After lunch, Kevin took Kristy on a tour of the rest of the house. They'd breezed by his bedroom, the temptation a little too strong for them to stay and linger. He ended the tour with his favorite room in the house, his studio. Recording and editing equipment filled much of the room, with a large baby grand piano in one corner, and a drum set in another. A couple of keyboards and synthesizers sat in the middle of the room and an acoustic guitar and a couple of electric ones leaned against the walls.
"Would you play something for me?" Kristy asked Kevin sweetly, imploring him with her eyes.
"Like I could say 'no' when you look at me like that?" Kevin laughed. The more time he spent with her, the more beautiful she became to him... quite a feat, considering how attractive he thought she was when they first met.
Kristy smiled in return, "I'll have to remember that!" She knew the same went for him. All he had to do was ask, and she would've done anything for him.
"What would you like to hear?" Kevin asked as he sat at the piano and warmed up with the same snazzed up scales he had used the day they'd met.
Kristy shrugged, "Anything you've written would be wonderful!" She sighed contently as he started to play and sing "Back To Your Heart." As the song ended Kristy leaned over and lightly kissed him. "You are so amazing, you know that?"
Kevin smiled and kissed her back, "Anything else you'd like to hear?" He would play all day for her if it would make her happy.
Kristy paused thoughtfully, then started, "You know the 'Night out with the Backstreet Boys' video? Of course you do, it's your video..." Kristy stalled. Kevin waited patiently for her to continue. "Well, you played a song you'd written, they just called it 'Kevin's Solo'... it was an instrumental, you played the piano... you said you thought the music was 'real pretty', but you hadn't found the right lyrics for it yet..." Kristy took a deep breath, she knew she was rambling, but she couldn't actually believe she was having this conversation with Kevin. "Anyway, I wrote some lyrics for it after I heard it." "There, I said it."
"Well then. How 'bout I play and you sing?" Kevin was curious to hear what she'd come up with. He'd thrown around lots of ideas, but nothing felt right. He loved the music of that song and would only put words to it if they were perfect.
He started playing the light melodic piano introduction, Kristy waited to when the saxophone would've come in on the first verse.
"You and I - that's how our story starts,
The meeting of two souls, the joining of two hearts.
Once we dreamed and prayed, now we live
This perfect love, forever ours to have and give."
She flowed into the chorus, singing the words she knew so well, that were now coming true.
"Before the 'Happily ever after,'
Friendship, love, tears and laughter -
Starting when you became mine,
Once upon a time...
Once upon a time...
Once upon a..."
Kevin couldn't believe how perfectly the words fit, not only to the rhythm and flow of the music, but to what was happening between them. He was surprised she'd written the words so long ago, they seemed to be documenting the last few days. He let the music, Kristy's beautiful voice, and the words that described their relationship wash over him.
"Before you, my life was dark and lonely.
The day we met, I knew you'd be my one and only.
Together, there is nothing in our way,
My love for you grows stronger every day.
Before the 'Happily ever after,'
Friendship, love, tears and laughter -
Starting when you became mine,
Once upon a time...
A love - we've waited our whole lives to find,
It all started when you became mine,
Oh darlin', once upon a time."
Kristy paused during the piano bridge, afraid to look at Kevin until it was all over. She ended with a variation in the words and harmony of the chorus.
"Before we live happily ever after,
Full of friendship, love and laughter.
It started with your heart and mine,
Once upon a, once upon a time."
************************************************************************
Kevin stopped playing and kissed Kristy with all the love and tenderness he felt for her, "I love you." He hadn't planned on saying it just then, but felt in his heart it was right. With those words said, he felt an incredible calm and warmth seep through him.
Kristy kissed him back, tears gently streaming down her face. Kevin pulled back slightly and, cupping her face in his hand, kissed her tear-stained cheeks. "I hope these are tears of happiness," Kevin joked, feeling a strange tightness in his chest.
Kristy nodded her head and continued to cry, unable to speak. Kevin held her close to him and felt her breathing return to normal with a couple of deep, shuddering breaths. She turned her head into his neck and Kevin felt, more than heard, her whisper softly against his ear, "I love you too."
He pulled her onto his lap and kissed her slowly and deeply. He rubbed her back with his hands, feeling her warm, smooth skin through the thin cotton of her blouse. He trailed a path of hot, wet kisses across her cheek, down her jaw, to her neck. Kristy shifted on his lap and turned her head to allow him better access to her neck, moaning softly as he found a sensitive spot at the crook of her neck. Kevin brought his hands to her hips, stilling her restless movements before things got too intense. He brought his mouth back to hers, and heard himself moan as she slipped her hands inside his shirt to caress his stomach and chest with a feather-light touch.
Both broke away, chests heaving with their heavy breathing, hearts pounding with love and desire. Kevin smiled as he ran his hand through Kristy's hair that had come loose from its French roll and now tumbled down her shoulders in mild disarray. He noticed how her eyes were still misty with passion, her lips red and slightly swollen from his kisses. He gently set her back on the piano bench beside him and kissed her tenderly.
"By the way," Kevin said, his voice sounding shaky and strange in his ears, "I loved your lyrics. What do you want to call the song?"
Kristy looked deeply into his incredible hazel green eyes and smiled brilliantly, "Once Upon a Time."
