He smiled. “Yeah, she’s great.”
I had no right or reason to feel jealous, but that didn’t stop the ugly green bitch from rearing her head anyway. “Won’t you being here just kind of fuel the fire though? You know, make people speculate even more that we’re a thing?”
“I thought about that,” he said, nodding. “And if you want me to go I will—”
“I don’t.” It would be nice having a friendly face in the crowd. Even if that’s all Dade and I could ever be. Friends. “It’s fine.” I drew a deep breath, rolling my neck. “I honestly don’t know how the hell you play in front of fifty thousand people every night. I think I’d faint.”
He chuckled as he moved in behind me and started massaging my shoulders. “You get used to it.”
Okay, that felt nice. And it was doing wonders to relax me. “You’re good at this.”
“I’m good at a lot of things, beautiful,” he whispered in my ear.
“Don’t I know it.” The words popped out before I could sensor them, but he laughed. I was glad we’d moved past the awkward tension we’d tried to ignore after… the shower. If we were going to work together, we had to be able to keep it light, to tease and laugh, that’s the only way this arrangement could work for me.
The door flew open and Max frowned when he spotted us. “Hey, sorry. Didn’t know you had company.”
“No problem.” I stepped away from Dade. “Uh Max, you remember my friend, Dade?” Like he wasn’t a household name. “He’s friends with Skylar too. She, uh, opened for him on his last tour. So he thought he’d come and catch up with her.” I didn’t know why I was rambling or making excuses for Dade being there. I didn’t owe Max an explanation.
Dade was clearly questioning that too because he raised an eyebrow before he said to Max, “I cut my teeth here. J.T. McCall’s a good friend of mine. You ever played here before?”
“Yeah,” Max said. “Me and my band have played here a couple of times. Always a good crowd. Nice people.”
Dade smiled. “Yeah, hell of a lot better than some of the honky-tonks I played back when I had a rusted-out pick-up, fake I.D., and no other options.”
Max’s smile was grudging when he said, “Bet you have some crazy stories to tell, huh?”
Dade nodded. “Sure do. Come by my table when you’re done. I’ll introduce you to my buddies, buy you a beer. They can tell you just as many crazy stories as I can.” He chuckled. “Of course I can’t promise they’ll all be true.”
What the hell was happening here? Max and Dade were bonding? I didn’t know how I felt about that. Max was my friend. And Dade was… my boss. My friend? My lover? I didn’t even know what the hell to call him anymore.
Dade squeezed my shoulder and winked before he said, “You’ll be great tonight, girl. Just sing for them like you did for me and they’ll be eatin’ it up.”
“Thanks.” If I could impress someone like Dade, surely I could impress some half-drunk bar patrons. “I’ll catch up with you after the show?” I didn’t know why but I wanted confirmation that he’d be sticking around.
“Count on it.” He shook Max’s hand as he passed him. “I meant what I said. You should both stop by when you’re through. Let me buy you a beer.”
“We’ll do that,” Max said. “Thanks, man.”
He waited until Dade left before he closed the door. “Okay, I’ll admit I really didn’t wanna like him, but he seems like a nice guy. Really down to earth, huh?”
“He is.” Sometimes I forgot that he was a rich and famous musician. Except when we were at his house. The multimillion-dollar estate and half a million-dollar car collection was a stark reminder of his success.
“You’re crazy about him, aren’t you?”
I blushed. God, was I that obvious? “He’s a friend. And my boss now, I guess.”
“Which doesn’t answer my question.”
I hadn’t known Max long enough to be certain I could trust him with the truth. Which was ironic, since I hadn’t known Dade long either and I already trusted him. “I’m not sure how to answer it, to be honest.”
I sat down on the leather sofa in the corner and started tuning the guitar I’d picked up from my parents’ place. Thankfully, no one had been home and there were no cars parked on the street so I’d been able to slip out undetected.
“It’s okay to admit it, Charli.” He curled his hands around the back of the chair facing me. “Any woman would feel the way you do.”
“But we all know about Dade’s history with relationships.” I bit my lip as I tuned my guitar and tried to ignore the tightening in my chest every time I thought of the women who’d ruined him for… me. “He says he’s done, and I tend to believe him.”
“Done?” he repeated. “Done with marriage? Commitment? Women?”
