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“Okay, no need to be rude.” Talia feigned offense. “No, I’m not singing. I’m aware that I sound like a garbage disposal.”
“A cute garbage disposal.” Walker laughed. “Piper, you’re singing, though, right?”
Every eye turned toward Piper to get her response. Ultimately, it wasn’t her family or her best friend who made her decision: it was Todd’s annoying voice, still stuck in her head.
You should try being fun sometime.
She was fun. She was exciting. She lived life on the edge—well, just a few feet back from the edge. She could do this: one night of singing and fun. Fuck Todd.
Rocking back on her heels, Piper closed her eyes and nodded.“Yeah, I’ll sing.”
Cheers erupted in the room and over the phone. At least, if nothing else, she could lose herself in a song and in the company of people who didn’t think she was a stick in the mud.
Four
LEO
The Hot Mic was packed and too loud for Leo’s liking, in no small part thanks to the absolute train wreck on stage. Two drunk girls were singing “Elastic Heart” with enough vigor to curdle milk. Making eye contact with the barkeep, Leo gave her a slight smile to entice her his way. Sam wasn’t wrong about her being his type—this woman dripped sex appeal, and Leo wasn’t mad at it. If she was interested, maybe the night wouldn’t be a total bust. Leo was typically a long-term relationship guy, but it was a bit hard to find something that lasted more than one night when the women he was attracted to were all so confident in themselves that they didn’t want or need a relationship.
“What can I get you?” the bartender asked with a flirty lilt.
“I’ll take a shot of tequila. Cheapest shit you have.” Leo ordered the singular drink he would allow himself to pay for that evening. “And a lime if you’re planning on watching me take it, cariño.”
“You wanna lick salt off something, too?” The sexy bartender passed Leo a lime wedge as he cocked his head to the side and dragged his eyes over her slender, tattooed arms.
“There are many, many things I’d like to lick salt off of.” He leaned farther over the bar, hitting her with his bedroom eyes as she set a shot glass in front of him.
“Like you need to be saltier.”
The snide voice didn’t come from the bartender. Heat spread through Leo’s body, and his muscles went rigid as he turned to face Piper fucking Hartrick.
“Whatever this girl orders,” Leo said, directing the comment to the bartender as he scowled at Piper, “you don’t need to add any ice to it. If she stares too long, it’ll freeze over no problem. She’s got the ice queen thing down pat.”
The outfit Piper was wearing added no value to Leo’s statement. Her black sundress printed with bright yellow sunflowers hugged her breasts so well that the tasteful amount of cleavage peeking out the top begged him to look. The fabric—cotton, maybe, given how soft it looked—jutted out from her hips in flowy pleats that fell partway up her thighs. Cork wedge heels accentuated her legs, with straps encircling her delicate ankles that tied in neat bows at the top. Leo’s mouth went treacherously dry. It was the kind of outfit that had his brain scrambling to fight off a desire to flip up the hem of her dress and fold her over the bartop. Good girls, Piper especially, were not his type, but sundresses—well, those were his kryptonite.
“I’m a goddamn ray of sunshine, and that’s ice princess, to you,” Piper corrected. All sundress fantasies were lost to the wind when Leo was reminded a second later why he hated her so much. Like someone had flipped a switch, Piper’s face transformed from irritated disdain into a pleasant smile as she lit up for the bartender. “I’ll take a Shirley Temple with an extra cherry, please.” If he looked up “two-faced” in a dictionary, odds were he’d find a picture of a blonde with newly dyed lavender tips.
“Sure thing.” The bartender nodded and barely gave Leo a second glance before making Piper’s juice and running off to place more orders, no longer interested in him.
“Thanks for that.” Leo sighed and threw back his shot, slamming it down on the wooden bartop. He cringed as the bite of the inexpensive alcohol hit the back of his throat. Then, taking the lime wedge between his lips, he made direct eye contact with Piper and bit down into its flesh, sucking hard. Piper’s eyes flicked briefly to his mouth and then back up to his eyes.
“I saved her a lot of trouble.” She shrugged, her expression falling back into identity numero uno. Piper took her own turn at whatever game they were playing. Bendy straw perched between her lips, she took a long pull from her kiddie drink all while staring at him with an unblinking glare.
“Yes, you’re a true hero. I can see the headlines now.” He mimed an invisible banner with his hand. “Piper Hartrick, saving women everywhere from multiple orgasms.”
Piper jerked her hand up to create her own banner. “Breaking news, men still have yet to figure out that women know how to fake orgasms.”
“Aw, princesita, you probably think you’re really good at faking it, huh?” Leo crooned. “I’d be able to see right through you.”
“Doubt it.” She rolled her eyes.
“See, the trick is, I keep going, even when they say they’ve finished. Because if I’ve really done my job,” he dropped his voice into a low rasp and leaned forward so only she could hear, “everything will be so sensitive that they’ll beg me to stop touching them.” Piper stood, completely speechless, as he leaned back on his elbows, relaxing against the bartop. Point Leo. The blush staining her cheeks should have just been amusing, but instead, Leo found he had to quickly cut the tension with another biting remark before his thoughts went down a rabbit hole of sundress-related daydreams. He pointed to the drink in her hand. “You got a hot date with a crayon box and glitter glue soon?”
“I don’t drink, and Shirley Temples are delicious. Plus…” Piper fished a cherry out of her glass, plopping it onto her tongue and wrapping her lips around it to pull it from the stem. Leo swallowed as he watched, his tongue dipping out of his mouth to involuntarily swipe over his bottom lip. “I can tie a knot in a cherry stem with just my mouth.”
“You know what that means, right?” He played along.
“That I’m a good kisser,” Piper stated with a definitive lift of her chin.
