Kiss Kiss

by Various Authors

“Carrie, that’s sort of why I called . . .”

  “What is it?” Carrie’s tone was suddenly anxious.

  “Bo- er- Spencer Cavanaugh and I actually met the Friday before he came in to our office for the meeting with all of us. Monica and I saw him performing at Finnegan’s; he uses his middle name, Bowan, or Bo, except for business when he uses his birth name, Spencer.” Words emptied from my mouth with barely enough grace to sound like an adult. Bo entered my living room and sat on the couch next to me.

  “Well, that would certainly explain the awkward tension I felt between the three of you on Monday,” Carrie laughed. “It’s no big deal, kind of funny actually.”

  “Yeah,” I drew out for effect, “see, we spent a lot of time together that weekend, because we really hit it off on Friday night. We were so involved with talking about music and our families, we never talked about work. I-”

  “You like him?” Carrie cut off, her tone still light.

  “Yes. Very much. I tried to keep everything separate and private this week. I was hoping to wait until we decided if we were going to partner with DROP. You know, why make an issue when there doesn’t need to be?” My face was an inferno of embarrassment and nerves.

  Bo laughed to himself as he patted my leg. Glad you find this amusing.

  “November, it’s fine,” Carrie reassured, eliciting an exaggerated sigh on my part. “I appreciate your disclosure; it shows real maturity on your part. I suppose since Spencer, Bo, whoever,” she chuckled before continuing, “runs DROP, his personnel staff doesn’t have an issue with the relationship, and neither do I.”

  “Carrie, thank you so much for understanding.” I gave Bo the thumbs-up.

  “The only time we’d have to worry about it is if there is a dissolution of the relationship, and thereafter.” The word “dissolution” pinched my heart, but she was right.

  “Understood. Oh, and Carrie? I guess in the interest of complete disclosure, I should let you know that a member of DROP’s legal team, Adrian Turner, and I dated in college. Before you say anything, I had no idea that he was involved with DROP and Bo had no idea Adrian had been involved with me. But, it was Adrian’s idea for DROP to approach us, among other non-profits, because he knows me and Monica.” I told Carrie all of that in one breath, as well, and saw Bo’s eyes widen in response.

  After a brief pause, Carrie broke in to laughter. “Ha! That’s . . . well, good luck with . . . all of that, Ember. David Bryson and I have worked out the itinerary for the trip, I’ll email it to you this afternoon. Take care, hun.” And just like that, she hung up the phone.

  Relief flooded through my body and oozed out of my pores. You’re free to be with him, nothing is holding you down. I looked up at Bo and he smiled a knowing smile.

  “She’s fine with it,” he said matter-of-factly.

  “Yes. As long as your people are OK with it,” I teased.

  In a flash, Bo had me pinned beneath him on the couch, my head cradled in his hands.

  “I think I can talk them into it,” he said with sexy authority, burying his face in my neck.

  “I really do love you, Bo.” It felt so good to say it without the pang of guilt by way of ethics.

  “You have no idea, November . . .” Was all he could breathe out before we lost ourselves in the riptide.

  * * *

  “Play that song again,” Bo whispered into my ear as we lay together on my couch.

  “Why?” I rolled my eyes at the thought. Singing in front of people was one thing; the fact that he accidentally heard me play the guitar was another.

  “It was beautiful, and you were beautiful playing it. Do you have it written down anywhere?” He’s serious.

  “Uh, no. It’s the first song I learned, and that was before I knew how to read music; I never thought to transcribe the notes.” I sat up, put on my robe, and lazily reached for the guitar.

  “Hand me your music comp. notebook and I’ll transcribe it for you as you play.” Genuine excitement laced his face as he pulled his shirt down over his head.

  “Um, I don’t have a comp. notebook. What part of I don’t play missed your ears,” I said with mocking eyes.

  “You’re killing me! Wait here, I’ll get mine from my car.” He grabbed my chin and gave me a butterfly-inducing kiss before he dashed to his car.

  When he returned, he sat on the couch and handed me the guitar I’d left sitting in its case. My breath rattled through the room as I inhaled.

  “Why are you so nervous?” Bo asked in complete seriousness.

  “Well, this is a little intimate. I’ve seriously never played for anyone besides my family. You sneaking up on me at the beach doesn’t count.” My face heated beneath his smile.

  “Babe, we’ve covered intimate quite well already. Play.” He slapped the notebook off of my knee and sat back, pencil in hand.

  Babe? I like it.

  With one more cleansing breath, I shifted so I was sitting cross-legged, facing him. I threw the strap over my head and rolled my shoulders to help relax, which didn’t really help. I closed my eyes and started strumming the lullaby my parents taught me when I was little. It is a slow, swelling song that hangs mainly in the lower register; it sounds like the guitar is putting itself to sleep. It flows wonderfully and could cause lovers to dance and cry at the same time.

  Once I let go of apprehension enough to feel the song through my soul, I lifted my head to look at Bo. He was studying my fingers, scribbling notes and rhythms as fast as he could. When he caught my eye, he nodded in encouragement, and returned to work. His hands were beautiful. His long fingers sat artfully in his masculine hands; it looked like he could break the pencil any minute, but his hand glided gracefully across the page.

  When I strummed the last cord, Bo asked me to play it again so he could fill in the parts he’d missed. I had no sarcastic comment for him - I wanted to do it. I could play this song for this man all day. When I finished the second time, he looked at his notebook and gave me an accomplished smile.

  “Gorgeous. Hand me your guitar so I can see if I got it right.” I surrendered it without hesitation.

  He set the notebook on my coffee table and began to play. They were the same notes, and the same beat, but it sounded so much more beautiful coming from his fingers. He studied the notes closely the first time through. When he finished, he immediately started again. This time his eyes were closed, but his forehead disclosed his concentration. He was trying to feel the notes as they should come, and he didn’t miss a single one. His body swayed slightly as he rode the wave of notes coming out of his guitar. I grabbed my cell phone and recorded him playing. He cracked a smile when he opened his eyes and saw the phone, but looked to the page and kept playing. When he finished, I pressed stop and impulsively sent the video to my mom.

  Me: This is Bo. He’s using my guitar. He wrote the notes to that lullaby as I played them – this is him testing his transcription.

  Within two minutes my phone dinged a response.

  Mom: I see you chose reckless abandon. Excellent. Love you :)

  My heart swelled anew when I saw my mom’s message.

  “Who’d you send that to?” Bo asked.

  “Raven - uh - my mom,” I shrugged and smiled.

  My phone dinged again, but this time all sensation left my face and my stomach threw itself out the window.

  “What’s wrong?” Bo set the guitar down.

  “It’s Monica. She says that Josh is there, and he’s drunk - she’s freaked. It’s ten a.m.! Shit!” My heart raced into my throat.

  “I’ll drive.” Bo shut the door behind him as I was already halfway down the stairs.

  The two mile drive to Monica’s house felt inordinately long; I counted the feet with each heartbeat. Bo reached across the car and put his hand on mine.

  “Has this happened before?” he asked.

  “Not that I’m aware of,” I shrugged, “but they’ve never broken up before.”

  “So, we don’t know if
he’s aggressive or anything?” Bo’s dark tone refreshed my anxiety.

  “I guess not, but Monica didn’t indicate anything . . .” A sob choked my throat. If Josh was drunk now, he was still drunk from the night before - when I verbally assaulted him.

  “Maybe I should go up first and check it out - make sure everyone’s OK.” Bo said as he pulled in front of Monica’s building.

  “Thanks, but screw that. She’s my best friend and he’s being an asshole. We’ll go together.”

  I sent Monica a text to let her know we were downstairs, rather than ringing her bell, so she could buzz us in. As the buzzer rang and the door unlocked, I looked at Bo and grabbed his hand for a split second before sprinting up the stairs.

  “Jesus, hold on!” He flew after me.

  As I reached the top of the stairs I heard voices and paused a second to listen.

  “Josh, just drink the water.” Monica sounded annoyed, which was a good sign. On that note, I decided to knock and enter.

  “Mon?” I entered cautiously and tried to keep the anxiety out of my voice.

  “Hey Ember, Bo, come in.” Monica held the door open and mouthed “Thank you.” I squeezed her arm in response.

  “What the hell are you two doing here?” Josh sputtered venomously through his teeth.

  “Shut up, Josh. I couldn’t get you to leave, so I asked them to come,” Monica spat angrily. She stood cross-armed by her still-open door.

  “I told you, I’m not leaving until you hear me out!” Josh yelled.

  My wide eyes were still assessing the scene as Bo crossed in front of me and sat on the coffee table across from Josh.

  “Have you been home at all since last night, man?” Bo reached for the glass of water.

  “You mean since that bitch told me off?” Josh gestured in my direction. Bo’s free hand clenched into a fist against the table. Fury and hurt punched my gut and pricked at my eyes.

  “Fuck off Josh,” I started. Bo tried to silence me by putting up his hand, but I didn’t follow. “It’s hardly my fault that you broke up with Monica. How dare you call me a bitch after you tried to take her home last night. Now you show up here like a drunken scumbag and demand that she listen to you? You’re better than this. Get the hell out of here and come back when you sober up.” My voice was angry and strained as I successfully fought off tears. Bo’s eyebrows shot up at my retort.

  Josh stood and walked over to me until we were almost toe-to-toe. The venom and pain in his eyes commanded the hairs on the back of my neck to attention, one-by-one. I could smell the booze on his breath. I met his stare dead-on with a racing heart. A vacuum of suspense sucked all the air from the room; no one spoke, and no one moved.

  “Josh, come, take a seat.” Bo slowly approached Josh, putting his hand on his shoulder.

  Seeming to snap out of it, Josh looked at Bo and took the water, raking his hands through his hair. “Man, you have no idea how fucked up this is . . .”

  I took Monica by the hand and walked with her to the bedroom while Josh rambled to Bo.

  “Holy shit, what the fuck was that all about? Monica, what the hell happened?” I whispered.

  Monica’s anger boiled over; tears steamed off her hot cheeks. “He just showed up here, all wobbly and slurring, telling me how sorry he was, and maybe we were at the beginning of our thousand lifetimes of knowing each other.” Tears turned into sobs as I pulled her in to a hug.

  “God. What did you say to him?”

  “Nothing, I don’t want to have this conversation with him drunk. I texted you and tried to get him to drink some water. I don’t want him to leave right now because he’s too drunk to drive - which is how he got here.”

  A soft knock on the door sent my pulse racing again.

  “It’s Bo, can we use your shower?”

  Monica and I stared at each other quizzically and shrugged.

  “Uh, yeah, go ahead,” Monica said suspiciously; a fresh grin toweled her tear-stained face.

  We heard the shower start, followed by garbled noises of protest coming from Josh. Monica and I peered down the hallway just in time to see Bo toss a fully clothed Josh into the shower.

  “Shit that’s freezing!” Josh exclaimed as he sat slumped on the shower floor.

  “Don’t come out until you get your act together.” Bo walked toward us. “Are you OK Monica?” He asked empathetically as he put his arm around her.

  “Much better now, thank you. I’ve got some of his clothes here. He can change into them.” She turned back to her room.

  “Are you ok?” Bo turned his question to me.

  “Yea, why? Oh, the bitch thing?” I shrugged impassively. It really didn’t bother me.

  “I almost decked him. Are you always that confrontational?” Bo asked, annoyance punctuated his question.

  “Only when people are being asshats. Please don’t waste a punch on Josh, I like your hands.” I took them into mine, kissing the anger out of his knuckles.

  Monica returned with dry clothes for Josh and we all looked at each other, silently discussing who would deliver them. Bo grabbed the clothes, opened the bathroom door, turned off the water, and tossed the clothes on the floor.

  “Dry off and put these on.” He slammed the door shut, his remaining anger streaked through the door frame.

  The three of us waited in the living room for Josh. I wondered how Bo knew a cold shower would help sober Josh up, but I pictured his sister and thought better of the question. Within a few minutes, Josh was back in the living room. He sank into the recliner on my side of the couch and reached for his glass of water, which inadvertently caused me to flinch.

  “Ember-” he started, but I raised my hand to stop him.

  “I just want you to drink that damn water so we can get you home.” I couldn’t make eye contact with him.

  I wasn’t mad about him calling me a bitch; I was still mad at him for breaking up with Monica in the first place and then showing up at Monica’s like a total degenerate. He’d honestly panicked when Bo told him that he felt like he’s known me for a thousand lifetimes. Who does that?

  “You don’t have to take me home, I’ve got my car,” Josh said seriously.

  “Dude, I didn’t cave your face in when you called Ember a bitch, but I will if you try to get into your car. Let’s go. Em, I’ll come back for you OK?” Bo said as he headed toward the door, one arm behind Josh.

  As soon as the door closed, Monica collapsed on the couch in tears.

  “Monica, I’m really sorry about yelling at Josh last night, and about him coming here.” I sat next to her and put my arm around her.

  “Em, it’s not that. I am so sorry for trying to get in your head about Adrian.” She wiped her eyes.

  “Mon, it’s fine. You’re hurt, and you apologized last night.”

  “No, it was a really shitty thing to say. Maybe I’m jealous of what you seem to have found with Bo and that was my way of acting out. What the hell happened with Bo last night by the way?”

  Her mouth hung freely open when I explained how Bo sat in his car and watched outside my building all night. She chuckled when I told her Bo saw Adrian’s downtrodden exit from my apartment.

  “Wow, that’s intense. Hey, what do you think Adrian’s real issue with Bo is? His reaction seems a bit overblown for it to be just about jealousy.” Monica’s words echoed my exact thoughts.

  “I don’t know, but I plan on dragging it out of one of them.”

  Bo returned after a few minutes and assured us Josh was safely at home in bed.

  “K, Mon, I’ve gotta go home and catch up on some sleep. Carrie said she’ll email us the Concord itinerary today. Oh, and Carrie now knows about me and Bo and she’s fine with it,” I said nonchalantly.

  “Yes!” Monica nearly knocked me over with a hug. “Are you guys going out tonight?” Shoot, I forgot, we’re supposed to have plans.

  “Yeah, actually, it’s kind of a surprise.” Bo said shyly. “But, we’ll likely end up at Finnega
n’s later; it’s open mic night after all.” Once again his face lit up with a playful grin.

  “Great, see you guys then!” Monica half-cheered. “Bo, thank you.”

  “No problem, Monica.” He gave her a tight hug.

  “Call me if you need anything at all today, OK Mon?”

  “Have so much fun tonight.” She whispered while she ushered me out.

  The drive back to my place seemed much faster now that Josh was safely in bed and Monica was relatively OK. When Bo pulled up in front of my building, his phone rang.

  “Hey, while you take that I’ll run up and get your comp. notebook.” He nodded as he answered.

  I bounded down the stairs happily, excited for whatever tonight would hold. Bo’s angry voice bellowing from his car stopped me.

  “Don’t fucking start with me. I’ll be back tomorrow night,” he growled. When he saw me, his face changed.“Look, I’ll call you later. Bye.” He took a long breath as I opened up the passenger door.

  “You OK?” I asked cautiously.

  “Yeah, asshole friends.” He shook his head reflexively and stretched out his hand, “Thanks Ember, I’ll pick you up around seven, OK?” He smiled with a glint of deception. “I’ve got a surprise to work on before then.”

  “Sure, see you then.” I smiled as I shut the door.

  “Oh, and Ember?” He put the car in to drive, keeping his foot on the brake, “I love you.”

  “I love you too.” I winked back.

  As he pulled away from the curb, I heard his phone ring again.

  “What!” he snapped as he drove away.

  Chapter Sixteen

  As 7:00 approached, anxiety crashed against the jetty’s of my insides. I was excited to see what Bo had planned, but I had some lingering suspicions. Why did Adrian seem guarded about Bo? What was Bo yelling about on the phone earlier? As I pulled my hair loosely back at the nape of my neck, I resolved that I would ask one or both of them to spill it - there was something going on and I fully intended to find out what it was.

  I decided a glass of wine was in order. As I leaned against my counter, welcoming the red relaxation through my system, I thought back on my crazy-beautiful week. This gorgeous man fell into my life, and disarmed me with a single kiss. The irony that I initiated said kiss was not lost on me. Exultant chills sauntered down my spine. The very first kiss we had in the parking lot told me nearly everything I needed to know; it was alive, passionate, longing.