Opposites Attrack
Page 4
Maybe she was smart to dump him in advance.
He released a deep breath and thought about how her silky hair had felt sliding through his fingers, her skin gliding against his skin, her hot mouth opening to his. He pictured her beautiful eyes staring up at him the moment he let go inside her and his cock twitched in response to the memory. There had been something … indefinable … that passed between them at that moment, something deep and meaningful and unlike anything he’d ever experienced before. He’d never had too much faith in his mom’s astrological bullshit, but he knew what she would have had to say about that feeling; he and Kelly’s stars were aligned just right and at this particular juncture in their lives their paths ran together.
No, he would not just let this woman slip away. He would seize the day.
He jumped up and rummaged through his boxes to find more reasonably clean clothes, took a shower, tossed on a T-shirt, jeans and tennis shoes and thrust his arms into his coat. He headed out into a crystal clear, sub-zero winter morning, his breath puffing visibly in the frigid air.
Twenty minutes later, Ren rang Kelly’s doorbell with another deli bag clutched in his hand, steaming cups of coffee in a cardboard holder in the other.
Her fine, platinum hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail again. Her cheeks flushed pink on seeing him. “Oh, um, hi.” Her eyes shied away from his.
“Hi, neighbor.” He extended the bag and coffee toward her. “I brought breakfast because I need to ask you this huge favor.”
“Favor?” she repeated, accepting the offering.
“I know you don’t want to start anything between us. I respect that. But I could use your help as a friend. We are friends, right?”
“Yes.” Her hand clenched on the white bag.
He gestured over his shoulder at his apartment. “I haven’t got any furniture, not a stick, and I wondered if you’d go with me and help me pick some stuff out.”
“I…” She glanced over her shoulder into the apartment as if searching for a way out.
His heart dropped. Maybe he had misread her after all.
Then she turned toward him again and her eyes met his briefly. “Okay. I guess I could spare a couple of hours.”
His plummeting heart turned on a dime and soared. It scared him a little that she had this much influence over him after one day…and one amazing night. But Ren had never been one to let a little fear stop him from going after something he wanted. “Great!” He took the coffee and doughnuts back from her so she could get her coat.
When she was ready, he handed her one of the cups and held out the bag for her to choose a pasty. It didn’t surprise him when she picked the plain cake doughnut over jellies or iced with chocolate sprinkles.
He watched her bite into it, carefully holding a napkin underneath to catch any stray crumbs. He smiled. Somebody really needed to shake this girl up.
“So, it looks like Loose Threads is poised to hit the big time. Our manager has us booked for a national tour,” he told her as he led the way downstairs and out to his car. “I’ll be out of town a lot over the next months, but I wanted some kind of home to come back to at the end of it—thus the furniture. I was hoping you could steer me in the right direction, more Ikea less garage sale rejects.”
She smiled and opened the passenger side door of his Camaro. A couple of beer cans and an empty McDonald’s bag fell out onto the street. “I’ll do what I can,” she said dryly.
Ren grinned. He loved her smart mouth.
***
Kelly got into his dilapidated wreck of a car wondering why she was doing this. She closed the door and its rusty hinges creaked in protest. She had to bang it closed a few times before it would latch.
She glanced over at Ren behind the wheel. His dark eyelashes looked even longer in profile. His forehead was furrowed in concentration as he gunned the engine to keep it from dying out. “Guess I should buy a new car with some of the advance,” he commented, glancing at her and giving her an embarrassed, lopsided grin.
“Hey, as long as it still starts,” she replied.
He put the old car in gear and pulled away from the curb.
Kelly hoped it handled all right on the slick, icy roads. She asked herself again why she was with this guy picking out furniture for his apartment only hours after she had told him she didn’t want to become involved. She had never had trouble making a decision and following through on it in her entire life. But one look at Ren standing on her doorstep this morning, sexy and adorable in his ripped T-shirt and jeans and bed-head hair had completely derailed her ‘no-involvement’ policy. Her mind had flashed back to the previous night and how his thick hair had felt in her hands, how his lean body had felt pressed against hers, and she heard her voice say, ‘Okay.’
Why couldn’t she have said “no”? Then she’d be at home right now sorting her whites and colors for the laundry or practicing her cello for this evening’s performance instead of pulling up in front of the grimy storefront of a used furniture shop.
“I thought you were going for Ikea over garage sale,” she teased.
“Well shit, if I’m going to be buying a new car now, I should be thrifty with the furniture.” He led the way inside the building.
Ren proceeded to choose the most god-awful plaid sofa and burnt orange chairs Kelly had ever seen. “What do you think of these?” he asked, tossing his body down on the couch with a bounce that made the springs squeak.
“I can’t find the words.”
“What?” he looked from the sofa to the armchair. “They’re comfortable.”
“They’re atrocious. I haven’t seen furniture that butt ugly since 1976.”
“You weren’t even born in 1976. Come on, sit down. They’ll grow on you.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her down on the couch beside him.
She felt that tingle in her hand again when he touched her and, despite the faint musty smell rising from the couch, she could also smell Ren sitting so close and warm beside her.
“Comfortable, right? Wide enough, cushy enough.”
She had to admit the sofa was comfortable. “So you’re going for a retro-seventies look? Might as well put in green shag carpet and some bean bag chairs too.”
He nodded. “Good idea.”
She jumped up from the comfy couch. “Just kidding! Please, I beg of you don’t buy these. Let them die a natural death and go to the junkyard where they belong.”
“I don’t know. I think they’re kind of cool.”
“Why am I even here?” She shook her head.
“All right.” He laughed. “What do you suggest?”
“A different store,” she teased.
Ren stood up. “Okay, help me find something you can stand.” He knocked her shoulder with his. “Find me another couch as comfortable as this one, but with good taste which I’m obviously lacking.”
Kelly found herself enjoying the banter and Ren’s company. He was hard not to like. He was so easy-going and good-natured. She finally talked him into a living room set with both comfort and a smidgeon of style. She guided him in selecting a small dinette table and chairs and a bedroom suite.
Ren paid for the furniture and arranged for delivery.
Kelly was almost disappointed that she shopping trip was over.
“How about lunch?” he suggested, as they walked back outside. The sun was bright but the air was still icy cold
“I still have some housework to do and my practicing,” she said.
“Then you probably really don’t want to go ice skating after lunch.”
“I can’t,” she protested. “I don’t have time and I don’t know how.”
“Oh good, it should be entertaining then. Come on. It’s a beautiful afternoon.” He gestured at the blue sky above them. “It’ll be fun. When’s the last time you did something spontaneous?”
Kelly raised her eyebrows significantly.
“Other than last night. Fresh air and exercise, it’ll be good for you.”
They ate lunch at a diner around the corner from the furniture store. It looked like it had been in business since before the atrocious plaid furniture had been manufactured with a menu that had remained untouched by time. There wasn’t a fruit plate or salad available. Kelly found herself biting into an artery clogging, grill cheese sandwich that was deliciously warm and salty.
Ren had a double-fisted burger that looked like it contained about half a cow. He munched down a huge mouthful and chased it with a swallow of milkshake. “So, you said your sister lives nearby. You see her much?”
“No. Not really. Not unless she needs something. With Elise silence is a good thing. It means things are going relatively okay for her.”
“Sounds like you’ve spent a lot of your life taking care of your family.”
“I guess so.” She shrugged then sipped her iced tea. “My mom wasn’t too organized about paying bills on time. Somebody had to make sure the electric didn’t get turned off.”
He bit into a French fry. She hoped that he was finished asking questions, but after a minute he continued. “How did you happen to become a cellist? I mean, it’s not something they offer in most high school music programs. Usually you’re limited to a band instrument.”
Kelly thought back to fifth grade, the year she discovered her love for the cello. “I was on a school field trip to the art museum when I was a kid. They had a chamber group playing in the lobby. I hadn’t really heard classical music before and I was completely sucked in watching them play.” She smiled remembering how the achingly sweet voice of the violin had touched her, but the low, sad reply of the cello had moved her to tears. “Later I got in big trouble for getting separated from the group, but I stood there the entire time they played and when I went home that night I begged my mom for a cello and lessons.”
“And she got you one just like that?” Ren’s eyebrows shot up. “Man, I had to bust my ass mowing lawns for a whole summer before I could afford my first guitar.”
“Things were different back then. Mom was still trying…some days. That cello was the best thing she ever did for me.” Kelly spun her straw around in her iced tea. Damn, that was more than she had meant to tell. “What about you? Why the guitar?”
“Are you kidding? Playing lead guitar in a band is every teenage boy’s wet dream. It’s a chick magnet. Why else?” He grinned. “The sad thing is, I’m telling the truth. My motives were really that shallow.”
Kelly laughed. He was delightfully disarming.
“Later, when I found out it was actually hard work to learn how to play; it became a matter of pride. Everybody in the family swore I wouldn’t stick with it, so I swore I would and then I did. Eventually, it ended up being a passion—making music. I found out I was really pretty good at it.” He shrugged. “That’s my story. Kind of a round about way of falling in love with music, but I got there.”
She smiled, appreciating his honesty.
Ren polished off the last of his burger and wiped his hands on his napkin. “Are you ready to go out and face the cold again?”
“I guess.” She looked out the window at the deceptively sunny day. “I don’t know about this skating thing. I told you I don’t know how. What if I fall and break my wrist or something?”
“You gonna live your life in fear of ‘what ifs’?” He stood up and held out a hand. “Come on.”
They drove to an outdoor rink in a park across town. Kelly crept around the very edge of the circle, ready to take a tumble into the snowy bank beside her if she started to fall. She breathed in great gulps of frigid air and glanced up at the bright blue sky above.
“Hey, Gretsky, I thought you were all about the skating,” she said as Ren wobbled shakily up beside her.
“I never said I was any good. I just asked if you wanted to go.” He pulled his coat collar up around his neck with frozen red fingers. “I’m originally from Arizona for Christ’s sake. How would I know how to skate?”
She was glad that he was no expert either because she felt like an idiot shuffling slowly along, especially when a tiny girl of no more than eight was doing pirouettes and jumps and spins in the center of the rink.
They circled the rink a half dozen times and then Ren got bold and tried to go faster. He took Kelly by the arm, forcing her to skate alongside him. They moved along in perfect sync.
Kelly was feeling pretty pleased with her progress.
Then Ren leaned forward too far and pulled hard on her arm to catch his balance.
She couldn’t support his weight and keep her balance too. Both of them went down in a heap on the ice. She felt her knees hit hard and when she glanced over, Ren was sprawled face down beside her.
“That’ll leave a mark.” He sat up and rubbed the red welt on his forehead.
Kelly shifted on her bruised hip, wincing. “I don’t know if I can get up again. Can we go home now, please?”
He smiled. “That might be a good idea. Before one of us sprains a wrist and can’t play tonight.”
Kelly slapped his leg for echoing her earlier warning. “I told you!” She had almost forgotten about the evening’s performance. She never played a concert without some practice beforehand rather she needed it or not. She was too much of a perfectionist not to have that final run through. “I have got to get home.”
Ren stood and reached a hand out to help her up.
She lurched to her feet and they both struggled for balance, staggering against each other as their skates slipped on the ice.
She ended up in his arms, hugged tight against him, the warmth of his body radiating through both of their heavy winter coats and setting her body on fire. His eyes held hers in an ice-blue grip from which she couldn’t look away.
He slowly inclined his face, covering her mouth with his. His kiss was delicious and hot. His tongue dipped into her mouth and stroked hers.
She tasted the faint flavor of the chocolate milkshake he had drunk earlier. Even without the fog of tequila, she was under the influence. Her hands automatically moved up his chest and around his neck. She kissed him once deeply before pulling away. “No. This isn’t--we have to stop.”
“Why?” His arms were around her back, holding her close to him. At this point, if either of them lost their balance they would both fall.
Kelly racked her brain trying to remember why getting involved with Ren was a bad idea. For a moment she had forgotten the reason. “Because our lives are too different. You’re busy with your band. You’ll be leaving on tour for months. And I have my work. We don’t really have anything in common. I don’t see any point in starting something.”
“What about just because it’s fun?” he asked, hooking a strand of loose hair around her ear. His fingertips brushed against her ear and they were ice-cold. “I’m not asking for a lifetime commitment, only a date now and then.”
That was part of the problem, Kelly thought. She had never let her guard down enough to have a truly intimate relationship, but she was too serious a person to be involved in something casual. Relationships with the opposite sex had always been a problem for her. When her total focus had been working to take care of her mother and sister, she had been too busy to take on a boyfriend. It was almost simpler then. Now that she was free of that responsibility and could turn her attention to her own life, she found she didn’t know how to begin.
Without a good argument to give Ren, Kelly grew snappy. “Look, I told you, I have a very full life. I have no time for even a casual relationship right now.”
“I think you’re making excuses. No one’s life is too busy for dating. You’ve got to allow yourself some fun, learn to seize the moment and take risks.” Ren bent to kiss her again.
Kelly pushed against his chest, sending both of them tottering for balance on their skates. “No! I’m not interested. I’m not a risk-taker. I’m methodical. I have my routine and my goals and that’
s just how I am. That’s the way I like it.”
“Fine.” His mouth and jaw tightened. He dropped his hands from her waist.
Despite her resolve, Kelly’s heart clenched. Why was she pushing him away—the most interesting thing to happen to her in a long time? Looking into his snapping blue eyes, her pulse raced and couldn’t remember why.
“I need to get home now,” she repeated. She skated to the edge of the rink, plopped down on a bench and unlaced her skates.
Ren followed and stood for a moment looking down at her. “You know, there’s another word for methodical…boring. But, I don’t believe you’re boring, Kelly, just afraid to take chances—afraid of being hurt. If you change your mind, you know where I live.”
The silent ride home in Ren’s car was the longest fifteen minutes Kelly had ever spent.
Back in their building, she bid him a polite goodbye in the hallway between their apartments.
She didn’t see or speak to him again for more than a week.
Chapter Three
Over the next few days, Ren didn’t have much time to think about Kelly and how she had dumped him after only one night together, which was sure as hell hard on his ego, and didn’t do his heart much good either. He spent all of his time moderating between his band mates and their new manager. Austen was convinced that Burt Stoeffer was trying to take advantage of them. He wanted to have their contract examined by a lawyer before he would sign.
Besides that issue, Brian and Austen were at each other’s throats artistically as usual, squabbling all the time and most rehearsals ended with one or the other of them stomping out.
Their keyboard player, John, was stoned most of the time. He was still playing all right for now, but Ren wondered how bad his drug use would get on tour when the pressure ratcheted up.
As the days prior to the tour passed, Ren brokered peace, played guitar and performed like a monkey for the stupid music video. The director was going for a grungy, post-apocalyptic theme and shot the footage in a vacant house in the wintry cold with the band shirtless most of the time. Even under the camera lights, Ren was freezing his ass off and by the time they’d finished shooting, he thought he was coming down with a cold.