She rises. Then sits herself right back down on my lap like she's settling into a perfectly ordinary chair.
My arms come to either side of her waist as I settle my hands on the keys. She smells like heaven and feels like it too, all soft curves and warmth.
Fuck, does that feel perfect.
“See?” she says to Jonah, breezy as anything. The only evidence against her is the color creeping up her cheeks. “Never too old.”
Jonah gives me his gap-toothed grin. “Okay,” he says, already reaching for the keys. “Now teach me.”
Chapter 20
Sweet Talk
SADIE
For about ninety seconds, Jonah Rhodes is the most dedicated piano student who ever lived.
Walker reaches past me to guide his son’s little fingers. I feel the shift of his chest against my back as he does it. Walker says each note aloud as Jonah plays. C, then E, then G.
Another chord progression. Another simple song.
But not one of Walker’s.
“That’s so cool, Dad,” Jonah exclaims. “It’s like magic.”
“It is,” Walker agrees.
Then there's a shout from outside. Daryl, calling his grandson’s name.
Jonah is off the bench and out the door before the note even finishes ringing.
The door bangs shut behind him.
Neither of us moves.
There’s silence except for the distant sounds of his familyoutside. The two of us are still at the piano, exactly as Jonah left us.
I’m intensely aware of every point of contact between our bodies. The solid heat of his thighs beneath mine. The breadth of his chest at my back. His forearms bracketing me on either side, hands still resting on the keys, easy and unhurried.
A few nights ago Walker had me wrapped around him in that pool. His hands on my waist, my thighs, his mouth dragging up my throat, telling me exactly what he'd do to me if he let himself.
And then he’d put distance between us.
Not because he doesn’t want me, I know that. I felt every inch of how much he wanted me, pressed up against his body.
He put that distance there because he's a good man. Because he's trying to do the right thing.
And I should respect that, but I just wish he'd be a little less honorable about it all.
Turns out the hottest thing a man can do is have an ethical dilemma about wanting to fuck you.
And I really, really want Walker Rhodes to make good on every single thing he murmured into my ear in that pool.
I shift slightly, like I'm maybe about to stand.
Walker’s hands leave the keys and come around me instead. One arm wraps around me, hand settling at my waist. Holding me to him like he's been wanting to do it all night.
“Jonah lasted longer than I expected,” I say. Not moving, not even making the pretense of it. “At the piano.”
