“Do you ever wish you had done something—?”
She shakes her head before I can even finish my sentence. “Nope. Never. Not once. I wish I had gone to school. I wish I had had friends my own age and a bit more of a typical upbringing. But they tried when I was around twelve or thirteen and it didn’t work out. So here I am. I wouldn’t give up music. After Florian, when music lost its favor in my heart for a while, I still couldn’t give it up entirely.”
My fingers rest on the strings, the song coming to a close, and silence descends upon us. The thick, heavy kind that has a palpable tension and aura to it. The kind you can’t help but feel buzzing around your insides and along your skin.
I pick up my champagne without shifting my gaze from hers. I take a sip, thinking about how her lips and tongue and mouth likely taste just like this. It’s the closest I’ll come to tasting her.
She hasn’t said yes or no to the duet. I haven’t asked or pushed. It has to be from her.
But even though I won’t cross the line, that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy her. Even if it won’t go anywhere beyond this…
I hand her the guitar, which she takes, gently resting it down in her lap and adjusting it until it’s comfortable and natural against her thighs and chest. I really wish she weren’t wearing that goddamn shirt. I figured out that it makes her look like we just had sex. That she’s wearing a shirt of mine after.
When she’s sitting the way she is, it’s insanely short. The collar is just a touch too big as it slouches off her narrow shoulder. And with her sitting in this tub with me…it’s hard to focus on anything but her.
“Play something for me.”
She sets her glass down, shifting a little more so she’s comfortable, and I grasp her feet from the floor of the tub, spinning her a bit as I drop them into my lap. Her eyes burst open wide, staring first at what I’ve done and then gliding up the seam of her legs until they reach where the hem of the shirt meets her thighs. I can’t see her panties, but all I’d have to do is spread her legs a little, and I know she’s aware of this.
“Relax,” I tell her softly. “I’m just going to rub your feet while you play unless you don’t want me to.”
“Um. O-okay.” She clears her throat as I press my thumbs into the instep of the bottom of her foot. Her eyes close for a moment and she emits a soft humming noise.
I grin, chuckling lightly. “Good?”
She nods her head. “Yes. Very good.”
“Whatever you do, don’t say don’t stop, or start moaning or anything like that. Because while I can make all the sexual jokes in the world, right now, you can’t.”
Her eyes open and find mine, a smirk now on her full, red lips. “Too hard for you to handle?”
“Naomi—”
She laughs, throwing her head back a little. “Okay. No sexual jokes. I promise. Please continue your ministrations on my feet and I’ll play us a song.” She starts to pluck out a tune I instantly recognize as one from our third album. I angle my head forward, my expression challenging. “What? You’re not the only one here listening to the other’s old albums. Do you want to sing it for me?” I shake my head no. “Fine then. I’ll get this one.”
Then she starts to sing Wildfire and I wonder if she knows it’s my favorite of all of ours. If it’s just coincidence that she picked this particular song out of all the ones to choose from.
I lean back against the wall of the tub, listening to her play and sing while I continue to rub her feet. Outside this room is a party. Laughter and voices float in from below, hovering in the air, but right now, it’s just us. Just me and her in this room, in this tub, laughing and talking and playing music.
Like two wayward stars who ran off together into the blackest night and I don’t want this moment to end.
Her voice carries me to a far-off place. Thrusts me into a hypnotic dream.
Damn, her voice is exquisite. So unreal I have chills on my arms.
She has to do this song with me.
I need to sing with her again. I need more of this feeling. This sensation of breaking through the waves after being submerged for so long.
Which is why the moment she’s done singing my favorite song to me in her perfect voice, I set her feet aside and lean forward, kissing the side of her face. My lips hover over her ear as I whisper, “Do the duet with me.”
But instead of waiting for her reply, I stand up, grasping her hand and helping her to do the same. She blinks rapidly at me, at the shift in my demeanor. Helping her out of the tub, she slides her shoes back on, all the while watching me cautiously through the mirror.
I step in behind her, my hands resting on her hips as I face her reflection. “Do the duet with me, Naomi. Please.” I press my lips to her cheek and then walk out of the bathroom, leaving her behind.
The moment I shut the door, I take a deep breath that doesn’t taste and smell like her. It clears my head. A little. Enough. I can’t stay in there with her. Not when I’m asking her for that.
Because I know that if I stay…
Chapter Ten
Gus
* * *
“Ady, baby, if I let you go in any deeper, your father will gut me like a fish,” I tell my niece, Adalyn, who is walking with me on the beach while simultaneously trying to force me in deeper toward the waves. Just wait till this girl wants to go surfing. I think Jasper will stroke out.
I made the mistake of watching The Little Mermaid with her, and now the girl thinks she’s Ariel. At the adorable age of four. She truly believes she can just run into the water and swim like a mermaid.
The fact that she has reddish hair and green eyes isn’t helping that.
Viola, naturally because she’s fucking Viola, thinks it’s the best thing ever and bought her a Little Mermaid dress and outfit and t-shirt. These are the sort of things that happen once Viola gets excited over something, and the fact that Adalyn loves all of this only spurs Vi on.
I know Vi still thinks she has to prove herself to Adalyn. Be the best mother she can be since she’s technically the stepmother. But come on. You don’t actually have to give the girl everything she wants. When I told Vi this, that she already has Adalyn’s love, I got the scowl and I hate the scowl, so I quickly shut up and minded my own business.
A wave comes crashing in, jumping up and over Adalyn’s legs and thighs. She emits a small squeal of delight, her face tilting up toward mine with a smile that lights up her whole face. “Big waves.”
“Yep. Big, wet waves.” I can’t help but laugh. She’s not the only one who is soaked.
She looks so much like Jasper it nearly knocks the wind from me sometimes. Jasper and I are fraternal twins, as different as night and day, both in disposition and appearance. But Adalyn has my dimple in her cheek. And I seriously think her smile is more mine than Jasper’s. We won’t even discuss her biological mother because thankfully, that woman was merely a vessel and nothing more.
Jasper would kick my ass for saying that, but it doesn’t make it any less true.
“Smile like that at me again and I’ll take you to Disneyland tonight. I’ll rent out the whole darn park for you, kid.”