my pace as I split my attention to give her some of it, playing Killing Me Softly by the Fugees. A smile lifted Tatum's lips and she reached out to lay her right hand on top of mine, aligning our fingers so that she could feel the movements of the music as I created it.
"Does my pain call to you? Or am I just lucky that you always appear whenever I'm most in need of your company?" I asked her and she leaned in a little closer, placing a kiss against the side of my neck which made the hairs rise along my spine.
"You call to me, Saint," she replied, shifting her hand from my fingers, up my arm and over the sleeve of the black suit jacket I was wearing. She was still dressed up for dinner too, the silky black evening gown dipping low to reveal the full curves of her breasts while her stocking clad thigh pressed against my trousers.
"Mmm," I turned my gaze back to the keys as I continued to play, moving the song on to Halo by Beyoncé.
"I think you may just communicate better with music than you do with words," Tatum teased and I shrugged.
"It's more eloquent," I supplied. "I think the world would be a better place if we all just communicated via music.”
Tatum breathed a laugh. "How do you even know all of these songs by heart? I swear you don't even listen to pop music and yet I feel like I could name practically any song and you'd start playing it with no problem."
"How many songs do you know the words to?" I asked her.
"I dunno. Hundreds...thousands maybe. Once they start playing the words just pop into my head."
"It's the same for me, but I just memorise the music as well," I said. “And I don't have anything against pop music, or any kind of music. I only ask that what I listen to emotes and captures true emotion. Music should hurt, bring joy, resonate with memories or just make you feel. If it does that, it has value beyond all the money in the world as far as I'm concerned."
"You're just a big old romantic at heart, aren't you?" Tatum asked and I scoffed.
"If you say so, siren."
"Can I put you to the test then?" she asked as the song came towards the end.
"Are you hoping to trip me up?" I asked her, playing Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus next and smirking at her. I wasn’t certain if she was the one who had come crashing into my life or if it was the other way around, but it seemed fitting for us.
"Maybe."
"Only if you indulge in a fantasy for me then," I said, bobbing my chin towards the top of the piano. "Lay up on there while I play."
"Are you going to ravish me on top of a piano, Mr Memphis?" Tatum gasped mockingly.
"In a room where your husband's psychotic grandfather may walk in at any moment? That sounds like a rather foolish suggestion. I learned my lesson the last time with Niall. I quite like my head being attached to my body."
"It is such a clever head," she agreed as she got to her feet and climbed up on top of the piano for me.
I smiled at her as she draped herself across it, her grin saying she thought this was ridiculous even as she embodied the perfection of the fantasy I wished for. Her long legs lay across the piano and her dress rode up to expose the lacy tops of her stockings, making me groan with longing.
I drank in the sight of her as I continued playing and she started throwing random song titles at me, trying to catch me out with different genres and ages of music. But I managed to capture each choice she selected, replicating the music on the piano for her until she was laughing and reaching out to stroke a burning path along my jaw with her fingertips.
"What's got you feeling so down?" she asked in a soft voice, those blue eyes of hers looking right into my soul.
"Down?" I asked as I continued to let my fingers drift over the keys, flowing back into the familiar patterns of Mozart as the music wound its way around my soul.
"The music you were playing before I came in here was all so...sad," she said, looking down at my fingers as I realised I'd slipped into a rather melancholy choice now too.
"Hmm."