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She nods, weaving her hands together in front of her. “What are you doing here? Beck told me you took a meeting with Zeke and he offered to sign you again.Congratulations.”
“I didn’tsign.”
Annie lifts her chin, eyes widening in surprise. “Whynot?”
Because you’re my business. More so than any agents orproducers.
I want to close all the distance between us but settle for half ofit.
“I was sitting in the chair across from him and thinking about what happened the last time I signed, and I realizedsomething.”
I take a slow breath, not missing the significance of this moment, of what I’m about to say—of what I can’t keep inside anylonger.
“I didn’t go off the rails because of my dad or the contract or New York. It was because I was finally starting to believe in my dreams and you weren’t there forit.”
Annie’s eyes shine, and I force myself to keep going because I have to get through what I came here to say, and if she breaks down, it’s gonna be evenharder.
“I know you think I chose Jax over you. But I chose you a long time ago. Over everything and everyone. And you choseme.”
I shove both hands through my hair, the emotions risingup.
“When you gave me that guitar in high school, you gave me you. I was too young and stupid to understand that. I was convinced our feelings would fuck up your life or mine. But twice I’ve had that moment where my dreams are about to come true, and twice it’s been meaningless without you. And I know I’m stubborn, but I won’t make the samemistake.”
The distance between us is unbearable, so I close it, wrapping my hands around her bare arms under the T-shirt sleeves. “I see you, Annie. I’ve always seen you. At your best, your worst, everything in between. And even when you fuck things up, I want a front-row seat because it’s so damn beautiful.” My voice cracks. “I love you, Six. You’re the only song I wanna sing, the only movie I wanna watch, the only”—now I’m grasping—“food I wannaeat.”
Annie sucks in a trembling breath as her gaze searches my face as if she’s looking for evidence of mywords.
She’ll find it. On every inch of me, she’ll findit.
“Beck told me what you did by stepping back from the showcase for me,” I continue, needing to finish. “I wish you hadn’t, and I would have tried to stop you if I’d known, but I can’t seem to stop you from doing anything. It’s maddening, and it’s one more thing I love aboutyou.””
I brush a thumb across her lower lip because the pull between us it too strong to resist. She doesn’t try to stop me, and the softness of her skin, coupled with the way she lets me touch her, has conviction and possessiveness risingup.
“Now it’s my turn to do something you don’t want. You asked me for space, and I tried to give it to you. But I won’t let you push me away because you think anything, anyone, matters more to me than you. You’ll always bewrong.”
We’re standing flush, her chest brushing mine in a way that reminds me she’s practicallynaked.
Her expression’s colored with caring and something more than that, something bold and edgy, and it tugs atme.
“You want to eat me?” she askssoftly.
I slide my fingers into her damp hair, cupping her face. “That’s what you took from myspeech?”
She bites her lip, and my thumb strokes up her soft jaw in a way that makes her eyesdarken.
“I love you too,Tyler.”
Holyfuck.
My chest expands until it’s near breaking. Her throat works, her hands wrapping around my wrists. But instead of pulling me away, she just holds them. Her dark lashes flutter as her attention drops to mymouth.
I never expected hearing those words would hit me so hard, but itdoes.
Maybe I’ve been waiting to hear them for longer than Ithought.
“That’s it?” I whisper even though I’m shaking, adoration blurring with the desire her touch stirs in me. “No poems, no songs, noanything?”
She shakes her head. “We don’t needthem.”
