Peter, bringing up the rear, paused in front of Thea. “Big step, buying a house.”
“Yep,” she said shortly.
He chucked her under the chin and said gruffly, “Good for you, kiddo.”
And with that, they were gone, leaving Thea to slump against the wall while Aiden tried to sort through what he’d just seen.
“Hey,snookums?” he finally asked.
“Yeah?” She looked up at him with big brown eyes, and something clenched low in his belly at the dazed expression he saw there.
“What the hell was all that?”
When her eyes dropped to the floor and her shoulders began to shake, he moved toward her in alarm, ready to pull her into a hug and dry her tears. Then she threw her head back and revealed that she was actually vibrating with laughter.
“Thatis why I moved out when I was eighteen and never looked back.” She swiped at her eyes as her giggles subsided. Then the mirth on her face disappeared, and she wrapped her arms around her midsection, shrinking into herself.
Watching the sunny Thea Blackwell curl up in misery was too much for him, and he reached for her hand. “You know who’d be really proud of you?” Her eyes flew to his, and he twined his fingers through hers. “Your dad. So damn proud of the houseandyour independent streak.”
She blinked a few times and cleared her throat. “Yeah, he would, wouldn’t he?” Her throat worked as she swallowed hard, and then she nodded decisively toward the kitchen, where the paperwork waited on the counter. “Okay. Show me your big fancy schedule. Let’s do this.”
Twelve
Thea stood outside the door to the Elephant and sucked in a steadying breath. There was no reason to be nervous, right? She’d pushed through this battered metal door a thousand times, and she’d been in the audience for more Moo Daddies shows than she could count. Tonight wouldn’t be any different.
Ha. Lies.Tonight she was debuting as Aiden Murdoch’s girlfriend in public.Publicpublic, as opposed to his construction company or the home expo or a random hardware store. She was going to be the proud girlfriend watching her man bang the drums while never letting on that those were the only things he was banging right now.
Oh God, she’d never be able to pull this off.
“Ow! Hey!” Thea rubbed her elbow and glared at the brunette who’d just smacked into it.
“Sorry,” the sylph called over her shoulder as she followed her friends into the building, leaving Thea’s funny bone throbbing. It was a sign. She should go straight home and do a charcoal mask and forget this whole business.
But she couldn’t do that. She’d promised Aiden. The bulk of his responsibility in their fake relationship was overhauling her house, and her main role was being his public arm candy. He was already hard at work on his end of the bargain, so now it was time for her to candy up and follow through on her end.
Chin up. Boobs out. Smile on.
With her self-confidence mantra echoing in her ears, she threw back her shoulders and sailed through the door, reminding herself that she was looking hot as hell in her smoky eye and slinky dress. Ordinarily the Brick Babes would be swarming the place when the Moo Daddies performed, but they hadn’t been able to pull together an outing for the final show before Ana gave birth and Dave took a long paternity leave from performing. That meant Thea was flying solo tonight, and although Mabel had invited her to share a table, Thea didn’t see her friend anywhere in the hot, crowded bar.
“Here you go.”
She turned in surprise to see the raven-haired woman who’d jostled her outside. “It’s an apology gin and tonic.” She pressed a glass into Thea’s hand. “I didn’t mean to knock into you. Sorry!”
“Oh thanks. Alcohol equals forgiveness.” Thea took a sip as her eyes roamed over the crowd, and the woman gave a knowing click of her tongue.
“Are you on the hunt tonight too?”
“Hunt?” She turned away from the stage where the band was finishing its setup to see that the woman’s two friends had joined her. She was suddenly enveloped in feminine laughter and enticing floral scents.
“The Aiden hunt,” the short-haired blonde said.
Thea took another long gulp of her drink before she was able to stammer out, “Ummm. Aiden hunt?”
The woman with a long brown braid pointed dramatically to the stage, where the man in question was bent over his drum kit and showing off an extremely impressive display of leg and ass in his broken-in jeans.
All four women watched in silence for a moment before the black-haired one sighed. “It’s been forever since he took somebody home, and we’re all suffering.”
The blonde tucked a short curl behind her ear. “It’s selfish really, to withhold all that goodness from the women of Beaucoeur.”
