Dance with Me by Veronica Cochrane

Author:Veronica Cochrane [Cochrane, Veronica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay romance
ISBN: 978-1-64108-292-1
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2021-09-01T00:00:00+00:00

Beau

I LOATHED these fucking parties. The drama. The schmoozing. The self-importance. The pretending you don’t hate the guts of someone who won an award over you.

Normally Carter and I suffered together, but—surprise, surprise—he stayed for an hour and then made his excuses and bailed so he could dick out his boyfriend. The bastard.

Not that I could really blame them. Carter and Chase were looking out over a long time apart beginning tomorrow morning, so I tried to not resent him for dipping. Ash was talking shop with another drummer, and Dean was putting the moves on the drummer’s date. Who I was pretty sure was his sister, but probably not the best idea either way. In short, I was unluckily alone when Laila Summers cornered me.

She had this annoying technique of making it seem like she was praising me, but always turned it into a backhanded compliment or a way to stroke her own ego. Tonight it was all “You’re so lucky you didn’t have to deal with all the press in the winners room! They wanted to talk to me for hours!” or “The dancers in your number were so great. They really distracted from how pitchy Carter’s vocals were.” Girl, please. Carter sounded fantastic, and everyone from a mile away could see that her microphone wasn’t even turned on. At least she won me $50 on the lip-sync bet.

Eventually Laila saw another sucker she wanted to talk to and I was free of her.

I spotted his red hair at the bar before I saw his face. While he was trying to get the attention of a bartender, I sidled up next to him.

Jamie was wearing the same steel-blue suit with black lapels as when I ran into him in the hall before we went onstage. He had a black shirt on underneath and a matching black bow tie. The suit was tailored perfectly; it looked like it was made for him. It was anything but a standard, boring outfit choice, and it made Jamie stand out in the best possible way. He was certainly not a man who played it safe.

“Buy you a drink?” I asked.

Jamie rolled his eyes at me. “It’s an open bar,” he said with a flirtatious smile.

The bartender interrupted before I could respond with a witty comeback. Jamie asked for a white wine, and I ordered the same.

“Can we talk?” I asked, putting myself out there as the bartender poured us matching glasses. “Maybe somewhere alone?”

Jamie nodded and led us out onto one of the balconies. It was a cool night by California standards, so the balcony was basically abandoned. I gazed out at the sand of Venice Beach and the dark water beyond.

“You look good tonight,” he told me. “That’s a great color on you.”

Jamie’s dark blue eyes shone in the starlight, full of sincerity and candor, set off by the hue of the suit he wore.

“Thank you. God, Jamie so do you. I meant to say that to you earlier.”

He smiled at the compliment over the rim of his glass.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.