The Prelude (A Musical Interlude Novel) - By Kasonndra Leigh Page 0,52
getting what he wants.”
I shrug. “I’m not asking you to swing with me. I’m offering a chance for you to—to be freer.”
“Smooth, Alek. I don’t trust you.”
“You seemed to trust me the other night.”
“No, I trusted your hands and your mouth to do what I needed in order to feel good in the end. It has nothing to do with you.”
I’m hard at once. But since I can’t do anything about it, I do the next best thing. A hearty laugh escapes from inside me. I can’t help it. She’s adorable and sexy. And that thing she does with her left eyebrow and bottom lip goes way past turning me on.
I’m growing an erection just from standing here this close to her. And talking about the things we did backstage at her showing the other night, doesn’t help. I don’t know how much more I can take.
“Oh, too bad. We’ll have to chat another time. There’s my taxi,” she says and walks closer to the street.
“You know what I think? You’re scared,” I blurt before her foot touches the curb.
This catches her attention. She takes a step back toward me as her taxi rolls to a stop behind her. “And what if I am?” she whispers, fear swimming in her eyes. “I can’t let go of any part of me in that way ever again. I’m sorry.”
We’re standing so close to each other that I can almost feel sparks flying between us. In the past, I didn’t understand what it all meant and never wanted to until today.
“Dreams are fickle, Erin. Sometimes we miss out on those and can shrug them off. But getting another chance to make something right in life after you’ve tried, and still done it wrong so many times before, now that kind of thing only happens for a few of us.”
Boom! She’s speechless, caught up in my words. Hell, I’m still wondering about the things I just said myself. She lowers her head and sighs loudly.
“Pardon me. Did one of you call for a taxi?” the driver says to us.
“I’m coming,” she answers him. Then she turns to me and says, “Alright. I’ll consider your proposal. But you have to prove yourself worthy.”
I want to grin, but I don’t want to scare her away. I need to handle her carefully. She’s fragile, even more than she realizes. “What do I have to do?”
“Patience, Maestro. I’ll be in touch.” I follow her to the taxi, making sure she gets safely inside it. I stand there watching until the car disappears around the bend.
“Interesting,” a purring voice says from behind me. I squeeze my eyes shut.
Fuck me now and get it over with.
Turning around, I beam a smile at Lila. “Won’t Katerina be interested in knowing how chummy her son has gotten with the little designer girl?” she says to me, smiling.
I don’t say a word. Ignorance can’t argue with itself. That’s what Nikolai always says. I think he might be wrong.
“Leaving practice early, Lila?” I ask, humoring her.
She sucks her teeth. “Nikolai couldn’t conduct a symphony even if he were about to lose his balls.”
“You’re such a lovely snake, Lila. I don’t doubt your ability to go far in this business,” I say, unable to control my tongue.
“True. But this snake will be happily wearing her own designer’s clothing come performance night.” She slinks her way over to me and swipes at an imaginary piece of lint on my shirt. “Unless you’d like to persuade me to keep quiet about what I just saw...and heard. Don’t want to give Mommy a heart attack, now do we? She’d never approve of you dating a nobody.” I take her wrists and ease her hands away from me.
“You can tell my mother whatever you wish. But in my show, you’ll do as I say.”
“We’ll see, sweet Alek.” She turns and walks toward the parking lot.
Chapter Thirteen
Erin
He always manages to sneak into my mind, a slippery, but sexy Russian-American man with an accent unlike anything I’ve ever heard before.
When I think of Alek, I feel him all over and inside my body: through my nipples, my thighs, between my legs. I’m on fire, and there’s no hydrant around for me to grab so I can put it out.
I’m in a constant state of rotating between feeling excited and being scared as hell. Flipping through the movie channels doesn’t help one bit, either. Every single station has something romantic smacking me in the face, reminding me that I’ve more than likely