“Me, too. When you jumped out of the truck, I freaked out.”
“Yeah, I gathered that from the way you were screaming,” he said dryly and then followed it up with a laugh.
“That was surprise and fear. I thought you were going to run me down.”
He continued chuckling and then squeezed me before pulling back and meeting my eyes. “Does this mean you’ll let me take you on that date? No standing me up this time.”
“Well, given how I now live five minutes away from you, I can’t stand you up.” I’d meant it to be funny, but the uncertainty in his eyes had me adding, “Not that I’d want to.”
“When are you free?”
“I’ve scaled back work so I can recover from the last two years of insanity, so I’m free whenever. I’m working on a couple of projects just now, but I have plenty of time for them.”
“Tomorrow night, then?”
I wanted to squeal and yell ‘yes,’ but I managed to contain that level of insanity. Just. “Absolutely.”
Pulling away, Marcus moved to sit down on one of the armchairs near his desk, then pulled me onto his lap. Usually I’d worry about crushing the poor guy’s penis or giving him a dead leg with my weight, but the insecurities didn’t surface as I made myself comfortable. For someone who had the muscles and visible strength Marcus did, he was amazingly soft and comfy to sit on.
“How did you get into your line of work?” he asked once I was situated. “It’s not something I’ve ever come across before.”
“I was a musical prodigy,” I sighed, hating how nerdy it sounded still. “I started playing the piano when I was three and found it easy to pick up other instruments and just play music on them.”
“Wasn’t Mozart one?”
“I think so,” I shrugged, “but I don’t know much about things like that. Anyway, I began writing pieces myself and played them in competitions, and then I was picked up by an agent who said she saw potential in my work. I was sixteen when that happened.”
Marcus whistled. “Damn, that’s pretty awesome, baby.”
I felt the blush hit my face at his genuine praise and respect. “Anyway, her brother owned a mattress company and wanted a jingle for a commercial about a year after I signed with her. My agent asked if I was interested because I was so good at composing, so I gave it a whirl.”
“And it all snowballed from there?”
“It did.”
Sifting his fingers through my ponytail, he watched the strands fall. “Is that what you want to do for the rest of your life?”
I felt comfortable telling him my secret. “I’ve wanted to write an overture for a movie since the first jingle contract. That’s why I’ve moved in with Nonna. I need the peace and quieter pace of life to do it.”
His eyes widened. “You’ve gotten a contract to do that?”
I couldn’t help the grin that spread over my face. I’d achieved my dreams, and it’d only gotten better in the last twenty-four hours seeing Marcus again. Who wouldn’t want to smile and roll around in that happiness? Well, I wouldn’t roll around in it because that’d be weird, but inside my mind I was.
“I have. There’s a new animated movie being released next year, and they requested me to write the music for the main song and the overture for the opening and closing credits. After that, I’m doing one for a movie coming out the year after next.”
My happiness was either infectious or he was genuinely stoked for me, because he squeezed me tightly and then released me with a grin that matched my own. “Fucking congratulations, baby. That’s something to celebrate.”
Yeah, it was, and I hadn’t had the chance to do that yet. But I’d also be celebrating this moment privately.
Something lit up in his eyes. “I think that’s what we should do tomorrow night, and I know just the place.”
Ten minutes later, I was walking back down the dirt road to Nonna’s property, my mind fixed on what’d happened over the last twenty-four hours.
I’d moved from L.A. to Branford. It’d been a long trip, but I’d made it in one piece.
I’d almost had a heart attack.
My dad had almost had a heart attack.
Section b of this was: he’d nearly killed Marcus.
I’d not only found Marcus, but I was living next to him.
I was doing my dream job and writing pieces for movies/animated movies.
I was going out on a date with Marcus—
Oh, shit. My parents were still here, and I was going out on a date with him. It wasn’t that I didn’t think my parents would hate him or anything, it was that my dad probably wasn’t over his shit fit yesterday. Plus, Mom would want to question him about anything and everything. Dad was the same, but he interrogated instead of questioned, albeit casually.