Fireworks 1 and 2

Chapter Twenty-Seven

    Mia held her glass to her chest as she danced. Ryan had been kind enough to refresh her drink. Her eyes were closed as she felt the music. When the song ended, she opened her eyes and found Drake leaning on the deck railing, watching her.

    "Were you ever going to announce yourself?" she asked him.

    He swirled a drink in his hands and shook his head slowly.

    "What are you drinking?"

    "A little something," he said with a smile.

    She walked over to him and looked down into his cup. A pinkish, purplish liquid sloshed around in his double-stacked red Solo cup. "What is that?"

    "A drink that isn't for the faint of heart," he said cryptically.

    She took the drink from him and held the cup up to her lips. She tipped it back, tasting it. "That's really good," she said, and drank more.

    He gently took the cup from her, laughing. "You're going to want to pace yourself with that," he cautioned.

    She wiped her mouth and looked over his shoulder towards the beer pong table. "Your friend was looking for you. Did she find you?"

    He smiled and lifted the cup to his lips. "She did."

    Mia nodded and looked away from him, towards the pool.

    He studied her profile for a moment before saying, "Nothing happened."

    "Pfft. You think I care if anything happened?"

    He brushed a few damp strands of hair out of her face. "If you didn't care, why would you bring it up?" he asked her.

    Her eyes flicked over to him. "I just wanted to make sure you knew she was looking."

    He took a long sip of his drink and swallowed, swirling the liquid in his cup. He cast a glance over his shoulder and watched his friends playing beer pong. Vanessa was draped all over Mark, laughing loudly at his jokes and touching him affectionately every few minutes. Drake laughed dryly and shook his head. "She won't be looking for me anymore."

    "Oh." Mia turned and started walking away from him.

    With his brows furrowed in confusion, he started to follow her. "So...just so you know what to expect, tomorrow you're going to meet with Oliver. Go over contracts, numbers, the boring stuff. If you're up for it, we can get in the studio and try to get a vibe for a few songs. We don't have to write heavy tomorrow - the contract shit can get pretty intense. I don't know how much writing you'll want to do after going over those. I figure we can start getting into the real writing on Thursday."

    "That sounds fine," she said, rubbing her temple.

    "I'll remind you tomorrow, in case you forget this conversation ever happened," he said, staring down into the contents of his cup.

    She stopped walking and stared out over the water. "It's so beautiful here," she breathed out.

    He looked across the water with her. "I've barely made any changes to the place since moving in," he said softly. "A lot of what you see is how the place looked the day I bought it."

    She looked up at him.

    "Living here just seemed like some unattainable dream, you know?" He took another long drink from his cup and swallowed, his Adam's apple bouncing. "I first saw this house when the previous owners still lived in it. I saw the property, and I thought to myself, I want this place. Not...I want a place like this, but Someday, I will live here. Someday, I'll call this place mine. And now it is. And...that feeling, of wanting something for so long, and then getting it..." He shook his head and let the sentence trail off.

    "Hard work pays off," she said, taking his cup away from him again and taking a sip.

    He smiled down at her. "Does it?"

    She shrugged and handed the cup back to him. "Sometimes," she said.

    He continued staring at her. "Have you ever really wanted something and then gotten it?"

    "Are you kidding?" she asked, making a dismissive sound with her mouth. "I always get what I want."

    "I believe that," he said softly, finishing off the last of his drink.

    "Whoa." She reached out and grabbed his upper arm to steady herself.

    His eyebrows lifted and he laughed. "I think it's kicking in. Maybe you should sit down."

    She shook her head. "No, I'm fine." She touched her forehead. "What the hell is in that?"

    He laughed again and placed his hands on her waist to help keep her steady.

    She stared up at him, still touching her forehead.

    He brushed some more of her hair back. "Do you know how beautiful you are?"

    "Don't think you're going to get anywhere with those dusty lines," she said, poking him in the chest. She blinked slowly and turned to look out across the water again. "Come swimming with me."

    He scratched his head. "What?"

    She was already tugging at the bottom of his tank top. "Come swimming with me," she urged. "One last swim for the night."

    "My clothes just started to feel dry. I don't know..."

    She poked out her bottom lip. Then she backed away from him. "Forget you," she said and dove into the swimming pool.

    He tilted his head to the side and waited for it, waited for it...there it was, her ass bobbing to the top. Glistening in the moonlight and the lights that were posted around the patio. He watched as she righted herself in the pool, standing and brushing her hair back, her breasts bouncing enticingly in the water. He groaned and shook his head.

    She looked over at him and took her time in wading towards him, looking up at him. On the surface, her eyes were innocent, but there was something in their depths. Something he couldn't quite read, but something he was desperate to. "You're really not going to come in with me?" she asked, pouting again.

    He shook his head and sat down at the pool's edge. His feet and calves dipped into the water.

    She boldly swam in between his legs and placed a hand on each of his knees. Her eyes were hazy with liquor.

    Lust flared up in his eyes. Sexy fucking minx, he thought. He grabbed the bottom of his tank top and lifted it over his head. He tossed it out of view and grabbed her hands, linking his fingers with hers as he slid into the pool with her.