Chapter 23 #2
“It’s just karaoke. Most of these people aren’t even good.”
“Then you go up there,” I said shortly. “The last time I was in front of an audience, I was modeling because my mother insisted on it. I hated all those eyes on me.”
He stared at me, forehead furrowed. “Shit, I’m sorry. I fucked up. I just wanted to do something special for our date. Something memorable. I wanted you to know that I see you, but…fuck, I guess I didn’t see you as well as I thought I did. I thought you enjoyed the attention.”
“I do, I guess. In the right situation.” I gave him a strained smile. “Especially when the attention is coming from you.”
A drag queen with bright bottle-red hair piled on her head sashayed out. “Well, that was something, wasn’t it, folks?” She placed one finger in her ear and twisted it. “My hearing may never be the same.”
The crowd laughed.
“Well, who’s ready for our next number? Maybe this one will be on key.”
“Hey!” the bride called while her girlfriends all booed.
The drag queen just grinned, not fazed by their outrage. “Hey, honey, when you get onstage, everyone’s a critic. Try living my life.” She gave her generous hips a swish, and the crowd laughed.
“All right, next up we’ve got Hollywood! Ooh, he better be good with a name like that!”
“Oh god.” My stomach churned. I hadn’t even had a drink to dull my nerves.
“Don’t worry, Holls. I’m going to make this right.”
Tex pushed out his chair and started toward the stage. I sank down, face hot, and tried to wish myself invisible. I could just imagine what that sassy drag queen would have to say about me bailing on the karaoke.
Tex got up there, they exchanged a few words, and suddenly he was strolling onto the stage.
I straightened. What was this?
The music started up. It was “Love Me Tender.” God. I loved that song. Tex cleared his throat and began to haltingly sing. Oh, no. His voice wasn’t bad, per se, but he was more just saying the lyrics than giving them the resonance they needed.
I stood and drifted closer to the stage, unable to look away as he sang badly in front of a whole bar full of people.
He was doing this for me. To make up for his mistake.
To apologize. But he didn’t have to do that.
It was an honest misunderstanding. He’d tried to do something special for me, even if it was misguided.
His voice broke on a note, someone booed, and I couldn’t take it anymore.
I ran up the steps and took the microphone from him. There was a beat as neither of us sang, missing a note. Tex’s eyes met mine.
“Somebody sing!” an audience member called.
Tex opened his mouth, and god, I couldn’t make him keep up this train wreck.
I jumped into the middle of the song, picking up where he’d left off.
“…love me true,” I sang, the words so familiar, they flowed easily from me, nerves or not. “For, my darling, I love you.”
There was a smattering of applause and a few whistles of encouragement. I kept going, keeping my eyes fixed on Tex. The crowd was there—I couldn’t completely ignore that—but this wasn’t for them.
“Love Me Tender” was a love song that strummed a chord inside me. It put into words everything I wasn’t ready to say to Tex for fear of scaring him. But with the song, I could let all the emotion, all the love, flow out of me.
As the song ended, applause broke out. The drag queen—I heard her call herself Cherry Topping—took the mic from me.
“Wow! That made my panties a little moist.”
There was a groan and more laughter.
“Hollywood lives up to his name, everybody! But let’s keep his boyfriend off the stage, am I right?”
Tex only laughed, eyes on me.
The queen had just announced Tex was my boyfriend to an entire crowd—and he hadn’t even flinched. This was real. This was happening.
I slipped my arms around his neck, hugging him tight. “Sorry,” I said into his ear. “You were right. This was great.”
He put his hand on my cheek, eyes full of promises for later. “You are great.”
Damn, I wanted to kiss him so badly, but there were limits even to my comfort level with PDA. I grabbed his wrist and dragged him toward the stairs. “Bathroom. Now.”
He followed me, a bemused expression on his face. Once we were inside, I shoved him into a stall, grabbed his face, and kissed him with all the pent-up emotion the song had unleashed.
He kissed me back, hands going to my ass. “You were incredible.”
“I can’t believe you went up there for me.”
“It was my bad to sign you up. I didn’t mean to push you.”
I drew back. “Maybe I needed a push.”
His eyes fixed on mine. “Maybe I did too.”
Then we were kissing again, hands everywhere. My heart swelled until I wasn’t sure it’d fit in my chest. I loved him. God, there was no coming back from how much I needed him.
The bathroom door opened, laughter trailing in with a couple of guys. We broke apart, breathing hard.
“To be continued?” Tex murmured.
“It better be,” I agreed.
We waited until the bathroom emptied again to slip out of the stall and straighten our clothes.
“Let’s go have that drink,” Tex said. “Then we can head out.”
“Not until I sing at least one more song,” I said, emboldened. Now that Tex had pushed me out of my comfort zone, I wanted to get back out there. If he could be step into the light, so could I.
He sent me a hot look. “Just don’t expect me to restrain myself when we get home.”
I imagined him taking me up against the front door or maybe bent over the edge of the sofa.
Heat curled low in my core.
“I’d be disappointed if you did.”
It was nearly midnight by the time we got back to the trailer. I’d ended up having two more beers, a heaping portion of Orgasmic Load—which was fries smothered in bacon and cheese—and sang three more songs. I was riding high on the buzz of adrenaline.
The spotlight had been thrilling once I got over myself. But even more than that, it had been Tex’s eyes on me—hot and heavy—that made my heart quicken each time I took the stage. I was performing for him. For his enjoyment. Somehow, that made it easier. That and the extra booze.
Tex hopped out of the truck, and this time I let him open my door for me.
“I hope this doesn’t mean you want me to be a gentleman for the rest of the night,” he joked.
I slid out of my seat, bringing our bodies close together. I pushed my fingers into his hair. “Only if you’re a gentleman with lube.”
He grinned. “I think that can be arranged.”
“Good.”
I kissed him, the hours of anticipation building into a charge of need.
He must have been just as amped up, because he crushed me against the truck, the metal cold against my back.
His body was a hot line along my front, and his tongue was deliciously slick as he invaded my mouth.
He swamped my senses, totally overwhelming me in the best way.
“Let’s take this inside before we give the neighbors a show.”
I gave a shaky laugh. “Oh? Are we still outside?”