She nodded, letting go of his shoulders long enough to wipe away some tears. “Maybe…if we’re careful…the occasional ‘private collaboration’ wouldn’t hurt.”
“Private collaboration? I like that.” His blue eyes glinted, and his lips curved the tiniest bit. “I wouldn’t mind starting on this private collaboration right away. Should I park the car and come inside?”
“Just to clarify—I’m not talking about a viola and violin duet,” she said.
“Neither am I, baby.”
They took their instruments inside and laid them next to each other on her table, and headed for her bedroom to continue what they’d started in the car. He pushed her back on her quilt and used his body to hold her down instead of rope, and it was even more exciting somehow, having him in her home where they’d hung out as friends so many times.
“Please, don’t wait. Don’t tease me,” she said, groping in her side table drawer for a rubber.
He knelt over her to put it on, giving her a stern stare that made her pussy throb. “After all your crying and complaining, I’m inclined to make you wait as a punishment. But I won’t.”
He surged inside her instead, lifting her hips from the bed with the intensity of his desire. When she grabbed handfuls of his hair to ground herself, he captured her fingers and imprisoned them in his fists. She felt closest to him when he was holding her down.
“Please, more,” she begged. “It feels so perfect.”
He complied, playing her with as much skill as his instrument. Perfect power, perfect friendship, and a magnificent climax.
“I want more of you tomorrow,” he whispered in her ear as she trembled. “And the next day, and the next. I want to collaborate all the time.”
She thought that would be wonderful, and told him so with a long, surrendering kiss.
Later, when they were all fucked out and limp with satisfaction, he made her sit in his lap so he could brush her hair. He was so careful, so slow and affectionate as he tamed her long, tangled locks. She realized with a sudden burst of insight that he was right, that everything would be okay between them. They could be friends, lovers, and musicians, because he cared enough to brush her knotted hair without hurting her. Like everything between them, it was a trusting thing.
She tipped her head back, and he bit her neck as Tchaikovsky played in her memory, all the notes sounding wonderfully right.
Perfect and Powerful
Where Ruby Learns to Like Jonathan
1.
Ruby didn’t usually drink at quartet-related events, but this was a party more than a performance. She, Ethan, Jonathan, and Steve had been invited to a film premiere in Los Angeles since one of their songs had been selected for the soundtrack—for the movie’s penultimate sex scene, no less. After playing a set of songs in the theater lobby for the bigwig attendees, they were free to roam and mingle with the glittering guests.
“The Gold Quartet has made it.” Steve nudged Jonathan, their de facto leader, and gestured around the room. “Look at all this money.”
“We’re not in it for the money,” Jonathan replied, straightening his tuxedo. “We were able to show these people real musicianship today. The more listeners we reach, the more lives we touch, and that’s a good thing.”
“Spoken like a true first violin,” Ethan snarked. He played the viola, and Steve the cello. Ruby played second violin, but when first violin was noted maestro Jonathan Gold, it was easy to hold your head up high. Each member in their quartet had a specific and important purpose, but the best quartets weren’t democracies. In their quartet, Jonathan cracked the whip. The result was an award-winning musical collaboration, growing respect in the orchestra community, and cushy trips like this.
“Take it easy on the champagne, kid,” Steve joked when Ruby took a second glass from a passing waiter. “You’re a lightweight.”
She slid her eyes over his athletic frame. “You’re big enough to carry me out of here if I pass out.”
“Not in that dress, I’m not.”
Ruby laughed, because the blond, hulking cellist could easily manage the tulle-skirted ballgown she was wearing. She did a ballerina spin, feeling like a princess in the midnight blue confection. Her long brunette locks were styled off her shoulders tonight, twisted into an intricate chignon by her lover Ethan, who had a talent for designing pretty knots. Best of all, she was surrounded by three talented princes in flawless tuxedos—three musically talented princes who had become her best friends over the past five and a half years.
“I feel like celebrating,” she said. “It’s a huge accomplishment to get our music into a film, and on top of that, we played really great tonight. It seems like every time we play Beethoven’s Quartet in B flat major, we discover something new about it.”
“What did you discover?” asked Jonathan, his amber-brown eyes studying her with interest.