Page 74 of Sweet Heat at Bayside
“This is why we need a rooftop deck on the community center at the resort,” she said as she lay with her head in his lap.
He leaned down and kissed her. “Let’s not talk about work right now. This is our time, and there’s something I’ve been wanting to do for way too long.”
“I’m not stripping naked on this dock.”
He cocked a brow with a seductive glimmer in his eyes. Gosh, she’d do anything with him.
“Maybe,” she relented.
“No wonder I love you.” He pressed his lips to hers and said, “Honestly, I wasn’t even thinking about that until you said it. Sit up beside me.”
He helped her up and handed her the guitar.
“When we were supposed to sing that duet, you asked me to teach you the guitar,” he said as he helped her position the guitar properly. “It was such a weird time, and I knew if we got that close, I’d have an even harder time keeping my hands off you.”
She ran her fingers along the neck of the guitar, remembering how brokenhearted she’d been when he’d said he didn’t have time. “I was so awkward back then, and even though I had no idea what to do with the body I’d developed, I was hopeful it might have caught your attention.”
“Itdid, and that was the problem. You weren’t awkward at all. You rocked those curves under those secondhand shirts and shorts you dolled up. You could have had any guy you wanted.”
“There was only one I wanted.” She cradled his guitar. “You’re really going to teach me to play?”
“Yup. Then maybe you can play me those songs you wrote when you were a teenager.”
Her eyes widened. “How do you know I wrote songs?”
“Do you really think you and Mira were quiet when you’d spend the night? Two thirteen-year-old girls hunkered down around your notebooks giggling about lyrics. And at night, when you thought no one could hear you, you sang so loud, I bet the neighbors heard them.”
“No way! And there were only three songs.”
“Way, Supergirl, and I know there were only three, but you sang them endlessly. I think my favorite line was ‘boyfriends with big muscles and lots of brains.’”
She snort-laughed and covered her face. “I forgot about that!”
“I assume that was me, and if it wasn’t, thenlieto me, okay?”
“They were all about you,” she gushed. “Because they were about the love of my life, so even if I didn’t know it then, you were always on my mind.”
He moved closer, angling himself so he could put his arms around her from behind, and repositioned her hands. “Be loose. Get comfortable with the instrument.”
“If you say ‘make love to it,’ I’m going to bite your neck.”
“Oh, baby. Make love to it,” he said in a raspy voice.
She turned and bit his neck, then sucked, leaving a tiny mark that she knew would fade, but the groan it earned was one she’d not soon forget. She tenderly kissed the red spot, then leaned against him and said, “How did you know I needed this?”
“Because I love you, and when you care about someone, you usually know what they need.”
“If only all life’s answers were that easy.”
“Maybe we can find whatever answers you’re looking for in the music. Now, make love to the guitar.”
She nudged him with her elbow. “Watch it, buster.”
He taught her the basics, and later, when they were back at his place and she was getting ready to leave, he set his guitar in the back seat of her car.
“I can’t take that to Boston. It’s always been with you.”
“I want you to learn on the same one I did. Besides, you’re part of me now, so in a sense, it’s still with me.” He brushed his lips over hers and said, “Thank you for arranging for Boone to fly in and for fighting traffic and coming home last night. I’ll come see you next weekend so you don’t have to drive back again.”
