Page 30 of Laying it Bare Backstage

“When we are on tour, you’re not off the mark there. But getting to cuddle up with you in bed is a big incentive for getting to bed as quickly as possible. Since you’re not hungry, I’ll munch on something while you get showered. And then I’ll quickly grab one and then join you in bed. If you’re asleep when I crawl in, I won’t disturb you.”

“What if I really want you to? I love having your arms around me while I’m sleeping. It makes me feel safe.” I wasn’t concerned with showing him that vulnerability. He would never use it against me.

“Then I’ll disturb you only enough to snuggle you to me.” He kissed me on the forehead before I headed back to his room.

I grabbed a quick shower and then tugged on my pajamas before crawling into bed.

He strolled in a few minutes later and stopped at the side of the bed to kiss my cheek, before continuing into the bathroom. The sound of the shower running lulled me into that state between consciousness and unconsciousness. When he crept into bed a little later, I barely registered his arms wrapping around me; his lips kissing my hair; and him whispering, “I love you.”

The next morning, we ate breakfast together before Teak disappeared into his office to work on his music and I plopped down on the couch to meet with my co-workers through FaceTime. After we caught up on how I was feeling, we dove into ideas for the shop. About an hour later, I pulled up the site to make some adjustments and then created a few new promos for our social media. By lunch time, my head was starting to ache and I was growing tired, so I emailed Corinne what I had accomplished and that I was going to take a half day. The sound of Teak playing the guitar and singing along still carried from his office, so instead of eating lunch, I curled up on the couch and took a nap.

That night we had an early dinner and then took a walk down along the beach behind his house. I was feeling a little better, but not one hundred percent yet. And once I recovered from this, I couldn’t help wondering what might happen next. However, I didn’t want those types of thoughts intruding on our night. Actually, I didn’t want to think of them at all, but I couldn’t help them trickling in. Although I did manage to shove them aside for a bit.

Hand in hand, we strolled along the water’s edge, the waves licking over our ankles and occasionally reaching our shins.

“Are you going to try to work again tomorrow; or just take the day off?”

As we walked, I leaned into his side. “I’m going to try again and hope I can put in a full day. If not, I better be back to normal by the next day. Don’t laugh. I know it’s only been a couple of days, but I miss having you make love to me.”

“Nothing funny about that at all.” He paused and tugged me into his arms, pressing a long kiss to the crown of my head. “I can’t wait to make love to you again either. But I want to make sure we don’t cause you further injury. I have you with me and we have all the time in the world to be intimate.”

“I love you, Teak.”

“I love you too, Serenity.” We resumed our walk along the beach.

When we returned to the house, I grabbed a shower before Teak and then the two of us curled up on the couch to watch a little bit of television before bed. And I was excited to discover that it didn’t bother my head.

The next day, we went through our normal morning routine. And much to my delight, by the time my stomach started to growl for lunch, I was still feeling pretty good.

Teak joined me at the bar while I was making us grilled ham and cheese sandwiches. I had planned to deliver his lunch to him, but it seemed he was ready to take a break.

Wrapping his arms around my waist, he leaned in and brushed a kiss along the side of my neck. “How did your morning go? Are you still feeling okay?”

“I don’t have a headache and I’m only a little tired. But I took the rest of the day off again so that I still feel good tonight.” Twisting my head around, I gazed up at him, my lips pulling into a flirty grin. “I want to be able to make love tonight. And I also think it might be a good idea to ease back into the computer time.”

His eyes danced with humor and his grin grew wolfish. “You make a very valid point. And because of that, I don’t know that I can argue with your thinking. And I really love that I will get to reap the benefits of it.”

“I plan to spend the rest of the day relaxing on the deck and probably take a short nap.” I intended to work on his logo too, but I wanted that to be a surprise. Even though he did know I was going to create one; he didn’t need to know when.

When we were finished with lunch, he retreated to his office and I stepped out onto the deck for a bit. As I stared down at the ocean, I got more and more excited about creating his design. Ever since I had mentioned it, I had some ideas popping into my head. Convinced he was going to be busy in his office for the next several hours, I headed inside to get to work. After grabbing my sketch book and case of pencils, I settled myself at the bar and started drafting. Absorbed in my enthusiasm and drawing, I was surprised when I glanced at my phone and discovered almost three hours had passed. But it wasn’t time wasted. The final design was stunning. I couldn’t wait to show it to him. However, I was going to wait until after dinner to surprise him with it.

Deciding to lounge on the deck until it was time to make supper, I padded down the hallway and ducked into our room –first saying home now thinking our room, the thoughts gave me good shivers – to hide the drawing in my drawer before stepping outside.

About an hour later, Teak walked out onto the deck and pulled a chair up beside me and sat down. “You never seem to grow tired of watching the beach.” Leaning over, he feathered his lips along mine before cupping my cheeks to angle me so that he could deepen the kiss. A swipe of his tongue and he licked his way inside my mouth and conquered.

Loving his mouth on me, I easily surrendered.

When he ended the kiss, his hands kept my face in his palms and he traced his thumbs over my cheeks. “Did you take it easy today? You don’t look like you’re in any pain.”

“I napped and lounged around all day.” A little fib, but it wasn’t like I did anything strenuous. “Which means, I can help you make dinner and clean it up. Like a couple.” I shot him a silly smile. “And then later tonight, I want to do something much more vigorous and carnal with you. Like a couple.” My smile morphed into a sly smirk.

“You know the perfect words to say. Maybe you should write racy poetry.”

“How about I just whisper those words into your ear while we are naked and loving each other’s bodies?”

“Damn, girl.” He pressed a hard kiss to my lips. “Let’s go take a short walk along the beach before we make dinner. Otherwise I’m going to have you for dinner. But you need to eat so you have your strength for tonight’s vigorous carnal activities.” He waggled his eyebrows.

Grabbing our shoes which were right inside the back door, the two of us then headed down to the beach.

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