Her mind was relaxed and slightly fuzzy after the drinks, and the crowd was enthused, singing along to the woman’s messy version of the Shania Twain song.This won’t be so bad,Sofiathought, queuing up her song choice. But a nervous shudder worked its way up her spine.
When the woman finished her song to a loud chorus of applause, she ran over and handed the microphone to Sofia, who took it with sweaty hands. She walked across the stage, putting a little strut into her step to appear confident. A few whistles reached her ears as she walked to the center of the stage, and the backing music came on. She locked her eyes on the screen where the lyrics were displayed, determined not to look out at the crowd.
Just as she was about to open her mouth to sing the first line, wanting to melt off the stage and her heart racing, the music stopped, a new song started playing, and Isaiah jumped out from somewhere to her side with a second microphone. He lifted it to his mouth and belted out the lyrics to Aretha Franklin’s “Respect.”
Sofia stared open-mouthed as he continued the raucous singing. He nodded toward her and nudged at her microphone. She raised it and began to sing along.
They continued to sing in tandem, Isaiah’s confident voice much louder than hers. She couldn’t believe it. He had an incredible voice and a bit of a stage presence. She found herself laughing and forgetting her nerves as they powered through the song together, the crowd cheering and singing with them.
By the end of the final verse, she was grinning so hard that she leaned over slightly and gripped her stomach, unable to contain her joy. As the crowd cheered, Isaiah laughed and took her hand, gently guiding her off stage. She collapsed into a fit of giggles and flung her arms around him.
“I didn’t know you could sing.” She laughed, pulling back just an inch.
“I wasn’t sure if I could.” He slipped a hand onto her waist as he effortlessly pulled her out of the way of a microphone cord.
“So you just went up there, not knowing if you were completely tone deaf, to sing in front of all those people? Why?”
“Why not?” Isaiah’s hand was still on her waist, and goose bumps pricked her arms. In the near distance, Sofia could hear that people were beginning to file out of the party, but they were obscured by the café counter and tall stage lights.
Sofia locked eyes with him then, her gaze trailing from his eyes to his lips and back again. That grin that pulled at the sides of his mouth and drove her crazy was back, taunting her.
“Why’d you do it?”
“Because you didn’t want to.” He had moved his other hand to her hair, two fingers playing with a curl.
“That wasn’t part of the deal.” Her heart was racing, but she couldn’t look away.
“You tried to change the rules once, if I recall.”
She pursed her lips.
“Besides, we never agreed that whoever lost had to sing alone.”
His hand being on her waist was distracting her, and electricity was zipping up and down her arms.
“That’s true, but—” she said slowly, leaning forward ever so slightly. She was getting ready for another retort when he leaned down and closed the gap between them. She felt his lips on hers just as she tilted her face upward. His mouth was warm, and she slipped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer.
For a moment, Sofia forgot where they were. Nothing existed except for the places where his hands and lips connected with her body. Her entire body was warm and tingly.
Suddenly, singing came from behind them, and they broke apart as a man Sofia recognized as the owner of one of the stores downtown came around the corner.
“Oops, didn’t mean to interrupt. Ash said there might be some to-go boxes back here.” The man looked at them sheepishly.
Sofia quickly pulled away from Isaiah. Flustered, she tucked her hair behind her ear and squatted, grabbing a to-go box from the low shelves of the café counter. “Here you go, Mr. Harris.”
“Happy Valentine’s Day, you two,” he said with a wink then walked away with the paper box.
Sofia turned back to Isaiah and bit her lower lip as she smiled at him. “Aaawkward,” she said in a singsong voice.
He laughed. His eyes were still blazing, and her cheeks flushed.
“I blame that on the Grammy-worthy singing voice you’ve been hiding all this time,” Sofia teased.
“Oh really? Not on the fact that I swooped in and saved you from having to sing on your own?”
“Hey, I was going to! You saw me up there.” Sofia’s temper flared, but there was no heat behind it. Shehadbeen extremely grateful when he’d jumped in.
“I have no doubt. Do you want to try again? The karaoke machine’s still out. You can have your solo.” He grinned mischievously.
