Halo (Fallen Angel, #1)(42)

“You’re so full of shit.”

Viper popped the last piece of the bagel in his mouth. “Is that any way to talk to someone who brought you breakfast? Maybe I was just being nice.”

I highly doubted that. Nice and Viper were two words that did not go hand in hand. “Says the man who told me last night that dinner dates aren’t his thing.”

“They’re not.”

“And yet this is the second time you’ve bought me food.”

“Third if we’re getting technical,” Viper said, and turned to look at the tiny living space behind him. “And from what I remember in high school, on the third date, the date usually puts out.”

My cock jerked in response to that, and when I didn’t immediately respond, Viper looked back at me over his shoulder. “So, what do you say, Angel?”

I picked up one of the coffees and walked around the bar, heading for the seen better days couch that sat across the room.

“Ah, a man of action,” Viper said, following my lead. “I can work with a couch.”

“You”—I pointed at the mismatched recliner in the room—“can sit there.”

Viper shrugged out of his coat and then fell into the recliner, kicking out his long legs in front of him. “That’s right, you like to watch. Can see me better if I sit over here, right?”

Should’ve known that would come back to bite me in the ass. “Are you done?”

Viper’s gaze swept around the room, landing on the guitar case by my couch, the keyboard I had set up in front of the one window in this space, and, finally, the camcorder I had on the tripod aimed at the couch so I could record any music sessions.

God only knows what he’s going to say about that.

But, surprisingly, Viper didn’t say a word, merely brought his eyes back to mine and grinned as though he’d just stumbled on something particularly amusing. “Ready and willing whenever you are, Angel.”

Somehow, I didn’t think he was referring to writing songs.





Twenty-Eight





Viper





THERE WAS SOMETHING about seeing Halo in his own place, freshly showered, barefoot, not rockin’ a thing under those sweatpants—yeah, I could tell. It had my dick taking notice, but I’d meant what I said before. I had come here to work on music, though that wasn’t the only reason. It was just the excuse I’d given Killian when I’d called him on the way over here to tell him we made progress last night and to give us another day or two to work out the kinks. We’d be meeting with Brian and one of the MGA guys on Friday, so we needed to finish working on the lyrics to Halo’s song, but once we nailed that down…

I glanced back over at the video camera in the corner. That supposed angel was into some kinky shit, huh? I could definitely work with that.

Halo took a seat on the far end of the couch, unlatched his guitar case, and set the instrument beside him. “So what did you wanna work on first?”

“You finish writing your song?”

He shook his head.

“Then that’s where we start.”

Halo opened the drawer of the side table next to him and pulled out a worn notebook and a pen.

“You’ll need to come a little closer if you want me to read that,” I said.

He gave me a look. “Seriously?”

“Or you could work on it by yourself while I watch you.” I stretched my arms behind my head and linked my fingers as I watched the indecision play out on Halo’s face. When he lost the battle against himself, he cursed and moved to the opposite end beside the recliner. I stretched my legs out, hooking one of them behind his ankle, tangling us together, and his head shot up.

“Viper.”

“Angel.” I gave him a salacious grin. “You didn’t mind working so close last night.”

“Pretty sure we stopped working once you got that close.” He moved his legs out of my reach and uncapped the pen between his teeth. “I got as far as ‘I want to take you there’ at the end of the chorus.”

I reached for the notebook and read over the lyrics, and then I gestured for the pen. When he gave it to me, I made four lines underneath the last bit he wrote. “We need a bit more here. It’s too short.”

Halo chewed on his lip as he stared off into space, and I tapped the pen against the notebook to the beat, getting back into the work mindset.

“What about something like… ‘With you, I lose my brain…something something insane.’”

“Is this a love song or are you writing about zombies?” I said.

“What’s wrong with that?”

“Anytime someone sings about brains, it freaks me the fuck out. Next.”

Halo sighed. “Why don’t you help think of something, then?”

“What if you changed the words around, like: ‘With you, I lose my mind…’” When Halo nodded at my suggestion, I wrote it down. “What else would you lose?”

With a pointed stare, Halo looked at me and said, “Control.”

Control, huh? Fuck, my cock liked that, and I shifted in the recliner as I wrote it down.

“Which is it?” I asked. “You want to lose control or you can’t help but lose control?”