“Concert,” I told him, and then checked the doorway to make sure she hadn’t drifted in when I hadn’t noticed. Not that it was possible. I always noticed her. “Got us tickets to Torched. They are doing concert in Denver, and the car will pick us up at five.” Gave us plenty of time to get there without rushing.
“Fuck me, seriously?” Bubba gaped at me. “I know you said you were checking their schedule.”
I grinned. “Seriously. She loves them.”
“I know she does,” he said, grabbing weights of his own. “Hell, I love them. But she’s gonna freak at you for spending the money.”
Shrugging, I said, “Maybe. Then she’ll be too busy enjoying them. When that last song dropped, she couldn’t stop singing it.”
Bubba laughed. “She’s getting better at it than she thinks.”
“Why the fuck does she think she can’t sing?”
A scowl tightened his brow. “Three guesses, and the first two don’t count.”
Her cunt of a mother. “Fuck, I hate that bitch.”
“Ding. Ding. Ding. We have a winner. She’s got a voice, she just needs to believe in it and to train it.”
“Whatever you need to help her,” I told him.
“I got it,” Bubba said, giving me a firm look. “I’ll take care of her.”
Message received. I nodded. We were both quiet, until I was done with the weights and ready to hit the showers. Only then did he clear his throat.
“Hey, Arch?”
I eyed him and couldn’t help it, I braced. We were all a little raw from the recent pass. “What’s up?”
“Thanks.”
I raised my brows.
“For yesterday. For letting me and Frankie have the time without…”
“Oh,” I snorted a laugh, then waved a hand at him. “No biggie. I get it. I’d rather you hadn’t been there, but I like waking her up, too.”
“Same,” he said slowly.
“Bubba,” I told him. “Let’s be clear. Jake and Coop are a lot more comfortable sharing than we are. I think we’re fine with where we’re at. I’m not in any hurry to change that.”
The guy actually looked relieved. “I’m a bit of a greedy bastard where she’s concerned.”
No shit. “So am I. As long as we understand each other, we’re fine.”
That was that.
Frankie didn’t emerge until early afternoon. She moved slow and more than a little gingerly, and I was in the middle of checking our reservations for the weekend when she made her way down the stairs. Tracking her steps, it hit me why she was walking like that, and I had to hide my smirk behind the coffee. The smile on her face and the relaxed look in her eyes, coupled with the flush on her cheeks, told me everything I needed to know about whether she’d enjoyed it.
Well, that and the enthusiastic cries from the night before.
Fuck, I really did love that she was a screamer.
Even better than all of that was the way she kind of floated over to where I was sitting, and I shifted my tablet so she could sit on my lap. At her plaintive look, I passed her my coffee, and she smiled. The happiness there resonated within me and a sense of contentment I didn’t think I was capable of settled in my bones.
“What are you doing?” she murmured after another swallow of the coffee.
“Just making my list and checking it twice,” I teased her. I’d closed the tablet screen when she’d appeared on the stairs. I set it to the side and then just wrapped my arms around her.
She smiled. “Are you naughty or are you nice?”
“Which do you prefer?”
Her laugh was soft, but very warm. “Both.”
“Me, too.” I nuzzled a kiss to her cheek, and she snuggled back into me. The fire crackled merrily, and the Christmas lights were on. The shipment of presents should be in today, I’d already had a word with the housekeeper. She promised that her husband would make sure they were delivered and arranged by the next day at the latest.
One by one, the guys wandered out. Jake brought us more coffee, and Coop brought out the food. Frankie seemed utterly content to just doze in my lap. Bubba came down with his guitar and treated us to an impromptu concert as he toyed with some songs. I’d always known he enjoyed his music, I just never realized how serious he was about it.
I just hadn’t paid attention.
Frankie had. She’d gotten him that lyric book and sheet music for his birthday. It had seemed a weird present at the time, but I saw it now. She