Page 62 of Serenade Me

“W-will you…?” I ask him, suddenly shy.

He nods before breaking out into a grin. “Of course. You take the lead, and I’ll follow. Just… you know. Nothing too obscure, I was raised on elementary Mozart and the Backstreet Boys.” He jokes, and I know it’s to calm my nerves.

I hesitate for one last moment. What am I doing? This isn’t something we practiced. I’m not sure I can do off the cuff like they do, I just don’t have the experience. What if I freeze again? I can’t hide if it’s just the two of us. Then I feel a hand on my shoulder, and his eyes on me.

Breathe, Marius mouths. And I do.

Then the stomping and cheering and calls from the crowd for more get to me and I feel a grin spread over my face.

“She’s going to do it,” I hear my brother whisper to Brad, nudging him with his elbow. “I know that look.”

I throw Jez a grin and lean over and give him a kiss on the cheek.

“Told ya,” he says smugly, and squeezes my hot cheek.

“Let’s go!!” I grab Marius’s arm and pull him out onto the stage with me to the sound of whoops from the band trailing behind us, fading into the noise.

It’s still completely dark and Marius leads me to my harp, still set up on stage.

“Breathe, babe. You got this. Remember, just breathe.” His voice is suddenly right there in my ear, so close it feels like he’s in my brain.

In the dark I push back, and my back meets his chest, warm, strong.

He leans in and grazes his lips against the back of my neck and I shiver.

And pray that I don’t give in to my strongest temptation right now – turning around and begging him to take me, right here, right now. I’ve never felt more alive than in this moment.

“Hmmm, you smell so sweet,” he whispers into my ear and again, I forget that beyond the end of the stage, is a crowd waiting for us.

“Shhhhhh, don’t get me started,” I whisper as I feel around for my harp stool and sink down onto it.

“Oh baby, we’ve only just begun,” he retorts, just as the stage lights flicker back into life, showering us in a warm, orange hue.

I run my fingertip over the smooth wood grain of my harp, as I always do, a quiet moment of communion with my instrument before I play.

My fingers know what to do seconds before it even occurs to me.

The first few notes ring out and Marius catches my eyes and gives me a look much like the one he gave me just a few hours ago, just before he slid inside me.

I grin back at him. I thought he’d like my song choice.

And on this stage with thousands of eyes watching us, he mouths the words along to our music, “Let’s get it on, sugahhhh, let’s get it on.”

I throw my head back and laugh, unable to remember the last time I felt so free.

***

“Fuck, that was hotttttttttt,” Brad comes over, holding his hand up for a high five as Marius ushers me off the stage at the end of our encore.

I reach up and slap my hand against his, and he pulls it back, shaking it while making a hissing noise.

“Yowww! Still smoldering!” he says and gives me a wink.

All I can do is giggle in response, the adrenalin high from the show’s final performance lifting me off my feet and I feel like I’m hovering a few feet above the ground looking down at myself.

“Yeah, I hope Butter was listening… save me having to put on my moves to seduce her tonight!’ he says, referring to his fiancée by her nickname.

“I can hear her sigh of relief from here, fartbag,” Jez comes up behind him, slapping him across the head.