This girl had been my very best friend for years. Through college and into the first few years of my garage band status. It seemed only right to have her here while I was changing my whole life one more time. She was my constant. Even with a two-year gap, she was the one touchtone I’d never been without. She didn’t know how many times I’d almost called her from the road. Almost showed up on her porch.

Almost begged her to come on the road with me.

I knew it was a mistake. That night when we’d kissed, I’d known it was a mistake and yet I’d done it anyway. But walking away had been for her. And selfishly, for me. Navigating fame and the tour had been grueling. I couldn’t have put her through that.

Or asked her to wait.

I’d tasted her wide, lush mouth and knew ruin on a foundational level. That single kiss had been better than any other I’d had with the dozens of women who had rolled in and out of my life.

Not nearly as many as the music rags and blogs liked to pin on me. If a woman stood next to me, the paparazzi assumed we were fucking. First of all, no. Hell no, for most of them. And secondly, no man had that kind of stamina. Not even my whole band combined.

“I’m here for your surprise, remember?”

She frowned at me. “What kind of surprise?”

“That would ruin the…” I widened my eyes comically.

“Surprise,” she said with a groan. She popped the top off her coffee and gulped it down in a few swigs. A girl after my own heart.

Coffee was life blood.

Well, until I got another taste of Fee. I’d lived on the memory of that kiss for a damn long time. Either I’d built it up in my head to a feat close to nirvana, or she was going to kill me when I got her under me.

Either way, I was good with the collateral damage. This time I was putting everything on the line. My heart, my pride, and more importantly, my future.

She leaned forward and wrapped the blanket around her, but not before I got a glimpse of her rubber ducky panties one more time. Along with the long, enticing stretch of tanned flesh and a little tattoo at her hip.

Hmm.

I’d be interested to see what that was. I would have bet money that Felicity had virgin skin.

She tossed a look over her shoulder. “Really?”

I lifted my cup to my lips. “Looking damn good, Fee,” I said before taking a sip. It covered up the slack-jawed idiot look. Mostly.

I hoped.

She huffed as she turned the blanket into a cloak and hid all the good stuff before heading down the hallway.

“I’ll just wait here,” I called.

A sparkly middle finger was her only answer. I laughed and dug out my phone to make sure my realtor had gotten the papers in order. Getting a house into escrow in ten days was a feat and a half. And it had cost me a bit extra. No haggling and paying ten percent over listing price got things moving a bit faster.

It was all the other things that took time. I dug for the email with the details as the shower started.

Yeah, that wasn’t distracting in the least.

Fuck.

I stood up and paced as I read through emails and actively ignored messages from my band members. A third one had come in last night from our frontman. We hadn’t announced it to the public yet, but I was officially off the roster.

The ex-keyboardist.

It was a weird feeling. I felt lighter and yet I was somehow still restless. Settling down with Felicity was just what I needed. The house and some stability. A place for her and me to really give this relationship thing a go.

I’d never felt more alone than when I’d left her behind. Hell, my lyric book screamed it with every stupid song I couldn’t finish.

The one thing I knew was that all of the songs revolved around finding something.

Someone.

It had to be her.

The moment I’d stepped back into Baltimore, I’d felt the change. Now to just get her on board with my plan.

My phone vibrated and rang in my hand as I was about to email my realtor. “Hey, Justine.”

“I’ve got great news, Mr. Vaughn.”

“Myles, remember?”

“Right.” The woman was old enough to be my mother, but she was a damn shark when it came to getting shit done. “I heard back from the inspector. The house has a few minor problems, but nothing they won’t be able to fix without—”

“As is.” I didn’t even want to know. “If it’s minor, I’ll take care of it.”

“But Mr. Vaughn—”

“I don’t want to hold up the sale.”

She blew out a breath. “All right. I’ll sign off on it. The keys will be in your hands by Friday.”

“Can it be any earlier?”

“I’m sorry. As it is, I’m calling in favors to get it done this week.”

“That’s fine. As long as I can still go over there today.”

“Yes, you have the realtor code. You can definitely go over there and stay as long as you wish. The staging furniture is still there until tomorrow.”

I weaved my way through Felicity’s small living room and stopped in front of a stack of bags. I frowned. Coming or going?

No.

She couldn’t be.

Last day at work. She had her own business now. Getting her own place maybe?

“I filled the fridge with drinks and a few picnic things, as you asked.”

I blinked back into the conversation. “That’s great. I can show it to her with some furniture in there.”

“Is everything all right?”

“Yes.” I turned my back on the stack of bags and found Fee in the middle of the hallway, her face stony. Dammit. I didn’t want her closed off. And I didn’t want to know anything about those suitcases.

Not now.

I couldn’t lose her again.

“You said the code was the same?”

“Yes. Of course. Just make sure you don’t stay there overnight.”

“Absolutely.” That was an outright lie. My plan was to hold her hostage in that damn house until she owned up to the idea that we were supposed to be together.

Period.

And I was going to show her in every way imaginable.

“Thank you, Justine. I’ll talk to you soon.” I hung up before she could answer. Or warn me about thirteen more things.

There was only one focus in my life right now. It was the woman right before me with her damp hair and fresh face. Felicity had never been one to worry about makeup and all the veils and masks that most women used.

She’d always just been Fee. So much the same, and so very different.

I crossed the room and hesitation bloomed on her face. I forced myself to bypass that. To show her no mercy. To not let her say no. Or at least make points against every argument she could ever bring up.

And I was going to start dirty.

And I didn’t even care.

I curled my arm around her back and hauled her up against me. The surprised squeak turned into a growl, but I didn’t let myself overthink it.

I didn’t let fear stop me.

I threaded my fingers through her cool, silky hair and covered her mouth.

I wondered for a hot second if I’d gone too far, but then her hands were gripping my shirt. Her nails climbed up my shoulder and around my neck as the kiss went white hot in the space of a breath.

It was everything I remembered and more.

Nothing tentative or sad this time. She was angry and wild, perfection and annihilation in one breath. I dragged her closer, angling to get more, take everything.

She met me for each lick and stroke of tongue, each groan of realization and surprise. One kiss had never been enough.

I’d known it that day.

Had relived it on nights when I couldn’t keep the demons at bay. When missing her had been a black hole of loneliness, which turned the disillusionment of the road into a rock-hard amalgam of anger.

I couldn’t find my way out of it.

Even now, I was terrified that I still wouldn’t get me—get us—all the way back.

The record company, my friends, my music—all of it had been gray and lifeless without her.

“Myles.”

My lips raced down her neck and to her shoulder. I could still taste the shower on her. Droplets on her skin that I licked off. It reminded me of the days on the river. Her golden skin dotted with water as we lay on the docks sunning between swimming and kayaking.

All those summer days I’d wanted to roll over and kiss every inch of her, but I’d held back. The friendship we’d cultivated for years seemed too fragile to test. Especially when I didn’t know what I was doing or where I was going.

So many wasted moments.

I was determined not to waste another one.

“Don’t ask questions. Don’t say no. Please.” I pulled back enough to meet her gaze. Her eyes were heavy and unfocused. Exactly how I wanted her. Not thinking, not planning, not devising reasons to say no.

“I…”

I brushed my nose along hers. “Say yes. Today, say yes.”

“Damn you,” she whispered, lifting her mouth to mine. Her fingers slid under my shirt and up my back.

I shivered.

Manfully…maybe.

Oh hell, I didn’t care right now. I just wanted her to touch me. To really touch me, and not hold back. My plan had been to seduce her at the house I’d bought. To show her that we could create something together.

But fuck it.

If this was how it was going to happen, then I wasn’t going to stop it. I’d reshuffle the pieces like I always did.

I lifted her and she hooked her legs around my waist. I boosted her higher on me and filled my hands with the sweet curve of her ass. She’d been built for me. I’d known it forever. No other woman fit me like she did. On the couch, in a bed, side by side—it didn’t matter.

We always lined up perfectly.

Skin to skin was the next natural step. One I’d been waiting for seven long years to experience.

Her mouth was feverish on mine. As with everything Fee did, once she was in, she was all in.

She tasted of mint and a trace of the coffee I’d brought to her. She smelled of wildflowers and honey. A heady and fresh combination.

I took in every detail. The freckle under her chin at the center of fragile skin that led to her long neck. Her collarbone and the little chip of a ruby that rested there. It matched mine.

How had I not seen that before?

Maybe because I hadn’t been ready to see it.

I tucked my tongue under the necklace to get to the skin there. Her head tilted back to give me more access and her long hair teased over my forearms. My cock twitched in reaction to the softness.

I’d wanted her for so very long.

So long that my body had been on lockdown with my heart for too many years to count. It was roaring to life now. I tried to throttle back the onslaught of emotions and lust, but they wouldn’t be denied.

I swung her around and bashed my ankle into one of her bags. I growled as I kicked it out of the way until I could crowd her into the wall, to feel every inch of her against me once more.

She reached down between us and the zip and snap of her jeans made my dick harden even more.

Old wood paneling scraped my knuckles as I dragged her jeans off her ass. She lowered one foot to the floor for support and we managed to get her out of her jeans with only a little bit of shuffling.

When she was left with only bright pink lace between her skin and mine, I laughed. “I kinda miss the duckies,” I said against her mouth as I looked down between us.

“You’ll only miss them for a second.”

“Truth,” I muttered against her mouth, and then she was up and around me again. The silk and lace were just enough of a barrier for me to get my shit straight.

First times weren’t supposed to highlight my near two-pump-chump status.

She deserved more than that.

I was going to give her more than that.

I lowered her feet to the floor again and kissed her hard before dropping to my knees before her.