Play with Me
Page 75

And his sweet, soft dark-gray eyes are pinned to mine.
“Leo,” I say again, a bit stronger, and he blinks.
“Meg,” he clears his throat. “I didn’t know you’d be here.”
“Same here,” I reply with a grin. “I need to borrow your guitar, please.”
“Oh, sure.” He holds it out to me, and offers me a half-smile. “You’ve played it often over the years.”
I learned to play on this guitar.
I bite my lip as I loop the strap around my shoulder and back, and look up at him. “Thank you.”
I climb the stage and move the stool that’s been set in front of the mic for me. “I don’t think I can gracefully sit on that thing in this dress,” I say to the audience with a smile, earning laughter and applause.
“So,” I begin, “Jules and Natalie and I have been friends since college, so they knew me back when I used to play with a local band here in Seattle.” I smile out at them. All the guests have gathered in a semi-circle around the stage, Jules and Nate and the rest of the family and bridal party up front. Will is gazing at me with warm blue eyes.
I look to my left to see Leo standing by the stage with his arms crossed over his chest, watching me intently. I swallow hard and focus on the task at hand.
Just get through this one song, Meg.
“I was a bit surprised when she asked me to sing tonight because I haven’t sung in front of an audience in quite some time, but I’m honored to sing for Jules and Nate’s first dance together as a married couple.” I smile again and strum the guitar, making sure it’s in tune.
It is, of course.
“The song they’ve chosen is I Won’t Give Up.”
I begin to play the intro as Jules and Nate take the dance floor. Nate pulls Jules into a firm embrace and moves her effortlessly across the floor.
‘Cause even the stars, they burn
Some even fall to the Earth
We’ve got a lot to learn
God knows we’re worth it
No I won’t give up….
I’m taken away by the song and watching my beautiful friends dance so gracefully, gazing into each other’s eyes. Nate is singing along with me, to his girl, and the romantic in me melts at the sight. He leans down to murmur something in her ear, then kisses her naked neck, below her ear, and sweeps her around the floor again, much to the crowd’s delight.
I won’t give up on us
Even if the skies get rough
I’ve given you all my love
I’m still looking up
I find Will’s eyes across the dance floor. He’s smiling at me, watching me intently. God, I love him.
I’ve got to tell him.
The song ends, and the room erupts into applause and whistles. I smile and back away from the mic to offer a little curtsy, and then walk to the end of the stage, ready to hand Leo back his guitar.
“We have to do a song together,” he says, his face serious.
“No, thank you.”
He takes his guitar and hands it to someone else, then grabs my arm and pulls me back to him and whispers in my ear.
“Megan, please. I’ve missed you. Let’s do the song we used to do at weddings back in the day.”
I sigh and tears threaten.
“Leo…”
“Please. You sound great. We’ll blow them away.”
“You don’t need me to do that, remember?” I ask, my voice cold. He scowls.
“I never said that.” He sighs. “Come on, people are watching.”
I don’t have a choice. I do not want to make a scene at Jules’ wedding. So, I follow Leo up the stairs and stand at his side as he speaks to the audience.
“Hey, everyone, are you having a good night?” He asks, and the audience applauds and whistles. “Good! I’m honored to be here tonight with my band to entertain you all and celebrate with Jules and Nate. I knew Jules, back in her college days, and I’m happy to see she found a dude worthy of her.” He winks down at Jules. “We just came off a big tour, so being here with you guys is a nice and welcome change.”
He offers the audience that killer smile of his, and I swear half the women in the audience, including Samantha, look about ready to throw their panties at him.
I can’t help but roll my eyes.
“I kept Meg up here because Nash is that little local band she told you about earlier. She and I go way back.” He smiles over at me. “And she’s agreed to sing one more song with me before she joins you guys to get drunk and be stupid while I work my ass off up here.”
The audience laughs and I join them. I find Will in the audience, and he’s watching, standing still. I can’t read his face.
Someone hands me a mic, and Leo takes his mic off the stand and sets the stand aside.
“Don’t we need a guitar?” I ask into the mic.
“Nope, we have backup.” He winks and nods at one of the guys to join us on stage with a guitar. He leans in and whispers the song in the guy’s ear. I don’t know him; he must have joined the band after they got to L.A.
“This song,” Leo says into the mic and looks up at me, his dark gray eyes happy. “is called Marry Me and was originally done by a band who is also from Seattle, Train.”
The audience applauds again, and I can’t look away from Leo. We always nailed this song. It wasn’t originally written as a duet, but we alternate the verses and join together for the chorus.