Resonating Souls (Bermuda Nights #1)(5)

The cheers and hollers shook the ship, and he let them go on for a long time before speaking up again.

“The Sox are in the World Series, and we’ll be running every game on the big screen! Are we gonna win this year?”

If I’d thought the noise was thunderous before, now it was downright deafening, and the singer gave a long, rich laugh in appreciation. He turned to the drummer …

In the next beat the band was in motion, Three Little Bird’s rich harmonies pouring out of them as if they shared one mind.

Kayla’s arm looped around my shoulder, and she jiggled me in excitement. “There you are, Amanda! God, girl, I have so much to tell you! If you thought Sven was amazing on the balcony -”

My eyes brightened in disbelief. “Sven?”

She pulled me back to a pair of chairs by a wrought iron table. “Maybe it’s a stage name, but I don’t care,” she laughed. “The man is a Norse god. He’s hung like a horse, and he has the endurance to match. First he ...”

I let her enthusiastic, elaborate description of every sex act they participated in wash over me. Kayla didn’t want me to listen as much as she wanted to relive the event in its Technicolor glory. In the past she had gone on these long monologues while I’d been cooking dinner, showering, or even studying for final exams.

A sound caught my ear, and I turned. It was a rolling guitar riff I knew well, and my breath eased out. Somehow, amidst the island tunes, they had nestled in …

From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea

Kayla laughed. “Amanda, are you listening?”

Would he lie? Did I care? I just wanted the music to play, the lyrics to spin around me, encircling me, drawing me up …

I downed the rest of my mimosa and raised to my feet, spinning in bliss. Kayla joined me with a bright smile, swaying in place before her Viking. He belted out the lyrics to her as if a bright spotlight shone on them. But it was the guitar player’s rhythmic fingers which drew me in, the focused attention in his eyes, the sense that we were connected, merged.

The lyrics circled, pounded …

The guitar player was looking down at his fingers as he rocked with the rhythm, his whole being immersed in the music. I could feel it, his energy pouring out through the song, the rippling of the notes and the aching of emotion. The girl wanted the guy with all her heart, and when he took her in his arms ...


His head raised, and he looked straight at me.

It was as if a lightning bolt speared me through my soul, searing tendrils of snapping, golden energy throughout my body. It was all I could do to breathe, to hold his gaze.

His look was dark, swirling with emotion.

Then he turned and swept the head of his guitar neck up. The band drew the sound up, in, and spun it into a close with the precision of a long pass landing perfectly into a receiver’s waiting hands.

Applause cascaded around us, surged like a towering ocean wave, and time stood still.

Thor leant forward into the microphone. “Drink up, everyone – we’ll be back in just a few.”

Kayla leant forward to pop a kiss on my cheek. “Gotta go, hun – see you later!” Then she was striding to the gazebo like a model on a catwalk, her swaying breasts clearing a swath through the other dancers. Sven’s eyes lit up at her approach, and he had a thick, muscular arm around her the moment she came within range.

I watched as the two of them walked off toward the bar. I wished I could be like that. Kayla had always been confident and secure in herself, and her past few years bartending had only bolstered her attitude. Her latest gig had been at a swanky spot right around the corner from Boston Common, and we’d met up there occasionally for drinks and talk. Somehow no matter what she wore, there would be men coming up to the table, looking down at her with that smile –

A man’s voice spoke from over my shoulder, warm, holding that hint of amusement. “Enjoy the set?”

I flushed, turning around. It was the guitar player, of course, and my eyes went automatically down to those fingers which had teased such rich music out of his instrument. They were amazing. Of course, all of him was amazing, and the fact that he was standing here, talking to me –

His grin widened. “That good, huh?”

My blush deepened, and I looked over to the table I had been sitting at with Kayla. “Would you care to have a seat?”

His eyes twinkled. “I believe I would.” He walked me over to the table and pulled out the chair for me. Then he stretched back into his own, his biceps rippling as he raised them over his head. “That guitar’s fantastic, but it’s heavy,” he commented. “There’s always some sort of a trade-off in life.”

“Checks and balances,” I agreed.

He looked me over. “So, let me guess. Family comes from money?”

I blushed, looking down. “How did you know?”

He grinned. “Your manners, for one. In my family, we were what you might call ‘barely civilized’. My mother was lucky to get us all to sit down at the table at one time without one of us throwing things at the others. I think she’d have used paper plates and plastic silverware if she could have gotten away with it.”

He shrugged. “And you talked about the country club in Lenox. Can’t imagine that’s a cheap place to belong to.”

I shook my head. “No, and my parents are sure to let everyone they talk to know it, too.”