Blues Bar Valentine
Valerie Gaumont
Copyright 2011 by Valerie Gaumont
Smashwords Edition
Smashwords License Statement
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Blues Bar Valentine
She sat in the back corner of the smoky bar, her once cold beer forgotten on the scarred wooden table in front of her. She leaned back in her chair, resting her head against the wall. The sultry notes of the saxophone mingled with the lazy curls of smoke which drifted upwards from the glowing ends of cigars and cigarettes until one was indistinguishable from the other. The mellow notes washed over and engulfed her in their smooth sensual rhythm.
The low notes of the blues guitar joined the sax and every body in the room began to sway. The rough voice of the guitarist began its slow lament of love lost and things done wrong. The words hung suspended in the air for a brief moment before they melted into the room's smoky haze.
Couples wove their way through the maze of tables to the cleared space at the end of the bar. Here they began a slow, sensual, swaying dance that lent the almost tangible notes a concrete form.
Desire strong enough to draw the breath from her lungs washed over her as she watched the couples through half-closed eyes. Fool, she chided herself and reached for her beer. She drank the last of the warm amber liquid and ordered another from the scurrying waitress. The drink was brought and the empty bottle whisked away with an efficiency completely at odds with the lazy atmosphere of the bar.
Fool to want him, fool to wish him here, her mind chanted as she took a sip of the icy drink. Her eyes slid back to the swaying couples. Fool, she thought. But still, to be held in those arms. The strong arms that had stopped her fall as she slipped on the uneven cobblestones of Meeting Street. The strong arms which had wrapped around her as they leaned on the cast iron fence and watched the people as they hurried by. They had laughed and tried to guess what deep, dark, sinister secrets lay hidden beneath the ordinary faces that passed. The southern sun had been warm on their skin and the tangy smell of the Atlantic lent the air a life of its own. She took another sip of her beer.
She closed her eyes, almost could she smell him around her. Not the scent of his cologne, but the scent of his skin. That musky, woodsy scent that made her knees weak and her heart race. She took a deep breath, inhaling the music infused air of the bar and felt the notes sink deep inside her. She opened her eyes. He was over a thousand miles away right now and she was even further from his mind. A sigh slipped past her lips. Fool, she thought once again, as the music surrounded her, shared her loneliness, took, reshaped and added it to notes and emotions which already hung above and around her.
A small draft of icy air blew past as someone stepped into the bar from the outside world. The haze in the bar obscured his features, as it had the rest of the crowd, making him just another of the faceless. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him peer through the smoke to find someone. She smiled at herself for the brief second she had hoped it was him, and spared a lazy thought to wish the stranger luck in his search. Then she blocked out all but the music and focused only on the pattern the notes wove in the air.
Slowly, the man wound his way through the tables, until he reached her. He stood silent, waiting. Her mind slid from the music and she lifted her eyes to see the thick woolen overcoat thrown over a strong arm, the broad chest and the stranger's face. The smoke blurred and softened his edges. The stranger smiled as her gaze met his.
"There is no other seat,” his soft voice rumbled like distant thunder. She smiled at the sound and gestured for him to sit.
"I don't promise to be much company," she said quietly, her thumb still tracing the ridge at the lip of her beer bottle. The stranger nodded.
"I don't need much." he sighed. "Just a drink to drown in." He placed his coat on the back of the chair and caught the waitress' attention.
"You've come to the right table," she told him as the waitress handed him his drink and change. He smiled in acknowledgement and an easy silence flowed between them.
The night deepened and the music continued to weave its patterns in the smoke. The smoldering notes from the saxophone flowed over and through her, tingeing the melody with her unshed tears. The stranger stood and offered her his hand. She looked up into eyes as filled with the music's spell as her own. She opened her mouth to refuse. It was not him she wanted. He placed his finger to her lips before her words could escape.
"Tonight is not a night to be alone. Tonight, I will be him and you will be her."
She smiled her understanding, placed her hand in his and he pulled her gently to her feet. They wove through tables and chairs to join the others at the far end of the bar. They began to sway to the music until they became the music and as the smoky melody coursed through their veins and fused them into one, each became the love the other could not hold.
Other Books By
Valerie Gaumont
The Channel Riders Series
Pilot (Book 1)
Storm Chaser (Book 2)
Alliance (Book 3)
Roses for Juliet
All works by this author can be found at www.smashwords.com or are available for kindle on Amazon.com. More information and upcoming works by this author can be found at http://www.valeriegaumont.yolasite.com