A Quartet of Pleasures

by Joseph, Annabel

  1.

  Ruby didn’t usually drink at quartet-related events, but this was a party more than a performance. She, Ethan, Jonathan, and Steve had been invited to a film premiere in Los Angeles since one of their songs had been selected for the soundtrack—for the movie’s penultimate sex scene, no less. After playing a set of songs in the theater lobby for the bigwig attendees, they were free to roam and mingle with the glittering guests.

  “The Gold Quartet has made it.” Steve nudged Jonathan, their de facto leader, and gestured around the room. “Look at all this money.”

  “We’re not in it for the money,” Jonathan replied, straightening his tuxedo. “We were able to show these people real musicianship today. The more listeners we reach, the more lives we touch, and that’s a good thing.”

  “Spoken like a true first violin,” Ethan snarked. He played the viola, and Steve the cello. Ruby played second violin, but when first violin was noted maestro Jonathan Gold, it was easy to hold your head up high. Each member in their quartet had a specific and important purpose, but the best quartets weren’t democracies. In their quartet, Jonathan cracked the whip. The result was an award-winning musical collaboration, growing respect in the orchestra community, and cushy trips like this.

  “Take it easy on the champagne, kid,” Steve joked when Ruby took a second glass from a passing waiter. “You’re a lightweight.”

  She slid her eyes over his athletic frame. “You’re big enough to carry me out of here if I pass out.”

  “Not in that dress, I’m not.”

  Ruby laughed, because the blond, hulking cellist could easily manage the tulle-skirted ballgown she was wearing. She did a ballerina spin, feeling like a princess in the midnight blue confection. Her long brunette locks were styled off her shoulders tonight, twisted into an intricate chignon by her lover Ethan, who had a talent for designing pretty knots. Best of all, she was surrounded by three talented princes in flawless tuxedos—three musically talented princes who had become her best friends over the past five and a half years.

  “I feel like celebrating,” she said. “It’s a huge accomplishment to get our music into a film, and on top of that, we played really great tonight. It seems like every time we play Beethoven’s Quartet in B flat major, we discover something new about it.”

  “What did you discover?” asked Jonathan, his amber-brown eyes studying her with interest.

  “The sweeps in the middle of the adagio. The phrasing is a little like a round. I didn’t realize it until we were all swaying in opposite directions, just for those four measures. Then you brought us all back together.” She looked at Jonathan with appreciation. He could be a real hardass sometimes, and too much of an artiste, but he was good at guiding their quartet.

  “My favorite tonight was the Tchaikovsky,” said Ethan, giving her hand an unobtrusive squeeze. The piece had special meaning to the two of them—it was one of the pieces they’d played the night they first hooked up a few months ago. Ethan wasn’t just a best friend—he was a best friend who provided sexually adventurous benefits, and she was grateful for that. She squeezed his hand back as they exchanged a grin.

  “Oh, no,” said Steve. “Not this again.”

  Ruby looked at him in surprise. The other two guys didn’t usually complain about her and Ethan’s occasional hookups. But Steve wasn’t looking at her. He was looking toward the other side of the dance floor, a frown creasing his normally laid-back expression.

  “Oh, no,” Jonathan echoed with more feeling, just as Ruby noticed why.

  “Your crazy fangirl,” said Ethan. “I can’t believe she followed you all this way.”

  “How’d she get into this party?” Ruby scowled at the young woman. “She crashed it?”

  Jonathan rubbed his forehead, shoving back his dark auburn hair. “Why the fuck won’t she develop a crush on someone else?”

  He’d been dodging the attentions of this overexuberant fan for almost a year now. Jessa Britton was a graduate student from their former music school, an aspiring violinist. She’d shown up to several of their concerts and appearances, and befriended Jonathan under the guise of asking advice. She was pretty and sweet, but he’d picked up a weird vibe from the beginning. They all had. She was a little too into their shows. He’d offered her his mentorship, but ended up fending off her advances when she started flirting and hinting she wanted more.

  That was when she really started wanting more.

  Well, Jonathan was tall, charismatic, and fine as hell. Even Ruby, who bickered with him regularly, had to admit his thick auburn hair and striking lionesque eyes were gorgeous. He maintained a meticulously fit body, and used it to play his instrument with intense physicality and emotion. As first violin, he often attracted female attention, as well as devoted fans, but Jessa had become obsessed to the point of craziness. Months after he’d distanced himself, she was still fangirling and barraging him with attention on social media.

  Now she’d flown all the way from Chicago to L.A.…

  “You should call the police,” said Ethan. “File for a restraining order.”

  Jonathan laughed. “What’s she going to do to me? She’s just a fan. I don’t need protection from her.”

  “I agree with Ethan,” Steve said. “I mean, look at her. No, don’t look at her. Yikes. She always has that hungry look in her eyes when she stares at you.”

  “She can be hungry all she wants as long as she leaves me the fuck alone. It’s creepy, the way she pops up everywhere.”

  Ruby leaned into Jonathan, feeling protective of her friend, and stared Jessa down. The ebony-haired woman angled her body away from them, but not before she shot Ruby a heated glare.

  “Well, fuck you too,” said Ruby under her breath.

  “Watch out,” Steve said. “You’re making Jessa jealous, standing that close to him. She’s gritting her teeth and going red around the ears.”

  Jonathan looked at Ruby, confused. “Why would she be jealous? She’s seen me with Ruby dozens of times.”

  “She’s seen you play together,” said Steve. “When you’re both cool and professional, staring at pages of music. But we’re at a party now. She’s never seen you and Ruby hanging out over drinks. Judging by her expression, I’d say she doesn’t like it much.”

  Ethan snapped his fingers, catching onto Steve’s idea. “That’s how we solve this. Rube, you’ve got to play Jonathan’s girlfriend.”

  “What?”

  “Yes, very affectionately and convincingly,” Steve agreed. “Starting right now.”

  She and Jonathan looked at each other. “We don’t have the chemistry,” said Jonathan. “Not sure we’d be able to pull that off.”

  “I’m not saying you two should strip down and get busy in front of everyone,” said Ethan. “Just smolder and flirt with each other.”

  “Smolder and flirt?” Ruby laughed. “With Jonathan?”

  Ethan let out a beleaguered sigh. “You know what I mean. Pretend to be into each other, so Stalker Girl will stop showing up at our quartet appearances to drool over Jonathan. It’ll annoy her to see the two of you playing together if she thinks you’re in a hot and heavy relationship.”

  Jonathan scoffed. “We’re not in a hot and heavy relationship.”

  “Do you want to discourage Jessa or not?” asked Steve. “Take Ruby’s fucking hand. Gaze into her eyes. If you’re convincing enough, Jessa will flounce out of here within fifteen minutes, and hopefully give up the conquest altogether.”

  Ruby and Jonathan’s contentious relationship was a longstanding Gold Quartet tradition. “I’m not that good of an actor,” said Jonathan. “I mean, it’s Ruby.”

  “What the fuck does that mean?” She narrowed her eyes at him. “You don’t have to be like that about it.”

  “I’m just saying, I don’t think of you that way.” As he said it, he glanced at Ethan, but she and Ethan didn’t have an exclusive relationship. Their occasional hookups were sensual fun, nothing more. Ethan actually loo
ked amused.

  “C’mon, Jonathan,” he said, winking at her. “Take one for the team.”

  She and Jonathan pissed each other off a lot—a whole lot—but he was still one of her three best friends. If she could help establish a “Not Available” mindset in Jonathan’s dreamy-eyed fangirl, they’d all feel relieved. It would just take a little acting…

  “All right,” Ruby said, turning toward Jonathan, making sure Jessa could see. She wrapped her arms around him and gazed into his eyes. “I’ll pretend to be your doting girlfriend tonight, but only so she’ll figure out you’re not interested in her. We can do that, right?”

  “Ask Ethan,” he said under his breath, but he managed a smile as he stared down at her.

  “Ethan doesn’t own me.” She gave him a sassy look. “Plus he’s a pervert. He’s probably getting off on watching me touch you.”

  “Yep,” Ethan agreed.

  “I’m having fun, too,” said Steve with a wink. “Ethan and I have always thought you two should fuck out your differences. You know, really go to town on each other. I guarantee Jonathan’s thought of it more than once.”

  “Steve!” Ruby protested.

  “I mean, you’re first and second violin. Everyone in the audience is thinking about you two getting it on, every show.”

  “Yep,” Ethan agreed. He nudged Steve. “Come on. That girl isn’t going to buy that Ruby and Jonathan are in a hot and heavy relationship if we’re hanging around.”

  “You’re both a couple of degenerates,” said Jonathan as they walked away.

  “Do you think the audience really thinks about us sleeping together?” asked Ruby.

  Jonathan shrugged. “Maybe, when we’re really in tune. You know, emotionally in tune, playing together.”

  In tune. That was one way to define their relationship, after all the hours they’d spent playing music together. But hot and sexy? As he reached for her hand, she realized they’d never held hands before, not once. How weird.

  “Okay, how do we do this?” She studied his fingers as he narrowed his eyes, deep in thought. He had a violinist’s fingers, calloused but strong.

  “Maybe we could talk really close, like we’re sharing secrets,” he suggested.

  “Good idea.” She gave him a sparkling smile, in hopes Jessa was watching. “What kind of secrets should we share?”

  He twined his fingers with hers. “Dirty secrets, obviously. How old were you the first time you had sex?”

  “Wow, you’re just going for it.” She laughed. “I was eighteen. Prom night. I know, it’s such a cliché. I was mostly worried about my dress getting jizzed on.”

  “So classy, Ruby.”

  She ignored his sardonic insult and fake-laughed again. “So, is she looking at us?”

  “I think so.”

  She let go of his hand and touched his face. “Your turn. How old were you the first time you had sex?”

  “Sixteen,” he said. “With my violin teacher.”

  “That is a fucking lie,” she practically shouted. “For real? That’s so perverted. Did she molest you?”

  “Oh no, I wanted it.” He smiled, a raunchy, sexy smile that was so unlike the serious Jonathan she could only stare. “I was her whore for a couple of years,” he went on, “until I left for college. She was thirty years older than me, and she changed my whole fucking world.”

  “Wow. Are you still in touch with this cradle robber?” She’d forgotten all about Jessa now, fascinated by this new, lurid side of Jonathan. “Did you love her?”

  “I wouldn’t say I loved her. She fascinated me, though. She inspired me and taught me to play with passion. She was the first person to show me the connection between music and sex. And no, we’re not really in touch anymore. I see her now and again when I go home.”

  “Wait. Back up.” Ruby held out a hand, then realized she should touch him for Jessa’s benefit, and stroked her palm across his chest. “Tell me more about this connection between music and sex.”

  He gave her a strange look. “Don’t tell me you don’t connect the two.”

  She opened her fingers against the front of his tuxedo shirt. A moment ago she’d been very aware of Jessa, of being watched, but now all she could really see and hear was him. “I connect music and sex…sometimes,” she said.

  “I mean, you and Ethan….”

  “What happened with me and Ethan was more about that wild BDSM wedding reception we played that day. I had a lot of questions, and he had rope in his luggage.”

  “Are you two still sleeping together?”

  “Every so often, when we get that itch.”

  Jonathan’s questions were casual, but his tone held an edge.

  “We try not to let it affect the quartet,” she said, her hands still on his chest. “It hasn’t, has it? The Gold Quartet will always come first for both of us.”

  “I have no doubts about your loyalty to the quartet, and no problem with you and Ethan doing your thing.”

  “Is that the truth?” She stared into his amber-brown eyes, stricken, as always, by their intensity. “Because whenever you talk about me and Ethan, you get this irritation in your voice.”

  “Irritation? No. That’s jealousy.”

  He moved closer, meeting her eyes and trapping her hand under his, flat against his chest. He was joking with her, right? He certainly wasn’t flirting—he wasn’t the flirting type—but her stomach felt fluttery at his expression. His gaze was thoughtful, assessing, maybe a little amused. The corners of his lips twitched in a small smile, the effect seductive rather than mocking. She’d been the object of his mockery so many times when he was in a fiery mood.

  This was something else.

  He was turning her on and he knew it. She hadn’t offered to act like his girlfriend so she could get all hot and confused about the leader of her quartet. Flustered, she reached for a change of subject.

  “Is your crazy fan watching?” she asked.

  “I hope so.” He moved his face closer. “I’m going to kiss you.”

  “Wow. Okay.”

  “Let’s make it convincing,” he said, just before his lips met hers. His fingers cradled her jaw, then brushed down her neck. She suppressed an aroused shiver as he palmed her nape, drawing her against him. His kiss wasn’t voracious, because this wasn’t the place for it, but it was a damned sexy kiss, firm and skillful. It was so easy to melt into him. When he stopped kissing her, she was still melted, and he had to slide a hand around her waist so she didn’t collapse.

  “Jessa was definitely watching that,” he said, touching his nose to hers. “She’s swilling champagne a little faster now and forcing a smile.”

  He kissed her again, before she’d gathered her wits from the last one. Wow, he was really going for it, and she was one hundred percent in, because his manner was so seductive, so passionate and confident.

  She clung to his shoulders and allowed the kiss to deepen, their tongues playing together with the same skill as their violins. Good Lord, she was French kissing Jonathan, and this pretend hot-and-heavy relationship was starting to affect her pussy in a real hot-and-heavy way.

  When he ended the kiss this time, she was a few seconds from disaster, from believing his desire for her was real.

  “I think she’s convinced,” he murmured against her lips.

  “What? Oh. Yeah, I think I’m convinced.” Ruby gazed up at him, aware that his hand still lingered on her hip. “You’re a great kisser.”

  “Better than Ethan?”

  “It’s not a competition,” she chided him. “Just take the compliment.”

  The pianist pitched from an old standard into one of Ruby’s favorite nineties love ballads. When her eyes lit up, Jonathan laughed. “Let’s go dance.”

  Ruby was so glad he’d asked. Not only because she needed some time to cool off and regain her equilibrium, but because she’d been wanting to dance all night, because she had the dress and the hair, and she was still a little buzzed. She looked over
at Steve and Ethan, and the two fell over each other to give the most exaggerated thumbs-up. Their goofy teasing ended in a pantomimed rhumba.

  “Ignore them,” said Jonathan. “They’re just angry they didn’t ask you to dance first.”

  “So many partners to choose from,” she said in her best Scarlett O’Hara voice. “So many handsome, virile men in my quartet.”

  “So much testosterone to deal with on a daily basis.” Jonathan grinned as he took her hand. His other hand hadn’t left her waist on their jaunt to the dance floor, and now he gathered her close as they swayed to the music.

  “Why does this feel like a middle school slow dance?” she said out loud, but that was only because it didn’t feel like a middle school slow dance at all. It felt very natural and sexy, because Jonathan was so good at acting like he liked her.

  Yes, it’s acting, she reminded herself. To convince Jessa she doesn’t have a chance. The last thing you need to do is start getting horny for Jonathan.

  How much of a hussy could she be? She already got great “benefits” from Ethan when they were feeling it, usually after an intense rehearsal or performance. Ethan was comfortable, a friend. Jonathan was more like her boss.

  That makes it even more interesting, her pussy whispered.

  “You okay?” Jonathan asked.

  She nodded, trying to look innocent. “I love this song.”

  “I think the Vitamin String Quartet does a rendition of this in some of their concerts.”

  “Oh yeah? We should do some nineties covers, too.”

  “Absolutely not.”

  Ruby laughed at his immediate response. “You’re such a traditionalist, Jonathan. Such an elitist.”

  “Let’s just dance.”

  He had a way of softening his blunt personality with subtle, charming smiles, and close up, those smiles were devastating. When she glanced up from his lips, she noticed he was looking down the front of her gown.

  “Busted,” she said. “I caught you.”

  “Sorry. It’s hard to resist. You have beautiful…shoulders.”

  “Thanks.”

  He glanced to the side. “Jessa’s right there. Let’s kiss again.”