Sweet Harmonies (41 page)

As she gained her strength back, she began to
move her hips in a rhythm that matched his, and he tightened his
arms around her, resting his forehead against hers and whispered,
“You’re mine Karina, I love you.”

After that, his pace quickened rapidly, and
Karina matched her movements to his. She ran her hands up and down
his back, which was now slick with sweat, and loved the feeling of
his strong muscles bunching and unbunching as he thrust in and out
of her.

Suddenly, she felt all the muscles in his
back contract at once, and he hunched forward over her, pulling her
closer in his arms. She brought her hips up to meet his entirely,
and tightened her arms and legs around him as he reached his climax
holding her tightly against him.

When his muscles relaxed and he drew back
from his tight embrace, he pushed her hair back from her forehead
lovingly, and showered her face with gentle little kisses. She
continued to stroke his hair, and she loved the soft, fuzzy
contentment that wrapped them like a blanket as they lay sweaty and
breathless, caressing each other tenderly and whispering their love
to one another.

The last thing Karina was aware of was the
blissful sensation of relaxing completely against Ryan's strong
chest, closing h
e
r eyes, and - for the first time in her
life - drifting away on gentle clouds of sleep, enveloped in the
arms of the man she loved.

--- ~ ---

Karina and Ryan sat on threadbare couches in
the back room of the Hope Falls High School Auditorium, the
location of the Winter Festival. They had told Henry that they
would agree to play, since the money benefited the High School's
music department.

Karina didn't know what this meant for them
professionally. They still needed to get together with Bernie and
Davis and hash out all of those details. But, honestly, Karina
didn't care. She was with Ryan, no matter what. That was the
important part.

Whether that meant a thriving career in
mainstream music, or a do-it-yourself indie operation based out of
Hope Falls, Karina was through worrying about it. She was going to
do her best work, make her best music, no matter what the
circumstances – and she was going to be doing it with Ryan. Life
could not be better.

As if summoned by her thoughts of them,
Bernie and Davis strode into the makeshift green room, wide grins
on their faces.

Karina laughed, “Well don't you two look like
the cats that ate the canary.”

Bernie clapped her on the shoulder, “That,
kid, is because I think we have finally hammered out a deal that
neither of you can say no to.”

Karina was puzzled, and she knew Ryan must
be, too. After all, Bernie and Davis were acting as though they had
been in active negotiations all this time, and she and Ryan thought
that things were stalled.

Ryan, brows furrowed, opened his mouth to ask
what they meant, but Karina jumped in before he could speak with a
simple, “We're listening.”
Bernie proudly brandished the thick papers, exclaiming, “Basically,
here's the deal, kid. You get full creative control on 50% of the
songs for your next 6 albums. The other 6 will have an outside
producer, but you will have final choice of that producer. You get
more creative input on art direction, press, wardrobe, etc. as
well.

“
The idea is that we ease your fans
into the idea of the low-key, unplugged version of you as an
artist, rather than shocking them.”

Karina nodded, “What about Ryan?”

Bernie said, “Did you think I would forget
him? No, I would not. Ryan's deal is completely independent of
yours, standard new artist stuff. Of course, we will want the two
of you to collaborate, it's key in the strategy of breaking Ryan in
as a new act. But neither of your contracts hinges on it.”

Karina raised her eyebrows. This was
basically everything she wanted, far more than she had hoped for.
Dare she ask, and risk souring the deal? Or should she just rush
and get pen to paper before they had a change of heart?

Curiosity got the better of her, and she
decided that she could not bear to be in the dark.

“
That sounds amazing,” she said,
adding, “So what prompted this abrupt change of heart?”

Davis laughed, “As if you don't know! You
were right about these two, Bernie, shrewd as foxes. Well, I don't
mind admitting I got bested in a game of negotiational chicken.
Well played.”

Karina looked at Ryan, asking him with her
raised eyebrows if he knew what they were talking about. He shook
his head.

Bernie continued, “It was brilliant playing
us back and forth between you. 'Oh, I have to talk to Ryan first.'
'Oh, I have to talk to Karina first.' You almost had us fooled into
thinking that the deal really was going to fall apart. But, look!
Now, everything is settled. We're all a family again!”

Davis put in, “And I, for one, won't be so
quick to dismiss your negotiating prowess next time.”

Karina and Ryan laughed weakly.

“
Yeah,” Ryan said hollowly, “We really
had you going there, huh?”

“
Right? We...uh...yeah. We had it
planned that way all along.”

Amanda poked her head into the room and said,
“30 seconds, guys! Come on!”

Karina and Ryan stood and shook hands with
Davis, and Karina gave Bernie a hug, before they rushed out of the
lounge and toward the side of the stage, from which they would make
their entrance.

Karina could not be happier as they stood
there in the wings, waiting to hear their names called, getting
ready to go out on stage together, to do the thing that they did
best and loved most.

She smiled slyly to herself. Well, she
conceded, maybe did second best and loved second most.

Then, it was time. Henry called their names
and they strode across the polished wood of the stage together,
listening to the roaring, all-encompassing sound of the crowd going
wild. They positioned themselves on either side of the mic, took a
deep breath, and shared a smile.

Then, when the energy and anticipation in the
auditorium was reaching the breaking point, they turned to the
crowd and they began to play.

Check Out Chapter One of
“Sweet Victory”

Chapter 1

Sam listened to the squeak of rubber soles
against the shiny wood floor of the Rec Center basketball court
and, even though basketball was nothing like snowboarding,
struggled just a tiny bit to not feel nostalgia for her former
competitive life. It seemed lately that any kind of competition –
even board games – made her a little homesick for the adrenaline
rush of world class competition.

But then, she looked around at where she was.
Sitting in the rec center gym in Hope Falls, her hometown, with her
three closest friends, Lauren, Amanda, and Karina. Watching the
guys Ryan, Justin, Jake and Eric play basketball. She was
surrounded by love and friendship.

She smiled. This made her feel infinitely
better. What she had to keep reminding herself was that, for every
split second of blood-pounding, heart-racing thrill of competition
that Snowboarding gave to her, it also stole years from her life.
Years that she spent in training, in isolation, never making her
own decisions, and – most importantly – never being around the
people she loved.

People like her friends here, the Fabulous
Four. She looked at them each in turn, feeling grateful for their
unique qualities. There was Amanda, the adorable little blonde
kewpie doll. She was the nurturer, she had brought them all back
together again. There was raven-haired Karina, the pop superstar on
a hiatus from fame. She was the funny one. She had the most biting,
sarcastic, and hilarious sense of humor of anyone Sam had ever
known. Sam shifted her attention next to Lauren, whose tall,
willowy blonde elegance would have shined through even if she
hadn't always been dressed in a perfectly tailored suit, her hair
and makeup flawless regardless of time of day or circumstance. She
was the pragmatist, the organizer, the consummate business
woman.

She looked next to herself, and here she drew
a blank. Oh, sure, the physical was no problem. She was short and
had a strong, athletic body. She had deep auburn hair, emerald
green eyes, and a spray of freckles across her nose. That part was
easy. But what about the other part? The part where someone would
say, oh yeah, that's Sam, she's the fill-in-the-blank one. What
went in that blank? What was there about her, aside from
snowboarding, that made her unique? What made her a person? How was
it possible that, by 27 years old, she couldn't answer that
question?

She sat up and straightened her shoulders.
Well, that was the point of coming back to Hope Falls, wasn't it?
Maybe she didn't know who she was right now, but by God, she was
going to figure that out.

Her attention was snatched from introspection
by the appearance of the guys at their little bleacher encampment.
They had taken a short break from their game of two-on-two and had
come over to grab water and take a quick breather.

Justin, Amanda's fiance, and Ryan, Karina's
boyfriend, made big shows of trying to grab Amanda and Karina,
smothering them with kisses and hugs, even though they were
dripping with sweat. Amanda and Karina shrieked and pushed them
away, but they were laughing as they did it, and it was clear on
both of their faces that they loved the playful game.

Sam felt a small jolt of...envy? No. She
didn't begrudge her friends their relationships or their happiness.
She wanted them to have every drop of joy that life had to offer.
So what was it? Loneliness? Yes. That was it. It wasn't that she
didn't want her friends to have happiness or love. She just wanted
some of her own.

Sam glanced over at Lauren to see if she
could catch some glimpse, some small sign, that maybe Lauren felt
as bereft as she did not to have someone in her life. At least then
she wouldn't feel so alone. Misery loves company and all that. But
when she looked at Lauren, Lauren's head was bent over her smart
phone, and her thumbs were expertly tapping out a message.

Sam sighed. Of course. Ever since Lauren had
made the decision to move back to Hope Falls from New York and
qualified for her California real estate license, business had been
booming. Lauren specialized in high end real estate, and was
finding a great market in Hope Falls and the surrounding mountains,
helping people to sell and buy spectacular vacation homes –
vacation mansions, really – perched high on the mountaintops, with
views that could fool you into thinking you were standing in the
middle of the sky.

She had started by helping Sam and Karina
find their homes, which were right across the street from each
other, and referrals had started to roll in from there. Never one
to passively accept just what came across her desk, however, Lauren
was in the process of sculpting an aggressive branding and
marketing campaign. Not satisfied to be just ONE of the high-end
realtors here in the mountains, she would not rest until she was
the absolute quintessential high-end real estate pro in the Sierra
Nevadas.

Sam smiled a little to herself. Even though
she was the former Olympic athlete among the Fabulous Four, she
certainly wasn't the only one who had more than a little
competitive fire in her bones.

The guys got back to their game, and Lauren
looked up from her text messaging. She looked around at the faces
of the other three, who were staring at her.

“
What?” she asked
defensively.

“
No text messaging during hang time.
We're not here to converse with the top of your head!” Amanda said
accusingly.

Lauren smiled, “I only started text messaging
after you started playing grab-ass. I guess we're both done
now.”

Amanda blushed.

Karina chortled, “So, how are things going
with you and Justin, Mand?”

Amanda sighed dreamily, “It's so great, you
guys. We're so happy it's almost sickening.”

The other three replied in unison, and
without hesitation, “It IS sickening!”

Amanda laughed along with them, not bothered
by the good-natured ribbing, “OK, so how about the other happy
couple? How are you and Ryan doing, Karina?”

Karina beamed. It was clear that she was
happier than she had ever been.

“
Oh, man, you guys, it's so great,” she
gushed, “I'm finishing up my album, and Ryan and I have decided to
move in together, since he's basically always there anyway. He's
still helping Sue Ann out in the cafe quite a bit, but he's also
been working on his own material. Which is brilliant, if I do say
so. And I don't think I'm biased at all!”

She stopped to take a breath, then continued,
“We've basically either been in bed or in the studio for a solid
month. Things couldn't be going better! I'm so happy!”

They all congratulated her, happy that their
friend had found someone so wonderful to share her life with, and
also happy that it had been someone who didn't want to whisk her
away from Hope Falls! They liked having her around.

Sam said, “OK, that's that for relationships,
what about professional lives? We need to catch up there, too.
Lauren, I know you're killing it in the real estate world, and we
heard about Karina's album progress. What about you, Amanda? How is
Mountain Ridge Outdoor Adventures doing?”

Mountain Ridge Outdoor Adventures was the
outdoor mountain activities theme park that Amanda and Justin had
inherited when Amanda's father, Parker Jacobs, had died. It was her
father's legacy, and the girls knew how seriously Amanda took the
responsibility of running the place, and making sure that it stayed
the vibrant and thriving business that it had been when Parker was
still alive.