“Tomorrow evening. We’ve got one more run through, and then we’ll be finished. Do you mind waiting?”
He scoffed like I was nuts. “That’s why I’m here. I want to hear it all.”
So he rejoined Logan in the control room and watched and listened as we ran through the entire set one more time.
After we’d finished, Cole looked over at me. “Want to see if he wants to play with us on one?”
The smile on my face almost hurt. “Yeah, that would be great. Which one?”
Cole shrugged. “Let him choose.”
I nodded, then called out to him. “Hey Dad, wanna play one with us?”
The pride that was plain to see on my father’s face mended another little crack in my soul.
“I’d love to,” he said before coming into the booth.
That one song turned into three of our more popular ones. And when we left the studio and went home, we played together again after dinner. We stayed up a long time talking about how he got into music and why he’d decided to be a fill-in musician instead of having his own band. I felt like I’d known him my whole life. Every moment we spent together, and every word spoken, worked to heal the broken little boy I’d been for so long.
* * *
The next evening,Michael took over the kitchen when Claire and William arrived with the food she’d prepared. They’d arrived early to meet and get to know my dad and Logan. Claire told me she was looking forward to talking privately with them. I made sure to leave the room to let it happen.
“How’s it going out there?” Michael asked as he loaded the metal trays into the oven to keep the food warm until the others arrived.
“Good, I think? But they just started talking about her and how they got me. I had to get out of there. It gets me up here in my head, and I don’t want that right now. So, I thought you might need some help.”
“I know,” Michael said, stepping closer, taking me in his arms. He held me to him, and I breathed in the scent of his cologne and his skin. It never failed to take me out of my head.
He placed kisses along my temple and cheek, before moving down to take my earlobe between his lips.
I swayed in his arms, temporarily getting lost in the sweetly intimate attention he showed me. When he let go of my earlobe to whisper in my ear, I shivered at the feel of his breath on my skin and the words he spoke.
“Now that they have appetizers and a glass of wine, how about I take your mind off all that?”
I grinned and pulled even closer to whisper in his ear. “What did you have in mind? Fifteen minutes won’t be enough time, especially if we have to clean up.”
I bit his earlobe, then licked a trail under his jawline as I kneaded his butt cheeks in my hands. I was now hard as a post, so I shifted my hips to rub our erections together.
“We might not even need ten,” he said, pulling back and taking my hand.
Michael started for the other side of the apartment, pulling me along with him.
“Where are we going?” I whispered, pointing over my shoulder as if he didn’t know. “Bedroom is the other way. You lost in here already?”
He chuckled quietly, but didn’t answer my questions until we were out of their sight. “No, smartass. We’re going to the guest room. Better yet, the bathroom. We haven’t done it in there yet.”
Walking in, he closed the bedroom door without making a sound. Without letting go of me, he led me by the hand to the guest bathroom. When we were inside, he silently closed the door.
“I suddenly realize why they nicknamed you Phantom.”
Michael grinned, then reached for two washcloths, handing one to me, and placing the other one on the sink. I watched in fascination as he stepped back and soundlessly sat down on the edge of the bathtub.
When he looked up with those lust-filled hazel eyes, the look on his face promised dirty, dirty things. Reaching out, he tucked a single finger into my pocket and pulled me forward.
I happily complied and ran my fingers through his impossible-to-mess-up hair while he unbuttoned and unzipped my jeans. He looked up into my eyes as he leaned into my touch.
“Can you be quiet, and I mean absolutely silent? Or do I need to gag you?”
