“Well, good morning, Angel.”
I flushed, glancing over my shoulder as if I wondered if it was me he was talking to. When I looked back at him, he chuckled, setting his guitar to the side.
“You’ve got a halo right now, the way the light is coming in,” he explained.
I smiled. “Hiding the horns holding it up, no doubt.”
Shawn gestured to the seat across from him.
I took it hesitantly — mostly because I was debating if I was too tired to even hold a conversation, let alone a flirty one with intention. But one sip from my espresso had me optimistic that I could turn it around.
What would Clay do?
He’d tell me to suck it up and play the game, that’s what.
I hadn’t seen Shawn since the party on Saturday night, and my stomach flipped the longer he watched me with a curious gaze.
“What?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Nothing. You just… forgive me if this is too forward, but you look beautiful right now.”
My cheeks were hot enough to rival my coffee as I looked down at my hands. “I highly doubt that, considering how tired I am at the moment.”
“Late night?”
I sighed. “Very. I’m working with my boss on an upcoming charity event for the football team, and it’s taking more time and energy than all of my classes combined.”
“I still can’t get over you being in public relations,” he assessed with a smile.
“What would you peg me as, if I hadn’t told you otherwise?”
“Librarian.”
I laughed. “It’s the glasses, huh?”
“Among other things,” he said, and his metallic eyes slid down the length of me, brow arching as he took in the eclectic blouse I’d paired with my old jean overalls. They were baggy and hid more than they revealed, but the way his eyes careened each inch, it felt more like I was in a bra and panties.
I cleared my throat, taking a sip of my coffee. “So, do you sleep in the back of the store here, or…？”
He ran a hand back through his long hair, crossing his ankle over his knee again before pulling the guitar back into his lap. “I’m working on a song, and I was a little stunted in my dorm, so I thought a change of scenery could help.”
“Has it?”
“Sadly, no,” he confessed. “There’s something off, but I can’t figure out what.”
“Play it for me.”
His eyes shot open. “Yeah?”
I just smiled, sipping my coffee, pretending like this was totally chill and cool and like I wasn’t freaking out internally that Shawn Stetson was about to play an unreleased song for me.
He cracked his neck, sitting up a little straighter and clearing his throat before he began.
The intro was soft and slow, smooth chords peppered by brief taps of the heel of his palm against the box of his guitar. It was percussion and strings all in one, the beat seductive and alluring.
I nodded my head in time with it, hips moving subtly in my seat. When Shawn glanced up at me, his eyes froze on that little hip movement, and my neck heated at the lingering gaze.
I couldn’t wait to tell Clay.
He’d be so proud of me, how I’d walked right up to Shawn at the table, how cool I’d played the whole thing. I was becoming a natural — or, at the very least, I was leaps and bounds ahead of the girl who couldn’t even hold Shawn’s gaze across a crowded coffee shop just a few weeks ago.
I was still thinking about how excited I was to tell Clay when Shawn started singing, his voice rough and edgy, smoky like a brush fire.
“I like
the moon
when it bleeds
through the window
and paints your flesh.
I like
your legs
when they’re spread
and you’re burning
for me, babe.”
I nearly choked on my coffee, but somehow managed to cover it up and hold my composure as a smirk creeped up on Shawn’s devilish mouth.
“I like
the mountains
of your breasts
when they’re swelling
and peaking
and aching for my mouth.
I’ll give
you what
you want if you
just open up and say
that magic word.”
There was a break in the chords, the heel of his palm beating on the guitar in time with the tap of his fingers in a fluid percussion before he launched into the chorus.
“Beg for me, baby,
scream out my name.
Get on your knees for me, baby,
let desire
erase all the
shame.”
Before he could continue, I hopped out of my seat, tilting the last bit of my espresso down my gullet as Shawn abruptly stopped playing.