When she ran her fingers through his hair and leaned in to kiss him, a wildfire erupted between them. His kiss was full of love and longing and need—a need so powerful it should have frightened her, but it didn’t because she knew he loved her.

He pulled back to look at her, his eyes heated. “Not like this, Clare. When we make love, and we will, soon, it’ll be for us. Not for comfort and not out of sympathy.” He settled her into the shelter of his arms. “Stay with me for now?”

“Okay,” she said, hoping she would be able to overcome her own demons when the time came.

Chapter 23

Kate checked the address on the business card again and looked up at the dilapidated building with dismay. This wasn’t Music Row. This was so far from Music Row it might’ve been in another city. Harvey Welshiemer, the producer who’d given her his card at a party before Christmas, had been delighted to hear from her and insisted she come right over to his office.

She pushed the door open and was hit by the odor of greasy food and what might’ve been urine. The stairs creaked as she made her way to the second floor where a small plastic sign next to a wooden door said “Harvey Welshiemer, Decade Records.” Kate looked around at the dingy hallway with the chipping light green paint. The blare of a television came through one of the other wooden doors. She thought about turning around, but he was a producer, so she forced herself to knock.

Harvey answered the door, and his ugly face lit up.

“Kate, honey, you made it. Come on in.”

With a wistful look over her shoulder at the stairwell, she stepped inside, suddenly aware that no one in the world knew where she was at that moment. She could tell right away this was his home, not his office.

“Um, I thought we were meeting at your office,” she said as he ran around grabbing discarded clothes and scooping up dirty dishes.

“We are. Have a seat.”

She cast her eyes around for a spot where she could sit without fear of contracting a disease. “I’ll stand, thanks.”

He pushed the front half of his comb-over back into place and lowered his pear-shaped body into a cracked vinyl chair. “I’m awfully glad you came by. You’re just the kind of young talent Decade Records is looking for. I’m going to make you a big star, little girl.”

Kate took a step back toward the door. “I’m not so sure about this.”

He jumped to his feet faster than he should’ve been able to. “Where do you think you’re going? I haven’t even told you what I’ve got in mind for you.”