Page 28 of Hard Rock Temptation
I chuckled at her enthusiasm and let her lead me around the aisles.
Kaylee’s beautiful green eyes trailed lovingly across the store, taking in every guitar, every keyboard, every drum set. I couldn’t help but use her moment of distraction to trail my own eyes over her. Those cut off jean shorts showed off a lot of leg and commanded most of my attention.
I remembered what her soft thighs had felt like under my hands. I wondered what the rest of her skin would feel like when I finally stripped her of all her clothes. When I finally got my hands on her, now that I had permission to touch, and kiss and?—
I snapped my eyes back up, not wanting to be caught staring with those thoughts filling my head.
To distract myself, I wandered over to the keys section and found a grand piano, priced way higher than any normal music store customer would have been able to afford. I began playing a few bars of Für Elise. Cliché, but there was a reason it was popular.
“Why don’t you try something a little more challenging?” Kay asked, a glimmer of mischief in her eyes. She nodded her head over to a drum kit set up at the back corner of the store.
I snorted.
“You know I‘m awful on drums,” I told her.
“As if that’s ever stopped you before,” she replied.
I eyed the drum kit suspiciously. I hadn’t sat behind one of them in more than a year. I was great on keys, and good with a guitar, but drumming had never been my thing.
“Have a go at it,” Kaylee said, tugging me over with my arm linked in hers.
I tried not to drag my feet as an odd reluctance creeped up inside me.
I had never minded playing around with the drums, even though I wasn’t any good at it. Sometimes it was actually more fun to just screw around with an instrument without needing to show off your skills.
But now, with Kaylee next to me, a feeling of unease squirmed in my chest, and I didn’t know why.
I ran a hand over the cymbals carefully, not wanting to make a loud crash in the quiet store. Kaylee held out a pair of drumsticks she’d snatched from a display and looked at me expectantly. I stared at them in her outstretched hand, discomfort rising by the second.
“Why don’t you give them a try instead?” I asked her.
“Aw, you’re just afraid you’re going to suck,” Kaylee teased playfully.
I paused at her words, my thoughts grinding to a halt. Kay noticed.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, concerned.
“Nothing,” I said automatically.
Kaylee gave me a look.
“You just froze,” she said. “It’s not nothing. “
“I just—” My vocal cords closed up.
I thought about what Kay had said weeks ago, backstage at that late night show. What she’d said to me that night at my apartment, when I’d tried to make her leave and she called me out.
Use your words, Micah.
I could barely understand what I was feeling, let alone try to find the words to express it.
Why was it so hard? What was I so afraid of?
But that was it, wasn’t it? That was the question.
What was I so afraid of?
Why was I alwaysso afraid, all the time?
