Page 31 of Hard Rock Temptation
“Fine, give me three months,” I conceded.
“We don’t have three months,“ Micah said from behind me. His voice was tight. “We’re going into the studio with our song selections in only a few weeks, remember?”
“We can record this one last,” I said easily.
“That’s not—” Micah cut himself off and went silent. I turned around to find his face pinched and drawn.
The bliss began to bleed out of me, that pang in my chest returning. There were now two aches competing to take center stage. I hated seeing that look on Micah’s face, that look of anxious worry causing me distress of my own.
But the fire of inspiration had taken hold and something inside me would just not let go, knowing that if I didn’t complete this song in the way I now envisioned it, I would be left feeling cold, and listless, and bereft.
Music had always been how I processed my feelings. It had always been my emotional outlet. It was how I’d managed to stay sane growing up.
My music came from my heart, from my soul. It always had. But I loved Micah. He was a part of me now.
How could I possibly choose between the two sides of my heart and soul?
I must have stood there too long, agonizing, because Everly cut in.
“Instead of learning it yourself, why don’t you bring someone in who already knows how to play and have them record with you?” She kept her voice even, even as she flicked her eyes between the two of us warily. “You’ll have to come up with a new arrangement, but it’ll be faster than playing it yourself. I know someone I can hook you up with.”
“Yes,” I said quickly. “I like that idea. Micah, why don’t we do that?” I looked to him, desperately hoping to see that anxiety leave his face.
Micah waited a beat before the lines on his forehead relaxed.
“All right,” he said. “We’ll bring someone in and we’ll record it last.”
I hadn’t realized how tense I’d been, how I’d hunched my shoulders up around my ears, until he agreed. I didn’t want to fight with Micah. I especially didn’t want to fight with Micah over music, the beautiful thing that had brought us together.
“This is going to be so awesome,” I said with a purposefully bright tone to defuse the strained atmosphere. “This is going to be exactly what we need, just you watch.”
Micah gave me a brief smile. “I don’t doubt you at all.”
A little thrill took the place of my previous distress. A melodic line was weaving its way through my mind, like throwing a stone into a placid lake, starting off with small, light ripples, just a few notes here and there, but it got stronger, faster, until soon my inner ear resounded with the crashing of musical waves, my whole body becoming submerged by rapturous waters.
“Kay?”
“Hm?” I forcibly turned my attention to Micah. “Were you saying something?”
He narrowed his eyes at me in amusement. “Do you want to skip the rest of our shopping and go back to my place?”
My heart jumped. His place?
“I know you probably want to get working on the song as soon as possible,” he said.
My rapidly beating heart melted. Micah knew me too well.
I was about to say yes, when I realized that we’d be at his place, alone.
Was Micah only thinking about our work, or did he have an ulterior motive for wanting to go to his place? Had he been waiting for an excuse? He certainly didn’t need one. I was eager to be alone with him. And from all the heated touches he’d been giving me he must have felt the same.
But…
Micah was right. I really did want to work on the song. Dammit. What was the point of being alone together with my boyfriend if all we were going to do was work? I supposed that was the downside of getting together with a coworker.
Still, I had to perk up. There was no reason why we couldn’t do both, after all.
I tilted my head up to find him looking at me. There was an inner fire in his eyes. So, I wasn’t the only one thinking about it. Micah wanted me as much as I wanted him. I took his hand in mine and laced our fingers together.
