Sunsets at Seaside(45)

Jessica looked nervously at Jamie, who was smiling with pride in his eyes, while her stomach twisted and turned.

“See? Everyone wants to hear you play.” He draped an arm over her shoulder as they headed up the stairs to her apartment.

Jessica realized the real cause of her stress. She’d played in front of thousands of people, the media, even the president, and she wasn’t as nervous as she was to play in front of her new friends. She wanted to be plain old Jessica Ayers to them, and she knew the minute Vera heard her play, she’d know how accomplished she really was, and even though the others may not realize the level of expertise she possessed, surely they’d recognize that her cello playing was above average. She hoped Jamie was right and that she was misjudging how she could fit her cello into the real world, and more specifically, into their relationship.

In her apartment, she fisted her hands in Jamie’s shirt and kissed him. She needed to get her mind off her nerves and she’d been thinking about his lips all day.

“I’ve waited all day for that.” He sealed his mouth over hers again, and within seconds her legs turned to jelly and her nerves eased.

She was blissfully under his spell. When he pulled back, she was breathless.

“Are you nervous?”

“You can tell?”

He covered her hand with his on his chest. “You’ve got a handful of chest hair in there. Some skin, too.”

She opened her fists. “I’m sorry.”

“Why are you nervous? Didn’t you say that you play in an orchestra?” He drew those sexy brows together.

“Yes.” She went to get her cello before either of them could make another move and they ended up between the sheets instead of down on his deck where everyone would be waiting to watch her play.

Oh gosh.





Chapter Ten





JESSICA’S EYES WERE closed as her fingers danced along the fingerboard of the cello against the backdrop of the setting sun. The bow moved gracefully, then forcefully, then full of grace once again, across the strings. In the few days Jamie had known her, he’d never seen such a peaceful expression on her beautiful face. It was as if the music had seeped into her body and filled it with serenity. Surrounded by the people he loved most, she opened her eyes for a split second and immediately sought his, and in that second, she leveled him flat.

Her lips curved up and her dimples appeared, making his entire world spin on its axis. In the next moment her eyes closed, and the combination of the music and Jessica made his chest feel full.

“Dude, she’s amazing,” Tony whispered.

“Yeah,” was all he could manage. Jamie had listened to his grandmother play in enough orchestras to know expert cello playing when he heard it.

After they played, Vera lowered her violin and gazed at Jessica. Jamie had never seen his grandmother in awe of anyone. There was no mistaking the look in her eyes as she watched Jessica humbly look down at her cello with something akin to love in her eyes. Jamie looked over the others, as they clapped and smiled and told both Vera and Jessica how marvelously they’d played, and on their faces he saw the same admiration for the duo that swelled inside him. Jessica’s eyes found Vera’s and held. Jamie couldn’t read the silent message that passed between them, but he felt the power of a secret world, a secret love. A kinship. If there was one thing he understood, it was that his grandmother had recognized something in Jessica that none of them could see, and he wanted to be in the know.

While the others gathered around the table filling their plates with the potluck dinner everyone had pitched in to make and Jessica settled her cello in the case, Jamie went to Vera’s side.

“That was beautiful, Gram.”

“Yes. Magnificent,” she said as she tucked her violin into its case. Vera pulled her thick sweater around her shoulders and crossed her frail arms over her chest with a slow exhalation. “Magnificent,” she whispered, as she shifted her eyes to Jessica again. “Be a dear, would you, please? I’d love a plate of food. I’m famished.”

Jamie knew when he was being dismissed. He could see that she wanted to speak with Jessica alone, and again he wished he could swim in Vera’s brain long enough to understand what she’d seen.

He grabbed a plate and filled it with salad, steak, and a slice of Leanna’s homemade bread and layered it with her delicious Strawberry Spice jam.

“Didn’t Jessica say she played a little the other night?” Bella asked.

“Yeah, she sure did.” Jamie respected his grandmother’s privacy and purposely didn’t try to eavesdrop on her conversation with Jessica, but he couldn’t help glancing at the woman who continually proved to be so much more than he ever expected. In every way, from her kindness and generosity, to her sweet demeanor and sensual instincts. She was standing with her hands laced together, swaying just the slightest bit, like a blade of grass in the breeze. Her lips were pressed together in that I’m-embarrassed-but-happy way that he’d fallen head over heels for, but her beautiful blue eyes were serious as she spoke to Vera. She nodded, said something that caused Vera’s mouth to open wide and then ease into her own pleasant smile.