She smiled. With Larry in the house, it seemed Chase had chosen to make use of an actual bed. As she stood there, she heard the faint sound of water going off.
Chase had opted for a shower and a bed.
She petted Larry’s head, closed the door and headed for her dresser, seeking one of the oversize soft cotton T-shirts she liked to sleep in.
And then she had no idea of what really happened next. The show was coming up tomorrow—or later today, since it was after midnight.
Life...
Life was so fragile.
And at this moment her mind was, too.
And people in one’s life were unique and rare, and she knew that and she’d never understood herself why she’d had to learn to live with loss on her own, why she hadn’t clung to others who had cared.
She didn’t know what she was thinking. No, she wasn’t thinking. But she found herself stepping back out into the hall, heading to the door to the guest room that was closed, and opening it.
Chase was there, wrapped in a towel as she was, sorting through the clothing he had discarded but stopping dead as he saw her there.
“Sky?”
She shook her head. “Shut up. Please, just shut up.”
She walked over to him, putting her arms around him, and drawing him into a deep, long kiss. And as she had hoped, prayed and maybe imagined, he pulled her closer to him, his arms wrapping around her, both towels slipping and falling away, and then their flesh, flesh touching, flesh, melding...
Time. Gone. An amazing burst of diamond and crystal light, the world exploding around them as they fell together onto the bed.
Touch came so easily, sweet, soaring sensuality as kisses roamed intimately between them, as the need and urgency grew, and they were together again...
Soaring, sweet ecstasy, excitement and the comfort of...
Love and security that had always been there, waiting.
As if they’d never been apart.
Chapter Six
“Why? Why did you push me away? Right when I might have helped you the most?” Chase whispered.
Sky looked at him, eyes a little desperate and, he thought, gave him the only answer she had.
“I don’t know. I don’t know! I was just...”
“Please tell me you know that I’d never have hurt your father,” he said, his eyes on hers, searching, seeking.
“Maybe you’ll never really be ready to forgive me!” she whispered.
He moved his fingers gently through her hair and then cupped her chin as he told her, “The past is gone, it is history, and we can’t change history. But I loved you then, Skylar. I never stopped loving you, and I love you now.”
She let out a soft cry, clinging closer to him, parting her lips as his mouth met hers in a passionate kiss that seemed a true promise of the words he’d spoken.
And later, they lay together, and he told her again that he’d always loved her and always would.
She smiled.
“Hey, that was an amazing declaration of my feelings, heart on my sleeve,” he told her. “A response would be great.”
She rolled over on an elbow to look down at him.
“Well, you know, you said it would be best if we pretended... I use all kinds of acting and improv techniques when I work with my students. When I’m doing something, well, you know, I try to do it right!”
He laughed, and she fell next to him again, whispering that she’d never understood, that maybe her pain had needed a different pain to twist her from her feelings. “I’ll never understand myself, much less be able to explain myself!” she whispered.
“And it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that we get some sleep,” he said, wincing at the thought of the day to come.
She nodded, curling closer against him.
He closed his eyes, smiling. Amazing. If they could get past tomorrow...
He couldn’t believe that they were together, that this...had happened. And for the moment, he was just going to hold her close.
SKY SLEPT AMAZINGLY WELL. She woke because light was coming through the windows, and she actually felt a chill.
She shouldn’t have been cold with him next to her. But he wasn’t there.
She must have slept incredibly deeply; he had gotten up and dressed and she hadn’t heard a thing.
“Chase?” She said his name softly and sitting up, she was startled to see that there was a note taped to the inside of the door.
