Playing Autumn (Breathe Rockstar Romance Book 1) (12 page)

He felt her breath on his neck, until he could practically feel her lips on it. He had to admit, this was making him feel good. In more ways than one. “Don't tell me you blame me for how your life turned out, too.”

Her leg moved up against his. “No blame,” she said, coming even closer. “Do you want to know my sad story? It’s not as exciting as yours though.”

“Of course,” Oliver said, moving back so she would fall more comfortably into his arms.

“I told myself when I was younger that music would never be the plan A. That I’d try it, and keep trying, and keep doing it as long as I could, but I’d have to quit at some point.” Her hand went up to her cheek, wiping away moisture from her tears. “I always thought I’d reach that point when all chances ran out and I’d have to go home, but I could tell myself that at least I tried.”

“That doesn’t sound sad.”

“Because I keep moving forward, tiny steps. I tried out for Breathe that first time
just in case
—thinking I’d never get in, and it would be over. But I got in. I started volunteering, and then teaching music, thinking I wouldn’t be good at it, and eventually I’d stop. Even the videos…I did them for my students, and then other people got to see them…”

“Still not seeing how this is sad.”

“It’s leading me on,” Haley told him. “Music. It knows I have to quit it, and soon, but it keeps leading me on. Encouraging me a little. Pulling me in. It never gives me a break big enough to tell me that this is
it
, it’s time to do this for real. It’s always small things, enough to make me wonder what’s behind the door if I go through it…but then it’s another door. And another door. It’s frustrating.”

Funny how that was. Music to her was a tease. To Oliver, it had been like an arranged marriage, a fate that he simply had to accept.

Then she was quiet, breathing against his chest, and he liked that.

“I want you to know,” he said, “That if you've got cold feet about the other guy and want to have a weekend affair, I'm the better choice.”

Her eyes were brown, and the skin around them crinkled up with her smile. “What?”

“I noticed that there are several other guys around who'd volunteer if you wanted to have a warm body with you. In case you need an act of rebellion against whatever. But I think you should choose me anyway.”

“Do you think this is something I should do?”

“What?”

“Just have sex with somebody. This weekend. On the same weekend I lost my job and maybe end up getting back together with my ex-boyfriend.”

“Well. Any answer I give will be biased.”

She blinked. “You are unexpectedly
odd.
”

He waited for her to kiss him first. He wasn't sure how she would do this. But when her tongue swept between his lips within moments of her mouth pressing against his,
that
he knew what to do with, and his hand went up to her neck, fingers tangling in her silky hair.

She stirred in his arms and it made him want to take her in, move her closer, press against more of her. But then she pushed him back, and using a hand against his chest for leverage, swung her leg over to straddle him.

“There’s not enough time,” she said, almost sounding like she was giving up. “We talked too much. We have lunch, and the next session, and I have to watch Mia…”

“No, you don’t get to miss out on this because of talking. I won’t let that happen,” Oliver said. She wanted quick? He could do quick. His hand found her knee underneath her skirt and slid upward, tentatively.

She whimpered a little and let her mouth fall onto his again. It was a musical sound, he realized, or he was imagining it, but if he were then he couldn’t have trusted anything else from his senses because all of them were trained on her. The way she bucked lightly against him, anticipating where his hand would end up. The smell of her hair, the taste of her mouth. The damp heat that he discovered, soft and exquisite, tightening as he slid a finger inside.

“
God.
Oliver.
Please
.”

“Please what?” He slipped a second finger inside her and pumped not so gently.

She tore her lips from his and sank down on him, taking his fingers in deeper, and he adjusted his rhythm to match how she breathed. He could tell how fast he could get her there.

“Let go, Haley,” he said, not sure if he requested or ordered it, his thumb finding her clit and stroking it over the fabric of her panties. She gasped at this and came, hard, forehead pressed against his, staccato breaths on his skin. He stayed inside, feeling every spasm as it ebbed and faded, watching as it made her face flush and relaxed her shoulders. Her breaths gradually lengthened, ending as sighs against his cheek, his jaw, his mouth.

It was the best thing he’d heard in a long time.

Chapter 15

Oliver’s hand was on her elbow. Oliver’s hand was on her elbow. It was casual enough, an elbow being a normally non-sexy body part, and a hand there was not exactly indicative of anything, but her own mind was giving her a play-by-play.

You’re supposed to be working. Pay attention!
She should be concentrating on the performances, but only half the people were anyway. The whole point of having the students perform first during the busy lunch period was so they could fade into the background as noise if they ever needed to. The first time was tough, for everyone, and the distracted audience meant screwing up wasn’t so epic. Haley at least managed to return to the festival with enough time to grab a bite
and
catch Mia’s performance. Talk about great timing.

“That’s yours, right?” Oliver asked, pointing to the platform where Mia was setting up.

“Yeah. She has a great voice. Attitude needs work.” Haley then remembered that it was Oliver’s first go at this. She spent how much time with him today and it was all about her. Her job. Her problems. Her orgasm. God, how embarrassing. “Um, you okay with your session so far? You sorted out your problem from this morning?”

He nodded. “It’s early, but I’m getting my competition muscles warmed up. Did you see the siblings perform earlier?”

Oh, them. “They weren’t…that wasn’t the best thing out there.”

“Exactly. But they wanted to go with Big Brother Trey, and they’ll get him for a bit longer.”

“Is he being difficult? He’s not supposed to be hogging other people’s students.”

“Nothing I can’t handle,” he said.

They paused because Mia opened her mouth to start singing—and it was, indeed,
Time After Time
. She had played with the arrangement though, and it was neither the version she had auditioned with nor was it close to the Cyndi Lauper one. Haley should have known she was going to try to pull another trick on it, and it sounded rough.

Oliver cocked his head, amused. “Did you want her to do that?”

“No.”

“I see what you mean by attitude problem. My students have a
special
quality to them too.”

“It really depends on the batch, I guess. Victoria does the final selection and she usually weeds out anyone who would be difficult, or is freeloading…”

He moved a little closer. “Do you remember Frida, from the show?”

She did. Frida, from
Tomorrow’s Talent
, the thirteen-year-old who had one kind of smile. It looked like it had been painted on her face. They made it to the finals, Oliver and Frida, and supposedly Oliver won by the smallest of margins during the vote. Haley personally argued with anyone,
everyone
, who was Team Frida. It wasn’t her proudest moment.

“Yeah,” she said simply.

“She had range like I couldn’t believe. During rehearsals, she’d make other kids cry after hearing her, and they got discouraged. Parents tried to keep their kids away from wherever she was practicing.”

Haley poked his side. “Did she make you cry?”

“No. She couldn’t play an instrument. I held that over her, at least in my mind. But anyway—if you ever talked to her, at least then, she was so…it was like she would shrink whenever she wasn’t singing.” He held a hand up to his chest. “Like literally she would lose inches. She was so relieved when she didn’t win; she told me she wouldn’t have known how to keep up the act for a year. Some of these kids seem like they’re creating the act right now when nobody’s really watching. I don’t think it’s a good thing.”

“You know what? You should be a mentor and tell your students that.”

His hand moved up to brush her hair aside.

“You’re a good teacher. Don’t worry about getting a job,” Oliver said.

That. That seemed so intimate. It was
hair
, and
words,
but…

“That’s my phone ringing, right?” she said, fumbling for it in her purse.

“It’s not mine,” Oliver said, holding his hands up.

It was Logan. Right.

Haley ducked out of everyone’s way quickly, heading outside to the almost-deserted garden.

“Hey,” she said.

“I called because I knew you’d be at lunch,” he said. “We’re on for tomorrow, right?”

Tomorrow.
This among the seven zillion things that were out of the ordinary about this weekend.

“About that,” she said, “I’m actually really busy here. And you know that Oliver’s here too…”

“Look, I get what you’re trying to do,” Logan said.

“Really? What is it, Logan?”

“You’re stalling.”

“I’m
here
with Oliver. You…you saw it.”

“No, you’re not.”

“You don’t believe he’d be interested in
me
, is that it?”

Logan did not watch her piano videos, as far as she could tell. He was only mildly interested in this yearly activity of hers, the hours she spent studying and practicing, and because she never really performed in public other times of the year, there was no opportunity for him to show support. But that was fine; she didn’t ask him to be her cheerleader, so he shouldn’t be blamed for leaving her alone, right?

It was her own fault for not including him in that part of her life, right?

Logan, in the meantime, expected her to be “the girlfriend” at every game, every party, every hanging-out-with-the-buds.

“You’re putting words in my mouth,” he protested. “I never said that. I don’t
think
you’re in a serious relationship with him.”

“Why not?” she said, more curious than anything.

“Because it takes too long for you to let someone in,” Logan sounded argumentative, fighting from the other side of the city for whatever his plans were this weekend. “Whatever you think you have with him—
come on
. Get real. It’s not serious enough for you not to see me tomorrow.”

“I don’t think
tomorrow
is a good idea, Logan.”

“You haven’t heard me out yet.”

“I don’t think—I’m really busy. I’ll be back Thanksgiving.”

She could still hear him making his case as she ended the call.

***

“What do you think?”

Haley blinked. “Why is it different now?”

Mia shrugged. “I told you, to make it more Alicia. It isn't?”

Huh. On one hand, she could admit that she didn't notice the style change. On the other, she could say that she didn't listen to a word Mia had said before she started singing. Both true, and not the right thing.

“Please start over,” Haley said, “and this time give me Mia.”

Mia shrugged. “Which means what?”

They were both on each other’s last nerve by now. Haley had started their afternoon session with a not-so-gentle critique of her performance at lunch, and Mia immediately went on the defensive.

“You told me to sing that song!”

“I told you to sing what you auditioned with. That wasn’t what you auditioned with. That wasn’t even what you were practicing in this room with me. Did you come up with that right then?”

Mia’s lip was trembling as she listened. “I wanted it to be different. What exactly should I be?”

Haley sighed. “That's what we're trying to figure out.”

Still, Haley acknowledged some of the blame and let Mia pick her song for that evening.
I Knew You Were Trouble.