by Meg Buchanan
He sighed and pushed her hand away. “Now I really need a drink.”
“Don’t be cross, Adam.”
He shrugged. “Why not?”
“I don’t want the little time we have left spoiled.” She had hurt him, but he would recover. She’d just give him a little while and he’d see she had made the right decision.
Now he was quiet as they wandered from bar to bar trying to pick one. Geneviève pulled him to the next door. “I think the bar needs to face the sea.”
“They all do.”
She sighed at his tone. “But some have big decks you can sit on.” They’d sit in the sun and have something to drink and watch the sea the people walking by and everything would be all right again.
“Okay, we’ll find one with a deck then,” said Adam. He just wanted alcohol. But if she wanted to sit in the late afternoon sun and wait until she could leave him, fine.
They stopped at the next bar, or maybe a restaurant. It looked like it served alcohol and it had a deck covered in chairs and tables.
“What about this one?” he asked. Geneviève wanted to go home. After just a few days together he loved her, but she didn’t want to be with him anymore.
“It’s perfect.” She smiled at him hesitantly.
“It’ll do.”
She glanced at him then they settled at the table. He ordered a bottle of the wine. Too early to start on whiskey but he might segue in that direction later.
Geneviève sipped at her chardonnay. “I think this is a karaoke bar.”
“Yeah.” He looked behind him. Even though night had set in not much was happening inside yet. Maybe the karaoke crowd arrived later.
He sipped on his wine feeling hurt and thinking about Geneviève’s decision. Maybe she was right. He still had nothing to offer her except part of a degree and student loan. And if things didn’t work out with Stadium they’d have nothing to live on and would have to come back. Then the whole Mason problem would still be there. Sitting here feeling sorry for himself and getting drunk didn’t achieve anything.
He’d make sure tonight was fun, then he’d take her to the airport and say goodbye.
They sat and had their drinks and slowly the bar filled up. It looked like people came here after work by the way they were dressed. And from the activity on the stage some of them would want to sing. The big screen behind the stage and the side had been turned on. Song titles flowed across both of them. It got cold, so they moved inside and found a table.
The wine bottle was almost empty when Adam saw the first guy climb up on the stage with the microphone. After a pause the credits for a Tom Jones number flashed up on the screen.
The guy looked in his mid-forties. What was he doing choosing Tom Jones? Adam played with his glass.
First the introduction then, “Why, why why, Delilah?” boomed out across the bar. Didn’t that guy know anything from the last fifty years?
By the second verse most of the crowd were singing along. At least they got into it quickly.
When the second person got up on stage and started in with Britney Spears, Geneviève turned to him smiling. “This is fun. Are we going to have a go?” she asked.
“No,” he said. “I don’t do karaoke.”
“Why not? You’d be good at it.”
Geneviève turned and looked at the stage. Her long dark hair swung then settled on her shoulders, the slender curve of her throat exposed for a moment. He touched the bracelet on his wrist. She was leaving in a few hours.
The next few singers were nearly as bad as the first ones had been. He emptied the bottle into this glass. It wasn’t her fault the timing was so bad when they met.
Then Geneviève turned back to him. “Come and sing with me, it’ll be fun.”
“I thought you couldn’t sing.”
“I can’t but,” she nodded at the girl on the stage, “it looks like it doesn’t matter. It’s just for fun. Come on.” She stood and grabbed his hand to pull him up.
He shook his head. “You go and show me how it’s done. I’ll watch,” he said with a grin.
Chapter Twenty
Geneviève studied him. She wanted to have fun tonight. She wanted it to be a night they’d both remember forever. He should sing with her.
Then she had an idea. She knew how to make him join in.
“I will be amazing,” she laughed. “You’ll see.”
“I’m sure you will,” he said. “Go for it.”
She turned and threaded her way through the tables. The noise of the packed bar crowded and jostled her. She went over to the man running the karaoke. A girl in front of her watched the screen on the DJ’s console and then pointed at a song title.
“That one,” said the girl.
“‘Raining Men’?” the DJ asked. The girl nodded, then moved to the edge of the stage and waited. It looked like this worked the same way as Karaoke did in the bar she went to with her friends in Montevideo.
“Can I see?” she asked over the noise coming from the bar and the stage. When the song titles had been scrolling across the big screen earlier she’d seen the one she wanted.
“Of course, darlin’.” The DJ turned the screen a little for her.
She found ‘Stay the Night’ and pointed at it. She didn’t want to shout that at him. He seemed sleazy enough and didn’t need an opening.
“Anytime, sweetheart. Name?”
“Geneviève.”
He typed it in one fingered. She felt tempted to tell him how to spell it but then figured if he could read what he’d written he’d be fine.
She went over to the stage and stood quietly watching the man there finish his turn and then the girl in front of her start murdering ‘Raining Men’. She felt nervous about what she planned. She couldn’t sing, she knew that for certain, but when she’d been at university she discovered how to make sure nobody minded.
Anyway, she wanted Adam to sing. But he’d said he didn’t want to. What if he wouldn’t play along? Then she’d look stupid.
When the girl finished she heard the DJ introduce her. “And now we have the lovely Geneviève, with ‘Stay the Night’.”
She shrugged. Her turn. If this didn’t work and she made a fool of herself, she was leaving the country tomorrow anyway.
She went up on the stage and took the mic off the stand.
The crowd roared its encouragement.
Then she had another thought. If the backing for the song was too country, all banjos and fiddles this might be harder to do than she hoped. The version she listened to Adam’s car hadn’t been like that. It had been sad violins and a sobbing guitar. Hopefully that was what the karaoke version would be like.
The introduction floated across the stage and out to the audience. Just acoustic guitar. Good.
Then the lyrics slid across the screen in front of her.
She took a deep breath and spoke them, the way she used to in Montevideo, putting all the smoke and feeling into her voice she could. A little harder in English than Spanish but it should be enough.
“Please just stay with me tonight.”
She stepped down from the stage. Lucky the bar had a couple of screens with the words sliding across them or this wouldn’t work. She hadn’t listened to the song often enough to know it.
“You don’t really need to go.”
She glanced up at the next line as she moved past the first few tables then spoke the words as deep and sexy as she could. It took almost the whole first verse to get to Adam sliding past tables, avoiding chairs. She didn’t know what she would do if he wouldn’t take the mic and sing the chorus for her. She could get away with speaking the verse, but the music soared when it got to the bridge.
She made it to the table before she ran out of lyrics.
Adam looked up at her and shook his head.
“I’m not doing it,” he mouthed.
She smiled at him, ignored what he’d said and finished the verse.
“Make love until it’s morning.
<
br /> Because we only have tonight.”
Then she leaned across the table and wrapped his hand around the mic while the music played for the next few bars. Would he play along? Or would he refuse? She waited to see what he would do.
Adam had watched weave her way towards him speaking the lyrics low and soft, her accent making them even more poignant.
Why this song? She hadn’t liked it when she’d heard it in the car. But now she was talking the lyrics at him like an invitation.
Then she handed him the mic and he knew he had exactly eight bars, fourteen notes to make up his mind about whether to do what she wanted. He mentally went through the lyrics she’d just spoken. Would he do it? Maybe this was her peace offering.
He shrugged. What the hell. She wanted him to do it. Luke never handed him a mic, so he never got to do it with Stadium.
“You’ll pay for this later,” he whispered under the cover of the last bar, and she giggled. He pushed his chair back and stood beside her holding the mic, waited for the last note and then way half through the next bar, came in with all the power and volume he could muster. His voice climbed up through the line.
“I don’t want to be alone.”
Considering he’d come in cold, it didn’t sound too bad. He put his arm around Geneviève’s shoulders and reached for the crescendo.
“Stay until it’s light.”
As he sung he walked her back towards the stage. He didn’t know what the crowd made of it. A complete hush had settled over them.
“If I wake and you are leaving.
At least we had the night.”
He sang the last lines of the chorus in the quiet measured way he’d have sung the verse. They walked up the stage steps together as he sang the last two lines of the chorus to her.
Then when he waited for the introduction to the second verse, applause whistling, and encouragement erupted from the audience.
They liked it. What a buzz.
For the second verse he shared the mic with her, she half spoke, half sang the lyrics and he backed her up. After three years with Luke in charge of Stadium, he knew how to do that. Then he let his voice soar through the chorus again. More applause and shouted encouragement.
When they were finished they took a few bows and the next guy took the stage.
Geneviève slid her arms around his neck and kissed him. “I knew you’d be amazing.” Her eyes sparkled. “But I wasn’t sure you’d do it.”
“I nearly didn’t. Nearly left you hanging.”
“You were wonderful.”
“I’m not sure about wonderful, but it seemed to go all right.” His hands rested on her hips. “What do you want to do now?”
“Go back to the hotel,” she suggested quietly.
“Okay.” Trying to stay awake all night was stupid anyway when what he wanted to do was spend the rest of the night making love.
He’d love her goodbye if that’s what she wanted.
Geneviève woke before Adam. It had to be morning. Light trickled in between the curtains and she could hear the hum of traffic. She watched him sleeping for a few moments. So beautiful. The chestnut hair. The long dark eyelashes. The perfect lips that could kiss and love her flawlessly. The curve of his shoulder muscles.
She reached for her phone to check the time. They still had an hour and a half before they needed to leave for the airport. They’d decided they’d have breakfast together there. She carefully slid out of bed.
She’d let him sleep a bit longer. It wouldn’t take them long to have a shower and get packed when he woke. She found one of the long sleeved tops she’d bought at the Base, pulled it on and then wandered out to the balcony.
Adam woke to an empty bed again. She’d already got up. He seemed to need more sleep than Geneviève did. He checked the time. In an hour he had to take her to the airport and then leave her. It would be the hardest thing he’d ever done.
He turned over and could see the curtain covering the door that led to the little deck had been pulled back. Geneviève was perched on the back of the lounge suite out there. Her hair ruffled in the breeze. He watched her watching whatever was happening on the street below the balcony.
He pushed the sheet back and sat on the edge of the bed. Elbows on his knees. This was it. The end. Tomorrow he’d be in Brisbane and she’d be in Montevideo. Was it possible to be further apart?
He turned his head and watched her again, still sitting on the back of the couch her feet on the cushions. Long tanned legs up to the hem of her top, the soft folds draping her body, her breast outlined, a bare shoulder tanned, and smooth, dark curls tangled, he could imagine the soft flush of sleep on her face.
She’d made what she wanted clear. She wanted to go home. Sad but resigned, his heart reached out to her. He leaned forward and turned the bracelet she’d given him around on his wrist and studied it. Did you wear these things when you were showering? He’d have to ask her. If you didn’t wear it in the shower, how did you get it off? He examined the knot. He couldn’t imagine retying that one handed.
He linked his finger together and rested his forehead on his hands. He couldn’t imagine being apart from her either. But he had to hold it together and say goodbye to her in a couple of hours.
He sighed, stood, found yesterday’s jeans and shirt, pulled them on then wandered across to the ranch slider. He pushed the curtains back a little further. Outside the sun blazed, the sky a perfect blue above the city buildings, fading as it got closer to the horizon and touched the sea. He stepped out onto the balcony with its chunky L shaped cane lounger and planters. “Hi, what are you doing?” he asked.
Geneviève turned and smiled at him. “Waiting for you to wake up.”
“Have you been up long?” he asked.
Geneviève shook her head. “No.” She nodded at the couch. “Come and sit.”
He sat on the cushions, her legs either side of his shoulders. He could smell sex on her from last night. He reached back to cup her head and pull her closer so he could kiss her. Her hair brushed his face and he smelled the shampoo she used.
After a long tender kiss, she looked up. “It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?”
He shrugged. “Yeah.” He felt in the mood for clouds and rain. Maybe fog. At least that might delay the flights.
She leaned further forward and rubbed her cheek against his. “You are sad?”
He nodded. But she didn’t sound sad. In fact, she sounded happy enough to bounce out of her skin. He hooked his arms over her legs and looked up at her.
“What’s going on?” Okay she’d see her family soon, but she didn’t need to look that happy about leaving him.
“You were right, Adam,” she said, still smiling.
“About what?”
“I want to come with you.”
“Where?”
“Brisbane.”
Now his grin matched hers. “Really?”
She nodded. She half slid, and he half pulled her off the back of the couch, so she was sitting in his lap. “When did you decide?”
“I’ve been slowly coming around to it all night. This isn’t the way it was with Mason. This is us. This is me and you. This is what I want.”
“Thank God for that,” he said and kissed her again. “I was just trying to figure out how I was going to cope without you.” No need to learn how to ride or to rope cows after all. She wanted to be with him.
“I love you so much.” She traced his lips with her fingers.
“Me too,” he said.
“I think you should say it again,” she said.
“I’m scared of getting rejected again.” He kissed her gently.
She laughed. “I won’t reject you this time.”
“You sure?” he teased.
“I’m sure, you are safe.”
He looked at her waiting for him to tell her he loved her too. She was perfect.
“I love you,” he said quietly. “I have loved you from the first moment I laid eyes on you.”
“I love you too, Adam.”
Acknowledgments
Thanks to the brilliant team who get my books ready for publication. To Deryn, who reads and comments on the very first draft. To everyone at Junction Publishing, Sandra who does the proofreading, and to Netta for the fabulous covers and formatting, and to Netta and Marco for being Junction Publishing. Thanks to the team of PAs who tirelessly promote the books.
Thanks to all the wonderful readers who enjoy my books.
About the Author
Meg Buchanan lives in Paeroa, which is in the Coromandel in New Zealand.
Meg has been writing for the last five years, most of her books are set in the Coromandel as it has a rich history and is spectacularly beautiful. It also has advantage beautiful beaches, amazing scenery and Paeroa has streets that already have names, couple of rivers and a mountain nearby, and neighbouring towns, so she saves time on world building.
Her books range from action adventure, to sci fi, to contemporary romance to historical fiction. Over the last few years Meg has been stockpiling manuscripts, fifteen in total, but now, Scavenger Hunt, is about to be released by Junction Publishing, and in February Trojan Gene will be released, and the first of the Prelude Series will come out soon after that.
Also by Meg Buchanan
The Prelude Series
Book 1: Out of his League
Book 2: Song for Jess
Book 3: Highly Strung
Book 4: I Thought I Knew You
Book 5: Love Me Goodbye.
More by Meg…
