Oh, fuck. This was it.
This was?—
I heard thesmackbefore I felt it. A delicious stinging pain began to spread across my left ass cheek, and my mind went completely blank.
Teeth dug into my neck, and then Dakota’s smoky voice was in my ear. “I got you, baby. Just keep those pretty eyes on me and everything will be alright.”
He stepped around in front of me with a beautiful smile, holding his violin and bow in one hand and holding the other hand out to me.
“Next up are Reese Walker and Dakota Voss with a classical-inspired piece in the key of E minor calledThe Tiger’s Nocturne!”
Dakota’s handwas the only thing I could focus on, the pain in my ass starting to subside as he dragged me onto the stage beside him.
He leaned in close, his lips brushing against my ear as he whispered, “I changed my mind, you can picture me in the jockstrap.”
A burst of affection spread through me and loosened some of the tension, dissolved some of the fear, and I turned every ounce of my attention onto Dakota.
I let my gaze settle on him, found immense comfort in his nearness, in that jagged scar, in all those freckles. The small smile adorning his lips was beautiful and reassuring, and fuck, I wanted to kiss him so badly it hurt.
He lifted a brow as if to sayready?
I nodded. We positioned our violins in unison, readied our bows, and the first note rang out as I drew my bow across the strings and Dakota held my gaze.
My part was delicate. A fragile accompaniment at first; hesitant, brittle notes that seemed to break in the force of his. But then it climbed, grew, strengthened, until our melodies were intertwining, delicately weaving around each other. It was a perfect balance.
Dakota was, without a doubt, a gifted man. He was hiding a wealth of talent and passion beneath that nonchalant smile and careless attitude.
There was so much beauty in his bones, and he was sharing it all with me.
The world around us dimmed.
There was no stage.
There was no room full of people.
There were no eyes but his, no one but him.
And as he watched me play, the smile that stretched across his face made my heart swell.
He was right here.
Nothing bad could happen to him as long as I kept my eyes on him. He was right here, right beside me, and he would always be right beside me.
I smiled back at him.
This honest, brave bastard was mine, and I was his.
We belonged to each other now, and nothing short of death would tear us apart.
But I had a feeling that even in death, we’d find each other again.
Our souls were made of the same stuff, anyway.
EPILOGUE
REESE
THREE YEARS LATER
