“We could make it work,” she argued, so overwhelmed by the careening speed of this that her mind scrabbled to find steady ground.
“No.” A flat rejection. “I want to take you out to dinner. I want to walk with you down the street. I want to pretend not to be bored while you shop. I want to kiss you before I go onstage. I want you in my bed every damn night.”
Each word he spoke, it echoed her own secret desires.
“So you decide, Molly, once and for all, if you want me enough to take the chance.”
“That’s not fair.” She adored him, but he was asking her to alter the course of her life in a way that could never be undone. “I want to be with you more than I’ve ever wanted anything—”
Kissing her without warning, his mouth hot, his tongue stroking deep, the slight abrasiveness of his callused fingertips familiar on the side of her face, he whispered, “Say that again.”
“I can’t bear to think of being alone in this apartment again,” Molly said, her voice shaking, “of watching you leave… of hearing that you’ve found someone else. You’re mine.” A raw claim.
Fox shuddered. “Fuck, baby, I got no argument with that.” One hand continuing to cradle the side of her face, his thumb brushing over her cheekbone, he said, “Why the hesitation, then?”
The stark, unconditional honesty of the moment demanded she speak the truth. Finding another strand of courage, she gave voice to the fear that had a clawed grip on her heart. “What if we don’t last in the real world?” The pressure of the media, the constant barrage of attention, it could wear a person down to the bone. “What if I’m not strong enough?”
“I know it’ll be hard.” Fox’s breath hot against her skin, his body a wall of muscle. “But you’ve faced hard before and kicked it to the curb.” Green eyes violent with a pride that tightened the chains around her heart. “Delaying the decision won’t make it any easier.”
“No.” The only way to know if they had what it took to make it under the unforgiving glare of the world stage or if it would smash them into jagged shards was to step into that life.
Ever since she’d been old enough to understand the poisonous nature of her parents’ relationship, Molly had promised herself she’d never make the same mistake, never become addicted to anything or anyone. Except here she was, addicted to a rock star who lived in a world that was the diametric opposite of the staid, suburban existence that had been the goal she’d set herself as a devastated and heartbroken teenager—the lights, the cameras, the intrusion, the cruelty, it was her personal nightmare.
No matter what happened, the instant she made this decision, she ended her chance of ever having an ordinary life. It hurt to think of the death of a dream she’d held on to for so long, but nothing hurt more than the thought of losing Fox. “Yes,” she said on a whisper of sound. “I’ll come with you.”
Fox’s eyes held her own, a passionate, possessive fire in their depths. “No half measures, no regrets.”
“No half measures,” she vowed, her pulse a staccato beat and her heart on her sleeve. “No regrets.”
Fox’s kiss branded her, his body imprinting on her cells.
PART TWO
Chapter 24
Molly’s first impression of Fox’s home in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles was of gleaming glass and shimmering blue set back against an unexpectedly green backdrop of spruces and other foliage. The light-filled modern structure, situated on a slope, was all square angles and floor-to-ceiling windows that provided a magnificent view of Santa Monica Bay in the distance, while the water from the infinity pool on the second floor fell in a cool waterfall to a lower pool.
“It’s beautiful,” she said, standing in the sunlit living room that overlooked the infinity pool. The sun beat down outside, but inside it was cool, the air-conditioning soundless. “It’s not what I expected.”
“What?” That lean dimple appeared in his cheek. “Some messy bachelor pad?”
“Um, yes,” Molly admitted, wanting to kiss him but feeling oddly shy in this new place a literal world apart from everything she knew.
Laughing, Fox slid open the doors to the patio around the pool and tucked her to his side. His kiss was slow, the way he rubbed his nose against hers heart-catchingly sweet. “I have a cleaning service—they come in once a week unless I tell them not to. I don’t like anyone in my space when I’m working on a new song.” A playful bite to her lower lip. “I’ll make an exception for na**d Molly, however.”
Scrunching up her nose at him, she said, “Can you ask them not to come this month?” She needed time to settle without having to deal with strangers. The one good thing was that she wouldn’t have to stress about work—the copy-editing certificate she’d completed last year in order to earn extra income, before her promotion at the library put that on the back burner, was now going to be part of her new life.
It would take time and a lot of hard work, but she planned to build herself a career as an independent editor and researcher with the emphasis on the latter. Never did she want Fox to think she was with him for his money—and more, she needed to be her own person, needed to be the Molly who was Fox’s perfect song. That Molly stood on her own two feet. “The house looks clean anyway,” she added.
“Whatever you want.” Fox nodded toward the kitchen area that flowed off from the large living space. “Their number’s on the fridge if you want to make the call yourself.”