Van stepped out of the trailer, preparing himself mentally for this unconventional show. He looked up and his breath practically stopped. The sunset made everything seem amber-golden and hazy. Kat was sitting placidly in a chair by the stage, and the sun’s rays reached out and touched her, streaking her hair with red and gold. She had a slight smile on her lips that made her look peaceful and so beautiful that it hurt. He placed his hand over his heart, wondering if he could ever get it to beat normally again when she was around. He doubted it. A small sigh escaped his lips, and he smiled. He had never seen anything more beautiful, never in his whole life.

The lyrics of the current song suddenly seemed painfully clear. The band was unknown to him, but the words assaulted his ears with their truth. “Hold me until this world dies, and say you’ll stay here through the night. Sing to me the song I once knew, of the passion and fire living in you. And I shall dream of our souls intertwined as another sun rises and sets in my eyes. Without you, I dream. I live and die all night long. Only to be reborn at dawn.” He let out a shaky breath and started toward Kat, unable to stop himself. How many nights had he slept the sleep of a restless, tormented man, dreaming of her and her decadent kisses? Her kindness? Her warmth? She had absolutely no idea what kind of effect she had over him, what effect she had always had. She had always held him right in the palm of her hand.

Kat glanced up as a tall shadow fell over her. Her heart leapt uncomfortably in her throat as Van stood there, his dark hair flowing freely around his shoulders. That always caught her off guard. When he wasn’t performing, he usually wore his hair tied back and every time she saw him with his hair down, she was struck dumb by how completely stunning he was. His hair set off his features perfectly, the way the right frame might complement a piece of art. She let her gaze take in all of him for a minute. He was wearing a simple black shirt that showed off his beautifully sculpted arms and a pair of baggy pants that were black and dark gray camouflage. He smiled softly at her and held his hand out as if to help her up. She frowned and placed her hand in his.

Van pulled Kat gently out of the chair and turned her so that the sun was setting behind her. Kat would normally have felt uncomfortable by the intensity in his gaze, but his smile softened his features and she couldn’t look away from him. She could see the sun setting in his eyes, and she briefly thought that she’d heard something like that in the song she’d been listening to a moment ago. It was fantastic, and strangely intimate to watch.

Van took his hands and ran his fingers through her soft hair. “I am reborn,” he whispered, quoting the last portion of the lyrics they had heard. She frowned and her heart started beating ridiculously fast. He pulled one of her hands up to his mouth and pressed a kiss to her palm, closing his eyes as he did so. She couldn’t breathe. It was such a simple gesture, but the way his lips lingered on her skin and the way he looked so passionate as he did, it made it seem so erotic that she trembled.

Van opened his eyes and met Kat’s again. He smiled enigmatically and looked like he was hiding a very important secret. Kat didn’t want to look away from him ever. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she thought it was a strange desire to just want to stare at another person for all time, but she didn’t care. She reached her hand out to lightly touch his cheek. She didn’t know why. Maybe to assure herself that he was real, or maybe just to touch him. All she was sure of was that she couldn’t have stopped herself if she’d tried.

He closed his eyes and leaned in to her touch, trapping her fingers against his face by placing his hand over hers. Kat was heaven to him. She had always been heaven. He felt her touch all the way through his blood and into his heart. If she only knew. If she only knew what she did to him, how he had longed for her for so many years.