Page 37 of Loup Garou

Jay tilted his head back and stared at me. “I didn’t.”

“Still doesn’t count. So, hush up Mr. Wanted to Be a Cowboy When He Was Little.” Myra snickered and Gina actually spit wine on herself.

“A cowboy?” she asked, doing her best not to choke.

Jay groaned. “It’s not that funny.”

She leaned in and kissed his cheek quickly. It was a very un-Gina like thing to do. “Oh, but it is.”

I couldn’t help but laugh too. “She has a point. It is funny. I’m guessing that’s what’s up with the motorcycle. You were too urban for a horse.”

“Ha, ha, I love being teased by a woman who wanted to be a princess ballerina when she was little.”

“Hey, technically, I did accomplish the ballerina portion of my dream, Wild Jay Hickock.” I pushed to my feet and swayed. “Whoa.”

Exavier was on his feet in the blink of an eye, steadying me. He laughed. “You okay there?”

The music in the stereo advanced and the song that came on was signature Gina style. She jumped to her feet. “Let’s dance,” Gina said. “You can tell me all about Ruland.”

Jay groaned.

Ruland was the artist playing now. Gina absolutely loved everything he did. He had a hip-hop, crunk style. He also wasn’t too bad on the eyes. This song in particular had been a source of contention between she and I ever since she found out I spent a summer touring with him.

“Come on, Lindsay. I know you know who this girl singing with him is. Tell me.”

Grinning, I began to dance to the slow, rhythmic, thumping beat. “I’ve got no clue.”

Liar.

“You have to know. Whoever this is shows up on some of the discs you brought back from…umm…well, the ones you had when you retired.”

I appreciated her reluctance to talk about Tim. That being said, I didn’t want to tell her the truth. It was too embarrassing for me.

“Please.”

“I have no idea. Stop bothering me about it.”

Gina tossed her hands in the air. “Fine. Tell me everything about him.”

“Ruland is a nice guy. He’s not nearly as tough as he portrays. I’m not saying wimp. I’m saying nice guy. He was probably my favorite artist to tour with because he’s a natural dancer. He gets into whatever you tell him to do and takes it to another level. Many a night he’d come to me with an idea about what we could do with the dancers. His ideas were phenomenal.”

She danced her way over to me and grabbed my wrists. “If I beg will you whisper it to me? I’ve only been asking non-stop for five years.”

Jay grunted. “For the love of my sanity, would you please just confess it’s you?”

Exavier laughed. “Yeah, right. Linds doesn’t sing.”

“Yeah, nice try, Jay.” Gina rolled her eyes.

Getting to his feet slowly, Jay yawned and closed the distance between us quickly. He pulled me into him and began to dance with me. He had to be the best dancer out of all the men I’d dated in my life. I loved to tease him about having no rhythm but that wasn’t the case. The man could do amazing things with his pelvis.

Tilting my chin, he forced me to look into his dark brown eyes. Since most of what Ruland did in this song was say the words, not sing them, Jay didn’t hesitate to jump right in. I couldn’t help myself. I began to hum. Soft at first and then louder.

Jay rocked our bodies and leaned into me. Getting lost in the moment, I let my guard down and did the one thing I rarely did in front of others, I started to sing. All I really did was repeat Ruland’s lyrics. Ithad originally come about during a late-night rehearsal. It ended up being something he asked me to put down on a track with him. I still wasn’t sure why I gave in.

When Jay got to the portion of the song about having sex, he slapped my ass and made me yelp. I stopped singing and tried to find enough skin to pinch his sides. I failed. “I’m so going to let Gina beat you up.”

“Promise?” he asked, looking hopeful. He stepped back and winked. “I’d like to present the mysterious voice.”

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