Page 47

Now what?

Joy took the mic and went to the middle of the stage. When I had picked her up from Miss Laverne’s, my eyes had popped out when I saw her body-hugging pink dress, but now, seeing her under the stage lights, my tongue was about to fall out of my mouth.

The stage lights cast a golden glow over her, making her hair shimmer. The music started. It took a moment for me to recognize it, and when I did, I looked at Ava and Roxie and glared. It was “I Kissed a Girl” by Katy Perry. Then Joy started singing.

Holy. Fucking. Hell.

She started off soft. Her voice was husky, maybe a little shy, but she hit every word and note smoothly and effortlessly. The room went quiet. We were all waiting for her to start the chorus. And when she did, she did not disappoint.

“I kissed a girl, and I liked it.”

She sang loud and passionately, her delivery fun and flirty, yet you still felt like she meant every word. I looked around, and every single person I saw was grinning. The entire crowd was drawn in, even the women. It was like she owned the stage.

When she got to the line, It felt so wrong/It felt so right, I got so hard, my cock could pound nails.

She kept singing. Once again, she dropped down to that soft, husky tone, her body swaying just a little. But then it came time for the chorus once more, and she belted it out. She swayed as she sang, and as she moved to the music, and all I could think of was sex.

Hot, sweaty sex.

The song lasted a second or forever, I wasn’t sure. But when the last note faded away, people jumped to their feet and stomped the floor. Then my Joy blushed. She wobbled back to the DJ to return the mic.

“What do you say, ladies and gentlemen? Should we have Joy sing another song?” the DJ asked the crowd.

I saw Joy’s embarrassment, and I made it up to the stage in a nanosecond. People were calling for her to sing another song, but looking at her discomfort, I knew I needed to get her out of there.

When I got to her, I leaned in close, my lips just brushing her ear. “We’re leaving. Now.”

Her breath hitched, and she gave me a grateful smile.

As I led her through the crowd, her fingers tightened around mine, her breath still uneven from her singing. I leaned down, murmuring in her ear, “You have no idea what you just did to me.”

Her soft gasp told me she had some idea. I looked into her eyes and saw stark need staring back at me. Well, fuck me. Maybe slow was no longer necessary.

Chapter Twelve

I looked down at Graham’s hand as he shifted gears. I remembered the feel of him caressing my bare skin and shuddered. Every so often he’d glance over at me, and I could feel the electricity arcing between us. As far as I was concerned, we couldn’t get to his house fast enough.

“Do you mind if I roll my window down?” I asked as we got to the slower streets. I needed something to cool me down.

“No,” Graham said as he turned off the air conditioning and rolled down his as well. The breeze felt nice, and it carried a scent of honeysuckle and magnolias. Nashville had too much concrete to get this scent. I’d missed it the six months I’d lived in London and the three years in Nashville.

I watched as the wind tousled Graham’s dark hair. It gleamed in the moonlight and made me itch to run my fingers through it. I looked down at his hands as they gripped the steering wheel. I’d had dreams about his big, strong hands and what they could do to me. He must have sensed me staring at him because when we hit a stop, he glanced over at me.

He took in a long, deep breath. “Tonight sure didn’t turn out as I expected.”

I waited for him to say something more, but he didn’t. I looked around. Nobody else was at the four-way stop.

“No, it didn’t,” I agreed.

“Do you want me to take you back to Miss Laverne’s?”

I frowned. “Why would you do that?”

A car pulled up behind us, and Graham took a right, then pulled over to the curb and killed the engine. He turned and gave me his full attention. “I just didn’t know after everything that happened if you still wanted to go back to my place. After all, you said you don’t drink tequila.”

My heart melted.

I turned in my seat to fully face him. “I want to go to your house. Unless, of course, you don’t want me there.”