Sheet Music - A Rock 'n' Roll Love Story (9 page)

“Am I hurting you?”

“In a good way,” she reassured, with the nudge of her nose against his lips.

He closed his eyes and rolled onto his back, taking her with him.  She bent forward and straddled his hips, his arms circled her back, his hands roaming freely over her skin and into her hair.  He lifted his head and caught her lips with his.  His moans drifted into her mouth.

“You feel so good, Annie.  So good.”

She moved in rhythm with him, slowly climbing the wall toward insanity.  When she tried to speed their momentum, he gently slowed her hips with his hands.

“I don’t want to rush this,” he said softly.  “It feels too good to hurry.”

He shifted his weight again and put her beneath him, his fingers entwining with hers above their heads.  His mouth moved to her neck.  She could feel his breath burning against her flesh.  His momentum built painfully slow.  The pleasure was searing.  She cried out his name and opened wider.  When her spasms started, he slowed down, gazing into her eyes.

“I want to feel you come,” he sighed.  Then he lost control, thrusting one last time.  He collapsed against her chest as he tried to catch his breath.

He closed his eyes, disbelieving what he was feeling was real.  Annie had moved him in more than one way.  He had never felt so out of control before in his life, unable to harness a depth of passion he was unaware he had.

The room was quiet except for the sound of their breathing.  Several minutes passed and neither spoke.  Annie’s brain swirled with a thousand different emotions.  She was afraid to break the spell by talking.  Instead she softly stroked his head as he continued to rest against her breasts.  Finally, he moved up toward her face and kissed her.

“Anyone ever tell you how beautiful you are when you come?” he asked with a sly boyish grin.

She skewed her face as she covered it with her hand.  “God, don’t say things like that!  You’re embarrassing me.”

He laughed and pulled her close against his body.  “It wasn’t meant to make you feel uncomfortable.  I was just stating a fact.”

“Am I supposed to thank you for the compliment?” she giggled.

“No, I  think I should be the one thanking you.”

Annie pressed herself against his side and studied his face.  His skin was so smooth and flawless she couldn’t keep herself from touching it.  She ran her index finger over his dark eyebrow and down the length of his nose.  When she reached his mouth he curled his lips lazily against the pad of her finger.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked.

His eyes slowly opened and focused on her.  “I was thinking that I feel as if I’ve somehow taken advantage of you.”

“How do you figure that?” Annie asked.

“When I drove here tonight I knew it was wrong.  In fact, several times I considered turning around and heading home.  Even knowing what I was making you risk, I still wanted to be here with you.  And, if I was to be honest with you and myself, I’d have to say I was hoping for something more than stimulating conversation.”

He rolled to face her and removed a few strands of hair from her forehead with his fingers.  Then kissed her eyebrow.

“And you think that makes you a bad person?” she asked.

“No, I believe that makes me human,” he stated.

“I would agree with that.  Since the day I met you, I’ve spent many hours fantasizing about what you’d be like in bed.”

Michael cocked his head and grinned at her.  “Seriously?”

“Yeah sure, why not?  I guess that makes me human too.”

“So, was I everything you expected and then some?” he asked, simulating arrogance.

“No, actually you were nothing like I expected.”

“How so?”

“Well, I figured you’d be aggressive and to the point, sort of like the way you play guitar.  You weren’t like that at all.” Annie cleared her throat and fanned her face with her hand.  Her eyes began to glisten with tears.

“It’s okay,” he said, tenderly taking her mouth.

“It's never felt like that, Michael.  I wasn't even aware it
could
feel like that,” she answered in a soft voice.

“I know,” he agreed, sliding on top of her again, already hard and wanting.  His mouth hovered over her face and lips.  “I knew we would be good together, Annie, but I wasn't prepared for
how
good,” he said, as he eased himself back inside her wetness.  “I knew because of the way you kissed me.”

“Boy, that kiss really must have been something,” she said, slipping her hands around his neck and pulling his mouth to hers.

“Mind blowing,” he sighed.

He loved her again, unhurried and with a passion that made her ache.  She had never felt so completely loved.  Long after the orgasms rolled through their bodies, they held on to each other, never disconnecting.

Still hard and pulsing inside her, he continued to send tiny avalanches to the farthest corner of her limbs.  When his breath finally slowed, he spoke.  “Besides the hope of getting you into bed, I did have another reason to come here tonight.  Although, if I were to be honest about that, I could have taken care of it at practice tomorrow.  So, I guess no matter how you look at it, my intentions were less than honorable.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Thrust has a benefit gig this Friday night at the FleetCenter in Boston.  All the sponsored bands are invited.  Brian told me limos are picking up each band and taking them into Boston.  It will be our way to officially introduce the bands to the media and talk about the contest.”

“Seriously?”

“I have tickets and backstage passes for everyone in your band.  But, the truth is, I could have easily given you the envelope tomorrow at your rehearsal.”

Annie’s eyes widened.  “Backstage passes?”

“Yeah.  You’ll get to meet the rest of Thrust,” Michael said, rolling his eyes and making an awkward face.

“Why the face?”

“I’ve never been one for that ‘meet and greet’ sort of thing.  Brian loves that shit, not me.  It’s nothing but chaos with the photographers snapping off shots faster than you can smile and music reviewers trying their best to get you to say something that you’d rather not see in print.  The whole scene makes me very edgy.  If I can get myself out of it, I do.  But most often, it’s mandatory and I’m stuck.”

“Poor baby,” Annie replied, making a sad face.

Then Michael’s face grew serious.  “So will you come?”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

They spent the rest of the night talking and making love until they finally fell asleep entwined in each others arms.

Annie woke first and rolled her head toward Michael, partly to see if the night before had been a dream.  A smile formed on her face.  It had been dreamlike but it was definitely real.  He lay there in all his glory, hair spilling everywhere, his dark skin a sharp contrast to the pale yellow sheets on her bed.

She watched him sleeping peacefully while the details of the night before drifted through her head.  She studied his hand resting on the pillow beside his face and remembered how it felt to have it exploring her body.  She was amazed that the same fingers he used to play guitar so raw and without rules, could be so gentle and loving in bed.  He seemed to derive as much pleasure from delivering it as in receiving it.  His passion was limitless.  Her eyes brimmed with tears at the sight of him sharing her bed.  She felt different than the day before, like more than just their bodies had bonded.  It felt like a union of their souls.

She wanted to touch him, kiss and taste him, and experience his essence all over again.  She closed her eyes and squeezed out fresh tears.  It was too late to save herself.  She was already in deep with him and that scared the hell out of her.  You weren’t supposed to fall in love with men like Michael.  You could enjoy a few fleeting moments with them but longevity was not to be expected.

She slid out of bed and quietly headed for the bathroom to shower.  She stepped beneath the warm water and closed her eyes.  Her body still tingled with euphoria from the night before but her heart already ached for the loss she knew was coming.  Once again, she feared she had fallen into another dead-end relationship but this one would hurt more than all the others combined.

She silently dressed, combed her hair and held it back with a clip.  Then she went to the kitchen and made coffee and toast.  She sat at the kitchen table, sipping fresh black coffee while she watched him continue to slumber.  His nakedness was barely concealed beneath the sheets.  Finally he woke, groped for his jeans on the floor and slipped them on, only zipping them halfway.  He used his fingers to comb his hair and approached the kitchen.  Annie dropped her eyes to her coffee mug.

He slid his hands into his pockets and propped himself against the door frame to the kitchen.  “Hey,” he said, gazing at her.

He was shirtless, barefoot, and so perfectly masculine.  Annie had to look away.

“Hi,” she replied, her eyes locked on the liquid in her cup.  “Are you hungry?”

He shifted his weight.  “Yeah.  Can I buy you breakfast?”

She lifted her face.  “You don’t need to do that.  I can make you something here.  I don’t mind.”

She stood and made her way to the refrigerator.  She knew he was watching her movements and it unnerved her.  Finally, he came up behind her.

“Annie…,” he sighed against her neck as he circled her waist with his arms.

She could hear the sadness in his voice and closed her eyes.  “Michael, please don’t say it.  I already know.”

“Know what?” he asked.

“Isn’t this where you say last night never should have happened and if the situation were different, blah, blah, blah?”

“That’s a bit cold, don’t you think?”

“Perhaps, but it’s the truth, isn’t it?”

“Annie, I don’t know what to say.  I don’t know how to make it right,” he replied.

“Then maybe we shouldn’t say anything and just let it be.”  She poured coffee into another mug and handed it to him.

He caught her gaze and held it.  “I’m sorry.”

She quickly turned away.  “Please don’t say that.  You’ve got nothing to be sorry for.  If I didn’t think I could handle having a one-night-stand with you I wouldn‘t have asked you to stay.  It’s that simple.”

He stepped closer and rubbed at the back of her neck with his fingers.  “Is that what you
really
think last night was?”  His voice was full of hurt.

She turned and faced him, tears shimmering in her crystal blue eyes.  “Doesn’t it have to be?”

He dropped his head and shook it.  “I don’t know.  I don’t want it to be.  But the timing of this couldn’t be any worse.”  He moved to the kitchen window and glanced toward town; sipping his coffee.  “If I had met you a couple of months from now, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.  We’d still be in bed.”

Her eyes scanned the length of his muscled back and her heart ached.  Slowly she turned away and set her mug in the sink.  “It’s okay, really.  At least this time my one-night-stand had some pretty decent sex in it,” she forced a laugh.  “And I also have one hell of a story to tell my grandkids about when I get old too.”

Michael went to her, placed his coffee cup on the counter and took her into his arms.  He looked as troubled as she felt.  He hugged her tightly, his face dipping into the soft spot below her ear.  “I
want
to be with you.  You have to know that.”

Hearing his words rattle against her skin made her knees go weak.  She could barely draw in a breath.  And then his mouth found hers.  As soon as they made contact, they became fused.

“You make me so hot, Annie,” he purred, guiding her back towards the bedroom, articles of clothing coming off with each step they took.  By the time they reached the bed, they were blissfully naked.  He fell onto his back with Annie landing on top his chest.  His hands went to her face.  His finger tips outlined every detail.  The expression on his face was serious and thoughtful.  Then he unclipped her hair and let it tumble free around her face and dropping into his.

His arms drew her close against his body and together they turned, his maleness slipping easily inside her warmth.  In seconds everything around them blurred into a surreal haze.  They made love like their lives depended on it or as if they may never have the pleasure of being together again.  When it was over, Annie lay against his chest, listening to the hard thud of his heart beneath her ear.

“Are you like this
all
the time?” she asked with curiosity.

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t think I’ve had this much sex in a whole month, never mind in a matter of a twelve hour time span.  I wouldn’t have thought it medically possible, until now.”

He smirked mischievously.  “I didn’t think it was possible either and I don’t dare question the physics or the medical probabilities of it.  All I know is, I couldn’t be happier.  This would be a first for me, Annie.”

“Really?”

He pulled her close again, pressing his hardness against her.  “Yes.  You have me in such a crazed state right now, I think I’ll be hard for days, maybe weeks.”

“As wonderful as that sounds, I fear if we don’t get out of this bed now, I’m never going to make it to practice.”

“You’re probably right.”

Annie rolled out of bed and began collecting her discarded clothing from the floor.

“Do you mind if I use your bathroom to shower and shave?” he asked.

“Go ahead.  I’ll make something for us to eat.”

Michael went to his car and returned with a small bag then disappeared into the bathroom.  A few minutes later, he reemerged, steam rolling into the kitchen.  He had changed into a fresh t-shirt.  Water dripped from the curls of his hair and a toothbrush was still stuck in the corner of his mouth.

“I see you came prepared.” she joked.

“I’m always on the road so I keep a lot of this stuff in my car.  I never know when I’ll need it.”

Annie rolled her eyes.

“…and, not for the reasons you’re thinking.” he teased.

Suddenly the ring of his cell phone pierced the room.  Michael quickly retrieved it from his pocket.

“Sammy, where are you?” he asked.  “Okay, I’m about ten minutes from you.  Stay there and you can follow me back to the rehearsal hall.”