Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 24614 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 123(@200wpm)___ 98(@250wpm)___ 82(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 24614 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 123(@200wpm)___ 98(@250wpm)___ 82(@300wpm)
They scream the chorus at us as Kingston attempts to complete the steps beside me, making everyone laugh and yell. He's a terrible dancer.
Three steps in, he gives up and grabs me, spinning me in a circle. My heart launches into my throat. His hand fits against my lower back like it's supposed to be there. I think he feels it too. His eyes meet mine, the hunger in his obvious.
"I've got a laugh that echoes down the block, and a heart that dances like it was born to rock. With a sweet tea buzz and a rebel soul, I don't color inside the lines anymore," I sing breathlessly, shimmying with him.
"They can talk, but my baby won't turn down," he sings off-key. "She was born to be this kind of perfectly loud."
We launch into the chorus. Kingston attempts to line dance again but fails miserably. He just shrugs and grins, pulling me into his arms.
By the time we hit the outro, I'm breathless and dizzy, and I think I'm having more fun than I've ever had on stage.
"I'm a little too loud, and I like it that way," I belt out.
"Go on then, baby, keep turning me on," he says into the microphone, catching me around the waist.
The crowd screams at his risqué lyric change…and then screams louder when he tips me backward, planting his lips on mine. He kisses me like no one is watching, licking into my mouth to steal what breath I have left.
I clutch at his shoulders, the crowd disappearing as he annihilates my world right there for everyone to see.
I fall for him in front of twenty-five thousand people, not a little bit, not slowly, but like a damn star crashing to the earth.
Only…I don't hit the ground.
Kingston catches me, hauling me up into his arms to press his lips to my ear. "You're fucking beautiful when you're happy, baby," he rasps. "You belong on this stage." He nips my skin. "But I don't. I'll wait backstage where I belong."
I stare at him wide-eyed and then nod.
What the hell else am I supposed to do?
This man—this beautiful, wild, perfect man—just blew my whole world apart. Publicly.
Chapter Six
Kingston
"We need to talk."
I turn to see a shorter replica of Evie standing beside a set of speakers with her hands on her hips and a deadly scowl on her face.
"Uh, Everly, right?" I vaguely remember her from the game the other night. She's also in a lot of Evie's photos, alongside the rest of their siblings.
"That's right. I'm Evie's older sister."
"I'm Kingston. It's nice to meet you." I hold out a hand for her, but she just looks at it. Well, damn. I drop it back to my side. "What can I do for you, Everly?"
"My sister likes you, and she doesn't like anyone," she says. "If this is some game to you or you're using her to boost your own brand, I will end you. I don't mean your career, I mean you. You'll vanish without a trace, never to be seen again. We'll hold memorials and weep and wail, and the whole time, I'll be smiling inside, because I know exactly where your stupid body is hidden."
Well, she's fucking terrifying. She's also worried as hell, I see it written all over her face.
"You know, I've made a few of these speeches, too," I murmur. "Every goddamn time one of my sisters gets with someone, I make one of them. Gotta say…yours is more terrifying than mine ever were."
"Yeah? And why is that?" She cocks her head to the side.
"Because I might break a few jaws and put the fear of God into anyone who crosses my sisters, but I think you might actually follow through and murder me if I hurt yours," I mutter.
"Oh, I will," she says sweetly. "So you need to leave right now if you think you're just going to use her to make a break for yourself or whatever it is you're after."
"Marriage."
She blinks at me.
"I'm not settling for anything less than her heart, Everly," I say, giving it to her straight. Maybe she'll think I've lost my goddamn mind. Hell, maybe I have. But there is only one woman on the planet who could get me to do the shit I just did on that stage. And it's the woman currently still on it, making the whole crowd fall in love with her.
I'm wild about her. Wild enough to slide face-first across the ice. Wild enough to invade her DMs. Wild enough to make my publicist find me a ticket. And wild enough to get up there and sing and dance, just to prove to her that there's nothing I won't do for her, up to and including public humiliation.
Everly stares at me for a long moment, and then her face breaks out in a grin. "Well, then," she says, patting me on the chest. "I have something else to say."