Page 74 of Sing For Me

My heart gallops in my chest.

I was just thinking about you.

“Mich,” I whisper, “I’m going to go.”

Just then there’s a bang on the other end of the line. I hear my mom’s voice. “Michelle Franco Archer!”

“Oh shit,” Michelle whispers. “Me too. Love you, Reese, so much.”

“I love you too,” I whisper, my eyes on Eli’s.

I hang up the phone, cutting off the stream of sound on the other end of the line.

For a moment, Eli says nothing. I say nothing. We just stare at each other, heat sparking off some invisible cord that’s snapped to life between us.

Then he closes the door behind him.

“Sing it again.”

“Eli, I—”

He comes over to me, lifting me off the chair, holding my hands. “Please.”

I swallow, glancing back at Janis.

Then I close my eyes.

And I sing. Softly, so no one outside can hear, I hope.

I sing the new song I’ve been working on, about the seed that fell from the sky.

I can’t tell you where I came from

Maybe it doesn’t matter

But I can tell you where I’m going

I’m reaching high, toward the sky, and all I can see is you…

When I open my eyes, I’m only inches from Eli.

His hand slides out toward my jaw as if it’s the most natural thing in the world, and a moment later, I’m wrapped up in him, his clean-laundry scent, his hair brushing my forehead as he dips his head to kiss me.

“Reese,” he says against me. He slides his hands down my back, pressing at my lips with his, coaxing mine open.

I moan as Eli strokes my tongue with his. Heat rushes through me as his hands slide down my ass, cupping me and hoisting me up to press against him.

There’s something hard between us. Something urgent.

I break the kiss, looking up at him. “I can’t believe you made me sing.”

“You’re beautiful when you sing, Reese.” He brushes a strand of my hair from my face. “You’re beautiful all the time, but when you sing…you look like a goddamned angel.”

I kiss him again, only this time, my lips go to his ear.

Eli groans, his hands in my hair, loosening the knot I’ve got pinned up at the back. “Reese—”

“I can’t stop thinking about the other night,” I say. I feel emboldened by having sung. That heat expands, filling all of me. “I want to finish what we started, Eli.” I reach past him and flick the lock on my office door.

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