The Carrero Heart - The Journey (Book 2 of Heart Trilogy)

Chapter 13

I yawn as I wander from the elevator into Arrick's apartment, covering my mouth and dropping my oversized school bag on the floor by his coat rack in the entrance come dumping ground, for shoes. His jacket and sneakers are already there, and I can hear the soft strumming of a guitar as I wander around the little wall that conceals the elevator from his lounge area.

He is sat on the couch strumming his acoustic guitar, oblivious to my arrival and I stop and watch him for a moment with a huge smile splaying across my face. It's been eons since he played his guitar and I reminisce warmly over how many times he has played to me. A little shiver of joy that the boy I loved is making a slow comeback. He looks amazingly sexy with it on his lap, strumming it while concentrating so hard on what he's doing. He looks so at peace and not a single expression on that calm beautiful face.

It has been over three weeks of dating him and we are getting into a routine slowly, going out together, having fun and spending more nights together than apart. I left my friends from our Friday dinner and caught a cab here to wait for him as planned, but he has beaten me home after drinks with his own friends at a nearby bar. Sometimes we still do things apart, I still feel like I should be holding something back a little, not quite ready to fully throw myself at his mercy again, and he doesn't complain when I ask for a night to do my own thing. Obviously, he still understands where I am at.

I slide off my flat pumps and discard my cardigan with my jacket, moving across to come upon him from behind so he won't see me until I run my fingers over those large shoulders that just scream to be touched. These past weeks I've been braver about exploring that body when I cuddle up to him and discovered he has no boundaries in where he lets my hands roam. As long as it's not down into his pants of course, which he is making sure is off-limits and things stay unheated.

Arrick pauses, looking up and seeing me smiling down at him, catches my face as I lean over and gives me an upside-down kiss, crazily molding our mouths and managing a very erotic bit of lip sucking that makes me giggle. I run my fingers over his face as I pull away and push my hair back behind my ears.

"Hey, beautiful." He goes back to his guitar, pulling it back onto his lap as I come around and sit beside him, curling my legs under me in my dress so I can get comfortable to listen. I loved nothing more than watching him play in my teens and cannot express the happiness at seeing him back to this after two years of putting it away because of Tasha. I get a little mental high five at the fact he is back to playing again. A sign that he is happier, more relaxed in his own skin like he used to be.

"Sing for me." I urge him, smiling softly when he glances my way; all awkwardness I felt at the beginning of starting this relationship has fully dispersed in the last few weeks and too feel more like I used too, able to be myself around him for the most part, even with the silly squabbles and disagreements that mean nothing. We still have those, yet they are never about anything serious or important.

"What do you want me to sing for you?" He strums a few notes as he tunes his guitar again, while I think back to all the songs he used to play well and suited his husky voice.

"The Creep, by Radiohead." I sigh at him, memories of that song one night, two years ago when we were snowed in at a skiing lodge with no power and only warm beer and friends to get through the night. Arrick played this song to me when most were almost asleep or chilling by the log fire. I was haunted by the memory of how perfect that moment was for a long time after. Arrick smiles down at his guitar as though reliving the same memory, looking my way for a moment.

"I almost kissed you that night. I remember looking at you after this song and thinking how much I wanted to kiss you. Moving in close without even thinking about it and telling myself I was drunk and being an idiot." He frowns as he strums another couple of notes, eyes still on me and looking at me like he very much wants to kiss me now. All his subtle little tells showing and eyes all hazy.