Page 96 of Dreams
“This is home,” he said, his lips brushing her ear.
“Home?” she choked out the word. “For like a hundred people?”
He laughed and shrugged. “You get used to it.”
He walked her through the house, empty except for the servants they passed.
Up the stairs and to the right was what he’d called his ‘wing’. “I hope this all doesn’t make you uncomfortable.”
“Nah,” she smiled. “I’m only into you for your money anyways.”
“Is that why you told me you love me after my career is over?” He laughed, but there was a slight bitter edge. “No multi-million dollar contracts here.”
He opened the door to his room and walked inside.
“Josh,” Taylor said, still standing at the threshold. “You know I don’t care about that, right?”
“I do now that you’re here.”
Taylor paused for a moment. Did he really think that was the reason she left? No. She shook her head to clear it of those thoughts. Josh knew her better than anyone. He’d have known.
She stepped into his room, not even bothering to look around. Her eyes were only for him. “It’s going to be okay,” she said, knowing personally how much easier that was to say than to feel.
He started to fiddle with his tie, getting frustrated that his shaky hands weren’t untying it fast enough. “Dammit,” he groused.
Taylor moved forward and put her hands on his, stilling them. He pulled them away, and she loosened his tie before pulling the loop over his head and tossing it onto the dresser.
“You’re going to be okay,” she said softly.
Josh exhaled loudly, and Taylor repeated it. “You’re going to be okay.”
She ran her hands up under his jacket and pushed it off his shoulders. “It’s okay to fall apart. God knows I have. You just have to have someone who loves you enough to be there.”
“Say that again.” The haunted look left his eyes, and the side of his mouth quirked up.
“I love you.” She smiled up at him.
He leaned down to kiss her slowly.
“I don’t want to fall apart tonight.” His voice vibrated against her lips. “Tonight I want you to hold me together.”
He kissed her more urgently this time and then broke away to search her face, asking for permission. The last barrier. The last thing that was wholly Danny’s. But she didn’t feel like she was taking it from him anymore. He was giving it back to her. Something that didn’t belong to Danny or to Josh, only to her. And she wanted to share it with the man she loved.
Nodding, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. He put his hands on her hips and lifted her onto the bed.
“I love you, Taylor Scott,” Josh whispered, his breath blowing into her hair. “I could say that a million times, and it would still ring just as true as the first.”
* * *
The sun filtered through the large windows next to the bed, creating a glow pattern across Taylor’s pale skin. Josh smiled down at her sleeping form and brought the comforter up over her bare shoulder.
He’d have to wake her up eventually, but he was enjoying some quiet by himself. Last night was the most perfect night, and now it was being tainted with all the other thoughts crowding his mind.
He’d thought hearing her tell him it was going to be okay would make him believe it. That’s what he’d wished for since she left.
But that’s not the way the world works. He’d woken up breathing heavily, with a new weight settled on his chest. Now that Taylor was back by his side, his mind focused in on what wasn’t there for him anymore. The game. His health. It’d all betrayed him, and he didn’t know what to do. There was nothing that could change it. Nothing he’d done to cause it. It just happened. And that was the hardest thing of all.
Taylor murmured something incoherent in her sleep and rolled closer to him. He wrapped his arms around her, her skin warm against his, and rested his chin on her head.
