Johnny snorted. “In your dreams. Giles would never be caught dead up there.”
“Is that right?” I stared at him, and his brown eyes didn’t leave mine.
“That’s right.”
“What if I persuaded you?” I challenged.
“Impossible.”
“Please?”
“Nope.”
“What if I went up there with you?”
“Not going to happen.”
“Come on. Let me teach you something today.”
He couldn’t keep the smile from his face as he shook his head at me. “There you go again with your persistency.”
“It’s part of my charm,” I replied sweetly. “C’mon. What do you have to lose?” I held out my hand as the previous song ended.
Erin and Johnny watched our back and forth silently, waiting to see who would win the battle.
“If anyone records this, you’re dead,” Giles announced before grabbing my hand and marching up to the stage with me.
“What song do you want to do?” I asked, gleeful that I had won.
“Something easy,” he muttered. “You better choose fast, or I’m out of here.”
I picked a well-known Motown duet that every English-speaking person in the world knew the lyrics to.
“We’ve got this,” I said before giving him a thumbs-up.
The music started up, and I belted the lyrics at him. To his credit, as uncomfortable as he was, his voice wasn’t half bad.
I danced around him as he stood stiffly with one hand on the mic and the other in his pocket. When the first chorus came around, I started jumping around, and the whole bar sang along too.
Trying to loosen Giles up, I grabbed his hand from his pocket and forced him to twirl me. That finally got him to crack a smile. By the time the chorus rolled around again, he was jumping around with the rest of the bar. He looked like he was actually having fun with it and I couldn’t keep the smile off of my face.
The song ended, and we stepped off the stage, laughing.
I beamed up at him. “See, that was fun, right?” I asked through heavy breathing.
He smiled down at me. “If you say so, Florida.”
I smacked his arm. “Shut up. You were having fun and you know it.”
“Wow, hell must be frozen over because I never would have thought I’d see my cousin on a karaoke stage.” Johnny was at our side now, clapping Giles on the shoulder.
Giles shrugged him off, but his smile remained.
A hand grabbed my arm and I glanced to my right to see Erin smirking at me.
“What?” I hissed. “We were just having fun.”
“Sure,” she whispered before raising her voice to address the group. “Johnny we should probably head home. I’m completely wiped. Giles can you walk Mattie back?”
