After seeing Max I’d made arrangements to come home the next day.

I’d packed up my bags, given notice at the hotel, and hopped the first plane I could get.

Boston wasn’t as warm as California, but the snow had gone since I’d left. With spring around the corner, the grass was starting to grow and it felt like the long winter was over.

Now I was standing on the familiar porch of the familiar Victorian, looking into a familiar pair of brown eyes filled with unfamiliar compassion.

“Is she here?”

I couldn’t bother with niceties today. Maybe Sam’s dad got that, because he pulled off his glasses and sighed. “Samantha left home a month ago.”

Everything inside me collapsed at once.

“Where can I find her?”

Mr. Martinez reached out a hand and I braced myself in case he tried to shut the door in my face.

Instead, he only held the porch screen door open wider.

“I will give you the address.”

Relief washed over me as he recited it, and I took it down on my phone, pausing when he got to the end. “Seriously? Thank you.”

I started to turn around and he stopped me with his voice.

“Mr. McKay.” I turned back to find him studying me. He’d seen me in hoodies and in suits, but my jeans and windbreaker didn’t seem to interest him. In fact, it felt like he was looking beneath the surface. “I trusted you to look after my daughter many years ago.”

I shoved my hands in my pockets, along with my phone. “And I fucked it up.”

“Not at all. You far exceeded my expectations. I couldn’t have asked for someone better.” He cleared his throat. “She’s everything I have.”

My chest tightened. “I know what that feels like.”

The parking lot at LIVE was half-full, even though the sign out front said there was no show tonight.

When I walked in the door, I knew I was in the right place.

The overhead light was dim, and only half the pieces on the walls were lit. Like whoever had done it was more concerned that the canvases were hung rather than that they were shown to their best advantage.

There was no attendant to take coats, no one offering wine—not even Charlie, though it was clear she’d helped orchestrate this.

Still, two dozen people stood around the club, studying the walls.

It was nothing like the crowd that’d been at Jonathan’s gallery. There were teenagers here, and no one was on their phones.

I stopped under the first painting.

Dark lines, full of motion and emotion, on a white canvas.

I took my time, drowning in piece after piece. One image I recognized from online profile. Others were new.

“These are really cool.”

“Thank you. Do you like to draw?”

Her voice penetrated my thoughts, and I turned to see her standing talking to a kid who couldn’t have been more than eighteen.

“Yeah. I tried taking art class, but I don’t like it.”

I knew the moment Sam felt my presence because her shoulders straightened.

I looked past her at the canvas. It was a man, sitting on a couch. His legs stretched in front of him. A half-smile on his face and a look of utter fascination in his eyes.

“You finished it,” I murmured.

“From memory.” Sam turned toward me.

I hadn’t forgotten her, but she’d been blurred in my mind. Here she was real, and I ached as much having her close as I had being far away.

Her hair fell in shining waves to her shoulders. Her eyes were lined, her lips bare. She wore dark jeans that clung to legs I remembered wrapped around me, and short black boots that added a couple of inches to her height.

I shoved my hands in my pockets, feeling strangely underdressed for once. “Charlie told me about your gallery show. It sounds like a big deal. I fucked up, pressuring you to come with me. I’m sorry I didn’t understand.”

She nodded. “It’s okay. But it’s not all I’m excited about.” She took a breath. “I was looking back at the auction we posted, and some of the comments on it. There were hundreds of them. People love Phoenix. It was such a high to see them engage in the concepts, the characters. I realized I do love this work, Lee. I love creating characters and bringing them to life. If that’s somehow less than what I learned in France…” she shrugged. “I’m okay with it.”

“Is this why you linked this profile to your website?”

“Yeah.” Sam glanced around the room, her gaze lingering on each of the images in turn. The light from the dimmed overheads gave the images on the walls more life. “You were right. Part of me was afraid to acknowledge it. But if someone—Jonathan, Clayton, my dad, anyone in the industry—has a problem with my work, that’s too bad. I’m not hiding anymore.”

“Sam, for what it’s worth, your dad adores you. And it has nothing to do with your work and everything to do with who you are.”

Her eyes shone. “I know. And this isn’t just what I do. It’s part of me, of the person I was.”

My heart skipped as I resisted the urge to step into her. “Only the person you were?”

She was surrounded by everything she’d created. Everything that came from inside her. And I’d never wanted her more.

Her lips curved at the corner. “What are you doing here, Lee?”

“When I went to LA, I thought I might find something there. And I did. I realized I didn’t need to leave Titan or Boston to have something that was mine. Because this feeling in me, this trying to figure out what I’m looking for… I figured it out.

“What I’ve been looking for was you.” I stepped closer, unable to resist the emotion that washed over me. My hands found her hips, my thumbs stroking the indentation above them and feeling her shiver. “Every second I’m with you feels selfish. It’s so damned good that it feels like all I’m doing is taking. But I know it’s not because I see your face and I know you’re in it with me. I’m so in love with you, Sam. And no matter how you feel, I’m not sure I can ever stop.”

“You mean that?” she whispered, and I nodded. “I love you too, Lee. Being without you this past month sucked. I thought I could go back to the way things were, but I couldn’t. Knowing you were out there, and that I could have had you…” her smile wavered. “You’re a tough act to follow, McKay.”

The words, the trembling edge in her voice had me longing to do a hundred things I couldn’t. Whispering my apologies in her ears until my throat was hoarse. Dragging her into my arms and kissing her until we were both aching. Pulling her into a dark corner and showing her with my body, my hands, how much I’d missed her—how no one could ever take her place.

“So what’s next?” she asked.

“I’m coming back,” I told her. “To Boston, and Titan. Max and I talked on the plane on the way home. We brokered a new platform deal that will ensure we don’t run out of cash for at least a couple of years. With that funding we’ve decided to hire a new administrative officer to make sure nothing falls through the cracks. I’m going focus on expanding our brand, keeping up with opportunities like the Phoenix movie. Speaking of, we could use someone to do concept art, after you’re done with the gallery show.” I reached out to brush a strand of hair from her face.

She flushed guiltily. “Actually, I did some research into the scholarship program at MassArt back when you were talking about donating money to them. Turns out they were actually looking for a sessional instructor. Someone pulled out for a course in the fall semester, and I’m going to be filling in to teach.”

“No way.”

She nodded. “I sent them my portfolio—both my work from France and the concept art—they loved it. Said the fact that I did both, the mix of techniques, appealed to the current generation of students. Or something like that.”

“You’re amazing.”

“Why thank you.”

I frowned. “There’s just one problem. I was planning on having my second bedroom renovated into a studio. But I’d need a roommate who’s into art to make that worthwhile.”

She arched a brow. “My lease is month to month, so in two weeks, there might be a roommate available.”

Her lips curved in a smile that made my soul ache for missing it.

“Thank God. I called this contractor about restoring the moldings, and it was going to be a helluva waste without someone to admire them.”

I kissed her because I couldn’t help myself.

Her mouth warmed under mine, welcoming me home.

It’d been too long since I’d seen her, and what was intended to be a greeting turned into more when my hands slid down to her ass, pulling her against me and rocking my hips toward her.

“Okay, this is a family establishment. At least for tonight.” We broke apart. I grinned at Charlie, who stood on the other side of the room, arms folded in front of her and a smirk on her face.

When I finally turned back to stare at Sam’s dazed face, I asked, “What’re you thinking?”

“Everything. That I love you. That I can’t wait to see the studio. That I miss you and I kind of want to bail on this place so we can catch up for real.”

I cleared my throat. “That’s a lot of thoughts. Let me know if you want help deciding which to do first.” I stepped closer to her. “So that’s a yes to moving in with me?”

Her mouth curved up. “It’s a yes.”

“Sweet. And we can have Dawson’s Creek style sleepovers?” I lifted my eyebrows. “But less existential talk and more existential sex?”

She snorted, and it was the best sound I’d ever heard in my life.

Until she said, “Deal.”