Chapter 13 #2
“Well, if he couldn’t see how talented you are then that’s his problem.”
Her smile was fleeting but my pulse jumped seeing it. “Oh no, he thought I was talented. That’s why he wouldn’t approve. He’d say I could be doing so much more.”
It sounded like a lot of pressure, and the guy wasn’t even around to say any of it. “Well, as long as you’re happy—”
“I’m not.” The words were hasty, like they fell out of her unplanned.
“I mean, I’m okay, you know? But this…” She listened to the music and grimaced.
“This isn’t what I wanted. You know we basically recorded two versions of this album?
The album I wanted and the one the studio preferred.
I didn’t write much of these songs, but there were others I did write that didn’t make it onto the album and they were eventually vetoed by the studio. ”
“Play one for me.”
Her eyes jumped to me, surprise parting her lips before she swallowed. “Okay.”
I collected our plates while she stood and walked into the other room, returning with a guitar that took up half her frame.
The remnants of the omelettes went in the bin and I kept my back to her as she absently strummed and fine-tuned the strings.
A cupboard to my left was slightly ajar, revealing a dishwasher, and I placed the plates inside carefully while Muffin sniffed curiously from beside my legs and Sienna began to play louder.
It was the same song we’d heard on the TV, the music video overwhelmingly pink and sparkly until there was no soul left in the song. But this… I could feel the life in the music now as Sienna picked at the strings and hummed.
The marble island pressed into my palms harshly as I leaned against it, too stuck on the way Sienna’s mouth moved, the croon of her voice, to notice the pain.
Under her skilled touch, the song transformed into something more like a haunting lullaby than the peppy beat we’d heard before.
Be what everyone says you can be,
Look at me I’m down on my knees
I’m pleading and I’m pleading
And I’m pleading with you
Stop running and just hold me tight
I’ll be here til the morning light
I’m pleading and I’m pleading
Pleading with you
Her voice rose up into something high and sweet and the hair on my arms stood on end as a shiver swept through me, the lyrics suddenly holding meaning in a way they hadn’t in the other version.
I’d heard of the expression ‘so quiet you could hear a pin drop’ but I hadn’t truly experienced it until now, as her fingers came to a stop and her voice trailed off. She held the world captive in the palm of her hand with only the power of her voice and I had to swallow twice before I could speak.
“That was…”
“A little rough, I know. I haven’t played that version in a while.”
I was moving before I’d thought it through, my legs eating up the space between us in seconds as I took her chin in my palm and tilted her face up to mine.
“Gorgeous,” I said gruffly, my eyes scanning hers.
“Your label were idiots for not releasing that version. You are…” I closed my eyes so I wouldn’t drop my gaze to her mouth as I let out a rasping laugh.
“Unreal, Sienna.” My hand lingered on her face as I reluctantly opened my eyes and found her looking at my lips.
I tensed, clenching my jaw as I forced myself to drop my hand and back away.
I had to get out of here. If I stayed, I was going to do something she might regret.
Her fingers caught mine before I could back away completely, fingertips grazing as electricity danced across my knuckles from the contact.
“Sienna…” I screwed my eyes shut, unable to take the needy, wanting, look on her face and the bolt of heat it sent straight to my cock.
“August—”
It was my name that did it.
“Fuck it,” I growled, eyes flying open as I reached for her, one hand pulling her messy bun free from its confines so I could sink my hands into her soft hair and the other cupping her cheek before my mouth descended on hers.
She tasted as sweet as I remembered and the little gasp she gave against my lips made me groan. Then she moved, her hands on my chest exploring, gripping the fabric tightly though I barely felt it. My hands found her waist and I pulled her closer, needing more, wanting to taste her deeper.
Our tongues brushed and when she bit my bottom lip my blood sang with a need to take her, to fuck the thought of anyone else but me out of her head.
Her legs came around my waist as I lifted her with my hands on her ass, squeezing the silk appreciatively and trying to regain some semblance of control as I felt the heat of her skin through the fabric.
If I touched the spot between her legs, would I find it wet through the material again?
I shuddered, control fraying as we fell back onto the sofa, her softness pressed against me until all I could breathe was Sienna.
Her ankles slid up my back, pressing my hardness against her through my jeans and when she moaned I panted, realizing I was dangerously close to blowing in my damn pants.
She mumbled a protest when I pulled away, trying to think of anything except how desperately I wanted to feel her come against my tongue, my cock—
The loud crash to our left made us both jump and my pulse skyrocketed, thudding in my ears as I withdrew fully from Sienna’s embrace.
The acoustic guitar had fallen thanks to our frantic movements on the couch, and the sound was enough to remind me of all the reasons we couldn’t do this right now.
She was vulnerable, in the midst of a massive career change, and our fake dating deal muddied the waters too.
I didn’t want her to feel like she was obligated to kiss me, or anything else.
But it would be hard to convince myself again that my feelings for Sienna were nothing more than attraction. Not when our kisses were already searing themselves permanently into my memories.
“I should go,” I said quickly, smiling politely like I hadn’t nearly fucked her on that pretty pink couch and definitely hadn’t noticed the peaked tips of her nipples below that silky night shirt, nor the puffy destruction of her mouth. “I’ll see you at the game tomorrow?”
She’d barely finished nodding before I was out the door and cursing myself in the elevator the whole way down.