“Th-they’re
gone!
” she cried, as if that would explain
everything.
Somehow, it seemed to do exactly that. He didn’t ask her
anything else, just lifted her effortlessly into his arms and carried her out
of the room.
She clung to him, to his strength, solidity, and his warmth
as he carried her down the staircase to his bedroom. He set her on the edge of
his bed and bent to take off her shoes. Then, skimming his fingers up her
calves in the process, he stood and gently eased her down so she was lying on
her side. She curled her knees up and shivered.
Liron went around to the other side of the bed and pulled a
blanket over her. He retreated for a moment to build a fire in the hearth in
his room, then climbed onto the bed beside her and pulled her into his soothing
embrace.
“I’m sorry for just showing up in the middle of the night,”
she murmured.
“Shhh.” He brushed his lips across her hair and pulled her
tighter. “Don’t ever apologize for coming to me. You are welcome here forever
and always.”
She squeezed her eyes shut as a few more rogue tears escaped
and she nestled against him, turning in his arms so she could bury her face
against his shirt, breathe in his scent, and listen to the rhythm of his
heartbeat. She sniffled, her torrential emotions abating to dismal sadness. “I
went to see a friend of mine conduct for a music festival tonight,” she said.
“I was fine until they played the song that was played at my parents’ funeral.”
He smoothed her hair back and she sighed. “It’s a beautiful piece. It was their
favorite, but I can’t handle hearing it. It’s like it rips my heart open all
over again.” He pressed gentle kisses to her forehead and face, letting her
speak, but showing her he was there, and listening. “I don’t know if the pain
will ever go away.”
“Of course it won’t.” His voice was tender, melodic and
wonderful. “They were your parents, Melody. You loved them, and you miss them.
The pain and sorrow of missing them is never going to go away, and you
shouldn’t expect it to.”
Grief squeezed her chest again and she chewed on her bottom
lip. “But everyone always says, ‘time heals’ and blah blah blah. It’s been a
year and it still hurts like it happened yesterday.”
“The pain will lessen over time, and you will learn to accept
the ache of it, to live with it, but I would never expect you to get over it.
The loss is too great.”
She sniffed again. “I think everyone else thinks I should get
over it. I don’t know how they could if they were in my position.”
“They care about you. They don’t want to see you hurt, but
sometimes humans lack the ability to formulate words in a way that is
productive.” He sighed and rolled onto his back, tugging her over on top of him
so she was lying with her body flush against his. He held her close, and she
snuggled against his chest.
They lay there in silence for several long moments and,
slowly, his comforting presence started to replace the cold emptiness that had
taken over her. He wasn’t using his talent to its full extent. There were no
symphonies in her mind, only the softest sounds of nature as he ran his fingers
in long strokes through her hair. She marveled over how well he knew her in
such a short time. He knew she wouldn’t be able to handle the orchestral
sensation at the moment, but that music, even in its most natural setting—the
wind in the treetops, crickets on a summer night—was the one thing that could
calm her. That and his persistent, kind touch.
The dark, gaping hole she had sworn was in her heart an hour
ago began to be filled with Liron’s tender light, and she heaved a sigh as the
coiled tension within her slipped away. “Liron,” she whispered.
“Yes, lovely.”
She smiled at his term of endearment and closed her eyes as
she listened to the steady beat of his beautiful heart. The words came easily
to her now. So did the choice. “I want to stay in this world…with you.”
His hands in her hair stilled for a second before he shifted
them so that she was on her side, cradled in his arms, and he could look down
at her. His brow was furrowed and his eyes mirrored mild surprise. “Melody….”
She let out a little, irritated sigh. “Liron, I’m not out of
my mind, okay? So don’t look at me like that. I’m a big girl, capable of making
big girl choices. This is not my grief talking. I’m not running from anything.
I was seriously considering this before tonight, and all of the stuff that
happened just solidified my decision.” She ran her palm up his chest, feeling
the lines of muscle beneath his shirt, and desperately wanted to see and touch
those lines without the fabric in the way.
She studied his expression and a smidgen of uneasy doubt
crept into her. “Oh…unless….” She averted her gaze, feeling stupid and
presumptuous. “Unless you don’t want―”
He cut off her words with a tender kiss to her lips that took
her breath away and inflamed her even as it soothed and comforted. “Melody, I
told you, I am yours. Whatever you decide. I just don’t want you to make a
hasty decision that you will later regret.”
The care and compassion reflected in his eyes made her heart
flutter, and she pressed closer to him. “My world doesn’t offer me anything
anymore, Liron,” she murmured. She closed her eyes as he held her and his
fingers drew patterns across her back. “When I’m here, I don’t feel that
suffocating emptiness that I feel when I’m in my world. Your world is full of
life and beauty, of music and art and creation. And…you.”
A strange expression crossed his face. Something that looked
like it started out as joy, but was chased away by worry. His hands on her back
stilled and he looked away. “And…you’re certain that you…want me? Choosing me
means staying here, with me, for a very long time. You could get tired of it
all after awhile.”
His uncertainty tugged at her heart, and she pushed herself
up into a sitting position so she could look at him fully. Her intention had
been to boldly set the record straight, but her bravery fizzled and she looked
down at her lap while she played with her fingers. All of this was so foreign
to her. She felt so sure of her feelings in one moment, but then doubt crept
in. Doubt caused by what she’d been taught was “rational” her whole life. And
nothing about Liron or inter-dimensional travel came anywhere near “rational.”
“Is it strange that…?” She cleared her throat and tried
again. “Is it strange that you can love someone so quickly?”
He sat up with a start and was in front of her before she
could even blink. There was so much intensity radiating from his blue eyes it
made her shiver. He took her gently by the shoulders, and the notes that filled
her mind were disjointed and seemed unintentional, chaotic, like several
musicians had knocked over all their equipment. It tugged a smile from her lips,
and she reached out to smooth his silky hair.
“What did you just say?” he whispered.
She sighed and continued to study the texture of his hair
between her fingers. She gave a little, self-conscious shrug, feeling like a naive
teenager telling a boy she liked him for the first time. If her emotions got
anymore out of whack tonight….. She’d never felt so many across-the-board
things in one night in her life.
“Melody…” He took her face between his hands, and she closed
her eyes. His palms were warm and velvet soft. His voice mirrored his touch
perfectly. “Don’t feel embarrassed. I need to hear what you said again. Please….”
He rested his forehead against hers.
“It doesn’t make sense, but…you feel right to me, Liron. You
fit. You fill the empty place inside of me. I thought music was the only thing
that could touch me so profoundly. It has always been my love, my anchor, my
passion. How can I not love you the same way? You
are
music. Is that
strange? That I have felt so connected to you from the moment I played your
music? That I feel like we just make sense somehow?”
He shook his head. “No, it’s not strange. That is the way of
things in my realm. Muses are much more emotional creatures. We are ruled by
passion and feelings much more than logic, the way humans are taught. From the
moment you came wandering into my home, my heart has been tied to you. It was
instantaneous. You are very easy to love.”
Tears filled her eyes, but they had a different origin than
her volatile ones from earlier. These were born of her heart feeling so safe and
so full in that moment, so wrapped in wonderful warmth that she couldn’t
contain them. And it seemed that, now that they had let loose, they were going
to come out at every given moment.
Liron touched her tears with his fingertips, then leaned in
to kiss them away. She shivered and sniffed, then reached up to wipe at the
remaining ones. “You know, I haven’t cried since my parents died?”
He frowned. “No?”
She shook her head. “I couldn’t. I don’t know why. Tonight,
they just…came out of nowhere. My emotions were so strong, I couldn’t help it.”
She analyzed herself for a moment, and realized that she didn’t feel quite as
hollow as she had before. Her heart still ached at the absence of her loved
ones, but it wasn’t so overwhelming that it threatened to consume her. “It’s
weird, but…I feel a little better.”
He nodded. “That makes sense. You finally released all of
that pain.”
She looked up into his eyes, finding the compassion and
understanding there the most desirable things she’d ever seen. Her heart gave a
little sigh of surrender. “I really do think I’m falling in love with you,” she
murmured. “Or, maybe I already have fallen. I’m not sure.”
He closed his eyes and an expression of serene bliss passed
over his features. “There is no way for me to describe how hearing those words
from you makes me feel,” he said softly. “I only know one way to express it to
you.”
She smiled and cupped his strong jaw in her palm. “Show me.”
Chapter Thirteen
Liron was so hopelessly lost to this woman.
His fingers flew over the piano keys, producing joyful, yet
sensual sounds that perfectly portrayed the feelings Melody ignited within him.
She was the light streaming back into his world, touching all the dismal places
Elizabeth and her treachery had left behind. She was
his
muse, awakening
music within him like he had never heard or felt before.
He didn’t have to think about the notes he played, didn’t
have to open his eyes to look at the keys. The music flowed through him freely,
and he basked in the rapture of it.
It had been so long since he’d heard such rich melodies. She
brought the most amazing music to him, along with the most amazing light and
beauty. She made every corner of his previous dreary existence radiant.
His fingers faltered on the keys as he felt her hands stroke
through his hair. He stilled his playing and sighed, smiling at how intimate
and comfortable her touch was.
“This is how I affect you?” she murmured. “This music?” Her
breath against his ear made his body ache with the need to touch and kiss her.
“It’s the closest thing,” he answered. “But even the music
cannot do the feelings justice.” He leaned back against her, and she wrapped
her arms around his shoulders.
“Keep playing,” she said.
He grinned. “How do you expect me to do that when you’re
distracting me the way you are?”
She laughed softly and moved around to sit beside him on the
piano bench. His eyes took in her navy blue dress that hugged her curves in all
the right places and gave him the most marvelous view of her chest. Because of
her emotional state when she’d arrived, he had not noticed the lovely garment
before now. His heart leaped and rolled, and he smiled. “That is an
extraordinary dress, Melody.”
The grin she dazzled him with let him know that she had
originally hoped to receive that reaction, despite the way her evening had
turned out.
She glanced deliberately at the piano keys. “Play,” she
demanded.
He leaned over and feathered several soft kisses along her
jaw. “What would you like?” he whispered, delighting in the shiver he felt work
through her.
“Play what this sounds like.” She turned her head to capture
his lips with hers. The kiss was gentle, but tinged with something much more
intense. It made him recall the kisses they’d shared down by the cliffs, and
his body came alive with fire and aching hunger.
He deepened the kiss, taking control and wanting to taste her
beauty the same way he heard it and felt it. He wanted all of his senses filled
with Melody until there was nothing else. He’d never wanted a woman more than
he wanted this one. It was all-consuming, drowning out even his passion and
love for music. She was a symphony all in her own, and the only song he ever
wanted to hear for the rest of his days.
She laughed softly against his lips, but her voice came out
breathy. “You’re supposed to be playing the piano, not playing with my mouth,”
she teased.
A low growl was torn from his throat, and he reached down to
grasp her around the waist. “You want to know what your kiss sounds like?” She
squeaked in surprise and wrapped her arms around his neck as he lifted her off
of the piano bench and set her down on top of the keys. The result was a
cacophonous menagerie of everything at once.
The row of keys was not wide enough for her to stay seated on
and she slid down until her feet touched the floor, creating more disjointed,
random sound. He kept her there, leaning back against the keys, and he stared
down into her eyes, feeling primal and out of control. He was, by nature, a
gentle person. But this woman was invading him in such a way that all he wanted
to do was possess her, claim her, make her his for all time. The music in his
mind was jumbled and confusing. It was so much more than he’d ever felt before.
Was this how it was supposed to be? Had he found his perfect inspiration in a
human woman who’d accidentally wandered into his life?