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"He wants you to come work for him, doesn't he?"
"Kind of. He said he'd like to hire me as a consultant to do some research into the nuts and bolts of actually starting an artist-run indie label from the ground up." She was glowing as she told Drew the great news. "Thank you for telling him about my idea."
"This is all you, Ash. Your brains. Your ideas. Your enthusiasm. I can't wait for everyone else to meet you and see what I see." He brought her closer and leaned in to kiss her. "But you should know I'm going to keep all of your beauty, and your gorgeous sensuality, for myself."
"They're all yours."
Her lips were soft and sweet, and so damned seductive beneath his that he lost the thread of everything but her for several heady moments. But he didn't want to wait any longer to tell her his news either.
"There's actually another reason that I'm glad you're going to be working with Grant on figuring out how to put together a new record label. I've decided not to sign the second Chief Records contract."
"Wow. That's huge." She studied his face for a few moments before smiling and saying, "You're really happy about it, aren't you?"
"I didn't realize just how handcuffed I felt working for someone else. Or maybe it was that I didn't want to see it, because it was easier to follow the plans that have worked for their other artists. At least at first." He looked down at their linked hands and told her the rest of the truth he'd only begun to understand. "At first, my songs couldn't come because I was shutting down my feelings to block out my grief over losing my mom. But then when I thought I needed to stop falling in love with you, that's when everything broke completely apart. Because I couldn't stop falling, Ash, and it tore me up to even try. Just destroyed me. Once I knew I loved you no matter what, and that I wasn't going to let anything keep us apart--that was when everything finally started to make sense again. You're the person I've been looking for. The woman I've been waiting for. The only one who can help me see the things I've been hiding from. And the only one who can pull me from the darkness with nothing but a look, a touch, a smile, a kiss."
But instead of giving him one of those smiles, she whispered, "I'm so sorry."
"Sorry? For what?"
"You once said I would never hurt anyone, but I hurt you when I wasn't brave enough to tell you that I loved you, too. I do, so much. I just thought we could never make things work because we're so different. And it was easier to tell myself I was holding back because of my dad and his relationship with my mom than it was to face the truth. You're the brightest light I've ever known--one of the brightest lights on the planet. And I thought I wasn't exciting enough or strong enough to be, well, enough for you."
"You aren't just enough, you're my heart. My soul. I love you, Ash. The brainy side of you. The wild side of you. I love all of you, exactly the way you are. And even though I'll always miss my mom, every day of my life, it feels now like the wounds are finally starting to heal."
Just as she'd held him in the desert, she simply pulled him close now and laid her cheek against his chest. He didn't know how long they stood holding each other, just that music played inside of him the entire time. Music he needed her to hear.
"I know you just listened to me play for over two hours, but there's a song I'd really like to play for you."
Without saying a word, she slid her hands from around his back, picked up his acoustic guitar, and handed it to him. As soon as she was on the bed in front of him, sitting cross-legged so their knees were touching, he began to play and sing.
*
Drew had never looked so serious, or quite so shy, as he did just then. He should have been a world away from the larger-than-life star she watched perform on stage every night. And yet, with just his guitar and his voice, he was even more powerful.
Especially when she realized where his lyrics had come from.
You're inside of me.
Every second of every day.
Every look.
Every touch.
Every kiss.
I was lost until you found me.
I was hurt until you healed me.
Until you took me all the way
Inside.
She'd said the words while they were making love--I want you inside of me every second of every day--and though it might have sounded like nothing more than desire, Drew had known the truth all along.
That she was saying she loved him the only way she could.
Tears streamed down her face as he played, but they were happy tears this time. Tears of wonder. No, she and Drew weren't exactly the same, but where they didn't overlap, they filled each other's gaps and made each other whole.
When he was done playing, he put his guitar down, then took her face in his hands and kissed her. So sweetly that her heart flipped over in her chest at the same time that her body ached for him to take the kiss deeper. Neither of them spoke as he slowly, silently stripped away her clothes--every caress awestruck, every kiss he pressed to her soft skin reverent--and she did the same for him and then slid on protection.
And then there was no more patience for either of them as they fell onto the bed in each other's arms. Their hungry mouths wrote the melody, their desperate hands played the rhythm, and their breathless gasps of pleasure sang the lyrics for the beautiful new song they were writing together.
Epilogue
"I can't believe we have front-row tickets to this show." Taylor turned to look behind her at the thirty thousand screaming fans who had come to hear Nicola Sullivan and Drew Morrison do the kickoff show for their fully acoustic combined tour. "I heard it sold out in seconds."
"Perks of being related to one of the people on stage," Justin Morrison said as he grinned back at one of his favorite people.
Justin and Taylor had been friends from their first class at Stanford, a bio lab where they'd been partnered up. He'd never met anyone as smart. Or as beautiful. But she'd had a boyfriend from high school, and even though he was all the way back in Rochester, New York--and sounded like he didn't come anywhere close to being worthy of her--Taylor had remained faithful. From everything she'd told him, though, it sounded like her parents had set the whole thing up as some sort of modern-day arranged marriage. The guy never called, and Justin had wondered more than once if Taylor's boyfriend was as faithful to her as she was to him.
They'd been platonic friends for more than three years. Three years in which Justin had tried like hell not to step over the line with her. But damned if it wasn't getting harder by the second. Especially when she was wearing a tank top and jean shorts due to the heat at the outdoor summer concert. Her clothes were downright demure compared to some of Drew's fans, but he still thought she was the sexiest woman he'd ever set eyes on.
"And I'm so glad that everything worked out for Drew and Ashley," Taylor said as she tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. A lock that Justin was dying to feel flowing through his fingers. "I thought they were sneaking romantic glances at each other that night in New Orleans for his birthday."
And yet, somehow, she'd never noticed all the glances Justin was constantly sneaking at her. "They're a perfect fit." Just like we could be, he found himself thinking before he could shut it down the way he always had before. "And I know Grant is really happy to be working with both of them on the new label. He said it's a perfect combination of his expertise with social networks and theirs with the music business."
He was glad that his family was slowly starting to heal from losing their mom, especially Drew and Sean, who had both fallen in love. Justin had been lucky to have Taylor there for him from the start. But even though he couldn't ask for a better friend, more and more lately, he'd gone to bed eaten up by frustration.
The stage lights were still down when Drew and Nicola started to play "Fire and Rain" with Drew on guitar and Nicola on piano. Slowly, the stage lights began to rise as their mesmerizing music floated out over the packed amphitheater...
And as Taylor grabbed Justin's hand and sang along softl
y in an adorably off-key voice, he had to work harder than he ever had before to fight the craving that only grew bigger with every second that he tried to hide his feelings from his best friend.
*
