Autumn: Too many abbreviations!!!!!! Xx

I laughed and replied:

Me: xx is an abbreviation for kiss, kiss.

Autumn: Well, it sounds creepy as kiss, kiss . . . xx

Me: True. x

Autumn: Aw, I got a kiss from Skylar! I feel special. Xx

Me: :p

I TOOK A CAB TO St. Vincent Street that evening because I had no idea how to get to King Tut’s from the apartment. When the cab driver dropped me off, I was slightly confused. We were on a wide sloping street in the commercial part of the city. Opposite me was a glass office building, but behind me was a row of typical Georgian townhouses that had been converted into business premises and apartments. Lights below a large bay window of one lit up the big King Tut’s signage beneath it.

Huh. Not at all what I’d expected.

Apparently, King Tut’s was an inconspicuous basement bar.

I shivered in the cold November air, hugging myself as I watched two young couples walk down the steps to the entrance. Not really knowing what to wear and sick of jeans after twenty months of wearing them, I’d chosen a casual but formfitting black dress Autumn had talked me into buying a few weeks ago. It had a scooped neck that bared my collarbone and dipped low in the back, three-quarter-length sleeves, and it hugged my thighs to a couple of inches above the knee. Paired with my black tights and wedged black boots, it wasn’t overly revealing but it had a casual sexiness that made me feel good.

It’d been a while since I felt good about my body, but I’d gotten my hips and ass back over the last six weeks and I wanted to celebrate it. Yay for peanut butter!

However, I hadn’t wanted to overheat in the venue so I’d only thrown on my blazer and a scarf and was consequently freaking cold waiting outside for Autumn. Then I realized she hadn’t specified where we would meet. Inside or out?

Me: I’m outside. U here yet?

After what felt like forever because of the aforementioned chill, my phone binged.

Autumn: I’m inside. At a booth in the bar. You’ll see me as soon as you come in. xx

Thank God. Hurrying down the steps, I pushed open the door, desperate for some heat in my bones. I might have a beer. It had been a long time since I’d had a beer.

Anticipation and excitement were things I thought long dead so the giddiness of stepping into a famous music venue, looking forward to grabbing a beer and listening to good music with a friend was so sweet, it almost made me want to cry.

I walked up a couple of steps and opened the door into the inner bar. The smell of stale beer and bar food hit me and I smiled as I stepped further into the room to search for Autumn. The space was small—a row of booths along the back wall, a bar opposite it, and at the far end double doors that I assumed led up to the event room. It was covered in music memorabilia—photographs and posters—and had the kind of well-worn appearance that reminded me of an aging legendary rock star who could dress whatever fucking way he liked because he was a goddamned legend.

I liked it immediately.

Where was Autumn to share this moment with me? Hmm.

I was looking for red hair so it took me a moment to see him instead.

His head was bent over his phone as he sat at a booth on his own, a half-filled pint of lager in front of him.

Killian?

My heart rate sped up and I suddenly felt self-conscious in my dress.

Autumn never said her brother was joining us, the little sneak. I shot a look at the bar, wondering if she was there, and made eye contact with a tall, good-looking bartender. He had a scruffy beard and broad shoulders. He was lean and wiry and his overall appearance was “music aficionado who could give a shit.” He gave me a crooked smile and I returned it with a small one of my own, confused as to where my friend was and why Killian was here. I reluctantly drew my gaze back to him and our eyes immediately connected.

He held me still with that intense focus and I tried to catch the breath he always managed to knock out of me.

Business associates and nothing more.

Right.

Newcomers accidentally knocked into me with an apology, and I stumbled out of the eye lock with Killian. Okay. So he was here. That was fine. Autumn would be our buffer.

I pasted a small, not-too-friendly smile on as I strode across the bar, shrugging out of my blazer and scarf. I threw them onto the cracked leather bench seat before sliding in. “Hey.” When I looked at him again, he was dragging his gaze up my body in a way that sent a delicious shiver down my spine.

“Hi. I wasn’t expecting you.”

I shook my head. “No, Autumn didn’t say you’d be here either.”

Killian tensed and then comprehension slackened his expression. “She wouldn’t,” he muttered, touching the screen on his phone. “Or would she?”

“Wouldn’t she what?”

Instead of answering me, he put his phone to his ear and I could hear it dialing. I heard a click and the faint sound of a woman’s voice answering.

“Autumn, you are planning to be here tonight, right?”

She wasn’t here? What? “She just texted and told me she was here.”

His jaw clenched and then his expression darkened at whatever she said on the other end of the line. “Right . . . so this just happened to come up at the last minute? . . . So why did you tell Skylar you were here already? . . . Right . . . aye . . . sure . . . You and I will talk about this later.” He hung up on her and threw his phone on the table.

Starting to put two and two together, I shifted in my seat, feeling the urge to bolt. “She’s not coming?”

“No.” He glared but I knew it wasn’t at me. “She said she had a friend emergency and was needed elsewhere. She lied to you about being here because she thought you wouldn’t come in if you knew it was me waiting for you.”

Liar, liar, pants on fire.

This was a setup.

And we both knew it.

Fuuuuuuck.

“Well, she’s wrong,” I cracked, trying to defuse the situation. “Not even you could keep me from seeing King Tut’s for the first time.”

His gaze softened. “You’ve never been here before?”

I shook my head, grinning like a fangirl. “I’m pretty excited.”

“Aye.” He smiled and then glanced around. “I suppose it has that thing.”

“What thing?”

“That air of anticipation. Magic has happened here. People come in wondering if they’re going to be lucky enough to witness a magic moment.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, stroking my fingers across the air in front of me. “You can feel it. The guys and I would’ve loved to play here, but we weren’t cool enough.”

Killian’s lips twitched. “Coolness is in the eye of the beholder.”

“Or something like that.” I grinned.

We shared a warm look and the tension between us increased tenfold. I could only assume it was because we were doing something that didn’t involve work, and this felt . . . Well, in this dress it felt like a date, which was so far beyond what we’d agreed to, it wasn’t funny.

“You don’t have to stay with me. I don’t need a babysitter.”

He shook his head. “I want to hear this Crowe guy.”

Okay, then. I was definitely going to need a beer to get through this.

“I’m going to get a drink.” I grabbed my purse and was moving to slide out of the booth when Killian got up first.

“I’ll get it. What would you like?”

“Uh . . .” I looked past him to the bar, hoping to see a list of beers. “What do they have? What are you drinking?”

“King Tut’s Lager. It’s brewed in Glasgow.”

Ooh. “Well, I have to have that, then. Half a pint though.” I made a gesture with my finger and thumb. “I’m only little.”

Killian’s eyes flickered down what he could see of my body and I thought I saw a flush high on his cheeks. But the lighting was low so I couldn’t be certain. He cleared his throat and turned away with a muttered, “Right.”

My cheeks felt hot and I put a hand to one as I watched him walk over to the bar. The place wasn’t too packed, but it was possible everyone was already in the venue waiting for the band. I could hear the soft thrum of music and guessed it must’ve been the opening act. Although eager to get up there, I really needed a drink before I had to stand next to Killian in a darkened room.