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“Being frustrated. You seem…preoccupied,” he said.
I narrowed my eyes. “I’m not preoccupied.”
“Could’ve fooled me,” he said. He seemed to be enjoying himself a little too much at my expense. “You can’t keep your eyes off our new manager. Not to mention, you didn’t invite anyone here tonight. That’s very unlike you. Thinking about starting some intra-band relations yourself, huh?”
Figured Viper would be the one to pick up on that. I stubbed out my cigarette in one of the ashtrays. “The thought might’ve crossed my mind.”
“Uh huh. I fucking knew it.”
I shrugged, not bothering to disagree as I looked back in Levi’s direction, and this time, I saw Halo and Viper follow my gaze.
As if he could feel my eyes on him—hell, all our eyes on him—Levi slowly turned in our direction, and when he saw us staring, he narrowed his eyes, as if wondering what mischief we were up to now.
“Act fucking normal,” I said under my breath. “I don’t want you two to scare him off before I go over there.”
Halo, obviously feeling the alcohol tonight, started to laugh. “Oh my God. You and Levi?”
Not that I wanted anyone to know my business, but if the alcohol had gotten to Halo, it’d gotten to me as well, because I was feeling pretty damn good right now—and more than a little ready for some action.
I shot Halo a wink. “If I’m lucky. Now you two get the hell out of here.”
Viper had an amused look on his face as he said, “Do I need to tell you not to fuck up a good thing here?”
“I mean, you can,” I said, shoving off the wall and looking between Viper and Halo, who had zero room to talk. “But you’ll get the same answer you gave me.” When Viper arched a brow, I shrugged. “It’s none of your damn business.”
Viper lifted his hands and backed away as Halo shot me a wide grin and said, “Good luck.” Then they were gone, and thank fuck for that. With those two around, I knew Levi would keep one eye on them for any trouble, but with them out of the picture, maybe he’d finally make a move. Or be receptive to mine.
I made my way through the crowd, my eyes zeroing in on Levi. He didn’t see me coming; his back was to me, and he was leaning in to a guy who looked too interested, laughing at something Levi was saying.
An irrational flare of jealousy went through me at the move, and as I approached, I stepped between them, cutting off their connection. The smile I gave Levi then was full of a confidence I didn’t normally feel to quite this extent—thank you, tequila—and the puzzled look he gave me indicated as much.
“Mind if I steal you away?” I said, and then over my shoulder to what’s-his-name, I added, “Band business.”
When Levi quickly excused himself, I practically patted myself on the back. Step one, complete.
“Is something wrong?” Levi asked, keeping pace with me as I walked to the far end of the party, where a cluster of private cabanas lined the pool. The area was off-limits to guests at this late hour, but when we approached, one of the security guys lowered the rope without a word. “I saw Viper and Halo talking to you. Did something happen?”
I didn’t respond as I chose one of the cabanas facing away from the party for ultimate privacy and made myself comfortable on the large, round sunbed.
“Killian? What’s going on?” Levi’s forehead creased as he stared down at me, the moonlight lighting him up from behind as if he were standing in a spotlight. I may have been drunk, but I wasn’t blind—he was sexy as hell.
I patted the cushion beside me. “Come here and I’ll tell you.”
Levi eyed me warily but sat. We’d never been anything more than completely professional to each other, so he had no reason to think I would do anything inappropriate now, despite the looks we’d given each other. Even so, I noticed the stiff way he sat, his back straight, his eyes focusing straight ahead.
“What did you want to talk to me about?” he said.
His words came out with an air of caution, so instead of diving right in, I’d ease him into it. Yeah, good plan… “Tonight went well, don’t you think?”
Levi’s eyebrows rose slightly, like he wasn’t expecting me to say that and didn’t believe that was where I’d been heading. Again, he thought carefully about his words before saying, “You guys played a great first show.”
“Thank you.” I lay down on my side, propping my head up on my elbow and tracing the patterns on the cushion with my finger. I was aware that the move had my shirt rising enough that he could see how low my jeans sat on my hips, and I watched his eyes roam over my uncovered skin before he swallowed and quickly looked away.
