Page 54

“Hey!” Bunny called from the piano chair.

Piper shrugged, taking a big sip from her cup. “Bring me coffee and you might be able to win back the title of best friend.”

“Oh, it’s conditional now, huh?” Bunny’s amusement colored the words, and Bea wanted to dive into this moment and let it wrap around her forever.

“There’s coffee?” Jo’s squeal interrupted whatever Piper’s answer might have been as she rushed into the practice room, tucking her pockets into her jeans.

Had she gotten dressed in the car? Worry ate at Bea’s stomach.

“Thank God.” Jo kissed Bea’s cheek as she grabbed her cup. “The line for coffee up the road was too long and there was no way we were going to be late again.”

We? There is a we?Bea looked at Piper and Jo and back again. Neither seemed fazed by Jo’s words or focused on anything except the coffee they consumed like starving lovers.

Bea placed the tray on the small table near the piano where Bunny had put the clipboard down next to a stack of papers. The top sheet was covered in Bunny’s small messy writing. Bea was glad she had a cup in each hand so the temptation to trace the words with her fingers couldn’t be acted on.

“And this one is yours.” She handed out the cup to Bunny, who remained seated at the piano stool.

“Thanks.” Bunny reached for the cup, but was that a slip in her stoic gaze?

Their fingers brushed, and Bea’s breath caught in her throat.

“So, what’s new?” Piper smiled as she pushed herself up on an empty table a little away from where Bunny and Bea both still held onto Bunny’s cup.

Bea swallowed, let go of the cup and turned to the rest of the small room.

“Yeah.” Jo’s lying face had never been good, but Bea shook her head. The frustration she had felt over it last night had subsided into a gratefulness she wished she could scream about from the rooftops. “Everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine.” Bunny stood up, placed the coffee on the table untouched and collected the stack of papers. She divided them up and handed them a relatively equal pile each. “These are your own personal lists. If you aren’t singing in one of the songs, it’s not in the list.”

They all thanked Bunny and instantly flicked through the music. Even Bea refused to linger on Bunny’s face as she took her sheets. She could be just as professional as Bunny. More so. Even though another kiss against the piano wouldn’t be unwelcome. She was a professional, sure, but she definitely wasn’t dead. Any thoughts of her libido being dead had fled the moment Bunny had first laid those smoldering eyes on her.

“Let’s get into rehearsing the first half hour of the show right through. I think we’ve gotten far enough to be able to do that. I’ve set up a timer so we know exactly how much time we need between each song to work out if we are going to do costume changes.”

“Really?” Jo and Piper’s eyes widened as though it were already Christmas morning and beneath the tree was a pile of gifts with their names on them.

“Only if we can get our timing right.” Bunny pursed her lips and looked at Piper and Jo with such serious teacher eyes that Bea had to press her own lips together so as not to laugh at the two nodding with their big puppy dog eyes.

“Of course.” Bea said, clearing her throat and nodding. “Shall we start warming up then?”

“Sounds like a good idea.” Bunny nodded.

The rehearsal was brutal with Bunny making them run through the first half of the show three full times, including multiple pauses to fix mistakes. Each time she gave critiques to each of them and, surprisingly to Bea, asked them all if they noticed anything she could improve in her own performance. The critiques were minimal and even Bunny seemed to relax into the joy of it all by the end of the third run through.

“We can do at least one costume change in the first half. If it runs as smoothly as that on the night, there will definitely be enough time.” Bunny nodded at them, still serious as she ever was.

Bea’s cheeks heated as Bunny’s gaze rested on hers a little longer than necessary before roaming down her body and back up again. How could her eyes have such power to make heat pool between her thighs?

“So, ideas for costumes?”

“Well.” Piper flicked her look to Jo and then back to Bunny. “Jo and I have a few ideas. Can we work on them together after rehearsal and bring them to you both tomorrow?”

“Sounds good.” Bunny nodded. “Shall we start on the next section of the performance? How are the dance routines going?”

“They’re going great.” Jo’s energy bubbled up, and it made Bea smile. “Piper and I work really well together. The choreography we’ve chosen isn’t too difficult. Simple, but still enough to make the crowd go ooh and aah.”

“Ooh and aah?” Bunny asked, raising her eyebrows, but Bea saw the pull of her lips as she fought back the smile.

“It’s the professional term for it.” Bea smirked, unable to help herself.