AllFreeNovel
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“You any good?” Dylan asks, propping his elbow up on the top of his chair.
“I can hold my own.”
“She sings, too,” I offer. She’s got an amazing voice. Not that I’ve heard it in a while. “You ever performed at an open mic night, Dix?”
I inwardly smile as Dixie presses her lips together. See? It isn’t so nice being called a name you hate. I make a mental note to bake Dylan cookies ASAP.
“I have.”
“Tomorrow night. Seven o’clock. Come to The Cabana on Sunset and let’s see what you’ve got.”
“Dylan owns the club,” Vaughn supplies.
“I don’t take orders. Especially from bar owners.” Dixie twists around to go.
“I guess you’re not as talented as you think you are,” Dylan says.
Dixie turns on him. “Is that a challenge?”
“Let me be straight up with you. Yes.”
She studies Dylan with an intensity I have no idea how to read. “I’ll be there. And just so we’re clear it’s because I assume there’s a purse for the winner.”
“There is.”
“Excellent. Bye, Vaughn. It was nice to see you again.”
“You, too,” Vaughn says as Dixie turns and walks away.
“What? No good-bye for me?” Dylan calls, but Dixie doesn’t even pause, just waves over her shoulder. He tosses a grin at us. “Oh, yeah. She wants me.”
Vaughn and I laugh at the same time. Dylan picks up the margarita pitcher and cups, then stands. “Shall we continue this back at our house?” he says. “Pick up where we left off before we came over here.”
“Actually, I’m going to hang back for a few and talk to Kendall. I’ll catch up with you.”
“Kendall,” Dylan says, “it was a pleasure meeting you. Don’t be a stranger. We don’t bite.” Then he winks and adds, “Unless you’re into that kind of thing.”
I give him a closed-mouth smile and a polite, “Pleasure to meet you, too,” while praying he doesn’t see how out of my element his teasing makes me. Would Vaughn bite me? Where? And since when do I get a secret thrill from the prospect?
Vaughn turns so we’re looking squarely at each other. “Looks like you made another friend.”
“You think?”
“I do. I’ve known the guy a long time. He’s cocky as hell, but underneath all the arrogance, he’s one of the best people around.” The sound of the side gate banging shut echoes around the pool.
Aaand…I’m alone with Vaughn. I reach under the chair for my cover-up and slip it over my head. “What did you want to talk about?”
His lips part slightly as his gaze rakes over my body. My cover-up is completely see-through, and his blatant appreciation raises the temperature a thousand degrees. “Are you busy tomorrow night?”
“No.”
“Great. Let’s go to the club together.”
Like a date?The suggestion/invitation—whatever it is—sends quivers up my arm and puts fireflies in my stomach. I discreetly suck in a breath.
I haven’t felt this kind of thing since high school. My friends and I used to say the boys we crushed on in our small town didn’t put butterflies in our stomachs; they put fireflies because our faces would glow when we thought about them. I look down at my lap before I embarrass myself by glowing.
I can’t seem to stop this attraction to him, and if I’m reading his body language right, he’s attracted to me, too. I close my eyes for a second to focus on my pounding heart. My head can talk all it wants about accepting things that can’t be changed and moving forward, but the heart is a different organ. My heart doesn’t care about logic. It’s caged in a prison of its own making, stubbornly locked up. I can’t figure out how to set it free. And until I do, I shouldn’t be thinking about a date or a kiss with someone else.
