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Chapter Five
After the song finished, Sawyer slid his hand around my waist and led me back to the edge of the stage where Vince and Graham stood waiting. Leaning in, Sawyer mumbled, "I was disappointed when you didn't call, darlin'," before he gently passed me down and Vince lifted me back to the floor.
Leaving Sawyer’s safe possessive grip, when he handed me down to Vince, filled me with sadness. A glow he had lit when he’d sung to me, dimmed in that instant and internally, I’d felt the shift between the two men. One meant something the other—nothing.
Moving back to my seat, my knees felt weak and discontentment filled my heart as an unsettled feeling grew within. The instant I looked across at Vince's warm smile, I knew categorically that he and I would never work.
My searching gaze shifted from my date's face to the beautiful man on the stage, and for some strange reason I wanted to cry. It had been the second time Sawyer had made a spectacle out of me, and yet the loss I felt once he had stopped touching me was disconcerting.
I had no idea what happened from the moment I sat back down at our table until Sawyer's set ended. I was too busy reliving my time up on stage in my mind, as I tried to read between the lines and dissect every single second of Sawyer's interaction with me.
Everything—from the way he sang, his seductive tone, the intense eye contact we had, and the deep connection I felt toward him during the song—drew me further into him. Being in his presence and the way he appeared to sing the song just for me scrambled my brain. As a man he was too young for me, yet he had made me feel desired.
The message emulated his performance and was designed to feel seductive, and I found myself remembering the unhurried and passionate way Sawyer had kissed me back at the wine bar.
Leaning into me, Tricia grabbed my hand under the table and told our two dates we were headed to the bathroom again. As soon as she got me inside the door, she spun me around and stared with huge round eyes into my face.
"Spill," she demanded, her curious eyes ticking rapidly over my face. "What the fuck was that?"
"That?" I asked, needing to know which part of what happened she was referring to or whether she had meant a general 'that.'
"You know that guy, don't you? You know the sexy-as-hell musician who eye fucked his way through that song."
My heart raced with a sudden burst of adrenaline with her interpretation of what she thought she had seen, and my body vibrated with the same kind of small thrill that I'd felt when I first set eyes on him again. Hearing her observation confirmed my feeling that I hadn't imagined the sexual chemistry arcing between us.
"I do … and I don't," I said, hesitantly. I shook my head while I struggled to find the words to explain. "We met once before." I sighed and immediately took another sharp breath. I shook my head in disbelief again at what we'd done in the wine bar. "But…he didn't look like that."
"You're not making any sense. How do you know him?"
Launching into a brief outline of what had happened in the wine bar, I watched as Tricia's eyes grew wider in disbelief and her mouth fell open in shock with my account about what had happened. When I'd finished, a big grin stretched across her face.
"Well, whatever happened between you isn't over as far as he's concerned."
"Nonsense. You did see him up there, right? A guy that looks like that can have anyone he wants."
"Can he?" she retorted, chuckling with a raised eyebrow. Her inference he wanted me made me scoff.
When my mind caught up with this thought I snorted. "Now you're just being ridiculous."
"Am I?"
"Where is he then?" I asked.
"Obviously not crashing in on your date. You're with someone else, remember?"
I sighed. "Hmm. Vince is lovely, but…" I wrinkled my nose because I felt sorry to say it. "He's not for me."
"Can I ask why?" My mind immediately flitted back to the point when I felt a chemical change in my body when both men had touched me. Then I wondered if I had gone crazy to want more with Sawyer. What sane woman in her fortieth year of life crushes on a guy who looks a decade or more younger than she does?
"You saw him up there. He's way too young. I think he was toying with me."
"So? You're a hot mother he'd like to fuck. What's wrong with that? You're beautiful, Billie. I think a man of any age would be happy to have you on their arm. Besides, you don't look any older than he does."
I grinned. "Tricia, you know how to make a woman feel good. I love this ego boost, but I'm not interested."
"Oh, you're interested, girl. I saw the way you looked up at him. The way you both looked at each other when you were in his arms was almost X-rated. The sexual tension was filled with angst and longing. “ A pang of shock ran through me again. Had I worn my heart on my sleeve that obviously?
"I would be in that 'other life' maybe, the one where I'm twenty something again with a perfect body, free from stretch marks, and far more outgoing than the dowdy mom I am now."
