Page 36 of Sing For Me

She raises an eyebrow but doesn’t comment on my babble. “He’s a good guy, you know. Smart. Loyal. Never coasts on his family’s fame or money. That boy wants to make something of himself, by himself.” She winks. “And handsome, too.”

Even though I’m still blushing, I can’t help the laugh from breaking free. “Haylee, are you trying to set me up with your nephew?”

She shrugs innocently. “I’m just saying, a girl could do a lot worse.”

And then I see him, a few feet away from us. He’s holding two champagne flutes, his eyes trained on me. So freaking focused on me as I approach, so intense. There were moments while I was walking around with Haylee that I could have sworn I felt the heat of that gaze on me, even across the room. My belly gives a pleasant flutter.

“You could say that again,” I mutter, and Haylee laughs, sounding delighted.

“How did it go?” Will asks, handing me one of the flutes.

“She did great,” Haylee says, squeezing my arm. “You got yourself a charmer here.”

Will doesn’t say anything, just continues to stare at me, but the corner of his lip quirks up a little.

And now I’m staring at his mouth. In front of his aunt. Great.

Haylee can’t seem to keep the amusement out of her voice. “I’ll just leave you kids to it.”

Will finally tears his eyes from mine as she moves to pass. He leans down and kisses the top of her head. “Thanks, Aunt Hay.”

She pats his cheek. “Anytime.” She winks at me and then she’s gone, leaving me alone with the most gorgeous—and terrifying—guy in the room.

“It went okay?”

“It did.” I try not to think about the way I had almost lost it at the end. “Haylee is great. Seriously. I have a giant crush on her.”

“I’ll try not to get too jealous.” He’s laughing, but the heat I see behind his eyes tells me it isn’t completely a joke. “Did you need to find Marissa? Or can you come grab some food with me?”

Since I just saw Marissa chatting with Annie Duncan, the Oscar-winning actress she used to work for, I know I have some time before I need to find her. Even so, a part of me hesitates. Spending more time with this gorgeous, intense man—a man who up until tonight clearly had no intentions of ever seeing me again—is most likely a surefire recipe for heartbreak.

But when he looks at me with those intense eyes, it’s really hard to say no.

“Okay.” I catch my breath when he grins at me, apparently happy with my decision. He holds out a hand and I reach for him—

And we’re interrupted by what appears to be a tornado of lanky limbs and black hair. “Will!” The tornado hurls herself into Will’s arms, making him step back with a grunt.

“Jesus, Santana,” he mutters, just before another person joins the mini pile-up, knocking him the other way. “Lyric,ouch. Come on, you guys. Can’t breathe, here.”

The two girls release him, laughing. They’re young, maybe fourteen or fifteen, both of them a little awkward and gangly in their fancy attire with the air of little kids playing dress-up. “Where have you been?” the darker-haired one asks.

“We haven’t seen you inages,” the other agrees.

“It hasn’t been that long.” He straightens his now-askew tie. “What are you two even doing here? I thought the Littles were staying at home.”

Their happy expressions turn immediately to scowls. “Don’t you lump us in with the babies,” the dark-haired girl snarls.

He laughs, ruffling her carefully styled hair and making her yelp with outrage. When he looks at me, there’s an obvious change to his expression. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Will looking this… peaceful. Relaxed. His grin is easy, eyes sparkling with humor. Even his posture seems different, less tense.

“Eva, these are two of my little cousins.” He puts emphasis onlittleand the girls scowl. He tugs on the ponytail of the girl with light brown hair. “This one is Lyric.” Again, he tries to ruffle the other girl’s black curls, she ducks out of the way this time. “And this is Santana. Girls, meet my friend Eva.”

“Hey, Eva,” Lyric says easily, barely glancing at me. But Santana takes one look at my face and gasps.

“Oh. My. God,” she whispers. “Oh my God!” She jumps up and down, wobbling on her short heels. “Are you seriously for real right now?” She grabs Lyric’s arm. “Don’t you know who this is?”

“No,” Will says firmly, clamping a hand on his cousin’s bouncing shoulder, stilling her. “You’re not going all fangirl on her.”

“But she’sEve,” Santana cries, clapping her hands together since her cousin is now preventing her from jumping up and down. We’re starting to attract attention.