Mo stepped up to the microphone. “I guess some of the male population in attendance have noticed that Miss Olivia Adler is here.” Cheers and catcalls were heard throughout the bar. “And, boy, does she look good tonight.” Mo looked at her, searching for an answer of whether she wanted to get on stage. She nodded, smiling. “Okay, Livvy. Get your butt up here.”

Alexander heard Mo announce Olivia and immediately returned to the second floor just as someone shouted his name. “Alex, darling!” the voice called as he listened to Mo sing the opening bars of the Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow song, Picture. It was a slower song and the audience was grooving along.

Alexander hesitated, not wanting to see the source of that voice, knowing all too well who it belonged to. He slowly turned around and watched as Adele made her way up the stairs.

“What are you doing here, Adele? How did you know I would be here?” His brow furrowed, watching Olivia walk up to the microphone, the audience cheering wildly for her as she sang the second verse.

“I saw you leave the charity auction so I had my driver follow you.” She climbed the remaining steps and grabbed Alexander’s arm, pulling him with her toward the bar. “Buy me a drink, will you?”

Alexander rolled his eyes. “What do you want, Adele?”

She just smiled. “You, Alex. I want you.”

Olivia looked out over the audience during the instrumental break and couldn’t believe her eyes. ‘Plastic Surgery Barbie’ was dragging Alexander toward the bar, no doubt trying to convince him to buy her a drink. Olivia was not normally the jealous type, but why was she there? She ignored it as she walked back up to the microphone to finish the song, Mo and her trading lines, the audience singing along with lit smart phone screens waving in the air.

The song ended and Alexander met Olivia’s eyes. He sent her a pleading look. Adele wouldn’t leave his side.

“She is quite talented, isn’t she? I can see why you like her,” Adele said. “But it won’t last. You’ll come crawling back to me one of these days. I just know it.” She smiled at Alexander, kissing his neck before he took a step away.

Olivia saw the entire exchange and turned to Mo, smiling. “Let’s do one more.” She laughed to herself as she began to introduce the next song.

“Thanks, everyone. One more song and then I’m out of here for the evening to spend some time with my hot boyfriend.” The crowd cheered and Olivia met Alexander’s eyes, a wide smile across his gorgeous face. As it quieted down again, she grabbed the microphone off the stand and walked toward the front of the stage. “Ever date someone who had a psycho bitch ex?” she blurted into the microphone, glaring at Adele. The audience erupted in applause, laughing. Adele’s eyes grew wide.

“Yeah. Well, sometimes, they need to take the fucking hint and move on, don’t they? This is Put the Gun Down by Z.Z. Ward. Enjoy y’all!”

“Y’all?” Adele sneered at Alexander.

“Shut it, Adele.”

“Trash, Alex. She’s fucking trash.”

Olivia counted off and began singing, the percussionist keeping a simple beat behind her vocals. She slinked around the front of the stage with the microphone in her hand, glaring at Adele as if sending her a message to back off from her man. Alexander was hers and she was not about to lose him.

She hit the first chorus and Alexander busted out laughing. He didn’t think it was possible, but he fell even more in love with the girl on the stage.

“What are you laughing at?” Adele growled, her face bright red.

“This,” Alexander smiled. “Olivia’s giving you the big ‘fuck you’ and it’s awesome.” He simply laughed as Adele continued to stand there, pouting.

The audience grooved along to the driving beat of the song, Olivia belting out the lyrics. It was unlike anything Alexander had ever heard her sing before. It was upbeat and rocking, her voice strong, almost demanding. She was staking her claim. Her claim to him, and it turned him on.

Men in the audience whistled as Olivia moved across the stage, singing the second verse, touching her body through her silk dress in such a way to cause anyone to want to leave with her. She stopped when she reached a group of drunk guys, throwing her right leg out slightly, locking eyes with Alexander as she inched the slit of her dress up, showing the lacy stockings attached to her garter belt.

“Fuck,” Alexander breathed softly as he felt his erection twitching. The whistles coming from the males in attendance were deafening.

“You think that’s cute, do you?” Adele asked. “She’s trashy, Alex. What self-respecting woman would get up on stage for everyone to gawk at? I’m surprised they’re not throwing dollar bills her way, for crying out loud!”

Alexander laughed again. “Adele, you’re just jealous that she gets all this attention from having a raw talent that she didn’t have to pay thousands of dollars to some plastic surgeon for.”

Adele faced forward, her blood rising as she continued to watch Olivia move around the stage.

Olivia began the final chorus, the crowd singing and dancing along with her. She jumped off the stage, not really knowing what had possessed her to do that. She made her way through the audience, her eyes trained on one person alone, singing and dancing with a few people before reaching Adele standing next to her man. She grinded up against Alexander, her back to his front, his erection growing from the contact, as she glared at Adele.

Alexander placed his hand possessively over Olivia’s stomach, kissing her neck, and she kept singing. Adele’s mouth went wide with shock and the audience lost it, cheering for Olivia.

Once the driving beat picked up again, Olivia immediately turned and made her way back to the stage, finishing the song to a raucous applause. She noticed that Adele no longer stood next to her man.

Alexander was so incredibly turned on by Olivia’s performance that he needed to feel her right then and there. As the audience cheered for the song, for his Olivia, he jumped up on the stage and, taking deliberate steps, embraced her, dipping her low, kissing her fully and passionately, running his hands up and down the side of her dress. Olivia had never been kissed with such vigor and intensity in all her twenty-eight years. She melted into his arms, never wanting the kiss to end, not caring that there were hundreds of witnesses to their passion.

The audience erupted in whistles. Cell phone cameras flashed as Alexander continued his exploration of Olivia’s mouth, sending electric shocks throughout her core.