Free Stolen Breaths by Pamela Sparkman Page A

embarrassed. “I’m sure you meet a couple of goddesses every night in this place.”
    “Not at all,” Joe said. “But that would be nice.”
    “Let me guess, this must be Lily,” a voice said from behind me. I turned around and saw a man with sandy hair and crisp blue eyes. He held his hand out and instinctively I reciprocated. He didn’t wait for Cooper’s introduction, instead introducing himself. “Hi. I’m Hayden McCoy.”
    “Hayden?” I said looking for Cooper to complete the introduction.
    “Hayden is another friend of mine that I wanted you to meet,” Cooper said as the two exchanged the familiar one shake handshake.
    “It’s nice to meet you, Hayden.”
    “It’s a pleasure, Lily,” Hayden said, slapping Cooper on the back.
    “I’ve got someone covering the bar,” Joe said. “Let’s go sit down somewhere.” He said something to one of the other bartenders and then led us to a large booth in the corner.
    I slid into the booth first and then Cooper, and Joe and Hayden slid in on the other side. Cooper had me sitting close to him and draped his arm around me. Before we got completely settled a waitress came and brought us drinks. Bottled Coronas for all of us plus tequila shots, salt, and lime wedges.
    “Have you ever done a tequila shot, Lily?” Cooper asked, looking at the glasses in front of us when he saw my expression.
    “Nope, but something tells me I’m about to,” I laughed.
    “I’ll show you how,” he said. He removed his arm from around me, licked the skin between his forefinger and thumb, sprinkled salt on it, licked it, then downed his tequila shot and bit the lime.
    I looked around the table at the three sets of eyes watching me, waiting to see how I was going to handle this part. “Okay,” I said, looking confident, “I can do this.” I did everything Cooper did – licked the salt, downed the tequila, bit the lime, and slammed my glass down on the table, then proceeded to twist my face into something that probably resembled a cork screw. “That,” I said, trying to keep composed but failing miserably, “was disgusting.”
    Laughter broke out across the table. Cooper wrapped his arm around me and pulled me toward him. “Yeah, but you looked hot doing it,” he whispered in my ear and then gently laid his other hand across my knee. The gentleness of his touch sent a rush of warmth right through me.
    Joe and Hayden downed their shots, and we all laughed and had a good time as the night went on. I liked his friends. They were funny and easy to be around.
    “Hey, Lily, I got a joke for ya,” Joe said.
    Instantly Cooper and Hayden rolled their eyes and shook their heads. “He has the worst jokes on the planet,” Hayden said. “Please, don’t do it, Joe.”
    “Hey this one is funny,” Joe said. “Lily, how do you make a tissue dance?”
    “Uh, I have no idea,” I said
    “You put a little boogie in it.”
    Silence.
    Each of us looked at the other one…and then……laughter – all of us. Not because the joke was funny but because it was just so ridiculous.
    Hayden turned to Joe. “You are banned from telling any more jokes, man.”
    I leaned back into Cooper and laughed at his friends until my sides were hurting. When I needed the ladies room he promptly rose to his feet and helped me out. By the time I came back they had simmered down slightly.
    “I told them you could sing,” Cooper said.
    “What?”
    “They want to hear you.”
    “No no no no no,” I said. “Not gonna happen.”
    “What if I sang with you?” Cooper said and then whispered in my ear, “Please? For me?”
    I sighed. “I don’t know.”
    Joe and Hayden were both staring, and finally Joe said, “I’ll clear this place out, and there won’t be anybody else around. We close in ten minutes anyway. If you’re as good as Cooper says you are we want to hear you.”
    They all got quiet and waited for me to answer. I took a breath and looked at all three faces, stopping at Joe’s.