Page 39 of Blind Attraction
“Can I get you a drink? Something to eat?”
Nourishment of the food and beverage variety had been far from her mind. However, if Mitchell was strong enough to break their connection and move away, she supposed she should be able to do the same.
While she said her greetings to Ryan, Mason, Sean, and Blake seated at the dining table playing cards, Mitchell strode to the kitchen, returning moments later. He led her to the darkened lounge room. The lights were off, making it harder for her to see. It also made their private picnic on the sofa more intimate. They sat side by side; their thighs touching while a plate of unrecognizable food rested on her lap.
He leaned into her and kissed her neck. “There’s cheese, crackers, and some fruit. Just feel around until you find something you like.” He cradled an acoustic guitar, the tan exterior the extent of what she could see. She wished she had the vision to appreciate the instrument he lazily strummed, to memorize the perfection of the moment. Instead, she listened with intent, letting the music seduce her.
In between bites of apple and sips of wine, he played softly. The notes were a beautiful weave of intensity and exquisite passion. The sound tickled her nerves, filled her heart, and made her shiver with sensory overload.
“Do you want a blanket?” The music stopped, and his hand traveled over her wrist and up her arm. “You’ve got goose bumps.”
Her skin tingled at his touch. “Um, yes.” She didn’t want to tell him the sensitivity came from his close proximity. “Please.”
He stood, resting his guitar against the side of the sofa and walked away, returning moments later with a blanket he draped underneath the plate on her lap.
“Better?” He sat back down beside her, resting his arm over the back of the sofa.
She nodded, trying to decipher his expression and failing miserably with all the shadows.
Light fingers trailed through her loose hair, behind her ear, and made her chest constrict. “What are we going to do?” he asked, his voice a soft murmur.
Alana remained quiet for a moment, unsure what he referred to, and not willing to look like a fool. “What do you mean?” She picked up the plate on her lap and lifted it forward until she found the table to rest it on. He continued to play with strands of her hair as she pulled her knees up to rest on the sofa between them.
“I mean about us.”
Her eyebrows rose. On the inside, her blood rushed like lava through her veins. She tried to suppress her hope, not willing to become excited about the prospect of a future between them only to have to hide her profound disappointment later.
“Once I leave tomorrow on this promo tour, are you going to mind me calling you?” His voice held no emotion for her to read. “Will you let me come see you?”
“Yes.” She bit her lip and nodded. “I’d love for you to.”
“Your mom won’t mind? I was thinking I might be able to rent a car and come see you when we’re in the Colorado area. Or if we get a day or two off. I’d need to check the schedule.”
Alana cringed. At her age, she shouldn’t have to worry about her mother. Yet there was no way he could show up at her home. “No, you definitely can’t go to the retreat. My mom doesn’t allow any men on the property unless necessary, but I’m actually thinking of staying in Richmond for a while.”
His fingers stopped caressing her hair so she continued. “I want to see the Bowens again and find out if they’re my grandparents. My mom won’t tell me anything. I know she won’t, so it’s something I need to do for myself. And if what they claim is true, then I don’t have any immediate plans of going back to Colorado at all.”
“You’ll move to Richmond?”
She shrugged, still unsure of her plans, and not wanting to say them aloud until she confirmed things with Kate. “Maybe.”
“Maybe,” he repeated, swiping his fingers through her hair one last time. She jolted a little when both his hands gripped her thighs. He turned her body, pivoting her on the couch so her legs rested over his. The blanket came too. Her skin brushed against the stiff material of his jeans, and the heat of him made her insides burn.
She wanted him. Wanted nothing more than to cuddle into his body and be one with him. No other man had held this appeal. She may not have abundant experience, but she knew that what she felt for him probably bordered on the unhealthy side.
Was it normal to fall for someone this quickly? Maybe the whole fame and fortune thing had affected her.
“Virginia is a hell of a lot closer to New York than Colorado,” he whispered and leaned in to kiss her neck.
“Mmm,” she groaned at the way her nipples tightened at his touch. “My mom never thought I was great at geography, but yes, I’d determined the same thing.”
He chuckled and his tickling breath slid down her back, under another one of Mitchell’s shirts, and shot straight to her pussy.
“I’m going to miss you.”
Take me with you, was poised on the tip of her tongue, but she bit back the stupidity, concentrating instead on the hand moving under the blanket to her ankle. He teased her flesh, making her want to moan at the exquisite way his fingers trailed over her calf, behind her knee, up to mid thigh.
“Mitchell.” She panted his name, trying to warn him to stop, yet the word came out more like a plea.
