CRESCENDO

Regina loved her violin, but it was a pleasure to put it down. She had spent most of her day carrying it around town, on her hour long commute to her day job to then back across town to her gig that night. She had played nineteenth-century movements all night, and even her dress was a nod to that century. But the performance was over, and she was happy to be relaxing and drinking wine with the other musicians at the hall.

She stood by the window, letting the night air fill her lungs. Winter wouldn’t be over for a few months yet, but it was such a gorgeous and unexpectedly warm night given that she half leaned out of the window.

‘Don’t jump!’

Startled, she turned around to see Noah Ward smiling at her broadly, just before she spilled her wine all over his white shirt. Regina frowned, and looked around frantically for something to wipe his shirt, as if that would help. Noah looked a little helpless as he ran his hands through his hair.

Was there ever going to be a moment where she didn’t look like a complete idiot in front of him? She wished that she could stop having a crush on him; her affections certainly weren’t going to go anywhere with her fellow violinist was constantly seeing her at her worst.

‘I am so sorry…’ she began.

‘I startled you…’ Noah said, slowly unbuttoning his shirt. Regina’s attempts at apology were halted as her breath was caught in throat, watching him slowly reveal the undershirt he wore beneath.

‘It’s too hot in here anyway, don’t you think?’

She nodded, pushing her lank hair out of her face. The sudden glow of her cheeks had nothing to do with the heat outside.

‘More wine?’ Regina looked at him, relieved that he was willing to brush over her clumsiness, and nodded. Noah smiled, and walked over to the leftover wines on makeshift bar. ‘What were you drinking?’

She following him slowly to the table, and stared at the bottles.

‘That one,’ she said, pointing to the cream-colored label. Her bare arm touched his as she did, and the faint brush of contact made her tingle all over.

With a start Noah turned to her at the touch, and promptly spilled the wine down the front of her dress.

‘I’m sorry Regina,’ he said, looking nervous and much the same way that she felt when she was around with him.

‘It’s nothing; afterall it’s usually me spilling things or being awkward around you…’ She looked up at him, and was surprised that he looked down at her confused. ‘I always seem to be a disaster about you…’ she explained.

‘You always seem fine to me,’ Noah dabbed her throat with a napkin from the bar.

The tips of his fingers on her throat made her tingle all the more.

Regina stared at him, and he began to dab the napkin lower, just at the hollow of her throat. She watched him silently as her chest heaved, and she felt as if she was transported to a romance novel, the type her music always reminded her of. A nervous smiled crossed her lips. She had always known that she had a small crush on Noah, but with him in front of her as close as this, she knew that it was not small at all.

He handed her the napkin, and moved back. Regina moved forward with him.

‘You were amazing tonight—as always,’ he said.

‘Thank you, you too…’ He picked up the wine again, and refilled her a glass. With a delay, Regina dabbed at the drops of wine on her luckily black dress. The sweet scent of the wine was high; since they had both had accidentally bathed in it.

They were alone in the middle of the atrium, and it was very clear that Noah was aware of it too. She took a sip of wine.

‘This is good,’ Noah looked at her, and raised his glass.

Regina nodded.

He put down his glass suddenly.

‘I have such a crush on you Regina, I don’t even want to drink any more wine before I do or say something stupid.’

Regina finished her glass like a shot.

‘Like what? Spill more wine on me?’ They both laughed.

‘I always wanted to hang out with you, but you always seemed to avoid me and now we are here and I don’t know what to say.’ Suddenly there was the sound of a violin, a cello—a string quartet.

Their fellow musicians had filled the room.

‘Dance with her!’ they cried.

Noah laughed, and stepped back to bow to her.

‘May I?’ he offered his right hand. Regina pressed her hand still damp with red wine, to her chest, and nodded.

Keeping a polite, almost prudish distance from her, Noah put his hand on the small of her back. She looked up into his eyes and saw a playful smile Regina moved in closer, but Noah kept a distance between them. A bit confused, she looked down and then immediately realized why.

She felt a flush of warmth travel the entirety of her body when she realized her being close to him had made him hard, yet the feeling was also a combination of pride and protectiveness of him. She stayed in front of him, and prevented the others from seeing his condition as the crescendo peaked.

The music stopped, and there was applause. Regina turned on a pivot to face them, keeping Noah’s crotch covered.

‘Okay you guys, thanks for the serenade, but give us a moment.’

‘Regina and Noah sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S…’ the cellist sang, as he left the atrium with the others.

The singsong rhyme echoed in Regina’s head as the atrium emptie. Noah spun her around to face him with ease. His dark eyes glowed, as he looked down at her. When she moved closer to him this time, he pulled her close and she felt what she had been hiding from the others.

But not from herself.

His lips were wine stained and soft on hers, and his breath sweet. He held her long hair in his fist, and tugged softly as he kissed her temple and then her mouth again.

Regina was drunk on the scent of wine and his kisses. His body was hard under her fingers, as if he were an athlete and not a musician.

He swung her around so that she was parallel to one of the more expensive paintings on the wall, so close that she was afraid they were going to knock it from its hook. But the torrent of their desire streamed alongside the painting, and it was undisturbed. Unlike them.

As they danced, she teased him with closeness, him panting and pulling at her skirt with an eager desire. Regina felt electric with excitement at his expression of lust, and finally, she stopped her steps and threw her arms around his neck, her hair wild about her shoulders. Noah held her hair again tightly in his fists, kissing her neck with a passion that might as well have set her on fire; the touch of his lips was like a direct line to her clit.

‘Regina…’ he started, when he lifted his lips from her neck.

‘Regina, do you want a ride?’ The voice of her friend Kay echoed from below.

‘I’ll give Regina a ride…’ Noah offered quickly. His words were more powerful than the crescendo of any music she had played or heard that night, and offered an even more delicious rush as she took his hand and followed him out of the room, and into the night.