Awesome.
Which left me alone with a bristling Kelly. And minutes to go before Zane got there.
I looked Kelly up and down, still not sure how I felt about him. He was so hot it was distracting.
“Did Zane ride back with you?” I said, refusing to cower in the face of his judgment.
“Lucky for you, he’s a little behind me. Maybe you could get it together before he gets here?”
He didn’t mince words and I was both amused and weirdly bothered he was misreading the situation. I didn’t know why I cared what he thought about me. “You realize Zane and I aren’t in a relationship, right? Just making sure you aren’t so starved for oxygen way up there on your high horse that you can remember the part where you broke into my house to kidnap me. Whatever narrative you’ve got in your head, probably has some missing pieces.”
He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. I’m not going to let you be all over some other dude when Zane shows up.”
I choked on a laugh. “Oh yeah? How exactly are you planning to stop me?”
He gave me a wink. “Gonna sit right here next to you and enjoy my beer until he gets here.”
“You think sitting there is going to stop me from picking someone else up?”
He draped an arm over the back of my chair, making it look like we were together to any casual observer.
“Cute,” I said, setting my drink down. “I can pick someone up without leaving this stool, even with you being a clingy bastard.”
He leaned a little closer, making it look even more like we were together. “Prove it.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you supposed to be stopping me from picking someone else up? Not daring me to do it…”
He shrugged. “Not all that worried about it, sugar. You’re all talk.”
The fucking audacity of this guy…
He seemed so quiet and unassuming, but there was a whole other dimension to him that was completely disarming.
I scanned the bar without looking like that’s what I was doing. A group of young professional guys directly across from us were joking and laughing, looking like they were unwinding from work. I looked away until I saw one of them look up at me and then deliberately met his eye. I smiled shyly and looked away before he did.
“That’s the best you’ve got?” Kelly scoffed.
Two more surreptitious glances at the guy and his friends started to notice there was something happening between us. The next time I looked up at him, I boldly held his gaze and gave him a smile that promised a good time. The poor guy glanced over his shoulder to make sure I was looking at him, then grinned.
Kelly leaned in, low voice a rumble in my ear. “So you got a guy to check you out. At this rate, I could’ve left you to your own devices and Zane would have nothing to worry about.”
I delicately scooted away from him and flicked my head at the other guy in a come-hither motion. The guy picked up his drink and started to weave his way through the crowd around the bar to get to me.
He reached me and put out a hand. “I’m Josh.”
Kelly shook his hand before I could. “Hey man, I’m Kelly. It’s nice to meet you.”
The guy froze and stared at him. “Ohshit. You’re Kelly Fucking Travis.”
I mouthedcock blockat Kelly and he covered his laugh with a cough. He was…fun?
Kelly put his arm around my chair again and scooted close enough that our bodies were touching. It affected me more than it had any right to.
From the look on his face as he met my eyes, I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t explain the attraction between us.
He looked over my shoulder and jerked away so violently he almost fell out of his chair. I didn’t have to turn to know the presence looming behind me was Zane. Josh’s eyes just about popped out of his head.
“Oh holy fuck. This is the best night of my life,” Josh said, seeming to forget I’d been about to up the bar there. “I’m such a huge Travesty fan. We’ll be at your show the first night.” He gestured across the bar to his friends, surrendering any attempt to play it cool.
