Page 54 of Passion’s Song

“I always wanted to go on one of those,” she said. She nudged her chin toward the gondola gliding its way across the calm waters. “I’ve played in Venice twice, but I was only there for a day each time. I never got the chance to take a gondola ride around the city.”

“That’s the one thing about your job that I always envied,” Damien said. “How you were able to see the world. Even now that I have the means to do it, I don’t have the time.”

“Make the time,” she said.

His brow arched. “You think it’s that easy?”

April shook her head. “I know it isn’t. I’ve been lucky. My music has taken me to five continents and dozens of cities around the world, but it’s different when you’re going for work,” she said. “You see it, but you don’t really see it, you know?”

He came to stand behind her, placing a hand on either side of where her hands still gripped the stone railing.

“I wouldn’t mind taking the time off to finally start exploring the world if I knew I wouldn’t have to do it alone,” Damien said.

She looked at him over her shoulder. “Are you inviting me to tour the world with you?”

“What if I am? How would you answer?”

She turned within the cocoon his arms created and faced him. “I would say that it’s proof that teenage dreams really do come true.”

Damien shook his head, expelled a sigh of disbelief. “Why didn’t you say anything all those years ago, April? If you’d just told me how you felt, we could have come to this place in our relationship a long time ago.”

She shook her head. “No, we couldn’t have, because I wasn’t ready.” She placed a hand on his chest. “I wasn’t ready to admit how I felt about you all those years ago. I needed all the life experiences I’ve had in order to be comfortable enough to say this.”

“Say what?” Damien asked.

“That I want you,” she said. She placed a kiss against his neck, just under his chin. “I need you...in that way.”

Damien’s groin began to throb with need. He pulled in a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“Have you taken care of all the business you needed to take care of tonight?” April asked in a low voice.

He swallowed and nodded. He wasn’t capable of speaking at the moment.

“So have I,” she said. She looked at him, her eyes liquid pools of desire and lust. “Do you mind if we leave?”

Damien shook his head. “Hell, no. As long as wherever we end up, we end up there together.”

“Your place,” she said. “Let’s go.”

As sweet as the music she’d played earlier had been to his ears, those two words were even sweeter. Damien grabbed her by the wrist and headed straight for his car. Right now, nothing mattered more than getting them to his house as quickly as he could.

* * *

Although they probably lived the same distance from the museum, April had suggested they go to Damien’s house because in the two years since he’d been back, she had yet to set foot in his home. That bothered her, especially when she thought about the women who had probably been here. Women like Perfect Eva.

No.

She was not bringing thoughts of Eva or any of Damien’s past girlfriends here tonight. This was her time.

When April entered his ridiculously gorgeous Queen Anne home just a block from St. Charles Avenue, she had to fight to keep her jaw from dropping to the hardwood floors. The ceilings soared at least twelve feet high, with two Corinthian columns creating the appearance of an entryway into the living room. A gorgeous white stone fireplace took up one wall of the expansive room, while the other side opened into a huge kitchen.

April did a slow turn, taking it all in.

Damien came up behind her and clasped her upper arms. He nuzzled his nose in her hair, just behind her ear.

“I hate to kill the mood,” April started.

“Then don’t.” He nuzzled a little more, then asked, “What’s wrong?”