by Keary Taylor
I let out a sigh, placing my hands on his shoulders. I feel so tall. “You really mean it, that you don’t mind me being taller than you like this?”
“Pfft,” he says, the air blowing out between his pursed lips. “Are you kidding me? I’d make you wear a flashing hat that says Kale’s girl if you’d let me. I wanna show you off for all the world to see.”
I shake my head and lean down to kiss him again. “You’re crazy.”
“If this is crazy, I don’t ever want to be sane again.” His hands come behind my head and hold my lips to his.
Our flight gets in and a non-descript car drives us from the airport, across the floating bridge, and out onto one of the little peninsulas. When we pull up, there’s already a full staff waiting to feed and pamper us.
“Look,” Hadley says as she directs the staff on where to put our things. “I know you’re both from here, your family is here, you have friends here, but try try try to keep a low profile. I’m sure whatever shots that guy got will be all over the place by tonight. It’s going to be obvious you left LA, but let’s not leave any clues as to where you’ve gone.”
“Got it,” Kale says as he takes my hand and leads me into one of the bedrooms. I don’t know how he picks which one to take, there are tons of them. This house is amazing. And huge. And really expensive looking.
As soon as we step inside, Kale pushes the door closed and his arms are around me and mine around him.
He hoists me up, my legs wrapping around his waist and he carries the two of us to the gigantic white bed inside.
But Kale must be remembering how I said that I wanted to take it slow, because he doesn’t grind his hips into mine like I’m trying to refrain from doing. His lips move to my neck, but they aren’t demanding. They’re just missed-you-longing.
“Kill me now,” I sigh into his hair. “Cause things can’t get better than this.”
Kale looks down at me with a smile, and I can tell he’s thinking something like you don’t know the half of how much better I can make it. But he keeps that to himself. “I can’t believe we’re finally together. It feels like an eternity since we left.”
We both roll onto our sides, and I just stare at Kale for a minute.
This is fast. And hot. And super heavy and serious. And I love it. But it is kind of scary. Because in way too many ways, I feel like I hardly know Kale.
“Tell me about your family,” I say after a long stretch of quiet. “What are they like? More supportive than mine, I hope.”
Kale reaches forward and takes a lock of my hair and twists it around his finger. “I’m really lucky, you know?” he says as he studies my hair. “Not many people get a family as great as mine.”
“You’re right,” I say, thinking of my own parents. “Not too many people can say that.”
“My mom and dad, they’re the best parents I could have asked for,” he continues. “That doesn’t mean they were perfect, and we had our issues. But they were always there. Dad coached football at my high school for forever, and was a plumber on the side to help pay the bills. My mom was a midwife until she got pregnant with Drake.”
“Wow, really?” I say with a chuckle. I try to remember her and her face. She seemed like a strong woman. She rubbed that off on all of her children.
Kale nods, a smile on his face. “And you kind of met Drake. He’s the oldest, he’s thirty-five now, I think. He was always the smallest in the family, and kind of a nerd cause he was obsessed with history and then became a teacher, and now he’s a vice principal, but he kind of just has this way about him of making you feel like you’re important. Everyone is comfortable around Drake.”
Kale releases my hair and props his head up on his hand. “His wife Kaylee used to teach high school, too, before they had kids. She’s kind of wonder mom. And they love each other like it’s still day one. They had it kind of rough in the beginning, though.”
“What happened?” I ask as my brows furrow.
“Uh,” he says, like he’s debating if he should tell me this or not. “Well, they pretty much knew they wanted to get married from the first day they met. But then they found out Drake’s ex-girlfriend was pregnant with his kid. That ripped them apart.” Kale’s eyes are distant, and I can imagine the horrible things he must have been right in the middle of. My heart breaks for Drake and Kaylee. “And then there was this terrible accident. It was Kaylee’s mom and the mom of the baby. All three of them died.”
“That’s terrible,” I say as goosebumps flash across my skin.
“Yeah,” Kale says quietly. “It was really rough. It took them a while, but eventually they both healed, and they still loved each other. So they made a life together, just like they always knew they would. They have four kids together now.”
It’s all so sweet and tender, and harsh and awful, I want to find them right now and give both of them hugs.
“And then there’s Sage, my sister,” Kale continues. He looks up at me and smiles. “We’ve always been really close. I mean, we could drive each other up the wall, but I don’t know, for some reason she’s always felt like a cross between sister and the world’s most awesome mom.”
“You normally stay with her and Julian when you come back here, right?” I ask.
He smiles and nods. “I actually moved in with Sage as soon as I graduated. Like I said, things weren’t always perfectly smooth with my parents, so she gave me an option to move in with her. She’s super by-the-book straightforward education-wise, so it really meant a lot when she gave me her support when I decided to drop out of college and start modeling full-time.”
“What about Julian?” I ask. “Do you and him get along very well?”
Kale actually chuckles. “Julian is a legit nerd. Apparently, he used to be a serious video game addict, like obsessive. But he’s actually really, really cool. And he made Sage happy, and that’s kind of an impressive feat.”
“Sage seems kind of…terrifying,” I admit.
He grins once again. “She kind of is. Sage is the kind of person who worked her ass off to gain as much respect as she possibly could, and she got it. She’s actually the CEO of her company. So, just always respect her, and you’ll get along fine.”
“I don’t know,” I say, an unsure expression crossing my face. “Girls like her kind of scare me. The “hear me roar, I know exactly who I am” type.”
“Yeah,” Kale says, nodding his head. “That’d be Sage. But seriously, you’ll learn to love her once you get used to the tough exterior.”
“If you say so,” I say as I twist my finger into the hem of his shirt. This blessedly exposes his beautiful navel.
“And Lake,” Kale continues as he sits up and just pulls the shirt right off. His muscles flex, and I’m pretty sure he’s not even aware that he does it.
Bless this wonderful life of mine.
“I don’t know how to really describe Lake,” Kale says as he lays back down, once again propping his head up on his hand. “He used to be a cocky football player that fit every stereotype, and then at the end of high school something happened that changed him. He enlisted in the Marines, and then I hardly saw him for almost ten years.”
He bites the inside of his cheek, and his eyes turn inward. And there’s instantly worry and fear that just kind of rolls off of him. It’s easy to tell, Kale feared for his brother, for a really long time. “His last tour, his best friend was killed. Like, literally blown to bits saving Lake’s life. He carried around a truckload of guilt for it, so he went to track the guys fiancée down to apologize or something.”
“Riley?” I say in awe.
Kale nods. “How’s that for a complicated start to a relationship? Lake started falling in love with Riley, but she wasn’t over that first guy.”
“And who could blame her?” I say, pity in my own voice.
“Right?” Kale says, his eyes widening for a second. “But Lake, he just kept being there for her and somehow worked his magic. Riley loves my brother. There’s no doubt about it
. Just took her a while to get there.”
“People fall in love in mysterious ways,” I say as he meets my eyes. And his own expression warms. We both lean forward, our lips meeting. One of his hands rests on my hip. His touch is fire and electricity.
“I don’t form too many theories,” he whispers against my lips. “But I can’t help but feel like there’s some kind of grand plan, and people just find the right person when they’re supposed to find them. Nothing we can do to stop that.”
“Like how we both just happened to be at your brother’s wedding?” I say as I rest my forehead on his. “Under the light of a thousand stars?”
“Some cosmic shit like that,” he says with a nod and a smile. He presses one more quick kiss to my lips before backing up again. “Your turn. Tell me about your family.”
“Ugh,” I say as I flop back onto my back and stare up at the ceiling. “My family is just…boring.”
“What?” he says with a chuckle as he pokes a finger into my side, making me squirm. “You come from crazy scientist stock. How could your family be boring?”
“They are,” I say through a laugh. “My parents work at UW researching one thing after another. You saw what they were like. I mean, they’re my family, and I love them, but we’re not exactly close. They have their lives, they raised me, and now they expect me to just be like them. When I broke away from that, I think it made them reevaluate everything they ever taught me. Makes my brother look like the perfect child. He works at MIT and also teaches physics part time there.”
“See, tell me about him,” Kale encourages.
“Fine,” I say with a sigh. “His name is Carson. He was married once for about a year, but he’s so devoted to his work that his ex couldn’t handle sharing him. She left him last year. He’s thirty-one. So the age gap meant that we weren’t exactly close, either. He has an IQ that would make Einstein hang his head in shame. And he’s about twenty times more socially awkward than I am.”
“Oh man, how does the poor guy live?”
“Kale!” I cry, play-smacking him on the shoulder.
“I kid, I kid!” he says as he starts the world’s best tickling war. Cause it gives me every excuse in the world to put my hands all over his half-naked body.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
There was a small part of me that had hoped that Elysium might give Kale and me one day together before they put me to work. But it doesn’t happen that way.
I’m lying in Kale’s arms, wearing nothing but a pair of underwear and the shirt that he blessedly discarded last night, when one of the producer guys, Matt, that I met down in LA, Matt, walks right in and starts talking full speed about starting in on the single of “Angel On Your Shoulder.”
I bolt up in bed, gathering the sheets in front of me, pulling them right off of Kale. He lies there in just his underwear, trying to rub the sleep from his eyes.
“Seriously, you two together is the best publicity I’ve seen happen naturally in all my time in the industry,” Matt says. He shakes his head and smiles. “That stunt on the pavement you two pulled yesterday has everyone going nuts. They’re going to flip when we do the shoot next week.”
“How much footage did that jerk get at the airport?” I ask in horror.
“More than Shurrock wanted, but enough to be amazing coverage for the both of you,” Matt says as he pulls out his phone. He scrolls for a second and turns it around for us to see. Kale sits up and takes the phone from him.
Yep. There we are, in all our heated reunion glory. Kale lying on the pavement, me lying on top of him. My hand is up his shirt, his eyes are closed in ecstasy. Just looking at the pictures turns me on.
“Damn,” Kale says as he tosses the phone back to Matt and tackles me to the bed. “You’re bloody hot horizontal, Whit.”
“Kale!” I screech in horror and delight. “There is someone in the room with us!”
“He’s from Hollywood,” Kale says as his lips connect with my neck. “Trust me, he’s seen far worse.”
“It’s true,” Matt says as he goes back to his phone. “But seriously, Whitney, we need to get rolling as fast as possible on recording that single. Elysium wants to hit this thing while the iron is still hot.”
“I’ve got to go,” I say, trying to disentangle myself from Kale. Given, I don’t try hard, but I do try.
“No!” he cries dramatically when I finally break from the bed. “Don’t leave me here!”
I shake my head and chuckle as I try to pull the shirt down over my rear end. I don’t mind Kale checking it out—which he is doing currently—but I do mind what Matt sees. “You can come watch for a little bit. Why don’t you call Julian or something? You’re going to get bored after a while.”
“Fine,” he says as he flops back onto his back and stares up at the ceiling. His arms curl up and his biceps flex. Yep, he has no idea he’s doing it. “But she’s mine after six tonight. You got that, Matt?”
“Technically she belongs to Elysium, but we’ll see what we can do,” he says as he walks out.
I dress. Scarf down a bowl of fruit the house chef has prepared. He actually prepared an entire awesome spread for everyone at the house, but Matt’s in such a hurry, I don’t get time to fully enjoy it.
And the second I’m done eating, we head down into the bottom floor of the house. I’m handed a guitar I’ve never used before and am told to start from the beginning of “Angel.” We do an entire run through.
And then do it again. With the guitar. Without it. With me harmonizing with myself.
It’s actually a lot of fun. Yes, I’m singing the same words, over and over again. But I can tell they’re building things up. I start to piece it together in my head, how it will be layered. I imagine how a drum beat will fit in with it all. The keyboard, sound effects.
It’s going to be amazing.
This is Kale’s song. And I never could have recorded it like I did if he hadn’t been on the other side of that glass, grinning at me like a fool almost the entire time.
I hold his eyes strong and hard as I sing every word and feel every emotion that is meant for just him. People might look at Kale and see no deeper than his beautiful skin. But I see a million emotions play across his face as we stare at each other.
Kale said he loves me.
Every cell of his being reflects that right now.
“Freaking awesome,” Matt says through the speakers after the tenth time we record the third verse. “It’s shaping up just brilliantly. Let’s take a break for lunch, and we’ll work on your guitar riff.”
I pull the headphones off and set them on the hook. I open the door to the sound booth, and a crazy grin forms on my face as Kale saunters up and wraps his arms around me.
“I didn’t know it was my song you were going to be launching with,” he says as he briefly presses his lips to mine.
The kiss sends a current of electricity that shoots from my lips, down my spine, branching out into my limbs, and sending all my lady hormones crazy.
“Seems fitting, doesn’t it?” I say through my smile. “This all started with you, why not launch with you?”
Kale shakes his head. “I just gave the shove. This all started with you, Whit. You’ve got that crazy amazing voice, the superstar personality, and looks we’d all trade our souls for. This is just you, angel.”
“You say the nicest things,” I say to him, echoing his words from yesterday.
He chuckles and takes my hand, leading me back upstairs.
The chef is crazily trying to finish the preparation of lunch. Hadley is on the phone, as usual. Calvin is on the couch, furiously clicking away on his tablet. Matt chats with the production assistant.
It’s chaotic, but surprisingly, the sight warms me. I don’t know these people all that well, but they’re my people. We’ve all got each other’s backs. We’re here in Washington, hiding away together. Like a weird family on vacation. And we all have this common goal: to make some amazing music.
There�
��s a soft knock on the door and everyone’s eyes dart to it, and collectively we all hold our breath. Tony starts for it.
“Relax,” Kale says as he walks toward it, as well. “It’s just Julian.”
“Who’s Julian?” Hadley asks, holding her hand over the speaker end of her phone.
“Chill out,” Kale sighs as Tony opens the door, revealing the man himself. “Just my brother-in-law.”
“Whoa,” Julian says, a look of surprise and humor saturating his eyes. “Uh, hi everyone.”
“Sorry,” Kale says, waving Julian in. “Everyone’s a little on edge right now with all the press going nuts.”
“Nuts does indeed seem an appropriate description,” Julian says as he smiles and nods at the small crowd. “You two are all over the news and blowing my phone up constantly.”
“Uh, hang on, before the conversation goes too much further,” Hadley says, rushing over with her own tablet. “I need you to sign this saying that you won’t disclose the fact that we’re here and anything you hear in this house won’t leave this house. Elysium Tracks is insisting. Sorry.”
Julian just chuckles and shakes his head as he signs on her tablet with his finger. “My lips are legally sealed shut.”
I watch him as he banters with Hadley and Kale for a minute about secrecy. Julian is a beautiful specimen. He’s not built big, but he’s lean. His arms under his short-sleeved T-shirt are fully covered in tattoos. His hair is parted and slicked back in a look that seems very signature to him. Intense dark eyes.
It’s easy to see how a woman would be instantly attracted to him. He looks like a true-blue bad boy. In a serious way. But Kale keeps insisting he’s a total nerd.
It’s a strangely endearing combination.
“So,” Julian says, turning to me. “I’ve seen you and my brother’s face all over the TV and internet, and I sure remember that amazing performance you gave at my other brother’s wedding, but we have yet to actually meet. I’m Julian Dohring.”
I take the hand he’s extended out to me and shake it. “Whitney, but I guess you know that now,” I say with an awkward chuckle. He smiles and laughs, too. “It’s nice to meet you.”