Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 92972 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92972 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
And his first name is Archer, apparently.
Though I have no idea how Bea knew that…
Before I can ask, she calls out, “Mind if I ride with you, then? Charlotte and Bay don’t need a third wheel cramping their style.”
“Please do,” Blue says, smiling. “I’d love the company.”
“I’m fine with a third wheel,” I hiss to my sister.
Bea backs away, whispering beneath her breath, “Well, I’m not. And I’d love to get to know Archer better.”
I’m not the slightest bit upset about her showing interest in a very nice, very decent guy. After Kai, anyone without sociopathic tendencies would be great, let alone a legitimately great man like Blue.
But still, I can’t resist adding in a slightly louder hiss, “How do you know his first name?”
Bea stops dead with a stunned snort. “Dude, are you crazy? He’s Jai Archer Blue.” At my blank look, she repeats, “Jai Archer Blue. You know? The kirtan singer?”
Her jaw drops. “You didn’t know?! Where have you been? Under a rock? He’s low-key famous. Or he was, before he stopped making music ten years ago and dropped off the face of the earth.” Her dark eyes glitter as she adds with barely contained excitement, “I’m pretty sure no one has any clue he became a hockey player, and I am dying to find out why, how, when, and if he’s ever going to make yoga music again because he legitimately has one of the most beautiful voices I’ve ever heard.”
“Go,” Charlotte whispers, clearly nearly as excited as Bea. “Find out everything, and tell me later. I want all the tea. Also, I’m not even a little bit surprised. Look up hidden depths in the dictionary, and there’s a picture of that man beside it.”
Bea emits a soft, giddy yip. “I know! And will do.” Then she turns, scampering across the parking lot to where Blue is already holding open the passenger’s door for her, like the gentleman he is.
A gentleman who withholds a lot of shit from his friends, but still…
I lift a hand to him, calling, “See you there!”
As Charlotte and I start toward Char’s SUV again, I whisper, “Why didn’t he ever tell me? I’m one of his best friends on the team.”
“Don’t take it personally,” Charlotte says. “He’s a private guy.” She shrugs. “And maybe he thought you knew. You go to yoga.”
I grunt. “Once or twice a month. And honestly, I’m not sure I’d know Blue’s voice if I heard it. He doesn’t talk enough, and I’ve never heard him sing. He isn’t the ‘sign up for karaoke’ type.”
Charlotte smiles. “Well, maybe you should change that. Ask him to sing a duet.”
I laugh.
“What?” she challenges. “I want to hear you sing.”
I shake my head. “No, you don’t. I mean, I can carry a tune, I guess, but I’m nothing special.”
She hums beneath her breath. “I think you should let me be the judge of that. I like hearing a man sing. I like it a lot.”
I arch a brow. “Yeah? How ‘a lot’ are we talking?”
“Enough to drag a man back to the family bathroom at the bar, perhaps,” Charlotte says. “I’ve been looking for an excuse to check it out. Mack says there are some creepy taxidermy things in there that still give her nightmares. Even months after she and Parker decided against doing the deed on the changing table.”
“Gross,” I say, laughing as I dump my gear bag in the back of her SUV.
“Very,” Charlotte agrees, handing me the keys.
We agreed I’d drive tonight, which is just fine with me. I like to be sober when deciding whether or not to fuck in a semi-public place.
“But I’d still do feral things to you in that bathroom if it’s a secure location,” I add as I move to open the passenger’s door. “Just not on the changing table.”
She stops in front of me, close enough to feel her breath warm on my lips as she whispers, “Obviously not. You’re way too classy for that.”
I settle a hand on her hip, curling my fingertips until they dig into the top of her ass. “I was just thinking the same thing about you,” I murmur, the urge to kiss her so strong it’s all I can do not to go feral on her right here.
But there are still players behind us and people waiting at the bar, including my sister. But once we’re settled and everyone’s had enough to drink to stop paying attention to who wanders off for a moment alone…
Well, if a vocal performance is the only way to get Charlotte’s skirt up around her hips and my mouth between her legs, so be it.
Fourteen
CHARLOTTE
Ican’t remember the last time I had so much fun.
I’m practically giddy as Mack and I giggle our way into a second round of karaoke, giving in to calls for an encore after our rendition of “Edge of Seventeen.” The old women in the corner insisted they needed another song because I sound “just like Stevie Nicks”—have I ever been more flattered? No, I have not, and the old men in the other corner insisted they needed another song because Makena is “the best dancer in Louisiana.”