Page 13 of Secret Love (The Single Dad Playbook #2)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

BOLT & BARREL

HENLEY

“Well, that went well,” Sadie says excitedly, when Tru is out of earshot.

“Yeah, man, it looks like you guys were hitting it off.” Weston grins.

Sadie does a little shoulder shimmy and I groan. “Yeah, it went so well that she just bolted right when I was about to ask her out.”

“Oh no.” Sadie's face drops. “But… so you didn't ask her out yet?”

“I got out the words, ‘Tru, would you like to go’ and she found a reason to practically run out of here…”

“No, she was probably just anxious about Earl,” Sadie says.

“Yeah, I don't think so. I think she was anxious to get away from me .”

“Nobody is anxious to get away from you, Henley,” Felicity says. “Trust me, no single woman wants to do that.”

Weston glances at her. “You better be glad Sutton's not here and that you just clarified with the single woman part.”

“Are you kidding? Sutton would agree with me. Sutton doesn't want to get away from Henley. He’s as obsessed with Henley as Caleb is.”

“ No one is as obsessed with Henley as Caleb is,” Sadie says, laughing.

We all laugh. Felicity’s husband Sutton is a good guy.

“Too bad hanging with the guys isn't getting me a date.” I shrug.

“While you were over there deep in conversation, the guys have been blowing up the phone,” Weston says. “Take a look at our thread.”

I pull my phone out of my pocket and see the slew of texts that have been going on while we've been sitting here.

“Nope.” I start shaking my head.

“What are they saying?” Sadie asks, laughing. She’s been around long enough to know their foolishness.

“They want to know if I'm taking Tru home with me tonight, and if for some reason it all goes south, what night next week can we hit the club?”

Weston groans. “You need to ask her out. You didn't get the words all the way out. She didn't have a chance to turn you down.”

I shoot him a look. “She was gonna turn me down.”

“She's into you,” Felicity says.

“ So into you,” Sadie adds.

“How can you tell?”

“She couldn't take her eyes off of you, and when she looked at you, her eyes were like this.” Sadie makes dreamy eyes, her hands up close to her face like she’s panting.

I burst out laughing. “You look like a puppy dog. She did not look at me like that.”

“You didn't see what we were seeing then,” Felicity says. “She's into you, no question. She might think she shouldn't be, for some reason…like the age difference, maybe?” She lifts her eyes to the sky coyly. “I know a little something about that and trying to decide whether I should or shouldn’t. If she were here still, I’d tell her hell, yeah, she should .” She and Sadie crack up.

There’s a big age difference between Sutton and Felicity too.

“Yeah, it could be that and the fact that she’s my daughter’s teacher.”

Weston nods. “The whole forbidden thing.” He lifts his shoulder. “Some women like that.”

Sadie looks at him and laughs. “Oh, is that right?”

He leans over and kisses her nose. “You know I’m right, Chapman.” He waves his phone. “Hell, I'm with the guys too, man. If you're not gonna pursue this with Tru, and I still think you should, then yeah, let's get you out. This is the most I’ve seen you interested in anyone ever, so I think you should pursue her . But if you're saying that's impossible, then let's have a night out.”

I stare at the fire, feeling like a moody asshole. The last thing I want to do is go out clubbing. But I know once the guys get something in their heads, they have a hard time letting it go.

“We'll see,” I say, and leave it at that.

The next morning, Tru isn't there when I drop the girls off at dance. I wait around a little bit to see if she's in the back room or something, but when she doesn’t come out, I don’t hang around. The Pixie Pop-Up Market is going strong today. We've had a few nicer days, so the whole town is out enjoying the market. Tiana is playing her guitar on the corner, her long blonde hair blowing in the breeze. Vendors line each side of the street—raw honey, soap, fresh flowers. There's even a small petting zoo where Charlie Newcastle lets the kids pet his animals.

I go to Serendipity for a little bit, and when I go back to the dance studio to pick up the girls, I see Tru. I smile and wave, and she does the same. But she's busy with the extra kids in there. On my way in, I noticed the sign out front said something about parents leaving their kids there while they shopped.

The girls and I walk around the market for a while and then stop at the petting area so they can spend some time with the animals. A hand squeezes my shoulder, just as I hear, “Here he is.”

I turn and Rhodes is grinning next to me, Penn comes up on the other side, and Bowie catches up, stopping in front of us.

“Hey, what are you doing out here?” I ask. This does not seem like their jam.

“We were looking for you. You're not answering your texts and an opportunity has presented itself,” Rhodes says. “Look at us, no kids.” He points to the three of them.

“I was trying to avoid you guys.” I laugh.

The girls run over and hug them and then go back to the animals.

“As you can see, I’ve got the girls. I’m surprised Weston's not out here. Sadie usually brings him out as soon as the market opens.”

“Were you looking for us?” Sadie asks, popping around in front of me. I laugh, and she goes over by the animals to hug the girls too. Cassidy turns every shade of red when she sees Weston, which used to drive me crazy, because I did not want to see my little girl crushing on anyone . But it happens so frequently with Weston now that I’ve sort of gotten used to it.

Scratch that. I’ll never get used to it.

“Did these guys talk you into going out yet?” Weston asks.

“Are we still on that?” I stick my hands in my pockets, going into full grump mode.

“Yes, we are. I heard it didn't go great last night,” Rhodes says.

“It went fine. She just doesn't want to go out with me.”

“Well, if that’s the case, she's crazy,” Penn says.

“We can't call everyone crazy just because they don't want to go out with us.”

Penn looks wounded by my scowl and I make a face at him to lighten up. The guy’s young, but he’s been a good friend to me since the time I met him. He grins back, worry lifted just like that.

If everyone were as easy to win over as Penn Hudson…

“You can at least see if you're ready to get back out there,” Rhodes says under his breath.

Every few minutes, I’ve checked to see if any of the girls are hearing this and fortunately, they're still busy petting all the baby goats.

“All right,” I give in, “when I drop the girls off, I’ll be free. What time are we going?”

“Well, the fun doesn't start till ten,” Penn says.

“Ugh,” I groan. “I’m too old for this.”

“No, you're not an old man, you’re just acting like one right now.” Weston laughs.

“Oh, now you say that. Every other chance you get, you guys are telling me how old I am.” I snort.

I know I sound like a freaking fossil. But seriously, when was it ever fun to start the night at ten o'clock? I've always been a morning guy myself, and if I hadn’t been, having kids would’ve forced the issue.

“He said yes ,” Penn turns to point at Bowie, “so you've got to go too, Bowie.”

“Me? Why? No.” Bowie starts backing away.

“Okay, if I have to go, you have to go,” I tell Bowie.

“Fine,” he says. “You know what? I’ll do it. I can use the night out. Becca’s at my parents’ for a few days, so I don’t have an excuse, except I need to catch up on a million house projects. But you can definitely use the night out.” He nods at me. “And it doesn't have to be all about finding women.”

“Hell, yeah, it does,” Rhodes says.

I’m rethinking everything as I drive over to Weston's to meet everyone. After working out and not sleeping much last night, the last thing I want to do is go clubbing. But we drive into Denver and hit one of Rhodes’ and Penn’s favorite spots. The music is pounding, the bass thumping loud enough to feel it in my chest and balls.

Penn and Rhodes look so excited that I can't help but soften my stance and be glad that I came. We’re escorted into the VIP area, waitresses already surrounding us, ready to give us whatever we want. It doesn't take long before we're noticed, phones already snapping our pictures.

Women start coming over to each of us, one by one, or in the case of the women in front of me, the three of them came over together and surrounded me.

“I just love watching you play,” the redhead purrs.

Her hand strokes my arm, and I jump back, not expecting it. She just laughs and steps in closer.

“Oh, are you jumpy tonight? I know a way to relax to you,” she says.

“So do I,” the blonde next to her says, her hand roaming up my chest.

My God, they’re like leeches, ready to suction themselves to my body.

I look around for one of the guys to save me, but they're all in conversation. Penn and Rhodes are with two women who can't stop giggling. And Weston and Bowie are talking like they haven't seen each other all day. I try to get Bowie's attention, but he's laughing at something Weston has said, and then they stare out at the people dancing.

Just when I think I can't take another second of these whimpering, purring women—whoever thought that was sexy?—long, dark hair catches my eye. Her hair is down tonight, swishing around her waist, and fuck me . She looks so good.

Tru and Sadie walk past us like they don't even know that we're there. I glance at Weston and it seems like he hasn't noticed them. Did they plan this? Just then, I see Sadie turn back and wink at Weston. Those little matchmaking fuckers. Of course, they planned this.

Tru and Sadie go out on the dance floor and start dancing.

And holy hell.

I just thought I was interested in getting to know her before, but now, watching her move, watching the carefree way she throws her head back and laughs. The way she moves that body.

It's going to be hard to scrape this image of her out of my head.

She's beautiful .

I watch her dance for so long that the women trying to get my attention become antsy, but I can't help myself. Tru takes up every ounce of space in the room for me.

Sadie says something to her when the song slows. They laugh and Sadie points to the VIP section. I brace myself. Does Tru know I'm here? Did she plan this too?

As she's walking toward me, I can tell the moment she spots me. No, she did not realize I was here.

Her eyes glaze over when she sees the redhead put her hand on my arm. And I’d be lying if I said I didn't like the look that crosses her face. A flicker of white-hot jealousy .

“Excuse me, ladies,” I tell the three women. “I have someone I need to see.”

“But—”one of them says, as I'm walking off.

I don’t pause for a second. That look on Tru's face was all I needed to see to give me the nudge forward.

“Hey,” she says breathlessly. Almost like a purr, but I like everything about the way it sounds when she does it. “How long have you been here?”

“Long enough to see that you were born to dance.”

Her lips shift to the side as she tries not to grin. “Maybe a little,” she says.

“No, completely. And way more than me.” I grin.

Her eyes roam over my lips before they reach my eyes, and my hand tightens around my glass. I don’t think anyone has ever made me nervous before, but my insides are doing jumping jacks right now.

“Can I buy you a drink?” I ask.

“Sure, I’ll have a glass of wine.”

When the bartender comes over, Tru gets a glass of sauvignon blanc. Her full lips pucker as she takes a sip, her eyes on me.

“I bet you've got some moves, Mr. Football Player,” she says.

“Hmm, is that right? For some reason, I recall you saying something like I could barrel through people without—what was it? Without losing a breath?” If she knew how winded she makes me, she’d take back that statement.

She laughs. “Well, you might not be the most graceful man on the dance floor, but hey, how will I ever know if I don’t see you dance?” She takes a step back and looks me over and I take the opportunity to do the same to her.

“I’d be willing to give you some pointers,” she says.

“Would you now?”

She lifts her eyebrow and one shoulder. “You looked a little busy over here though. I didn't mean to chase anyone away.”

“I came to you, remember?”

“Oh, that's right.” She grins. She takes a long swig of her wine and sets it at the high-top where Bowie and Weston are standing.

Shocker, their conversation came to a stop the moment Tru and I started talking.

I take a step forward and put my hands on her waist, loving the little hitch in her breath when I do.

“Show me how to dance, Tru.”