Page 23 of Rock On

Cupping my hand behind his neck, I pulled him closer and pressed my lips to his. “I love you, too.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” I assured him.

“Fuck, Sky…”

“Soon,” I laughed, though having sex wasn’t what he’d meant. “You mentioned marriage sometime in the future, but what do you see for us now? It all seems too good to be true. I don’t know if I can go on the road with you. You’re touring—”

“No, that’s the beauty of this timing. This was our last performance of the tour. Which means I’m free for a while. For as long as I want, actually. Everyone’s ready for a break. And Spring Harbor seems like a really great place for me to recoup and write some music.” He shrugged. “To maybe even build a house with a studio in it. We’ll have to think about the last one, I guess. But I’m staying here, whether you forgive me tonight or not. If you don’t, fair warning, I plan to fight to prove myself to you.”

Pushing him backward to rest on his heels, I climbed down to kneel over him, straddling his legs. My arms wrapped around his neck. “I forgive you. I was going to make you work harder for it, but after what you did back at the concert…”

“I couldn’t let you go.”

“I’m staying. I want to work this out. Now, kiss me before I change my mind.”

“I can do better.” His hand cupped behind my head, and he brought my mouth to his while his other arm curled around my waist. Showing the strength I’d often observed, he stood, never breaking our kiss, then carried me through the bus to his room in the very back.

He kicked the door shut then climbed onto the surprisingly soft bed, me under him and him wedging his hips between my thighs.

He raised an eyebrow, smiling down at me while I ran my hands over his chest. “Shall we make the bus rock, my sweet girl?”

“I hope it’s sturdier than that.”

“I’m willing test it. You?”

“Any day. I love you, Jerrin.You. My road crew guy.”

He groaned at my teasing. “I love you, my rock shop rock star.”

I pulled his mouth back down to mine. “How about you forget about that, and I’ll never call you road crew again?”

“Deal.”

And then he kissed me, and I forgot anything but what he did to me. And what he did… That deserved a song of its own. Only for us.

Epilogue

Jerrin

I will die in your eyes; my bright happy Sky

Five years later

Jerrin was right about the wedding, but not about the baby, though it wasn’t for lack of trying on our part. And I swore the whole world had been on baby watch, too.

That first concert, someone had filmed him jumping off the stage and stopping me from leaving. Though no one knew what was said—thank you band family for playing your hearts out—there had been guesses, and it had propelled us to instant fame. Someone had even started shipping together my first name with his last and calling us Watersky. It hadn’t been our idea, but once it took off, there was no stopping it.

Things had only escalated when we’d gotten married six months after the music festival. Thank God the people of Spring Harbor couldn’t care less, though. We lived there and could walk around in peace.

That first year, Jerrin had taken offthe full twelve months. Everyone in the band was more than ready for a break, too. From the road. From each other. That had lasted all of a month before they’d all converged on the big house Jerrin and I hadrented together while our home, with a music studio, was being built on the land I’d inherited from my grandparents.

By day, he’d written music with them.

By night, and any other time we could manage privacy, we’d spenta lotof time in bed. Or against walls. Or on whatever surface was available.

But then, the music festival had rolled around andWaterstonehad used it to kick off the next tour. Much to my sister’s delight, I’d traveled with them. Much to my delight, she didn’t kill Jerrin. It evened out.

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