“It is. And it suits us.” He took a step back and picked up my cap from the ground. “Text me if you manage to get Camden here. I’ll meet up with y’all after I’m done. Shouldn’t be more than a few hours.”

“Will do.” I slid on my cap again.

“One more thing,” he said. “Camden and I obviously keep our lifestyle to ourselves—it’s private to us—but we’re private people by nature, regardless. We don’t advertise much of anythin’.” He paused. “That doesn’t mean we don’t show affection toward each other in public. We do. It’s just—our business is our business, and we don’t answer to anyone outside of our closest circle of friends and family. Which means that if the three of us go out to dinner, I don’t think I have it in me to act like you’re only an acquaintance. I don’t care if it raises questions from complete strangers. So if you wanna stay on the down-low if we head into town or somethin’, you have to set those boundaries. I’m too old to give a shit, and I’ve lived through enough years of being advised to keep anything out of the norm a secret.”

One of these days, I wanted to be able to come up with the perfect response on the spot.

I closed the distance and hugged him, kissing his neck, and I hugged him harder. A man who was sick of games. Imagine—those existed.

“If only more men were like you,” I murmured.

“Then I wouldn’t be so special.”

I chuckled quietly and took a quick kiss. “Don’t get me too hooked on you, ciccio.”

“Chee—what? Do I have to google that?”

“Yup.” I grinned and moved toward the opening of the tent. “I’ll text you later about Camden.”

Seeing as we were in the middle of lunchtime, my plan was to buy a bunch of food—and Camden’s donuts—and drive to the ranch, make sure he ate something, and then convince him to come back here with me.

Chapter 10

Something Beautiful

Sometimes, it was nice not to hear myself sing.

When we reached the bridge in the song, I took a step back and just listened. For a few beautiful seconds, it was only Nicky on his acoustic guitar and the choir.

I scanned the crowd as the spotlights once again extended outside of the stage.

I knew in my gut that they were here.

Wiping some sweat off my forehead, I glanced back at Luiz and waited for my cue.

This wasn’t part of my plan.

It wasn’t part of August’s plan either. He’d told Camden to tidy up his arts and crafts supplies; instead, I found the boy on the patio back at the ranch, in the middle of creating a bracelet for himself.