He raises a brow before reaching to his nightstand and putting on my favorite glasses. I totally don’t focus on his muscles straining.
“Says the walking joke book,” he muses. “I think you were scared you were going to wake up, cuddling me.”
Got me there. I love cuddling, but he doesn’t need to know he’s right. His ego is big enough.
“I think you’re the cuddler here,” I say, unraveling my hair from its messy bun on top of my head and letting the waves fall down my back.
He watches the movement my hair makes with a hungry gaze before swallowing thickly.
“Again with your jokes.” He shakes his head, and his brown hair shifts.
I itch to run my hand through the short strands.
“Anyway, do we know yet what the plan is for me today?”
“No,” I say, moving the covers off of my body and frowning. “They haven’t said anything to me yet.”
“Great. That means that they’re up to something.” He runs a hand down his face, groaning.
“Welcome to my life.” I pat his shoulder, and his muscles bunch at my touch before I quickly move away from him, feeling the forbidden electricity spark early in the morning.
Why won’t it go away?
I leave him on the bed while I brush my teeth, pulling on a pink crew neck and a pair of black leggings. I put my hair into a ponytail before braiding the strands. Not bothering to put on any makeup since I’m getting it professionally done later on, I tie the laces of my black high-top Converse and walk past the man currently dressed in all black once again. I want to stop and watch as he places his rings on his fingers and his chains around his neck. But I keep walking.
“Let’s go,” my crew says, waiting for me at the door.
Looking back once before I leave our suite, I meet Levi’s tired gaze.
* * *
I’m singing tonight.
It won’t be the first time, but it still doesn’t make me any less nervous. I’m singing a flirtatious song, one of our dirtiest songs. Let’s just say, if we caught our mom listening to this song, it would make us cringe and want to bury ourselves alive.
I’ve practiced a bunch of times, and now, I’m worried if I use my voice any more, I’ll lose it for the performance.
“You look stunning, dear,” a makeup artist says as she curls the last strand of my hair.
My makeup is all done to perfection, leaving me speechless because I actually feel beautiful.
“Thank you.” I give her a smile in the mirror.
“I’ll leave you to it. You’re on soon. Good luck!”
She leaves me alone in my dressing room, and I drag my sweaty palms along my pink shorts and eye the matching corset top.
I got this. I’ve done this a million times …
Justin comes barreling into the room, looking flustered. “Okay, we have your moment with Levi all planned out.”
“You’re telling me ten minutes before I need to go onstage?” I sneer, anxiety taking over my entire body.
He waves me off, making it extremely hard for me not to punch him in the face. “It’s simple, and we wanted it to be perfect. We already told Levi that he’s joining you onstage for a song. He’s getting ready now.”
Joining me onstage for a song?
Seeing my confusion, he continues, “I know you’re not going to like the sound of this, but it’s finalized, and we know it’ll make a tremendous impact on the media.” Taking a deep breath, he sends me a nervous smile. “You’re going to give Levi a lap dance onstage while singing your song.”
