Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 87091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 435(@200wpm)___ 348(@250wpm)___ 290(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 435(@200wpm)___ 348(@250wpm)___ 290(@300wpm)
And maybe, just a little, she began to hope that he really would stick around. That he’d choose to make Carmel his true home again.
Her heart began to beat double time as she imagined a world where Damien resisted touring and stayed here, near her, and the rest of his family. There was nothing stopping him from recording in his own studio and coming down to the jazz club when he wanted to play for people. It would be a more modest life. Was he capable of it?
He’d said he’d wanted to stay put for a while and she hadn’t believed him.
Had she just been afraid to accept that this could actually work?
Her forehead wrinkled in a thoughtful frown as she remembered how at dinner she’d bluntly told him this was just a fling. She’d regretted those words almost as soon as they came out of her mouth. Her stomach dropped as she recalled how shocked and disappointed he’d looked. Like she had really wounded him.
Even so, he hadn’t argued with her. He’d taken it so lightly, that well, this is the best fling I’ve ever had so bittersweet. Now she realized how disappointed she was that he hadn’t argued. Hadn’t told her she was wrong, that what they had was more than just a fling. It was far, far deeper. Sexy and intense and fun, but underpinned with true friendship. It was everything she could have hoped for in a relationship.
But she’d known what she was getting into when she let him into her bed. Or rather, when she had climbed into his in the middle of the night. So, she wouldn’t throw a dramatic scene about what they were or could be. When he eventually told her it was over, she’d have known the score all along and expected nothing more. It wouldn’t be easy. Her heart would break into little pieces. But she’d experienced heartbreak before when her father up and left the family. She would find a way through. And so no matter what sadness lay ahead of her, she wouldn’t give up this time with him for anything.
She loved him. She really did. And if their love story was to end with this brief but beautiful fling, she would have to be okay with it.
It was after midnight when they left. Damien held her hand as they walked out of the club as though it was the most natural thing in the world. He waited until they had driven some distance before he glanced at her and said, “Well, I’m almost frightened to ask. What did you think?”
She reached over and put her hand on his thigh, squeezing it gently. “I thought you were amazing. I loved seeing this other side of you. You were softer, more thoughtful somehow. Still so talented, even though you were completely out of your comfort zone. Thank you for sharing it with me.”
He nodded, listening and seeming to take her words seriously as he kept his gaze on the road. “I feel more thoughtful. I have to concentrate more. But man, I love it. I love playing with those guys. A couple have been making music longer than I’ve been alive. I hope that when I’m eighty, I’m still jamming in some club somewhere.”
She laughed softly. “I bet you will be.”
At a traffic light, he turned and his eyes gleamed in the dark. “So I know it’s late, but can I tempt you to come to my place?”
She leaned back into the leather seat and looked at him from under her lashes. He didn’t need to know that she’d brought some clean underwear, her toothbrush, and a small makeup case. “I would love that.”
His eyes held hers. “I would too.”
And so, he took her home. And they made love quietly, gently. Both a little tired, both a little spent. But giving and receiving pleasure felt like the most natural thing for them to do. They’d experienced each other’s bodies enough that they were completely comfortable, and each knew what the other wanted. She gasped as she climaxed, the sheer force of it taking her by surprise. And when he joined her in bliss, she stroked his curls and held him tightly against her, feeling each shudder of pleasure as if it were her own.
When she was curled up against him, her head resting on his shoulder, she turned to kiss his warm skin. “I love you,” she mouthed against him. Not so he could hear, just so she could express what she felt, the emotion that filled her heart and every cell of her body.
She loved him.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Waking up next to Crystal was the best feeling Damien had ever experienced. It gave him more of a buzz and made his heart beat faster than any huge stadium show he’d played or million-dollar record deal he’d signed. He only wished they could stay in bed all day and shut out the world, but she had needed to get to work early, so he’d driven her back home, enjoying a long, lingering kiss before she laughed and said she’d be late if she didn’t get going. Then Opal texted at nine a.m. to say she was on her way and he refocused on music.