I took my headphones off. The song had heavy bass elements, and I knew enough to know I was going earblind by trying to work it for so long.
Karly had retreated to another room after tracking her vocals - the song didn't have a sultry subject matter, but she had a gorgeous contralto voice, and the hot vocal booth had resulted in her wearing nothing but a sports bra and booty shorts.
She'd caught me staring several times at the gorgeous lines of the muscles in her legs, the glint of the low lighting in the studio as it caught her belly button piercing. Each time her performance had gotten a bit huskier - great for the song.
I could almost pretend that was what I was intending.
We'd agreed long ago to never blur the lines of our friendship with sex - terrified it would end poorly and ruin our dynamic. Several close calls when we were drinking or dancing together had shaken us, but we'd stayed firm. Just as she'd finished recording her last line of the song, however, our eyes had met for a dangerous second, before she broke off and retreated to the other room to "draw or something".
I put the headphones down, and leaned against my desk, taking a deep breath. It was always hard resisting the urge to touch her, to grab her and kiss her, but today it felt almost impossible. I had to get myself under contro-
"Brendan?" She called softly from the other room. "Can you come here?"
There was something in the timbre of her voice that set my heart to hammering, and I grit my teeth and clenched my fists.
I took a deep breath and tried to centre myself, then left the studio and went out to the living room.
Just as I entered the room, she let out an unmistakeable moan that filled me with fire.
My eyes tracked to her - she was lying on her back on the couch, her head pointed away from me. One hand trailed up and down her body while the other had disappeared under the hem of her shorts.
I growled and rolled forward, stopping myself just in front of her, fists clenched and shaking with attempted self-control. Her eyes fluttered open, and a desperate hunger gripped her expression as she bit her lip, a perfect mirror of the storm raging inside me.