Page 10 of My Heart Still Beats
“Why don’t you tell me what you’re planning?” I ask.
She shrugs. “Just the usual stuff. We’ll shower her with gifts.”
“No strippers?”
She turns and meets my gaze for the first time. “No. I don’t want any men there.”
“Is that what Skye wants?”
Her gaze narrows. “Yeah. She specifically told me that she and Braden don’t want strippers.”
I chuckle under my breath.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing, nothing.”
She raises her eyebrows. “You’re going to have a stripper at the bachelor party, aren’t you?”
“I didn’t say that.”
She shakes her head. “Fine. Do what you want. I’m not having male strippers at Skye’s bachelorette party.”
The way she phrased that makes me think it’s more about Tessa’s preferences than Skye’s, but given what she’s been through, I can’t blame her for being cautious when it comes to nearly naked men. I’m not sure how to respond, so I take a long drink of my bourbon and then change the subject. “Okay. So if we have the parties that Friday night, how do we get everybody together at the end?”
Tessa looks down at the bar. “Why would we do that?”
“Isn’t that what Skye and Braden asked for?”
“Oh.” She wrinkles her forehead. “Yeah, you’re right. At midnight, we’re supposed to bring the two parties together into one big party.”
“Yeah. So…any ideas?”
She draws in a breath, holds it for a few seconds, and then exhales slowly. “We really could’ve discussed this over the phone.”
She’s not wrong. And now I feel like a dick for setting this up.
A man clad in jeans and a T-shirt walks into the bar. He takes a seat next to Tessa.
In a flash, she hops up off her stool and moves closer to me.
“You okay?” I ask quietly.
She swallows. “Yeah. Fine.” She slides into the empty seat on my other side.
My God, she’s skittish. And of course I understand why.
I turn to her. “You want to get out of here?”
She frowns. “And go where? This was your idea.”
“We could go back to my place, or yours.”
Her eyes widen into circles.
That was the wrong thing to say.
“Or to…someplace where we can have our own table.” I glance around the bar. “I see an empty table in the back.”
