Before he knew it, the women had disappeared inside and Jake Carey wandered over to the balcony. Aiden didn’t know Mabel’s boyfriend all that well, although he’d helped distract her a few months ago when she was trying to pretend she wasn’t desperately in love with the guy. Of course, that road went both ways; she’d also been helping him escape all the crap that had been building up at work with his dad and brother. But apparently spending time with Thea meant spending time with her friends, so he might as well make an effort.
“Hand me that drill?” He pointed to the ground, and Jake scooped it up and passed it to him, then knelt to study the metal post base he was installing on the concrete pier the center beam rested on.
“Ah. Keeps the wood from too much contact with water?”
“Yep,” Aiden said. “You want in on this?”
“Yep.”
As far as male friendship went, that was a good start, and by the time the women emerged from the house with a second lounge chair and a pitcher of margaritas, Aiden had dragged the second ladder off his truck and Jake was similarly shirtless and hard at work hammering in the diagonal braces.
“Oh my God,” Thea breathed. “This is heaven. This is hot-guy heaven.”
Mabel plopped the chair down and settled herself in it, crossing one ankle over the other and settling her sunglasses on her nose. “This is better thanMagic Mike!” she called. “Can you guys do some body rolls?”
“No body rolls!” Jake shook his head.
“We’re on ladders,” Aiden called down to them. “Definitely an OSHA violation.”
He and Jake shared a long-suffering glance from across the underside of the balcony that spoke volumes without saying a word:the things we do for these women.Andgoddammit, how did thoseMagic Mikeguys make it look so easy?
The afternoon wore on to the soundtrack of Mabel and Thea’s nonstop conversation, which was eventually joined by a third voice. Aiden glanced over his shoulder to see Faith Fox settling cross-legged in the grass and pouring herself a margarita, her wild blond hair barely contained by a straw hat.
“When the hell did Faith get here?” he asked Jake. By now they were almost side by side, applying a waterproof stain to the new lumber.
“No idea. They must have sent out some kind of lady Bat-Signal.” Jake glanced down and called, “This is kinda weird, babe.”
“Shut up and let us ogle,” Mabel yelled back.
Faith added a piercing wolf whistle to the mix, and Thea laughed so hard she tumbled off her lounger.
“Oh God,” Jake muttered. “Are you three drunk?”
“How dare you?” Thea struggled up from the ground. “We are merely tipsy. Aren’t we, Blueprint?”
She scooped up the dog, who’d been frolicking around the group all afternoon, and pressed kisses all over her body with such fervor that Aiden’s jealousy flared.
“Hey, anybody got astud finderhandy?” Faith’s question prompted shrieks of laughter from the other two women, and Blue happily joined in with her high-pitched yips.
“Pizza!” Mabel yelled over the commotion. “I’m ordering, so you boys better wrap up and make yourselves decent.”
Aiden’s stomach chose that moment to growl loudly enough for the whole neighborhood to hear, so he and Jake clambered down the ladders and cleaned up as the women headed inside to debate which place to order from. When the food arrived, they crammed around Thea’s kitchen table with paper plates and red Solo cups of margaritas.
“So Jake agrees with me,” Aiden said as everyone grabbed slices. “You need a grill for your backyard.”
“You do,” Jake agreed. “Perfect spot for grilling back there.”
“Oh, I don’t grill. It’s just so muchmeat.” Thea gave a delicate little shudder that had Aiden roaring with laughter.
“I’ll teach you to grill meat, woman.” He grunted like a caveman and turned his pizza around, biting into the crust first.
“Ew. Why?” Thea asked.
He paused with the slice in his hand. “So I save all the cheesy goodness for the last bite, obviously.”
“Weirdo.” She rolled her eyes, but her voice was affectionate, and he took a deliberately huge bite of his crust in response.
“Please, most of us here are survivors of Beaucoeur High School cafeteria food,” Faith said as she blotted grease from the top of her slice. “Nothing can shock us.”
