We looked at each other and grinned. For a second we were twenty-two and freezing and sure of only this, that music was the one honest magic and we were lucky to have a trickthat worked.
“Again,” she said, not smiling, and we sang a bridge that would take the weight if it had to.
We ran the whole thing once, twice. It wasn’t ready to show anyone. It might never be. That wasn’t the point. The point was there was something new between us that wasn’t a wound.
“You were right,” she said finally, voice small. “I put them in a shoebox so they couldn’t hurt me.”
“I’ve been singing mine at stadiums so they look big enough to be afraid of,” I said. “Neither strategy seems to have worked spectacularly.”
She made a tired, incredulous sound that was almost a laugh. “My divorce lawyer would agree with you.”
“You don’t have to?—”
“It wasn’t a tragedy,” she said, looking at the fire. “It was two decent people who didn’t bring enough to the table. We were good at talking about mortgages and bad at talking about fear. We tried. We failed kindly. He’s married to a teacher now. They have a baby on the way and a dog named Button. I think he’s happy.”
“And you?” I asked, already knowing I was greedy for her answer.
“I’m learning how to be a person again,” she said. “Not a cautionary tale. Just…Skye. She’s mouthier than I remembered.”
“I like her,” I said, hoping my voice didn’t betray the bit of me that wanted to kneel on the rug and make promises I didn’t yet know if I could keep.
She turned her head, her cheek pressed into her knee. “And you? Do you love anything besides an adoring crowd?”
“I love the moment before the first chord when the room decides to love you just for being you,” I admitted, leaning back. “I loved two women badly and left them when they asked for the bit I keep in a locked drawer. I don’t want to be that boy again. The one who chooses fame over his heart.”
“Then don’t,” she said.
The space between us narrowed.
I slid forward on the rug until my knees touched hers. My nerves were shot. This felt worse and better than stepping on any stage.
“Skye,” I said, and my voice cracked on theKbecause I was desperate to touch her again.
“Noah,” she returned.
“Can I—” I refused to be the man who didn’t ask.
“Yes,” she said, and saved my life.
Rolling onto my back, I pulled her with me, so she lay stretched over me, body to body, her lips on mine. I arched against her as need took over, wanting my hands on that beautiful body of hers.
“Noah.” Skye pulled back as I tugged at the hem of her shirt, needing it off. “I’m not the young girl I once was.”
“Thank God for that,” I murmured, drawing the shirt over her head as she sat up and straddled me. She was both softer and stronger than she’d been then, and I exulted in every inch of delicious skin that was revealed. Aye, she was softer in some areas, but soft was fun to touch. I stroked my fingers up her side and brushed my knuckle across the bottom of her breast.
Skye sucked in a breath and bit her teeth into her bottom lip, and I grinned up at her. I’d seen hermake that same expression many times before and I moaned as she rocked her hips against me, torturing me.
The light haloed her hair, making it look on fire around her head, and her face was loose and relaxed as I leaned up to unclip her bra. Catching her mouth with mine, I nibbled at her lower lip as I slid the strap down her arm, following its path with my lips. Skye giggled as I nipped at the inside of her wrist, and then turning, scraped my teeth lightly over her nipple. Groaning, she threw her head back, offering her breasts to me like a dessert, and I dove in, eager to taste them once again.
Skye mewled softly as I cupped both breasts with my hands, rubbing my thumbs across hard nipples, and then licked wetly across the pebbled skin of each pointed tip. Blowing a hot breath, I sunk my teeth in, just a touch harder—just the way I knew she liked it.
Skye bit back a louder moan, and I brought my head up, swallowing the sound with a kiss. My tongue slid against hers, wet and hot, and I groaned as she rocked against me, her need clear.
“Tell me you have a condom.”
“Always,” I said. Easing her to the side, I slid my trousers off and pulled out my wallet and Skye hiccupped out a laugh.
“What?” I looked up at her.
