I turned to see who was watching me. She was cute, but dangerous. I could tell from the deep V-cut of her dress. It dipped all the way to her navel, revealing creamy white skin.
“Just looking,” I answered. My eyes locked on her stomach.
“I love to ride.” She picked up the pamphlet on the stables. “Really ride.” She grinned.
Fuck. Did Coach know this was going to happen? Was this some kind of personal hell he had put me in to test me? The bartender. The hot as shit wife. And now this little sex kitten talking about riding. My cock twitched.
I took a deep breath. “I’m from Texas. We all know how to ride horses.” I bent down to add my name to the list. I didn’t know what I would do with a pair of pedigree horses, but I wasn’t going to walk away. The woman was basically purring on me, coaxing me to place a bid.
“So, if you win the horses, you’ll take me for a riding lesson?” Her red lips curled in a smile.
“I thought you already knew how to ride.” I straightened my shoulders. She was making this hard.
She picked up the pen from the auction clipboard, tore off a corner of the list, and scribbled her phone number on the scrap of paper.
“If you win, call me. You might teach me something new.” She handed me her number and sashayed away, showing me how deliciously curvy her ass was.
I held my spot in front of the horse display, willing myself not to chase after her. Women were falling from the sky tonight. Coach thought he was sending me somewhere safe, but he might as well have sent me straight to a strip club.
What I needed was a fucking drink.
I added my name to a few more of the lists before the lights started to flicker in the auction room. An announcer piped in over the loud speakers, “Ladies and gentleman, if you’d please finalize your bids and move to the main lobby. The concert will begin in five minutes.”
I had forgotten about the concert. Lexi Wilde was performing tonight. I’d listen to the first few songs and then call my driver. I didn’t need to stick around until the end of the show.
She wasn’t my kind of music. All she sang about was falling in love, family, and living out dreams. I knew who she was because she was on every single Texas country station. She was interviewed every night. You couldn’t get away from the girl. Her bright blue eyes and innocent smile were plastered on magazine covers and billboards.
I followed the crowd to the lobby where the mayor of Austin was prepared to cut the ribbon for the opening of the hospital. At least the damn symphony had stopped. I looked up to see long black curtains draped over the side with LW interlaced in white.
I listened to the mayor’s speech, while the people around me bobbed their heads in agreement. I posed for a few pictures with fans and then skirted my way to the front. I stepped off to the side. I figured the closer I was to the star, the less likely I was to be the center of attention.
The lights dimmed and I rolled my eyes as the tuxedo and sequin-clad audience clapped as if we were at a golf tournament. This party couldn’t be duller. I was sober. I had paid a fortune for crap I was never going to use, and I’d lost sight of Vienna Crawford. She probably had to leave early to get her husband tucked in bed.
I pulled my phone out to message the driver as the lights went out. I looked up as the spotlight made a bright white circle at the back of the stage.
It was all theatrics. Even in a small space like this, I could see the way it was choreographed. How Lexi would emerge and the fans would fall at her feet. Shit, there wasn’t much difference between this and running out of the tunnel on the Warriors’ field. The lights. The smoke. The intro music.
I saw this every week. The way the guys huddled together in the tunnel. The way the crowd roared before we took the field.
I felt my chest tighten for a second. I didn’t want to be anybody’s damn circus clown. This entire production reminded me that was exactly what I was. The Warriors were turning me into their own pop princess and I wasn’t going to play their game.
I turned to leave. I didn’t give a shit if Coach was mad I didn’t stay until the end. I had done enough for one night. I shoved my phone in my pocket just as the drums crescendoed and then there was silence, except for one clear note. One piercing note that ricocheted off the walls, and made everyone stare at the stage.
I stopped in my tracks and looked over my shoulder. The spotlight blurred her into a blaze of white, but slowly the lights evaporated like the smoke, and standing on stage was Lexi Wilde.
I didn’t know when it happened, but I pivoted and pushed past the people in front of me, taking my post on the side of the crowd again. I could see over everyone. One of the advantages of being six five.
And what I saw was like white fire. I couldn’t look away. I’d probably heard this song before. I’d heard all her songs, but I always turned the station. I didn’t know what she was singing about, or what the lyrics meant. But there was something in her voice. A pureness I heard without the instruments drowning her out. Without all the electronic manipulation.
And as stupid as it sounds, I thought I saw her look at me from the stage. She smiled with big innocent eyes as she leaned down to touch the hands of the kids they had lined u
p in the front row. But it was there. A look. Maybe a wink. Her sapphire eyes were shining in my direction.
She held the mic, walking down the stairs and made her rounds through the children. She stopped for hugs. She stopped to take selfies, the entire time singing her song, not missing a single solid beat.
I watched as she took the steps again and stood at the front of the stage. “Hello, Austin.” She waved.
The crowd clapped and I heard the kids making whooping sounds for her.