Page 49 of The Forbidden Trio

Music started to buzz, swarming his mind like liquid, like a dance in his head he couldn’t resist.

Your body hears me when I call

Sees me when I cry

Is it reason enough to give Reason enough to try

So lay me down tonight

Say just one prayer

Tell me you’ll be there Lay me down tonight

He leaned over and kissed her half-awake. “Gotta go work on a song, baby girl. Gotta get it right. Stay here and sleep.”

She yawned, her eyes still closed. “Hmm? ’Kay. Love you, Cole,” she murmured.

It felt like he’d been hit in the chest with something warm and solid and full of hope. He’d been dying to hear her say the words. He’d been dying to say them to her, but he hadn’t wanted to push her any faster than she was ready to go.

He waited, watching her as she fell back into a deep sleep, her breathing regular, shallow.

Then he kissed her forehead and whispered, “Love you too, Janie girl.”

He spent what was left of the night at the piano in his studio, penciling notes on a song sheet, scribbling lyrics, crossing them out, making them better.

It was the scent of freshly showered Janie that finally made him look up.

“‘Morning, babe. I brought you some coffee,” she told him, coming into the room and setting a mug down on the table next to the piano.

“Thank you. Just what I needed. The coffee, and you.”

She smiled, looking gorgeous and girlish with no makeup on, wearing nothing but a pink cotton tank and black yoga pants, her hair hanging in damp strands down her back. She leaned down and kissed him, and he grabbed her, pulling her into his lap.

“I thought you were working.”

“I am. I was. I’d rather molest you.”

“That sounds… much better than what I had in mind, which is, unfortunately, that I have to go to work,” she said, swatting at his hand on her breast and getting up. “Okay, okay. But prepare for the molestation later.”

“Is that a promise?” she asked, her green eyes sparkling.

“Abso-fucking-lutely, baby.”

Grinning, she bent to kiss him, her lush mouth lingering on his, making his heart slam like a hammer in his chest as he remembered the words she’d said in the night.

She still loved him.

He’d known it. But it was damn good toknowit.

“Dinner out tonight, Janie girl? There’s this funky Mexican place in Silverlake I like. That sound okay to you? I want to go someplace low-key.”

“That sounds great.”

Grabbing her and pulling her in tight, he laid his head on her stomach, humming the song he’d been working on.

“What is that? I like it.”

“It’s for you. They all are.”

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