I turned my head slightly so I could take in Micah without him noticing. He was completely rapt by the singer. Even his fingers tapped along. His blond hair shook lightly in time with the beat. He was so pretty I couldn’t even stand it. The cord running down the side of his neck tightened and relaxed along with subtle changes in his mouth. He moved his lips slightly like he wanted to sing along. Like he was singing along to himself.
My skin sparked with the awareness that he sat half a foot from me. I didn’t know if I’d ever be that close, that comfortable, that familiar with him again. I wanted to bump him, pull his hair, pinch his arm. Anything to be able to put a hand on him.
Like a wish come true, he brought his arm around the back of my chair and leaned over without turning his eyes away from the stage. “What do you think?”
I didn’t know how he managed to make me hear him without disrupting anyone else around us. I couldn’t trust myself to speak at such a perfect volume, so I made a show of twisting toward him, as if I hadn’t been staring at him, and whispered close to his ear, “She’s good.” I wanted to push my shoulders against his forearm, but I also hoped he’d forget to move away from me. If Andy knew I was sitting this close to Micah and hadn’t asked him a single investigative question, he’d crucify me. But what Andy didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.
Micah said, “Yeah. Wait till you see Eden.”
But right then, I only wanted to see him. And I wondered how I was going to do the one thing I’d been asked to come here to do while Micah Sinclair had his arm across my shoulders in a dark club. I sat back a little farther, experimentally, and his fingers grasped my arm, tightening with a little squeeze.
Kelli sang about the shadow of a feeling, and I wondered if she’d written that song about me.
Chapter 9
After six songs, Kelli thanked the audience and exited the stage. The lights came up slightly, and people stood, stretched, headed to bathrooms or the bar. Micah turned in his chair, his arm pulling a hair’sbreadth away from my back. “I used to play this club a lot. Did Eden explain the best places to shoot from in here?”
And just like that, we switched to publicity-hound Micah. I straightened up. “No. Tell me.”
“Start here. Eden doesn’t move around so much that you’ll miss some exciting stage dive.”
“Okay.”
“After you have what you need, then you should go to the bar.” He twisted his shoulders around and pointed. “There. See those tables? They’re on a riser. You can get some great shots from that angle.”
“Got it.”
“Then over there.” He pointed to the other side of the stage. “There’s a set of steps leading to the stage. Go stand over there. You can even get up on the stage some as long as you don’t draw too much attention. You should try to get there before her last song.”
“Why? What’s the last song?”
“Just trust me.”
“Sure.” I was a professional. I could take direction. “Where’s the fourth place?”
He turned again toward a location he’d already pointed out. “There.”
“Again?”
“No, not there.” He touched my temple and pushed my head ever so slightly so I was looking directly back—at the door to the club.
“Outside?”
“Yeah. When you’re done here. Meet me outside.”
I looked up into the Caribbean of Micah’s blue eyes. “Meet you outside,” I repeated it like it might mean something different to him than to everyone else.
The charming half smile called his dimple out to play. “Yeah. You should come hang out after the show. Unless it’s too late for you.”
“Oh.” I was at an actual loss for words. “Yeah. Maybe.”
The night before flashed in my memory. He’d implied that his kiss hadn’t been a spontaneous decision, and I wondered if his plans might lead us back there. My eyes fell on his lips, curling wickedly, and I thought, yes, he might also wish we’d finished what we’d started. Before my near loss of consciousness.
Whether or not it would be wise to toy with Micah, I found him impossible to resist, and I didn’t break eye contact with him until the lights dimmed, and the show went on.
I’d come prepared tonight so I wouldn’t be caught with low blood sugar again. I reached down into my pocketbook and rummaged around to find a plastic bag holding a handful of cut carrots. I slipped one out and crunched into it, wincing at the explosion of sound in my own head.
Micah glanced over. “You might want to save the rabbit food till later, Bugs.”
