Free Musician's Monsoon by Brieanna Robertson Page A

reached over to grab the shirt he had chosen for her to wear.
    When he had pulled it over her head, she glanced down to see it was an old Pantera T-shirt she sometimes slept in. She frowned. “Are you serious? Just a plain old T-shirt?”
    He smiled as he freed her hair from the collar of the shirt. “Rock and roll is all about music and attitude. It shouldn’t be about fashion or frills. There is nothing more rock and roll than a band shirt and a faded pair of blue jeans.” His gaze softened. “Maybe that was what caught my attention from the stage. Seeing you was like looking at my roots. Just plain ol’ rock and roll, before all the hoopla.” He stepped back to look her over and grinned. “There’s my girl.”
    Tingles fizzled throughout her body at being called his girl , and she turned to look at herself. She sighed in relief at the more familiar reflection. She wiped off the lipstick but decided the eyeliner could stay, and she messed her hair up a little bit more. That was better. Rocker Sophie. Slightly edgy Sophie. But still Sophie. Some normalcy seeped back into her, more of her methodical mind and less of the crazed, panic-attack-waiting-to-happen side.
    She turned back to Zane, who was smiling softly at her. He was all confident poise and beauty. All raw talent and bad-boy rock star. But he had such a gentle, kind heart. She could understand how the rock-star life had taken over to the point where he hadn’t been able to create anymore. In only a matter of a few short moments, she felt like she had been robbed of her identity by a bad choice of clothing. How much worse must it be to have all the pressures of stardom slowly creep in and suffocate all the parts of the life that you had originally fallen in love with? No wonder Zane had started to feel so out of control. He had lost touch with himself, with the whole reason he loved to do what he did.
    She sighed and slipped her arms around his waist. He held her tight and she closed her eyes, resting her cheek on his chest and listening to the rhythm of his heartbeat.
    “You’ll do fine, Sophie,” he murmured.
    She looked up at him and shook her head. “I’m not worried about that. I’ll muddle through somehow.”
    A small frown creased his brow. “Then what is it?”
    She slid her palms up his chest and across his shoulders, smoothing the fabric of his shirt and studying the texture of his muscles. “Zane, what was it that originally made you love music so much? What made you want to do this so badly?”
    “It’s always been in me, the sounds and the notes, even before I knew what they were. I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if it wasn’t there… It’s who I am. Without it, I would be lost. I was lost.”
    She smiled softly. “Then maybe you need to take off the black miniskirt and the red lipstick too.” She giggled at his expression. “Get back to your roots, like you said. Put on a pair of blue jeans and a band shirt, metaphorically speaking.”
    He stared at her for several seconds with a look of contemplation on his face before a soft smile curved his lips. “Find myself and just forget all the rest.”
    She nodded and studied his wonderful face. She’d never in her wildest dreams imagined she’d be here right now, with him, about to do what she was about to do. She still kept expecting to roll over and wake up.
    She couldn’t quite describe the look he gave her. But it was full of sincere warmth, gentleness, and something smoldering that made her heart flop around in her chest. He took her hand and raised it to press a tender kiss to the inside of her wrist. He continued up her arm until he got to her elbow. Then he placed it around his neck and aligned his body with hers. Something passed between them. Something more intense and more intimate than anything they had shared thus far.
    Sophie lost herself in his eyes and raised her lips to meet his. His kiss was soft and slow, and when his tongue delved in her mouth to deepen