Words and Music

by Gina Watson

  As he sat on the couch feeling lost and alone, he put on his clothes and boots, and then folded up the blanket she’d given him. He placed the generic smelling pillow on top of the folded quilt. He walked to her bedroom door. He’d have to wake her, but regretted causing her any more harm. The door wasn’t latched, and he pushed it open to bring her sleeping form into view. Only she wasn’t sleeping, but reading an e-book. Her blue gaze melted into his green one. She rested on her stomach, her upper body posed on her elbows, and her legs kicked out behind her, dressed in her usual nighttime attire—nothing but her underwear. He swallowed.

  “Hey, I’m going to take off, but I wanted to say goodbye first.”

  “What time is it?”

  “Three-thirty.”

  “It’s the middle of the night. What’s wrong?”

  “I can’t sleep like this.”

  “Like what?”

  “Without you.” His voice was tense and horse.

  “You sleep without me all the time.”

  He leaned against the jamb. “I lie in bed without you all the time, but sleep eludes me. When I’m in Baton Rouge, the one thing I can count on is a good night’s sleep because I’m sleeping next to you.”

  She set her e-reader on the nightstand. With her body turned away from him she slid beneath the covers. Sufficiently covered, she sat against the headboard with a frown. “I can’t sleep either.” She chewed her lip and folded her arms across her chest.

  “I don’t want to be the cause of your pain. It’s killing me that I have been. I’m sorry…I thought we were”—he rubbed at the sting in his right eye—“okay.” The quiet was thick and unyielding, like cold butter. “I guess you better lock the door behind me.”

  He backed away from her.

  “Please don’t go.”

  She’d whispered, but he’d heard her pleading voice almost cry those three words. She stood and slowly padded her way across the room toward him, the sway of her breasts enhanced by the low lamplight. He shouldn’t stay, he should leave. Meg didn’t want to get physical, yet if he stayed that’s what would happen. Grabbing him by the hand, she walked backward to the bed.

  She pulled his shirt off over his head. “I can’t stay away from you, Cam. You were my first love.” She sweetly smiled at their memories. She unhooked his belt and his jeans, and then slid her hands down his hips. His skin sizzled, her touch was home. He stood frozen, letting her undress him. With her palms on his chest she guided him to sit on the bed. She bent and unlaced his boots.

  His hand slid into her thick hair. “Meg, I don’t want to leave you to pick up the pieces when I leave.”

  She continued her task of removing his boots. “It was always going to be that way. Wasn’t it?”

  “You could come with me.”

  She stood and worked his jeans down his legs, pulling them from each foot. “If I go with you I lose my identity. Any way you look at it, I lose.”

  Her words stung, yet he tried to see things from her point of view. “I’m sorry you see it that way.”

  Standing between his spread legs, she placed her palm on his cheek. “I don’t see it that way—those are the facts of the situation. I love you, Cam. I would build a life with you in a heartbeat. Only you’re not building a life right now…you’re building an empire. Your music has taken off. You’re in demand. It would be wrong of me to intrude on your work and divert your attention. These stolen moments are all that we get. We’re twenty-six now. I want children, a husband, a family. I want to build my career. I can’t do that from the road. You want to become a rock star, but you can’t do that from Baton Rouge.”

  “I want to be with you.”

  “Do you want to be with me so much that you’d give up the road?”

  “I don’t understand why we can’t be together on the road. You could work for that news blog from anywhere.” There was a time when she’d considered his proposal, but at the last minute Baton Rouge Thirty Nine offered her a position and she’d chosen her career over him.

  “I don’t want to be a journalist…I want to be an anchor. I want to bring information to people. I like the way they look at me, like I’ve got all the answers. When the lights go on and we’re on air, I get a rush of adrenaline like nothing I’ve ever experienced, and I know that I’m right where I need to be.”

  “Yeah, I get it.” Only thing was he also felt that rush when he was deep inside of her.

  “I know you do…that’s why I could never ask you to give up all of that to stay here with me.”

  “You want a husband?”

  She shrugged, “Well yeah, eventually.”

  “But not me.”

  “Oh, Cam. In a perfect world it would be you. I love you.” She climbed over him, straddling him with her body. “I need you.” A wave of her hips had her rubbing against his throbbing cock. “I can feel that you need me too.”

  “I’ll always need you, Meg.” Glimpsing the future, he saw her married to someone that wasn’t him. He saw her swaddling an infant in her arms, smiling up at her husband…not him. He knew he wouldn’t marry anyone unless it were Meg.

  “Cameron.” Her plush lips came down on his in an act so sweet he wanted to bottle it so that he could open it when things got sour. “There will always be a place for you at my table. Please don’t make this more difficult by adding drama. We’re best friends and we always will be.” He hadn’t made it difficult—she had—by trying to deny their attraction. And they ended up where they always did anyway—in each other’s arms.

  She lifted his arms by his wrists and let them go. They flopped to his side. “You’re being weird.” She undulated on his lap. “Let’s just start the night over. Can we do that, please? I want you.”

  Fuck it. He wanted her too. In one swift move, he flipped them so that she was on her back in the middle of the bed and he was on top of her. She squealed. “Okay. Let’s start over.” His lips took hers, aggressive and consuming. He’d been without her too long and he was going to take enough of what he needed to last a lifetime.

  She sighed into his mouth and his hand slid up her warm, smooth skin to caress her right breast. His hand molded to her perfectly, knowing her body. His lips closed around her nipple and delicately bit down.

  “Do you remember our first time?” She asked.

  “I remember every time, but yeah, I recall not lasting very long.” He chuckled. “Why?”

  “I think about it all the time. I don’t know why. We are much better at sex now than we were as teens.”

  He stared down into her eyes. “You think about it all the time?”

  “Well yeah. It was my first time and yours.”

  “We were ridiculous.”

  “But we needed the closeness only sex could bring. We still do.”

  She was right. No matter how bad they’d sucked it up when they were teens, they’d become closer than they’d ever been. Inseparable. And then they’d graduated and she went off to college while he went on the road with Adamantium—the rock group he’d formed his senior year of high school. They saw each other less but would hook up whenever he played in Baton Rouge. That had been their pattern…he’d play a set, and then spend the rest of the night in her bed.

  His nose nuzzled her neck where her vanilla scent was strongest. His body sagged, relishing in the comfort. No one knew the extent of their relationship. Ashton and Harmony knew more than anyone else since they’d been a little loud and drunk a time or two at the plantation.

  When Meg had started at Baton Rouge Thirty Nine, she’d also begun a relationship with Evan Arnold, head anchor, and total dick mouth. And yet, their pattern held. Cam knew she’d been intimate with Evan, and it had killed him. Still, when they were near one another, their bodies fought to be together and longing had overcome right and wrong.

  Her fingers massaged the ridges of his rib cage.
As ticklish as she was if he were to do that to her she’d be dying. To test his theory he inched his fingers up her hip and to her side and gave them a little wiggle. Instant squealing in his ear had him chuckling.

  “Why are you so mean?”

  “Sorry, just longing for old times.” He kissed her cheek.

  Her hand squeezed his erection with force and he groaned. “I need you, Cam.”

  “I’ll take care of you.” Repetitive thuds vibrated against the wall. Then erotic muffled moans filtered through the apartment. “Sweet monkey Jesus…your neighbors are at it again.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I get to listen to every night.”

  “Every night?”

  “Sometimes they start as early as six o’clock.”

  He stood to his knees and hitched his thumbs beneath the band of her panties. Sliding them down her legs he said, “Time to give them a little competition.”

  She smiled shyly before covering her eyes with her arm. Blushing developed across her neck and chest. She was adorable. He reached for her hands and set them on his hips. “Come on. Help me take off my underwear.” She could be shy and proper, but he knew how to work her into a frenzy for him. He recalled how hurt she’d been when Evan Asshole Arnold had called her frigid.

  “How many?”

  She always asked him for a number. He never lied, but often wondered why she needed to know. Perhaps it was because they never used protection. He used condoms with everyone…except her. He needed to feel her sizzling heat squeeze him. “I haven’t been with anyone since I was last with you.”

  Her slow growing smile pierced his heart. “I thought rock gods got lots of ass.” She pushed his underwear down to his knees, and then he wrestled them the rest of the way off.

  “The only ass I want is yours.”

  “That’s only for special occasions.”

  He laughed from his belly, recalling how she’d almost passed out from the pleasure she’d received from him on her birthday. “Right, no ass.”

  His head bent and he took the flesh just above her hip between his teeth, delicately tasting.

  “Ah!”

  “Take it Meg,” he ordered.

  “It tickles.”

  “Pleasure from pain. How do you want me tonight? Tell me.” Her arm moved to cover her eyes. “Nah-uh.” He pushed her arm away from her face. “Tell me what you want. How do you want to feel me?” She bit her bottom lip, her eyes sizzling. “Do you want me to love you delicately?” His finger feather touched her clit—an action that had her hips lifting from the bed only to be blocked by his own on top of her. “Hmm?” He continued his light touch. “Something tells me you want it harder.” His thumb assaulted with purpose and had Meg’s heart beating so hard he could hear the banging against the bones of her chest. His finger slammed into her hard, to the second knuckle and continued to wiggle inside of her. She moaned. “What’s that, Meg?”

  “Yes! Yes! Oh Cam. Don’t stop.”

  “You like it when I press on your clit.” He tightened the tension. “You like my fingers inside of you.”

  “Yes!”

  “What else do you like, Meg?”

  “Your penis.”

  “Now we’ve talked about this, Meg. What word do I like you to use?”

  “Your cock… I want your cock.”

  He rubbed his erection through her wetness. “How do you want me?”

  Her body shuddered, her nails raked over his back and shoulders. “I want you to fuck me hard and deep.” He already knew that…her body was speaking to him, but he needed to hear her say it. He wanted her to admit she needed to be consumed by him.

  On the other side of the wall, her neighbors had reached their loud climax. He smiled as he teased her with the tip of his cock, barely slipping into her. Beneath him, she struggled and groaned for more. “Are you ready for all of me, Meg?”

  “Cameron…now. I need you. Now!” She cried.

  At her screams, he plunged deep and hard. The air escaped from her lungs on a swoosh. He pulled out and slammed in again to drive her mad. She screamed and he smiled at how they affected one another. Her little body squeezed him with force, and he felt the tight slide and pull from her body with each thrust. He fell into a steady rhythm and the headboard joined, repeatedly hitting the back wall with a loud thud. Meg hadn’t noticed however as she was currently lost in zone erotica. With his hands on her thighs, he pinned her knees up, allowing him more leverage.

  “Cam!”

  He knew that yell…it was her I’m-about-to-come yell. He swatted with his open palm at the back of her exposed thigh. She immediately tensed, squeezing him like a fist. “Not yet. Wait for me.”

  She groaned a mixture of expletives at him, and he chuckled. Her eyes narrowed and using her vaginal muscles she clenched. “Ah!” She was so tight he couldn’t move.

  “I want to come, Cam. Get there!”

  “Yes ma’am.” She eased the hold she had on him, and he pounded home. When he heard her growl in the back of her throat, it drew his climax from him. “Now, Meg!” Using one another, they achieved bliss and for a few beats all was right in his world.

  His hands on her thighs went lax, allowing her legs to fall away lazily from her side. Their breaths mingled in the afterglow, her small bedroom permeated with the scent of sex.

  His head rested on her chest and he smiled against her heated skin. “You’ve become a demanding little thing.”

  “What can I say, it’s been three months.”

  “Three months?”

  “Yeah, the last time you were in town.”

  “It’s been three months for me too.”

  “I know. You already told me that.” Her eyes were closed and her breathing had evened.

  “So no prospects for you then?”

  “I wouldn’t say that. I just prefer to wait for perfection rather than having a string of meaningless mediocre partners,” she answered.

  “You think I’m perfection?”

  Her blue eyes opened, piercing him. “I’m post-coital and sleepy. I don’t know what I’m saying.” Cue the arm across the eyes. It was something she did when she was embarrassed.

  “The plantation is currently being renovated. I was gonna ask you if I could stay here for the next couple of weeks.”

  Her arm came down and she stared at the ceiling. “Of course you can, but don’t you want to stay with Max? He’s got way more space than I do…you’d rate an actual bed instead of a couch.”

  Couch? Hmm…he thought he’d rate the bed now that they had worked through their issues. “I’d rather stay with you.”

  “I’d rather you stay with me too.”

  “Besides, Zach and Luke are currently using Max’s place to film their…movies.”

  “Shut up! Your brother Zach?” She pushed at his shoulder with the palm of her hand.

  “It’s true. I only wish it wasn’t.”

  “Why does Max let them film there?”

  He shot her an incredulous look. “You’re a smart girl, Meg. Why would you think?”

  She gasped, and then blushed. “Is Max in the movies?”

  “I think he’s been in one or two.”

  “But he’s a professor at LSU.”

  “He doesn’t show his face when he’s acting in the movies.”

  Meg’s forehead wrinkled in thought. Her eyes grew large. “Oh!”

  He giggled. “One of these days I’m going to get you to watch a porno movie.”

  “No way.” She shook her head.

  “How about we make one?” He used his hips to grind against her.

  “I don’t think so. That’s just what I need…a leaked sex tape.”

  “No leaks, just sex.”

  “It’s weird using leak and sex in the same sentence.” He laughed. “Oh! I have a grea
t idea.”

  “No, you don’t,” he countered.

  “I so do…You”—she pointed her index finger at the top of his head—“are going to let me do a Saturday night featurette on you.”

  “On your show?”

  “Yes. I was starting to get worried because I didn’t have anyone booked. Will you do it?”

  “I would do anything for you.”

  “You’re awesome.” She sat up and he followed her lead. She crossed her nude legs and he leaned his back against the headboard. “Okay, since you’re going to be staying here we need to set up some ground rules.”

  “Ground rules?”

  “Oh yes. Ground rules.” She rubbed her palms together. “Ground rule number one…” She tilted her head, studying him quizzically.

  “I’m on the edge of my seat over here. Spit it out.”

  “There can be absolutely no sex.”

  He traced his eyebrow with his middle finger. Sighing he said, “You can’t be serious. Do you know how hard that’s going to be?”

  “I do. But we can do it.”

  “I don’t mind that rule, but I have a condition.” Her lips twisted and she frowned at him. “It’s a good condition.”

  “I doubt that. What is it?”

  “We sleep in this bed together every night.” He placed his palm over his heart. “Fully clothed of course.”

  “Hmm…I don’t know.”

  “Come on Meg. I can’t have sex with you, but at least you can let me hold you.”

  “Okay. Fully clothed. And no holding.”

  “No. I have to hold you.”

  “How about I hold you?”

  He thought about her spooning behind him and nodded. “It’s a start.”