I grinned. “You do that.”
After saying our goodbyes and making plans to get together for a cookout, I walked them out to their cars and then headed back downstairs where I had left Nalia playing the piano earlier. I had asked her to come with me when I talked to the guys, but she’d refused, insisting that it should just be between them and me. I hated to admit she was right, but she had been on point about that.
Pausing in the doorway, I watched her tinker with the keys, her hands drifting over them. No matter how many times I looked at her, I couldn’t get over how beautiful she was. My heart almost seized in my chest as I thought about how close I had come to losing her. I’d been an idiot to ever think I could live without her. As impossible as I’d once thought it was, I’d become utterly grateful for every day I spent with her. And, I had never been much of a religious man, but when I held her, I knew there clearly had to be a God.
She looked up from playing and our eyes met, a loving smile spreading across
her face. “Hey, you.”
“Hey,” I replied, smiling as I stepped into the room. “What are you doing there?”
She pointed to the half-written song in front of her. “Writing and playing. It’s kind of my life now, you know.”
I walked over and took a seat next to her, pressing a kiss on her cheek. “I thought I was your life.”
She laughed and patted my knee. “Now, what would give you that idea?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I do, I do. I was just teasing you,” I said with a warm smile.
She leaned over and planted a gentle kiss on my cheek.
I sighed and hugged her tightly, and then turned to look at the music. “Are you stuck?”
“Yeah, feeling pretty hopeless about it, actually,” she admitted.
I read the notes, my hands moving over the keys as I did. In terms of piano playing, I wasn’t even close to her level, but I could still play enough to write music, and as I looked over what she had already done an idea popped into my head. “What about this?” I suggested.
She listened intently, cocking her head to the side as I hummed a few bars, writing down the notes on the sheet. When I was finished she looked at the notes, playing them back on the piano a thousand times better than I had.
“That’s brilliant!” she exclaimed. “It's just what I was looking for, but couldn't quite find.”
“I still have a little somethin’ left to offer.”
“You have a lot left to offer and you know it,” she nudged me.
“You know I love you, right?”
Her expression melted as she leaned against my shoulder, the smell of her shampoo tickling my nose. “I love you, too. I hope we stay this happy until we are old and gray.”
I wrapped my arm around her waist, feeling somewhat funny about the whole getting old thing. “I hope you love me that long,” I whispered under my breath.
“I will love you until the end of time.”
“You weren’t supposed to hear that.”
“You shouldn’t have said it aloud then,” she giggled.
I laughed. “Yes, ma’am. You sure you can live with me until I’m old and gray?”
She looked up, her eyes warm and full of affection. “Absolutely. Just means I’ll have to be the one to stroke your ego when you’re old, instead of hordes of screaming women.”
I leaned down, gently brushing my lips against hers. “I don’t need the fans, the fame, or any of that as long as I have you. That’s all I need. You.”
“Just when I think you can’t blow me away anymore, you do,” she whispered.
I smiled against her lips. “Well, I hope I am able to just that for the rest of our lives, babe.”
She wound her arms around my neck, pulling me in for another deep kiss.