“I know that, and so does he now. Before he met you, I think he thought that the woman who inspired all our hits was just my overactive imagination building you up to be more than you actually were.”
The song ended but he kept her on the floor as the next one began, and True chuckled and looked around as the band played another song. He quietly began singing along with the vocalist so only she could hear him.
“One of yours?” she whispered.
True nodded. “One of yours.”
Mine? She looked up at him, trying to school her expression so she didn’t look like she was gaping, which was how she felt. He sang about a man meeting a woman and how, despite her different tastes and style, he fell in love with her. His voice was velvety soft, and she smiled as she recalled the way he’d sung to her that night and she realized he’d been composing the song right then.
Magic.
True nodded at her and smiled as he quietly sang along while leading her in the dance. “So, do you think it might be possible to spend some time with y’all?”
“Of course. I might even be able to get off from work, or…if you’d like, I think it might be okay if you wanted to come to the house and relax, and you could spend time with Whit there while I’m at work.”
“You’d trust me like that?”
“Yes.”
“Unfortunately, Paul needs to hang out with us, too, just in case.”
“Why?”
He looked reluctant to mention it. “We’ve had some threats lately.”
“What? Like death threats?”
“No. More along the crazy stalker variety. ‘We’re meant to be together, True’ sort of thing. It happens to both of us. We were careful when we left the bus so nobody knows we’re here, and if we spent the time out at your place in the country it’d be great. Jared and Kendry already said they were fine with it if you were. I just wanted to make sure that it was okay with you.”
“This is still really weird, isn’t it?”
True smiled and squeezed her hand. “It’s not the way I would’ve liked it but…it’s still good. Life on the road is hard. I’m not sure you’d like it. And I appreciate that they’re so protective of you. I know you’ll be happy. And I’m really happy to know that I have a son and that he has a great mom.”
Heat filled her cheeks, thinking what a gentleman he was for giving in gracefully to the news that she was off the market but he wanted her in his life anyway. Her thoughts turned to the blank line left on Whit’s birth certificate as “Eric” escorted her back to their group.
Chapter Eighteen
Kendry let out a sigh of relief as Presley Ann slid into the spot meant for her between him and Jared. She squeezed him around the waist and eyed him with concern. “He said he’d been talking with the two of you.”
Kendry nodded. “Are we busted?”
Her lips curled up in a Mona Lisa smile. “It would’ve been nice to know in advance.”
“I’m sorry. We didn’t want you to worry.”
“And I would have,” she said as she leaned her head against his chest. “He asked to spend time with us, and I agreed. He said you did, too.”
“As long as he understands the boundaries, we’re fine with that.” She looked up at him and he couldn’t read the emotions in her blue eyes. “You’re a part of our lives now, as is Whit. He’s Whit’s father. As much as we love Whit, we know True must be feeling the same. But the fact that we’re a ménage doesn’t mean we’ll welcome another man into our threesome.” God, please don’t let that be a problem. In the days since the scene at O’Reilley’s and their discussion afterward they’d been giving her a little space. He knew the whole revelation had to have been a head trip for her but it’d break his heart if that was what she wanted.
She shook her head. “That’d be a disaster.”
Kendry glanced over at Leah and her men and said, “I don’t want you to have any regrets.”
She came up on tiptoe to him and whispered, “I don’t. If you were worried that was what I wanted, you need to stop.”
Grace and Leah chose that moment to approach, and given the sparkle in their eyes, he wondered what they were up to. He noticed all of the other women at their tables were also rising from their seats, moving like they were already on the dance floor, their men watching with hooded, appreciative eyes.
“Mind if we borrow your woman, Kendry and Jared?” Grace asked as she winked at Presley Ann. “It’s a girl’s dance.”
“Sure,” he said, his jaw dropping as Presley Ann turned to face him and Jared, biting her lip and lifting her arms in graceful arcs as she swung her hips in a hypnotic motion that had him drooling and made his cock tingle. She followed her friends to the dance floor as he recognized the first verse of the hit song the band was covering, “Ready Set Roll” by Chase Rice.