Viv:
The stage lights dimmed behind me, and I exhaled hard, like I’d just surfaced from underwater.
My skin still hummed from the performance — not from excitement, but from the heat of too many eyes. The glitter, the haze, the music — it all blurred together into a cheap illusion I’d perfected long ago. But I felt it tonight. Not adrenaline. Not pride. Something else.
Someone was really watching me.
I knew before I saw him.
Eyes like that? You feel them first. Cutting through you like a blade made of heat and curiosity. When I turned just before stepping behind the curtain, I found him instantly. A man with a stare that didn’t flicker, didn’t wander, didn’t even try to pretend he wasn’t devouring every inch of me.
Dark, messy hair. Strong jaw. Lean muscle under worn leather. He didn
