Page 65 of Wish You Knew
She let out a small laugh. “None. It’s only ever been you.”
I closed the distance between us, taking her hands in mine. She was shaking, the movement making her dress catch the light, truly beautiful. “If it was only ever me, then…?”
Her eyes didn’t leave mine. “I might not be able to write a song for you, but I can tell you that I don’t want to be with anyone else. I don’t want you to be with anyone else either. Seeing you with other women hurts.” She dropped her head. “And I know I only see the gossip column version of what happens, and my assumptions might not be entirely accurate, but you’re Scott Lincoln, rock star.”
I bent my head, resting my forehead against hers. “You might not believe me. But anything you’ve seen in the past few weeks, nothing happened with those women. Nothing. I’ve only been with you, and I only want to be with you.”
A sob caught in her throat.
“When I saw you with that Andy guy, my jealousy took me by surprise. Even the thought of you with someone else killed me. But I didn’t know how to tell you.” I paused. “There’s one way I can express myself and that’s through the music. When I started writing that song, all the emotions I had flooded out. That’s when I knew how to tell you.”
“I need you to play it to me again,” she whispered.
“Now?”
Rosie nodded. “Tell me how you feel, Scott.” She drew back, gently pushing me in the direction of my guitar.
Slowly, I took the acoustic out of the case, and settled down into a chair. Rosie perched on one of the tables, her long legs stretching out in front of her. I flexed my fingers, extracted the pick from my pocket and started to play. Unable to look at her directly, I focused my attention on playing, making sure I hit every note perfectly. Throughout the whole song, Rosie’s gaze never left me. When I got to the final chorus, my voice cracked.
Not knowing if you know…
How I feel…
Is killing me…
Adjust my reality…
Make this real for me…
Once I’d finished, silence descended over the room until Rosie spoke.
“I’ll make it real for you, Scott. I love you.”
I dropped the guitar to the floor and went to her, stepping into the space between her legs. I cupped her head in both my hands, holding her gaze, wanting to savour the moment for as long as possible. “I love you,” I breathed.
Our lips crashed together, and I tasted the salt on her cheeks from the tears which had spilled. Tongues entwined, hands smoothing over skin, eager, hungry. I didn’t want to wait, I wanted her right now.
“Let’s get out of here.”
She smiled against my lips. “We don’t have to. I have a room here.”
“Then what are we waiting for?”
Rosie grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the conference room. We waited impatiently for the lift, unable to keep our hands off each other, until it finally arrived. Thankfully, we were the only two people in there. My hand dipped into the back of her dress, fingers tracing her spine, feeling her push against me. The shimmering gold of the material glittered and flashed off the mirrors in the lift, catching the light as we went up to Rosie’s floor.
The room turned out to be a suite, which shouldn’t have surprised me. Once the door shut behind us, I span Rosie around, cradling her face in my hands.
“Are you sure about this? About us?”
“Scott, you wrote me a song and sang it in front of hundreds of people. If that’s not a sign of commitment, I don’t know what is.” Her hands grasped my wrists, nails gently digging into the flesh. “It’s out in the public domain now. You can’t take it back.”
Commitment.
“I don’t want to take it back.” I dropped my gaze, so I couldn’t see Rosie’s reaction. “I can’t explain why it’s taken so long to get here. From us dating for a few weeks, then me fucking it up by sleeping with someone else—”
“To you coming to my rescue…” She tilted my head back up. “I don’t see you just as a knight in shining armour. I hoped there was something more to it, and I wasn’t wrong. Whatever it’s taken for us to get here, being together, it’s so, so right. There is nothing I could want more.”
Her clear blue eyes radiated hope and optimism, something I hadn’t felt in a long while.
