Becoming His Muse, Complete Set (49 page)

I look at the books on his shelf. Soon Stealing Stars will join them.

“And did you love me?”

His green eyes meet mine. “You’re using the past tense, Ava.”

He gets up from the arm of the chair and comes over to me.

“Yes, I loved you. Even before I knew I did. I didn’t expect that. Didn’t want it. Struggled against it. I said I’d break you but it was you who broke me. You broke my heart open.”

He lifts my chin so I’m looking into his eyes. I feel on the verge of tears, because even though the hurt is in the past it’s still inside of me, where it will always be.

“You broke my heart, Logan, when you pushed me away, when you ran away, when you acted like love didn’t matter.”

He pulls me close. “I’m so sorry for that. I never wanted to hurt you.”

I shake my head, to quiet him, and say, “But now I understand something I never knew before. Sometimes what breaks needs to be broken so it can be made whole in a new way. You taught me that.”

“But I hurt you. I never wanted that.” He’s trembling. I lay my hands on his chest.

Two buttons of his shirt are undone and I can see the etched skin of his childhood scar partly hidden by the fabric. “Being whole doesn’t mean being free of scars.”

His eyes are wet as he gathers me tightly to him. “After all we’ve been through, you want me back? You really want to stay?”

I don’t know if we’ll last. I don’t know if we’ll break everything we create. I don’t know if we can love each other enough to overcome everything life will throw at us, but I believe we’ve got a fighting chance.

“Tackling love is messy,” I say, remembering his words from the reading. “But worth the blood, guts, and pain. At least it is to me.”

He’s holding me tight but pulls back so he can search my eyes. “You’re really giving me another chance?”

I tangle my hands in his hair and pull his face to mine so I can convince him with my lips. We kiss with a fervor that puts all our doubts at bay. Even if our minds and hearts are struggling, our bodies know exactly what they want. They always have.

Before our clothes come off, before our new chapter begins, there’s one more thing I need to know. I pull away.

“What is it?”

“It seems like such a long time ago that you asked me to be your muse.”

He smiles. “You became so much more than that.”

“But you’ve never explained to me what a muse is to you. I want to know.”

He tilts his head back, thinking for several moments. “It was always a feeling for me, an energy, but if I had to put it into words I would say… A muse is an external influence that infuses someone with the will and desire to create something that has never existed before.”

I smile. “That sounds like love to me.”

His eyes widen as he takes that in. “I guess it does.” He laughs. Then he grabs me and swings me around. “You’re my muse, Ava. And you’re my
love
.”

He swings my legs up into his arms now and, squealing, I clasp his neck as he charges down the hall to the bedroom.

Chapter one of our new love story is definitely x-rated.

The End of
Becoming His Muse
by KC Martin