The crowd roared their approval as the song came to a close. Stevie breathed it in. She couldn’t explain how the crowd’s energy infused her; how it made her feel so alive. She loved this feeling and it wasn’t just the adoration. It was more like validation for who she was and what she did and there weren’t many times in her life when she felt so absolutely complete.

The sound of a lone guitar began to play and the crowd fell silent. Stevie froze. This wasn’t part of the set. She hadn’t played this song in over five years. She looked around for Jace, but her eyes caught on the massive screen that was at the back of the stage. There she was, on the screen, sitting on a stool on the stage at the Red Boot with her guitar and Nate was sitting beside her. The crowd erupted as she stood there staring at the screen and wondering how the hell this was happening.

A second guitar joined the first, except it wasn’t coming from the video that was playing. Stevie whipped her head around to see Nate walking out on stage playing his battered acoustic, the same one that was in the video. The crowd roared when they saw him. Someone handed her a guitar and she knew without looking that it was her Takamine, the same one as in the video. She was too stunned to react, but her fingers curled around the neck and found the chords even before her brain engaged. The sound of the video was muted as she and Nate played the intro again. He came to stand beside her with a rueful smile on his face.

“Nate Nash, everyone,” Jace said into his mic and the crowd screamed their approval.

“I hope you don’t mind,” he said and although he was mic’ed, Stevie knew he was aiming the comment at her. She shook her head and cleared her throat. Nate looked out into the crowd and smiled. “How’re you all doing tonight,” he called to the crowd and they cheered their response. “I hope you don’t mind me hijacking Court’n Jacks’ gig, but if you don’t know, we have a song out together.” The audience responded and Stevie could see the same showmanship that she’d glimpsed long ago. “What you may not know is that Stevie and I used to sing and play together years ago and if she’ll join me, I’d like to do one of our old songs.”

Stevie’s eyes widened as the stadium erupted once again. “Are you sure?” Stevie whispered furiously to him.

“Oh yeah,” he said with a smile and kissed her cheek which was met with screams from the audience.

Nate began to play the song again and Stevie joined in. It was a song that had once meant so much to her but one that she no longer played. She had written it for Nate and when he had left her for Rocksteady, it had hurt too much to play it.

“When the road gets rough,” Nate sang and Stevie closed her eyes as his voice flowed over her. “When the sun won’t seem to set. When the work is hard and the day is long, I think of you.”

“When the night is dark,” Stevie took up her part, “When there’s no moon or stars. When sleep won’t come and dawn seems too far away, I think of you.”

They sang the chorus together and something in Stevie’s heart broke open.

They sang together and Stevie couldn’t tear her eyes away from Nate. She felt some sort of déjà vu or out-of-body experience. The world got a little wobbly and the stadium melted away until it was just Stevie and Nate with their battered guitars singing a song she wrote. Did he know it was about him, before all that shit happened?

The song ended and there was a beat of silence. Nate leaned towards her and cradled her face in his hands before kissing her on the lips and a storm broke over the crowd, the noise was so loud.

“I love you,” he whispered against her lips so that no one else could hear them.

“I love you too,” she whispered back before kissing him again.

He pulled back and grinned at her and then turned to the stage to signal the band and the intro to ‘No Good for You’ began. Stevie had to mentally give herself a shake to bring her brain back to the here and now. They were on stage and she had a concert to finish. She had no fucking clue what was going on and what Nate’s declaration meant. She was too scared to get her hopes up, but having him on the stage beside her singing their song together felt right and lifted her spirits. Maybe, just maybe, they had a chance to make whatever was between them work.

They left the stage hand in hand. Stevie’s mind was a fog as she went through the backstage. She was on autopilot. She just needed to get to the dressing room with Nate. They needed to talk, she needed an explanation. And she needed him to kiss her again, properly this time with tongue and teeth and his arms around her. She needed to feel his body pressed up against hers without guitars in the way and without a million eyes watching them.

People congratulated them. People slapped them both on the back. Words of praise were yelled at them, but Stevie heard none of it. She was focused only on the hand holding hers and the direction they were heading. It felt like a dream, like she was moving against the current and she couldn’t get to where she needed to be. Eventually the crowd that had gathered backstage, the crowd that had been pressing in on her and impeding her progress, parted and she was standing before her dressing room door. Nate stepped in front of her and opened the door, pulling her inside and then closing it. He pushed her up against it and she smelled the distinct scent of him as he lowered his mouth to hers. The familiar weight of his body against her broke down the last of her walls and he kissed her. She opened to him greedily. This was not a tentative, exploratory kiss. This was all hunger and need. She needed to taste him. She needed to feel the silky slide of his tongue against hers.

Her hands fumbled with his shirt, desperate to get to the warm skin beneath. He did that thing where he pulled his shirt over his head with one hand and her fingers eagerly skimmed over the exposed skin, re-learning the hills and valleys.

“Stevie,” he mumbled, but she shushed him with another drugging kiss.

“Not now,” she said as she licked the side of his neck tasting his sweat. “After. Need you now.”

He took a breath and stepped back. She looked up at him with something akin to hurt on her face. It was the hardest thing he had ever done, but they needed to talk before the fell into each other’s arms again.

“We need to talk now,” he said softly.

She huffed out an exasperated breath and thunked her head back against the door.

“I was wrong,” he said.

“Huh?” She opened her eyes to look at him.

“I was wrong, when I said I was no good for you.”

She smiled at him and he sucked in a breath. God she was beautiful.

“You were,” she said. “Luckily I didn’t believe you. You needed space to figure your own shit out and I get that. I know there’s more we need to talk about and we will, I promise, but first I need you. I’ve missed you so much and right now all I want to do is remember the good things between us. We can talk logistics and all that other bullshit later. Right now I’m desperate for you, without the talking.”

He didn’t need to be told again. Nate had missed her too and wanted her with every fiber of his being. He pulled off her shirt and nipped at her shoulder. Her hands were busy at his buckle, desperate to get him naked as quickly as possible. She could feel his cock straining against the denim and wanted to free him and hold the heavy length in her hands. She groaned at the thought of his velvet heat filling her palms as her fingers curled around his thick girth and doubled her efforts to get his buckle undone.

Nate, meanwhile, had unclasped her bra and palmed her breasts. She shivered with delight as he lowered his hot mouth to one tip and sucked her hungrily. Finally his buckle came free and then the button on his jeans. She unzipped him, careful not to damage him, and shoved her hands inside, eager to feel him. He thrust into her hands as she gripped his cock and they both groaned, the vibration buzzing against her breast and sending heat straight to her clit.

His hands found the hem of her skirt and shoved it up to her waist. Then he was pulling at her panties as she pushed his jeans and boxers from his hips. He caught them before they fell and pulled out his wallet, retrieving the magical condom from inside it. She grabbed at it and tore it open, desperate to feel him inside her. She rolled it on and then he was pushing into her. He pressed her against the wall and she lifted her legs, clasping them around his hips as he sunk into her, filling her. She sighed as she let her eyes roll back and her lids flutter shut. He nuzzled her neck as they stood, joined, and took a moment to enjoy the feel of each other.

“Nate,” she breathed as she wiggled in his arms. The need for him to move became desperate. She wanted to feel the long slide of him against her core, she wanted to feel the thrusting of his hips as he pushed into her again and again, touching her where only he could. He sunk his teeth into her neck as he pulled out. Her fingers dug into the flesh of his shoulders and she tightened her legs around him, urging him back in. He thrust hard, the door behind her rattling with the force of his thrust. She didn’t care, she wanted more.

“Harder,” she said, “Faster.”

It would be easy to think that this was just adrenalin from the show. Or maybe it was just loneliness and mutual need. But to Stevie it felt so much more than that. Sex had never been like this with anyone other than Nate. It wasn’t that he was some super sex god with a magical cock. It was because it was more than just a joining of bodies, it was also a joining of hearts. A joining of souls. That was why it felt this way with Nate and no one else. He was, and had always been, her soulmate.

“So good,” he growled in her ear as he pistoned into her. She could only moan in response.

Her nails scored the bare skin on his back as her climax bore down on her. Weeks of missing him, weeks of dreaming about him had left her aching and needy and the relief of finally having him inside her, of having his hands all over her and his mouth nipping and sucking her skin pushed her orgasm forward with power. She felt the moment when everything seemed to slow and the world faded just before it exploded into a million tiny pieces. She cried out and Nate stilled, his body stiffening as he came, hard. He fell against her, panting. They somehow slid down the door until they were lying in a tangled heap of arms and legs.

Nate looked at her and lifted a hand to brush a stray curl from her eyes. The look in his eyes was intense and she felt she could see into his very soul.

“I love you, Stevie,” he said before kissing her tenderly.

They managed to get dressed and slip out of the dressing room and into Nate’s rental car without anyone seeing them. Stevie figured people knew they needed this time and had purposely avoided them. Whatever the reason, she was grateful. She didn’t even care where they were going, she just let Nate drive.

“Stevie,” he said softly, his hand coming to rest on her thigh. “We’re here.”

She opened her eyes and smiled as her door was opened by a valet. She stepped out and waited for Nate. He put a hand on the small of her back and led her into the lobby of the hotel. They went straight to the elevators and stepped inside. Nate pulled her against his body and she rested her head on his chest as the elevator rose. The elevator dinged and the doors opened and Nate led her through the door to his room. As the door closed, he pulled her into his arms again and just held her. Her arms wound around him and she soaked him in.

“I owe you an explanation,” he murmured and when she went to pull away, he held her tighter. “Not yet,” he said into her hair and she relaxed against him.

“I was a coward,” he said. “I’ve always been a coward. I signed with Rocksteady because I was afraid. I let them make all the decisions in my career because I was afraid. And when I was finally pulling myself out of the pile of crap being with them had landed me in, I walked away from you a second time because I was afraid.”

“Nate,” she began but he cut her off.

“Shh. Let me finish. I need to say this.” She settled against him and listened to the rumble of his voice through his chest.

“Working with you in Nashville was more than I could have ever hoped for. You talking to me again after everything I did was a minor miracle. I never expected things to ever get beyond that. But then you blew me away with your forgiveness and your love. I’ve never experienced anything like it before. You know my past with my family and I couldn’t quite believe that you could really be in love with me. People only ever seemed to love me when I could do something for them. I should have known that you weren’t like that. You have been the only person who has seen the real me and accepted me just as I am. The power you had over me scared me. I didn’t know how to cope with all these big emotions. I felt so guilty for what I had done to you and I didn’t think I deserved another chance. I didn’t want to taint your career with the stink of my own and I just thought that you would be better off without me.”

“Oh Nate,” she breathed, tightening her arms around him.

“The fact is,” he said, brushing a kiss across the top of her head, “without you in my life I am an empty shell. Nothing seems to fill me or make the emptiness go away. Only you. It’s always been you. I love you Stevie. I think I’ve loved you since the moment I met you. I know I’ve been an ass and treated you badly, but I would be a moron as well as an ass if I didn’t ask you if you could forgive me. Forgive me and maybe give me another chance. I promise to stick around this time if you’ll have me.”

Stevie pulled away from Nate, but only enough so that she could see his face. She slid her hands up his chest and around his neck as she looked into his eyes. This was the man that had caused her both incredible heartache and some of the best moments in her life. They were tied together, their worlds entwined and without him in her life, she was only living half a life.

“I think,” she started, her voice husky and broken, “that it’s only the ones closest to us that can really hurt us. You have hurt me Nate—” he began to pull away, but she linked her fingers, refusing to let go. “But I know I’ve hurt you too. I should have stopped to listen to you when you told me about the deal with Rocksteady. I should have talked to you about the songs you wanted to use on your first album instead of trying to pretend you didn’t exist. You needed me then and I wasn’t there for you. I was too caught up in my own shit to see that you were struggling. I was offended that Gina wanted you and not me and I took that out on you. I would never have met Derek if not for you and if I hadn’t met him then none of this would be happening right now. Even when I shunned you, you were still trying to make amends, you were still reaching out to me. I have only ever been in love with one person and that person is you. I want us to try again. I want us to see if we can finally make this thing work between us. I love you Nate and I want you in my life.”

He searched her eyes and a small smile began to stretch his lips. “You mean it?’

She nodded. “I mean it.”

He dipped his head and kissed her slowly, taking his time to make love to her mouth. She melted into him, her knees going weak and her head going fuzzy. How this man could kiss.

Nate could hardly believe that Stevie was willing to give him another chance. It had seemed that their entire lives they had been out of step, a little off beat but maybe, finally, they could find the beat together. He lifted his head and gazed down at her. He traced the contours of her face with his eyes, committing them to memory. How had he ever been stupid enough to walk away from her?

“Nate?” she asked, looking up at him questioningly.

“Come to bed,” he said, brushing a light kiss on her lips. “Come to bed and let me love you.”

She followed him through the suite to his bedroom. He turned off the lights, but left one lamp burning. In the soft light he undressed her slowly, relishing each bit of skin he uncovered. They took turns removing one another’s clothing until they were both naked. He laid her on the bed and kissed his way down her body, taking his time and relishing the feel of her skin against his lips. He plucked at her tight nipples, rolling them between his fingertip as he brushed a kiss on the underside of her breast. His hands cupped her flesh, caressing it. He loved the softness of her skin against the callouses on his fingertips and the way it prickled with goosebumps as he glided his fingers over it.

Her fingers brushed across his shoulders and burrowed into his hair. The scratchiness of the hardened skin on her fingertips was a counterpoint to the softness of her everywhere else. They had matching callouses from years playing the guitar and he loved that they had that in common.

He kissed a line between her breasts and then sucked one tip into his mouth. She arched her back and made a soft mewling sound that made his cock throb. He bit down gently and she moaned, rocking her hips into his and making him suck in a breath. He wasn’t inside her yet, but his cock was snugged up against her core, sliding through the slick folds, her heat enveloping him. It wouldn’t take much to slide into her, just a shift of his pelvis and the head of his cock would be notched against her entrance. But he wanted to prolong the moment as long as he could. He wanted to build the anticipation for both of them.

He inched further down her body, licking the skin across her torso and nipping at her navel. She widened her legs letting him settle between them and he breathed in the scent of her arousal. For years he’d used sex as a way to forget but tonight he wanted to remember everything. The scent of her skin, the taste of her, the sounds she made and the feel of her skin beneath his. He nuzzled the crease of her thigh, running his nose along the sensitive skin and she threaded her fingers into his hair, tugging slightly as she rocked her hips silently asking for more.

He smiled and then licked her. One long, slow lick through her folds and up around her clit. She cried out and his body responded, his cock hardening further and begging for a turn. He did it again, harder this time and then drew her hard nub between his lips and sucked. Her hips rose off the bed and her fingers tugged at his hair. He released her and then blew a steady stream of warm air over her wet clit. Her thighs tightened around his head and she cried out again.

“Nate!”

He smiled as he opened his mouth over her. He loved how responsive she was. He loved everything about her. He slid a finger into her and felt the muscle clamp down around it. He added a second one and sucked her clit into his mouth again. She bucked against him and he used his other hand to keep her still. He slid his fingers in and out slowly as he continued to lap and suckle her. Her breathing became ragged and her head thrashed as her orgasm approached. He could feel the muscles tighten around his fingers and her clit swelled under his tongue. He lifted his head and used his thumb to worry the hard little nub as he bit down in her thigh. She cried out and her hips rose as her climax crashed over her, a keening cry leaving her mouth as he licked across her clit once more. She shook with the force of her orgasm and he slowly removed his fingers as the muscles grabbed at them.

He reached for the bedside where he had stashed some condoms, but she stopped him. Their eyes connected and he held his breath.

“I haven’t been with anyone since you,” she said. “I’m clean and on birth control. I want just you tonight.”

“I haven’t been with anyone else either,” he said as he crawled over her and rested his elbows either side of her head. “I’m clean and you’re the only one I’ve wanted to be with since you came back into my life.”

She smiled up at him and his heart cracked open. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for this woman.

“Make love to me Nate,” she whispered.

He shifted his hips and slid into her as he leaned down to kiss her. He felt like he’d come home.