As Dust Dances (Play On 2)

And now I couldn’t sleep for worrying about him.

“We didn’t talk.”

He scrubbed a hand down his face, looking resigned to the fact that he wouldn’t be going back to bed anytime soon. He wandered by me into the open-plan kitchen. “Do you want something to drink?”

“Water.” I found my T-shirt and put it on as I slipped onto a stool at the island. He reached across the countertop and handed me a water.

“We didn’t talk,” I repeated. “We ripped each other’s clothes off and had at it.”

Killian gave me a heated look. “Well, considering yesterday I never thought I’d get to touch you like that ever again, I was feeling a wee bit impatient to have you. Problem?”

He knew it wasn’t a problem. “Yeah, you gave me too many orgasms.”

He smirked and gestured to me. “What’s going on?”

“We didn’t talk at dinner. We’ve not talked at all since the car.”

“We’re talking now, Skylar. What is going on?”

I frowned at him, forgetting that he wasn’t the most patient person. “Are you in denial? Is that what this is?”

“Help me out here and get to the point.”

I threw my hands up in exasperation. “You’re awfully happy for a guy who just lost a job that meant everything to him. That is my point. And I can’t sleep because I’m worried about you and I’m worried about what this will eventually do to us. Oh, and you do not ask a woman to move in with you like that. Ever. And you shouldn’t be asking me to move in with you at all because we’ve only just started dating.”

Killian blinked slowly as he processed all of that.

“Are you going to speak?”

“One, I’m happy because I have you back and you’re free to do with your life whatever you want now. Two, I have plans for my career. Three, even if I didn’t, it wouldn’t affect us because I need you more than I need a career. Four, give me a break. I’m exhausted and a lot has happened, so I apologize if I fucked up asking you to move in. And five, we’ve been together for three months and as far as I’m concerned, that’s enough time for me to know I don’t want to wake up in the morning without knowing I get to wake up lying beside you.”

When did he get so goddamned romantic? “You’re too good at this,” I huffed, and then I frowned as I replayed his words. “We’ve not been together for three months.”

He smiled like he had a secret. “In my head, we have been.”

I shook mine, confused.

He leaned across the island. “The first time you sang ‘In the Wind’ to me, you became mine. I tried to deny it, but it happened right in that moment.”

I gaped at him. “I was still a skinny, bruised waif then.”

Killian rounded the island and I turned toward him. He nudged my knees apart and pressed in between them as he wrapped his arms around my waist. My hands settled on his chest as I stared into his eyes, still trying to process that he was telling me I’d had his heart for far longer than I’d known.

“Your voice has always gotten me. From the first time I heard you busking. I was walking down Buchanan Street with Autumn and I heard your voice. I swear to God, Skylar, I felt this prickling sensation all the way down my spine at the sound of it. So I followed it and found the crowd standing around you. I couldn’t see you at first because of your hat. I just saw this slight wee thing with this voice that was angelic, but so powerful. You reminded me of Eva Cassidy.”

Goosebumps prickled over my skin at the comparison. “That is the compliment of the century, my friend.”

He squeezed my waist. “I kept coming back whenever I could to hear you sing because it calmed something in me. And when I first heard you sing an original song, it was one of those magic moments when you feel like someone has reached inside you and found a way to express all the things you’re feeling but can’t say.”

Shit.

He was going to make cry.

“One Saturday it was hot. You didn’t see me standing in the shop doorway behind where you were busking and you took off your hat. I recognized you. As soon as I saw your face and put your voice to it, I knew it was you. I couldn’t believe it.”

“Smarter than the average bear,” I muttered, caressing his warm, hard chest and thinking how grateful I was that he did recognize me.

“But that morning you sang ‘In the Wind’ to me, no guitar, no music, just your voice, you sung it like your fucking heart was breaking . . .” He ducked his head, eyes locked with mine and brimming with intensity and love. “My heart broke too. I was stunned because I realized I wanted to piece you back together again, hoping that maybe you would be able to piece me back together too.”

Yep. Definitely crying.

Tears streamed down my cheeks, his beloved face a blur in front of me and I laughed. “You have to stop saying wonderful things to me. I have these uncontrollable and embarrassing reactions.”

Killian smiled and kissed my nose. “My point is that even if we’ve only been together for five weeks, it feels like a lot longer to me.”

I nodded, swiping at my cheeks. “Okay. But that doesn’t mean we have to rush things.”

His grip on my waist momentarily tensed. “We don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

The ridiculous thing was that I did. “You don’t think we’ll regret it?”

“Skylar, I’ve been practically living with you. Before the paps thing, I hadn’t slept or eaten in this flat for four weeks.”

That was true. I bit my lip, contemplating. “I hated those nights in the hotel without you.”

“I hated them too.”

I laughed a little hysterically. “We’re moving in?”

He grinned. “We’re moving in.”

“Okay.” I cocked my head to study him. “Now what’s this about a plan for your career?”

Killian’s grin widened. “I’m setting up my own label.”

Shocked—but good shocked—I slapped my hands on his chest with excitement, making him chuckle. “Really?”

“Yes, really.”

“Killian, this is amazing. And I’ll do whatever I can to help!” I threw my hands around his neck so he had to catch me, swinging me away from the stool. I peppered his face with thrilled kisses and all the while he smiled boyishly, shyly, like he was taken aback by my enthusiasm.

His expression filled me with so much tenderness, I was overwhelmed by love.

“Bedroom,” I muttered against his lips before I kissed him long and deep.

Walking blindly in that direction, he said when I finally let him up for air, “Four times in one night? That’ll be a new record.”

“Don’t even think about making it your new label name,” I muttered, kissing him and feeling his laughter rumble in my mouth.

I gave a little “oof” of excitement when my back hit the bed and then squirmed with anticipation as Killian removed my jeans and underwear. Pulling my T-shirt back off, I threw it somewhere on the floor and was unclipping my bra when Killian braced himself over me.

Something in his expression stilled my movements.

“What?”

“You can’t let that album die, Skylar.”

Horrified at what he might be suggesting, wondering if he was actually nuts to be bringing it up after everything, I froze.

He raised his hands in a placating gesture. “I don’t mean putting it out there in the usual sense with all the plans we had at Skyscraper. I mean self-publishing it. Just putting it out there. You don’t have to do anything with it. Upload it, and if people want to buy it, great. It deserves to be heard.”

I’d never really thought about it, but the idea didn’t suck.

“It would be a great advertisement for your songwriting skills if songwriting and producing is the path you want to go down.”

It would. He was right. “So I’d self-publish it and maybe send out a tweet with a link, and that’s all I’d have to do?”

He smiled slowly. “Aye, that’s all you’d have to do.”