That was a beautiful life.
That was his goal.
And that was what he was going to do. For him, his parents…
And for Jeb.
But that wasn’t his now. It was Daisy and Marcus, Lee and Indy, and Roxie and Hank’s now.
It would be his later.
His gaze found Ryn.
“I don’t mean disrespect, Daisy,” Hattie was saying, “but hasn’t that kinda been…done?”
“Take off the trench, you get the skin, yeah. Take off the trench, she’s in a three-piece suit, and she’s gotta take that off too, no,” Daisy returned.
“I like it,” Pepper declared.
“Hey!” Ryn called.
She’d spotted him and was up out of her couch and making her way to him.
He didn’t want to ask.
But he had to ask.
His gaze going top to toe to eyes, and even though he’d totally still do her in that getup, it came out, “What the fuck?”
And it came because she was wearing a low-cut white vest, white slacks, a full-length white fur coat, gold high-heeled sandals and a cowboy hat.
She smiled at him. “Madonna. The video for her song ‘Music.’ I’m gonna crush that shit in one of my ‘What a Feeling’ routines.”
It was like she was speaking in code.
She read his confusion and explained, “Smithie’s switching to a revue.”
“Say what?” he asked.
“I’ll explain later.”
If she was having fun with her girls, he didn’t want to pull his Extreme Alphas Club card, but he was in the bridal shop at Nordstrom, she was being cute, he’d had no food that day, and he wanted to take her to lunch.
But mostly he wanted to get the fuck out of the bridal section of Nordstrom.
Before he could ask how long this was going to take, Daisy spoke up again.
“Fabulous! We need a man’s perspective.”
He knew only one thing about the scenario he currently found himself in.
Whatever she needed out of a man, he did not want to be that man.
Daisy was approaching.
And she was doing it asking, “Right, would you want to watch Pepper take all that off, trench, three-piece suit, down to some spectacular lingerie?”
Pepper was gorgeous.
She didn’t hold a candle to Ryn, but she was far from difficult to look at.
“I’m not answering that question,” he declared.
Ryn busted out laughing so hard, she fell into him, throwing her head back, and there went the cowboy hat.
Then her head fell forward, and it was resting on the point of his shoulder.
He shifted his attention and saw Daisy looked pouty, and she was good at it, which meant Boone also saw why Marcus Sloan lived for two things: his wife and his family.
But his attention shifted again because he still heard Ryn’s laughter, but he also felt her forehead come off his shoulder, so he looked down at her.
Her eyes were shining, her face was warm, and she declared, “That was choice. Perfect answer, baby. That being not answering at all and yet saying you totally want to watch Pepper strip out of a trench and suit.”
And then, for some reason he couldn’t comprehend, since they were seeing each other and he’d just been put in a position of somewhat saying without saying he’d be down watching her friend strip, she immediately broke out into a rendition of David Cassidy’s “I Think I Love You.”
Though she only sang the part that had those words.
I think I love you.
He felt it, deep in his stomach, the look on her face, how carefree she was in that moment in that bizarre outfit, leaning into his side, how comfortable she was busting into song, even though, he had to admit, her singing voice wasn’t all that great.
It didn’t matter.
He wasn’t certain he’d ever seen anything so beautiful.
“I think I’m gonna learn to breakdance,” Hattie said, her bizarre words taking Boone out of the moment.
“I’m asking Smithie for a strobe,” Pepper said.
“Someone should do something with blacklight,” Evie said.
“Oh…my…God! Blacklight would be so cool,” Roxie exclaimed.
“La Cage aux Folles,” Indy declared. “Feathers. Sequins. A birdcage coming down from the ceiling with one of you girls in it.”
At these last words, Daisy lost interest in Boone and turned sharply on a high-heeled cowboy boot. “That is shit hot, sister.”
“Rihanna, ‘Umbrella.’ Rosie the Riveter.” Hattie was calling stuff out, hopping up and down in her seat. “Donna Summer ‘She Works Hard for the Money!’” she ended on a near-shriek.
Boone again looked to the side and down at Ryn.
“Please, God, will you get me out of here?”
She was smiling up at him.
“I totally knew you couldn’t hack it,” she teased. Then she wrapped both hands around his biceps and squeezed. “I just gotta change, buy all this stuff and we can go.”
“You hungry?” he asked, hoping to God she was.
“Yup,” she answered.
“You’re going to buy a fur coat?” he asked.
“No way,” she answered. “Evie would lose her mind. It’s fake. And it’s awesome. So I’m going to buy a fake fur coat.”