Sheet Music - A Rock 'n' Roll Love Story (29 page)

“It’s okay,” she lied.  “I appreciate your honesty.”

“I didn’t tell you that to hurt you.”

“I know.  If I didn’t think I could handle your answer, I wouldn’t have asked the question.  Besides, on some level I already knew what your answer was going to be,” she shrugged.  “I wanted to hear you say it.”

He forced a smile onto his face.  “Which is exactly why I'm not going to ask you the same question.  I
know
I couldn't handle your answer.”

She glanced up at him and blinked two heavy teardrops off her eyelashes.  “The answer would be no, Michael.  I was too focused on getting well to be involved with anyone.”

Relief washed over him.  “I wish you hadn’t walked out on me, Annie.  If you had given me a chance, we could have talked through all these issues.  It would have saved us both a lot of pain.  If I had known what was going on inside your head, I could have put your fears to rest.”

Annie began to sob.  So many months had been wasted.  Time they would never get back.  She shook her head in regret.  “I’m sorry but I was so scared.”

He exhaled loudly.  “Would it be all right if I hugged you?” he asked tentatively.

She forced a smile and melted into him.  His large arms encased her and she was elevated to the stars.  She could feel his soothing hands roaming her back and raking through her long hair.  It had been far too long, she thought, as she slid her fingers around his narrow waist, then she pressed her face against his chest.  The loud thud of his heart sounded like a symphony to her ears.  Its quickened rhythm matched her own.  They held onto each other for a long time, each afraid to break the spell with words.  Annie smiled and squeezed her eyes tight, swallowing hard against the hard lump of emotion clogging her throat.

“Annie?” he whispered, as he snuggled his face into the sweet scent of her hair.

“What?” she sighed, the sound and feel of his breath against her ear made her skin tingle in an all too familiar way.

“That connection you said you felt with me, do you still feel it?  Are you feeling it now?”

Annie smiled to herself.  His soft spoken questions vibrated through her torso and ended in a slow subtle pulse in the pit of her stomach.  Still smiling, she gazed up at his inquisitive face.  Her hand reached out and stroked the smoothness of his bottom lip.

“Yes, I’m feeling it now.  It never went away, no matter how much I may have thought I wanted it to.  You were right, it isn’t something that can be shut off and walked away from.”

He smiled back at her.  The depth of his love was evident in his eyes.  “Can I kiss you?”

Annie stifled a laugh and pulled his neck down to meet her half-way.  She groaned when his mouth locked onto hers and suddenly they were swept away in the same electric heat that had consumed them long ago.

“You didn’t have to ask, Michael.  You could have had me back in the hallway at the FleetCenter if you had tried.  When it comes to you, I obviously have no resistance.”

“Now you tell me,” he smiled.  In once swift movement, he picked her up, spun her around, and set her down on the edge of the window ledge with her back pressed against the glass.  Almost eye-to-eye, he moved between her spread knees and kissed her deeply, his tongue doing a well choreographed dance inside her open mouth.

“Will your friend be upset if you don’t see her tonight?” he asked between breathless kisses on her face and neck.  The impulse to devour her right there was almost uncontrollable.

“No.”

Another long sweet kiss.

“I’d really like it if you’d stay here with me,” he sighed. 

She was close to explosion when she felt his fingers slip beneath her shirt, discovering her naked breasts.

“I’d like that,” Annie replied.

More kisses and Annie raised her arms to enable Michael to remove her shirt.  “You know, it’s probably not a good idea I do this right here,” he said into her ear, then sucking the lobe.  “You’d be amazed at what a photographer can do with a good telephoto lens,” he laughed, covering her exposed breasts with his hands.

“Yeah, I think we’ve already been down that road,” Annie replied.

“Come on.  I want to do this properly,” he said, taking her by the hand and heading toward the bedroom.

Annie froze and pulled her hand from his, then covered her naked breasts with her arms.

“What’s wrong, babe?” he asked, stepping back toward her.

Annie bent to pick up her discarded shirt from the floor and quickly slipped it over her head.  “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’m ready for this.”

Michael circled her with his arms.  “You’re trembling, Annie.  What’s going on?”

She broke their embrace and sat on the couch.  “It seems…too easy - too perfect and I don’t think it should, or can be, either.  I’m not sure this can be a ‘happily-ever-after’ situation, Michael.  Honestly, I’m not looking for a ‘reunion fling’ and that’s what this feels like.”

Michael sat beside Annie on the couch and draped an arm across her shoulder.  “Reunion
fling
?”  He shook his head and made a sour face.  “I'm not looking for that either, Annie.  I was hoping for something a little more long-term.”

Annie’s eyes locked onto his.  “How so?”

He studied her face and saw the uncertainty in her eyes.  “Can I ask you something?  When you came to see me tonight, how did you see this playing out?”

“What do you mean?” Annie asked.

“Did you have any hopes of getting back together, or were you visualizing a different ending?”

Annie hung her head and began to rock back and forth.  “I came to see you looking for closure.  I was angry and disheartened over how it ended between us the last time.  I never anticipated ending up in your arms - and certainly not back in your bed.  I honestly never thought beyond the point of us venting at one another.”

“Wow,” Michael sighed, clasping his hands behind his head.  “That hurts to hear but I’m glad you’re being honest.  It sounds like we’re looking for different things.”

“I'm not sure
what
I'm looking for,” Annie said, shaking her head.  “Don't you have doubts or concerns about getting back together?”

“No.  I don’t.  I’ve never felt more sure of anything in my life.  I’d commit to you in a heartbeat, on any level you wanted, and not feel an ounce of hesitation.”

“But it didn’t work before so why do you think it would work this time?” Annie asked.  She was riddled with skepticism and stunned by his steadfast certainty.

“Annie, last time your mind was polluted with pain medication and you weren't thinking clearly.  That is the
only
reason we didn't work,” he said, gently gripping the back of her neck with his fingers and massaging.

Annie sat silent, then her head fell to his shoulder, her face finding the warm bend of his neck.  His scent was intoxicating.  She lifted her hand and placed it at the hollow of his throat.  She could feel his heart quickly tapping beneath the surface of his skin.  She smiled lazily.

“Sweetheart,” he whispered.  “I’d be happy to sit here and talk until the sun comes up, if that’s what makes you comfortable.”  He turned his face and kissed her forehead.

Annie’s fingers drifted up to his mouth.  She tipped her head back and watched as his lips curled.  His eyes were drawing her inside; the power he had was incredible.  She raised herself and kissed him.

Michael’s eyes slowly closed; as he opened his mouth wider to taste her fully.  Once again, they fell victim to the magnetic force that radiated between their bodies.

“Why is it, every time we find ourselves in the same room together, we seem to end up in bed?” Annie asked.

“We’re not in bed,” he grinned.  “We’re on a couch.”

“I know and it’s not very comfortable, is it?”

Michael stared at her with languid eyes.  His lips brushed hers.  “Stay with me tonight, Annie,” he whispered against her open mouth.  “We can talk about what this all means tomorrow.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

The bedroom was completely dark except for a haze of faint light drifting down the hallway from the living room.  Annie felt for the bed and sat on the edge.  She reached out and pulled him toward her by the waistband of his jeans.

Slowly she inched down the zipper, then her hands slid around his hips and onto his bare buttocks.  She heard the whoosh of his shirt being removed over his head and then tossed onto the floor.  She pressed her face against the soft fur on his lower stomach and closed her eyes as she pushed his jeans and briefs onto his solid thighs.  The heat of his groin and scent of his masculinity were mere inches from her mouth.  Without thinking, her tongue darted out to steal a quick taste.

“Annie, if you do that I won’t last ten seconds,” he said, gently easing her further back onto the bed.

She pulled her top off and laid her head against a thick pillow and waited in the darkness for him to finish removing his jeans.  Then he was beside her, completely naked.  His mouth found hers while his fingertips taunted her bare nipples.

“Do you have any idea how much I still love you?” he stated.

“Show me,” she answered breathlessly.

A slow smile curled his lips and his eyes filled with lust.  She didn’t have to ask him twice.

She gasped when she felt the last resistance release on her pants as he tugged them off her legs.  Then bit her bottom lip when: first, his hands, then his face, disappeared between her fiery thighs.

“Oh God, Michael!  I’m not made of stone either,” she sighed, feeling the warm waves of ecstasy crash through her limbs.

He kissed his way up the length of her torso, stopping every inch to savor the taste of her soft flesh.  When his face hovered above hers, he stopped and rested his body between her legs.

“I took a lot of cold showers, trying to get the memory of your taste out of my head, and it never worked.  Instead, I’d be dripping wet and alone; wanting you even more.”

With wide-eyed innocence, she stared into his soulful eyes.  Her heart beat wildly in her chest.  Her skin was hot to the touch.  She wanted him inside more than ever before.  She reached up and pulled his mouth down onto hers.

He moved forward slightly and paused when the tip of his hardness touched her soft, wet spot: the same welcoming slice of heaven that he had never been able to get out of his mind since the first night he had slept with her.  Slowly, he began to move inside her and groaned when he felt her melt against him.  It was like taking a hedonistic journey into the center of her earth: seeking out her molten core and exploding after his skin got too hot.  It was love and desire in its purest form.  Nothing he had ever experienced could ever compare.

When his breathing finally slowed, he rolled onto his side and pulled her backside against his chest in a spoon position.

“I feel like a groupie,” Annie sighed.

“Excuse me?  How do you figure that?” he asked, tenderly stroking her nakedness.

“Well, think about it.” she began, rolling over to face him.  “I went to hear a rock concert tonight, got myself a back stage pass, flirted with the lead guitarist and look where I’m laying now.”

Michael chuckled.  “Annie, there is
nothing
about you that even remotely resembles a groupie.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she teased, pretending to be insulted.

Michael rolled onto his back and laughed loudly.  “Come here,” he said, pulling her on top of him.  Then he pushed the long hair from her forehead and studied her beautiful face.  “Sex with a groupie is fifteen minutes of bad foreplay.  That’s it, at best.  There is no conversation, no kissing, no intimacy at all.  It’s empty.  You’re lucky if you even remember their names.”

His fingers tickled their way down her spine and rested on her hips.  Then with gentle force, he began to slide her body down to straddle his groin, already swollen again and ready.  “Plus, there is no emotional involvement with a groupie,” he continued, pushing the tip of his organ inside her warmth.  “And we both know my feelings for you run very…deep.”

He sighed when he had fully penetrated her then stopped.  Annie was speechless, flushed red, as her body expanded to accept his size.  Gently she began to move against him.

“No babe, stay still.  I want you to feel it,” he whispered, staring lustfully into her desperate eyes.  “Can you feel it?”

She gave a weak and delirious nod when she felt him begin to pulse inside her most private center.  It seemed to take on a life of its own, flexing and probing, without him moving any other part of his body.  Could she feel it?  “Was he crazy?” she thought.  His subtle throb was setting off an avalanche inside her that was racing out of control.

“Michael, please let me move,” she begged.

But he held her hips firmly in place, a sly smile curling the corner of his sensuous mouth.  It was obvious he was enjoying the look of exasperation washing over her delicate facial features.  It was torture for him too, but watching her face while in the throes of complete sexual abandonment was worth the agony of holding back his own need for release.

“I can’t take this!  I have to move,” she cried.

Annie was still in the midst of orgasm when Michael quickly rolled her over onto her back and began thrusting.  She clawed at his back, disbelieving the sensation searing through her was medically possible. 

Michael felt it too.  From the tips of his toes to the ends of his fingers, and every nerve ending in between both points, he felt it.  The heat was volcanic and so was his eruption.  When the feeling finally began to subside, he fell against her chest, his breath still labored and heavy.

“You are an amazing man, Michael Wade,” Annie panted, softly brushing his hair with her fingers.  “I thought what we shared in bed at your house was an earth-moving experience but…tonight,” she exhaled.  “Words cannot describe what I’m feeling tonight.”

He propped himself up on one elbow and grinned mischievously at her.  “I have a confession to make,” he teased.

“Oh no!  What?”

“When we were together before, I was holding back.”