Chapter 6
Joslyn
I’m an excellent dancer. Singing is definitely where my passion lies, but I’m glad I sing stuff that is conducive to dancing. Anyone who is anyone at the top of the pop charts has to be able to entertain the masses with what’s below their shoulders. So my mom made sure to put me in dance when I was a kid to hone the natural talent I already possessed.
When I’m on stage, it’s different. It’s a job and perfection is my goal. Those moves are choreographed, rehearsed, and then drilled into my muscle memory show after show. I can perform without much thought.
Here on the dance floor, the liberating freedom to move to the beat the way I want to almost makes me giddy.
Also, it might have something to do with the fact that Kynan’s watching me.
I’m so glad he’s not being obvious in his security duty to me. While both he and Jayce are dressed the same in the black cargo utilities, tight T-shirts with the Jameson logo, and ass-stomping boots, they’re doing their best to blend. Jayce is on an open, upper dance floor balcony, with his forearms casually resting on the top rail that surrounds it. I’ve glanced up at him a few times and each time, he’s just slowly glancing around the club, looking for potential danger.
I’m happily surprised that Kynan came, as it was my deep hope that he would. He’s off duty technically but he’s still watching things carefully from the bar area. He’s got an arm propped on the top and is nursing a club soda. While he too looks around, keeping an alert eye on my surroundings, I have several times caught him just watching me.
Dance.
Rotate my hips.
Stretch my arms high above my head so my halter top rides up and exposes my stomach.
My cheeks heat a little as I realize I’m actually putting on a show just for him.
But so be it. I can’t deny the intense attraction I have to him, nor can I deny that talking to him and hanging out with him today has been the most genuinely spent time that I’ve had in ages. It was actually refreshing.
Michel grins at me as he moves to the same beat as I am. He’s a pretty damn good dancer too and he’s putting on a show of his own for one of the bouncers. A big burly guy that has had his eye right back on Michel. He’ll probably get lucky tonight, but that’s all Michel will be interested in. Since he had his heart broken by his first love, he’s not willing to put it back out there again to get stomped on.
That makes me so sad, but what do I really know about it? I’ve never been in love before. I dated in high school and while touring the year my album came out. I lost my virginity to one of my backup dancers about six months ago and it’s part of the reason my mom doesn’t fully trust me. She caught him sneaking out of my bedroom that night, which was a terribly awkward situation.
I gyrate my hips, almost lewdly, and glance back over at Kynan. It’s one of the times he’s looking directly at me and his stare is intense. I’m not purposely trying to tease him and I’m not leading him on. I totally want him for reasons I still can’t fathom outside of his unholy attractiveness. I’ve never been this bowled over by a guy before. But I feel compelled to make him watch me and I’m not going to apologize for it, or for the hunger that I think I see glittering in his eyes.
Michel moves in close to me, puts his mouth by my ear, and has to speak a bit loudly to be heard over the music. “You’re so bad.”
I jerk my chin in and look at him with pure innocence. “What do you mean?”
“You’re going to get yourself fucked up against a wall in the back alley if you don’t quit dancing that way in front of tall, blond, and British,” he replies.
I roll my eyes and pretend that I have no clue what he’s talking about, all the while wondering what that would be like. Sadly, my one experience with sex was not overly thrilling. Still, I’m not stupid enough to believe that’s the way it always is. In fact, I’d bet my contract here in Vegas that Kynan would be a phenomenal lover.
A small shiver runs up my spine. I glance at him again and I’m disappointed to find Jayce at his side. He’s listening intently to something that Kynan says, then nods and pulls his phone out of his pocket. He dials someone and puts it up to his ear, pivoting away from Kynan and walking to the exit doors.
“Girlfriend,” Michel calls in my ear again and I’m startled. I give him my attention while we dance in place. “I’m making my move. It’s getting late and if I’m going to get that bouncer to take me home when the club closes, I’m going to need to start some serious face-to-face flirting with him.”
Grinning, I put my hands to Michel’s shoulders and go up on tiptoes to feather a kiss on his cheek. “Good luck and thank you for being such a good friend to me. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“I had fun tonight,” he says. “Let’s do this on all your nights off.”
“Agreed,” I say with a laugh and I finish out the song on the dance floor while Michel engages himself in conversation with the bouncer.
When a new beat starts, I turn toward the bar and find Kynan watching me again. He jerks his chin in an indication he wants to talk to me and so I head his way. I had a bottled water resting on the bar near his club soda and I grab it when I reach him.
“What’s up?” I ask him.
“Jayce’s shift is almost up,” he says. “I told him I’d get you and Michel home and he’s having the next guy on duty just head over to your house.”
“Well, Michel has his own ride home,” I say as I turn to look at him over my shoulder. When I look back to Kynan, I see him staring at Michel and the big bouncer with a grin.
His eyes come back to mine, filled with amusement. “Looks like it’s just you and me then.”
The words were in jest, but they pack a punch.
Just me and him.
Together.
Alone.
Late at night.
I’m not sure what the expression on my face says, or if it reveals exactly what’s bouncing around in my brain, but the smile slides off Kynan’s face. In this moment, I know he can read me very clearly.
A tiny muscle tightens at the corner of his jaw and his eyes move over my face, almost as if he’s trying to find something other than what he suspects I’m thinking.
Disappointed, because I can think of nothing else and it must show, Kynan looks away from me and back across the club to where Michel is standing. When he looks back to me, his face is impassive and his voice bland. “You sure Michel doesn’t need a ride?”
I shake my head. “He’s going to stay here and he can always Uber home if need be.”
“Are you ready to leave?” he asks me. “Or do you want to dance some more?”
I want to dance some more. With him. Slow and close. “I’m ready to go. Let me just go tell Michel good-bye.”
Crossing the dance floor, I weave my way in and out of gyrating bodies. When I reach Michel—who is in heavy duty flirtation mode with the bouncer—I tap him on the shoulder. He turns with an annoyed expression on his face which melts away when he sees it’s me.
“Kynan is taking me home,” I tell him.
Michel smirks at me. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”