I don't touch that money. It goes into a savings account that I leave alone. It gets invested per your insistence, but that’s it. I've always paid my bills with the money from my job."

"Building a nice retirement fund?" I ask her.

"Not really."

I look at her, and she seems a little hesitant to continue. I can't have that.

"No walls up, Austin. We aren't doing this halfway." I tell her.

She nods and takes a deep breath.

"I guess, I always planned for that to be my family money."

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"Someday, I want a family. I started doing these casual relationships, and I guess, I saw the dream of getting married and starting a family begin to slip away. So, I planned that money to be for my family. When I was ready, I'd be a single mom, have children, and that money would support my kids and be passed down to them, when the time came." She shrugs.

"You don't want to get married?"

"I do, but I guess the more I dated, the more I lost hope in finding a guy. Well, you set the bar pretty damn high. I was always waiting for a guy that treated me like you always have. He hasn't shown up yet."

A pang of jealousy hits me, when she talks about marrying another man. But I'm also happy in a way that she has compared the other guys to me. It means I was doing something right all these years, even when I didn't think I could have her.

"Well, get ready to be blown away, because if you liked how I treated you, when we weren’t dating, then I'm going to step it up now that we are."

She gives me this unsure look and my gut twists. She does want to date me, right?

"What is it?" I ask her softly.

"Are we dating?" She asks.

"Oh, baby girl. We’re so much more than dating. You are mine, and I'm yours. Titles the whole nine yards." I tell her, pulling her against my side.

"I just... You haven't dated anyone before, I didn't want to assume."

"When it comes to you, assume away. I was slow to jump into this, because I wanted to do it right. I'm 100% in. Do you want this?" I ask her. I want to hear her words and not just assume them.

"Yes, I'm scared by how much I want this." She says.

"This isn't going to be casual. I want all of you." I tell her.

"As long as I get all of you, and I don't share." Her voice is stern.

"I'm only yours. I don't share either."

"Good." She says.

I lie down on the blanket and pull her down to lay with me, and we talk for a few hours about everything and anything.

"So, if we’re going to do this, let's get the awkward stuff out of the way." She says.

"Okay, hit me with it. I won’t keep anything from you, but I expect the same from you."

"All right then, what’s your number?" She asks.

My number? She has my phone number, what number? Then, it dawns on me. Shit.

"More than I want to admit," I say, tensing up. I know Austin, and she’s going to push this.

"Dallas..."

"Honestly, I don't know if you want an answer. I can sit down tonight and try to give you my best guess, but I wouldn't be stretching it to say over fifty." I cringe now. I didn't care then, because the number of hookups I had meant nothing. But now that I want to start a real relationship, that number seems like a hurdle, we might not be able to get over.

She sighs and nods her head. "Okay."

"Same question," I tell her, not sure I want to know.

"Six. How old were you your first time?"

"Ugh, you won't believe me."

"Dallas..."

"I was nineteen just after your prom. It was on our first tour, and women were throwing themselves at us. I never admitted to her it was my first time, and I also never saw her again."

I won't admit to Dallas that the entire time I was imagining it was her. Every girl I have been with didn't matter, because in my head it was always her.

"Same question." I urge her on.

"Eighteen, a few weeks after prom. A few friends were hanging out at a guy’s lake house for the weekend. We spent the weekend together, and that was it. I moved a month later and haven't talked to him since."

Fuck, we could have been each other’s first at her prom. How much different would life have been, if I had taken her then? I don't think I was the guy she needed then, and there’s a very real chance it could have destroyed us.

"On to safer topics. Tell me about your first tour." She says and cuddles up to me.

She isn't running, so I hold her tighter and start talking. I tell her about our crappy bus, where twelve of us slept in it, and the fans that would try to sneak on it. If it kept her in my arms like this, I'd tell her every little detail.

As the sun starts to set, we pack up and get back in the truck. I take the long way home, rolling down the windows and crank up the music, as we sing along loudly just like we used to do in high school.

I knew back then this girl was something special, and she finds ways to prove it to me again and again.

Chapter 15

Austin

By the time we get home that night, I have forgotten all about the creepy manager, until Landon calls.

"Hey, how’s your trip?" I ask.

"Fine. I wanted to