Lilah's List (12 page)

“Lucky you.” Lilah punched his arm playfully, noting the hard muscles underneath his sleeve.

“Yeah? Well, you're the one I really wanted to spend the evening with. Looks like fate wanted us to spend it together, too. Here we are.”

Angie muttered something under her breath about being a third wheel and got up. Lilah didn't look up, she was already lost in Tyler's eyes.

“After that performance, how can I go up there? The crowd will boo me off the stage.”

“Did you hear my singing? It was awful.”

“Not awful, but even if every note wasn't on key, you certainly won over the audience.”

“Look at you. All you have to do is flash that sweet smile and they'll be eating out of the palm of your hand. You just have to commit to it.”

Before Lilah could answer, her name was called out. “Wait a minute. I didn't even sign up for a song yet.” She looked over at the DJ booth and Angie waved back at her.

“Oh no.”

“Get up there,” Tyler said.

Lilah reluctantly got up from her seat and started for the stage. As she passed the DJ and Angie, she called out, “What am I singing?”

Angie just grinned wickedly. “You'll see.”

Lilah took the stage and she heard the first strains of “Nasty Girl,” an eighties song by Vanity 6, start playing.

Lilah could feel the heat racing up her neck to her face. This was by no means the type of song she would have chosen for herself. But she was on stage now, the song was gearing up. She had only one choice.

Sing!

Lilah was a terrible friend. While Angie was on stage singing her heart out, Lilah couldn't pull her attention away from Tyler.

During her own performance, Lilah wouldn't have made it through the embarrassment without Tyler's encouragement. He and his friends stood right in front, cheering her on. Inspired by his own fearless performance, Lilah had closed her eyes and pretended she was singing every lyric to him.

And they were provocative lyrics. Now, sitting across from him, they were still all she could think about.

He looked handsome in a dark blue sweater and jeans that hugged his muscular thighs. Even from across the table, she could smell the cologne that she'd begun to identify with him.

It would be so nice to…Wait, before she indulged that train of thought, she had some business to take care of. She had to take contacting Reggie into her own hands. If she crossed off her primary list item, it might actually give her confidence to take care of some of the other more daring things.

“Tyler, can I ask you a favor?”

He smiled at her, showing his gorgeous straight white teeth. “You can ask me anything.”

“Do you think you could give me Reggie's cell phone number?”

Tyler blanched. It was truly rare to see all the color drain from a Black man's face.

“I know that sounds presumptuous. But we did go to high school together, so it's not like I'm a complete stranger. I was just thinking, he obviously wasn't moved hearing of my situation secondhand. Maybe if I could plead my own case, I might be able to convince him….”

She let her words trail off, watching the tension in Tyler's face. Had she upset him? His lips were tight and she could see a vain pulsing at his temple.

Tyler took a long swig from the beer bottle in front of him and regained his composure. “I'm sure you could have him wrapped around your little finger with just a few words,” he bit out.

“I'm not saying that. It's just—”

“No, it's true. I remember when you were in school, my brother came in late from track and wanted to blow off the tutoring session. You managed to make him feel like his entire future depended on his spending as much time with you as possible. That was very clever.”

Lilah paused, unsure whether or not that was a compliment. “I wasn't trying to be clever. I just wanted—”

“Reggie's schedule is crazy this week. Even though you're a friend, as his business manager, I just can't give out his number without his consent. Let me call him now and ask him.”

Tyler stood and walked in the direction of the bathrooms, dialing numbers on his cell phone. Reggie was still first on Lilah's mind. It was getting harder to hide his exasperation with that fact. Maybe she needed to see Reggie just to remind her what he's really like.

“Yo.”

“Reggie, I need—”

“Tyler! How did it go with the mystery girl?”

Before they'd hung up earlier, Reggie had begun to ask questions about the woman for whom Tyler was going to such great lengths. He'd rushed off the phone without giving his brother a straight answer. But now his interest was piqued. How would Tyler explain that Reggie's high school tutor was his mystery woman?

He rubbed his temple. Suddenly the entire scenario seemed to be snowballing out of control. This wasn't going to work. He couldn't ask Reggie to meet Lilah yet. He needed more time to straighten this out.

“Things are going fine. I was just wondering what you were up to.”

Reggie laughed into the phone. “Your evening can't be going that well, bro, if you're wondering what I'm doing. Do you need a wingman?”

“No. Your plan worked perfectly. We're all having a great time.”

“Glad to hear it. But there's no reason to let all those women go to waste. Where are you? Because I can—”

“Don't worry. Everything's under control. I'll call you later.”

When Tyler hung up, he felt lower than the sawdust beneath his feet. What was he doing? Reggie had actually wanted to come join them. That would have made Lilah's night.

He should have let his brother come. Things were already too complicated.

Hitting redial on his cell phone, Tyler asked Reggie to meet them for drinks tomorrow night. This time, when he hung up, he felt much better. Without Reggie standing between them, Tyler would finally be able to get close to Lilah.

A
ngie yawned, resting her head on her folded arms. “I'm so tired. Girl, I don't know if I can take another late night like the last one.”

They'd closed down the karaoke bar last night, and tonight the two of them were sitting in a country-western bar waiting for Reggie and Tyler. Lilah planned to ride the mechanical bull, but she'd promised to wait for Tyler to show up.

She no longer cared about having a date with Reggie. She'd decided being in the same room with him would be good enough to satisfy her list requirements. Then she'd be able to focus on Tyler.

He was more her type and the chemistry was starting to bubble over between them.

“You could have stayed home tonight, Ang. I can handle two men and a mechanical bull on my own.”

Angie snorted. “You really think he'll show?”

“Who, Reggie?”

“Yeah, isn't this, like…the third time he was supposed to meet up with us?”

“He's a celebrity. His schedule is hectic.”

Angie propped her head on her palm. “Yeah, I guess.”

“What? Are you implying something?” Lilah rubbed her bare arms, wishing she'd worn a sweater with her T-shirt.

“No, it's just hard to believe it's finally going to happen. I mean, all this trouble for a guy we had free access to in high school.”

“Yeah. Now that you mention it, he was pretty flaky in high school, too. Always late. Tyler reminded me yesterday how I used to have to talk Reggie into studying when he finally got home.”

“Tyler reminded you, huh?”

Once again Angie's tone was loaded. “What does that mean?”

“I don't know. I was just thinking about the fact that he's clearly into you.”

“So?” Lilah started chewing on her lower lip.

“And he probably doesn't like it that you're so hot to date his brother. That seems like a conflict of interest to me.”

Lilah sat up straight. “Are you saying you think he never told Reggie about me?”

“No, I'm not saying that at all. I'm just pointing out that it's probably not great for the guy that wants to date you to be your matchmaker.”

“Tyler knows I don't expect a real date with Reggie. It's just for The List.”

“Does he? He knows you used to have a pretty severe crush on Reggie in high school. Maybe he's worried that the fires will rekindle once you see him again.”

Lilah felt her face flush. For reasons she couldn't quite rationalize, she felt like a fool. “Tyler isn't as petty or insecure as you're making him out to be.”

Angie waved her off. “I'm not making him out to be anything. Tyler's a great guy. I really like him. I was just pointing out how weird this must be for him, that's all.”

“Right, but this whole list thing is weird in the first place. Tyler understands. You'll see.”

“Uh, huh,” Angie said with an I-told-you-so tone. “Here he is now. Alone.”

Lilah turned her head and saw Tyler headed for their table in the honky-tonk bar. “Maybe Reggie is meeting him here,” she said, but her stomach was already sinking.

Tyler didn't waste his time with pleasantries as he reached the table. “Is he here yet?”

“Reggie?”

“Yeah, he's supposed to meet us.”

Lilah sighed, unable to hide her lack of confidence in that statement.

Tyler looked a bit agitated himself. “Hold on.” He took out his cell phone and started dialing.

“Where are you?”

Lilah could only hear Tyler's side of the conversation, and it wasn't looking good. “You've got to be kidding…. You're killing me…. Do you understand how foolish I look right now?…Fine.”

Tyler snapped the cell phone closed and turned sheepish eyes on them. “Once again, I'm sorry. He's still at WRQX taping promos.”

Lilah rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

Tyler pulled out the chair beside her and sat down. “I know you're disappointed. But you're not mad at me, are you?”

Lilah threw her hands up in defeat. “It's just funny, that's all. Angie and I were just talking about this.”

“About what?” he asked, looking back and forth at the two of them.

“About whether or not Reggie would show up this time. And if it was in your best interest to ask him.”

“How can you say that? You just heard me talking to him.”

“I heard you talking to somebody.”

Tyler stared at her. “Are you serious?”

“Look, I'm not calling you a liar. I'm just saying that three strikes and you're out. I'm going to have to think of some other way to get in touch with Reggie.”

Once again Tyler looked from Lilah to Angie. “Did you put this idea in her head?”

Angie shrugged. “I just said it may be a conflict of interest. If you really wanted to help her, as Reggie's brother, you probably could have by now.”

Tyler sighed heavily. “Lilah, I know you're upset, so I'm going to try not to take this personally. Especially since I thought there was more between us than just my connection to Reggie. All day long I deal with people who want to use me to get to my brother. I thought we had a relationship of our own.”

“I'm going let you two work this out,” Angie said in a tiny voice, and rose from the table.

Lilah felt her face flame. “Are you saying that I'm using you? You know that's not true. You offered to help me and I accepted.”

“Think, Lilah. You know from personal experience how Reggie can be. If it doesn't directly relate to his music career, he flakes out. It's just the way he is. It's the way he's
always
been.”

Lilah felt her ire subsiding. She sighed. “Yes, I know you're right. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel used. That's the last thing I wanted to do.”

Tyler nodded. “Good. Can we still try to have a good time?” He paused to look around. “This is a far cry from where we were last night.”

Country music was blaring over the loudspeakers. The main room was dimly lit with lots of dark wood bar stools and booths. The walls were covered with wagon wheels, steer heads and pictures of cowboys and horses.

“Where's the mechanical bull?”

“The bartender said it's downstairs. He says a crowd doesn't form down there until later on.”

Tyler sat back. “Okay, then what are you waiting for?”

“Just you.” She flashed him her best smile.

Angie came back to the table with a pitcher of beer and three mugs. “Have we cleared the war zone, or should I have brought reinforcements?”

“That bad, huh?” Tyler asked. “I'm sorry about the conflict. My brother was never punctual, but now that he's becoming famous, he's a frequent no-show.”

“After hearing you sing last night, I think you might be a rising star yourself. Remember we knew you when,” Angie teased.

Lilah looked up from her beer and saw Tyler watching her. “What?”

“I just never figured you for a beer kind of girl.”

“Oh really? What kind of girl do I look like?”

As Tyler's eyes raked over her, she felt a bit self-conscious in her tight blue jeans and her I Heart New York baby-T. She hadn't wanted to overdress for bull-riding.

“I had you pegged for white wine spritzer or, of course, an appletini kind of girl.”

Lilah smiled. “That's just one side of me. You haven't seen the rest.”

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Lilah heard the double entendre. Tyler's face lit up like a Christmas tree and Angie rolled her eyes.

Lilah shrugged it off. She'd worry about the rest of The List later, for tonight, all she could think about was Tyler.

As he stood among the crowd, waiting for Lilah to climb on the mechanical bull, Tyler couldn't tamp down his warring emotions.

On one hand, he'd gotten what he wanted. He now knew for certain that Lilah wanted
him
. The chemistry between them tonight was explosive.

But on the other hand, he was wrestling a niggling of guilt. She'd called him out tonight. She thought he might have been interfering with her meeting his brother, and she'd been right. Never mind that on this particular occasion, he'd actually tried his best to get Reggie to come.

If he wanted a clean slate with Lilah, he was going to have to explain himself. But what were the right words? Words that would show how much he cared for her without seeming selfish?

There weren't any words like that. Not yet. He needed more time. If she was falling for him the way he'd been falling for her, then she might be able to understand. Perhaps she'd even be flattered.

Tyler shook his head at that notion, but before he could engage in another round of self-flagellation, Lilah was on the bull.

He felt a bubble of laughter burst forth at the sight of her straddling the saddle and gripping the handle with one hand. She looked adorable.

As the mechanical bull started up, making increasingly faster motions, Tyler expected Lilah to fly right off.

Instead he watched as her brow knit with concentration and she tightened her thigh muscles to grip the saddle. Her body jolted violently, but she held tight, undulating her hips to stay seated.

The crowd cheered her on. Some men in the audience shouted lewd remarks regarding her riding skills. But Tyler barely heard them, because his jeans had become uncomfortably tight.

The mechanical bull continued to speed up and Lilah slid off one side onto the foam flooring. She landed smack on her curvy rump. The whole process, from start to finish, took less than a minute.

But the scene was stamped in Tyler's memory like an erotic fantasy.

As she approached him afterward, he could see in her eyes that she knew what he was thinking.

“How did I do?”

Tyler tried not to leer. “I'm impressed. You had a good grip on that bull, didn't you?”

Lilah smiled. “It must be all the yoga. It strengthens the core. I have really good balance.”

“I can see that.” Tyler had to bite his tongue on the suggestive comments swirling in his head. His whole body had gone hot, and he didn't really care that they were in a crowded room.

He reached out and slid his arm around her waist, pulling her against him. Before he could close in for the kiss, the crowd started whooping again.

Lilah spun out of his grasp and around to face the ring. “We're going to miss Angie's ride.”

As Lilah leaned against the rail in front of her to watch her friend, Tyler lined up behind her, resting his chin on top of her head.

His arousal fit right into the small of her back. Lilah reached back to grip his thigh, while he stroked her hair, occasionally brushing the soft skin of her neck.

Even through the cacophony of the rowdy on-lookers, Tyler could hear her soft sigh of pleasure. He mentally reviewed his options.

What was the most polite way to get rid of Angie and bring the night to a close? He hoped Lilah was on the same page, because before long he'd be done with the foreplay.

The tension mounting between them for the last few days had reached nearly uncontrollable proportions in the last few hours.

He was only human and Tyler intended to take Lilah home with him this night.