Sweet Harmonies (18 page)

“
Ryan, Oh my God, Please Ryan…” Karina
heard desperation in her own voice.

Quickly Ryan rose up and pulled Karina’s
hands from his backside and placed them above her head. With one
hand he held her wrists together captive above her, with the other
he reached between their bodies and toyed with her hard nipples
while he drove into her again and again, ratcheting up the
intensity notch by notch.

When he could feel her nearing release, and
he would whisper into her ear, “Don’t do it. Do. Not. Come.”

With a tremendous effort she would bring
herself back from the brink of oblivion, but inevitably the intense
sensation of Ryan pounding into her again and again, combined with
the heady sensation of her arms being firmly held above her head,
as well as the magical things his fingers were doing to her
nipples, would bring her back to the very edge of bliss within just
a few moments.

Finally, when Karina felt that she absolutely
could not take even one more minute of this ecstasy lest her very
sanity escape her, she heard Ryan whisper to her, “Karina?”

She turned her head slightly toward him and
gasped, “Yes?”

She felt one of his hands leave her breast
and slide down her belly, his fingers expertly manipulating her
clit and he stroked in and out of her, at the same time as she
registered his words in her ear, “You can come now.”

Those were the last concrete details she was
aware of for several long minutes, as both her mind and her body
were lost in the shuddering explosion of orgasm. She didn't know if
Ryan was still inside her, or where he was touching her, or if she
was screaming, or if he was. All she was aware of was the brilliant
white light that engulfed both her sight and her consciousness, and
the waves upon waves of shuddering pleasure that it brought.

When she finally returned to herself, she
pushed herself up and scooted around Ryan pulling her legs up
sitting cross-legged.

Ryan smiled at her. He liked a woman that
felt comfortable with her body, and clearly didn't feel any
embarrassment when naked.

Karina grinned back at him, “So, yeah. Wow.
You have hidden depths.”

Ryan laughed, “I thought maybe you could use
a break from being the leader all the time.”

Karina chuckled, “Very perceptive.”

She hopped off the desk and picked her dress
up from the floor, slipping it over her head, and began collecting
the rest of her belongings from the various places they sat around
the room and putting them into her purse.

Ryan was confused, “Where are you going?”

“
Home,” she answered simply.

“
You don't have to go, Karina. We could
go upstairs. I could make us some drinks, or even some food, if
you're hungry.”

Karina shook her head, “Nah. I don't stay the
night. Sorry. It's something you'll have to get used to. It's just
the way I am.”

Unsure, he said, “OK...I guess. Well, can I
at least take you home, then?”

She laughed, leaning over and giving him a
sweet kiss, “Don't worry about it, hon. I've got my car here.”

And with that, she was gone, in a whirlwind.
The last sound he heard was the purr of her engine as her sports
car revved off into the night.

Chapter 12

The next evening, Ryan had sent his
grandmother home from Sue Ann's cafe early. She had looked tired,
and after the night before with Karina, he could use some time
alone to think. Because of his upbringing on the ranch, he had
always found that doing solitary manual labor was the best way to
set your mind to the task of solving a problem.

As he was closing the cafe – sweeping the
floors, putting the chairs up on the tables, zeroing out the cash
register, and locking up – Justin walked in, followed by two other
guys that Ryan had not yet met.

“
Hey, man,” Ryan greeted him with a
friendly wave, “We're closed right now. I mean the grill's shut
down. I could make you guys some sandwiches if you want,
though.”

Justin walked over to him, “Nah, man, thanks
for the offer though,” he indicated the guys behind him, “This is
Eric and his brother Jake, a couple of my buddies from high school.
We came by to see if you wanted to go grab a beer?”

“
Yeah, that'd be great, let me just
finish up here,” said Ryan happily, “If you guys want to grab a
seat, I'll be about five minutes.”

He realized he was in serious need of some
guy time. Between the waitstaff here at the cafe, his grandmother,
and now Karina – it seemed like he was surrounded by nothing but
women, all day, every day. It would be a welcome change of pace to
hang out with a group of guys for the evening.

In fact, maybe the influence of all the
estrogen he'd been surrounding himself with was the reason he found
himself obsessing about relationships in so much of his spare time
lately.

Yep. Definitely a good time to get a break
from women.

“
So, I didn't even realize that there
was a bar here in town,” Ryan said conversationally, as he finished
putting the cleaning supplies into the closet.

“
It's about a mile outside of town,”
Justin said, “It's called JT's Roadhouse. It's nothing fancy, but
it's a good place to knock back a couple of beers, play some
pool.”

“
Sounds great,” Ryan agreed, “Just what
the doctor ordered.”

About fifteen minutes later, as they walked
through the front door of JT's Roadhouse, Ryan looked around and
felt his body automatically relax. He felt at home in a place like
this. This bar was exactly like the places he had frequented back
home. Sawdust on the floor, country western music on the jukebox,
cold beer behind the bar.

It was your basic, no frills drinking joint –
the kind of place you might find in a thousand different places
across the midwest and south. Spending his evening in a place like
this, hanging out with other guys, was exactly the change of pace
that Ryan needed to stop going around and around in his head about
Karina.

Karina, and everything connected to Karina,
was complicated. Guys, were simple. A night drinking with the guys
would be the perfect antidote to thoughts of Karina.

Enough about Karina, he told himself. This is
going to be a Karina-free zone. The one and only Thoughts-of-Karina
free night you've had since you met the girl.

He felt less tense at even the prospect of
that.

As soon as they had sat down around the only
available table, however, Justin turned to Ryan, looking a little
uncomfortable.

“
So....uh....” he started, looking more
ill at ease with each stammering syllable, “You and Karina,
huh?”

Ryan groaned, “Oh, man, I was just thinking
how great it was going to be to spend a whole night not having to
worry about relationships, or discussing relationships, or
analyzing relationships...suddenly I feel like I'm living inside
the pages of Cosmo.”

Justin nodded his agreement, still looking
miserable, “Dude, I know, seriously – you think I wanted to get
into this with you? But you gotta understand, man – my fiance, she
sent me on a mission.”

Ryan laughed, “OK, I get it. You're the recon
man.”

Justin nodded, “Yeah, sorry about that. But
once you have a fiance, the bro code is no longer the highest
authority.”

Ryan nodded as the waitress arrived and set
their beers on the table in front of them, “Nah, I get it, I get
it. I wish I had something more concrete to report, Captain. I'm
afraid you might return from recon empty handed. I fear this
mission was doomed to failure from the start. The truth is, I don't
know what – if anything – is going on between me and Karina.”

Justin clapped Ryan on the shoulder, “Don't
look so down, man. If there's one thing I can spot a mile away,
it's a man in love and not sure what to do about it. I was in your
position not too long ago. Maybe I can help.”

Ryan perked up, “Really?”

“
Oh, yeah,” Jake confirmed, “It was
pathetic.”

“
Definitely,” Eric jumped in, “Really,
truly sad.”

Justin laughed, “Thanks for the support,
guys. And, see, Ryan? Even a pathetic loser like me was able to
remove my head from my ass and get the girl. What’s the situation?
I'm sure we can help you out.”

“
Too bad you had to fall for Karina,
though,” Jake said shaking his head.

Ryan felt himself getting defensive
immediately. He wasn't cool with hearing anyone bad mouth Karina,
even if it was just “guy talk.”

“
Hey, careful, now,” he said, “Karina's
amazing.”

“
Oh, for sure,” Jake backtracked,
“Don't get me wrong. I've known Karina since we were in elementary
school. She's fantastic. I just meant, she's not exactly the
settling down type.”

“
Oh,” Ryan said, mollified, “Yeah, I
think you might be right about that. Which is actually part of the
problem.”

“
Well,” Justin said reasonably, “Maybe
she's never been the settling down kind before because she's never
met a guy she really wants to settle down with. I mean, I gotta
tell you, dude – I've also known Karina since I was in elementary
school. And she would probably be pissed as hell if she knew that I
was telling you this. But the truth is, I've never seen her act the
way she does around you. I think she's seriously falling for
you.”

Ryan perked up even further, “Really?”

“
Hell, yeah,” replied Justin, “You
don't understand. That is one tough girl. I've never seen her act
as sweet and lovey and flirty as she does around you.”

Ryan was quiet, absorbing this new
information.

Justin shrugged, “I mean, do with that what
you will. I'm just saying...she's a really good friend of mine, and
you seem like a really good guy. So, if I can help you figure out
how to make it work with her, I'm more than happy to do that.”

For the first time since his encounter with
Karina had ended so abruptly the night before, Ryan began to feel
some small hope that he might be able to find a path through this,
a path which ended with he and Karina having some semblance of a
normal relationship.

Of course, just because he was starting to
feel hopeful now, he didn't want to let his optimism run away with
him. He needed a cool head about him to deal with Karina. Not, of
course, that he'd been able to achieve that for one instant since
the moment he'd laid eyes on her. But maybe now was a good time to
start trying. Yes, if he was going to re-formulate his plan of
action, then clear-headedness would definitely be an asset.

“
Here's the thing,” Ryan said, “There
are two main issues, as I see it. First, the whole she’s a
superstar thing. I mean...that's weird, right?”

“
What do you mean weird?” Justin
asked.

“
Well, I mean, I've never met anyone
even SORT OF famous before. D-list celebrities, reality show
participants. Hell, I've never even met anyone who played college
ball. I've never in my life shared two words with someone who had
any kind of claim to fame. And now I'm going to start a
relationship with one of the most famous women in the world? It's a
little bizarre,” he concluded.

“
Sure,” Justin conceded, “I can see how
it could seem that way. But what you have to understand about
Karina is that she is not her public image.”

“
What do you mean?”

“
Here's the thing – all that fame
stuff? That's just smoke and mirrors to Karina. It's not what she
considers her life to actually be about, or her career to be about.
It's not even something she considers a lucky side effect of her
career in music. It's more like the price she has to pay to be able
to make music. Trust me, when it comes down to it, you will never
meet someone who cares less about what other people think than
Karina Blackstone.”

Ryan considered this, and nodded, “True. And,
honestly, the fame thing – while it's a little surreal – doesn't
bother me all that much. But that leads me to the second issue,
which is...this whole attitude she has about her that's so...I
don't know...blasé...about love and relationships. 'I don't do
relationships. I only keep it casual.' That may be a dream scenario
for 99 percent of guys out there, but I'm not that guy."

“
I definitely respect her need for
independence, and I'm not trying to tie her down. But, at heart,
I'm a traditional guy. I don't do casual when it comes to
relationships, and she's made it clear that she ONLY does casual.
That just seems like a very large divide to be trying to meet
across.”

Jake shook his head, “Man, you're thinking of
this all wrong. You're thinking ahead, way down the line. What you
need to do is just focus on the moment.”

“
Ok, how?” asked Ryan.

“
It's true,” Eric chimed in, “If you
want Karina to give up her wandering ways and get serious with you,
you're not going to be able to do it by pressuring her to choose
between her independent lifestyle and settling down with you. What
you need to do is just show her, with no pressure, how much more
amazing her life would be with you.”

“
Yeah,” Jake concluded, “The key is to
make her WANT you more than she wants to keep it
casual.”

“
I agree,” Justin said, “I mean, come
on, you can't expect her to give something up without seeing that
she's trading it in for something better, right?”

Ryan nodded. That made a lot of sense.

“
OK,” he said, “I see your point
there.”

“
Plus, you have to remember,” Justin
said, “It's hard for Karina to trust people. This kind of goes back
to the fame thing. It's gotta be pretty rare for her to meet
someone that doesn't want something from her, either directly or
indirectly, even if it's just to be seen with her. And most of the
time, weasels like that don't reveal their true nature right away.
So, is it any wonder she wants to keep men at arm's length? If she
didn't, it would be too easy for people that don't have her best
interests at heart to get close.”