He muttered something under his breath before he eyed me contemptuously. “I should ground you for this. Not only were you out past your curfew, but your boyfriend woke me up out of a dead sleep.”
“I’m sorry, Daddy,” I said again.
“Fine then. Get in the house.”
“Yes, sir.”
When I started past him, he reached out for my arm. “You could smooth things over by giving me a goodnight kiss,” he said, with a wink.
I grinned and reached up to kiss the salt and pepper stubble on his cheek. “Goodnight, Daddy. Goodnight, Mama.”
My mother reached in to kiss my cheek. “Goodnight, sweetheart. Your Brayden sure does have a romantic side, doesn’t he?”
Before I could reply, my father groaned. “You’re killing me here, Marie. Don’t encourage her.”
She waved her hand dismissively at him. “I seem to remember someone else being awfully romantic when he was Brayden’s age.”
“Hey, I’m still romantic,” he argued.
“Of course you are.”
As my parents bantered flirtatiously at each other, I headed back into the house. I didn’t know how I was going to go to sleep. I was still so wound up. Brayden had written a song just for me. He’d come to my house in the middle of the night because he had to sing it to me. It still was unbelievable.
Until There Was You—the song that started it all for the two of us.
LILY
PRESENT DAY
“How impressive that you wrote your first song when you were just sixteen,” Giovanni remarked.
Brayden nodded. “Looking back, it’s not the strongest one I’ve written musically or lyrically, but I wouldn’t change a thing about it. The song represents such a time of rebirth in my life.”
With a smile, I said, “I like it just the way it is.”
Brayden chuckled. “I’m sure you do since it’s singing your praises.”
“You got that right.”
Giovanni grinned at the two of us. “So that was the most romantic thing Brayden did. I’m curious to find out what was the most romantic thing Lily ever did.”
Tilting my head, I replied, “Hmm, I’m interested to hear his answer for this one, too.”
“I’m surprised you even have to ask. I would think it would be a given.”
“Being the mother of your three children?”
He laughed. “Okay, I guess you need to think a little more superficially than our kids.”
“Is it sitting at home in our garage with its own custom-made covering, and no one is allowed to get too close to it?"
“Bingo!” Brayden replied, his eyes wide with amusement.
“Hmm, let me guess? It’s a car,” Giovanni said.
Brayden winked at me. “It isn’t just a car. You can’t call a ‘68 Challenger just a car. It was my pride and joy until Lily came along, but she managed to make it special, too.”
Giovanni’s brows creased in confusion. “Is that where the most romantic thing comes in?”
Brayden held up a hand. “Hang on. To understand why the Challenger is the most romantic thing, we have to give you a little backstory with the car and with us.”
Feeling warmth flood my cheeks, I said, “I don’t know how much I can actually say about us and your car that is appropriate.”
“While you’re giving him the just the basics of the story, I’ll be remembering all the good details…or maybe I should say the naughty details?”
“You’re impossible,” I muttered.
Brayden merely grinned. “But you love me.”
“Yeah, I do.”
LILY
THE PAST
Friday night after the last football game of the season found me in the back seat of Brayden’s car. All four windows were fogged up from the heavy breathing of our exertions. The top to my cheerleading uniform lay crumpled in the floorboard along with Brayden’s shirt. The rough denim of his jeans chafed against my thighs as his hips worked against mine. The friction caused more and more moisture to grow between my legs.
It had been two months since he had serenaded me in the middle of the night. We’d been an exclusive couple ever since. Any free time I had after school and work was spent with him. If I wasn’t with him, I was on the phone with him. Friday nights I usually went solo to cheer at the football games while Brayden went to Atlanta to play with his band. I’d usually join him on Saturday nights. There was nothing I loved more than to listen to him sing. Of course, I loved it the most when we were alone, and he would sing into my ear.
That’s what had originally led to tonight’s make-out session. Something about his voice did things to me, made me squirm with an ache between my legs. After kissing in the front seat for a few minutes, Brayden had climbed over the backseat and beckoned me to join him. While we might have moved fast with our initial attraction and becoming a couple, we hadn’t gone full speed with the sex stuff. I was glad that Brayden was being patient with me and taking things slow. At the same time, the more I felt for him, the more I wanted to eventually give him my virginity.
As his hand drew down one of the straps of my bra, he jerked his lips from mine. His warm brown eyes questioned if I was okay with this next step. I bobbed my head, causing a lazy smile to drag across his lips. One of his hands delved beneath me to find the clasp of my sports bra. Grunting, his fingers worked to unhook it. After a few minutes, he blew out a breath of frustration. “Dammit, I can’t do it.”