Prelude to Love

by Anne Barwell

  “Yeah, sounds good.” Marcus stretched his legs out in front of him. Outside the wind had died down, although he could still hear the steady beat of rain on the roof. He stifled a yawn. “Sorry, it’s not the conversation. It’s been a long day.”

  “I’ve been so busy talking about school I haven’t asked how your job is going. Sorry.”

  “No need to apologize. I like listening to you talk about school.” Marcus never wanted Joel to think he couldn’t talk as much as he needed to. “And although I don’t know much about music, it doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy listening to it either.” He studied his cup, deciding where to start. “The job’s going well. It’s taking a bit of getting used to, working with someone else, as I worked alone and was my own boss for years. Brendan’s very easygoing, though, and leaves me to just get on with it. I’m not sure he’s entirely convinced about me wanting to diversify, but I think with the weather around here, we need to or we’ll spend most of the winter sitting on our hands.”

  “You need some downtime,” said Joel, conveniently forgetting he taught two evenings a week, took choir and orchestra rehearsals on two of the other days, and fitted in lesson prep and marking around all of it.

  “Yes, but I prefer to keep busy. I start getting twitchy otherwise.”

  “I’m sure I could help with that.” Joel grinned.

  “I thought you wanted to take this slow and see where it goes,” Marcus murmured. He shifted in his seat, his cock helpfully reminding him that his hormones weren’t exactly agreeing with his words.

  “Yeah, I do. Sorry.” Joel shrugged. “I told you I talk too much. I guess I’ve…. Never mind.”

  “It’s fine. You’re just putting into words the stuff I’m not saying.” Marcus studied his coffee, blew on it to cool it a bit, and then took a decent-sized drink of it. “I was kind of hoping you might play for me whatever it was I interrupted when I arrived. The first time this evening, that is.”

  “The second time,” Joel corrected absently. “The first time you came with Isabel.”

  Marcus put his cup down on the coffee table. “Was that a yes, I will, or no, I won’t?”

  “Oh, sorry.” Joel set his cup next to Marcus’s. “My coffee’s still a bit warm. I can play for you now if you want, and then we can finish our drinks. What time do you need to leave?”

  Marcus checked his watch and was surprised by how late it was. “I’d better phone Darin soon, I guess. I have an early start tomorrow.”

  “Yeah, me too.” Joel slipped his hand into Marcus’s and led him down the hallway to the music room.

  “Want me to take my usual spot?” Marcus didn’t want to distract Joel too much.

  “Yeah, if that works. Sorry, there isn’t another sofa in the room. I’ve never had a need for it.” Joel settled himself down on the piano stool and opened the lid.

  Although the room was sparsely furnished, Marcus hadn’t really noticed it before. Apart from the piano and the small table and chair next to it, there was only one sofa and a bookcase full of sheet music in the corner.

  “That works.”

  Nannerl pushed past Marcus and jumped up onto the sofa, sprawling out to take up the entire seat.

  “Or not,” Marcus said. “I’ll take your usual seat.”

  “You can shift her, you know.” Joel glanced at Nannerl. “I swear that cat has a mind of her own.”

  “She’s a cat, and your chair looks comfortable enough. Besides, I can see better from here.” Marcus pushed the chair back, stretched his legs out, and crossed them at the ankles. “What’s the music?” Not that it would mean much to him, but he still wanted to be able to put a name to it.

  “It’s a Chopin prelude. I’ve always liked playing Chopin. I find it relaxing, as it’s easy to lose myself in the music, so I’m hoping that helps me not to stress out too much on the night of the concert.” Joel adjusted the distance between the stool and the piano and then began to play.

  Marcus nodded. He’d heard the name Chopin before—probably from Joel.

  Despite his intention to watch Joel play, Marcus found himself closing his eyes and listening to the music. It felt as though Joel projected some of himself into his performance. Nuances of emotion reached out to Marcus as the melody grew louder, in both volume and intensity, and faster. Then slower again, the melody taking center stage, with a repeating deeper note before the music finished, and Marcus realized Joel had stopped playing.

  “Wow.” Marcus opened his eyes.

  Joel still sat poised at the keyboard. He placed his hands on his lap, interlacing his fingers, his knuckles white. “Wow? Really? I still need to practice, and that bit with the—”

  Marcus didn’t have the words to describe what he’d heard. He’d liked it. A lot. Not just for the music but the insight it gave him into Joel. He leaned over, gently brushed his fingers against Joel’s face, and when Joel turned toward him, Marcus kissed him on the lips. Softly at first, then deepening as Joel threaded his fingers through Marcus’s hair and pulled him closer.

  Joel tasted of coffee and beer. He caressed Marcus’s lips with his tongue, and Marcus groaned. Why had he waited so long for this? Kissing Joel felt right, as though he’d found something he’d never known was missing.

  When they finally broke the kiss, Joel leaned his forehead against Marcus’s. “Wow,” he whispered. “I should play for you more often.”

  “Yes,” Marcus said. “I think you should.” He reached for Joel’s shirt and began undoing the buttons. “Yes?”

  “Yes. Definitely yes.” Joel yanked Marcus’s T-shirt over his head. “Hot,” he murmured, then shoved the stool back farther and stood at the same time Marcus did. “I’ve wanted to do this since that first day you mowed my lawns.”

  “Shit.” Marcus half gasped, half groaned when Joel flicked his nipples with his tongue. He rubbed himself up against Joel. Joel was as hard as Marcus.

  “Bedroom. Now,” Joel whispered.

  Marcus nodded, his mouth dry. To hell with waiting. The kiss had opened a floodgate of desire he didn’t want to end. Now they’d decided to go for this, he didn’t see any reason to stop.

  The doorbell rang.

  “You have got to be kidding me,” Joel said.

  It rang again.

  “Bloody hell,” Marcus muttered. “Whoever this is, it had better be good.” He flopped down on the sofa. Nannerl scooted to one side to avoid him. “You’d better get it. Might be someone important.”

  He’d never forgive himself if it was one of Joel’s family and something had happened to his father. He took several deep breaths. He and Joel wanted this. A few more minutes waiting wouldn’t hurt.

  “It had better be.” Joel shrugged on his shirt and stomped out to the front door.

  Marcus heard a familiar voice and groaned aloud. “Bloody hell,” he muttered again. Not bothering to pull on his T-shirt, he strode out of the room.

  Darin took one glance at him and looked guilty as hell. As he should be. “Sorry,” he mumbled. “At least I knocked instead of using my key.”

  “I told you I’d phone.” Marcus stood behind Joel and slid his arms around him.

  “I have a job on early tomorrow morning, so….” He looked at Marcus and Joel. “I should have left it a bit longer, right?”

  “Yeah.” Marcus sighed. “Rain check,” he whispered in Joel’s ear.

  “Oh, yeah.” Joel turned and brushed his lips across Marcus’s cheek, apparently not worried they had an audience. He then cleared his throat and spoke to Darin. “You’d better come in.”

  Chapter Six

  “THANKS for the ride,” Marcus said.

  “It’s the least I could do.” Darin had apologized most of the way home the night before. “I was going to wait for you to call me last night, honest.”

  “Yeah, you’ve told me that already.”

  As much as Marcus was tempted to hold it over Darin, he couldn’t bring himself to do so. After all, Darin was partly the reason Marcus and Joel
had finally told each other how they felt. Marcus loved the feel of Joel’s lips against his own and the sweet yet sexy kiss that promised so much more.

  “And I didn’t sabotage your SUV. I wouldn’t do that.” Darin shrugged. “As I already told you, that part of the evening was pure serendipity. You guys are meant to be together. Even the universe agrees.”

  “I believe you. You don’t need to repeat all this stuff. And I owe you. After all, you did convince Issy to hold off texting me to say she’d found her music.”

  Darin rolled his eyes. “I still can’t believe you were going to leave before your car broke down. You guys are as bad as each other.”

  “So you’d try convincing Joel to make a move next if this hadn’t worked?”

  “Well, duh.” Darin grinned, apparently having decided he’d reached his quota of groveling. “Ella said you sometimes need a couple of shoves in the right direction, and who am I to argue with my beautiful wife?”

  “Sure. Whatever.” Marcus shrugged. “It’s done.” He paused. “But if you interrupt us again this evening, I won’t be so forgiving. Once is an accident… twice—”

  “Don’t worry. I wasn’t happy when that urgent job showed up either, but he’s a regular customer and in a tight spot so….”

  Marcus had felt a minute degree of satisfaction that Darin’s brilliant plan had backfired on him. It took the edge off the annoyance of his time with Joel being interrupted. He climbed out of the truck and shut the door. “I need to go. Don’t wait up. I’ll see you when I see you.”

  “Enjoy your evening.” Darin winked, waved, and pulled out into the traffic.

  “Thanks. I intend to.” Marcus figured it was easier to get dropped off at the school so he and Joel wouldn’t have to worry about coming back for the SUV. Joel had offered to take Marcus home at the end of the evening.

  Or not.

  Joel had given Marcus directions to the auditorium where the orchestra rehearsals took place. He’d told Marcus that they usually practiced in a classroom, but he’d figured it was better if the orchestra got used to the acoustics of the place they’d be performing. Despite Marcus’s intentions to be there earlier, fate had conspired against him, a job had taken longer than he’d anticipated, and then Darin had been held up as well.

  Marcus thought he’d still catch the last twenty minutes or so of the rehearsal, but when he’d texted Joel about being late he hadn’t received a reply. He hoped that meant Joel was too busy to check his phone rather than being annoyed he was late. As though on cue, his phone alerted him to a text. He swiped the screen, and shook his head. Bloody hell, Garth. Marcus had texted him back a few times reminding him they were done, and hadn’t heard anything for a few weeks. Looked like he was wrong in thinking Garth had finally given up.

  He shoved the phone back into his pocket and poked his head into the school office. The older woman working there was packing up, ready to go home. Joel had told Marcus to introduce himself so the school would know he wasn’t some random stranger wandering around.

  “Hi, I’m Marcus Verden. Joel’s expecting me,” Marcus said. When his comment was met with a frown, he added as part of his introduction, “Isabel Prior’s my niece. My sister, Ella, said she was going to talk to you about adding me to Isabel’s emergency contact list.”

  “Right. Of course.” The woman nodded. “Hello, Mr. Verden. I’m Nancy Cahill. I remember Isabel talking about you. She’s not part of the orchestra, though.”

  “Yeah, I know. As I said, I’m meeting Joel. Mr. Ashcroft.” Marcus wished Joel had told him whether he was out at school or not. Being able to introduce himself as Joel’s boyfriend would make this a lot easier. “I’m a friend,” he said finally. “And nice to meet you… Ms. Cahill.” He didn’t want to be obviously looking to see if she was wearing a wedding ring, so wasn’t sure what honorific to use, but Ms. was usually a safe bet.

  “Ah, okay, it’s always nice to meet a friend of Joel’s.” Nancy smiled widely. “My wife is a musician. She and Joel have known each other for years.” She pointed to a corridor on her right. “You’ll find Joel in the auditorium at the end of that corridor. The orchestra’s sounding great. He’s doing an amazing job with those kids.”

  “Thanks.” Marcus ignored the group of teenage girls watching him and decided not to ponder about how much of the conversation they’d heard. Instead he headed off in the direction she’d indicated and soon found himself in front of two sets of closed double doors. He opened one of them and slipped inside.

  Joel stood on the stage at the front of the orchestra. He looked up when the door opened, and smiled.

  Several of the kids in the orchestra turned around to see what Joel was looking at. A couple of the girls sitting in the front row of violins glanced back at Joel and then again at Marcus, but didn’t say anything.

  Joel cleared his throat. “Okay, let’s take that one from bar thirty. Everyone found that? It’s two bars before the first time bar, so we’re going to play from there and do the repeat. I’ll give you a bar for nothing.” He raised his baton. “One. Two. Three.”

  The orchestra began playing one of the tunes Joel had been humming the week before. Marcus found a seat at the front of the hall, next to a woman about his own age. She tapped her foot along with the music and kept her eyes on Joel more than the musicians did.

  A few other adults sat around them, listening. One woman seemed absorbed in whatever was on her tablet, although she nodded in time with the music and looked up when the flutes began to play.

  Probably parents come to pick up their kids.

  Marcus suddenly felt the odd one out, although he didn’t regret coming. Joel had an intensity about him when he conducted that was missing when he gave piano lessons. Although he’d been focused on his students then too, this felt different. Conducting was something Joel clearly loved—it reminded Marcus of when Joel had played the prelude for him.

  A trumpet blared, jarring Marcus from his thoughts.

  Joel lowered his baton, and although most of the orchestra stopped, the kid playing the trumpet didn’t seem to notice.

  “Quentin!” Joel called, and the kid suddenly stopped playing.

  “Yes, Mr. Ashcroft?”

  “I think you’re a couple of bars ahead of the rest of us,” Joel said. “You’re sounding great, but it doesn’t quite work if you come in at the wrong place.” He spoke softly, so it didn’t sound like a reprimand.

  One of the boys playing clarinet grinned, and the girl next to him giggled.

  “Everyone makes mistakes,” Joel said. “Next time it might be someone else coming in at the wrong place. Even me.”

  The whole orchestra laughed.

  “Now,” Joel said, “I think we can run this through from where we were before, but this time we’ll ignore the repeat and just keep going until the end of the piece. So play the second time bar instead of the first. Okay?”

  “Okay, Mr. Ashcroft,” the kids said.

  “Joel’s so very good with the students, don’t you think?” the woman next to Marcus whispered.

  It took him a moment to realize she was talking to him.

  “Oh, yes. He’s very good with them.” Marcus took care to keep his voice low so he didn’t disturb the rehearsal.

  “This is your first time here, isn’t it?” The woman twirled a strand of blonde hair with one finger. “I’m Adelaide Barker. I’m here on behalf of the PTA. This concert was my idea, you know. I think Joel is so talented.”

  Ah so she was that Adelaide Barker. Though he doubted there would be more than one, considering the way both Ella and Joel spoke of her.

  “He’s very talented,” Marcus said. He turned his attention back to Joel. He’d seen an echo of that expression on Joel’s face when they’d kissed. Joel had been right when he said he didn’t hide his emotions, but Marcus liked that. Joel had responded so eagerly to his touch, and the feel of his bare skin against Marcus’s had left Marcus craving more. He couldn’t wait to continue from w
here they’d left off. He’d dreamed of Joel that night and woken to his heart racing and a hard-as-hell erection. Fuck, if jacking off in the shower thinking about Joel felt so good, he couldn’t wait for the real thing.

  “So which child is yours, Mr.…?” Adelaide interrupted Marcus’s thoughts.

  Marcus flushed. This wasn’t the place to be thinking about how being with Joel made him feel. He mumbled a quick reply. “My niece is at the school.”

  Adelaide studied him. “I knew you looked familiar, but I couldn’t place it. You’re Ella Prior’s brother, aren’t you? She mentioned something about you moving up here. I can see some of your sister and your niece in you. Mark, isn’t it?”

  “Marcus,” Marcus corrected. Her conversation was beginning to irritate him. Not only that, but he was trying to listen to the music. He shot her a glare without thinking.

  “I’m only trying to be friendly,” she huffed. “And besides, Isabel’s not in the orchestra. She plays piano. Like my Caleb. My Caleb’s very good, you know. Joel’s such a great teacher.”

  Luckily at that point Joel lowered his baton again, and the orchestra stopped playing. “That’s it for this week, guys. Big improvement from last week, so all your hard work is paying off. Same time next week, okay? We’ll be rehearsing the Anderson and the Strauss. Don’t forget to practice. See you next week.”

  As the orchestra began to pack up, Joel sprinted down the stairs and walked over to Marcus. “You made it,” he said.

  “Yeah,” said Marcus. “I thought the orchestra sounded good. Really good.” He ducked his head. “Not that I’d know, but it sounded good to me.”

  “Thanks.” Joel smiled, his eyes lighting up at Marcus’s words. “We still need to do a bit of work, but it’s getting there. I need to pack up first. Hope you don’t mind waiting.”

  “I can give you a hand if you point me in the right direction.” Marcus could feel Adelaide bristling by his side.