Page 63 of Love is a Lyric
Because kissing Piper Hayes was everything he’d never known he wanted. Her words to Chase earlier would never be far from his mind. She wanted to be needed, to be loved. It was all she’d ever asked for.
“I need you,” he whispered against her lips. He just hadn’t known it.
His belief in fate blinded him to what was right in front of him. She was the little girl he’d found hiding after her parents’ death. She was the teenager his parents loved and the adult who’d taken care of his band.
She was everything, all of those. The pieces of her fit together, one making no sense without the other.
Her lips parted, allowing him to deepen the kiss with a groan as the rain drove down on them heavier than before. But it didn’t matter.
Neither of them cared about the dark street around them or the rain soaking their world. His lips trailed over her cheek, down to her ear. “Tell me this is real, Piper.”
Her eyes fluttered closed as she leaned into him, capturing his lips once more. “If I did that, it would be a lie.”
“Piper.”
“Just kiss me, Ben. Please. Let me remember this.” He wanted to tell her this kiss didn’t have to be both their first and their last, but instead, he showed her, loving her with his lips, asking her to love him in return.
Less than two weeks ago, he’d believed in fate, that the only person in the world meant for him was Quinn Hayes.
But that wasn’t love.
Quinn never brought tears to his eyes as he kissed her. She didn’t both mend and break his heart.
Only one woman could lay claim to that.
And she thought this was the end.
* * *
Ben should have seen it coming. The end Piper had been so sure about. She knew nothing could come of their kiss before he did, but the moment a series of flashes cut through the night, reality smacked him.
He was Ben Evans, lead singer of rock bandFate,and one half of the royal couple of music. He didn’t get more than that.
Piper jerked away from him as the photographer appeared, a lone intruder in the best moment of his life.
The man snapped picture after picture as Ben stood there numb. He didn’t see Piper inching away from him until it was too late. Two more photographers ran toward them, and Piper took off down the sidewalk.
Ben tried to run after her, but two men blocked his way as they fired off questions.
“Who was that?”
“Where is Quinn Hayes?”
“HasFatebroken up?”
He tried to push through them to follow Piper who’d run off at night in the city, but they didn’t let him through as they snapped picture after picture of the despair, the confusion on his face.
“Can you tell us her name?” someone shouted.
Ben whipped around with a growl. “No, you cannot have her name. Leave me the heck alone.”
They didn’t listen as they closed in around him, and he couldn’t breathe, worry invading every space in his mind. Was she okay?
Would she ever speak to him again?
Had he ruined everything?
His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out, ignoring the rain. Relief flooded him when he read the text.
Piper: Chase is on his way to get me. I sent a Lyft your way.
At least she was smart. If she’d returned for him, they’d eat her alive. He turned back toward the photographers who were insistent on chronicling even his private moments. Anger did nothing to dissuade them, so he grinned despite the rain they’d trapped him in. “You all want to hear a song?”
