I pull out my phone and enter her number into my contacts. Then I send her a text message with a hockey stick emoji.
She peers at her phone and laughs. “Thanks.”
Like last night, we seem to have an invisible force field around us that deters others from talking to us. Everyone else is laughing, tossing back drinks, and Lita is dancing to the music, sipping a cocktail. And Nikki and I are here in our own little bubble, having gravitated to a corner of the room.
“I never did get to see all the muscle you claim is under your clothes,” Nikki remarks.
Is she flirting? What does this mean? “That’s because you bailed on me.”
“For what it’s worth… I did have regrets.” She peers up at me from beneath her eyelashes. She’s still wearing a lot of makeup from her show—thick mascara and lots of dark smoky eyeshadow. It’s sexy as fuck.
“Yeah?”
She dips her head in agreement. “Too bad we can’t go back in time.”
“We can’t.” I pause. “But sometimes you get a do-over.”
Her eyes widen and the corners of her lips lift. “Yeah. Sometimes. When I’m recording and I don’t get something right, I do it again.”
My head slowly moves up and down. “Are we doing this?”
“I want to.”
Fuck, yeah. I swallow a ball of sawdust. Is this really happening?
“I shouldn’t, though.”
Fuuuuuck.
She doesn’t say that with a lot of conviction.
“Why not?” I ask.
She drops her gaze to inspect her toes. “I need to stay focused.”
I shift an inch closer. “Focused on what?”
“My career.” She lifts her eyes to meet mine.
“You can’t take one night off… for some fun?” I murmur.
She blinks and scrunches up her face.
“Life is short,” I add softly. “Have fun. Fuck hard. Play harder. Do things that make you happy.”
Her lips kick up into a smile. “That isnothow I live my life.”
“Maybe you should.”
She holds my gaze for a beat, then lifts one shoulder. “Maybe I should.”
Holy shit. “Okay, then. Let’s go.” I check out the room. Nobody else is paying any attention to us. Except… my eyes meet Tiana’s. She gives me an enigmatic look across the suite. “Your friend is watching out for you.”
“Tiana.” She doesn’t even look.
“Yeah.”
“We do that for each other. She’s a good friend.” She unlocks her phone and taps in a message.
