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Thiswasmorethanlust. I could feel it deep inside me as I listened to her laugh and talk to Henry Truman. He was a gentleman and while they discussed music, he tried to carry me along in the conversation.
The red dress she wore suited her pale skin perfectly and made her even more appealing in my eyes. It had small sleeves and a low V-neck cut that exposed the creamy skin of her cleavage. The rest of its bodice clung to her figure snugly and stopped just above her knees. My fingers itched to touch her with every passing second.
I longed to brush aside the tendrils of hair falling to the side of her face, but she seemed more focused on her business talk.
She made hand gestures as she talked about notes and shared with him some lyrics to her song. The meeting lasted over one hour, and I simply sat there and held her hand till it was over.
When Henry finally left us, Leah leaned back on her chair and turned to me. “That as a burst,” he said, then flung her head back and laughed. Her eyes crinkled at the corners, and her lips widened too. “He wants to produce our platinum album and he’s offering a great deal, but I don’t think I’ll take it.”
We rose to our feet then and found our way to the parking lot where my Mercedes was parked. I held the door open for her and closed it when she got in.
“Why wouldn’t you take the deal? I mean it seems like a great deal and…”
“I gave up music, I told you,” she said before I could complete my sentence. “Music isn’t what I want to do anymore.”
“Then what do you want to do? sit around the cottage, eat, and play music to yourself?”
“Ouch,” she complained then tossed me a stony gaze.
“I didn’t mean that in a bad way,” I apologized. “I just …What I’m saying is…I love what I do, and I wouldn’t give it up for anything in the world, so why should you?”
She sighed, licked her lips, then held onto the seat belt. I sensed there was some backstory to her silence, and my interest was piqued.
I had known Leah since she was a little girl playing in my backyard. Even though she was now a grown woman and one that I wanted in many ways, I could still see the part of her that needed to be heard. She nibbled on her lower lip and tightened her grip on the seat belt till it felt like she would hurt her nails.
I couldn’t stand to watch her hold on that tight anymore, so I held the steering with my left hand and took hers with the right. I covered her hands with mine, then placed them on my thigh.
“Hey,” I cooed gently and stole a glance at her before looking to the road again. “You can tell me anything. You can tell me anything at all, Leah, and all I’ll do is listen.”
She breathed out deeply, closed her eyes, and sighed. She was still quiet when we got to the cottage, and considering we already had dinner at the restaurant with Henry Truman, I let her sit on the porch, then I went in and returned with two bottles of beer and a blanket.
“Thanks.” Leah’s eyes were teary when she took the blanket and wrapped it around her shoulder. She took the beer bottle too and took a long swing before sighing again. “When we left Dallas, we thought it would be all fun and interesting the entire way. We were two young girls who wanted to make music and make people happy. All I wanted to do was write, and write, and ….”
She trailed off, and the need to console her came, so I draped my right hand over her shoulder, and drew her closer to me. “I guess it all started to get to my head, and I started to lose myself a whole lot. I met this guy, Trevor. I told you about him. Hanging out with him completely changed me. There was a lot of partying and alcohol.
“I started to lose myself and lose my friends. Then I got in an accident and nearly lost my life too. Danny promised to kill me if that happened ever again, so I had to—It was a lot, Tommy, so I had to shut it all down.”
“I hated that, so I had to stop and get help. Danny thinks music heals, but it nearly killed me, so I just had to quit.”
“Oh, Leah…” The whisper of her name on my lips sounded intense. Without rethinking my actions, I kissed the top of her forehead and hugged her tight just before she broke into a tiny sob and snuggled deeper into the croon of my arms.
We stayed in that embrace for a long time before she finally withdrew and wiped her cheeks with both hands. “I’m sorry, I ruined your shirt,” she laughed, then scooted further away from me.
I kept staring at her, waiting for the moment to pass because my heart was still racing. She finally looked at me, then our gazes clicked.
“I uh … I …”
“This isn’t going away, Leah.” Time seemed to slow down, and it felt unreal at first because of the tingles. Leah smirked then she rolled her eyes.
“Danielle’s going to kill us if she ever finds out.”
“I know,” I agreed. She licked her lips and began rubbing the back of her neck. She slowly leaned closer to me again, and soon her head rested on my shoulder. “I miss it,” she whispered with a sigh. “I miss singing. I miss the cheers and the expression on the people’s faces as they watch me. It used to be the only way to express myself back then, and that was more important than anything. How did I get here from there?”
I didn’t need to say anything to her. My hand covered hers again and I waited till she breathed out deeply. I raised my head to the sky to stare at the beautiful stars on the horizon. The songs of birds chirping far off in the distance filled the night air and enveloped the silence.
Sitting with Leah like this was comforting. I enjoyed her presence, her touch … her honest smile. All of these combined made me want to stay this close to her for as long as I could.
It’s not going to last.That voice kept reminding me of the heartache that lay ahead if I let these feelings fester. If things got messy, then Leah would get hurt too and the thought of that scared me more than anything.
