The chorus of Major-General’s daughters—Zoe, Steph, Lauren, and Meg—quickly protested this modest claim.
“You’re such a good singer,” Steph said. Everyone agreed heartily.
“I really believe you’re a pirate,” Lauren said.
“You shine on stage,” Zoe said, stars in her eyes.
“Well, ladies, thank you,” Bare said.
“Are you single?” Lauren asked. The girl couldn’t have been more than twenty-one.
Steph turned to Lauren. “One, he’s too old for you—”
“I don’t mind an older man,” Lauren pouted.
“I’m thirty-one,” Bare protested.
“And two, he’s holding hands with Amber,” Steph said. “Come on!”
“Are you two together?” Lauren asked.
“Yes,” Amber said.
Bare turned to her in surprise. He grinned. “Yes, we are.”
“So,” Kevin said flatly. “What’s on your”—he wrinkled his nose distastefully—“high school résumé.”
Amber squeezed Bare’s hand. He glanced at her, giving her a quick smile. “I was Danny in Grease, Linus in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, the prince in Shrek the Musical, and part of the chorus in Anything Goes.”
“Not much of a résumé,” Kevin muttered.
“Don’t mind Kevin,” Delilah drawled. She played Frederic’s plain nursemaid Ruth. “He’s a wannabe. Not everyone has it.” She took a sip of her martini. “I’ve been doing this for twenty-three years. Believe me, I know it when I see it. And Bare here has it.”
“Well, thank you, Delilah,” Bare said. “You’re also quite good.” He turned to his audience. “She has it too. We all do. Hey, we wouldn’t be here if we didn’t.” He raised his beer in a toast. “To us. The few, the proud, the its.”
Everyone laughed. They hung out for a while more, until Bare announced he had to get home. The party broke up. Amber walked out of the restaurant, hand in hand with her Pirate King.
He stopped at her car. “Still think I’m a judgmental bird-cow man?”
She cringed. She’d said that in anger, but, in retrospect, his reaction to her dancing with another guy wasn’t that far off the mark. Most guys would’ve balked at that.
“I think you’re a chameleon,” she said, thinking of his transformation from friendly neighbor to dancing cow to swashbuckling pirate to fabulous kisser.
“That’s better than the other thing.” He tapped the roof of her car and saluted her smartly. “Godspeed!”
She watched him get into his Honda and got into her little Toyota. There was no question he was geeky, but he was also a hell of a lot more fun than the usual hot guys she typically went for.
When she got back to her apartment, she found Bare standing by her front door.
He gave her a quick smile. “We forgot to kiss goodnight. Now that we’re, you know, together. I mean, you said we were…”
He just stood there, looking at her. Gone was the pirate swagger and in its place an uncertain, almost shy man.
She stood on tiptoe, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him. Soft and tender, not at all her usual style, but she was starting to feel tender for him. His hands went around her waist. He didn’t push for more just kissed her back soft and gentle. She traced his lips with her tongue and sucked his lower lip into her mouth. Next thing she knew he had her pinned against her door, his mouth hard on hers, his tongue delving in, his hands stroking up and down her sides. The fire ignited between them as he took from her hungrily and she gave, raising her arms to give him better access to her body while she tunneled her fingers through his hair. His hands stroked lower, over her hips, one hand sliding under her skirt—
Someone wolf-whistled, and they broke apart. It was Ian passing down the hall.
“Hey, sexy,” Ian threw over his shoulder at her.
Bare rested his forehead against hers. “Fucking younger brothers.”
She laughed. “I know. I’ve got a younger sister.”
“She can’t be nearly as annoying as my brother.”
“Hey, I heard that,” Ian said from where he was standing outside Bare’s apartment door. “I forgot my key.”
Bare turned and tossed him the key. He turned back to her. “Now where were we, wench?”
She put a hand on his chest. “You should go.” She’d been about to drag him to bed when his brother’s interruption gave her a nice bout of sanity. Sleeping with a guy just meant they’d leave soon. And she wasn’t keen on things ending between her and Bare yet.
“Sure.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Yeah. Okay. Well, goodnight.”
The door shut behind Ian. Bare bent to give her a quick peck on the lips, and Amber couldn’t help wanting a little more of that heat. She kissed him passionately and grabbed his firm ass that she’d been admiring ever since he’d worn those pirate breeches. His mouth fused to hers while his erection pressed hard into her belly. She went up on tiptoe. If she was only taller, they would fit. She lifted one leg, wrapped it around his, straining to meet him, throbbing pelvis to pelvis.
He set her away from him. “What are you doing to me, you saucy wench!”
She smiled. “I wanted you to think of me tonight.” She turned to unlock her door and jolted as he smacked her butt. “Ow!”
“Tease,” he said, throwing her word back at her.
She laughed and went inside. She’d certainly be thinking of him tonight.
Chapter Six
Barry was enjoying the hell out of play rehearsals. It had been a week of fun, and he couldn’t believe he’d stayed away for so long. Sure, his true performer nature had leaked out here and there—office parties where he’d led conga lines, karaoke nights he’d organized, playing the dancing cow at his store. But here, walking the boards, this was where he was meant to be. He’d learned his lines within a couple of days, leaving the rest of the cast scrambling to keep up, and he listened to the musical’s soundtrack at work, at home, and in the car until he had that memorized too. He loved working with this group, loved having his moment in the spotlight, loved the camaraderie backstage and after hours. Most of all, he loved having Amber by his side through it all.
She’d finished painting scenery and now hung around backstage, helping out where she could, calling people when they were needed on stage, rehearsing lines with them, calling out a line for those who forgot. She also helped with gathering just the right props and costume accessories. He was glad she was backstage today watching. He’d rehearsed his big song, “I am a Pirate King,” solo with Will the pianist—hell of a nice guy—and it was time to do a full run-through on stage for the first time with the rest of the cast. This scene had his pirate crew, Ruth, the Major-General, and his daughters.
He wore the eye patch to help him get in character. He waited on his mark on stage and winked stage right, where he could see Amber watching. She didn’t react. Probably the eye patch made it look like he was blinking. He smiled instead. She smiled back, and he felt a surge of love. Lust too. Just one look from her, one smile could do that to him. He had to look away and cool himself down. Some part of him, some little niggling voice in the back of his mind kept reminding him of his past experience with Becky, totally in love with him during Grease, dumping his sorry ass once the play was over.
That was high school, he reminded himself. Everyone was an immature jerk in high school. Amber was better than that.
Yeah, but she wasn’t into you before you became the Pirate King, the voice said.
The music started, and Barry pushed everything else from his mind. He belted out the lyrics, moving around the stage, hitting his marks perfectly as he sang certain lines with the pirate crew backing him up, some lines with the Major-General, others with the daughters, stealing kisses as he moved among the women.
Though he wasn’t quite stealing kisses, not with Amber watching. He was dipping each daughter, putting a hand over their mouth, and kissing the back of his hand. He didn’t thin
k anyone in the audience would notice. He did it out of respect for Amber. He sure as hell wouldn’t want to watch while she kissed four men on stage. He kept going as the song built to the big finish. Swaggering to center stage, he finished with a flourish of an imaginary sword.
The room went quiet as they all waited to hear Toby’s verdict.
Toby bounded onto the stage. “What the hell is this?” he asked, leaning over and kissing the back of his own hand.
Barry felt his cheeks flame. He didn’t think you could see that from the audience. He raised his palms. “Just being respectful.”
“Well, knock it off!” Toby said. “You’re the Pirate King. The Pirate King is not shy. He’s not respectful. He takes. Do it again the right way.”
Toby returned to the audience. Barry glanced over at Amber. She lifted one shoulder up and down.
The music started again.
“Don’t be a pansy,” Toby hollered over the music.
Barry stiffened. He took a deep breath and sang. He moved through the song as he had the first time, the timing working perfectly as he moved among the other actors. He stopped at the first daughter, Steph, dipped her, and came very close without quite kissing her.
She giggled.
“Cut!” Toby hollered.
The music stopped. Toby stood and approached the stage. “It’s not just a dip. It’s dip and kiss. Do we have a problem here, Bare?”
“No, sir.”
“These ladies don’t mind if you kiss them,” Toby said. “Do you, ladies?”
“No,” Zoe and Meg said in unison.
“Not at all,” Steph said.
“Please do,” Lauren purred.
“I’ll kiss him,” Zac said.
Kevin socked him on the arm. They were, apparently, a couple.
Barry took off his eye patch and turned to look at the four pretty young women, all eager for his kiss; then he looked at Amber, but she had left. Dammit. He turned and scanned the seats in the auditorium, but she wasn’t there either. Was she upset? He’d make it up to her. He’d give her the longest, hottest kiss of her life. Just as soon as he finished kissing these four.
How had his life turned into this? Crazy theater people.
Toby returned to the front row of the audience. “Let’s do this, people!”
Barry nodded over to Will at the piano, who looked highly amused. The music started again. He launched once more into “I am a Pirate King,” forcing the blustering arrogance and swagger into his performance because without Amber there it was a hell of a lot less fun. He gave each woman a quick peck on the lips, which worked well, except Lauren slipped him the tongue, but he kept going because he was nothing if not professional. The song ended, and Toby must’ve been satisfied because they moved on.
Amber finally came back. They moved to the next scene, and he mouthed “sorry” to her, but she just waved it off like it was no big deal. Finally rehearsal ended, and he caught up with her.
“Hey, I didn’t really want to kiss those other women,” he told her as they headed to the parking lot.
She glanced at him and quickly faced forward. “Bare, don’t worry about it. I’m fine. It’s just a show.”
“Exactly. It’s just a show.” She wasn’t looking at him, and it was making him nervous. “So you’re okay with it?”
“I better be. We’ve got five more weeks of rehearsals and two shows to get through.”
He smiled. “So I’ll see you at the diner?” They were all headed out for a late-night snack.
“You know, I’m kind of tired. I think I’m going to head home.”
“You are upset.”
They reached her car, and she unlocked it. “I’m fine. Goodnight.”
He leaned in to kiss her, and she turned so his kiss hit her cheek. “Amber.”
She looked at his mouth, and her gaze quickly flicked up to his eyes. “I just need time. You’ve still got lipstick all over your mouth.”
“Oh.” He scrubbed at his mouth.
She got in her car and powered down the window. “Bye, you scurvy dog.”
He wasn’t sure if he should be glad she was speaking pirate to him or worried she was calling him a scurvy dog. “Bye, me beauty.”
She inclined her head and drove away. Maybe flowers were in order. But that would be like admitting he’d done something wrong. He’d just done what he was supposed to do. He was acting. It was just acting. She had to get used to that.
“Hey, Bare,” Lauren called, hips swinging, saucy as all hell in her short shorts. “Can I hitch a ride with you? Meg bailed.”
He swallowed hard. Lauren was the one who asked if he was single. The one who said she liked older men. The one who had her tongue in his mouth.
“Sure,” he croaked. He really, really hoped this didn’t get back to Amber. It was a car ride and nothing more. Nothing would happen if he had anything to say about it. Which he most certainly did. He was the king, after all. He could handle a young, twenty-something flirt. Right?
She got in his car. He turned the ignition and startled when she pushed the button that made the loudspeaker moo on top of the car. She laughed. He’d nearly forgotten about the loudspeaker. He hadn’t used it in so long because Amber didn’t like it.
“What was that?” she asked.
“It’s for my shop. It lets the kiddies know fro-yo is nearby.”
“Cool.”
Really? That was cool? Amber told him never to play it when she was in the car. Lauren pressed the button again and again, making the car moo the entire drive to the diner. Even Barry was getting tired of it.
He parked, and they headed to the diner’s entrance.
Lauren put her hand on his arm, stopping him a short distance from the door. “Bare, can I ask you something?”
He turned. “Sure.”
“Do you think I’m pretty?”
“Yes.”
He turned to go, but her hand tightened around his arm, anchoring him in place. He turned back to her. She bit her lip and gave him these big soulful eyes that made him feel like she might be hitting on him.
“Did you like our kiss?” she asked.
“Now, Lauren,” he said in his best I’m-thirty-one-years-old-and-I-know-better-than-you voice. “That was just acting. You know I’m with Amber.”
She stuck out her lower lip. “You didn’t answer my question.”
It wasn’t that he didn’t like it. It was just that it felt wrong. He really didn’t want to encourage her.
“Sorry,” he said. “Just didn’t do it for me.”
“Well,” she huffed. Then she marched ahead of him into the diner. He followed her to the big table in the back, where the rest of the cast was already seated. “I’ll get a ride home with someone else,” she hissed before taking a seat next to Zac.
He stayed for a little while, eating some mozzarella sticks, before making an excuse to head home. He wanted to kiss Amber again. He wanted her to know he only had lips for her.
~ ~ ~
Amber drove around for a bit, blasting the radio, reminding herself Bare was a great guy who would never fool around on her. He’d done nothing wrong. Nothing sneaky or behind her back. Hell, he’d been hesitant to even kiss those girls in the first place, until Toby threw a fit about it. That’s why she’d made herself scarce. She had a feeling he was holding back because of her. And that was sweet. This was so not a big deal.
You’ll have to watch every night.
Don’t remind me.
Finally, she headed home. It was Friday night after a long week of work and rehearsals. She just wanted to zone out on the sofa with a glass of wine and Zombie Bonanza. She stopped short at her door, where someone was sitting, knees drawn up, leaning against it. She got closer. Oh, hell in a handbasket. She did not have the energy to deal with this tonight.
“Hi, Kate,” she said, stopping in front of her half-sister.
Her sister was twenty-one going on fifty—conservative, obsessed with equations, not men, a
nd into comfort before fashion. She even drove a station wagon, chosen for its safety record. Though they resembled each other in coloring and size, the rest of them was absolutely different. Kate was her usual mess—blond hair half wrapped in a bun, half down in a weird half tail, her baggy T-shirt had a stain on it, her jeans faded to the point of fraying, but not in a cool way, more like a thrift-shop-reject way.
Kate looked up through her huge tortoiseshell glasses. “Hi,” she mumbled.
She stood, and that’s when Amber noticed the wheeled suitcase her sister had been leaning against. Oh, no.
“Planning on staying a while?” Amber asked with a sinking feeling as she unlocked the door.
“I can’t deal with the mothership,” Kate said, wheeling in her suitcase. Knowing Kate, she’d probably packed one pair of ancient jeans, a dozen T-shirts, and her laptop.
Amber sighed. “Your mother doesn’t hover.”
Maxine was, in fact, a brilliant physicist with an absentminded, benignly neglectful way about her. Still, she was there, at home every day by five thirty, which was more than Amber had ever gotten from her own mother. Even when she’d lived with her mom, her mom had spent all of her time painting in their sunroom, barely noticing her young daughter painting nearby, trying to reach her mom in the only way she knew how. Since moving to Paris, her mom sent Amber hand-painted cards on her birthday and whenever the hell else she got around to it, but she never visited, never called, never even emailed. She was the kind of artist that was so wrapped up in her art she didn’t have the energy for anyone else. Amber vowed long ago to always keep a balance between her art and the people in her life that mattered.
Kate interrupted her unhappy memories when she exclaimed, “Mom bugs me all the time! She wants me to spend the summer studying ahead of time for grad school. Isn’t it enough I did a double major in math and physics in three years? I’ve been taking college classes since high school. Don’t I deserve a break?”
Amber’s head spun, thinking about cramming all those equations into such a short time. “Of course you do.”
“I’ve only got the summer, and then it’s grad school here I come.”
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