“I was okay with it. With you,” I grunt. She tilts her head back into the shower stream, rinsing the soap from her body.
I tip her chin up toward me, bringing her head out of the water.
“I want more with you,” I growl.
“Really?”
“Harm,” I moan. Gripping her hip, I press her into the tile wall and kiss her neck ravenously. Finally, I bring my face back level with hers. “I’ve wanted you since the moment I saw you.”
“Me too,” she murmurs, her innocent eyes looking up at me. “Can you believe we’re here? Naked in the shower together? In Nashville? Are we crazy?”
“Yes,” I growl, and cover her lips with mine. Our tongues do battle, and she tastes both fresh and hot with desire. I pull back and run my hand through her hair.
For the first time I notice a few freckles below her left eye. Running my hand down her side, my arousal reaches epic proportions.
I tip her chin up so her eyes meet mine. “For years, I’ve had a problem with people touching me. And now all I want to do, all night, is touch you.”
“I want that too,” she whispers.
I kiss her one more time and then turn off the water.
“Let’s go to bed,” I whisper into her ear.
She nods. “Let’s.”
I lead her into the bedroom where we dry off, and she jumps onto the covers, then turns around.
I grab a condom from my bag, lost in the sight of her beauty.
“Well, someone looks ready,” she says, glancing at my erection, sticking straight out like a telephone pole on its side.
I smirk. “Should I—”
“I’m ready, Zach. God, I’m so ready.”
I swallow and roll the condom on.
She laughs. “Do you even know how gifted you are?”
“Gifted? What do you mean?”
She licks her lips. “I mean…ohh.”
As I kneel between her legs, rubbing my thick tip against her clit, her voice gets hazy.
“Oh God, Zach. I was saying . . . oh God. I can’t think when you do that to me.”
Smiling, I press my tip into her, barely penetrating.
“Zach…” she says, gripping my hips with her hands. “Are you going to be able to . . .”
I move forward and smother her chest in kisses while I half thrust into her.
Heat rips through my body, pleasure spilling through my limbs.
Closing her eyes, she grasps the back of my neck.
“Fuck me, Zach,” she begs. “I want to feel you.”
Chills roll through me as our eyes meet. “All the way,” she adds.
I tease her a few more times with shallow thrusts.
“Are you still teasing me?” she asks, almost politely.
I smirk. “Yeah. You’ll know when I’m not. Because you’ll sing again.”
“Sing? I don’t really know what you—”
With one hard thrust, I grip Harmony’s hips and press all the way inside her.
“Dear God,” she moans as s
he hits a special high note.
I smile.
“See?” I say, holding inside her for a moment. So lightheaded I can barely think, I say the first thing that enters my head. “Told you I’d make you sing.”
“Stop talking and fuck me,” she whispers.
“Is this your final wish because your wish is my command. Mr. Genie at your service.”
Before she can reply, I thrust again and we find our rhythm together now.
Harmony fucks like she sings: soft yet hard. Understated but powerful.
The woman is a paradox, and she undoes me as I rock my hips into her.
The bed creaks and I lose control, driving my cock deep inside her again and again, listening to her cries and screams. She begs me not to stop, and I oblige her.
“Zach,” she whispers as I fill her. “You’re amazing and . . . just don’t stop. Never. Never stop.”
“Never,” I growl.
“Harder,” she says as she holds onto my arms.
Harmony turns me into a feral animal, and the world falls apart and gets put back together. She’s all I can focus on. Harm’s my world.
Flipping our bodies around so I’m on the bottom, she rides me, rocking up and down on my hard length.
I thumb her clit and watch her eyes roll back in her head. I hear the faintest whisper of “I’m coming” as her body trembles.
Her moan pushes me over the edge right along with her, and I grab a fistful of her brown hair as I come.
My world crashes to a halt. I grip her hard and she purrs as I shoot into the condom.
When we’re done, we collapse in a sweaty heap.
Removing the condom and tying it off, I toss it aside. I run my hand through her hair. “So, one more time?” I ask.
“At least,” she whispers. “At least.”
Chapter 20
Zach
We don’t get much sleep that night.
I mean, we were in bed. But sleep?
You get the picture.
So I’m surprised when I wake up and see the balcony door half-open in the morning, guitar strums coming from outside.
Taking a deep breath, I listen to the notes of the guitar strings. Harmony sings a few tentative notes as she plays. She sings so softly that I can’t quite make out the words.
Rubbing my cheek against the pillow, I enjoy the fact that she doesn’t know I’m listening, and that I’m sort of a voyeur for her music.
A surprisingly chilly morning breeze finds its way inside—chilly for summer in Tennessee, at least.
I swallow and take a deep breath.
Last night was the first night I can remember when I didn’t have the night terror that has been a nightly occurrence since I left jail.
My chest aches as I think about what could happen if I don’t focus in time upon waking up. What if I don’t recognize Harmony when I’m in the grip of one of the scary hallucinations? What if . . . ?
Stepping out of bed, I push the balcony door open.
The balcony is tiny, with barely enough space for Harmony, her new guitar, and me. Her eyes are closed, her brown hair falling to her shoulders and the golden morning sunlight brightening her skin. After a few moments, she sees me and stops playing.
“Morning, hot stuff,” she drawls, still holding the blue guitar in her lap.
She stretches her neck so I can kiss her.
“Morning to you. Don’t mind me. I didn’t mean to interrupt your playing.”
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
“Didn’t sound like ‘nothing’,” I retort.
“Okay, fine. You’re right. It’s not nothing, it’s just a little something. I wrote out some silly words the other day and now I put a melody to them.”
“Can I hear this ‘little something’?”
She looks away. “I’m not used to playing my unpracticed stuff in front of people.”
“I’ll go easy on you. I promise.”
Taking a deep breath, she sings for me. The melody is somehow both melancholy and upbeat.
I can’t put my finger on what’s so powerful—the words or the melody. I decide it’s both—and the fact that it’s Harmony singing.