Page 28 of Dangerous Encore

"You'renot."

"What if things neverchange?"

"I'd still want to be with you." She looks up at me. Her fingers curl into my hair. Her touch is soft. Her voice is softer. "You're my other half, Ethan. There's no way in hell I'm givingyouup."

"I can't standbeingaway."

"I can't stand youbeingaway."

"If only I couldteleport,huh?"

She laughs. "That would solve everything." She leans in to press her lips to mine. It's a soft, slow kiss, and it makes me warmeverywhere.

"Vi…"

"I… I wouldn't ask you to give up music, Ethan. It's who you are. Like me with math. But I do…Ican live like this. Right now. We're young. You're untethered. It's easy for one of us to get on aplane."

"Yeah."

"But I know we've talked about kids. And I don't want that for a long time… but whenwedo…"

"I know." I stare back into her eyes. "After everything with Mom and Dad, there's no way I'd do that to our kids. I'm not saying I'll quit, but… I'm not going to be awayeither."

"Isn't it one or theother?"

"I don't know. We won't always go this full speed. Right now, we still have a lot to prove. We still have a lot of money to make. Another fewalbumsand…"

"You'll either be famous enough to only tour three months a year or you'll be has-beens?"

"Hey. Who you calling a futurehas-been?"

She laughs. "Ijust…"

"You wantnumbers?"

Shenods.

"I like three months a year." I pull her closer. "I can handle three months ayearaway."

"I can handle nine months ofyouhere."

"Even once wehavekids?"

"Not the first year or two. But after that." Her eyes bore into mine. Her voice is soft. Vulnerable. She's laying down all her cards. "I need you, Ethan. That comes before everything. If you said you'd have to be away eleven months a year, I could live with that. But I don't want to. I want you around. But I wantyouaround. I want that guy I fell in love with, the one who gets giddy when he perfects a lick. I know that meanscompromises."

"I ask too muchofyou."

"No. It's the same with me, you just don't realize it. I work a lot of late nights. I always will. You'll be the one missing meoneday."

"Yeah?"

Shenods. "Yeah."

"I look forwardtoit."

"Metoo."

"I love you so much,honey."