8. Ronan
ronan
. . .
Should the look on her face offend or please me? She doesn’t look disgusted, so I’ll take that as a win. I do kind of enjoy leaving her at a loss for words though. I mean it, I like Cora. A lot. Not just for how she looks.
“Remember when I said I want to know every little thing you’re thinking?”
Cora lets out a little breath, like she was holding it and didn’t realize. “I remember telling you it was your problem, not mine.”
“Still feel the same?”
I push up so I’m sitting facing her, my legs still outstretched.
The bed sheets smell like her perfume, it’s heady and intoxicating, and I don’t know how the hell I’ve kept my shit together this long.
It’s not just that I want to get to know her, I want to feel her skin, touch my tongue to the corner of her mouth, taste her little gasps of breath .
“I’m thinking…” She nips at her lower lip. It’s a struggle not to groan but her tiny smile says I didn’t hide it that well. “You might not find me as interesting as you’re thinking.”
“Impossible. I’m already fascinated.”
We stare at each other, and it seems endless as everything around us vanishes. She’s like a magnet, pulling me into her orbit, and I’m god damn powerless to stop it.
“We should tidy up the leftovers,” she murmurs.
“Uh-huh,” I respond, shuffling a little closer. She’s still higher than me, her head tilted down so she can maintain eye contact.
“I mean my house is going to smell like pizza for hours.”
“This isn’t a house.” I move up and lean closer.
“It is for now.”
“Cora?”
“What?”
“I can think of something better we could do right now.”
She doesn’t stop me when I reach out a hand and cup her jaw, my fingers teasing her hair at the nape. Of course, she wouldn’t be the Cora I’m coming to know if she didn’t get the last word in.
“Adding music to your mixtape?”
“Sweet music.”
Before she can say anything else, I move close enough to press my lips against hers. They’re warm and firm at first, as though she is unsure. I pull back and am happily shocked when she surges toward me and puts one hand on my hip, the other on my shoulder.
Fuck yes .
She kisses like she does everything else. With attitude and I’m here for it. Especially when she pushes me back and rolls on top of me. I should have known she’d take the lead. I’d try to correct it but I’m too far gone. Our tongues tangle and I grip her hip, not wanting to go too far, too fast.
It’s been years since I’ve made out with someone like this. My dick is hard and desperate for more, and I’m sure she can feel it, given how she’s grinding against me. I’ve never wanted a woman so much in my whole damn life.
Cora lets out a little moan and slows her movements, she slips her tongue out of my mouth and lightly presses our lips together. Cupping my lower lip, she nibbles on it, and I fucking swear I’m gonna come in my pants.
It’s cold when she leans back, pressing her palms into the pillow on either side of my head. My eyes open slowly, and I stare at her. We’re both panting, and her hair is a mess from my hands. I can’t help thinking how good she will look when I really mess her up.
Cora slides further back and off my lap, eyeing the significant bulge in my jeans. It’s a hungry look, but she moves away further with a reluctant look on her face.
“Tell me what you’re thinking,” I ask her.
“That someone like you could be bad for me.”
“Someone like me?” I sit up. “You haven’t gotten to know me yet.”
Cora gives me a soft smile. “I don’t want to stereotype you.”
“So don’t.”
I roll off the bed and stand up, walking around to where she is sitting. She follows me with her eyes. Taking her hand, I help her up so she is standing right in front of me, not quite eye to eye, but she is taller than most women I’ve dated.
“I’ve been down this road,” she says.
“No, you haven’t. I’m a unique experience.”
Her lip twitches. “You might have met your match, Ronan.”
“Bring it on.” I lean in and kiss her again, lingering for a moment but not deepening the kiss. “’Burning Heart’,” I whisper against her lips.
“What?” she asks after a moment, confused. “The song?”
I laugh. “Yeah, the song. I’m adding it to the playlist.”
“When do I get to hear this playlist?” She puts a hand on her hip.
“Oh, it could take weeks, months. We’ll need to communicate regularly to get it just right.” I walk backward. Cora folds her arms. “So double check that email I sent the other day.” At her confused expression I smirk. “My phone number was in it.”
“One make out session and you think this is a sure thing.”
Instead of answering, I wink, then turn and walk away. It could be a mistake but I’m pretty sure she’s too intrigued not to get in touch.
I can’t wipe the smile off my face. Yeah, the ball is in her court, but I’m confident we’ll see each other again. And not just as a client.
“Ronan!”
I turn at her shout. She has a polaroid camera and takes a picture before I can answer. It pops out of the bottom, and she catches it and gives it a shake. My grin gets wider. Could she be any more perfect? Cora looks at the image, then tucks it into her pocket and goes back inside.
Things with Cora are going to be interesting, that’s for sure. When I get to the main entrance, I pause a moment. I have no way to get home, maybe Cora will drop me off.
“About time.”
“Holy fuck!” I almost jump out of my skin when Stefan gets up from where he was sitting. “Jesus, since when did you become so stealthy. You gotta stop jumping out on people.” I press a hand to my chest.
“I stood up.”
“Announce yourself.”
“I’ll be sure to do that. You ready?”
No. I want to go back, but that’ll mess things up. It’s a game of cat and mouse, albeit a friendly, flirty one. But I am going to catch her. No matter what it takes.
Two nights later we’re in the studio listening to a playback of Caden singing vocals on another new song. Perry has been on fire writing for the new album. We were already halfway through when shit hit the fan, but since his fight with Christopher, he’s knocked out another four songs.
Christopher leaving has boosted us all. We got back to what we loved without the constant arguing and pressure of keeping him from going nuclear when he didn’t get what he wanted. Even Caden seems more settled in his skin, and new role.
“Sounds pretty fucking good to me.” Grayson slaps his brother on the shoulder .
“I don’t know, the second verse was a little screwy. I should do it again.”
Perry and I share a look. This isn’t because he’s nervous, this is because he’s a perfectionist. I lean back in my chair and watch him slip back into the sound booth. Grayson goes to the soundboard with the engineer and Perry drops into the seat beside me.
“What are you thinking?” I ask.
“That we should have done this years ago.”
“You’re salty about the fight,” I tell him. “It was only last year when he got really out of control.”
“You and I have different memories. But what’s the fucking point in dwelling on it. This is good. We’re good.”
“Did Marissa tell you Rolling Stone are doing a story?”
“Yeah, and they want to use Cora’s pictures.”
My grin stretches. Yeah, they do. When she sent over the final images, we were all blown away. The simplicity of them was perfect. We were all stripped bare, the images were raw and honest, she captured each of us perfectly.
It convinced Marissa about the album cover.
My phone beeps in my pocket and I pull it out.
Perry laughs at the look on my face. “She still giving you a hard time?”
“It’s not a hard time, it’s a good time.” I wink.
Cora texted me the day after the shoot, like I knew she would. We’ve been bantering back and forth ever since.
In my last text this morning, I asked her to go on a date. She left me on read all day, so I’m excited to open the text.
Cora: You’ve got mai l
“What’s that mean?” Perry asks.
“Are you reading my messages over my shoulder?” I shove him.
“You tell me everything anyway.” He laughs. “What does she mean?”
The door behind us opens and one of the front staff comes in. He’s holding a package. “Ronan?”
“Yeah.” I stare at him, then the package, then Perry, then back to the guy.
“Package for you.”
He hands it over, and I waste no time opening it. There is a stack of polaroids inside which I shield from Perry. He lifts a brow but gets up so he can’t see what’s on the polaroids. He says something to Gray and they both laugh at me.
I give them a middle finger half-heartedly. Perry is right, I tell them everything. Within reason.
Undoing the elastic from around the polaroids I flick through them, my smile grows wider with each one. When I get to the one at the end, I hold it up and stare at it. Damn, she’s beautiful. Even if the photo is only of half her face and bare shoulder.
The light highlights the plumpness of her red painted lips, smiling as if she has a secret.
“Sam.” I get up and walk to our sound engineer. “I’m gonna need your help when these guys get out of here.”
“More music for your cassette?” he guesses.
I flick through the polaroids again. Each of the ten pictures has the name of a song and band on it and a sentence about why she loves it. She’s handwritten them and taken a photo of each one.
It could be construed as her wanting to get the mixtape made much faster than I planned, but she put some serious thought into each track. If I was the kind of person to swoon… My laugh surprises the others, but I ignore their jabs.
Taking out my phone I snap a picture of me with the polaroids and send it back. Along with my address.
This time, she replies straight away.
Cora: What time?