Page 22 of Protect Your Queen

Then me. I couldfeelmy entrance. I didn’t count or mark my time. I just started to sing, letting the words come out easy. I wasn’t even sure if my lyrics were accurate, but theyfeltright. One verse turned into another and before I knew it, I had done several versions of the chorus.

“When I’m alone with only dreams of you, that won’t come true…What’ll I do?”

Jazz was a music genre of complicated chords, polyrhythms and improvisation. So, we improvised together, only as trained musicians could - through feeling and heart. We all knew when the song needed to end. Weknewit, because we felt it from the audience and from one another.

We closed out the song much as it began, with the single, lonely notes of Lawrence’s piano. We let the silence linger.

No one booed me. So that was good, right?

But the silence lasted too long. The silence again. It was too quiet.Thump. Thump. Thump…

Then there was a clap. Then another. It turned into applause. Then I heard the whistles, and roars; the hoots and hollers.

I exhaled such a sigh of gratitude; it almost brought me to my knees.

“Encore!” They cried, and I curtsied. I never did encores. We had decided early on that it was best to just perform what was on the schedule, then leave them wanting more. That was it.

I curtsied off the stage, coming down the stairs on the side, almost stumbling with relief.

When my foot slipped, a hand grabbed mine, keeping my stumble from turning into a fall. I felt his hot breath on my cheek as he righted me, his free hand coming to touch my lower back again.

“I’ve got you, little Songbird.”

Chapter eight

Little Songbird

Chris

Iwas in so much trouble. My first assignment with Caledonia Security, and they drop a songbird on my lap.

Years of training as a jazz pianist had given me a “type”. It wasn’t a bouncy set of tits or a firm ass. It wasn’t skinny, fat, short, tall, or anything in between. I couldn’t care less about hair, eye color, or any of that superficial nonsense.

The one thing that got me rock hard and made my dormant heart flutter was a beautiful woman with a real talent for music. I didn’t care if it was playing an instrument, composing, or singing. Pair that with the beauty queen looks, and I was a goner.

She was stunning on that stage, her knees slightly bent, those elegant thighs disappearing into a gold, vintage dress. She was glowing in the spotlight. Her tanned skin looked like it was dusted with sunlight. Then those deep, red lips parted and a low, gentle phrase came out with the lightest vibrato and I wanted to fall to my fucking knees. Holy shit! I did not expect that.

When she started interacting with the band and they worked in tandem on new, improvised lines, I thought my cock was going to burst out of my expensive trousers and make a beeline straight to her.

She looked like she had stepped right out of an old tinsel-town movie. She belonged in a black and white musical, saying phrases like, “Play it again, Sam.”

What insanity possessed me to say those words?I’ve got you, little Songbird.

The moment I said it, I knew I was out of line.

Fuck, if herbrotherheard me say it, he’d slit my throat. He would flay me alive and use my skin to make a lampshade. She was so off-limits that she needed to be surrounded by police tape.

Yet, I still said it. And she had heard it. Shefeltit.

Her lips parted as she took in a breath, her chest heaving with this miniscule action. I was ready to take those luscious, full lips into my teeth just to see if the sensuality of her moans matched the immense beauty of her song. I had a hunch that her voice would tip me over if she ever screamed my name.

I walked behind her, watching the sway of her hips as her flapper dress moved with her beauty queen walk.

I hadn’t noticed it before. Not really. But I noticed it now. Her sultry walk could make Jessica Rabbit look like Mary Sue. Thank God the lights were low, or the world would have seen me leering at her ass as we made our way back to our seats.

Jareth came to his feet to hug his sister and placed a paternal kiss to the top of her head. She blushed, digging her forehead into his shoulder as if she was a shy toddler, trying to hide from everyone’s attention.

“You did so well,” Jareth beamed, as he squeezed her into his side.

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