have still been sitting on the tarmac and I’d have been calling him, begging him to take me back. Fourteen months of being separated was nothing compared to nothing at all.
“Jason, I don’t want to break up when you go on tour. I can’t.”
“I love you.”
The words sucked the air right out of my lungs and I blinked into the darkness.
“I love you, Sloan.”
“I love you too,” I breathed.
He let out a noise that sounded like a mixture of joy and relief, and I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face in his beard.
He held me so tightly I couldn’t breathe. “Sloan, come with me on my tour. Please.”
I laughed into his neck from happiness. “Yes.”
“Yes?”
I nodded. It was crazy. It was so not the kind of spontaneous thing I did. But it wasn’t even a question. I had to.
I wanted so much to be me again. I’d promised myself I would chase joy, climb out of my in-between, live a life of happiness that was worth living—and the only life I wanted to live was with him.
“I’ll pay your mortgage,” he said into my hair, a grin in his voice. “I’ll give you as much as you need.”
I pulled away so I could look at him. “No, I can’t let you do that. Maybe I can rent it?”
“It needs too many repairs to rent,” he said, his hands on my face. “Why don’t you sell it?”
Sell it?
“When we get back we can buy a new place,” he said. “Something better. Close to Kristen and Josh.”
I smiled at him. “You want to live with me?”
His eyes moved back and forth between mine. “I want everything with you.”
Screw it. If I was going to do this thing, I was going to do it. And I wanted to start over. I wanted to start over with him.
I nodded. “Okay. Let’s do everything. Let’s do it all.”
He paused and beamed at me. And then he smothered me with kisses. My mouth, my cheeks, my neck, telling me over and over and over again that he loved me, and I laughed and clutched him.
Every time he said it, the words filled me up. They wrapped themselves around me like warm, strong arms and made me feel safe and cherished, pushing out every doubt that his past and his fame had made me feel.
He loved me.
And I loved him back.
This was why we could weather his fame. Why I could trust him, always, no matter what came up. He belonged to me and we were in it together. How could I ever question it?
We were in love.
Chapter 31
Jason
♪ Diamonds | Ben Howard
I bought a ring. A very, very big ring.
Chapter 32
Sloan
♪ Big Jet Plane | Angus & Julia Stone
Are you sure you don’t want to come with me? Saturday Night Live is kind of a once-in-a-lifetime deal,” Jason said. He talked against my lips as he kissed me goodbye on my porch. His guitar case sat next to us and his hands twined in the hair at the nape of my neck. His eyes practically smoldered.
He did this on purpose, of course, because he knew how defenseless I was when he sucked me into that vortex of his.
I had to be strong. I had too much to do.
“If you want me to be ready to leave my whole life behind in less than a week, I can’t give you three more days,” I said, nuzzling his nose with my eyes closed.
It was actually a good thing he was leaving for New York. The man was highly distracting. I couldn’t get anything done when he was home—well, nothing that required clothes, anyway.
“I’m going to miss you,” he breathed.
“I’m going to miss you too.” I kissed him, wrapping my arms around his neck. “But mostly I’m going to miss being the other woman for a few days.”
He snorted.
“I’m going to frame it,” I said. “Maybe Kristen will put it in the Christmas calendar.”
Yesterday a picture of me and Jason holding hands at Trader Joe’s ended up on the cover of the National Enquirer. JAXON WATERS CHEATS ON LOLA SIMONE! was plastered all over the front. I’d been wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap and my tattoos were covered, so only I recognized myself. But it was still really funny.
“They called me a mystery woman,” I said, smiling against his lips. “I’ve always wanted to be mysterious.”
He chuckled. “I’ve always wanted two women. This is working out for both of us.”
I hit him, and he laughed,