“Oh baby, we’ve only just begun,” he retorts, just as the stage lights flicker back into life, showering us in a warm, orange hue.
I run my fingertip over the smooth wood grain of my harp, as I always do, a quiet moment of communion with my instrument before I play.
My fingers know what to do seconds before it even occurs to me.
The first few notes ring out and Marius catches my eyes and gives me a look much like the one he gave me just a few hours ago, just before he slid inside me.
I grin back at him. I thought he’d like my song choice.
And on this stage with thousands of eyes watching us, he mouths the words along to our music, “Let’s get it on, sugahhhh, let’s get it on.”
I throw my head back and laugh, unable to remember the last time I felt so free.
***
“Fuck, that was hotttttttttt,” Brad comes over, holding his hand up for a high five as Marius ushers me off the stage at the end of our encore.
I reach up and slap my hand against his, and he pulls it back, shaking it while making a hissing noise.
“Yowww! Still smoldering!” he says and gives me a wink.
All I can do is giggle in response, the adrenalin high from the show’s final performance lifting me off my feet and I feel like I’m hovering a few feet above the ground looking down at myself.
“Yeah, I hope Butter was listening… save me having to put on my moves to seduce her tonight!’ he says, referring to his fiancee by her nickname.
“I can hear her sigh of relief from here, fartbag,” Jez comes up behind him, slapping him across the head.
“Hey, Emily loves my sexy man moves,” Brad protests and wiggles his butt back against Jez who gives out a cry of horror then winks at me as he reaches around and gives Brad’s chest a squeeze.
“OI! HANDS OFF THE GOODS!” Brad screams, pushing Jez away, covering his chest protectively as he runs down the hall.
Jez pats me on the back as I choke on my laughter.
“Easy, sis. Easy now, can’t have our new star performer dying on us after that killer performance.”
“Oh my god, Jez, did you hear me? I did it! It was so incredible. I mean this is my third concert with you guys, but being out there during that encore, taking the lead. Oh my god! THIS IS SO MUCH FUN! I wanna go out again!!” I grab my brother’s arm, babbling a mile a minute as he laughs at my excitement.
“Yes, I did hear you AND see you, sis. I was standing right there. Proud as fucking punch.”
“I did it!” I yell again, a reminder to myself. And to any doubts that insist on lingering.
“Ha ha, yes, you did. I think you’ve kicked this stage fright thing for good.”
The reminder of the fear, and the cause behind it, pokes at the edges of my brain, but I push it back, shaking my head at the darkness and it dissipates.
“Yeah. I hope so. I can’t believe it was just… days ago, that the thought of being in front of all those people would have me frozen to the spot. And now…” I sigh, letting the feeling, the rush of the performance wash over me again. I feel the blood pound in my ears all over again and I jump up, squealing in my brother’s ear as loud as I can “SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!”
“OW! Anca! You just set like three car alarms off in the parking lot!”
“I can’t help it, I’m just…”
“You did good, baby sis. You did good.” Jez wraps me up into one of his big brother hugs and I remember that this wouldn’t have been possible without him.
“Thanks, big bro.”
“No problem, Anca. No problem at all.”
“Hey, is this group hug just for Romanian music prodigies or can anyone join in?” Seb’s voice pipes up behind us. Jez pulls away from me and grins at the rest of the band coming up to us.
“Yeah, it’s only for people who can’t kill buffalos with their cheese breath.”
Sebastian’s face instantly falls and he holds his hand up to his mouth, puffing into it. Then he suddenly leaps forward and grab Jez’s face and lands a kiss right on him. Jez growls and drops to the ground and the other two guys jump on top of them, a giant dogpile of the best fusion classical rock string groups in the world.
“Anca! Help me! Don’t let them take me or else you’ll be an orphan brother-less harpist!”
His helplessness makes me laugh even harder. “Don’t worry. Jezzy! I’m coming for you, bro!” I yell as I take a running leap and land smack bang, right on top of the wriggling pile.
***
“Is it always like that?” I pant through breaths, as I roll over and rest my head on Marius’s damp chest. Somehow, we’ve ended up here again. Naked in my bed, post-mindblowing orgasm.
“I would hope it’s only going to get better, baby,” he whispers as he wraps his arms around me, still struggling for his own breath.
“Not the sex! The performing.”
He takes a moment, and it’s something I’m coming to admire about him. As good at the class clown as he can be, he always takes a moment to really consider my questions when he knows it’s important.
“It’s pretty fucking awesome. It’s… it’s life giving,” he says. “But tonight was special.”
“It was?”
“Yes, you wriggling, naked wench.”
“Why?” I want to hear him say it.
“You know why…”
“Say it.”
“Because there was a gorgeous, sexy, beautiful siren right there…”
“Aw, Mariu-…”
“…in the front row, flashing her tits at me.”
“BASTARD!” I yell at him, punching him on the arm before gathering up the sheet and rolling over to the end of the bed.
He laughs and tugs on the end of the sheet as I try to scramble away, pulling me back into his arms. I pound on his chest with my fists, trying to ignore how his muscles ripple under my hands.
“Hey, shhh shhh, you didn’t let me finish.”
“Oh, I beg to differ, you seemed to enjoy your ‘finish’ quite well.”
“Now who’s the sex addict.”
I purr and settle back into his hold.
“I was going to say that it was special, because playing for someone has always been thrilling, but creating with someone, having that person become a part of, intertwined with the music I’m creating, has given me a whole new perspective. We’re giving birth to a musical moment in time that can never be re-created, babe. There’s nothing like it. There’s no one like you.”
I let his words penetrate every inch of my brain.
Then I lift the bedsheet up over our heads.
“What are you doing?” He turns to me under the muted light filtering through the sheet.
“I’m flashing my tits at you, you romantic scro-bag.”
“Oh my, well, it’s a little too dark under here, I’m going to need to get a better look,” he murmurs against my neck before sliding his way down my body, his tongue sliding its way between my breasts as his fingers gently find their way inside me, my moans filling the fort we’ve built under the sheet.