Her Anchor by Viva Fox

to I found myself watching you. So much so that I finally had to talk to you, just to see what it felt like to have all of your attention turned on me.”
    Emily felt the full force of his attention now and she found it hard to keep steady under it. To not look away
    “If you’re not happy why don’t you make a change?”
    “It’s not that simple. The band is in the middle of a recording contract that would be more hassle to break than its worth. But once that contract is up that’s exactly what I’m going to do. The other guys will be pissed, but it’s time I look out for myself. And anyways, we’ve peaked. Things are on the downhill and it’s only a matter of time before our label drops us. I know the guys don’t think so, but I can see the signs. It’s time to start moving on.” He turned his eyes from her and looked out the window. “Besides, you can’t have anything permanent when you’re never in one place for very long. Not too long ago that didn’t seem to matter, but it does now.”
    “But sometimes you find yourself without anything permanent because you’ve been in one place for too long.” She said, the weight of the day settling onto her shoulders.
    Night had settled outside the windows while they had been talking and the glow from a light above the kitchenette was throwing shadows across their side of the bus. Back home the fallout of what she had done would be in the open, the damage done. Ahead of her Marin and the prospect of starting all over again was waiting.
    Sitting here in the semi darkness, in the purgatory of her decision, right and wrong seemed to get muddled up. She pressed the heels of her hand against her eyes, holding back the regrets of her wasted years. The exhaustion of it all was heavy.
    She felt the seat beside her dip, Dylan’s weight settling next to her. She turned to look up at his shadowed face, the dip of his worried expression.
    “Don’t worry, I’m not going to cry.” She said with a smile. “I think it just hit me how royally I screwed up my life.”
    “But you’re not in that life anymore. You’re starting a new one where you’re a little wiser, a little tougher.”
    “Starting over is hard.” She whispered, closing her eyes against the truth.
    She felt Dylan’s hands on her shoulders, fingers gently rubbing away the weight she carried there. She forced her body to relax, to give in to his hands. She let his fingers travel up the column of her neck to knead into her scalp. She could feel his breath against her cheek and she opened her eyes to see him watching her.
    She recognized the interest she saw there and maybe if she’d been someone else he would have moved in, kissed her. But he wasn’t doing that. He wasn’t pushing her to do anything, just waiting for her to choose.
    She warmed under his touch and his hungry eyes. It was an easy decision to make. Emily leaned in, her lips brushing against his. With her hands on his arms she pushed herself closer and flicked her tongue against his bottom lip, seeking entrance.
    Dylan’s fingers laced into her hair, his mouth on hers. In that instant a need started burning, echoed in his actions. She couldn’t get close enough, his arms moving down to her waist, molding her against him. The taste of him, hot and needy, had the thoughts in her head evaporating leaving only what she was feeling for him. In this moment he was the only one who understood what she needed.
    Her hands tunneled through his hair and she brushed away the niggling thoughts that evoked. The ones that told her this was too new. She was never to take these kinds of liberties during sex with Shane. But she didn’t want to think of him right now. She wanted to surrender herself to the feeling of Dylan’s callous-fingered hands inching their way along the bare skin under her shirt. The feeling of him pulling her out of the booth without so much as an inch of space between their bodies. The feeling of the cool air kissing her skin as her