Page 15 of A Duet of Darkness and Dreams

DAVE

Something warm and soft brushes against my chest as I roll over in bed. A low groan escapes my lips, and I attempt to pry my eyes open against the late morning sun filtering in through the blinds. The warm, soft thing on my chest moves, and my eyes shoot open to find a nest of blonde hair that’s attached to the hand currently resting on my torso.

Oh yeah, I forgot about her . . . And her name. Shit, was it Tiffany? Stephanie? It definitely ended with an “e” . . . I think. Forgot she was blonde too. Why did I dream about a brunette?

So, you got a name?

Isabella Rodriguez.

Oh, right.

I gently grab the tanned wrist from my chest and try to move out from under my guest. As much as I don’t have any intention of seeing this girl again, I’m also not a complete dick and am not willing to wake her up only to tell her to get her shit and go. Whoever she is, she’s obviously a sound sleeper, because she doesn’t wake as I sit up on the side of my bed and pull on a pair of boxers and my jeans.

There are clothes strewn across the floor. She obviously didn’tcare that my room was a mess when she got here last night, but that might change with the light of day and a hangover. So I pick up her discarded bra and underwear, leaving them on the bed along with her dress, and grab the remaining clothes from the floor. I quietly open and close my bedroom door, heading for the laundry room. There’s already a load going, so someone else must be up by now. Thankfully, there’s a load of freshly washed clothes in the dryer, which happen to include one of my favorite Metallica shirts, so I pull that on and head out into the kitchen.

“Morning.”

I look up and find James sitting at the breakfast bar, drinking a cup of coffee. “Oh, hey.”

He’s looking through the newspaper with a pen in his hand but puts it down when I pass. “Have a good night?” he asks with a smirk.

I roll my eyes but can’t help returning the smile. “Not too shabby.”

“She still here?”

Nodding, I pull down a mug from the top shelf and fill it with coffee. “Yup.”

“Key and Joel’s dates just left,” he says, picking up his newspaper again. “So it seems like everyone went home happy.”

“It would seem that way.”

“Thank you.”

My brows furrow. “For what?”

“For not going after Isabella. I could tell you were into her.”

I shrug my shoulders and scoff. “It never would’ve worked out between us.”

“Why not?”

“She likesdiscomusic.”

James laughs. “Yeah, okay. Fair enough.”

I take a deep breath.Okay, crisis averted.

“Pretty cool that she’s going to write an article, huh?”

I turn to the fridge to get the creamer out, and also to hide the way my skin heats at the thought of Isabella in her mini skirt. “Oh yeah, that’s right. Forgot about that.”

“It probably won’t be huge, but the college scene is kind of our core audience right now. So the more people who come out the better, right?”

My head bobs as I turn back to James, who’s circling something in the paper. “What are you doing?”

He shrugs but doesn’t look up. “Looking for another job.”

I pause with my mug at my lips, coffee sloshing over the rim. “Why? Surely you’re making enough from the gigs that you’re not strapped for cash.”

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