The line between Amos and the man he’d been pretending to be for thirty days had blurred so completely that I couldn’t find it anymore, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to.
He tucked me against his chest and pulled the blanket up over us both, and I listened to his heartbeat slow while the apartment settled into quiet around us.
And he held me like that for the rest of the night.
Giving me the perfect bed-cuddle.
Chapter 10
Shelly
Amos had changed in the last thirty days.
It had happened so gradually that I hadn’t noticed at first.
But now, the difference in him was all I could see.
He didn’t wear his lucky horseshoe shirt tonight.
He was in his regular work flannel, soft and worn at the elbows, the kind of shirt he wore when he wasn’t performing for anybody.
I’d caught myself staring at him across the pool table earlier, watching him laugh at something Cedar said, and thinking that I liked this version of him just as much as the flamboyant one.
Maybe more, because this version felt like something he normally only let a handful of people see.
And he’d spent the entire evening focused on me, which a month ago would have been unthinkable.
TheoldAmos would have drifted around the bar, charming every table.
Tonight he’d barely looked at anyone else.
I told myself that didn’t mean anything.
Tonight was a test, after all. The last night of our thirty-day fake-dating agreement.
“I need another beer,” I said, sliding out of the booth. “You want one?”
Amos looked up, his eyes landing warmly on mine. “Yeah, Thanks Shelly.”
Things had been… intimate between us since last night. We made love so many times I lost count, and when Mina came home this morning, we’d been laughing in the kitchen making pancakes from scratch.
She’d been happy to eat some with us.
I made my way to the bar and caught Max’s eye, holding up two fingers. He nodded and reached for the tap.
Someone patted my back, and I turned to find Mina there, a nearly empty glass in her hand. She looked happy, which was a relief because she’d been stressed all week.
“Hey,” I said, leaning in to hug her. “There you are. Are you staying late tonight?”
“For a little while.” She settled against the bar beside me. “So I finally booked the flights for Austin. It’s going to be the third weekend in October. Are you still in?”
“Are you kidding? I’ve been waiting for this concert since they announced the tour.” Iron Hillbilly was one of our new favorite bands. I grabbed her arm. “Tell me you got floor tickets.”
“Front section,” she said, grinning. “We’re going to be so close we’ll be able to see their faces sweat.”
I laughed, and we spent a few minutes sorting out the details, talking about the drive down versus flying and whether we could convince Kelly to come along. She’d been glued to Brady’s side ever since he came back to town.
Talking to Mina felt easy, and I needed that because underneath my smile, my chest had been tight all evening. The countdown was in its last hours now.
