“Yes,” she nods, “I’ll make sure I can.”
“I’ll get us the perfect spot.”
Joel knocks on the top of the hood again.
“Shit, you have to board now, or it will fuck up their flight plan.”
“Okay,” She presses a quick kiss to my lips, and I grip her and bruise her lips in return. “See you in two weeks,” she inhales, sliding off my lap and latching onto the door handle, her expression going bleak.
“Natalie—”
She turns back to me, her stare filled with trepidation. “I just hate feeling like we’re being robbed straight out of the gate, you know?”
“Tell me how to fix it.”
“There’s no fixing it…but at the same time, you gave me…” she shakes her head, her electric blue eyes stunning me along with her broadening smile that lights up my whole fucking world.
Damn this woman.
“Easton, last night was the best night of my life.”
“Mine too,” I caress her cheek. “We’ll have so many more, so don’t let errant thoughts take this away from us, okay? Don’t let your guilt ruin this. Text me. Talk to me about it. Make that your first promise to me.”
She nods as I press my forehead to hers. “Say it.”
“I promise, Easton.”
“Good. And I promise to do everything in my power to keep this between us until you’re ready to talk to your dad.”
“Thank you,” she murmurs against my lips.
“Go, before I do something really stupid.”
Anxiety overtakes me with the thousand ways this could go wrong, and she quiets my erratic thoughts with the tenderness in her kiss, soothing me as we desperately draw upon each other’s mouths. I sink into her affection, into her need for me, into the promises we have yet to make, and the declaration dancing on our tongues as our time ticks out. She breaks the kiss with Joel’s last knock and exits the SUV, stalking toward the plane and boarding without a glance back. Though it stings like a bitch, I know why. For the same reason I can’t fly with her and tuck her in.
I revel in what this ache means, in what my heart is relaying.
My chest tightens unbearably as I watch the plane taxi down the runway, flashes of the last forty-eight hours flitting through my mind as our connection continues to buzz through me with the strength of a tsunami. As her plane floats into the late summer sunset, the ache in my chest begins to rage, only confirming the deep-seated truth that began to take shape inside me months ago.
The truth that our souls clicked seamlessly together before our bodies ever aligned, and it can no longer be denied or undone.
Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon
Rafferty
Easton
“It’s a good one, man,” Tack claps my shoulder as he and Syd exit the stage searching for sustenance. Our sound check lasted longer than normal—thanks to my insistence we start working on a new cover I decided we would master after leaving Dallas.
“I agree. See you tonight.”
Syd jerks his chin to LL and me in silent goodbye, vape smoke billowing in his wake. Aside from his base line, I’ve deduced grunts and gestures are Syd’s chosen love language. Syd’s private, and in that, we have common ground.
For the most part, I’ve got my bandmates figured out—quirks and all—except for one. I glance over at LL, who’s taken residence on my piano bench to jot notes down on the margin of his sheet music. When he senses my gaze on his profile, he stops his pencil and stares back at me.
I’ve been borderline hostile with him since Dallas, and he must know why. In response, he’s been playing ignorant. The apology he should have already made feels pointless now, but I can feel the indecisive energy emanating from him when he finally speaks up. “Look, mate, I didn’t know—”
“The fuck you didn’t,” I interrupt. “Let me make myself clear. I don’t care that you’re talented and will be hard to replace. If you ever so much as look at—or pursue—any woman who’s with me like that again, you’re fucking gone.”
“That’s a bit fucking petty,” he fires back. “I was already midgame before she caught us in the act.”
“Then maybe don’t make it a point to have your cock sucked in public.”
“It was your party, and it wasn’t exactly rated PG. If I recall correctly, it was quite the contrary.”
“And that makes me responsible for your behavior?” I roll my eyes and take a step toward him. “I was already skeptical about you personally when we hired you, so any chance of my opinion changing was shot to shit with the way you reacted.”