Page 68 of Voice to Raise
“Well, three-and-a-half. It felt that long?”
“In a good way. I didn’t want the song to end. I wanted to know what came next. What a brilliant idea you had.”
“Group effort.”
Again, I cocked my head.
He did some weird thing with his head that I couldn’t quite interpret—not a shake, nor a nod. “Okay…mostly me. Reese did some of the melody, and she’s got some ideas of what we can do if we go full orchestration.”
“Or you can just have a solo voice and a lone guitar.” I was curious what the song would sound like with Razor Made performing it—but I had also been completely captivated by just Malk’s raw voice and the solo acoustic guitar. “Wow.”
His gaze held mine. “Yeah?”
“I’m no expert…what did Reese, Creed, and Freddie think?”
“They loved it. Creed insisted I play it for Mama Murthi, and she said the song was one of my best compositions. I think she’s a little biased.”
“Is that Creed’s mother?”
He nodded.
“Wouldn’t she be more biased if Creed had written the song?”
He scrunched his nose—which he did when he was deep in thought. “I guess…”
I pushed up off the couch and made my way over to him. Gently, I removed the guitar from his hands and put it on the stand. Then I eased myself onto his lap—much as I had nearly a week ago. A moment of intimacy forever seared in my mind. Iliked being in his lap—far more than I was willing to either admit or examine.
His stomach rumbled.
I pressed my forehead against his neck. “Dinner?”
“Yeah.” He banded his arms around me. “In a minute or two.”
How long we stayed that way, I couldn’t have said.
A moment suspended in time.
We baked flatbread and ate watching the news.
We cuddled in his bed and made love for hours.
After breakfast, we went back to my place.
He played guitar while I sucked up to my severely annoyed cat.
I prepared my presentation while he dozed.
Just a lazy Sunday afternoon.
Dinner was at a Thai place down the street that served the most amazing vegan Thai red curry with tofu.
Our eyes watered.
We brushed our teeth before falling into bed and making love repeatedly.
Every time we came together, I swore it was better than the last. He was learning my body and what made me feel good. I figured out what made him tick and what got his engine revving.
Monday morning came too early—in the guise of a cat sitting on my face.
