AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A few minutes later, Halo stopped cutting into his rib-eye and looked me in the eye. “You do this a lot.”
“Dinner dates? No, Angel. Not my thing.”
“Not your thing,” he repeated.
“Right. I’m more in the business of catch and release.”
“Catch and release?”
“Mhmm. I catch someone’s eye, bring him home for the night, and then, you know, release him back into the wild.”
Halo scoffed, as I reached over and stabbed the piece of meat he’d just cut into. “In other words, you fuck and run.”
Sitting back in my seat, I chewed my mouthful, swallowed it down, and reached for my drink. “I don’t run anywhere, Angel. And the men who leave here aren’t running either. In fact, most of them are lucky if they can walk.”
Halo rolled his eyes. “You are so arrogant.”
I leaned forward in my chair and scraped my teeth along my lip. “Just telling it like it is.”
“And that’s supposed to make me want to, what? Fall at your feet?”
I flashed a wolfish grin his way. “I’m nothing if not hopeful.”
“You’re insane.”
“And yet you can’t stop thinking about what it would be like to spend one night in my bed. Can you?”
Halo’s jaw clenched, and he lowered his eyes back to his plate without answering.
“I’m going to take that as a yes.”
“Of course you are.”
“Of course I am. You practically came on my leg thirty minutes ago. I’m not about to let you forget that.” I watched him closely as he diligently cut and piled the next mouthful of food on his fork as though it were a matter of life and death, and then I asked him something I could tell was bothering him, judging by this last line of questioning. “What’s worrying you the most: the fact that you’ve never done this before or that I do it all the time?”
This time when Halo’s eyes found mine, there was shock mixed in with disbelief. That’s right, Angel. Told you I pay attention.
“Honest answer?” Halo said.
“Always.”
Halo lowered his fork to the table and narrowed his eyes on me. “Both those things. I just got this gig. I don’t want anything to fuck it up. Even if you do make me—”
When Halo cut himself off, I laughed. “Oh, don’t stop there.”
Halo picked his glass up and threw back a good, long swallow of the vodka. “Even if you make me hard, okay? As if you don’t already know that.”
“I do, but it’s so fucking hot to hear you say it. I couldn’t resist.”
“Well, to me it’s just…strange.” Halo’s mouth pulled into a serious line. “I’ve never looked at a guy like that before, and now I can’t stop thinking about it.”
“Then don’t stop.”
“That’s your answer?” Halo put his knife down. “That’s a shit answer, Viper.”
“Hey, I’m sorry if it’s not what you want to hear, but that’s all I got.” And it was true. Why would you stop thinking about something if it felt good?
Halo pushed back from the table, and as he got to his feet, I looked up at him.
“Going somewhere?”
“Not sitting here I’m not,” Halo said, his eyes boldly moving over my face, and this time, there was no uncertainty, no hesitation in the way he checked me out. “I’m gonna head home. This is… It’s not getting us anywhere, and the guys are going to want to hear what we worked on tomorrow.”
“I thought you said you wouldn’t run.”
“I’m not running,” Halo said as he walked to the couch, picked up his jacket, and shrugged into it. When he turned back to look at me, he folded the paper with the lyrics on it and tucked it into his pocket. “But for now, since I am still able to walk out of here, I think I probably should.”
As he moved back toward the elevator, I didn’t once take my eyes off him, and when he pressed the button and the door slid open, I called out, “Angel?”
He put a hand out, holding the door for himself. “What?”
“I expect you to sing that song exactly the way you sang it tonight, and if you don’t…” I ran my eyes over him and then brought them back up. “We’ll just have to have another private rehearsal.”
Halo sucked in a breath, the idea clearly appealing to him. But as if he knew what would happen if he stayed a second longer, he stepped into the elevator and let the doors shut behind him.
Smart angel.
Twenty-Seven
Halo
I’D JUST STEPPED out of the shower the next morning, wrapping a towel around my waist, when there was a knock at my door. The alarm clock by my bed read eight thirty, far too early for Imogen to be up, so I quickly threw on a pair of sweatpants and went out to see who it was.
As I peered through the peephole, I got an eyeful of the man standing on the other side and had to do a double take. It hadn’t been enough that I’d been up all night thinking about him after leaving his place, but now Viper had shown up at my place?
