The applause dies down and Bran lowers my Jell-O body into my seat as everyone begins to sit. When I glance at the guy on my other side, he’s grinning at me.
The coaches are commenting on Lo’s performance and I try to focus. Adam jabs at Blake that he can’t win them all and they agree that that song will make Lo tough to beat.
Bran lifts my hand from where it rests on my thigh and the press of warm, rough skin against mine as he folds my hand into his sends a flood of heat through me.
I like Bran way more than I should…for a lot of reasons. I have to tell him the truth.
The rest of the show passes in a blur and I’m so wound up that I don’t even realize my phone is buzzing as we navigate the crush of bodies out of the studio. I pull it from my pocket, expecting Destiny, but it’s Lo.
I yank Bran to the side and answer. “Oh my god, Lo! You crushed it!”
“Because of you!” she squeals. “Did you hear Blake and Adam? They loved your song!”
“Do you have time? Can I see you?”
“No, Li. We’re in the car on the way to the hotel already. But you have to stay for the results tomorrow. I need you here either way. There are tickets with your name on them at Will Call.”
I cringe and look at Bran. “I got a ride from a friend, Lo. I can’t stay.”
Bran squints a question at me and mouths, “She wants you to stay?”
I nod.
“Then we’ll stay,” he says.
My heart beats out of rhythm at the thought of staying overnight in L.A. with Bran. Lo’s voice draws me back to the phone. “Li? You still there?”
“My ride is okay with staying, but I have to check in with Destiny.”
“Thank you!” she screeches. “I’ve got to go, but I’ll text you tomorrow with all the details.”
On the way to the parking structure, I call Destiny and she says she’s fine with me staying as long as Bran’s looking after me. When we reach his car, the anticipation is choking me. It never occurred to me that we’d be staying in L.A. overnight. If Bran gets a room, my choices are to share it with him or sleep alone in his car. It’s clear from the way I ache low in my belly remembering what he just did to me in the studio, that if my body got a vote, I’d be sleeping in Bran’s bed tonight.
But I can’t do that to my sister.
He clicks the lock. “How do you want to play this?”
I look at him and realize he’s thinking about the logistics too. But his smoldering gaze leaves little doubt what he hopes my answer will be. “I can’t afford a room.”
“I’ve got it covered,” he says, sliding into the car.
I lower myself into his passenger seat. “I didn’t bring fresh clothes for tomorrow.”
“So you want to head home?”
I think about that and my heart turns to stone. I can’t leave when Lo is so close. “No.”
Without another word, he pulls out of the garage and heads back the way we came, toward the highway. We’re quiet as he drives. I don’t know about him, but I’m too nervous to talk without my voice cracking. All I can think about is what’s going to happen when this car stops and Bran gets me alone in a hotel room. He passes a few nicer looking hotels and pulls into a small parking lot in front of a two-story building near the entrance ramp to the highway. There’s a big neon sign on top that says MOTEL. Under it is a smaller lit half moon.
We take the last parking spot and walk into the motel office.
“You got a room available?” Bran asks as he approaches the desk.
The guy nods. “One left.” He glances at me, then back at Bran. “It’s a king.”
“What’s the rate?” Bran asks, fishing his wallet out of his back pocket.
“One thirty plus tax.”
Bran nods and flips a card out of his wallet. “One night.”
The clerk gets us checked in and hands Bran two keycards. Bran lays his hand on the small of my back and guides me out the door and toward the stairs up from the parking lot to the second floor. He slides the card through the lock and opens the door onto a room that looks clean enough, but what holds my attention is the big king size bed taking up most of the space.
He steps through and closes the door, and the next second I’m wrapped in his arms. He hasn’t forgotten where we left off at the studio, apparently, because his kiss is demanding and leaves no doubt where this is headed. And when my T-shirt passes over my head, my theory is confirmed. Just behind it, my bra hits the floor. And then he’s got my jeans undone and over my hips before I even have time to think.
So I don’t. I just go with the sensations that are sweeping over me and pulling me under.