Chapter Fourteen #2
I was tucking a sheet into the corners of the sofa when the beat-up black guitar case in the corner caught my eye.
This whole place very clearly belonged to someone who loved music, from the record player to the CD tower to the countless photographs of her with various musicians up on the wall, but the guitar case was the only real hint that a musician lived here themselves.
“I would have helped you with that,” Addie said when she came back to the room.
“I know, but I got it.” I tore my eyes from the guitar, only to stare at the woman in front of me.
She’d changed. Her face had a clean glowing sheen, brows and lashes a little lighter, cheeks a little pinker, and her curls were piled atop her head and wrapped up with a silky scarf.
She also wore that blanket hoodie Skye had gotten her.
It ended mid-thigh for her, and her bare legs poked out, smooth and curved and dipping in all the right places, begging to meet my mouth.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“You’re gorgeous.”
She laughed and looked down at herself, wiggling her blue-painted toenails. “You have strange taste.”
“What can I say? You look nice and cozy. It’s quickly becoming my favorite look on you.”
“We can probably get you one of these too if you want to get cozy right along with me.”
“I think I’d rather get cozy with you in some other ways.”
“Scandalous,” she gasped and flopped onto the sofa, grinning up at me. “I like it.”
“You’ll have to wait a little longer. An open-concept floor plan is nice until you realize there’s only one door to close between you and your kid.
” I should know. My Realtor had sent me the only two houses currently on the market in Wild Fields, and it seemed like you could either have a house that felt spacious enough to breathe but only because a lot of walls had been knocked out, or a house that offered enough rooms to have individual private spaces, but said rooms were so small you’d get claustrophobic.
“Fine. Ugh. Never thought I’d regret not having a living room door.” She sighed dramatically and dropped back, splaying out like a starfish on the sofa.
“First time for everything.” I chuckled and grabbed my bag.
Instead of heading to the bathroom to change though, I just pulled the T-shirt off my back.
Addie didn’t even fake modesty. She rolled onto her side, head propped up on her elbow as she watched me.
I wasn’t in the same shape I’d been in when we first met but I usually managed to get a few workouts in, although the last few weeks had made that harder.
While the hotel did have a gym, it was one of the few spaces here where I pinged people’s radar because it was used by tourists who suddenly didn’t have a whole theme park to distract them from everyone else around them.
The lack of deeply cut muscle definition didn’t stop Adriana from biting her lip and letting her gaze roam over every inch of skin though.
This definitely wasn’t how friends-who-kissed-once (for real, not show) looked at each other.
Heat spread through my veins in response.
I stepped out of my jeans, and even though I would have loved to languish in her complete focus, I quickly jumped into my sweatpants.
She kept her gaze on my hips. Her throat bobbed.
Fuck, that was hot. She’d clearly seen the bulge that was starting to grow all thanks to her hungry eyes.
She didn’t even have to touch me to have that effect on me.
Once I slipped a loose T-shirt on, Addie gave me a disgruntled little grumble.
Okay, we’d have to change direction. Skye could barge in any second. I really wasn’t going to chance scarring my daughter for life, but god, Addie’s unabashed interest in my body was tempting.
“That’s not going to turn this room into a brothel too, is it?” I pointed at the lamp on the side table.
“No,” Addie laughed, “but you can actually change the light color in an app, so if you want a red room…”
“Normal light is fine.” I switched the overhead lights for the side table on and sat down on the sofa, at a perfectly respectable distance. “Do you mind if I take a look?” I pointed at the guitar case in the corner.
“Actually, yeah, could you just leave that back there? Please.” Addie squirmed and pulled her knees up under the hoodie. “I need to buy a new one.”
“Is it busted? I know a guy who can fix almost any guitar. We’re talking smashed-onstage levels of destruction.”
“No, the guitar is fine. But it’s the one Marble Audio got for me for the tour. It doesn’t feel like mine. I don’t know. I’m weird about it.” She picked at the fluff on her hem, clearly uncomfortable.
“That’s not weird. I’ve picked every single one of my guitars after they tried to give me some flashy expensive guitar for my first tour. You just know when one feels right.”
“Did you get panic attacks picking up the flashy guitar?”
I watched her face closely for any signs of sarcasm, trying to pick up a hint that she was joking.
She wasn’t. Fuck. A couple of weeks ago, she’d offered part of her liver for my ’55 Martin and the ’92 Taylor, and I hadn’t given it much weight because she’d been teasing.
Maybe there had been more to it than that.
My leaving her three years ago hadn’t just set off the domino effect that cost her her career. It had cost her the pure joy of picking up a guitar and playing for no one but yourself.
“No,” I finally said and scooted closer until our arms touched, “but I also never had to endure what you were put through.”
“Does it scare you? My mental health?”
“Not one bit.” I reached for her wrist, lifted it to my lips, and kissed her tattoo and the scar beneath it.
“I’m okay right now, but I’ve been worse, and I might get worse again at some point.”
“I’m not that easily scared off.” I kissed her wrist again.
Addie watched me, and when I lowered her hand, her gaze stuck to my lips.
“Can I please kiss you?” she whispered, so careful, so worried about doing the wrong thing.
“I would like that.”
Addie pushed to her knees, still swallowed by the fleecy hoodie, and slid into my lap with a knee on either side of me.
And despite all that soft fabric buffer between us, the layers between her hips and mine felt awfully flimsy in comparison.
The effect her staring at me had was multiplied tenfold by the warmth between her legs splayed out on me.
And somehow not seeing much skin at all, just her sweet blushing comfort, added to it, too.
If she noticed me growing hard beneath her, she didn’t let on.
Her fingertips carefully framed my jawline, and she whispered the faintest kiss to my lips.
I hummed in appreciation, which prompted her to do it again, lingering a second longer.
Eyes closed, and hands dug into the hoodie to hold her waist, I let myself be kissed.
I let her explore. She kissed the corner of my mouth, and she grazed her teeth over my bottom lip.
She ran her hands through my hair, slid them down the back of my shirt, then folded them around the sides of my jaw again.
Her lips traveled across the planes of my face before finding mine and pulling me into a longer, deeper kiss.
“I thought you didn’t do touchy-feely,” I whispered.
“I don’t. But I like seeing your little reactions.”
My eyes fluttered open, meeting her gray gaze. “Kiss me the way you want to kiss me.”
Addie didn’t need to be told twice. In an instant, her mouth was on mine again, hungry this time.
Her tongue swept over the seam of my lips, begging for entry that I happily granted.
She shifted against me, tortured me with her hips, found the exact angle needed to align me against her center.
Her mouth was hot breath, and her hands pulled me into her.
Adriana kissed with reckless abandon.
A quiet, reasonable voice told me to stop.
It was drowned out by the sound Addie made when I roughly palmed her breast through the thick fabric.
A switch flipped in me, because I realized how much that thing cushioned my touch.
I pinched and squeezed, and none of the rough touches that grounded my fluttering nerves would leave so much as a bruise.
Addie let herself drop sideways, pulling me on top of her. She bucked her hips into mine, and I ground down against her, seeking the relief of friction against my pulsing erection—and that quiet voice in the back of my mind let out a piercing scream.
I pulled back and squeezed my eyes shut, trying to regain control. “Okay, hold on, fuck.”
“Sorry, I got carried away.” She gave a breathy laugh, brushing her nose against mine.
“I can’t believe how much this stupid thing is working for me.” I tugged on her collar.
“The blanket hoodie?”
“Yep.”
“Wow.” She laughed and buried her face in the crook of my neck. The corners of her hair wrap tickled my nose and cheek as I cradled her close, desperate to soak up every second of warmth she gave me.
“We’re going to turn the lights off now and go to sleep. No more seducing me.” I reached over her and flipped the switch on the table lamp.
“If you think I’m seducing you as a walking talking beanbag chair, I can’t imagine what you’d say to the lace thong I’m wearing underneath.”
“You’re killing me,” I groaned.
In the dark, she wrestled a throw blanket into place to cover both of us, and I pulled her against me like a little spoon swaddled in a fabric cloud.
But no matter how much I loved that silly hoodie, I craved the feeling of her skin, so I let my hand stroke up and down her bare thigh. “Is this okay?”
“Mm-hmm,” she mumbled and nodded.
Curiosity won over and I let my fingers inch higher, up under the thick fleece until I found the thin strap of frilly fabric tight over her hip bone.
Addie made a strangled sound and for a second I was worried I’d upset her, but instead she wiggled her hips back against my crotch. I let out an involuntary groan.
Okay. Wandering hands? Bad idea.
I slid my fingers in under the side of the lace thong, and let my hand rest there, splayed on her hip bone, skin on skin.
“That’s nice,” Addie mumbled, barely audible, as she snuggled against me.
It was hours before my usual bedtime, but I wasn’t moving an inch.
I listened to her breathing even out, to the rustle of the wind in the trees outside and the creaking of the house around us, and I vowed to take her to my place in the city and let her have her free pick of all my guitars.