Page 86 of Uncharted Desires

Like a flash, he had her in his arms. He couldn’t believe she was here, the feel of her more intoxicating than any drink. “Then you’ll learn.”

West smiled as Kat gave him an annoyed look, apparently not happy to have her own words thrown back at her.

“How many songs did you finish in Bali?” he asked.

“One,” she said, ducking her head. “That’s why I brought Killo. She and I refined many of her songs. West, she’s amazing, and I think you should sign her.”

He rubbed her back, pulling her in. “No. You’re going to sign her. I want to do this, but I want to do it with you. This is your idea, your dream. I’m just here to help you fulfill it. That’s why I asked Cher for your number. I needed to talk to you, to beg you . . . no, to ask you to do this with me. But she wouldn’t give it to me, so I’m glad Field of Dreams was right.”

Kat laughed out loud at that. “You’re so corny.”

“Shit, after what you put me through, I get to be,” West said with a grin.

“We do this together. As partners?”

West held out his hand and she shook it. “Partners,” he agreed.

“The whole acting thing, I don’t care anymore if that’s what you decide to do.”

“I’m not doing it. The IRS is combing through Declan and Luke’s funds, and I’ll get some money back. I’m not an actor, I’m a musician. You were right. I was scared that I had failed and would fail again, but sometimes you have to get back up and try again. You made me see that because, babe, I love you more than words can even say. These past few months I haven’t functioned without you. You own me body and soul, and I can promise you, forever together isn’t long enough for me.”

A tear slipped out of her eye, and he wiped it away with the tip of his finger. “Don’t cry.”

Kat let out a little laugh. “I can’t help it. You inspired me to embrace who I was. You’re giving me a record label to give even more people a voice.” She bit her lip, dipping her head.

“West, I . . . I . . . I don’t deserve you. You bared yourself to me, and to . . . everyone. And I ran away, I’m so sorry.”

West arms grew heavy at his sides as he watched her throat work to swallow. There were still three little words she hadn’t said to him, words he needed to hear.

She twisted the turquoise bracelet on her wrist, the one her mother said was for protection. “When I went back to Bali,” she started, “there was this day it rained, and I watched as the raindrops hit the ocean. It made me think of you and me, as if we always had just been hanging out on the same cloud, and then we were finally released and landed in the ocean as two infinitesimal little drops separated by the waves. But then we somehow found our way to each other before being torn apart again, and yet we would always float back together, forever destined to come back to one another.”

Leave it to Kat to think in terms of the elements. “You’re not making much sense.”

She smiled. “I love you, West. You’re a part of me, and I’m a part of you. It just took us becoming two drops in the ocean for us to figure it out.”

She jumped into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck, and kissed him. The heart that West thought had shriveled up and died beat again. She loved him. She was in his arms, and he wasn’t dreaming.

“I love you, Kat,” he said between kisses as he carried her to the couch in the studio. He laid her down, ripping her shirt over her head. “You are not allowed to leave me again.”

She giggled as he kissed her neck. “I’m not going anywhere, Thomas Weston Monroe. I love you more than words.”

With that, he had her clothes off quicker than a kid opening presents on Christmas morning. They christened the new control room couch, just the first of many pieces of furniture to be used for their lovemaking over the years.

Epilogue

Kat exhaled in relief as she kicked off her stilettos, feeling the tension leave her body as she sat in the town car. West leaned in to kiss her shoulder.

“You can’t wait until we get home?”

She felt his familiar hands at her neck and his husky voice in her ear. “You know I can’t resist you.”

Even after a year of living together, he still made her feel like it was their first time. He planted featherlight kisses on the soft spot below her ear, sending shivers throughout her body as memories from when they had first been intimate on the island came flooding back. Her skin was still hypersensitive to his touch as his hand brushed across her side and he nipped and kissed down her arm.

“How was your first movie premiere?”

She had been nervous. As she had stepped onto the red carpet, her heart raced and her palms felt clammy. She’d glanced around nervously as flashes of light illuminated her sequined dress from all directions. Although she’d felt small standing next to West in his tuxedo, no one seemed to notice.

“Not so bad. I don’t think anyone even noticed me next to you.”