I climb the stairs and Bran follows. At the top, I pull out my key and let us in.
Everything is as we left it, boxes littering the floor and surfaces. Except, there’s a new TV on the table in the corner. I look at him.
“Mom had an extra.” He goes over and turns it on, then picks up a remote and pokes at it. “The episodes of The Voice we were at are on the TiVo.”
He clicks play and the finals start.
“Zip to Lo,” I say as I drop onto the couch.
He pulls off his jacket and slings it over the arm of the couch before sitting at the other end and doing as I ask. We watch her first song and I get shivers listening to her hit notes I could only dream of. And when he zips to the intro for her original song, and they say my name, the rush makes me shudder.
“Did you see?” Bran asks. “You’ve been number one since the show.”
I look at him and he gives me half a smile. I’ve been so caught up in everything else, I hadn’t thought about the fact that they released that single. Something I wrote is being heard by millions of people. I turn my attention back to the screen just as the camera pans to the audience…and catches me and Bran mauling each other right in the middle of the crowded auditorium.
My fingers dig into my knees and I feel heat creep up my face. Lo hits the final note and Bran clicks off the TV.
He stands and grabs his jacket, flinging it over his shoulder. “I’ll leave you alone. Lock the doors behind me.”
I bound from my seat. “Don’t go!”
He turns slowly and heat blazes from his dark gaze as it rakes over me. “I can’t be here without needing to kiss you, Lilah.”
I take a step toward him. “Then kiss me.”
For several beats of my racing heart, he stands at the door doing battle with himself.
“Please,” I say.
It’s barely a whisper, but it blows the smolder in his eyes into an inferno. In two long strides he’s on me, and I’m being crushed in his strong arms and devoured by his mouth. His kiss demands everything I have, and I give it to him. I open wide and give myself up to his desire. There’s no way something can burn this bright and not spontaneously combust. I expect to burst into flames at any second.
But when I start tugging at his clothes, desperate to feel him inside me again, he peels my hands away and steps back. “You have no idea how badly I want to fuck you blind right now, but if we’re going to do this, I need everyone on board.”
“Destiny,” I say when what he’s saying clicks in my head. I raise my eyebrows, challenging him. “You think she’s going to get on board with you fucking me blind?”
He barks a laugh. “I don’t need her on board with the specifics, only the basic concept. I need to know she’s not going to have my sorry ass thrown in jail.”
“There’s nothing sorry about your ass, Bran.”
He shakes his head at me. “Exactly what I’m afraid the rest of the inmates are going think.”
“Besides,” I say with a sigh. “I’m not sure Destiny’s going to get on board with anything.”
His kiss swollen lips press into a line. “We’ll just have to convince her. When she’s better.”
I slip my T-shirt off and toss it at him. “You’re sure I can’t convince you?”
He snatches it out of the air and presses it to his face, closing his eyes and breathing deep. “I’m trying to do the right thing by everyone and you are fucking with my resolve.”
God, he’s right. I’m a horrible person. Destiny is fighting for her sanity and here I am trying to get laid.
He turns for the door, taking my shirt with him. “You should come back to the bar now that you’re famous. Been saving your seat.”
“I’ll think about it,” I say as he retreats down the stairs.
The steel door at the bottom bangs shut and I go to the window and watch him cross the street. He pulls on his jacket on the way to his car, and before he drops into his seat, he lifts my shirt to his face again and breathes deep.
He pulls away and leaves me aching for him.
Chapter 27
Bran
Lilah comes into the bar at eight thirty and my heart swells. I’ve been a good boy for the last week and a half since the kiss at her apartment and kept my hands off. But it’s been an epic struggle.
Tonight, she’s bundled into a jacket with a furry collar and I think I’m safe…until she peels it and the scarf underneath off. She’s in boots past her knees, a short tight skirt and a long-sleeved, gauzy button-down blouse that clings in all the right places. At my perusal, her nipples tighten into nubs and I smile. I still affect her too. Good to know.
My body does what it always does in her presence, and I spend the next four hours trying to tame my raging boner.