Page 51 of California Love Songs
He didn’t look satisfied, but he didn’t push. Instead, he said, “Tell you what. After Opal and I are finished working today, why don’t you and I go and do something fun?”
Two could play at the game of Follow Your Dream. “Tell you what. Why don’t we go to the Jazz Club in Monterey and you can demonstrate to me why I should encourage you to become a jazz musician.”
That made him laugh in genuine amusement. Then he reached over and took her hand. “You have a deal. And on the way, we’ll stop by the community college and figure out what you have to do to get started on your path to become a doctor. My mom probably knows. Maybe we should just ask her.”
Crystal shook her head. “No. Please. Let me figure this out on my own.” She loved Betsy Davenport like a second mother, but she didn’t want a college professor taking too much interest in her academic career. She needed to do this for herself.
“Okay, but I’m in this with you. Deal?”
Fair was fair. So she turned her hand around to shake his. “Deal.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Damien couldn’t believe how natural it felt having Crystal in his house, helping him make breakfast, doing dishes together. Very rarely, in all the time he’d owned this house, had he entertained. It had been his sanctuary, the place he always knew he could come home to and be Damien, the guy who grew up in Carmel-by-the-Sea, part of the big happy family that had called this town home for years. When he came to Carmel, he felt like Betsy and Howie’s kid, not Damien Davenport the rock star.
As he looked across at Crystal, he realized that this was the first time a woman had stayed overnight. It wasn’t that he’d meant to keep his sanctuary separate from his love life. It was that his love life had always tended to happen on the road or in other cities. Instead of freaking out, he realized how well she fit in here, how it had never even occurred to him not to ask her to stay over. In fact, he’d been disappointed, surprisingly so, when he’d glanced around the impromptu pizza party last night and realized she’d gone. Without saying goodbye.
So when he’d suddenly found her banging on his door at nearly midnight, her gorgeous body clad in skin-tight dance gear, and a look in her eyes that sent arrows of lust into him, it had seemed the most natural thing in the world to take her to his bed, and equally natural to curl up together overnight and share breakfast in the morning.
Watching her run a brush through her long, dark hair, he had a moment of true contentment, as though his life had been a puzzle, and now it was not. There had been a piece missing all these years, and now it had clicked into place. The notion should have scared him, but instead he felt happy. Content. It felt right.
Crystal.
Who’d have thought that after all the women he’d met on his worldwide travels, he would come home to find that the woman who seemed to fit that missing part of his life was one he’d known half his life.
Crystal was the missing note. The soul in his music.
He could see she felt a little uncomfortable about going back to school, and he got it. It was a scary thing to do. She was already running a successful business, and there would be a few raised eyebrows if she announced that she was going to medical school. But he deeply believed she should go for it if it was still her dream—or at least explore the possibility. She’d given up so much to help her family when they’d needed her. But now she was free of those obligations. She could please herself.
And the thing was, he meant it when he said he’d be right there with her through this huge change. It was kind of scary, but from the moment he opened his eyes and saw her smiling back at him from the other pillow, he knew that he wanted to be the man in her life, wherever their lives took them. He would accept that she might not always be available to him. She’d be busy reading medical textbooks and taking exams. If the TV shows were to be believed, she’d be at the hospital at all hours, saving lives and bantering with other exhausted interns. But he could handle it. And he wanted to be there for her. He wanted to be as supportive of her career as she’d always been of his.
Because the truth was, he didn’t think he’d have this career if it hadn’t been for Crystal. She’d believed in him long before anybody else had, including himself. He still laughed when he thought about the way she’d hustled on his behalf. Hiring his high-school band to play at her birthday party had been the beginning, and, like the trendsetter she was, word got out and other people (with plenty of money) had booked his band for gigs. The more they’d played, the more opportunities there were for practice and the better they got. When he wasn’t working birthday parties, he’d been down on the beach with his guitar, writing songs. Thinking back, he knew now that every time he’d written a song, the first person he’d wanted to hear it was Crystal. How had he not seen how important she was in his life? How had he been so blind?
He wanted to say something of this to Crystal, but he also didn’t want to freak her out. She already seemed a little skittish, as though she were searching for a graceful way to leave. But he didn’t want her to leave. He wanted to take her back to bed and explore more of that beautiful body, find new ways to make her cry out with pleasure.
When his phone rang, it was almost a relief. “It’s Erin,” he said, and then answered.
Erin told him that she’d be happy to pick Opal up and deliver her to Damien’s house for today’s music session. They agreed on nine o’clock, and he thanked his sister one more time for helping him and Opal out the day before.
Erin said, “We’re having a viewing party of your interview at Arch’s house tonight. You’d better be there.”
He wanted to tell Erin he had to check with Crystal first, but stopped himself just in time. Crystal might not appreciate him blabbing to his sister—her friend—that they’d spent the night together and had plans that evening. He’d leave that to Crystal.
Instead, he ended the call and said, “So Erin’s delivering Opal here at nine this morning, and Arch is having a viewing party of Celebrity Tonight at his place tonight. We’re all supposed to be there. But I don’t think it needs to change our plans for the evening. We can pick up some literature at the college, and after the viewing party, we’ll go to the jazz club.”
She tilted her head. “Can you even imagine the stir it will cause if you show up at the community college? Why don’t you leave it to me to visit there today? I promise I will. And then we can meet at the viewing party and go to the club afterward. It will be fun to see your interview when we’re all together.”
He grinned. “That’s a plan.”
He was happy—happier letting her leave, knowing he’d be seeing her later that day. Still, he couldn’t prevent himself from giving her a long, steamy kiss that went on far longer than it should have. When she pulled away, a tiny sigh escaped her lips and her eyes stayed closed just a second longer than they needed to. He liked to think she was imprinting the taste of his lips on hers, just as he had done. He wanted to carry her with him all day.
By the time Erin and Opal arrived, Damien had managed to shower, clean up the kitchen, and remove any traces that Crystal had been there. He imagined she’d tell Erin what had happened, but it was her story to tell. He’d keep his mouth shut for now, much as he was dying to broadcast to the world that he’d just had the greatest sex of his life—with a woman he’d always loved as a friend, who made him wonder if there was something far more precious than pure friendship growing between them.
Opal said she’d slept like a baby at Erin’s apartment and was excited to get to work. If she was nervous about the interview on national TV later today, she kept her feelings under control.
He was about to head over to the studio with her when Erin said, “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
He whipped his head up to stare at his sister. Her words were slightly alarming, but her tone was soft. This wasn’t a You have so screwed up, buddy, and I’m going to tell you about it moment. So he told Opal to get settled in the studio and that he’d be with her in a few minutes.
