“Shh!” I say as Carson Daly’s voice pulls me back to the TV.
I hear Bran chuckle behind me, but my eyes are glued to the screen as the remaining contestants are called up to the stage. My heart stalls in my chest when I see Lo lead the rest of the group into the spotlights. She’s dressed just as kickass as she sounds when she sings, in a strappy top, short ruffled skirt with sequins, and high boots. Her copper afro is tamed into tight corkscrews and her coffee-with-too-much-cream skin glows in the stage lights. She’s the smallest one out there, petite and at least three inches shorter than anyone else, but there’s no way anyone notices that. All she’s doing is standing there, and she’s got the biggest stage presence of the group. Even Carson Daly fades in her presence.
They mess with the stage lighting and cue the dramatic music. The atmosphere goes all suspenseful as we wait for him to name the first artist through to the finals.
When he says Lo’s name, my heart skips and I drop my head back in relief. She hugs the girl next to her and I wonder when she turned into a hugger. That’s new.
They cut to commercial and I sag in my seat, totally relieved.
Chapter 11
Bran
“Congrats,” I say, then take a swallow off the beer I just poured myself.
She turns slowly and looks at me. “Thanks.”
My eyes flick toward the TV. “Is that the friend that went to your grandma’s with you…the one you played the subway stations with?”
She nods. “All she had to do was open her mouth and people would stop and listen. My guitar case was always full of bills after just a few songs.”
“Well, the producers must have thought there wasn’t much suspense in keeping the audience hanging, or they wouldn’t have pulled her first.”
“I’m telling you, she’s going to win. Everyone knows it.”
I look at her a long second, her silver eyes stirring up my insides and turning them electric. Finally, I lean across the bar. “I want to kiss you again.”
She draws a shaky breath then swallows half her drink. “I told you, I can’t.”
She turns her attention back to the TV when the intro music for the show starts. The host announces the next act, Shiloh and two other contestants singing “Renegade.”
I watch Lilah, rapt with attention, a smile twitching her full pink lips as her friend sings. But I don’t hear anything up there that can touch what Lilah does with her voice. When Shiloh’s group finishes, Lilah drops against the back of the barstool and grabs fistfuls of her platinum hair. “Oh my god!”
“You’re better,” I tell her.
She straightens up and whips around, glaring me down as if I’ve slapped her. “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”
I shrug. “I may not know a whole lot about music, but I know what I like.”
She throws a hand at the TV screen in frustration. “She opens her mouth and anyone who hears her shivers. She hits a note and it sinks right through you and lodges in your soul. Her voice imprints on your DNA so you can never forget it. No one can do what she does.”
“I disagree.” I lean on my hands, pressing closer and lowering my voice. “Because none of those things happened to me when I heard her sing, but they all happen every time I listen to you.”
Her lips part as her face flushes, and for several beats of my heart we just stare at each other. Finally, she shakes her gaze loose from mine. “I should go home.”
“Not without me.”
Her gaze sharpens to a point and snaps back to my face. “I’m not taking you home, Bran.”
I haul a deep breath and blow it out. “I meant, I’m walking with you. You know, safety in numbers and all that.”
Her eyes soften as they trail over the damage to my face. “I can’t believe he…” She lifts her hand and I want so badly for her to touch my face again, but she lowers it and grabs her drink instead. She polishes it off in one long swallow.
I lift the rum bottle. “Another?”
She shakes her head, but she’s not looking at the bottle. Her eyes are fixed on my mouth. As they trace the lines of my lips, I feel that shiver she was talking about. I feel her gaze wrap itself around the deepest part of my soul and lodge there. I feel her presence weave into my DNA and know I’m never going to forget her.
No one’s ever done anything like this to me.
Every cell in my body is rioting against my head. My every instinct is to throw her on the bar and sink my cock balls deep inside her.
But I have to slow this train down. When I fuck her, it’s going to be because she begged me to.
“Carol!” I call across the bar, where she’s now sitting in the booth with the couple.
She looks up.
“You got the bar for a few?” I ask with a nod at Lilah.
She waves a hand at the door and a smile ticks one corner of her mouth. “Take your time.”