I felt a strange, sudden rush of nerves as she stepped into my apartment. She looked around, sharp eyes taking in the white walls, the un-sat on sofa slung with a stupid looking fur throw. The bowl of fresh apples on the countertop that on second glance proved to be plastic fakes. These were all things I'd looked past for the few months I'd lived here. But now I wondered how it looked to her. The sterile, impersonal space was clearly the work of some unseen decorator and not my own hand. This place wasn't "home" to me. It was a place to fall asleep at night, nothing more. I hadn't had a "home" in a long, long time.

I normally didn't give a shit about how my rented apartment looked, but now suddenly I did. "This is just a temporary place," I explained to her as she turned in a slow circle in the white space of my kitchen. "I rented it when we finished the tour. Short term."

She turned with a relieved smile. "So, you're telling me I shouldn't be snooping around here for clues to tell me who you really are?"

I shook my head, struck dumb by how fucking gorgeous she was.

"How will I know who you truly are then?" she teased.

I licked my lips and swallowed hard to regain my powers of speech. "Oh, I don't know, lass. There are a couple of different tricks you could try."

Her eyes darted down to the crotch of my pants and then back up again, just a little wider. "Tricks, huh?" she said with an arched brow. "Is that what you call it?"

"Aye. Want to know the easiest way?"

"Tell me."

I narrowed my eyes. "You could ask me."

She tilted her head. Her dark eyes looked like they could see right through me. "Okay then," she said, with a lift of her chin. "I'm asking. What's the most important thing I should know about you?"

I rubbed my finger along my jaw. "Good fucking question," I mused, stalling for time.

She nodded crisply. "Thank you. Now you need to answer it."

I smiled, letting loose the grin I knew made my stupid dimple work in my favor. "The most important thing you should know about me is that I know six different ways of making you come with my left hand only."

"Only the left hand, huh?"

I nodded firmly. "My right hand can manage about eight."

I saw her catch herself to keep from laughing and instead she rolled her eyes with a toss of her head. It was my turn to chuckle. "Nothing? Last time I talked shite like that you poured cold water on my head. You're a tough nut to crack love."

She looked around the space again and hugged her arms to her chest. She seemed to shrink a little as she said, "Not so tough." Her voice sounded far away. "I'm here, aren't I?"

I stepped toward her. "Aye," I said, reaching for her. "And the most important thing for you to know right now is that I will be careful with you love." I needed her to understand. "I know you're fighting this. I don't quite know why, but I figure you'll tell me your reasons when you're ready." She looked up at me, and her hands unclenched from her arms and drifted down to her sides nodded. "Until that time, I just need you to know that you can trust me."

My mind flashed back to Jane. How I wished she had trusted me. Not like how I wanted CeCe to trust me, but to be worthy of that confidence. "Please," I nearly begged her. "Know that you can trust me."

"I do," she said, stepping forward. I held her lightly as she swayed. Almost like she was dancing. "And it scares me," she whispered. "But I do."

I bent my head to hers. "Aye lass," I whispered as I kissed her. "It scares me too." The slide of her tongue against mine felt differently now. Like there was more to it than just pure lust. I wrapped my arms tightly around her and felt the tug of a smile that she was in them. "Lucky thing though..." I mused.

"What's that?" The way her eyes were shining would be my undoing.

I slid my hands down to cup her ass, pressing her close to me, letting her feel how much I wanted her. "I've played for crowds fifty-thousand strong. I've gone skinny-dipping in the fjords in Norway. I've gone sky-diving in France. And in Arizona." I kissed her again. "I like things doing things that scare me. They are the things that are most worth doing."