More Than Words: Kissed By A Muse #3 Read Online Free Page B

‘I mean, I’d like to take the word date out of it, if that’s okay with you? But Ryan has a gig somewhere tonight and I was thinking of calling you to ask if I could treat you to a game of bowling or whatever, to make up for-’
    ‘I’d love that.’ Bruce was smiling broadly. ‘That was exactly what I wanted too. I think the whole dating concept is a big call for me right now; I feel like I’m over Paisley, but I’m clearly not over the being in a relationship part, and I have a lot of re-tuning to do before I can…’ he blew out a puff of air and looked bashful. ‘There I go again, blah, blah, blah… I’m a musician, but not a rock star!’ he tossed his phone in his hand and caught it again, grinning. ‘I’ll pick you up from Weaver’s at six?’
    ‘Make it seven,’ Leigh said, thinking quickly. ‘We’ve got a long drive and everything today…’
    ‘Cool.’ He paused. ‘Don’t freak out or anything but it has to be said- if staying at Ryan’s place or his company in general gets too intense, please know that a change in company, or a fresh hotel room- is just a phone-call away, okay?’
    Leigh smiled at him. ‘Thanks for the offer but really, I’m fine.’
    ‘Just putting it out there.’ He stuffed his phone into his pocket.  ‘So, it’s a non-date for tonight though?’
    ‘For sure.’ Leigh rose with Bruce and hugged him quickly, impressed by how he’d recovered his composure. She was eager to spend time with the laid-back part of his nature, for it would help combat how tense she always felt in Ryan’s company. ‘Thank you, for not holding a grudge or anything.’
    ‘And thank you for not bolting when you saw me coming.’ Bruce kissed her hand in a gentlemanly fashion. ‘We’ll have a ball tonight okay? That’s an order- I’m determined to squash the other first impressions I made on you so when you remember Niagara, you smile instead of dead-bolting your door.’
    Leigh laughed. ‘We don’t really have dead-bolts in Australia.’
    ‘Then how you’re still a virgin is beyond me.’ Bruce winked at her cheekily and then he was gone, leaving Leigh grinning.
    He was definitely a little more rock star than he thought, even if he wasn’t front man material yet.

Three
     
    P eople swamped Ryan after he rounded off his set, and though all he wanted to do was march over to Leigh and demand to know what had gone down between her and Bruce. But he didn’t want to look as desperate as he was feeling, so he let his new fans form a small circle around him and tried to answer their questions and acknowledge their compliments while packing his equipment away.
    He wanted to kiss her though, and he was pretty sure that not being able to kiss her when he’d woken up that morning, or re-affirm their bond in any physical way, was what had him feeling so uncertain. When she’d shown up, she’d certainly looked every bit as enraptured with him as she had the night before when she’d been coming against his lips, but then Bruce had shown up and hadn’t left without getting a hug in first and Ryan’s mood had flat-lined again.
    Ryan had been obsessing about her all morning; as he’d dressed and eaten his breakfast, as he’d tidied up the house and ducked into her bedroom to smell her pillows, as he’d driven into town and as he’d spent an hour sitting in a café, sipping on a coffee and staring at Kathryn Praser’s bio, and though he was all sorts of muddled up, he’d come to one realization; He needed to know where he stood with Leigh, and he needed to know without having to spell out where she stood with him. He knew that was unfair and unbalanced, but it was what it was. He couldn’t make any sort of commitment to her until he had his memories back, and he might not even want her once he had the blanks of his past filled in… but he could no longer deny the fact that she was plan B- a plan B he wanted more than his plan A. So if she wasn’t interested in him at all in the