Musician's Monsoon (4 page)

Sophie closed her eyes as the warmth of his palm settled over the pulse in her neck. She had to fight not to tremble.

 “Your heart is racing,” he continued, his voice sultry and sinful even in its sincerity. “I’m sorry I startled you. You just…you don’t understand.” He closed his eyes and let out a long, slow breath. He fixed his gaze on her again and smiled softly. “You’re absolutely right. I need to explain myself.” Zane traced the outline of her mouth and along her jawline, as if studying the texture of her skin. “I have been all over the world. I’ve met tons of fans and numerous gorgeous women. None of them radiated the same gentle, warm light that I saw coming from you during the show. It caught my attention from the stage because it seemed so genuine. You weren’t doing everything in your power to get noticed like your freaky cousin. You were just standing there, enjoying my music, the music that comes straight from the depths of my soul. It made me feel different. Not like a rock star.”

She frowned thoughtfully. “But you
are
a rock star.”

He shook his head. “No, I’m a
musician
. There’s a difference, but I think the two blended into one for a while, and I forgot where the musician ended and the celebrity began. It numbed me, made me apathetic, and I couldn’t create anymore. It’s been horrible….”

“I love your music,” she blurted. “It’s…I don’t know how to explain it. I don’t only hear it, but I feel it, too… It feels like magic. Like euphoria.” She felt stupid for her words, but she thought maybe he needed to hear them. He’d just revealed something incredibly personal. The least she could do was give him some reassurance. “I love your music above all others. It sounds the way I feel inside.”

His grin rivaled the Arizona lightning. “That is the best thing you could have said to me.”

He closed his eyes with a blissful expression and began to hum a soft melody. It was barely discernable, and she leaned closer out of sheer curiosity. “What is that?” she asked softly.

His chuckle reminded her of the rolling thunder in the distance, and it heated her blood. “It’s you,” he whispered. At her quizzical frown, he smiled. “I meant what I said, about hearing music. Your irritation was like a crashing cymbal. When you smiled, I imagined a slow, seductive bass line.”

She blushed again, much to her dismay, and frowned because she didn’t know what else to do. “Why in the world would my smile inspire
that?
”

He took the opportunity to slip an arm around her waist. “Because you’re sexy!” His grin reflected both teasing and sincerity.

Her face grew even hotter, and she let her breath out in a huff. She was probably going to remain in a permanent state of red after this. “Right, whatever.”

“I mean it!” he continued. “You have lovely eyes, and these are adorable.” He played a quick game of connect the dots with the freckles across her nose. “I especially enjoy these.” He grazed his fingers over the dimples in her cheeks. “And you’re just small enough to fit perfectly in my arms.” He shrugged one shoulder in a lazy, confident gesture. “Besides…” He reached behind her head to tug the tie out of her hair. It spilled free around her shoulders, and he ran his fingers through it. She marveled over the rapturous expression on his face. “Even your hair is made of notes.” He let the strands fall through his fingers and whispered chords as they cascaded down. “A…E…G….” He shook his head. “Incredible.”

She felt awkward under his scrutiny and didn’t know how to handle the kind of things he said to her, so she desperately tried to make a stab at humor.  “Well, I guess if anyone would be made of music, it would have to be me. I
do
teach choir and orchestra.”

Instead of rolling his eyes at her pathetic excuse for witticism, he gave her a warm, beautiful grin while he continued to thread his slender fingers through her hair. “Well, that does make sense, doesn’t it?”

This was insane. She had no idea if he was serious, or if he was handing her a line. Sophie was a practical person, a rational person. She wasn’t necessarily the most spontaneous, so random occurrences in which famous rock stars tried to tell her she inspired music and then attempted to haul her back to a hotel were slightly out of her element. She knew she wasn’t beautiful, not worthy of inspiring much of anything except maybe obedience from her students when she lost her temper, so either this dude was out of his mind, or he was full of it.

Odds were, he was full of it. But it was weird that he would be trying to pick
her
up, of all people. If he just wanted to get lucky, he could go down the street and have his pick of any number of hot women at one of the bars along Mill Avenue. Why bother with her at all? There was the fact that she had tried to detach his retina with an antenna ball, but that should have annoyed him, not intrigued him. None of this made any kind of sense whatsoever. It defied every social rule she knew about.

Which led her to believe that maybe he wasn’t full of it after all.

That meant he had to be out of his mind. Only logical explanation.

He raised an eyebrow as he studied her expression. “What in the world is going on inside your head?” he questioned.

She glanced up at him. “Why, you smell smoke and burning rubber?”

Amusement flashed over his features. “You’re a teacher, so I hope not. I would assume you’re usually pretty good about using your gray matter.”

She shrugged. “Depends on the day.”

A gentle smile curved his lips, and he removed his fingers from her hair to trail them lightly down her bare arms as he took a step away from her. “I’m coming on too strong. I apologize. People always tell me I’m too aggressive and too impulsive.”

The moist heat of the night suddenly felt cold as it filled the distance he had put between them, and she found some crazy part of her longing for his all-consuming presence again. She shook her head and tried to make her mind stop spinning long enough to form a coherent thought. “I wouldn’t necessarily call you aggressive. Impulsive, maybe.” She smirked up at him. “You’re not used to people, women especially, telling you no, either.”

His brow furrowed and he averted his gaze, looking genuinely troubled by her words. “That’s not what this is about, Sophie. I haven’t said all of this to you because I’m trying to hook up with you, and the fact that you didn’t melt at my feet isn’t some kind of challenge. Maybe I’m a rock star, but I’m still a man, a unique individual. Please don’t define my personality based on my occupation.”

His rebuke wasn’t harsh, but it was powerful regardless. Self-loathing washed over her at the fact that she had summed him up and judged him when she knew nothing about him. “I’m sorry, Zane. I didn’t mean to do that. I just…” She swallowed the lump of shame that had lodged in her throat. “Things like this don’t happen to me.”

He met her gaze and smirked. “You said that already.”

She held her arms out at her sides helplessly. “Well, it’s true! I’m a nobody! I’m practically invisible most of the time. The things you’re saying to me are like a foreign language.”

“Stop saying negative things about yourself,” he said as he reached out to take her hand. “It’s bothering me.” He pulled her back into the circle of his arm, and Sophie’s breath vanished as her senses, once again, filled with his warmth, the solidness of his body, and the smell of lingering cologne mixed with beer and sweat. That should have been gross to her, but it wasn’t.

“I had no way of knowing you would deny my advances when I glimpsed you from the stage. At that point, I wasn’t planning on making any advances. It’s very simple, Sophie. My passion vanished. I don’t know why. You brought it back. I don’t know why that is either. I just know it’s true.”

He brought his lips to hover right above hers, enough so his breath tickled her mouth. Her heart did all kinds of acrobatics, and any trepidation she’d had before was obliterated by a complete and unadulterated craving for the man in front of her. He had always epitomized passion to her, the way he composed, the way he played. To have him standing so close, touching her the way he was, made her feel like she had fallen into some kind of strange fantasy. She closed her eyes and, without even meaning to, her free hand crept up to rest against his shoulder.

No one had ever looked at her the way Zane had from the stage, the way he continued to look at her now. Not plain, uninteresting, average Sophie. He made her feel like a goddess. Her common sense told her that was ridiculous and that he was probably still just trying to get into her pants, but the expression on his face said otherwise. So did her heart. And she’d always been an exceptional judge of character.

“Sophie,” he purred.

“Hmmm?”

“I’d like to try something, but I’m afraid you’ll hit me.” He rested his forehead against hers and grinned. “And I get the distinct feeling you’re one of those girls who doesn’t kiss on the first date.”

A shiver trickled down her spine at the thought of kissing Zane. She instinctively pressed closer to him, wanting more of the delicious heat his strong body emitted. “Who says this is a date?” she whispered.

He pulled away enough to look down at her. “Oh, that’s right. It was an assault that turned into an abduction.”

She laughed, and the jubilation put her at ease. Her palm rested on his shoulder, close to the base of his neck, and she felt his pulse. It hammered almost as hard as hers. She shook her head in wonderment. “You’re really not full of crap, are you?” she murmured.

He gave her an easy, irresistible smile. “No, I’m not,” he replied.

She sighed and decided not to think about any of this, or second-guess it, or be
boring,
as Lorraine would call her. She reached her fingers over to the spot on his neck she had tried to hatchet and rubbed the muscle there in soothing circles. He tilted his head to grant her access and closed his eyes in contentment. She smiled. “I’m sorry I attacked you…twice…after Lorraine tried to pile-drive you on stage.”

He shook his head, his gentle smile remaining. Zane took her hand in his and placed a lingering kiss on her palm. “Make it up to me.” His smile reflected all devilish mirth.

Far off along the horizon, lightning illuminated the darkness, and thunder rolled ominously from one side of the desert sky to the other. It caught their attention, and Zane grinned. “Nature’s rock concert,” he murmured.

Sophie watched him for several quiet moments, taking in his beauty, both physically and in what he was showing her of his soul. She let out a tremulous breath and whispered his name. Really, what did she have to lose? Her life had been greatly devoid of sinful fantasies. She deserved at least one, didn’t she?

When he looked back at her, she raised herself on her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her body to his as their lips met. He sucked his breath in and made a happy noise in his throat before he took her face in his hands and returned the kiss eagerly. His lips were softer than anything she had ever felt, and they played over hers with expertise she lacked. It was intimidating, yet extremely sexy. He gently deepened the kiss, and as his tongue slid along hers, a groan escaped Sophie, and everything inside her ignited.

She slid her palms down his chest and gripped the fabric of his shirt in her fists as his lips and tongue teased and played with hers. Heat coiled within her, and infernal desire like she had never known swept through her like a violent storm. She had always been a reserved person, a relatively cautious person. She didn’t recognize herself right now, or her reactions to him. She didn’t care. When was the last time she had had any kind of an adventure? Oh, right. Never.

He pulled away with a long, slow exhale, but his arms slid around her and he tucked her close against his chest as he rested his cheek on top of her head. “That’s exactly what I thought it would be,” he breathed.

She tugged on her bottom lip with her teeth and tried to calm her pounding heart. She closed her eyes and relished the warm protection she felt cocooned in his embrace. “Which is?”

He met her gaze, and his grin lit up every beautiful line of his face. “A musical masterpiece.”

“Sophie? Sophie, where did you go?”

Sophie bristled as Lorraine’s whiny, slightly slurred speech sliced across the otherwise peaceful parking lot. “Great,” Sophie grumbled. “Hurry, before she tries to kill you again.” She grabbed Zane’s hand and tugged him around to hide behind the far wall of the venue.

Zane chuckled and remained near Sophie, keeping one arm wrapped loosely around her waist. “I feel like a teenager hiding from a parent,” he said.

Sophie snorted. “Even that would be a more pleasant situation. Seriously, if she sees me with you she’s gonna flip, and I don’t want to hear it. That, and she’ll probably attach herself to your leg or something.”

He laughed and tightened his arm, bringing her close. “What do you suggest?” He whispered against her ear and nuzzled his lips at the base of her neck.