Page 44 of Sing Your Heart Out

I look at Mellie and Smith beside me, and at the little fire burning at my feet.

“Heaven,” Dwayne sighs. “Am I right, people?”

Dee and Buckeye are sitting across from me, wolfing down their own slices. I smile.

“Yeah, it’s pretty damn close,” I admit. I chew for a second, swallowing before I speak again. “Hey, we were talking earlier about our goals coming into this competition and whether we accomplished them or not. Mine was to prove to myself and to my ex husband that I could actually do this job well.”

Smith nods. “Yeah. Mine was to be better at solo songwriting, which I feel like I managed to do.”

“I accomplished my goals too,” I add in.

Smith gives me a little smile. “What about you guys?”

Buckeye just shrugs. Mellie sighs.

“I just came here to be a better songwriter. And I think that I have done pretty well so far.”

My gaze swings to Dee and Dwayne. “How about you guys?”

Dee nods her head, putting her slice of pizza down. “I came in with two goals. One, I needed to sign some new songwriters to our company. And two, I wanted to prove that Marco was…” She pauses, emotional. “Sorry. That he was a real thing, not just with me for the fame and money he could get from me.”

Smith reaches out, patting her on the shoulder. “It’s okay. We all make decisions based on our hearts. Sometimes those decisions end up great, like Mellie and her kids. Sometimes they end up going south. It’s just the way of things.”

I find myself nodding. “The most important thing is that you can’t make decisions based on the fear that you are going to make the same mistake twice. You just have to… kind of take a leap of faith, I guess.”

I glance at Smith, sending him a little smile.

“Well, I just wanted to be here for my sister,” Dwayne says, rubbing Dee’s back. “And I am secretly very glad that he’s gone, honey. He was just bad news bears. You can do so much better than him.”

I nod. “Yeah, definitely.”

Dee smiles tearfully at the whole group. “Thanks, y’all. This has just been the most wonderful experience.”

Going into the final elimination will be hard, but at least we all have this moment together…

17

Smith

I've never wanted to bury myself in anyone’s arms so badly. I look down at him, my heart squeezing in my chest. I make sort of a strangled noise, looking at him pleadingly.

He stands, hugging me hard. At the same time I barrel into his chest, knocking him back a step. I wrap my arms around his back.

My heart is so full that I can hardly stand it. I bury my face against his chest, happy beyond words.

When I pull back to give voice to my thoughts, his mouth comes down on mine like a burning brand. I moan, running a hand up into his hair.

He pulls me closer, pressing our bodies together. Just the pressure of his hips against mine had me wrapping my leg around him, grinding.

Though it had only been hours since I’d had him, my bodymisseshis. I pull at his jacket, wanting to see some more of his skin.

He shucks the jacket, kissing me as he walks me backward to the couch. He unlaces and kicks off his boots as I took off my tee shirt.

Smith grabs my yoga pants, shoving them down forcefully. I step out of them, blushing.

I am bare underneath. I shivered as he fists my long blonde hair in one hand, pulling my head back as he kisses my collarbone. I gasp out loud when he finds my nipple with his teeth, grazing it ever so lightly.

“This is mine,” he growls, kissing my other breast lightly. “And this…”

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