I hear Killian laughing behind me as I feel his body press against my back. The warmth from him travels through my thin tank top, causing my body to flush.
“So are you guys ready for a show you’ll never soon forget?” He asks as he steps beside me and rests his hip against the side of my chair, all the while continuing to keep his arm wrapped around me.
We all nod in unison, “I’m so ready to see if you can live up to all the hype I’ve been hearing tonight. You better sing your heart out, man,” Mila says, busting his balls. I can’t help but laugh at her sassy mouth.
Lifting his hat off, Killian runs his fingers through his long black locks before placing it back on his head and pulling the brim back down to the tops of his brows shielding his face from the world. “Just for that. I’ll be sure to make this the best performance of my life. I don’t just talk the talk, sweetheart. I walk the walk.”
Slapping him playfully in the stomach, I lift my head up at him and flash him a playful smile, “Enough with all the talking. You need to get up there and do what all these people came here to see and sing. And can I make a request? I promise to not request any boy band crap.”
Furrowing his brows, he leans down only a few inches from my face, causing my blood pressure to rise and my heart rate to kick up a few notches as he quietly says, “Anything, you name it, I’ll sing it.”
My voice cracks slightly as I try to force the words out. He makes my brain become jumbled when he is so close to me. “Ten Tonne Skeleton, by Royal Blood. It’s my absolute favorite song at the moment and would love to have your version stuck in my head when I go to sleep tonight.”
Squeezing my hip, he smirks down at me, “Thankfully for you and me, I know the song well and have actually covered a few of their songs over the last several months. Royal Blood, coming right up.” His fingers slowly slide along the back of my back as he backs away before his hand leaves my back completely. It feels cold where his hand just was, making my skin miss the warmth of his touch.
Within seconds, he’s jumping up onto the stage and greeting the crowd with Raze’s owner standing beside him taking the infamous selfie he takes with every artist who graces at stage.
It isn’t long and Killian has his electric guitar in his hand and he’s center stage at the mic commanding the room. The second he opens his mouth and strums the cords of Ten Tonne Skeleton, the entire room has their eyes on him. To all of our surprise Killian isn’t just good, he’s fricking amazing! Like he should be touring the world kind of good.
I officially think that his cover of that song is now my favorite, and I’m so happy I decided to record the performance with my iPhone because I will want to watch it over and over again.
Each time he smiles down at me, I can’t help but smile back up at him. He has never looked sexier to me than he does right now. It must be that whole rock star thing he has going on right now as he rocks out on stage in black skinny jeans, military boots and the same Guns N’ Roses tee he was wearing earlier. He’s wearing the same black Hurley hat he was wearing when we first met yesterday. There are girls all lined up along the front of the stage dancing and singing along to each song he sings. But Killian spends the entire hour singing straight to me, making his words from last night ring loudly inside of my head. He sees no one but me when I’m in the room.
He looks in his element up there singing to the crowd of party goers. He has them all eating out of the palm of his hand. As I watch him perform the rest of his set though sadness begins to cloud my happy mood. After tonight is over, his time in Newport Beach will be over too. He’ll be back on the road and onto the next town, the next bar, and possibly the next girl.
Chapter Six
After the bar closes, we say goodbye to Rick and Mila who left to go back to her place, while I help Killian load his guitar and amp into the back of his BMW SUV. His car screams money. I know he said where he’s from back in Los Angeles where the world revolves around superficial things, but Killian comes off as this chill, laid back guy who doesn’t care about money. I can’t wrap my head around how a guy like him who’s traveling town to town playing in bars is able to afford a car like this.
I don’t know him well enough to feel the right to pry so I keep my questions to myself. Killian drives me back to my apartment and is now waiting inside while I grab Blue from next door. I’m beyond nervous because I know this is more than likely our last time together before he leaves town tomorrow. I want so badly to ask for his number, or even his full name, so I can friend him on Facebook so we could keep in touch. But he’s so damn hard to read that I don’t know if he’s going to want to move on to the next town and the next gig and never speak to me again. How do I know this isn’t a normal Killian thing to do?
Pushing the front door open, my eyes immediately go to Killian who’s standing in my living room looking at the photos I have displayed in a large collage on my wall. Setting Blue down, I slowly pad across the hardwood floor over to him. Stopping beside him, I nervously hug my arms against my chest as I slide my eyes across the photos. Some black and white and others filled with vibrant colors, they all vary from pictures from my childhood with my mother during the good times we had before she passed. There are also some photos with my grandparents when I was a baby. The rest are more recent ones of my high school graduation and pictures I captured during my road trip to California and when I first moved here.
They aren’t a lot, but they are all I have to show for my life.
“Is that you and your mother?” He finally says, pointing to a photograph of my mother and me sitting at a picnic table with my fifth birthday cake in front of us. I had the biggest smile on my face as I sat on her lap ready to blow out my candles.
She was my idol. The person I looked up to and wanted to be like when I grew up. That is until addiction took hold of her and destroyed the beautiful woman I once thought the sun and the moon rose and fell for.
Nodding yes, I glance quickly at Killian before looking back up at the wall of photographs. “Yes. That was us on my fifth birthday. That was my last happy memory with her. Not long after she fell into addiction and two years later it took her away from me forever.”
Killian presses his lips together tightly making them form a straight line across his face as he inhales deeply through his nose. His eyes search mine before turning back to the photograph. He finally blows out the breath through his lips as his hand finds mine.
“Addiction is an ugly, ugly thing, Summer. I’m sorry you had to see firsthand the cruel reality of how drugs can destroy your life in a blink of an eye.”
The pain in his voice is evident. I can’t help but wonder if he’s experienced the same devastation as I have?
I squeeze his hand and lean against his shoulder taking comfort in having him here with me right now. Even if it’s only for right now, I’m going to take as much from him I can get before he vanishes into the distance come tomorrow.
“She was so beautiful and talented beyond words. She used to teach an art class in my hometown and even sold some paintings to a few people during craft fairs in the summer. I was able to keep one painting when I moved into my first foster home...it’s hanging on my bedroom wall right now as a matter of fact. It’s of a little girl running through a field of wildflowers in summer time. It’s titled Wild Summer, which of course is me. She painted it one afternoon while at my grandmother’s house where we lived. It’s all I have left of her. The sad part is I was so young when she passed that it’s hard to remember her now. I can still faintly remember the sound of her voice, and the scent of her favorite perfume she always wore. But when I try to remember moments with her, they’re like still life shots flashing in my head. The older I get, the harder it is to remember her. Sadly, when my mother died, the bank took my grandmother’s house. I lost everything I had of my mother in a matter of seconds.”
My eyes begin to sting as tears well up in my eyes. It’s been years since I’ve talked to anyone about my mom. I haven’t cried
since I was a child. Years of going through foster care numbed me. I learned life is easier if you pretend to be strong and not let people affect you. I blink the tears away, refusing to let them fall.
Stepping in front of me, Killian gazes down into my eyes with the sexiest smirk playing on his lips. Instantly, I feel my heart begin to race, and my sadness float away and disappear out into the Pacific Ocean.
“I’d love to see this painting,” he says, tugging on my hand as he pulls me into him. Within seconds, I’m wrapped in his arms as he hugs me against his body as he rests his hands at my sides.
With one hand, I nervously tuck my hair behind my ear while pressing the other against his chest. I can feel his heart racing as fast as mine against the palm of my hand. “Is this a sneaky ploy to get into my bedroom?” I tease trying to lighten the mood.
Killian lets out the sexiest laugh I’ve ever heard. It’s deep and raspy and immediately causes my body to tingle all over, as he replies in a sexy voice, “No. I’m trying my best here to be a gentleman, Summer. Now show me this painting.”
Chapter Seven
I lead him down the short hall towards my bedroom. It isn’t much. There’s a twin size bed, a small dog bed on the floor for Blue, and an antique dresser. Hanging above the dresser is the painting. It’s bursting in color with the blue summer sky, yellow rays of sunshine, and white puffy clouds. Then at the bottom of the painting is me in a yellow sundress running through a field of wildflowers. I have my arms spread out wide, running my hands over the tops of the flowers. I look so happy and free.
“Wow. This is really amazing, Summer. I can see why people wanted your mother’s artwork,” he replies, as he steps behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist, and hugging me against him as he rests his chin on my shoulder. “Do you paint?” He asks as he stands behind me studying the painting.
My stomach flutters with excitement of feeling his arms around me, and having his cologne cascading around me, filling me senses and making a feeling of pure contentment settle over me. It’s hard to explain but when I’m close to him like this, I feel more alive than I have ever in my life. The only other thing that comes close to this is the rush I get when I’m surfing.
I shake my head no and say, “I painted in school, but nothing like this. Sadly, I don’t have my mother’s talent. I think if she would’ve stayed the woman she was when she was painting then she possibly could’ve taught me. The only talent I have is singing in the shower and surfing,” I joke.
It feels like we stand there for hours staring at my mother’s painting but really it’s only a few minutes. I stifle a yawn as exhaustion sets in. It’s well after one a.m. and my body, used to being in bed by midnight because of my early shifts at the diner, is struggling to stay awake. I’m trying so badly to stay awake and soak up every minute I have with Killian.
He nuzzles his face into my neck, causing goosebumps to dance up onto my skin. My body flushes red-hot as a soothing warmth blanket my body as I feel my body temperature rise as it reacts to his touch. I feel his warm lips press a kiss against my collarbone and instantly my knees grow weak. It feels amazing being wrapped up in his arms. I can’t help but inhale deeply as I take in the smell of him. It’s like a blend of sandalwood, citrus and the ocean. It has my neurons firing rapidly in my head as the scents tickle my senses making me feel drunk off his cologne alone.
“I better get going. It’s late, and I have to be on the road in a few hours,” he says in a low voice as if he is pained saying them. A soft voice in the back of my head is telling me to ask him to stay. But another voice, which is much louder, is yelling at me to make him go. Don’t prolong the inevitable. It’ll only make it hurt more come morning.
Spinning in his arms, I reach up and fist his t-shirt in my hands, keeping him close to me. “I had a lot of fun tonight. Thank you for inviting me to watch your show. I hate that you’re leaving tomorrow. I’ve wished over and over that tonight would never end. It has been the best date of my entire life.”
Fate can be a bitch sometimes. Bringing people into our lives only to snatch them away too soon.
Killian’s green eyes are dark and filled with pain as he stares down into my eyes. His hands slide up my sides and come to rest on the sides of my face as he gently cups my face in his hands. His fingers slip under my hair as he slides his hands into my hair and tilts my head up to his, and says, “I’m glad I met you, Summer. I’m sorry I don’t have more time here because believe me two days with you is not enough. But I promise I’ll come back. It may not be tomorrow, or even a week from now but I’ll be back for you. Will you wait for me?”
I feel as if the air has been knocked from my lungs and my mouth suddenly has lost all ability to work.
Can I wait for him? How do I know he doesn’t give this same speech to every girl he meets? I mean... look at him. He’s incredibly sexy. Seriously the sweetest, most romantic man I’ve ever met. And he’s actually a gentleman. Not too many men would spend two days with a girl and knowing they’re leaving after those two days, not try to get into her bed. He has my head spinning like a top. I’m so confused on what to say or do.
Licking my now parched lips, I inhale a shaky breath as I tighten my grip on his t-shirt and comment, “I’ll try to wait. It’s just that if I’m being honest, Killian, I like my life how it is right now. It’s simple. It’s not extraordinary but it’s a good life. I have some great friends, and happy life. I’m scared that if I get my hopes up that you’ll come back for me and then you don’t that I’ll soon begin to hate this place and allow sadness to creep into my peaceful life. The road is a crazy place. You’re ridiculously gorgeous and I know no matter where you go, you’re going to have girls throwing themselves at you. I can’t let those images bombard my thoughts...sorry I’m rambling...I just have so many thoughts buzzing around in my head right now.”
“Close your eyes, Summer.”
Narrowing my eyes up at him, I give him a puzzled look. “What?”
As his all too familiar crooked grin curls up at the corners of his lips, he nearly demands, “I said close. Your. Eyes.”
Rolling my eyes at him, I let out a frustrated sigh and do as he asks. I feel his breath warm against my face and it makes my heart clench in my chest as I hear him say, “I want you to push all those negative thoughts out of your head right now, Summer. And replace them with these words I’m about to tell you. Okay?”
I nod my head up and down, telling him yes, but don’t speak. I squeeze my eyes shut and tell my negative thoughts to go away and visualize them floating out my open bedroom window and blowing away in the salty ocean breeze.
His fingers leave my hair and come to rest on my shoulders where he begins rubbing soft, soothing circles with his thumbs against my skin, saying, “You are easily the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met. Not just on the outside, Summer—but on the inside too. I’ve only known you for two days and in those two days I’ve found myself being drawn to you with the inability to pull away no matter how strong I try. There’s just something about you that when I’m near you I feel as if I’ll never be close enough. I hate that I found you now when I have so much going on in my life. I want nothing more than to stay here with you, but I can’t. I hope someday soon I can come back and be the type of guy you deserve. I wish I could make you understand, but I can’t. My life is a mess right now. The Killian you got to know these last two days is the Killian I want to be. I wish I could tell you everything and help you understand, but I can’t. I’ll leave my number with Rosie before I go tomorrow. What you do with it after that is up to you. But I hope you’ll save it and text me sometimes. I promise as soon as I can that I’ll be back for you.”
My body is shaking with emotion as everything Killian just said to me sinks in as I’m attempting to wrap my head around it all. I suddenly feel his right arm wrap around me while his left returns to my face, cupping it and tilting my head towards the ceiling. I keep my eyes shut as I’m too scared to look Killian in the face ri
ght now because I’m afraid if I do, I’ll allow my emotions to get the best of me and allow the tears that want to fall to break free.
I feel his lips brush against mine, gently at first, taking me by surprise. Then they press against my lips again this time a little harder and they linger against mine cautiously. I allow my body to take over and push my fears into the back of my mind and kiss him back. I run my hands up his chest and bring them to a stop as I lace them into his hair, holding the back of his head as I press my lips harder against his. His lips are soft as they glide against mine, making my heart dance in my chest. My body is lighting up under the power of his kiss and my lungs are burning as I try to keep them filled with air. His kiss instantly takes my breathe away. I tilt my head, deepening our kiss, as he hugs me tightly against his chest. It feels as if our bodies are melting into one another as his tongue slips into my mouth and begins dancing with mine.
I tilt up onto my toes as I try to get as close to him as physically possible. I’m starving for more. This kiss is hands down the best kiss of my entire life. People are always talking about fireworks exploding around you in movies when your crush finally kisses you. Well right now it feels as if I’m floating in the clouds with the Fourth of July finale exploding around us.
The heat from his hands is burning into my skin and through my thin top as he holds me against him and continues to kiss the breath straight out of me. I melt into him as his mouth explores mine. He tastes of sweet tea and spearmint—it’s the most amazing concoction as I savor the taste of his kiss.
I burn this memory inside my mind just in case there’s the slightest possibility that I never see Killian again. Even though he’s promised me he’ll be back, I can’t help but be scared that it’s an empty promise like all the other promises I’ve been told in this lifetime. Growing up the way I have, you learn to never rely on the promises of others. The only person you can ever rely on is yourself.
Anywhere With You Page 3
