Page 135 of For the Love of Art

“Really?” Nathan was surprised. So was I. I figured we’d never see Han again.

“Fifty percent. No less.”

Nathan smiled and held out his hand. “Lucky for you, you caught me on a good night.”

The two men shook hands, and then Han left the way he came.

“Come on.”

Nathan took my hand and led me through the sea of people and out the back door into the alley where he’d found me at the grand opening. He pressed me against the wall, his lips again finding mine in a heated kiss. I felt dizzy from the passion.

I pulled away. “Wait–” I was cut off with another kiss. “Nathan.”

“Yes, baby, say my name,’ he said against my lips.

I pushed him away a little, and he looked wounded.

“I’m serious. I need to talk to you.”

Now he looked concerned. “What’s going on?”

“You said something in the Hamptons that freaked me out,” I admitted.

“What did I say?”

“That you could see it all with me.” Fear bit at me as I spoke. We had just come back together, but what I was about to say could tear us apart again. “Specifically children.”

Nathan nodded. “I see.”

I swallowed. “Nathan, I’m infertile. My chances of staying pregnant are really low if it even happens at all.” Tears slipped down my cheek. “I need you to know this now because if that matters to you, then you should find someone else because–”

“Hey, hey, hey. Shh.” Nathan cupped my cheeks and wiped away my tears with his thumbs.

“My marriage failed because I realized I couldn’t take another loss, but Don could. I don’t want to do that again. I can’t.”

“Isla, I’ll take any life I can get with you. Kids, no kids. Marriage, no marriage. I just want you.” Nathan pulled me against him so my cheek was to his chest. “I love you, Isla.”

“Even though my parts are broken?”

He chuckled. “For everything you are, everything you aren’t, and everything in between. I love you.”

I smiled. “I love you too.”

There, under the New York City lights, I found myself able to remove the shackles of my past and move forward in love.