Everything about him was sexy, from his chiselled jaw, to his muscular arms, to the scruff on his face, to the ink that covered his skin, to the way he sauntered my way with a knowing expression on his face. It was the kind of expression that told me he wasn’t a man who hid his attraction to a woman, but I should have remembered that from when I’d met him earlier. He sure hadn’t hidden it then. He’d looked at me like he wanted to devour me. Pretty much the same way he looked at me now.
Blue eyes met mine as he came closer, and his lips curled up into a smile that could wipe all thoughts from a woman’s mind. All thoughts except those about him. “It’s my animal protest girl.” The way he said my only caused more Olympic-worthy somersaults in my belly.
“And it’s my protector,” I bantered back, wanting him to never stop talking. Guilty thoughts about Wayne swam through my mind for at least a moment, and I did my best to turn them off. We aren’t serious. We’ve made no commitments to each other. He said just the other day that it was a bit of fun to see where it went. Surely it’s okay to flirt with another guy while we’re seeing…
“You two know each other?” Tatum asked.
Devil’s eyes held mine. “No, I don’t even know her name.”
“Hailee,” I said, not letting his eyes go either.
“Hailee,” he murmured, my name sliding through his lips so damn huskily that I wanted to ask him to say it again. And again.
“And you’re Devil?” It was what Aaron had called him that morning, but it seemed more like a nickname than a real name.
He took a step closer to me. “Yeah, Devil.”
My breathing sped up a little at his proximity. “That’s a nickname, right?”
His smile never left his face. “It is.”
“You’re not going to tell me your real name?”
“Nope.”
“Let me guess, only the special girls get that.”
“Every girl’s special, darlin’, but none of them get that.”
“Oh, you’re smooth. What about the story behind the nickname? Will you give me that?”
He leant his face closer. “If I tell you that, will you have a drink with me?”
“I can’t. I’ve got work to do, and—”
Dylan joined us and cut me off. “And if she has another drink, she won’t be able to sing tonight.” He moved so he stood next to me. Right next to me, with his arm draped over my shoulder. His way of telling a guy to back the fuck off.
I sighed. Dylan and I had gone head-to-head numerous times over his protective ways, but he refused to stop. Just like my damn brother.
Devil seemed surprised. “Sing?”
Monroe chimed in. “Hailee’s the singer in Cherry Vivid.” At Devil’s frown, she added, “The band that plays here all the time.”
“I haven’t had the pleasure of watching you perform yet,” he said.
I hit him with a sexy smile. “Well, you’ll get to tonight if you stick around.”
“I think I just might, darlin’.”
Our attention to each other was diverted by those around us then. Tatum pulled him aside to discuss something while Dylan dragged me back to the band so we could finalise our song choices for that night. The butterflies in my belly didn’t ease, though. Devil had stirred them up in a way they hadn’t been awakened in years.
3
Devil
I sucked back some beer as I watched Hailee sing a Pink song. Jesus, she could belt out a tune. The band had been playing for a good twenty minutes, and I hadn’t been able to take my eyes off her. Between her voice, the way she interacted with the audience and her beauty, she fucking owned the stage.
Tatum shifted her face closer to mine to say, “Your girl’s good.”