Only, just as writing a song felt like discovering the mystery of what he truly believed, one lyric at a time, he was surprised to find that so did this very unexpected conversation.

Finally, he admitted, “We were young.”

But that wasn’t the whole truth. Not even close. He’d made every mistake in the book with Mia. Pride. Ego. Blame. They’d all been huge forces in his leaving her and then staying away.

“I was young. Stupid. Just like you said, I thought the whole world should be waiting at my feet. Including her.”

“We were all young and stupid once,” Natasha pointed out, “but if you ask me, the fact that you’re still in love with her trumps all of that.”

She waited then, as if to give him a chance to try to deny that he was still in love with Mia. But he couldn’t.

Not when he now realized that every word of the denial would be a bald-faced lie.

“The way you looked at her from that stage in Seattle five years ago...I wish I had been filming you just now so that you could see how you looked at her on my computer exactly that same way. And, Ford, what if she’s still just as much in love with you, too?” Her voice gentled as she added, “I know people think you have everything. Fame. Success. Packed stadiums and hit songs. And I’ve personally seen that you really enjoy what you do.” She looked around at the luxurious interior of the tour bus. “But I have to wonder—if the two of you could make things work this time around, what would you be willing to give up to have her back?”

The word everything busted into his brain at the exact moment that the old backstage video clicked back on. Watching it, he remembered that Mia had just told him her name when several scantily clad groupies had pushed between the two of them. Even as he’d given the women their autographs, he’d been counting down the seconds until he could be with Mia again.

Now, as he stood in his tricked-out tour bus, Ford realized he’d never stopped counting those seconds for the entire five years since the last time he’d seen her.

Once upon a time, he’d believed that his music, his guitar, and his songs were everything he needed. But tonight, as his tour bus roared down yet another highway to yet another stadium, Ford finally realized that his songs and audiences could never even come close to filling the hole inside of him.

Only one thing—only one person—had ever been able to do that.

Only Mia.

Chapter Two

Mia Sullivan knew nothing about the man she was about to meet...except that he must be rich.

Really stinking rich.

Mia had been contacted the previous day by a lawyer representing a client who was in the market for a home in Seattle. The budget? Ten million dollars, give or take a few million, if necessary.

The location? On the water, of course.

The time frame? Immediately.

The client? Anonymous until today’s showing.

As the owner of Sullivan Realty with a half-dozen agents working under her, Mia already had a full slate of showings and meetings set up for Friday morning. Plus, she’d found the anonymous-buyer aspect more than a little suspect. What possible reason could a potential client have for keeping his or her identity a secret from her? Especially when she’d previously sold property to some of the wealthiest men in the world, not to mention being cousin to movie star Smith Sullivan and pro-baseball player Ryan Sullivan. Quickly running through various possibilities in her head, Mia figured it was possible that the buyer might be a wealthy and dangerous convict who had done his time and now wanted to restart his life with a big house on the water in the Pacific Northwest.

Of course, she’d love the commission on a ten-million-dollar sale, but at this point she didn’t absolutely need it. Besides, Mia Sullivan had four older brothers and loving parents who had taught her well about looking out for herself, and she was nobody’s fool.

Well, that is, apart from that one week five years ago when she’d been a complete and utter fool, all for love...

Shoving that ugly thought back into the dark depths where it belonged, she’d point-blank asked, “Has your client done time for a horrible crime?”

It had sounded like the lawyer was barely restraining his laughter as he’d said, “No. I can promise you that he is most definitely not a murderer.”

Then she’d known it was a man, at least. “I’m afraid it’s going to be extremely difficult to help choose the perfect house for a client who insists on remaining anonymous.” At the lawyer’s continued silence, she’d added, “I’d have to know his age and the size of his family or staff, at the very least.”

“I truly do apologize for not being able to divulge any further details about my client, but I can promise that he is of sound mind and does not intend to do you any harm.”

“If that’s intended to be reassuring—”

“I have also couriered over a check for twenty thousand dollars as a down payment on your fee. Whether you are able to find a home that my client wishes to purchase, or not, the money is yours.”

As if it had been choreographed, Mia’s assistant, Orlando had brought in an envelope just as the lawyer finished speaking.

Mia had slid out the cashier’s check for twenty grand, and this time when her mouth opened, no further protests had come out. So despite the red flags waving inside her head, warning that something was definitely off with this whole situation, the fact was that no Realtor on the planet would ignore this client. Anonymous or not, he was clearly serious about buying a waterfront home in Seattle, so she’d decided to shift her original Friday clients to Orlando and book new showings at three of the best waterfront listings in Seattle.

In any case, Mia thought now as she headed up the front walk of the first house, it was far more likely that he was going to end up being a twenty-two-year-old nerd who had struck it rich with a high-tech start-up and didn’t have any social skills to speak of, rather than a crazy, dangerous convict sprung from prison on a technicality.

As she unlocked the front door to the amazing waterfront estate, she gave silent thanks that it was a perfect day. The clouds were white and fluffy in a brilliantly blue sky, and the water of Lake Washington was so calm it looked like glass. Mia really enjoyed living in her high-rise condo looking out over downtown Seattle, but she could certainly see the allure of a place like this. No doubt about it, she thought with a grin as she walked into the spectacular house, if she had ten million dollars lying around collecting dust, she would definitely buy a place like this for herself.