Suddenly Jax was very grateful for the bar between him and everyone else, as it now hid his semi.
Naomi shimmied, and a fond, indulgent smile quirked Ari’s lips, though he didn’t miss a step.
The crowd loved it.
“Thank you! We’re a bit short-staffed tonight, so a dear friend has graciously agreed to give us a hand. The request jar is still open, but we don’t want to overwhelm our newbie.”
Ari arched an eyebrow. “I taught you everything you know.”
The crowd hooted.
“That sounds like a challenge, old man, one that we need a second violin for. I’m going to take a short break, and Ari is going to entertain you.” Naomi ducked off the stage.
Ari stepped up to the microphone and, without a word to the audience, launched into a violin remix of “Thriller,” Rosa and Kayla following his lead. It sent chills down Jax’s spine, and he began to wonder how he would get out from behind the bar without breaking public indecency laws.
Naomi returned from the break room with her backup violin, and they proceeded to kill their way through a set, Naomi alternating between violin and vocals.
“This next one is an old favorite of mine,” Naomi said, beaming. “You see, Ari was my first violin teacher.” The crowd cooed. “And we learned to play this song together.”
“You insisted,” Ari said dryly.
Jax wondered if their gangling young act was as adorable or enthralling as this.
“You were the one who wrote the arrangement.” Naomi smirked and lifted her violin to her chin. Then, with barely a glance at each other and a few subtle foot taps for rhythm, the duo launched into Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me.”
Jax couldn’t decide what was cuter—a thirty-two-year-old Ari playing this song with a chagrined smile or the image of a twentyish Ari listening to Swift on repeat to arrange it for his preteen student.
After, Naomi excused them both for a break and dragged Ari to the back. Jax silently cursed them for putting the patrons in such a good drinking mood, as he was trapped mixing drinks and unable to follow. He wanted to climb Ari like a tree and kiss him into next week.
Naomi returned first and slipped behind the bar. “Jax, we need you on piano.”
He gave her a look and pointedly moved his gaze to the shaker in his hands.
“Yes, yes. But we have an idea, and we’ll need a piano player/singer for it.”
Intrigued, Jax said, “Explain.”
She did.
“You,” he said and pointed at her, “are so lucky that I decided to learn that one because I figured it was only a matter of time before someone requested it, what with you being on violin and all.”
Naomi beamed.
“Okay, talk to Murph, see what can be done about this—” He waved a hand at the busy bar. “—and I’ll join you on stage.”
She hurried away.
Jax figured their trio would be first up after the break, so he was surprised when he heard the violin once again. Ari stood on the stage alone, slowly pulling out the melody and vocals of Elton John’s “Your Song.”
Jax’s mother had never had a broad taste in music, but she’d had favorites. He had grown up listening to Elton John and had always loved the earnest simplicity of “Your Song.”
When Ari reached the line about eye color, he looked over at Jax and winked.
Jax swallowed and reprimanded himself for wanting to swoon. Surely Ari wasn’t playing “Your Song” as some sort of message for him.
Not that it wasn’t working as a seduction technique, deliberate or not. God, Jax was so ready. He wondered if Ari would forgive him if he dragged him into the break room and gave him a blowjob.
Probably. Jax’s blowjobs were legendary.
