His music seemed slightly darker, heavier, but closer to the true roots of his inspiration. As if the chains that had been holding him away from those roots were crashed and he had all the freedom to dive into the endless well of inspiration.
Connor wanted to bring the guitar with him and play a few songs that had been fueled by the passion toward her right there at the railway station. Still, carrying both the guitar and himself was still quite a challenge and he had refused Grandpa's offer to give him a ride. He needed this moment on his own.
Distracted with all those messy thoughts, he did not realize that the train had arrived and she stepped out of it. Anthea. She waved at him and Connor's heart almost burst out of his chest. She looked exactly as he expected her to be—so petite compared to his strong built. She had deep, dark eyes and messy copper curls that caught the light of the sun and shined like a halo around her head.
Now, standing with a bouquet of those colorful flowers in his hand, he suddenly felt like a silly kid, who was so confused, he wasn't even sure whether to greet her with "Hi, I'm Connor" or to grab her and kiss her lips as he had been fantasizing during all those nights that he lay awake dreaming about her.
She turned to be the more decisive one among them. She jumped right into his arms and wrapped her arms around his waist.
"Hi," she murmured as she buried her head in the hollow of his shoulder. She rose on the tips of her toes to kiss the corner of his mouth.
Connor growled. No way that was enough for him. Leaning on one forearm crutch to support his weight, he grabbed her with his free arm, pulled closer and kissed for all those months that they had been apart.
"Hi," he finally greeted her pulling his mouth away and looking into her eyes.
"Oh, you have freckles," she touched his face and Connor felt waves of pleasure fill him. The sensation was so much intense when she touched him for real. How was he going to manage to keep his hands off her?
"Family heritage," he frowned. He wasn't so fond of those.
"Lovely," she smiled. "I'll enjoy counting and kissing them." One simple line and he started loving his freckles. "Are the flowers for me?" she laughed as he was too stupefied to give them to her.
As they get home, first thing he did, he grabbed his guitar. It had been a while since writing a song had been a need for him.
"You should hear the new songs," he said excitedly. "They are all about you in a way."
And he played all of them, again and again, until he started to hear that he might bore her to death. She did not want her as his music fan, he wanted her to love him—with or without music.
"I have a surprise," he added, not letting her say anything about the songs. He knew how she felt - he had seen it in her eyes, felt it though her breathing that sometimes grew ragged and sometimes stilled on her lips. "I've sent the songs to my bandmates. They asked me back."
"That's great, I'm happy for you!" she did look and sound happy. There was only a tiny frown that crossed her beautiful face. Connor noticed it, as he could not tear his eyes off her. There was something that darkened her mood, even if she pushed it away.
Connor was going to ask about it, but Grandpa returned home right at that moment, and the conversation about his band was forgotten. He was slightly nervous how the “meet Grandpa” part was going to be. His ex had always been a part of his life even before they started dating, thus, they had avoided all these awkward moments of introducing family and all. To his surprise, everything went smoothly. He was even going to get a bit jealous, as Thea seemed to like his grandfather a lot. They talked until late evening, and Connor couldn't wait for Grandpa to finally go to sleep, so that he could have Anthea all by himself in his bedroom...
By the time he closed the door to his bedroom, he was sure he'd be ripping off her clothes and making love to her all night. God, she was amazing. Before this meeting he had had fears that they might not feel the same physical attraction in real life as they did on the phone. Nonsense. Every cell in his body felt more awake when she was around him, every little touch caused an electric jolt inside him. The odd feeling that he could feel everything twice more intense was back. What if they really had that connection?
Despite his impatient naughty thoughts they ended up cuddling and talking till morning.
"You've ruined my wicked dirty plans for tonight," he confessed finally.
"I know," Thea admitted. He knew the words that she was going to say next. But they need to talk. Ah, these women. Why did they always need to talk? They had been talking for months before this meeting happened. At times, the thought he had never talked to anyone this much, he had told her his deepest, darkest secrets. What else she expected to hear?
Sometimes, it was still better if Connor did not talk. Next words that flew out of his mouth without
