Chapter Six

Jaya

It was in the way he walked.

Assertive, confident, and just a touch hesitant.

I knew something had shifted. As the music played back, softly yet building, my body reacted the same way, as if the song was leading me. Cardinal’s low-slung jeans hugged his body and drew my attention as he approached me. Biting his lip ring, he paused just a few steps before me then reached out. He grasped my hand and slowly laced his fingertips through mine before tugging me toward him.

It was all the encouragement I needed.

Immediately, my hands went to his hair, tugging on the dark roots, losing myself in the thick texture as his lips found mine. His lip ring was cool against my fevered skin, and I pressed into the long length of his body, remembering everything as if it was yesterday. His palms molded to my body. All the while our song played, the music acting like the perfect backdrop to some Hollywood love scene.

My fingers traced the rim of his jeans before teasing down lower to feel the hard length that stretched his fly. He hissed as he pulled away from the kiss, and I met his gaze. Icy blue eyes were feverish in the way they darted from my lips to my eyes and back before he bit out a groan and punished me with a searing kiss as he pressed into my hand.

The warmth of his hands on my ass burned as he peeled back my sweatshirt and tossed it to the ground. In return, I slid my hands up, teasing with my fingers along his waistline before lifting his shirt. The ripples of his abs were like a drug for my touch as I traced over each ridge greedily before breaking the kiss just long enough to remove his shirt.

His hands were everywhere, tugging, cupping, smoothing along my skin, and my messy bun came undone as he lifted my shirt over my head, impatiently removing the barriers between us. He lifted his knee between my legs, stroking me, and my body shuddered, needing the release I knew he could give.

The music was like the words I didn’t know how to speak as it encircled and enveloped me.

Push away, when I should have never let go.

Making it right, fighting the fight.

Love is worth it.

The music faded when Cardinal flicked the hook on my bra, his warm mouth consuming me. Color exploded around my vision, and I caught my breath, my heartbeat pounding a fierce rhythm. Hand shaking with impatient desperation, I unlatched his belt and slid his jeans down his hips, my fingers tracing the V of his lower abs till I was able to torture him with my touch, just like he was torturing me.

Close, but not close enough.

Cardinal groaned against my chest, laying his head against my heart while his shoulders rose and fell with his heavy breathing. Before I could register what he was doing, he lifted me in his arms and slid down my leggings. He set my bare ass on the edge of the grand piano, the chill sending shivers through me. But the chill was obliterated by his hot hands, pulling me closer again. He muttered a quick curse before tugging something from his wallet in his all-but-discarded jeans. He quickly sheathed himself with the object from the little black package he’d taken out. His eyes bore through me as he reached around, dragging me to the very edge of the piano. Instinctively, I wrapped my legs around his back, flexing him in, needing him. Every. Hot. Inch.

As he slid inside me, my body shuddered. The music swam and wove its magic around us, and with each stroke, the room pulsed with the build up of the bridge in the song. My hands tangled in his hair once more, pulling him in for a kiss that mated not just our bodies, but surely affected our souls in some way. My body sang to his rhythm, and as the final chorus rang out, my body shattered against him, destroying the last wall I had to protect my heart.

Cardinal pulled me from the piano and carried me in his arms, holding me against him as he shuddered with the power of his release. Shaking, I blinked as I tightened my legs around his waist, holding myself up with my arms circling his neck, connected body and spirit, and the music began to fade.

Cardinal’s heart pounded against my chest, the only sound in the utterly silent room, then the music started again, weaving its magic once again.

Gently, he set me back down on the piano, his crystal eyes searching mine, reading my soul.

It was pivotal, I knew it, and I leaned forward to kiss his lips, savoring the unique flavor that had haunted all my fevered dreams. When I pulled back, I reached up to trace his cut jawline. “I’m not going anywhere.”

His jaw tensed under my hand, and fear laced through my soul.

I might want to try again… but what if he didn’t?

“Are you sure about that?” he asked, his tone severe in its deep intonation.

I gave my head a slow nod in affirmation. “Yes.”

A smile spread across his face, melting the icy depths of his gaze into a warm pool. “You think we can make this work?”

“Only one way to find out.” I grinned in response as he kissed me once more.

Never had I thought that finally letting go and writing the song that was my soul’s lament for my past would be the catalyst to bringing me back to the place that made everything right again.

But that was the magic.

The magic of music.