AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She let herself give in to the pace he was setting, sinking into each sensation. Each moment stretched as mouths met and skin brushed and clothes vanished, each sensation savored until it dissolved into the next. By the time they laid on the bed she felt as though she was dissolving as he lay above her and then pushed, oh-so-slowly, inside, the expression on his face reverent and heated, and her world became Zach and the feel of him. The taste of him as he moved with her, slow and sure, steady as a drumbeat, setting up the perfect rhythm between them with the same certainty he had when he played his guitar. Sure of himself. Sure of her. Sure of them.
So sure she let herself believe him. Wrapped herself around him and let herself memorize him, feel him. All hers. The pleasure of it flowed through her, pushing her higher and closer and hotter until she couldn’t resist any more and let it sing through her like the perfect chord, taking both of them away.
“Are you ready for this?” Eli asked Zach as they pulled up at the studio on Friday.
Zach looked across at his friend and grinned. “Abso-fucking-lutely.” He drummed his fingers on the wheel a moment then killed the engine. In a few hours the musicians he’d hired to back him at CloudFest would be arriving and they’d start rehearsing. Less than two weeks to go, but they could pull it off. Six songs wasn’t a long set. But even though he knew he could do it, nerves had been riding him the last few days. He’d been working through the arrangements, running things by Eli and Leah, trying to maximize the time he had left.
“Must be hard to be so full of self-doubt,” Eli said, rolling his eyes.
“Yeah, like you’re such a shy and retiring type,” Zach retorted as he pushed his door open. “Anyway, self-doubt’s for losers.”
“Ah, now that’s a Grey Harper quote I recognize,” Eli said. “Like father, like son?”
Zach ignored him. He didn’t want to be like Grey. He wanted to be himself. Zach. Sure, he wouldn’t say no to finding the kind of success with his music that Blacklight had found, but he’d pass on the addiction and self-destructive tendencies. “Let’s do this,” he said and headed toward the studio.
Leah was working with Nessa and her band today but it was their last day of recording and she’d said she’d be around to give him a hand after she wrapped it up with them. She’d been a little quiet this week but the last two weeks before CloudFest were always kind of insane and she had a full studio to deal with as well as trying to fit in some extra work helping out at the Harper Inc. offices with all the last-minute organizing that went on in the background to get CloudFest to the starting line smoothly.
And after the CloudFest, they’d get some time together.
The thought stopped him a moment. Would they? He’d need to get moving after CloudFest. Get a single out, climb onto the promo train, and hustle. He wouldn’t be around. But he’d still have to finish the album with Leah too. So he could come back to her. Would come back to her. They’d started this thing with her crazy idea that it would only be until he left, but that thought didn’t sit so well with him any more. He wasn’t ready to let her go. Wasn’t ready to not have her quick smile and her teasing and her musical mind around him. Definitely wasn’t ready to not have her in his bed.
Hell no to that.
So he’d just change her mind. That would be easy enough. She talked a good game but he knew she wasn’t ready either. She hadn’t said it, but things were too good between them. So he’d turn on the Harper charm and convince her.
“Earth to Zach?” Eli said and Zach stopped walking. Realized they were inside the studio foyer and he hadn’t even noticed. He saw Leah through the window in the wall that blocked off this area from the recording studios. She was sitting at the board outside the main studio, her hair half-falling down around her face as usual as she listened intently to something Nessa was saying. Faith was sitting beside her. Huh. He hadn’t expected his sister to be here. If anyone had absolutely no time at all in the weeks leading up to CloudFest, it was Faith. But then again, Nessa was her protégé. So maybe she was turning over a new leaf and trying not to work quite so hard on the festival so she had time for the other new things in her life. Like Nessa. Like Caleb.
“Earth to Zach,” Eli repeated and Zach shook his head.
“Sorry, was thinking about that piano section again in ‘Air and Breath,’” he said. “I’m going to grab a coffee before we set up.”
“Good idea,” Eli said, stifling a yawn.
They’d been up until nearly two, talking through the songs, so neither of them had had enough sleep.
“Better make yours a double shot,” Zach said. He headed for the kitchen and the sweet caffeine-producing goodness of the coffee machine. He was pulling down cups from the cabinet over the counter when he saw Billy come through the studio door.
He nudged Eli. “What’s he doing here?” If it was early for Zach and Eli to be at the studio before ten it was definitely unusual to see Billy up and coherent at this hour. He started working the coffee machine.
Eli shrugged. “No idea. But you know Billy. He likes nosing around other people’s sessions.”
That was true. Though he hadn’t showed up for any of Zach’s sessions so far. But maybe he was here to hear Nessa. Give Faith a hand. Zach turned his attention back to the coffee, producing two coffees strong enough to dissolve steel. Eli took one sip then put his down and shoveled a few spoons of sugar into it. “Dude, are you trying to give us ulcers?”
Zach laughed. “We’re too young for ulcers. Got to be on our game though.”
“You need to relax,” Eli muttered. “You’ve picked guys who know what they’re doing. It will be fine.”
Zach sipped his own coffee, trying to ignore the fact that Eli was right and it was way too strong. He was allowed to be nervous. CloudFest was a big deal. It was the kick-start he needed. And he hadn’t played with a whole new band in a while. What if they didn’t click? There was no time to fix it if it turned into a disaster. He’d spent an hour earlier in the week trying to convince Faith that she should play with him but she’d turned him down.
“Not for this,” she’d said. “This needs to be all you. Not take two on the two of us playing together. You need the person you want to tour with you. And that’s something I’m definitely not going to do.”
She’d looked happy that he’d asked though, softening her rejection with a hug that had felt as easy as it had when they were kids and that was something. He liked seeing his sisters happy, seeing them thriving again. Something else he’d miss when he left.
“Bring the coffee,” he said. “We should get started.”
But when he walked through the doors into the hallway that stretched along the length of the studios and recording rooms, Billy was talking to Faith.
Billy nodded at Zach. “Zach. Morning.”
