Love Struck (Miss Match #2) (29 page)

Her voice floated down the stairwell like an angel. She was singing. Something beautiful. Something new—new to him anyway. He took the stairs two at a time and then paused to look out through the half-open door at the top. She was sitting on a rise just ahead of him, guitar in her lap.
Lucky
. LoveCoda always called her guitar Lucky. How surreal to realize the strums he heard every night came from that instrument he’d come to admire virtually.

How surreal that the woman he’d become so close to online was the woman he so adored.

He stayed at the door, listening to her song. Taking it in. Not wanting to interrupt. He savored each note that spun out of her mouth—was it a new song? She hadn’t played it on tour, and it was too good to have not been included in her set. Which meant she’d written something new. She’d broken through her block and this time finished a whole piece. He didn’t think he could be more filled before that moment, but he was, pride layering onto the incredible wealth of emotions bursting through him.

The chorus came around again, and he moved with the melody, burned with the words.

I’m going to lose you

Lose you inside of me

I’m going to break you

Remake you as part of me

It was incredible how it spoke exactly to the way he felt about her. He’d been so struck by this woman—so hit over the head with love. There were so many pieces of her he’d already accepted as part of himself. Things LoveCoda said, the way she encouraged him and bolstered him, the connection he saw in Lacy’s eyes, the way she clung to him when he buried himself inside of her. Both sides of the woman that he knew were completely inside of him. The song was perfect.

She was perfect.

When she finished, he let the last notes settle around him. Then he began to push the door open.

He was stopped by the sound of clapping.

Jax moved into his line of vision. “That was incredible, Lacypants. You were right—your music
is
good.”

Eli’s stomach dropped.
So she shared her song with him. It doesn’t mean anything
.
She thinks he’s you.

Lacy met Jax’s applause with genuine astonishment. “Really? You really liked it?”

“Liked it? I loved it. I have a couple suggestions, of course. Like, you could cut the leading bridges. They’re kind of out of place. And then, you could layer the chorus with a choir.”

Screw Jax with a bagpipe; he was so ridiculously full of himself. The bridges weren’t out of place—they were a colorful contrast to the pattern of the verses. And the chorus was gorgeous in its starkness.

Eli would tell that to her as soon as he got a chance. Wouldn’t let her change a single thing.

Thankfully Lacy seemed reluctant to accept the notes. “Yeah, yeah. Some good ideas. I’ll keep them in mind.” But then she said, “I’m so glad you liked it though. Because … because it’s for you.”

Now it was Eli’s heart that dropped. Lacy had written a song … for Jax?

“For me?” Jax’s surprise echoed Eli’s.

But it was probably really for Folx. She wrote it for Folx whom she thought was Jax.

Except then Lacy lowered her gaze to her shoes, and said, “Yeah. I wrote it this morning. It’s about you and me. It’s about last night.”

Eli’s heart dropped further, if it were even possible. Last night—what had happened between them, exactly?

“I’m so glad last night meant as much to you as it did to me.”

Was there more than their night out on the town? After Eli had left the hallway, had Jax gone to her room?

“Oh, it did.”

They could have hooked up earlier even. Eli knew as well as anyone how unnecessary a bed was. How unnecessary night was.

“And that you inspired me … well, this is embarrassing, but I’ve been having trouble writing lately. But you’ve helped me break through that. In ways you can’t even imagine.”

That hurt Eli the worst. Because it didn’t even matter if Jax and Lacy had done the deed. He obviously meant something to her—meant something big. He’d done for her what Eli hadn’t been able to do. He’d inspired her. He’d helped her break free.

“I’m flattered. Thank you for letting me be your muse.”

Jax’s cockiness irked Eli to no end. But the emotional reaction it stirred in him was nothing compared to the one that followed when Jax took a step closer to the songbird, leaned down, and kissed her.

Eli immediately pulled the door back to its near closed position, unable to watch further, and leaned against the stairwell. He hadn’t watched long enough to figure out what kind of kiss it was—a first kiss, a muse’s kiss. A lover’s kiss. He couldn’t bear to see her lips pressed against another’s. How had he ever thought he could walk away from her? For brief seconds he fought the impulse to walk out, to interrupt the embrace, but that would only stop the moment. It wouldn’t stop the relationship.

There was one thing that
would
possibly stop the relationship—if he told Lacy that Jax wasn’t Folxnotdead27. And Eli wanted to tell her. Wanted to tell her more than anything, especially now.

But he knew deep in his gut that he wouldn’t. Even as he continued to debate it in his mind, his heart rate had already slowed to long mournful beats. She may have fallen for Jax believing he was the man she connected with online, but it was the man she’d spent last night with that had inspired her song.
That
was the man she needed. The man who made things happen. Not the one cowering in the sidelines. Not the one hiding in a stairwell.

Eli’s steps were heavy as he descended back to the bar. He’d been on a mission when he went in search for Lacy only a quarter of an hour before. How quickly his plans had changed. He still had things he had to say to her, but now they were very different things. He had words to say to LoveCoda as well. Both could wait a few hours though. Long enough for him to find his voice. Long enough for him to figure out the words to let them both go.

*   *   *

Lacy was in her blanket fort when her phone dinged. She ignored it. The blanket fort was a sacred place of creativity. She retreated further inside the warm, dark cave of hotel comforters.

A few moments later it dinged again. Unacceptable. She extended an arm and groped for the offensive device. A flick of her finger turned the ringer off.

She pulled Lucky back onto her lap and resumed strumming. She pushed the pedal to start it looping with her left hand, and moved back to start some fingerpicking. Her eyes closed, and she sang a few bars.
No, it should go up at the end.
That sounded better.

It was absolutely amazing, how the words were flowing today. Not like a broken dam, just like a fast stream, clear enough to let her dip in and pull out just the right lyrics.

The bus ride to the hotel had been pretty solid too. Jax let her listen to a new singer-songwriter he’d discovered, and it had given her some cool ideas about how to arrange some of the lyrics she had dancing around in her head.

And best of all? Even though she was certain Jax had yet to make the connection between her and her alter ego, he’d sent her a message in the middle of the day. That was
not
the way they usually did it. Clearly, some of the darkness that had kept him wandering the streets instead of confiding in her online was dissipating. And it was her, Lacy Dawson, who had done it. Between the drinks, the dancing, and the unconditional understanding she’d offered him, she’d broken through. Things were going so well between them, she was tempted to reveal her true identity to him early.

Though that was equal reason
not
to tell him she was LoveCoda. She wouldn’t want to ruin their budding relationship with unnecessary details. She’d wait until Christmas Eve as planned.

In the meantime, the overwhelming sexual feelings she had for Eli would die naturally. She hoped.

Anyway, it didn’t really seem like Jax was lacking for orgasms. If he was occasionally guilty of dipping in the pool that was the Blue Hills groupies, he also certainly spent enough time alone and with his mirror. Lacy was pretty certain he spent more time satisfying himself than she did.

Then she’d sung him the song, the song she’d written after their connection. And she could see in his eyes that the connection was really mutual. She’d touched him in the same way he’d touched her. And remarkably, it was a pants-on type of touch, even though he’d ended it with a kiss. Who knew you could achieve that level of intimacy without fooling around?

She swapped the last two verses, and sang through the new song again.
Nailed it!
This time, it was a knock at the door that interrupted her.

“No!” she yelled at it. The knock came again. Dammit, probably Sammy needed to change call time or sometime. These tiny interruptions could completely derail an entire afternoon’s worth of work, and nonwriters just didn’t get that. She flung open the door in a huff, only to see Eli’s shy smile instead of Sammy’s goofy one.

“Oh. Hi. Sorry, I thought you were Sammy.” She stared at him for a second. “Come in, I guess.” Hopefully he got the picture that she was only offering out of politeness, and not because she really wanted to deal with him right then.

“Thanks. I, uh. I owe you an apology, Lacy. I had no right to treat you badly last night. You were helping a friend. Helping
my
friend. And I wasn’t a very good friend to either of you about it. Can we still—do you hate me?” He looked so earnest, she sort of wanted to pinch his scruffy cheeks.

“Of course I don’t hate you. But thank you. I was pretty pissed you were mad when I was just trying to break him out a little.” She stepped away from the door so he could actually take her up on the offer to enter.

“Um, well, I guess that’s all I had to say. The apology. But to prove it, I kind of felt like maybe you’d like to share some wine?” He looked positively terrified, which was kind of adorable. But then the surroundings caught his eye.

“Is that a
blanket fort
?” He looked equally incredulous and impressed.

“It is. Wanna check it out?”

“Obviously.” He got down on the floor and crawled in, affording her a very nice rear view in those jeans.
Oh Em Eff Gee. STOP. Dying naturally. Let those sexy feelings die.
“Oh, hey, you’ve got your stuff set up in here!” he called. She dove in after him.

“I mean, everyone loves a good blanket fort, but I actually did this
so
I could set up in here. The acoustics are much better when you’re letting the mattress and comforters absorb sound, rather than letting it bounce off these shitty hotel walls.”

Eli was staring at her in a way she knew meant he was thinking about kissing her. Well. It was probably going to revolutionize the way he wrote songs on tour, so she probably deserved a kiss.

For Christ’s sake, Lacy. You are terrible at ignoring this attraction. Like the worst.
And she’d been kissing Jax—her true love—only that afternoon. Geez, what kind of a girl was she?

She should thank Eli for the wine and send him on his way. “Um, did you want to hear that song you had helped me on? I finished it.”

So inviting him to stay and listen to her song was another way to deal with things.

He grinned, and leaned his elbow into her side gently. “I’ve already heard it. It got you an encore last night. I should have told you then how proud I was of you.”

“You noticed?” she asked.

“Yeah, I always watch your set. I went and told the guys so they could come see too. We’re all so happy you’re on this tour, Songbird. It seems like the audience is pretty happy too.” Lacy’s spirits were dampened for a second at the realization that Jax hadn’t been watching her to know. He’d kind of led her to believe that. Well, no, now that she thought about it. He had never said he was watching.

And if he
was
watching her every night, LoveCoda would have to be a little concerned, wouldn’t she? This was so freaking confusing.

“I really couldn’t be happier to be touring with you guys, either,” she said, and meant it.

“Hey, I have to admit, I had other intentions besides the wine. I know it’s not right, but…” The fort was dark, but not too dark for her to see the flash in Eli’s eyes as he leaned in. He also seemed strangely excited. He must be really sorry, and expecting a big apology make-out. His lips gently touched hers.

No, no no. Nope, n-okay. Just one kiss. Okay, just a few kisses.
She wanted to hate herself for being so powerless to resist him, but the man kissed like no one she’d ever met. She could not be held responsible.

She expected his hands to start roving right away, because that was kind of their thing, that the kisses just led to
stuff
. But instead they just deepened, and grew. His tongue was gentle, not probing. He pulled her closer.
What is this? I feel like a teenager, making out under the covers.
It was kind of cute, and kind of hot. And most definitely the last time.

Once—
oh God, he just bit my lip
—this was done, she was going to have an actual breakup talk with him. She did a shit job of it last time, but this time she had the words. She had the words! Words were a thing. That she could do now. Finally.

But in the meantime, kissing was a thing she could also do, and his kisses were soft and meaningful. His tongue glanced around hers, and then moved deeper, but pulled back to trace her lips.

It struck her that the tone of this kiss was melancholy and somber. Like a last kiss. Was Eli telling her good-bye? Because if he was, well, that was good because of the whole
last-time
thing she’d just committed herself to. Again.

But also, the idea of a last kiss with Eli—a last kiss for real—made her sad.

So she changed the subject. “Okay, okay, okay. I have to ask your opinion on this one part of my new song. Scoot. You’re too distracting this close.”

He pulled back, reluctantly it seemed. She took a deep breath. Poor Lucky had gotten wedged half outside the fort, just next to—