Page 29 of Country Heat

I turn over, expecting to see him sleeping beside me, but the bed is empty. He’s across the room, sitting at his piano in his boxer briefs.

I smile as I watch him work. His hands are moving back and forth, his fingers dancing over the keys. He’s not pressing any of them because he doesn’t want to wake me. What a sweetheart.

“You can play,” I say as I sit up, holding the sheets over my chest.

He looks over his broad shoulder at me and gives me a smile so warm it makes me feel right at home—like I belong right here in this bed, in this house, in this moment, with him, forever.

“I didn’t want to wake you,” he says, his hair so cute and sticking up in all the wrong places. “You looked beautiful sleeping so peacefully. It filled me with a song.”

“Can I hear some of it?” I ask, in awe that this is real life.

“It’s still raw, but…”

He turns back to the piano and the lovely notes start filling the room as he plays.

It’s beautiful. Tears fill my eyes as he starts singing in his low raspy voice.

“I was shadows in the morning,

Rain that never cleared the skies.

Just a ghost of who I used to be,

Living days I couldn’t recognize.”

I wrap the soft sheet around me and head to the piano, the long sheet draping behind me like a wedding gown.

Cash’s naked muscular back is rippling and tensing as his fingers dance along the keys. I lean on the piano, watching his face, loving the way his forehead is furrowed with concentration.

“I wore silence like an anchor,

Drowning slow and sinking fast.

Love was just a word for strangers?—

'Til you came and shattered that.”

His beautiful brown eyes are shining as he looks up at me, his fingers suddenly stopping.

“That’s all I have.”

“It’s good,” I say, feeling a little choked up to know that’s how he sees me. “It’s very good.”

“I could use a sexy voice for the chorus.”

I smile. I think his voice is sexy enough.

“Why don’t you drop that sheet and climb up on my piano?” he growls, his eyes turning ravenous as he looks me up and down. “I’ll think better if I can gaze at my naked muse.”

I grin as I let the bed sheet drop. I don’t have to hide from him.

He lets out a low hungry grumble as I hop up on the piano beside him, crossing my legs.

“Let’s take it from the top,” I say.

He looks at my bare breasts and inhales deep, like he’s struggling to stay seated.

“Focus, Mr. Edwards,” I say, playfully pushing his shoulder with my toes.

---