Read Online Sweet Harmonies by Melanie Shawn - Free Book Online Page A

he
was even hoping for. Now, he not only knew that she was aware of
his interest in her, he was certain that it was returned. In fact,
as the group was leaving her house not twenty minutes ago and she
was seeing them all out, she had stood on her tiptoes to whisper in
Ryan's ear, “Call me.”
    He grinned wider. That was a good sign, no
two ways about it.
    Of course, he had also come across another
little piece of unexpected information in that music studio –
namely, that she was Karina Black, the pop star. On one hand, he
felt like his entire view of their relationship, of who she was and
in turn who he was in relation to her, was skewed on its axis.
    She was a superstar.
    But on the other hand, try as he might, he
just could not reconcile the beautiful, sweet, funny girl – the
girl that he had met only yesterday but felt like he had known for
his entire life – with the mega-celebrity that everyone in the
world knew from magazine covers and television.
    Even he, with his sheltered existence,
growing up on a secluded ranch and rarely ever entering
civilization, yes even HE had seen pictures of her on tabloid
covers, usually in huge sunglasses while trying to rush away, and
airbrushed glamour shots on the covers of fashion magazines in the
grocery store checkout line.
    He had seen her perform on television, he had
heard her songs on the radio.
    She was famous.
    The idea was going to take some serious
getting used to.
    Yes, she was famous, and yet – when he was
around her, she seemed so normal. How was that possible? It seemed
so counter-intuitive.
    As he closed the door behind him, locking it
and resetting the alarm, he was startled and nearly jumped out of
his skin when he heard a voice ring out of the darkness.
    “ Hi, Sweetheart, how was your day? Did
you have fun with your friends?”
    Ryan whirled around, heart thumping out of
his chest, breathing fast.
    “ Granny! You can't just sit in the dark
and wait for people! You almost gave me a heart attack!” he
exclaimed.
    “ Oh, sorry Ryan,” Sue Ann replied
contritely, “I just didn't want people thinking we were open, and
coming up to the door expecting that I would make them some food. I
thought...just simpler to turn the lights off. But I just couldn't
wait to hear all about your day!”
    Ryan laughed and sat down across the table
from Sue Ann, both of them still cloaked in near-perfect darkness.
The only light in the room was the dim, silver glow of moonlight
which trickled in through the front window panel, shrouding the
room in a filmy luminescence. He reached across the tabletop and
took her hand.
    “ That's sweet, Granny. I don't want to
sit here in the dark and talk about it, though. Why don't you come
upstairs with me to my apartment and I'll make us some hot cocoa
like when I was a kid?”
    “ I thought you'd never ask,” she
replied.
    Ryan and Sue Ann walked up the stairs
together, and Ryan unlocked and opened the door to his cozy
apartment – the apartment that Sue Ann had decorated and fixed up
especially for him, in anticipation of his arrival.
    As the two of them entered the space, he
looked around and felt satisfaction at what he saw. It was very
cozy, and felt like home. At the same time, Sue Ann had definitely
made a strong effort to keep the small apartment masculine-feeling.
There was nothing in this living space that could remotely be
described as frilly or frou-frou, with the dominant hues being
dark, bold shades of chocolate brown and navy blue.
    The furniture was leather and overstuffed,
and there was a small fireplace in the corner. It was the kind of
place that made you want to settle down into it, take a deep
breath, kick off your shoes, put your feet up and enjoy a good
book.
    It even had a sliding door in the living room
which led to a small balcony, where he could partake of a cup of
coffee in the morning or a beer in the evening, watching the
hustling and bustling of the small downtown area.
    When Ryan had left Montana,