“Alright, Norah, if this ends badly, it’s on you.” Isabella curved her lips deviously.
“Yay!” Norah clapped her hands.
The crowd cheered as she and Leo made their way to the stage.
“They’re playing our song, babe.” She glanced at him, a sly smile sliding into place.
“I said I wanted to hearyousing this song,” he said, gritting out the words, voice low.
She arched her brow. “You also said that you like competing with me, didn’t you?” The karaoke organizer jumped off the stage, giving them a double point with shooter fingers. The music began, and the familiar tune danced through Isabella’s soul. With the words plastered on the screen, her mind traveled back with ease. But she didn’t need the lyrics. She knew them by heart.
Leo smirked, his mischievous brown eyes sparkling.
She turned her attention to the crowd and smiled. The song was a duet with a female part first, so she began, singing out the familiar lyrics to “Endless Love” by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie. As far as karaoke voices went, hers was decent, but Leo was still a nice tenor. Together, they harmonized fairly well.
Isabella stood close to Leo. She pouted her lips, singing into the mic, and peering up at him in between glancing at the crowd every few beats. If he wanted a competition, she’d give him one. She sauntered across the stage, shimmying her hips, the flared skirt of her red dress fluttering.
When Leo looked at her, his eyes darkened and dragged up the length of her. Heat bloomed in her chest, and she shivered. He bit on his lip, tripping on a few lyrics and provoking a giggle to escape from her throat.
He wouldn’t go down with a fight. He pushed her aside and strutted in front of her, shaking his backside that looked mighty fine in a pair of dark jeans.
This song—their song—was a poignant memory of the relationship they once had shared. As the song ended, the nostalgia wrapped around her heart. She had the urge to do both—yank Leo into her arms and push the emotions away.
Isabella smiled at the crowd while they clapped. She glanced at Leo and he winked at her, a thrill skidding into her depths. She dropped the mic into the stand and rushed off the stage, fighting back the moisture building in her eyes. She headed straight to the bar, taking a seat on an empty metal stool.
Ricky caught her eye. “Beer?”
“Yes, please,” her voice managed to croak out.
He cracked the top off before placing it on the bar for her, eyeing her. “That was, um…interesting.”
“That’s an understatement.” She laughed and chugged her beer.
“Okay, that was hot.”
Isabella snorted, nearly choking.
A customer called for Ricky.
“You might want to go easy on that,” he said to her before hurrying off.
Leo sidled up next to her, dropping on the open bar stool. “That was cruel.”
His voice buzzed in her ears as she wiped at the condensation on her bottle. A playful smile pulled at her lips.
“Guilty.” She took a sip of her beer. “But it was fun.”
“It was,” he agreed.
“You up for a rematch?”
“Maybe later.” He swiveled to face her, and she lifted her chin to look at him, her face warming. “Look, I know my timing sucks, but after you told me the other day that you came back, my head’s been going crazy. I’ve been racking my brain to figure out when. And why no one knew. Talk to me Izz. Please.”
Isabella’s breath caught in her throat. The conversation was inevitable, but she didn’t want to do this now. Not in the middle of her sister’s bachelorette party.
“How about we talk later? When we get home?”
Leo rested his hand on her thigh, heat radiating there. “Please, Izz.”
