Bo reached for her hand and squeezed it. “You okay?” The smile he sent her was as gorgeous and adoring as they came.
“Of course.” Sending him an equally engaging smile, she squeezed back. She liked Bo. He seemed to support the changes she was making in her life. Sure, there was an occasion now and then when he wanted to go to an after-party and she insisted on going home.
But he was trying.
“Thank you for doing this. You have no idea how much it means to my folks.”
His words brought a bit of a clench to her heart. She and Bo...they were together, but not together together. Not yet.
She supposed they were heading that way, and wasn’t fighting the possibility. Bo, whose last gig was playing the heartthrob star of a sitcom, was currently considering his options on his way to becoming one of the nation’s top stars. Their lives would be busy and exciting and everything she’d always envisioned.
But he also had family he cared about. Down-home, earthy, real-life stuff.
Suddenly glad to do this, she gave his hand another squeeze. “I’m anxious to meet them,” she said. If she and Bo made it all the way, the people she was about to meet could be her family someday.
And she’d discovered over the past year that family was what she valued more than anything.
* * *
MIKE SAW A photo of Kacey during his routine client surfing Friday morning. He’d been searching her name continuously since their Monday lunch meeting and had seen more beautiful, sexy and revealing shots of the woman than he’d needed, if his nighttime sweats were anything to go by.
The whole thing was off. It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen images of beautiful women before. To the contrary, he saw them all the time in his line of work and had pretty much grown immune to them.
But these photos weren’t of a stranger. Or even just a client. They were of Kacey. Except for the one in question, they were also all legitimately posted, including the one from the night before.
It was a seemingly random shot by a journalist who happened to be having dinner at the same place as Bo and Kacey and Bo’s parents. A common occurrence in Beverly Hills.
Still, as he dressed in jeans and a cream-colored button-down denim shirt, ran his fingers through the blond mop that had once won him a “best hair” award and headed toward the computer shop outside the Lemonade Stand, he couldn’t get the vision of Kacey’s short black dress and remarkable cleavage out of his mind.
Neanderthal had been looking at that cleavage.
Kacey’s smile was directed toward the older couple holding their hands out to her.
The caption read, “New family ties in the making?”
Had she seen it?
He couldn’t wait to hear what she had to say about the shot.
Unless she thought it was great...
Wait.
The thought stopped his self-talk cold. If she thought it was great, that was cool. Totally cool.
She was his friend. He wanted her happy.
And if joining Neanderthal’s family made her happy, then he was happy for her.
Period.
CHAPTER EIGHT
KACEY DIDN’T HAVE a lot of time in Santa Raquel on Friday. The studio benefit scheduled for that evening started with hors d’oeuvres at the home of one of the Rich and Loyal producers. They’d move from there to a yacht that would be taking them out to sea for a five-course meal. A new record label was providing entertainment. Tom and his partner were hosting one of the after-parties.
Ever since she’d asked Bo to be her date for the evening, he’d been talking about it.
Her hair appointment was scheduled for eleven and would take at least three hours. Getting highlights to look like they’d grown in wasn’t an easy task.