“What did your doctor say?” Tara asked, grateful for a change in conversation.
“I have to rest and not stress. Roarke’s taken that to mean I can’t leave the house. As soon as I get up, either he or Sam are trying to usher me back into bed. They nearly had a fit when I said I wanted to go shopping yesterday. Mind you, I shouldn’t complain,” Ava said with a small smile. “They do look after me very well and they’re just worried. I’m pretty lucky.”
She was. Tara would give anything to have someone love her the way Roarke and Sam loved Ava. Her mind drifted to Alex. She could see him acting the same way as Roarke and Sam. If he ever fell in love she had no doubt he’d cherish the lucky woman.
But that person wouldn’t be her. He’d made that clear. She knew his concern over her last night didn’t mean anything; he’d do the same for any of the other subs who worked at the club.
“Is Derrick looking after Amalie?” Tara asked Jacey, trying to take her mind away from Alex. Jacey’s little girl was four months old and adorable.
“Yep. I’m really lucky he’s so hands on with her. He practically pushed me out the door. They adore each other.”
“Brax is the same way with Wyatt,” Holly said. “I just wish Wyatt would sleep longer than two hours at a time.” Wyatt had been four weeks premature and he’d had to spend a bit of time in the hospital after he was born until the doctors had been happy with his lung function.
“So, Tara, tell us what happened last night,” Ava said.
Damn it, she should have known she wasn’t going to get away with trying to change the subject. Tara sighed.
“You didn’t look well, Tara,” Tilly said with concern. “My heart nearly stopped when I saw you slumped in Sloan’s arms.”
“Ohhh, Sloan’s arms, huh?” Jacey said. “That man is hot.”
“He’s kind of scary,” Tilly added.
“Sounds like my kind of man,” McKenna joked.
“I was doing a scene with Sloan,” Tara told them. “Nothing more than that. I must have blacked out and the next thing I knew I was on a couch with Sloan, Nate and Alex looming over me.”
“Alex looked pretty worried about you,” Tilly said. “He took her home,” she told the others.
Tara sent Tilly an exasperated look. The other woman just shrugged and grinned. Most people just saw the shy, quiet Tilly, but when she was around people she trusted the real Tilly came out. Tilly was smart—extremely smart and she was very good at reading people.
“Alex took you home?” Ava asked. “You’ve never even invited us to your apartment.”
“Trust me, you’re not missing anything,” Tara said dryly. The others knew she didn’t have a lot of money, but she didn’t want them knowing exactly how badly off she was. “And Alex took me home because he felt responsible for me. You know how he is.”
“Yeah, hot and sexy,” Ava said. “So what happened when the two of you got to your place?”
“Nothing happened,” Tara replied. “Trust me. Alex is not interested in me.”
“He watches you all the time,” Tilly said. “A lot of the other Doms don’t want to scene with you because they think you’re his.”
“What? That’s ridiculous. We’ve never even played together. He probably wouldn’t even talk to me if he didn’t have to. And if he’s watching me it’s only to check that I’m doing my job properly.”
“Ah-huh, you keep telling yourself that,” Tilly teased. “He could have had one of us take you home, instead he did it himself. I bet he even walked you inside and tucked you in.”
“Alex took me home because he’s an overprotective Dom. He’d have done the same if you’d fainted.”
“I don’t think so.” Tilly shook her head.
“I know that Alex isn’t interested in me.”
“How do you know that?” Jacey asked.
“Because he told me so.”
They all stared at her.
She sighed. “I asked Alex out on a date, he turned me down. End of story.”