I still can hardly wrap my head around how close I came to losing her. “Opportunity presented itself, and I went for it.”

“Crazy.” Aiden shakes his head. “You been in love with this chick all this time and never said a word.”

“Thought this was supposed to be a party?” grumbles Anika, refilling her shot glass for at least the third time.

“Wait? Where’re we going?” I start to panic when I recognize that we’re headed toward Broadway Street. I hope like hell they didn’t plan this shit at one of the places Aiden and I frequent when we’re on the prowl.

“You’ll see.” Her playful tone says Anika’s well on her way to tipsy already.

Good. We all like her better that way.

“The sign’s up!” I note when the limousine rolls to a stop in front of our bar; there’s a yellow neon “Booze & Bad Decisions” sign glowing above the door.

The band recently purchased one of the older honky-tonks to renovate as our home base. The hundred-year-old building is built like a fortress and is practically a historical landmark ’round these parts. It’s in a prime location with an excellent three-story layout. With a little TLC, we knew her potential was endless.

And the idea of sticking around in one spot to play regularly scheduled shows sounded like some kind of heaven.

Sure hope my wife’s cool with the idea of relocating.

We still have so much to discuss regarding our future. With how fast everything happened, there was no time. But surely she realized in accepting my proposal that we wouldn’t be living out our lives in San Robles Shores.

“Hey, the lights are on…” I begin to grow a little suspicious as I look around at their smiling faces. “Hold up…” My chest starts vibrating to a familiar beat. “Is that bass coming from inside?”

Boss lady’s grin widens. “What better time to give the new digs a trial run?” Anika rubs her palms together. “There’s still plenty to be done upstairs and on the rooftop terrace, but the main floor is mostly good to go.”

Our security team bursts through the front doors, releasing the now-familiar balloon bouquets. They look like a bunch of giant pansies.

I fucking love those guys.

“You threw this together in a day?” I can’t help smiling at Ron, Josh, and Reginald in their matching “team groom” ballcaps and tees.

“You sound surprised.” With a haughty smirk she exits the vehicle, joining our bodyguards who’ve come out to escort us the twenty or so feet to the bar. Sometimes it all seems so excessive.

“I am very surprised,” I huff. “You weren’t exactly happy with me.”

“Oh, I’m still not.” She levels me with an icy glare, but there’s a rare hint of laughter shining in her tawny irises. “A party is to be expected. Gotta keep up appearances.”