Unbreakable Bonds by Aliyah Burke, Taige Crenshaw Page B

friends returning and moved her hand. He didn’t retreat. He lowered his arm so it boxed her in more, not that she had plans on going anywhere.
    “Isn’t that looking cozy?” Rachel winked as she slipped in the booth right up to her. “So, Levi. Are we going to get to hear you sing?”
    Jasmine and Heather nodded while they slid into the booth across from them.
    “Maybe some other time.”
    “Ta-Mara, get him up there to sing—or go sing with him.” Jasmine had a big smile.
    “Come on, you two. We’re here to have fun.” Heather smirked at her from across the table.
    Ta-Mara glanced to her right and caught Levi’s gaze. She didn’t want to push it. He wasn’t familiar with the music they played. Although he had been listening avidly to the radio—country music—and was good with some of those songs. “What do you think?”
    “You want to sing with me?”
    She shrugged. “I’m game. Your call though. I won’t push it.”
    “We will,” her friends all said in unison. “We want to hear him sing.”
    “Come on. He’s a guest.”
    Heather shook her head. “Nope, he’s part of the group, so we have the right to heckle until we get what we want. No visitor takes liberties with you like that, so he’s something more.”
    He kissed her cheek and got up from the seat, holding out his hand. When she placed hers in his, he drew her up. “You heard them. I’m part of the group. Let’s go.”
    “You don’t have to do this, you know,” she said as he led her through the tables to the stage.
    “What’s wrong?” he asked facing her. “Don’t want to sing with me?”
    “That’s not it. Not at all. I don’t want you feel pressured into doing something you may not want to.”
    His wink sent her insides to fluttering all over again. “I’m good. Trust me.”
    She reached up and pressed a kiss to his lips. “I already know how good you are. I hope you sing as well as you, well…you know.”
    He grinned and faced the stage again. Fingers firmly interlocked with his, she allowed him to pull her up on the rostrum when their turn came. When the familiar opening strands of Tim McGraw and Faith Hill’s duet Like We Never Loved At All played, she fought her blush. This would prove interesting.
    “I know this one.” Levi smiled, partially lowering his lids.
    The look in his eyes made her gulp. She knew the song. Ta-Mara sang her part. Levi stared at her not even looking at the words either. When his part came, he opened his mouth and Ta-Mara stared at his lips. The deepness of his baritone wrapped around her. Her gaze widened as she heard the perfect pitch of his voice. The emotions he poured into the song made her up her game. She turned to him and stared into his eyes, singing to him. Ta-Mara imagined what it would be like when he was gone and how she would feel when he did. Levi’s eyes narrowed and he grabbed her, pulling her to him and rocking her, singing to her. Her voice broke on the lyric but she powered through and poured out what she would feel.
    Shit, I’m already in too deep. Stupid, stupid, Ta-Mara. She closed her eyes, fighting back tears and finished the song.
    The thunderous applause rose from the audience.
    “Look at me,” Levi whispered.
    Ta-Mara blinked and drew in a breath at the intensity of his gaze.
    “I won’t ever forget you, Ta-Mara, no matter what happens.”
    His promise was in his words and expression. Ta-Mara knew he wouldn’t, and neither would she. Levi would be etched in her memories long after they parted ways. Another song started, which Ta-Mara thought apt for this situation. Levi, if he was indeed from the time he said, could be taken from her at any moment—to a place where he belonged to another woman—Calliope—who knew she had his heart, body and soul. Ta-Mara led him to the stool on stage and encouraged him to sit as she sang the opening lyrics of Sugarland’s Stay .
    Ta-Mara turned away from him as she again let all her emotions out in song. She