His to Love

She woke foggy-headed and confused. For a moment, she thought it was morning, but when she looked at her cell phone, she saw it was just before midnight. She sat up on the couch wishing she could go back to sleep, but she had work to do. She flipped on some lights and headed upstairs to her bathroom and bedroom.

As she climbed the stairs, she heard the womp of an electric guitar as it was being tuned. Kris was in the garage. She knew it. He was firing up a guitar. The windows of the rooms on the second floor of Rainy’s house were open, something she wasn’t aware of before.

She reached to close one window and saw right into Kris’s garage. There were people milling around with instruments and beers in their hands. A guy was at the drums. Kris just happened to lift his head and looked straight into her eyes.

She closed the window quickly, hoping he didn’t think she was spying on him.

That did little to muffle the music next door, which was loud, but it was a Saturday night and she lived next door to a rock star. A sense of longing took over as she listened to them warm up. As soon as Kris strummed and sang, she found herself grinning. She lived next door to a rock star and that meant free concerts all the time. Besides, he was singing her song.

“It’s a rainy night in Georgia,” he warbled. “Rainy night in—”

That was an old tune, not even a rock tune, but one she was familiar with because it had the word rainy in it. Her mom and dad sang it to her. She went back to the window to lift it so she could watch them and maybe say something, but a woman passed through the garage. She was attractive and Kris gave her a one-armed hug.

Rainy drew the shade. She had gotten away from herself. She needed to focus on getting ready for work even though she had one more day off until she actually had to start. She didn’t need to get her head filled with the fact that she lived next door to one of her favorite musicians ever, a person she was already fantasizing about.

She felt a little crushed that she thought he was flirting with her and yet there was a woman he was clearly involved with right there. Why wouldn’t there be? He was Benjamin Brock. He wasn’t married. He was sexy and he was the lead man of a hot rock band. Yes, he had flirted with her, but now he had a blond while he practiced. He probably was in no short supply of women.

Rainy knew better than all that. She lived the life for years. Guys came on to her because she was on a stage. Women came on to her band members all the time. Maybe her band wasn’t on his level, but she’d been there, done that.

Rainy eyed the small walk-in closet of the master bedroom. All her clothes were arranged by category. Even her pajamas were hung. She lifted a hanger with a cotton tank and shorts and laid them out. She stripped down all her clothes until she stood naked in the closet.

She stepped into the pajama shorts a

nd drew the tank over her head when a knock sounded at the door. It was Murphy’s Law. Just as she dressed for bed, Kris came to call.

She dashed downstairs and opened the door, hiding behind it since she didn’t have a robe on.

He grinned. Framed by the doorway, he looked really tall, and she was partial to tall. Leaning lopsided around the door made him looked even taller.

“What happened?” he laughed. “Did the airline lose your body? You look like a floating head.”

“I was kind of getting ready for bed.” She didn’t have to tell him that, but she mentioned bed to tantalize him.

“You look so fresh, I thought maybe you just woke up.”

“I did,” she confessed. “But I don’t want to get my sleep all screwed up.”

“So, can you come out and play?” His beautiful blue eyes emphasized the question. “We’re about to jam… unless it will bother you, and in that case, we’ll move it to the studio. It’s just such a nice night. Too perfect to waste.”

“I’ll enjoy it from here.” She hated to turn him down, but she had paperwork to fill out. “I’ll listen and read.”

He nodded, studying her. “Open invite.”

In another place and time, Rainy would take him up on the offer in a heartbeat. But that wasn’t her anymore, or at least who her parents expected her to be. She closed the door and returned to the couch, this time with a folder of forms she printed out to review and sign.

She looked at the same form about ten times trying to focus and fought the urge to put it off until tomorrow. Then again, she did have the whole day off. Starting paperwork at nearly midnight might not be the most efficient thing to do. She listened to the thrum of the bass and the rhythm of the drums. She couldn’t ignore it any longer. That was where she wanted to be.

Rainy ran upstairs to get dressed. She didn’t want to wear her super-hot jeans because that would make her seem like she was trying too hard. And yet, there was Kris Brock in the middle of her head with the slightest bit of a thing for him developing in her mind.

He was just a distraction, that was all, she told herself. She’d come all this way to not like a job she didn’t really want.

The amp in Kris’s garage flared with feedback. Rainy hurried over as fast as she could.

Four

Kris

Over the bass, Kris heard his dog Jimmy bark like someone was delivering mail. He set down his guitar to corral him. He saw the top of Rainy’s head through the lattice trimming the gate.