After Hours Redemption (404 Sound)

by Kianna Alexander

  “It’s so nice outside,” she remarked as they strolled down the concrete path. The city light shimmering beyond the treetops only added to the beauty of the night. This was the city she’d grown up in, the place she loved. And while some might crave the wide-open spaces of the plains or the sandy beaches of the coast, she loved her hometown, the crown jewel of the southeast.

  “It is.” Blaine squeezed her hand. “Company’s not bad, either.”

  She winked as they passed the I-shaped structure of the Ladies Waiting Room.

  “Mind telling me why you insisted on coming here?” He eyed her curiously.

  She tugged him along by the hand, around the circular path leading to the Clara Meer Dock. When they came to a stop, she pointed. “This is why I wanted to come here.”

  He looked out, his eyes scanning the dark, glassy surface of Lake Clara Meer. “I’m guessing you come here often?”

  She nodded. “This is my thinking spot. Whenever I’m working on lyrics and I can’t quite get it right, I come here. I spread my blanket out on the grass, sit down with my notepad and work it out.”

  He looked at her skeptically. “So, did we come here to work?”

  “Nah.” She shook her head. “It’s Saturday night, after all. I brought you here to talk.”

  He frowned. “I’m still confused.”

  She started walking over to the grassy patch overlooking the water and the dock and spread out the blanket there. “Something about this place always seems to bring me clarity. It’s a little slice of heaven, right in the middle of the city. It’s bound to inspire some pretty deep conversation between us.” She sat down, careful not to let her dress ride up till heaven and earth were filled with her glory. Then she patted the empty spot next to her.

  He hesitated, standing there on the concrete path, looking a bit baffled.

  “You scared, Blaine?” She faked a pout, sticking her lip out as she teased him. “Of little old me?”

  He rolled his eyes, but his smile was evident as he joined her on the blanket. “You’re too much, Eden.”

  “So, we’re basically alone now.” Or at least as close to alone as we’re gonna get without me crawling into your lap. She watched him, taking in his moon-dappled handsomeness. The dim lighting seemed to enhance his features, especially the golden flecks in his dark eyes. He was temptation in the flesh; her body craved him even though her mind knew better than to get lost in him again. The question was, how much longer would she be able to lead with logic? “What do you want to talk about?”

  He cleared his throat. “If I’m being honest...”

  “Please do,” she encouraged.

  “I want to talk about kissing you again.” His deep baritone had each word dripping with sensual energy.

  Warmth raced through her body, and she felt it pool in her cheeks, her chest and a bit farther south. “Blaine.” She meant it as chastisement, but it came out sounding far sultrier than she’d intended.

  He shrugged. “Can’t blame a brotha for shooting his shot.”

  “I guess not.” She chuckled, from both amusement and nerves. “I don’t know if we should lead with talking about kissing, though.”

  “Why not?” He gave her a wicked look. “Did you enjoy the kiss?”

  She swallowed and needing a respite from the intensity of his gaze, she looked down at her lap. Her dress had crept up her to mid-thigh, so she tugged the end a bit. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy it. But that’s beside the point.”

  “If you say so.”

  She shook her head. Same old Blaine. Always charming, never reflective. “There’s too much in our past that you’re not considering, Blaine. We can’t just ignore our history.”

  “Who said I’m ignoring it?” He traced a finger along her lower leg, trailing from her knee to the top of her sandal-encased foot. “What I know about you, our ‘history’ as you call it, is precisely why I want you.”

  She drew a deep breath. Was he misremembering? Or was he really so clueless that he didn’t understand where she was coming from? “You know your decision to cut Ainsley and me from the group effectively ended both of our singing careers, right? Not to mention how much it hurt me personally. You have to realize the impact of that.”

  He tilted his head to the side. “We talked about this, Eden. Do I have to remind you again that my hands were tied?”

  Now he was just being obtuse. “You keep saying that as if you truly had no other options. I never understood why you were so determined to do things on your own anyway. Why couldn’t you have just joined up with your family at 404?”

  “Dad and I were...not on good terms. He wasn’t exactly pleased when I left the family business to strike out on my own, and his disappointment has only grown since then.”

  “You should have tried to repair the relationship. Who knows? Maybe he would have helped you achieve your vision for the group.”

  “I doubt it. We were barely speaking then, and not much has changed.”

  Her expression earnest, she said, “Family should always come first, Blaine. You should have reached out to him. If he’s holding on to anger, you should try to make up with him.”

  His brow creased into a frown, and he withdrew his touch. “You wouldn’t understand. It’s more complex than it seems on the surface.”

  He’s right. I wouldn’t understand. His family is still intact. My father walked out on my mother before I took my first steps, and now my mother is gone. Ainsley and Cooper are the only family I have left.

  She sighed. “I didn’t bring you out here to argue. It goes against everything I love about this place. Let’s just agree to disagree for now.”

  “Can we still kiss? You know...while we’re disagreeing and all?” A glimmer of hope shone in his eyes.

  She pursed her lips. “Honestly, Blaine...” The thought of kissing him appealed to her like a decadent dessert, but risking her heart again wasn’t something she wanted to do.

  “Listen. What happened in the past isn’t nearly as important as what’s happening right now.” He reached out, enfolded her hand inside his own. “And what’s happening now is that I’m attracted to you, Eden Voss. If you truly feel I wronged you in the past, then please, give me a shot at making it up to you. That’s why I brought you on for Naiya’s project.”

  “So, you hired me to pay penance for your actions in the past?”

  “Only partly.” He held her gaze, hoping she could see his sincerity. “I also believe in your talent. The label wasn’t thrilled about my plan to bring you on. But I have absolute faith in you.”

  It’s a start...that’s probably the best I’m going to get out of him for now. She’d held on to her resentment like a favorite accessory for so many years. But ever since he’d been back in her life, the part of her that still cared for him, still found him irresistible, threatened to snatch that bitterness away.

  “You got quiet,” he said, his voice just above a whisper. “What’s on your mind?”

  She drew a shaky inhale, then let the words fall out. “I want to kiss you again, Blaine. So, help me, I know it’s a terrible idea. But I...”

  He silenced her by dragging her close and pressing his lips against hers.

  A soft moan escaped her mouth, flowing into his, and he deepened the kiss in response. Leaning into him, she opened her mouth. Their tongues mated and played, while his hands roved over the sensitive flesh of her shoulders, her arms, her thighs. His hot mouth and his skilled caress fired her blood. She could feel her heart thumping, hard and fast, while the thrill of his touch reverberated through her body like sound waves.

  * * *

  Blaine held Eden’s soft body close to his, drawing out the kiss for as long as she’d allow. What had been a cool, breezy night had now become humid again, and this time, it had nothing to do with the late-summer Georgia temperatures.

/>   By the time he eased away from her lips, he almost expected a puff of steam to escape his shirt collar. “Eden...” He ran his fingertips over her satin jawline. “I want you so badly.”

  She trembled beneath his touch but remained quiet save for her quickened breaths.

  He toured her body with a gentle, questing hand. First, he trailed his fingertips down the bare skin of her arm, then let his open palm caress the fullness of her thigh just below the hem of her dress. She writhed, a soft whimper escaping her lips.

  She shifted a bit, tucking her legs beneath her. “Blaine...we’re playing with fire here.”

  “You’re telling me.” The fire had been smoldering inside him since the moment she’d walked into his office and accepted his offer of work. There would be no putting this fire out, and truthfully, he wanted it to blaze until it consumed them both. He continued to circle and tease the exposed skin of her thigh. “Your thighs are magnificent. What do you do at the gym...squats?”

  She blushed. “Yeah... I do a lot of side-to-side lunges, too.”

  “It’s working for you.”

  She closed her eyes, sucking in her lower lip as her skin tingled beneath his touch. “You’re too much, Blaine.”

  “I know I’m a lot.” He chuckled. “But I also believe you’ll be able to handle me just fine.”

  She leaned in and kissed him, and moments later, they were caught up in the throes of passion again. His tongue tangled with hers as he explored the sweet cavern of her mouth. By the time the kiss ended, he could feel his blood rushing toward his lower half.

  “If memory serves, you have a sweet spot right...about...here.” He slid his index finger up the side of her throat, swirling it over her skin just beneath the tip of her diamond-studded earlobe.

  She gasped.

  He leaned in, flicking his tongue over the sensitive spot. He repeated the gesture until her soft sighs rose on the cool night air.

  She shifted, moving out of his reach for a moment. But before he had a chance to miss her, she slid into his lap, her full, lush hips resting atop his pelvis. By now he was so hard he could drive railroad spikes without a hammer, and he knew she could feel it.

  He looked into her eyes in the moonlight.

  She offered him a sultry smile. “You seem...excited.”

  He cleared his throat. “No hiding that. Especially not with you sitting on my lap like this.” Running his hand over her silken waves, he growled, “Look what you’re doing to me, Eden.”

  She winked. “I can do even better than that...but not here.” She gestured around with her hands, reminding him of where they were.

  “You’re right.” He gave her hip a firm squeeze. “I’m pretty sure getting busy in the park is a quick way to get arrested.”

  She giggled, and the tinkling sound of her laughter warmed his heart. “Why don’t we head over to my place, and we can...” The loud ringing of his phone, accompanied by its insistent buzzing, cut him off midsentence. Annoyed, he shifted and dragged the phone out of his back pocket, careful to keep Eden in her position on his lap. Looking at the screen, he frowned. Geez. Nia’s timing is absolute garbage. His eldest sister rarely ever called him, and even when she did, it wasn’t this late. Thinking he’d better take the call, he swiped the screen. “Hello?”

  “Blaine, it’s Nia. Stop what you’re doing and come to Emory hospital right away.”

  He sat up straight, feeling the prickles of worry racing up his back. “What’s going on? Has something happened?”

  “It’s Mom,” Nia blurted, her tone grim. “She’s been in an accident.”

  “What? How did it happen? And is she okay?”

  “Blaine, I don’t have time to give you a lot of detail right now. Just get down to the hospital as soon as you can, all right?”

  He heard something in his sister’s voice he’d never heard before. Panic. “I understand. I’ll be there right away.” Disconnecting the call, he looked at Eden and found her watching him, her expression etched with concern.

  “I wasn’t eavesdropping, but I can tell by your face that something’s going on, something you need to attend to. Am I right?”

  He nodded. “Yes. It’s an emergency.”

  She slipped from his lap, then stood, straightening her dress.

  He was on his feet moments later. “You’ve gotta know that nothing else short of an emergency could have pulled me away from you. You do know that, right?” She gave a small nod, her gaze soft and sympathetic. “I believe you, Blaine.”

  “It’s my mom. She’s been in some kind of an accident, and my sister is playing it close to the vest. I need to get over there and check on her.” He grasped her hand, brought it up for his kiss. “Come on. I’ll walk you back to your car.”

  * * *

  After navigating the gauntlet of parking in the deck, he headed straight for the hospital information desk, hoping to find out more about his mother’s condition.

  Gage stood near the desk, his expression serious. “Hey, B. Nia sent me down here to meet you.”

  “Where’s Mom?”

  “She’s in a room on the seventh floor. Get your visitor’s pass and I’ll take you up there.”

  He turned to the desk attendant, and after presenting his driver’s license and posing for a rather drab-looking photo, he slapped on his adhesive visitor badge and followed his brother to the elevator.

  On the ride up, Blaine asked, “Gage, what happened to Mom?”

  He frowned. “You mean Nia didn’t tell you?”

  “You know how she is. She just ordered me to get my ass over here, without telling me anything except that Mom had been in an accident.”

  Gage rolled his eyes. “Same old Nia. Anyway, Mom was out running and took a pretty bad fall. Her left ankle is totally screwed up, and she’s got quite a few scrapes and scratches.”

  He cringed. Sounds like she had a rough day. “How is she now?”

  “She seems to be doing okay. They’ve patched her up and given her pain meds.” The elevator dinged, and Gage stepped out, holding his hand out so the doors wouldn’t shut before his brother exited. “I’m sure she’ll be glad to see you.”

  He wanted to protest but managed to hold back.

  They walked down a quiet concourse, where the only sounds were the footsteps of scrub-clad nurses and the occasional blip emanating from a machine until they approached an open door. Gage stepped back to let Blaine enter first.

  Inside the small room, he found his entire immediate family. All his siblings were crowded around his mother’s hospital bed, while a tired-looking Caleb sat in the blue recliner wedged between the bed and the wall. There were Teagan and Miles, the babies of the family, fraternal twins who both possessed their mother’s sense of humor and her zest for life. Hovering beside them was Nia, the eldest, whose personality echoed her father’s serious, regimented nature. And then there was Gage, who was only eleven months younger than Blaine. They were the closest in age and the only two of the kids who seemed to take their traits almost equally from both parents.

  In the center of it all, Addison Woodson lay dozing in her bed. She was attached to a heart monitor, and the steady blips coming from the machine gave Blaine a measure of comfort. But the various bandages covering her arms, legs and the left side of her face, as well as the contraption stabilizing her ankle, were a worrisome sight. Not wanting to frighten her, he approached the bed quietly, easing in between the twins to get closer, and called out softly. “Mom?”

  She opened her eyes slowly, and a smile spread over her face. “Blaine. Hi, baby.”

  Emotion welled in his chest. “Mom, are you all right?”

  “I’m fine,” she insisted in a sleep-heavy voice. “Should have turned down my music. Didn’t see that cyclist coming until he was about to hit me.” She yawned. “Dived out of his way—and right into a sticker bush.”<
br />
  He sighed. “Mom, you’re a real pistol.”

  “You bet your ass. And don’t you worry... I’ll be back on the trail in no time.” No sooner than the words left her mouth, she drifted back off to sleep.

  Spotting an empty folding chair in the corner of the room, he took a seat. Now that he knew she was okay, he planned on staying put to hear what the doctors had to say.

  His thoughts shifted briefly to Eden. His ardor for her would have to be set aside for the moment, but he planned on rectifying that as soon as possible.

  Ten

  Sunday evening, Eden chewed her lip as she knocked on the front door to Blaine’s Ansley Park condo. The complex he lived in was less than ten minutes away from Piedmont Park; she’d been passing his place for ages without even knowing he lived there.

  Ever since he’d buzzed her in at the gate, she’d been nervously fidgeting, wondering what tonight might hold. Would he really want to pick up where they’d left off the night before? Or would he still be distracted by whatever emergency had called him away in the middle of their rendezvous? She willed herself to stop overthinking. Guess I’ll just play it by ear.

  She took a deep, soothing inhale, detecting the subtle but delectable aroma of garlic and herbs coming from his unit. Just as she released her breath, his door swung open.

  “Hi, Eden.” A welcoming smile stretched his full lips, revealing his pearly white teeth.

  He looked comfortable but put together in a charcoal-gray button-down, dark slacks and black loafers with a silver chain detail across the toe box. The top three buttons of the shirt were left open, and the short sleeves revealed the muscled beauty of his biceps. His locs were piled on top of his head in a messy bun-slash-ponytail.

  “Hey, you.” She extended the silk pouch holding the bottle of merlot she’d brought. “A little gift to thank you for inviting me over.”