Page 32 of Family: Posy 4

From years of eating bread and scraps, Quartz growled, and I hushed him before she heard or picked up on his anger.

Finally, she declared herself stuffed and I finished off the baklava. I was never going to refuse my favorite dessert!

"Are we sleeping here?" she asked. When I nodded, she lifted her arms and made grabby hands. "Can you carry me? Or have I gotten too fat? I think I gained ten pounds tonight."

"You are not too fat. You are beautiful. And I am strong enough to carry you even if you gain a hundred pounds, sweetness."

She giggled and tucked her arms around my neck as I picked her up and stood.

"Although we'll ride the elevator this time," I groaned, then made a show of almost dropping her.

"Oh! See, Iamtoo heavy," she fretted.

"I'm teasing, baby," I assured her with a tender peck to her lips.

We kissed our way through the brief elevator ride to the second floor and all the way to the little nook Ash and I created. He was a terrific idea man, and I was happy and grateful he'd helped me, especially when Posy saw it.

Ash had the right idea with the flowers. They made her smile and her eyes glow, and she gasped to see the lace-layered bed with lilac and white pillows, billowy sheer curtains draped with more flowers and vines, and fairy lights everywhere. She blushed when her gaze fell on the rose petals on the Persian rug leading up to the bed, and I didn't know why.

I set her on the edge of the bed and her eyes widened when she saw my guitar leaning against the wall.

"Are you going to sing and play for me?" She clasped her hands under her chin in that way that made my heart flutter. "Oh, Jayden, this is so special and romantic! I could die from how happy I am!"

Damn. Now I have to tell Ash he was right.

"Don't talk about dying," I murmured as I kissed her delicious lips. "Not for another hundred years or so, anyway."

Leaving her giggling, I got up and reached for my guitar, then settled on the bed with her.

"What are you going to sing?" she asked, sitting cross-legged next to me.

"Something good, I hope," I smiled, then warned her, "I'm still learning this one, so I might make some mistakes."

"I won't notice if you do," she replied with a gentle smile, "and I'm sure you'll do wonderful as always."

So I strummed a few notes to warm up, then launched into the introduction, took a deep breath, and started singing "You" by Dan+Shay.

My eyes were on my fingers, making sure I didn't screw up too much, which disappointed me because I wanted to see her face when she heard the lyrics. Quartz decided to help me out, though, and showed me her misty eyes and how her soft mouth drooped into a little o that fed my soul, and I sent him my thanks.

He just grunted, proving hewasa curmudgeon.

"That was so lovely," Posy whispered when I finished. Leaning around my guitar, she kissed my cheek, then jaw, then my lips. "You always pick the sweetest songs to sing for me."

Her affection filled my stomach with butterflies, and I had to swallow hard before I could talk again.

"Sweet songs for my sweetness. This next song is from our parents' generation, but I like playing it on the guitar. The lyrics are bittersweet, but melodic."

Bittersweet, but melodic?I cringed as I realized what I said.What must she think of me?

"What does melodic mean?"

"Nice, pleasant music."

"Ooh! Then I'm excited to hear it!"

Smiling at her enthusiasm, I settled the guitar better in my lap and picked up with the first chords, skipping the whistling, which was the only part of the song I wasn't a huge fan of -andmy whistling sucked.

So I sang about having a little patience and looked into her eyes to see them glowing with tender tears. I had to sing the chorus with a grin, which kind of ruined the mood of the song, but she didn't mind. I couldn't get my voice as high and rough as Axl Rose's at the end, but I put all my passion into my playing and the adoring expression on her face was all I needed.

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