Bassist Instinct (The Rocker Series #2)

by Vanessa Lennox

  “All you do is enjoy yourself, Tate. I think a lot of it is at my expense, too.”

  “Never in life, don’t even say that. I know I’m a jackass, from a nation of pranksters, but I like to tease you, love, you’re so tease-able.” She reached out and poked a finger into his ribs and he laughed and took her hand in his.

  “Go find a place in the bookstore half to hide, I’ll find you,” she said and he kissed her cheek again, pulled the hood of his hoodie up and vanished into the back of the store. She couldn’t help but watch him go. He was incredibly graceful, and completely adorable.

  “Here you go, Fiona,” the barista said putting her coffees on the counters. “Your friend overpaid, by the way, here’s your change.”

  “Here,” she gave her a nice tip. “Thanks,” she lifted the coffees and turned to go find her enigmatic date.

  Tate was sitting in one of the big leather chairs in the back of the bookstore peering over a coffee table book open in front of him. He stood when she came close and took one of the cups from her with a smile.

  “There’s just the one chair, will you take it? Or will you share it with me? You don’t take up much space,” he said. He sat and tapped his thigh. She cocked her head at him.

  “Neither do you, Dylan,” she said and he laughed. “Scoot over.” He did and together they sat.

  “Thank you for the coffee,” he said.

  “You overpaid for it, I just carried it to you,” she said turning her head to him. He leaned over to her and kissed her. She didn’t pull away. “Here’s your change.” She handed him the cash.

  “Fiona,” he said looking at her. “I should tell you everything.”

  “Only tell me when you want to, Tate. You enjoy yourself a little longer. Today we’ll just…” she swept her arm around the bookstore.

  “Drink coffee?”

  “Yes, and then maybe eat some lunch, I missed breakfast,” she smiled at him.

  “Why’d you miss breakfast?”

  “I played instead.” His eyebrow went up.

  “What did you play, love?”

  “The piano, of course. It’s almost a compulsion for me.”

  “I know what you mean, I’m that way with my… stringed instrument,” he grinned at her.

  “Is it a guitar?”

  “It is a five stringed bass guitar, yes.” He was still grinning, but Fiona felt his muscles tense since she was pressed right up against him. She wouldn’t press him for any more personal information.

  “Is there a story behind the five strings? I thought they were all four strings.” He chuckled.

  “When you’re Irish, there’s a story behind everything. My brother Thomas and I went to the pawn shop to get a bass guitar, and I fell in love with the red one.” He chuckled. “I had no idea what to look for, but it was beautiful and I had to have it. I borrowed £84.00 from him, and took it home. I had to go back a week later with money from my brother Daniel for the amp and strings. It was the only time I was happy to have so many brothers, I borrowed money from each of them. I still use it, it has the sweetest sound.”

  “Did you know how to play?”

  “Absolutely not. Ryan said to go find a bass because he was starting up a band and they needed a bass player.”

  “So, I never quite got what the relationship between you and Tess is.”

  “I think that family is who you choose as much as who you’re forced upon. Connor, Ryan and Razz are closer to me than my own brothers. We’ve been mates since primary school, and we work together and play together. So when Connor married Genna a few years ago, we absorbed the Fleming/Du Pres into the collective, or maybe they absorbed us into theirs. I suppose you could call Tess my niece. Although she might balk at the idea,” he grinned sweetly at her.

  “You all act like you’re very close, it’s heartwarming,” she sounded wistful to his ears.

  “Your family not close, then?”

  “You could say that. I’m close with my brother, though. So, how much time do you spend in the States?”

  “Quite a bit, actually. I love it here. I reckon about a third of my time is here. I have too much real family in Dublin, it gets a bit oppressive. My Mam had six kids, and all of them have given her grand babies but me. I’m a bloody failure, apparently,” he said with a smirk.

  “Do you not want kids?” She asked and then wished she could take it back, that was a very personal question, but Tate was completely forthcoming.

  “I’d love kids. With Christie’s two lads and Genna and Mary up the pole, I think about it a lot. It’s sometimes hard to find someone who’d want to share my… lifestyle.”

  “Is that a euphemism for something?” Tate laughed.

  “No, not really. I’m just away from home quite a bit.”

  “Is that why you haven’t told me what you do? You want me to be so stuck on you that I’d give up everything to be with you?” She joked but he nodded seriously.

  “You might be spot on there, love.” He put his arm around her and pulled her to him kissing the side of her head and inhaling her.

  “I love my job, Tate,” she said quietly.

  “I know, lassie, I know.” They were quiet for a few minutes. Tate wondered what he had gotten himself into. She was not the type to just shag on the fly, he’d insult her, and that was the last thing he wanted to do... insult her that was, he absolutely wanted to shag her. She was a woman who was meant to be kept for the long run, and he was a sprinter. Usually sprinting in the other direction. Why was he wasting her time? What was he thinking? Why did she smell so good?

  “Do you want kids?” He asked her, throwing caution to the wind.

  “Yes… eventually,” she hesitated, not really wanting to open up so much to him. Here was a gorgeous man who made her weak with longing, but who was probably going to be on a flight back to Ireland in the very near future. She shouldn’t be talking about how much she wanted to have kids before her biological clock stopped ticking altogether, she’d frighten him.

  “Did you and your man plan on it?”

  Fiona looked at him sharply. She couldn’t talk about Dean on the first date.

  “I’m sorry, Tate, do you mind if we don’t talk about him, just yet?” He touched her cheek with one finger and she felt desire snake its way right down to her belly.

  “Forgive me, Fiona, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I’m new at this, I’m…” he ran his hand through his hair. “Unaccustomed to getting to know people, I guess.” He looked at her big round eyes. “I want to skip the small stuff with you and get right to the marrow. I want to know what makes you tick, Fi, what you want, need, desire. I’ve not cared before, it’s an odd sensation. Am I frightening you?” She shook her head very slightly then nodded.

  “Maybe a little.” She looked away from him and focused on her coffee cup. “He planned on having kids, but I didn’t want to have Dean’s children,” she said very quietly. They were quiet for a long time, Fiona staring at her coffee, and Tate staring at the delicate curve of her neck.

  “I’m deathly afraid of spiders,” he said and she looked up at him and laughed.

  “Why?”

  “I don’t have a clue,” he grinned. “It’s the hair maybe, and they have all those legs…” He was wincing and she laughed.

  “I meant, why did you just have that little non-sequitur?”

  “You told me something you’ve not shared with anyone, I felt I owed you. I also needed you to smile again, and the image in your brain of me freaking out over a wee bug in my room has put the smile back on your beautiful face. So, I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but it will be your job getting the spiders out of the house while I stand on a chair pointing wildly, deal?”

  “You’re a nice man, aren’t you?” She smiled but he recoiled from her words.

  “Don’t call me that, no one wants to shag the ‘nice man’, or the nice man screaming and pointing at the spider, either I imagine. And I hope you’ll keep it to yourself, the lads w
ould never let me hear the end of it if they suspected.”

  “That you were nice? Or about the spider thing?” She smiled at him.

  “Either one,” he grinned and drank his coffee without looking away from her.

  “Christie and who else?” She asked.

  “Sorry?”

  “Your siblings, you said there were six of you.”

  “Them. Okay, I have four older brothers and wee Christie, who’s younger. How ‘bout you, then?”

  “I have an older brother, by four years, and an older sister by six months,” she said looking him in the eye.

  “How’d you manage that?” She shrugged.

  “My father catted around a bit, I was born on the wrong side of the blanket, so to speak. He did claim me when my mother died, to his credit, and his wife took me in, to hers. My brother was the only one who ever showed me any affection, though.”

  “Fiona, I’m sorry,” he said.

  “That may have sounded bitter, but I didn’t mean it to. Liam was a constant source of entertainment, and he protected me from everyone and loved me unconditionally, he still does. They fed me and educated me and taught me to be self-sufficient. It is probably the only reason I’m so proficient at the piano, too.”

  “Are your parents still living?”

  “My father is, he lives in Boston,” she said. Tate put his arm around her and they leaned back in the chair.

  “I’m very happy Tess decided to take your class,” he said into her hair and she shivered again and he smiled. “Imagine if she had brought home some other professor who didn’t tremble like you just did when I whispered in her ear.”

  “That’s the first time anyone has ever had that sort of effect on me,” she said and he pulled away and looked at her with both eyebrows up.

  “I’m delighted to hear that,” he grinned and she blushed again. His phone vibrated strongly in his jacket pocket.

  “Answer it, I’ll go…” He held her to him and pulled out his phone.

  “Don’t you dare,” he said and answered his phone. “Mikey, what’s the word?”

  “Tate, it’s all set, it’ll be at the hotel in… thirty five minutes. There’s one condition, though,” Mikey said.

  “And?” Tate looked at his watch.

  “They want to take pictures,” Mikey said. Tate looked at Fiona who was sipping her coffee looking slightly uncomfortable. Tate touched her cheek and she turned to him and smiled. His breath caught. She had the smoothest skin.

  “No, not today. Tell them I’ll do whatever they want on Monday morning before I leave for New York, but not today, that’s non-negotiable, mate,” Tate was adamant and Mikey was a little surprised, Tate was always carefree about that sort of thing.

  “You’re the boss,” Mikey said and hung up.

  “Let’s go have a bit of fun,” he said and grinned at her. He stood and helped her off the chair. “Bring your coffee, we’ll walk for a bit if that’s okay.”

  “Sure,” she said and he took her hand and led her out of the store.

  “Have you got anything pressing you need to do today?” He asked once they were out on the street.

  “No, not really. I have a little bit of grading that I’ll need to do before Monday, but it’s only Friday,” she said.

  “Grading. Does that get tiresome?”

  “No, I’m very lucky in my students this semester, they are an interesting bunch. I enjoy reading what they have to say… for the most part. With iPods and phones and car speakers, music is ubiquitous, and easily accessible. I think it’s great. A hundred years ago if you wanted to hear music you had to go to a rare performance, or make it yourself. Now it’s impossible to walk down the street and not hear it.” She stopped him by squeezing his hand and a car drove by them, the heavy bass line thumping loud enough they could feel it in their chest cavities. Tate grinned at her. A shop door opened and music from inside tinkled out to them and she put her hand out in illustration. Tate released her hand and put his arm around her shoulder and drew her close. She slid her arm around his waist, and liked the feel of his hard lean frame under her hand.

  “I like the way you see the world, love,” he said and kissed her hair. She grinned up at him. His phone rang again. He looked at the display. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” she said and tried once again to give him some privacy, but he held her tight.

  “Mikey,” Tate answered.

  “They want you to buy it?”

  “You mean rent it, aye?”

  “No, buy it.”

  “Where would I put it?” Fiona’s house had a garage, one of the few houses he’d seen with one. He could keep it there, or just give it to her. He’d only met her yesterday, what was he thinking? “Okay. Take care of it, Mikey.”

  “What? You can’t be serious, boyo,” Tate turned off the phone and wondered if he’d lost his mind. He looked at Fiona and she smiled at him. Maybe.

  “Is everything okay?” He assessed himself. He felt pretty good. He felt really good.

  “Yeah, I feel great.” His smile was devastating.

  “Do we have a destination?”

  “Aye, my hotel,” she stopped and he looked at her questioningly.

  “Your hotel?” She began to walk with him again, not sure how she felt about this. Sure, he kissed like he invented the sport, but they had only met yesterday.

  “Sorry love, you’ll have to wait a bit for that,” he could feel her hesitation and tried to make light of it. “I need to fetch something from my room, you can wait for me in the lobby, if you like.” She didn’t quite know how to respond so she didn’t. “Connor and Genna’s first date was memorable, and look at how well they’re doing, I want to do something with you that you’ve never done.”

  “Okay,” she smiled at him. “What did Connor and Genna do?” Tate laughed.

  “Well, the story goes, he took her to see her favorite rock band, complete with an all access pass. She met the whole band that night, then he flew her home in a helicopter. She’d never been in a helicopter before, and he thought he’d impressed her, but her version goes a bit differently. She said she was so insanely excited to be sitting next to him that she missed the sights of the city they were flying over.” Fiona smiled at him and suddenly realized where they were.

  “Tate, did you want to steer clear of the crêpe shop all together? Because we’re here,” she said just as the door opened and a crowd of familiar people came out.

  “Bugger,” Tate said under his breath. Fiona released him but he held on to her. “Unless you want me to let go, I’m happy to keep hold of you.” He looked at her and she held his eye contact and nodded with a small smile.

  “I don’t mind,” she said.

  “Then brace yourself, my brave lassie, here they come.”

  “Tate!” Ryan, with wee Connor on his shoulders, was the first to spot them. The others looked up and saw them and smiled. “Fiona, you look very lovely today.” She felt her cheeks burn.

  “Thank you, Ryan, how’d you like my favorite crêpe place?” Fiona asked, refusing to be embarrassed about Tate’s white knuckle grip on her.

  “I think it’s my favorite crêpe place, where’d you guys go?” Tess asked.

  “We just went down the street for coffee. I think Tate has something planned, but I’m not sure what it is,” Fiona looked at Tate who smiled at her.

  “Lunch,” he said.

  “Hello, my dear,” Alasdair came up to her and she had to let Tate go to move her coffee cup to her other hand so she could clasp Alasdair’s. “Good to see you again so soon.” He turned to catch his wife’s eye, but she and Piper had started down the street and were pointing at something in a shop window.

  “Please say ‘hello’ to Amelia for us. I had such a lovely time last night, I’m so glad I had the chance to thank you again.”

  “My dear, you are most welcome. You have been a good friend to the Mite, we’re in your debt. Can you come for dinner Sunday night before
they all depart? We’d love to see you again. Tate’s coming, aren’t you, laddie?”

  “You couldn’t keep me away,” he looked at Fiona. “Come.”

  “Yes, Alasdair, I’d love to come.”

  “Splendid, splendid. Now if you’ll excuse me I’m off to work. No rest for the wicked. Until Sunday, then,” he said and walked toward Genna, kissed her on the cheek, patted her hand and disappeared into the back of a black sedan that had pulled up next to him. What did Alasdair do for a living?

  Genna came over to Tate and Fiona and smiled, Connor’s eyes followed her as he spoke to Edgar and Ryan. “Hello, you two. I highly recommend the crêpe place if you’re hungry. You know, now that we’ve left,” she grinned playfully. Fiona watched Connor lift wee Tate onto his shoulders without breaking his focus on Genna. She would love to be the focus of such affection. She looked at Tate who was looking at her like she was edible. Maybe she was.

  “I’m sorry you left last night, there were some very amusing and embarrassing stories told later on. We missed you,” Genna said to Fiona.

  “Oh, well, I’m not sure Tate needs me to hear any embarrassing stories just yet, Genna,” Fiona looked at Tate.

  “Surprisingly, I think I’d be okay with it.” He took her hand. “I’ve already told her my deepest, darkest secret.”

  “The spider thing?” Genna said and Fiona laughed at Tate’s shocked expression. He looked around quickly to gauge whether or not anyone heard her.

  “How did…?” He began and Genna put her hand to her mouth to stifle her giggles.

  “Tate, I thought a busload of schoolchildren was being murdered when you found one in my house last Thanksgiving.” She and Fiona couldn’t even look at each other without cracking up.

  “Very funny,” he grinned. “But keep it to yourself, aye?” Genna knew everyone knew, and she was pretty sure Tate knew it wasn’t the best kept secret, but she nodded seriously. Fiona had to look away from Tate at the image of him screaming like a busload of schoolchildren, or she’d laugh out loud.

  “My lips are sealed,” she said and turned to her husband and kids.

  Tess, Xav and Alex were talking quietly with each other. Tess put her index finger on Alex’s head and Alex spun around in a fast circle, making Tess laugh. Fiona envied her easy going family. She looked again at Genna who looked a little wistfully at her kids. She knew how lucky she was at least.