Page 105 of If Ever

I do a double take. “You take voice lessons?”

“All the time.” He pops a frozen treat in his mouth and offers me one.

I help myself. “Why? You’re voice is perfection.”

He kisses my forehead, his lips cool, then slides his arm around me. I snuggle in with my head in the crook of his neck. “I need to keep my voice in shape. A professional athlete practices almost daily to stay at the top of his game. It’s the same for singers.”

“I had no idea.”

I snuggle in with my head in the crook of his neck. I take a bite of the chocolate-covered treat. Interesting. Not what I'd normally go for, but not bad. "So, tell me. Are there any dream roles you have?"

"You mean like Hamlet or Willie Loman?"

"Those are your dream roles?"

He laughs. "No. My tastes are much less sophisticated. Rather embarrassing, actually."

I sit up and face him. "Now you have to tell me."

He smiles and shakes his head. "Rock of Ages."

I've seen the movie and try to imagine him in it. "What part?"

"I want to play an eighties rocker with the big hair and leather pants."

"Huh." I don't want to burst his bubble, but I don't see him in a role like that.

He throws his hands in the air. "See, that's the reaction I got from my agent, too. Sean said I was too British, too boy next door. I begged him to send me on auditions for months until I finally wore him down."

"And how'd it go?" I ask skeptically, because I agree with his agent. Tom is many things, but I don't see him as a hardcore rocker.

He looks down and his face turns pink. "It was a train wreck. I'm standing up their doing my best Axl Rose, and you should have seen their faces. It was kind of a mix between disbelief and thinking it was a joke. After I left the room, they burst out laughing."

"You didn't get the part?"

"Not even a damned call back, and I would have been so good."

"Poor baby." I fight to keep from laughing.

"I don't need your pity too," he says fighting a smile.

"There are lots of things I feel for you, but pity is not one of them." I set his dish on the coffee table and push him back onto the couch.

"And what are you doing?" His eyes dance in anticipation as I crawl on top of him.

"I wouldn't want you to feel bad." I kiss his neck from collarbone up to his earlobe where I lightly nibble. "Is that okay?"

His arms go around me and pull my hips against his. "Absolutely."

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