Epilogue
Knox
“ D amn it! Knox. I’m so sorry.” Ryan lowers her headphones so they sit around her neck. “We were so close. Why can’t I get this last bit right?”
“Baby, you are killing it.”
And she is. The woman is fucking phenomenal.
It took nearly two years to get her in the studio, but we’re finally here. Since the first moment I heard Ryan Jameson sing karaoke in a hotel room in Nashville, I’ve dreamed of singing with her. Her smokey voice wrapped around my soul that night and hasn’t let go.
“You have to say that because you love me,” she says, stepping away from her microphone so the producers don’t hear her.
The woman is absolutely clueless about her ability. She told me I was crazy for wanting to do this. She said she isn’t a singer and has no business being in this booth with me.
Oh, how wrong she is.
“Ry, you fumbled a word. It’s no big deal. We can go again.”
“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this.”
“Guys, give us a second?” I signal to Dave and Pat in the control room to cut the mics.
Meeting her in the middle of the small vocal booth, I wrap my arms around her waist, enjoying the feel of her body against mine. “You’re doing great.”
Her hands rest on my pecs. “I’m not a singer.”
“I know you don’t think you are, but I’ve never heard a voice like yours. It’s the sexiest damn thing I’ve ever heard.”
Her eyes dart toward the control room as a blush colors her cheeks. “Shut up.” Her knee bounces the way it does when she’s nervous. Where the vocal booth is my home away from home, it’s new to her.
Shifting my feet as though we’re slow dancing, I place my back toward the window, hiding her from view. “You. Are. Amazing.” We’re still swaying as we hold each other. “You know this is my first birthday wish that’s ever come true.”
“And here I thought you were a spoiled rock star.”
“Well, I am. But that’s only because you love me.”
She beams up at me. “I do love you.” Her voice is hushed, but that doesn’t stop the zap of electricity that shoots straight to my dick as I watch her tongue wet her lips after the words leave her mouth.
My hands slide over her ass until they each have a handful. “Come here.”
Our lips connect and our bodies melt into one another. We don’t take it far, and our hands stay where they are, but the way she relaxes against me, I know it’s enough to relieve her anxiety.
“You ready to try again?”
“If I must.”
“We’ll do it together, okay?” Maneuvering us behind her microphone, I begrudgingly release her ass to spin her around to face the mic and the control room.
However, I don’t let her go. My arms stay around her, pressing my front to her back, cocooning her in my embrace.
“We’ll start over with my last verse and then you follow. Easy peasy and then we’re done.”
I place her headphones back over her ears and then adjust mine, so they cover one of my ears, leaving the other uncovered.
With a thumbs-up to the control room, the music plays in our headsets and we both move to the rhythm. On paper, the lyrics would infer a slow, melodic love song, but that’s not really our style.
“Everything” has a driving, energetic rhythm that’s a blend of playful yet intense energy.
Mix all of that with Ryan’s raw vocals, and this song would be a smash hit if it wasn’t just for us.
If Ry has her way, no one but the two of us and the producers will ever hear it. But that’s a challenge for another day.
Holding onto her, I belt out the words the two of us wrote together on our front porch.
I wanna be your lover
I wanna be your best friend
I wanna be your protecto r
I wanna be your everything
Is that too much to ask
With her hands clinging to my forearms, she sings with her whole chest.
You are my lover
My protector
You’ll always be my best friend
You’ll always be my everything
Ryan’s body vibrates with the passion she feels for the words that played on repeat in my head as my heart fell head over heels in love with the woman in my arms. Twisting to face me, her eyes dance with delight. “That felt good. I think it was good. Do you think it was good?”
The smile on her face is blinding. She knows that was fucking awesome. She’s a damn natural.
“It felt good, because it was good. It was perfect.”
“Thank you for dragging me out of my comfort zone. I never would have done something like this if it weren’t for you.” She lifts to her toes kissing me tenderly. “Thank you for giving me a life I never knew I wanted.”
“Thank you for giving me the life I always dreamed of, Ry.”