Sweet Harmonies (32 page)

It was like Ryan was a drug, and she was his
insatiable addict.

As her orgasm began to radiate outward from
her very core, she threw her head back and screamed. Her head hit
the front door that she was still pushed up against. Her vision
darkened at the edges and stars danced across her view, but she
didn't think that was entirely due to the hard knock to the head
she had just dealt herself – she thought that at least a good
measure of this starry vision may be due to the incredibly powerful
orgasm that was filling her body with electrifying,
consciousness-stealing pleasure.

As the waves of pleasure subsided and the
rhythm of Ryan's strokes gradually slowed to stillness, she kept
her arms and legs wrapped around him, holding him there inside her,
not ready to let him go yet.

They stood there together, still intimately
connected, silently, just breathing together as Ryan stroked her
hair.

Karina knew something at that moment, even if
she didn't have the awareness to put it into words. She knew that
there was no holding back any little part of her heart from Ryan.
There was no “wait and see how it goes.” There was no “if it works
out, great, if not, too bad.”

She knew that she needed him. She knew that
she, independent Karina Blackstone, who made it a POINT to never
need anyone or anything, now needed this man.

It scared the shit out of her. At the same
time, it thrilled her to the bone. She would never be able, she was
afraid, to reconcile the paradoxes that Ryan engendered in her.

She felt safer in his presence than she had
ever felt, and yet she also felt more vulnerable to him than to
anyone in her life.

When she was around him, she felt the urge to
open up and show him every hidden secret inside of herself. Yet,
she was also plagued by the urge to draw herself in like a turtle
and hide.

She sighed, finally, as she untangled her
limbs and set her feet on the floor. With her usual leonine grace,
she slinked across the entryway and started slowly up the stairs,
reaching her arms above her to stretch as she climbed. Ryan
watched, speechless, as her beautiful naked body retreated up the
staircase away from him.

“
I need a shower,” she said casually,
offhand, over her shoulder.

Ryan, who by now knew the drill, began to
collect his clothes from where they were strewn haphazardly around
the room.

“
Guess I'll be going then,” he said,
endeavoring to keep his voice light, to at least cling to the part
of his plan in which he had vowed not to pressure her
unduly.

She slowly turned on the step she was on, and
surveyed him as he gathered his things.

“
Unless...” she began slowly, drawing
out the last syllable, her languid voice as rich and sweet as
molasses.

He straightened and looked at her, his breath
catching as he was treated again to the sight of her naked body on
the stairs, this time from the front.

She smiled, enjoying his reaction.

“
Unless, of course, you'd like to join
me,” she said, a smile playing on her lips.

A wide grin spread across his face, and he
said, “Now there is an offer that I just can't refuse.

With that, he dropped the bundle of clothing
he had gathered up in his arms and, heedlessly leaving the garments
where they fell, bounded up the stairs after her.

Chapter 22

Ryan sat in his office, staring at the
computer screen, a wide grin on his face. He was trying to
concentrate on straightening out the cafe's accounting system.
“Trying” being the operative word there. At this point, he'd been
at it for almost four hours and hadn't made any progress at all, so
trying and FAILING was more like it.

Still. He couldn't make himself care. Try as
he might to keep his thoughts on the QuickBooks screen he had open
in front of him, he kept tabbing over to the browser window where
he had pulled up pictures of Karina. He couldn't help it. She was
dominating his thoughts.

All morning, he had been smiling, singing to
himself, playing drums on the edge of his desk with two pencils. He
felt like a teenager who was in love with the Homecoming
queen...and the Homecoming queen actually returned his
affections.

Yes, true, she hadn't wanted him to spend the
night last night. She had kicked him out after their shower, which
had been steamy in more ways than one. So it's not like there
wasn't still progress to be made.

And, true, he had to keep reminding himself
that they weren't in what could traditionally be termed a
“relationship” - after all, there had been no discussions of the
future, no promises of exclusivity, no vows of any kind of
commitment.

It was shocking to Ryan that he cared as
little as he did about any of that at this moment. Yes, sure, it
did bother him. If he had his way, they'd be settling down today.
He was certain, now, of what he wanted out of life, and he knew for
sure that it was Karina Blackstone.

He had to remind himself consciously not to
rush her. After all, she was not like him – she was a free spirit.
She had never had a commitment like the one that Ryan had in mind,
had never put down roots like the ones that felt so natural to
Ryan. This was all new to her, and he had to give her time.

In that respect, however, he did feel that
they were on an even playing field. As shaky as the ground must
feel beneath her feet when she thought about making a long-term
commitment to him, that was how unsteady he felt in her
freewheeling, casual-relationship world.

In his world, a person gave their heart
before they gave their body. In hers, it was the other way around.
They were both making compromises here.

He was startled when two men he'd never met
before sauntered into his office as if they owned the place.

He quickly minimized the pictures of Karina
on his screen, embarrassed somehow to be “caught” looking at her,
even though he hadn't done anything wrong, and was after all in his
own office.

Still, these two just gave off an aura of
being in charge, and it was difficult not to respond to it, at
least subconsciously.

Ryan stood halfway out of his chair and
gestured toward the two visitor seats which faced it, but that was
unnecessary, as the two strangers were already settling themselves
into them.

Ryan was puzzled to say the least at the
sudden appearance of these two. He knew that they weren't from Hope
Falls. First of all, he had never met them. When you ran the only
cafe in a town the size of Hope Falls, you ended up meeting – or at
least seeing – pretty much everyone but a couple of hermits.
Secondly, their clothing and appearance screamed big city
sophistication. Hope Falls was a lot of things, but it was
certainly neither a big city, nor sophisticated.

The smaller of the two men was older,
possibly even approaching elderly, but it was clear that he had all
of his wits about him. He exuded an aura of wheeling and dealing,
of working the angles, of always looking for an edge in any
situation. He was short and stooped, and had small tufts of white
hair puffing out from the sides of his otherwise bald head. The
oversize glasses he wore completed that picture.

The other man was the first's physical
opposite in every way imaginable. He was tall, fit, tan, and
impeccably groomed. His dark hair was perfectly styled, not a
single strand out of place. Even details as small as his eyebrows
and fingernails were perfectly shaped and manicured, he was the
definition of metro-sexual.

Ryan raised an eyebrow at them curiously.
“Can I help you gentlemen?” he asked.

The older man smiled ingratiatingly and
extended his hand across the desk to Ryan, “Bernie Kaplan
here.”

Ryan shook his hand as recognition of the
name hit him, “Oh, I’ve heard that name before. You're Karina's
manager, right?”

“
Right you are,” said the other man,
flashing a grin filled with perfectly straight and white teeth.
Then, extending his own hand, he said, “Davis Johanssen. Spintown
Records.”

Ryan shook Davis' hand and said, “Nice to
meet you, Mr. Johanssen. I'm surprised to see you here. I realize I
owe you a telephone call.”

Davis laughed heartily, although Ryan didn't
think he'd said anything funny.

“
Enough with the 'Mr. Johanssen.' Mr.
Johanssen is my father, am I right? Please. Davis.”

“
Alright, then Davis,” Ryan responded,
“So what can I do for you gentlemen?”

“
Right to the point, I like that in a
person,” Davis said, leaning forward and switching into
‘powerful-businessman' mode.

He continued, “Here's the deal. Spintown is
willing to cut a new artist development deal with you. We liked
what we saw on the video. We think that you and Karina have an
explosive chemistry.”

“
Explosive,” Bernie echoed.

“
We'd want to use her to position you.
Have her work on your project, send you out on the road with
her...”

“
It's a synergy thing,” Bernie put
in.

“
Exactly,” Davis finished.

They were silent for a moment, and Ryan
realized that this must be the point that he was expected to make
some sort of response, but he wasn't sure what they wanted to know
from him.

“
Wow,” he began, “So, what does Karina
think of this?”

“
Oh, Karina will love it,” Davis said
self-assuredly.

“
Love it,” Bernie concurred.

“
So, you haven't talked to her then?”
Ryan asked.

“
She'll love it,” Davis reiterated as
if it wasn't an issue, “So, what do you say, kid? Are you
in?”

Ryan said, “In what?”

Davis laughed again, heartily, and again Ryan
didn't know what he'd said that was so damn funny.

“
In business! Do we have a
deal?”

Ryan shook his head, “I don't know. I
mean...I'd definitely have to talk to Karina first.”

Bernie waved this off, “Nah, nah, that's not
how these things work. You tell us what you want, we'll take it to
Karina, and she'll tell us how she feels. We'll bring that back to
you.”

Ryan furrowed his brow, “That
seems...unnecessarily complicated.”

Davis threw his head back and laughed yet
again, “I love this kid!” he exclaimed, “Bernie, do you not love
this kid?”

“
Love,” Bernie confirmed.

“
So, do we have a deal or not?” Davis
asked again.

“
I'm not even sure what you're asking
me to agree to...” Ryan said, confused.

Bernie smiled, “He's shrewd, this one!”

“
Very shrewd,” Davis agreed.

“
Look, kid,” Bernie said, leaning
forward, adopting a 'let me level with you' attitude, “Here's the
deal. You're obviously extremely savvy. So, this is what I'm gonna
do for you. I'm going to agree to be your manager.”

“
You're Karina's manager,” Ryan
protested.

“
Is she my only client?” Bernie shot
back, “No, she is not. She may be the prettiest, but she is not the
only. You, my young friend, could join the roster. Just say the
word, and Bernie will be looking out for your
interests.”

Ryan said, “Well...I guess I would need a
manager. If this goes forward.”

“
You do.”

“
OK,” Ryan said, “I tell you what. I
will admit that I'm interested in this. The idea to be able to play
music for people, on a larger scale...I like that idea.”

“
So, you're in!” Davis said with
finality.

“
I'm in-TERESTED. Big difference,” Ryan
responded.

“
Great, kid, great...” Davis said
distractedly as he and Bernie got up to leave. He was already
pulling out his phone and punching buttons.

As Davis and Bernie retreated down the hall,
Ryan heard Davis say into the phone, “Yeah, it's me. The kid's
in!”

Ryan laughed. He could tell that setting and
keeping boundaries professionally with these two was going to be as
hard as it was personally with Karina. What was it about show
business people, that they could just envision the world that they
wanted, and then make it come to pass? Charisma? Unwavering belief?
The subconscious certainty that things would work out? Possibly a
combination of all those things.

Whatever it was, Ryan admitted to being
slightly pulled in by their magic. He knew he needed to keep his
feet on the ground and his head out of the clouds, to not count his
chickens before they were hatched – but damn, even now he could see
a crystal clear vision of himself, playing and singing on a stage
in front of thousands of people.

And, he was honest with himself. He admitted
it. He liked that picture. He wanted that life. And, in spite of
himself, he was starting to feel a little excited that Bernie and
Davis might be able to give it to him.

The only variable, the only thing up in the
air in Ryan's mind, was how Karina would actually feel about the
whole thing. Yes, sure, Davis and Bernie had seemed certain she
would love it. But he had a feeling that Davis and Bernie would
have seemed equally certain that the sky was red if it would help
to close a deal.

Ryan knew that, regardless of what those two
said about the process of deals getting done, he needed to talk to
Karina himself to find out her feelings.

He pulled out his cell phone and pressed the
speed dial button that caused it to call her. He listened to the
ringing on the other end, and then heard her voice, but it was only
her outgoing message.

He debated leaving a message on her voice
mail, but decided that this was something it would be better to
talk to her about in person.