"Luckily I have two bathrooms. As much as I'd like to shower with you, I think we'd better opt for separates or we'll never get there at all."
He turned to find Paige still on the bench.
"You go ahead." She tapped her glasses. "I'll just use the quiet time to call my daughter and then soak in a bubble bath."
Bubble bath. Was she trying to make him crazy?
A quick hiccup in his horny thoughts gave him a clear second to see... Paige adjusted her glasses again, a sure sign that she was nervous or, worse yet, scared. Of him or lingering emotions from the purse-snatcher?
Either way, she was staying with him. "We're not so pushed for time you can't bathe, and you can call Kirstie on my cell phone during the drive over. Besides, I don't keep bubble bath on hand."
"I brought some."
She'd planned ahead enough to bring bubble bath to his place? He couldn't breathe, much less answer.
"Really, go ahead to the wedding without me. I don't even know these friends of yours."
Air. Yeah. Okay, he could talk now. "They said I could bring a date."
Date.
Now she looked as if the air had left her side of the house, as well. "Thanks, but I wouldn't be comfortable, given what Kurt did." She rubbed along the scrape on her arm from the purse-snatcher's yank. "You're sweet to offer, and I will most definitely be waiting up for you."
Waiting up? Now didn't that distract him from plans for the wedding? Probably exactly what she'd intended. He strode forward, careful to keep his steps slow and unthreatening.
He stopped in front of her and tipped her chin. "What he did. You didn't do anything."
"That's exactly right. I didn't do anything. I'm having to come to peace with the fact that I didn't figure it out and stop him sooner."
He let her words rattle around in his head for a minute until he determined there wasn't a thing he could say to reassure her. Any talk would just lead to more depressing conversation, and hadn't she said often enough she wanted more smiles? Fair enough.
He could deliver.
Bo tapped her nose. "Chicken."
"What?"
"You heard me. You're a big chicken."
Uh-oh. No smile. She steamed, even stomped her foot as she stood—and looked damn cute doing it. "I'm thinking of your friends and not ruining a special day."
"They're good folks. You won't ruin a thing."
She folded her arms over her chest in a last-ditch huff. "I don't have anything to wear. I just brought shorts and a khaki skirt, and that's not nearly formal enough for a wedding."
"Naked sounds good to me, well, except I wouldn't want all those crewdog pals of mine drooling over your fabulous rack."
She blinked twice, fast, startled, then snorted on a laugh. "I'll never understand how you manage to make piggish comments sound funny and complimentary all at once."
"It's a rare gift I have." He winked.
She rolled her eyes. "You're so full of it."
"That I am." A screw-up bad boy to the end. He'd heard it since childhood. "Darcy and Max aren't formal. Their wedding's going to be laid-back, and I do mean seriously laid-back. They specifically stated, beach wear and a smile when they called a week ago.
Definitely no gold-embossed invitations for the two of them."
"How romantically impulsive."