Chapter 36: Duet

Back at the cottage, Richie barely had the truck turned off before Julianna was leaping from the truck, and striding toward the studio, wrapping her hair into a knot as she went. She turned around, and caught Richie staring at her. “What?” she demanded.

“Just want to watch you walk, baby. You’re pure poetry in motion.”

With a pleased blush, she ran back to him, hurled herself into his arms and kissed him. “You’re good for me, Sambora. Really good.” She kissed him once more for good measure, and pushed back from him.

“Ditto, babe,” Richie answered, linking his arm in hers, and walking with her to the studio.

Once inside, Julianna bent to unzip her boots. Richie stilled her hands. “Let me, he said. He knelt at her feet, and gently slid a hand up her skirt until he found the skin at the top of her boot. He slowly lowered the zipper, keeping his eyes locked on hers the whole time. Peeling the leather from her leg and foot he handed her the boot. He did the same with the other boot, and by the time he was done, both of them were breathing hard.

Julianna took a tentative step backwards on shaky legs. Leaving her boots at the door, went to the barre to stretch. With a leg up on the barre, Julianna stretched to touch her toes and in a husky voice, she said, “Rich, you’re gonna want to stretch out your shoulders and arms.”

Richie shucked his shoes, and padded over to her. He came in close behind Julianna and wrapped his arms around her body. “Show me,” he growled into her ear. Julianna shivered when he backed away from her. She led him through some basic stretches and got him a set of focus mitts, which were really large pads that slipped over the backs of his hands. After tightening the straps, she showed him how to hold the mitts for each of the punches in the combination she was going to do.

With each repetition of the combination, Richie and Julianna moved faster and faster, in perfect synch with each other, oblivious to their surroundings. A sheen of sweat covered Julianna’s face, and she could feel the rest of the tension slowly draining out of her. Richie could feel the power of the punches all the way to his shoulders. Julianna was right; his arms were going to be sore. It was well worth it, though – Julianna seemed to be relaxing.

She gradually slowed her pace, focusing on form rather than speed, and started grunting with each hit landed. With the last backfist punch, she let out a whoop. “That was just what I needed,” she said, leaning in to give Richie a kiss. “Suppose Jon can wait another 15 minutes for me to go jump into the shower?” She wrinkled her nose. “I’m pretty ripe.”

“If we can’t,” Jon’s voice replied from across the room, “I sure as hell am not going to be the one to tell you.”

Julianna turned to see Jon, Tico, and Dave on the stairs, staring at her. Grinning, she said, “And why not? I’m a perfectly reasonable woman.”

Dave laughed. “If that’s not an oxymoron, I don’t know what is.” He ducked behind Tico. “Don’t hit me!”

Julianna giggled. “I’ll have you know, I hardly ever hit my friends.”

Tico laughed. “Can you really be back here in 15 minutes?”

“Absolutely,” Julianna said smugly. “Time me.” With that, she sprinted from the studio. Bursting into her bedroom, she was flinging her clothes off as she crossed to the bathroom. She took a quick shower, washing the last of the sweat and anger from her. Drying off quickly, she pulled on low-riding jeans and a tank top. She was finger-combing her hair as she crossed the yard, and made it back to the studio with 30 seconds to spare.

Bolting up the stairs, she called out, “Made it!”

Jon made a show of looking at his watch, and he whistled. “That may be a new world’s record for a woman showering and changing. You did shower, right?” he smirked.

Julianna stalked over to him, stepped in very close, and exposed her neck to him. “Taste me; no sweat – I’m clean.”

Seeing the murderous look on Richie’s face, Jon laughed, and took a step back. “No, it’s OK, I believe you.”

Julianna stuck her tongue out at Jon, and lifted her arms to braid her hair. In doing so, the hem of her tank crept up, showing her tattoo. Tico, noticed first. “Hey Jules, what’s the ink?”

Julianna blushed. “Just something I had done years ago.” She yanked down the shirt, and sought out Richie’s eyes. He was grinning like a fool. She rolled her eyes. “Shit, here, have a look.” She raised her hem a little, and Tico leaned in.

“Nice work,” he said. “That kinda looks like – ” he looked up at Julianna, who was looking anywhere but at him.

“Looks like what?” Dave demanded.

Richie answered, crossing the room to Julianna, and looping an arm around her shoulders. “Julianna has honored me by decorating her body with my guitar and initials. She had it done, what,” he looked at her, “in the early 90’s?” She nodded.

Dave came over for a closer look. He traced his finger over the design, making Julianna jump. “Sorry, Jules. It is nice work, though.”

Jon cleared his throat. “If you guys are done ogling Jules’ ripped abs,” he winked at her and smiled his mega-watt smile, “perhaps we can get started? Rich, you and the tattooed lady sit here in the middle of the room and run through it a couple of times to get the feel for it. We’re going to do a couple of different versions, and we can go from there.”

Julianna blushed harder, and tried to pull down the hem of her tank. Richie stilled her hands, and muttered under his breath, “Don’t mind him; he’s just giving you a hard time. Means you’re part of the family now.” The two took up positions in the middle of the room on stools that were set up. Dave and Tico sat to listen. Jon sat at the desk with the music and his pencil. Richie grabbed the 12-string Julianna had given him earlier, and started to play. The music was so beautiful, Julianna almost missed her cue. She sang the first lines, her eyes locked on Richie’s, her voice in perfect harmony with Richie’s guitar.

Jon was watching them, a thoughtful look on his face. He could tell this was going to be a very successful collaboration. The chemistry between them was unmistakable, and the passion they felt for each other came through in their delivery of the lyrics. He listened to the next set of verses. Yep, this was definitely working out well.

When they were done, Jon applauded. “That was great. I knew this was a good idea. Hell, you don’t even really need the rest of us for this one – but you’ve got us.” He grinned. “Let’s run through the version for the show. Now that we know it sounds good with just a guitar and a voice, we know it will be fantastic with the whole band. Guys, let’s get to work.”

With that, they got down to business, each taking up their positions around the studio. They ran through the song a few times with Richie and Julianna singing, alternating who started singing first; one with Julianna and Jon, just for fun; then some with the standard Bon Jovi Jon-as-lead-Richie-as-background arrangement, just to hear the contrast. They broke once for pizza, but kept working long after the sun had set. Jon was nothing short of a perfectionist, and he was scrutinizing everyone’s performance. Probably more so, as he didn’t have a lead role in this song.

When they were finally done, Dave made a comment. “You were right, Boss; it is better as a boy-girl duet. And no offense, she sounds better with Rich than with you.” He shook his head. “It’s unnatural that you’re always right,” he grumbled.