“Eric . . .” I melt against him and wrap my arms around him, holding on tight. For a while we just stay like this, hanging on to each other in this perfect moment of stillness.
Eric breaks the silence first. “I made the mistake of checking our schedules for after the New Year.”
Biting back a groan, I ask, “Is it as insane as I'm afraid it is?”
“Right off the bat, you’re in Paris, I'm in Tokyo. Then you’re in Tokyo and I'm in Rome. It’s like that the whole year, basically.”
“So we wouldn’t be together at all?” I swallow hard. “I mean, maybe we could meet up somewhere in the middle?”
“Maybe,” Eric sighs. “But even then, we’d be lucky to have twelve straight hours together before we have to jet off in opposite directions.”
My heart suddenly grows heavy in my chest. None of that sounds good enough for me. I want to be with my fiancé. I can’t stand the thought of us being apart for such an extended time.
Would I rather be walking the runway or laying in his arms? For me, the answer is simple. But what about Eric? For as long as I dreamed of modeling, he’s dreamed of rocking stages. Plus, he has the band to think of.
It might not be as easy for him to step back as it would be for me.
But spending the next year apart? That’s not what I want. And if I don’t say it now, I know I’ll regret it.
“So, we could spend the next year traveling apart . . .” I offer hesitantly, trying to muster up the courage to say what I need to say. I take a shuddering breath and part my lips.
At the same exact time, Eric and I both say, “Or we could just stay home.”
Eric King
My jaw drops as I stare up into Morgan’s gorgeous face. I'm so stunned that for a second, I can’t even react to the words that just came out of her mouth.
Did she say what I think she just said? I mean, I said it too, but I didn’t expect it from her.
Has she been craving a change as much as I have?
Is that even possible?
I sit up straighter, pulling Morgan into my lap. The blankets fall away as her hair tumbles over her shoulders.
“Did we just . . . did you just . . .” I stammer out in disbelief. “What are we saying here?”
“That we should just stay home together!” she repeats, enthusiastically grabbing my shoulders and sliding further into my lap.
I instinctually wrap my arms around her, lost in her eyes. I hold her against me, fingers splayed against her hips. “By stay home, do you mean give everything up? Step away from the limelight? Settle down in one place for more than a few hours at a time?”
When she nods, I hesitantly add, “But that would mean giving up our careers. They may not be waiting for us if we ever decide to go back.”
I already know what my choice is. It’s been simmering in the back of my mind since my first day out on the road without Morgan. She’s my muse. I adore my band, but I adore her even more. She’s the one who saved me from a darkness that threatened to swallow me whole.
I honestly think I might owe her my life. If I hadn't met her, I might’ve kept sinking into the bottle until I never emerged again. And if I keep going on this path, at this breakneck pace . . . well I wouldn’t be the first musician who got too tired to fight the darkness.
But more than that, I just want to be with Morgan.
I just never thought she could be thinking the same things. She’s such an adventurous spirit, I assumed she loved all the traveling—always waking up in new cities, setting trends, falling into bed as the stars begin to fade . . . But that kind of life isn’t meant to last forever.
“You’re right,” she says, simply. “But I don’t think I care about what career I have waiting for me. All I want is you.”
She settles down against me, her endlessly long legs still straddling my thighs. She’s wearing my t-shirt. It looks better on her than it ever did on me. The thin material drapes over her curves, slinking down over one of her shoulders, exposing her gorgeous, pale skin. I press a kiss against her flesh, wondering if she can hear my heart hammering against my ribs.
Are we really having this discussion?
I might start jumping from couch to couch with excitement. I knew this Christmas was going to be one for the books, but I’d had no idea the love of my life and I were going to have a conversation of this magnitude. For the rest of my life, I'm going to think of Pine Island as a place where miracles truly do happen.
This is what I want . . . what I’ve wanted my whole life. A chance for normalcy, for love, for the family I never had.
I always thought it was too late for me. That I’d never have that kind of life. But then I met Morgan. And I swear, that girl makes anything possible.
Snapping out of my deliriously delighted daze, I focus back on Morgan. I take her face in my hands and look deep into her eyes, scrutinizing those lovely orbs for any hint of doubt.
“Are you sure that this is what you want?” I ask firmly.
She bites her lip before tentatively asking, “Is it not what you want?”
“It is . . .” I whisper, the words leaving me before I have time to think twice. “But I will not take anything away from you, Morgan. I don’t want to push you into anything you’re
