Jane gazed at her reflection in the mirror of Adam’s backstage dressing room, smoothing her hair with her hands. She glanced down again at her watch with a sigh. It had already been half an hour since the live taping of The Voice ended, and she wondered how much longer Adam would be stuck doing the post-show interviews. They hadn’t had time to exchange more than a quick hello and a peck on the lips when she saw him before the show. She had just arrived in LA this afternoon and came straight to the studio from the airport.

She was wearing a low-cut, short-sleeved blouse, and she looked around the room now for a thermostat to turn down the blasting A/C. Her eyes fell instead on a leather motorcycle jacket that Adam had left draped across the back of his makeup chair. She picked it up and slipped her arms into the sleeves, wrapping it around herself as she settled into the chair. The jacket was cut to hit him at the waist, but on her it hung down past her hips. She pulled one side of it over her face for a moment and inhaled deeply, closing her eyes and smiling to herself as she thought again of the song he’d performed on stage an hour before.

***

Four days earlier

“Guess,” said the voice on the other end of the phone. Jane felt the smile on her face giving way to a yawn. It was after 3 AM in New York and past midnight his time. They both should be asleep, but he wanted to play guessing games instead.

“Is this going to be what our marriage is like?” she asked. “One long game of Name That Tune?”

Adam laughed. “You’re just stalling because you’re stumped.”

“Ummm, Let’s Get It On?” she guessed.

He laughed again. “OK. Here’s a hint. The answer is never going to be Let’s Get It On.”

Jane pouted into the phone. “But I like that song!”

“Fine. Maybe I’ll sing it to you at the wedding.”

She giggled. “That would be a memorable first dance.”

“Anyway, it’s not gonna be a cover.”

“What? You’re having Team Adam do a Maroon 5 song?”

“Yep.”

“The producers are letting you get away with that?”

“They weren’t totally thrilled with the idea,” he confessed. Now there was an understatement, he thought to himself. The week had started out with him and his remaining team members slated to perform a Bob Dylan cover on next Monday’s live episode of the Voice. They’d gotten half way through the first rehearsal, and everyone had sounded great on it except for him. He kept forgetting the words. He’d realized after the fourth or fifth failed run-through that it was because he had the bridge to a different song stuck in his head.

I’m so attracted to you.
The feeling’s mutual too.
And I get scared the moment you leave.
Get so hot I forget to breathe.

He’d been forgetting to breathe all week. After he’d popped the question on Sunday, he and Jane had only had the one night together before he had to catch a flight back to LA the next day. She’d considered dropping everything and coming with him, but she had too many loose ends in New York. She needed a week to wrap things up, so they’d agreed that she would stay behind and come join him in LA the following Monday.

They’d spent every night this week talking on the phone into the wee hours. He kept straining to analyze her voice for any trace of anxiety, but so far she sounded relaxed. Happy and relaxed. Not a breakup text message in sight. He tried to take comfort in her good mood, but he couldn’t quite manage to suppress the doubts in the back of his mind. She’d said yes to his proposal, but it wasn’t the first marriage proposal she’d ever accepted, was it? None of it meant anything if she didn’t get on the plane on Monday.

He’d written yet another new song about her yesterday. Ladykiller was the title.

Baby it’s not alright.
The second that you turn your back,
She'll be outta sight.
Baby she'll break your heart
The second that you spend the night apart.

He was being paranoid, he tried to tell himself. He’d proposed. She said yes. They were going to be together. She wasn’t going to pull another disappearing act. He’d be fine, he knew, as soon as she landed in LA. It was just the distance that was getting to him. He should have found a way to stay in New York for another week. He never should have let her out of his sight. Instead, he dragged out their phone calls until she fell asleep on the other end of the line, and he heard the words to the song he’d been rehearsing all week echo through his head again as soon as her voice left him.

I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it,
I want it, I want it, I want it.

No, the producers had not been happy about his song choice at all. Not only was it a Maroon 5 song, but it wasn’t even one of his hits. It was a B-side, for crying out loud. None of them had ever even heard of it before, and it had gone from bad to worse after they saw the lyrics. This was supposed to be a family show.

He’d stood his ground, though. It was that song or no song. The fact of the matter was, he wasn’t going to be able to keep the words to any other song in his head. Not this week. Not until she got on a plane. Not until he saw her standing in front of him again.

***

Jane felt herself starting to drift into sleep, and she sat up straighter in Adam’s makeup chair to keep herself awake, humming the tune to the song he’d played earlier. Of all the Maroon 5 songs he could have chosen, she thought with a shake of her head, leave it to Adam to choose that one. He’d been teasing her all week, trying to get her to guess what he was going to sing. She’d been expecting something romantic. The Air That I Breathe seemed like a distinct possibility.

I figured out what it is all about.
It's you that I could never live without.
Your everything,
The air that I breathe.

She should have known he wouldn’t go for the lovey dovey stuff. Even when she saw him come out on stage with his guitar slung low, leaning back with his legs splayed in a slightly suggestive pose, she still hadn’t guessed. It wasn’t until she heard the keyboardist play the opening chords that she recognized the song. The perfect song, of course, after that endless week of late night phone calls. He’d winked at her in the audience as his team members joined him on the chorus.

Infatuation…
Not seeing the rest of you is getting the best of me.
It’s such a shame that you shot me down.
It would have been nice to be around.

***

Adam paused outside his dressing room door, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. He needed a moment to collect himself. He’d barely been able to see Jane's face before when he was up on stage under the glare of the lights. He'd had to squint, but he’d caught a glimpse of her out there in the audience the moment she recognized the song. He’d tried to maintain his seductive smirk, but he hadn’t been able to fight the broad grin that popped onto his face when he saw her laugh.

His grin was back again now as he opened the door, but he wasn’t greeted by the sight of her smile. Jane was curled up in his chair with his leather jacket wrapped around her, fast asleep. He stood and stared at her for a long moment, unable to move a muscle, unable to draw a breath. He felt his whole body begin to vibrate as the words to the song came unbidden to his mind again.

I’m touching your skin
If it’s only a fantasy, then why is it killing me?
I guess this must be

Infatuation.

"Jane," he whispered. She opened her eyes at last and smiled at him. He hadn’t thought the pure lust he’d been feeling could get any more intense, but the sight of her eyes lighting up when she saw him just did it.

Jane Jane Jane Jane Jane. She got on the plane. She was here. She was in his life. She was in his room. She was in his chair. She was in his jacket. “Who gave you permission to wear that?” he heard his voice say.

“I was cold.”

“Take it off.”

She raised her eyebrows at him, but she stood up and shrugged it off, letting the jacket fall to the floor. “Anything else you’d like me to take off?”

He let his eyes roam up and down her body for a moment, before breaking into a half smile. “Not seeing the rest of you was getting the best of me.”

She came toward him then and grabbed him by the shirt with both hands. “You can see as much of me as you like, Adam. From now on.”

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