Page 3 of The Music in Me

“You could stand to be a little more grateful and a little less bratty,” Leon mumbled back as he settled into his seat and directed the truck down the street.

I couldn’t help but pause and think silently about Leon’s words. Something was definitely happening between us. It was as if Leon was infantilizing me in some way, treating me like I was... well, a teenager. What exactly was he doing? And why was I so intrigued by it?

The car ride lasted about three hours, during which we stopped briefly for lunch at a small roadside café. When we finally arrived and pulled into the stone-and-brick cottage partially overlooking the summit, a surge of gratitude that I had decided to come along passed through me.

“Wow,” I whispered as I climbed out of the car and approached the short driveway. “It’s... Leon, it’s beautiful.

“Yeah, well...” He shrugged a little and grabbed our bags out of the car. “Go take a look inside. I’ll gather some wood for our steaks tonight. After that, we have our first work session.”

My core warmed considerably as that phrase—work session—rattled around in my mind. Whatever it was he had in mind for me tonight, I was excited. I was surprised by Leon’s sudden change in demeanor. He wasn’t being overprotective so much as he was acting almost like a caretaker. Steak for dinner had been fantastic, but I couldn’t help but wonder why he had not involved me in the choice to do so.

I spent the rest of the afternoon setting up my guitar and traveling amplifier in the spare bedroom. I spread my lyric sheets across the floor and slowly began filling in some of the lyrical and musical gaps. All the while, I heard Leon lumbering around the yard as he gathered firewood and puttered through the kitchen while he prepared some kind of meal for us.

When the sun finally went down, we enjoyed dinner together to the soundtrack of the miscellaneous wildlife outside the dining room window.

“This was... wow. Leon, I don’t think you’ve ever done something so nice for me.”

“It’s not about being nice,” he said, sitting back and taking a long swallow from his glass of homemade wine he found in the cellar. “Just taking care of my little girl.”

Little girl?!

Again, my mind circled around restlessly. What the hell was he talking about? When had I ever been his little girl?

“Oh, pour me some of that wine. You made it, right? I’d love to try it?” I pushed my glass forward and was surprised by Leon’s entertained smirk.

“Nice try, but you ain’t old enough to drink yet, and you know it. Maybe I’ll let you have a glass once you finish your work.”

“Not old enough––?!” I frowned, glancing down into my glass and then up at Leon once again. “What the hell are you...?” My voice fell silent as everything seemed to click together. I was his little girl. This was how he was going to whip me into shape.

I sat back in my chair and met his steady gaze with my own. “Heh. You caught me.”

“You’re too young to appreciate it, anyway. You’d probably just think it tastes bad. Now, put your dish in the sink and go work on your songs. I’ll come meet you there in a little bit. Got it?”

That same familiar warmth burst into my lower abdomen, and I knew right then and there that my panties would be soaked. I got up from the table and took my plate to the sink, just as he instructed me to. Why was it so pleasurable to be told what to do? To follow orders? I returned to the spare bedroom and sat down at the small antique desk to begin looking at my lyrics once again. I was proud of the work I had done today. Though it wasn’t much, it was more than I had yesterday.

I worked through the next couple of hours, hardly realizing any time passed by at all. Words flowed easily, though that didn’t necessarily mean they were worth much, and I even had some new ideas for chord progressions and song structures.

“Knock, knock.” Leon tapped on the door once before pushing it open. “You better be decent in there.”

“Yeah, totally decent,” I said, shaking my head at myself. Totally wasn’t a word I had used since I was fifteen.

“How’s it going? Get some good progress?” he asked, leaning against the doorframe and giving the room a brief scrutinizing.

“Yeah. A couple of songs are beefed up. Gives me hope that maybe I’ll actually be productive on this trip.” I shrugged.

“Don’t worry. I’m going to see to it myself that you’re productive.” Leon promised. “C’mon. I have something I want to talk to you about.”

Feeling much like I had just been caught staying out too late, I put my pencil down and slid away from the desk. I followed Leon into the living room and sat down on the couch beside him. He looked up at me with softened eyes as if the strange veneer developing between us since last night was briefly gone.

“So,” he said, dragging a hand through his messy chestnut hair. “I have something of a proposal for you.”

“Alright.” I nodded, my eyes narrowing with suspicion. This was confirmation that I hadn’t just been imagining it. Leon was definitely acting strange. My curiosity piqued, I sat back against the couch and listened.

“I told you when I suggested that we come here together that I was going to whip you into shape to help you get your career back on track.” Leon looked almost nervous for a moment, but it quickly passed. He sat up and leaned forward, his knee brushing up against mine. “And I meant it.”

I felt a small shiver pass through me. It began at the top of my spine and traveled down to the tips of my toes. I swallowed down a growing lump in my throat and felt the sudden wave of wetness in my panties I had known was coming. It was so strange... I had never thought about Leon sexually before. It had always been playful between us, but I now saw that the playfulness was rooted in a much deeper attraction.

Leon inched forward, scooting down the couch until his entire thigh pressed into mine. He reached over and laid a hand on my knee. As he did so, he leaned forward, and our lips brushed gently together.

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