Page 12 of Deeper

He went back to the piano, back to his peach. “You know, I’m starting to fall under the impression that you don’t like me.”

“I don’t.” And now I never would.

“And yet you were in attendance for my show this evening.” He snuck me a clever look, as if he’d said something grand.

“Because my best friend bought tickets and made me go with her. She and everyone else were excited to see your lazy ass.”

A violent note came from the piano as Zander’s left hand came down hard on the keys.

His eyes were ablaze as he glared up at me. “Lazy?”

“You don’t perform because you don’t want to put in the effort. You just throw together music videos and collabs to hold fans over until your next release. Real musicians, like Teddy Sykes, actually go out and do shows and perform for all the people who support them.” I was being petty now, because another thing I knew about Zander was his little ongoing beef with Teddy.

When Zander left So What, there was bad blood amongst the guys. They’d felt betrayed and had been shading Zander ever since. Teddy was a good singer from what I’d heard, his style more rock than pop, but he wasn’t touching Zander admittedly. Honestly, I thought Teddy’s popularity had more to do with his Whiteness than anything, because vocally and artistically, Zander should’ve had the bigger fanbase.

My words set Zander off, and now he was pissed too.

On his feet, he came around the piano and stood in front of me. Those dark eyes of his bore into my soul, the anger within their depths magnified.

It felt good to upset him, to stand up for my best friend and the others. It felt good to knock him off his high horse, because fuck Zander Khalil.

“Fuck you, Bianka.” His voice was soft, his thick accent blanketing his words poetically almost.

What was frustrating was that even when angry, Zander looked as handsome as ever. His full lips were pressed firmly together and his continued stare had me mystified.

Weirdly enough, the air started to shift between us.

“You know, it’s a shame you aren’t my biggest fan,” he decided to say when he spoke again.

I folded my arms. “Why is that?”

Slowly, Zander smirked. “If you were mine, I’d fuck an apology out of you.”

All of me halted in pure confusion. Heat rushed to my groin, and against my control, his words affected me. Part of me wanted to slap him, but another wanted to sit on his face.

Zander could tell as his eyes drifted to my T-shirt, blatantly imagining what was underneath it.“Are you ready to go?”

My phone wasn’t charged enough to leave, but I had a feeling we both weren’t thinking of a solid reason for me to stay. “No.”

Zander took a step back and bit into his peach. “Make yourself comfortable.”

The charge in the air was electrifying. It had been more than four months since I’d had sex. Despite all my annoyance for Zander, I couldn’t pretend I wasn’t attracted to him. I couldn’t ignore the ping deep inside me telling me to mount him.

I took a step closer, and I couldn’t say who made the first move, but all I knew was the taste of peach on his lips and the feel of his hot hands had me going weak at the knees.

My body melted into his as I reached up and raked my fingers through his thick hair. Zander kissed like he sang—raw, passionately, and intense.

Drunk. I could get drunk off of his kiss, his lips—him. Zander was that intoxicating.

He set his peach on top of the piano and in seconds was grabbing the hem of my shirt and pulling it over my head, exposing him to my black underwear. His eyes ran over me, his sticky touch causing goose bumps to take flight.

Instead of continuing to undress me, he left me in my panties and bra, going and reclaiming his peach.

“Get on your knees,” he instructed.

While I wasn’t against it, I preferred to go last. “You first.”

Zander shook his head. “No.”

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