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No, I didn’t suppose he was. And yet here he was, wanting to…date me. A guy. Someone he’d never even considered until I made him. And that had me thinking.
“What was her name?”
Halo’s hand froze midway to his mouth. “Who?”
I could tell he knew what I was asking even though he hadn’t answered. But if he thought I was going to back down then he was in for a shock. The angel had said he wanted a date, and wasn’t this what people did on dates? Asked about exes?
“The girl you sang about in your audition video. The one who broke your heart. What was her name?”
Halo’s mouth fell open, and I could see the question why in his eyes. But before he could ask, I said, “She still in the picture at all?”
When he seemed to get past his shock, Halo popped the rest of the tuna sashimi into his mouth, and once he was done, he picked up his drink, took a long sip, and then wiped off his mouth.
“You jealous?” he asked.
I snorted but didn’t answer.
“Viper? Are you jealous?”
Was I? I thought back to the hundred and one times I’d watched that audition video of Halo before we agreed to permanently hire him, and remembered thinking what a dumbass someone would’ve been to let him go.
Was I jealous? Yeah, I’m fuckin’ jealous. Of some nameless girl I don’t even know.
“And if I am?”
Halo grinned as though the idea pleased him immensely, but instead of giving me shit, he put his napkin down and said, “Phoebe. Her name was Phoebe. And to save you the agony of asking a question I know you’re dying to ask but probably won’t, we dated for three years.”
“Three years?” Fuck me, that was, like…twenty-one in dog years. I couldn’t imagine waking up with the same person for—
“You freaking out over there?”
“No.”
“Liar,” Halo said, and when he smiled, I tried to imagine not waking up and seeing his face. “Anyway, she wanted different things to me. Or should I say for me. She thought I was wasting my time in the dive bars when I could’ve had a career more like my mom’s. With the symphony.”
I was listening to everything Halo was saying, but instead of having anything remotely intelligent to say, I blurted out, “She was wrong. You don’t belong in an orchestra. You belong center stage, Angel. Under a fucking spotlight.”
A pleased sigh left him. “Do you remember that night at Li’s when you said people would look at me, at us, and wonder who I was to you?”
I nodded. I’d purposely been fucking with him, and it had worked. He’d looked totally freaked out that the other customers might think we were together. But when Halo leaned over toward me tonight, there was no concern in his eyes, not even a hint.
“Tonight, I wish I could tell everyfuckingone,” he said.
Nineteen
Halo
WHEN I WOKE the next morning, the soft strumming of a guitar filled my ears. It was a beautiful sound, one of my favorite sounds in the world, though the song itself was unfamiliar.
Keeping my eyes closed so Viper would continue playing, I let the music lull me, my thoughts drifting back to last night, when he’d finally admitted we were on a date.
Yep, the perennial bad-boy bachelor of the group had gone on an official date, and somehow, even with all the choices available to him, it’d been with me. That filled my stomach with a million damn butterflies, because though we’d gone out alone before, last night had been different. He’d opened the door for me, for God’s sake, which I knew had surprised him as much as it had me.
Somehow, over the last few weeks since we’d been in Miami, I’d gotten over the shock of falling for a man—although that was largely due to the fact that no one in our inner circle had questioned what was happening with Viper. Sure, the guys gave us shit for it, but Viper had assured me they would’ve done that regardless of gender. But in the back of my mind, I considered what would happen when we got back to New York. Here, it was like being in the safety of a bubble, but what happened when we ventured outside of that? What would my family say? My friends?
And more importantly, would whatever this thing was with Viper continue once we were back to reality?
Not wanting to think any more about the what-ifs, I opened my eyes to see Viper sitting in a chair across the room, naked and with my new guitar across his lap. Dawn was just breaking, sunlight filtering in through the opening where the curtains met, giving me just enough light to see him.
Damn, he was beautiful. Not a word I ever thought I’d associate with a man, and not one Viper would ever want to be called, but it was the truth. Every inch of his smooth olive skin was on display, and it surprised me now, as it always did for some reason, that Viper wasn’t covered in tattoos—or that he didn’t at least have a few hidden ones. No, the only thing hidden on his body was the Prince Albert piercing at the head of his cock, and that had most definitely been a welcome surprise—especially because he knew just how to use it. The thought of him inside me made me shudder and lick my lips, and the small movement caught Viper’s attention.
