Page 40 of Contentious

“Which one is the real him?”

“Both.”

Canyon kicked off their set with “Crazy Train” by Ozzy Osborne, followed by “Somebody to Love” by Jefferson Airplane.

“Wow, they’re great,” Marlene said.

“I know! I love it.”

“What’re you doing here?”

* * *

Carson would know that mane of blonde hair anywhere, those curves, that posture…

She whirled around to face him. “Hello to you, too.”

“Why are you here?”

Stung by his almost-hostile tone, she said, “Julian invited me, if you must know.”

He glanced at Marlene, who was probably staring daggers at him for daring to speak to Cresley that way.

“This is my friend Marlene Powers. Meet Carson Remington.”

“Oh,” Marlene said. “Hello, Carson.”

“Hey.” He knew Marlene from her divorce, but she’d never met him. He’d done the surveillance on her douchebag ex-husband that’d netted her a fat settlement.

His gaze locked on Cresley.

“Do you want me to leave?” she asked.

“No.”

“Good talk.”

She turned back to face the stage while he stood there like an idiot, asking himself why he cared she was there.

Julian hadn’t told him that he’d invited her, which wasn’t cool. But if he said anything about it to Jules, he’d take it as proof Carson had a thing for her, no matter how hard he tried to deny it.

He didn’t have a thing for her—or anyone else, for that matter.

A waiter came by to take his drink order. “Just a club soda with a lime, please.”

After the waiter walked away, Carson didn’t know where to put his eyes. If he looked toward the stage, he had to look at her, which he didn’t want to do.

He wished his grandfather hadn’t gotten all philosophical about the most important thing in life, because that was the last thing Carson had needed to hear when he was trying to keep his distance from her. That was the right and fair thing to do for her and Ty, and nothing anyone said, even his grandfather, could change his mind about that.

The band played “Down on the Corner” by Credence, and the two women started dancing like fools, swinging their asses, and raising their arms over their heads like teenagers at a Taylor Swift concert. They kept it up through “Hot Blooded,” and by the time that song ended, his blood was running hot.

Fucking hell.

And then she turned around, flushed and smiling, to reach for her drink as the band launched into “Hungry Heart.”

She stared at him for a long moment, and when she blinked and turned away, he felt like he’d lost something important, which was ridiculous.

By the time the band finished “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet,” Carson was about to implode from the desire beating through his body as she continued to bump and grind with her friend to every song.