Page 44 of Musical Games
Sam bit her cheek as a wave of emotion rolled through her.
You’re drunk. In a room with a cute man and a cute baby. It’s hormonal kryptonite, that’s all.
Jamie played quietly, his voice almost a whisper as he sang. The room was dark, lit only by a dull orange glow from a nightlight. Liam’s eyes opened as her voice joined Jamie’s but soon fluttered closed. It only took two songs for his face to soften and his breathing to become even and heavy. They let the song fade into silence and tiptoed out of the room.
* * *
Back downstairs,they finished eating and cleared the table. Jamie felt fuzzy, as if alcohol and happiness had smoothed off all his sharp edges. He enjoyed cooking for Fiona and Duncan, but he loved cooking for Sam. He’d done something right. Something that made her happy. And if she was happy, then he was fucking ecstatic. Her smile made his heart too big to fit in his chest and her laugh was like sparklers in his soul.
‘Have you got any room for pudding?’ he asked.
‘It’s sticky rice with coconut and mango. As long as I eat it slowly and don’t attempt to move afterwards, there’ll be room.’
‘Go get comfy on the sofa and I’ll bring it over when I’ve finished up here.’
‘Let me clean up the kitchen. Cook doesn’t wash.’
‘Says who?’ he said with a frown. ‘You’re a guest. And anyway, you don’t know where anything is. Fiona drew me a full set of diagrams after I put the side plates in the wrong cupboard once.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Yes. Go put your feet up. Their sofa is the best.’
He turned away to avoid watching her. She was so graceful. Every movement she made stabbed him in the heart or the groin. He didn’t know whether to clean the kitchen quickly or slowly. Did he want to keep his distance from her or close it? His heart beat loudly in his throat. He’d never imagined love could be so painful and so glorious all at once. After giving the surfaces a final wipe down, he brought the pudding over to her and perched at the other end of the sofa. It was an L shape, almost as big as two single beds. Even though they weren’t touching, it felt intimate. It didn’t help that with each mouthful Sam ate, it sounded as if she was having an orgasm.
He shifted to a cross-legged position and put a scatter cushion in his lap, tightening his grip on the edge of the bowl and the spoon.Think about the pudding. He closed his eyes, tasting creamy coconut and the slippery sweetness of mango. Now he was on a tropical beach, licking up the inside of her thighs as she moaned and twisted beneath him.Oh fuck.
‘So, do you think I can?’ her voice interrupted.
‘What?’
‘See more?’
‘What?’
‘Of Scotland.’
‘Er. It’s a bit big.’
‘So I’ve been told.’ She grinned at him and blood continued to rush to all the wrong places. ‘I wondered if I could fly from Edinburgh to Shetland, then back to Glasgow and look out the window. Would that do it?’
‘Er.’
‘I’m joking. I wish we had more time. I wish we could just get in a van and go on a road trip.’
‘A van? You?’
She giggled. ‘I’m notthatmuch of a princess.’ She waved her manicured nails at him. ‘I only did this so I wouldn’t bite them and I wear make-up because I’m used to it with work. If I didn’t, I’d look shite.’
He shook his head. He couldn’t speak. He didn’t know where to start.
Sam put her empty bowl on the coffee table, flopped back and closed her eyes. ‘That was the best. I could sleep for a week now.’
‘Do you want me to sing you a lullaby?’
She smiled and snuggled further into the cushions. ‘Yes, please.’
He took their bowls to the kitchen and brought his guitar back to the sofa. Sam was curled up on her side, her legs tucked underneath her, a strand of blonde hair falling across her forehead. He sat carefully, stretching his legs out across the cushions towards her, and started to play.
