The Bromance Book Club (Bromance Book Club, #1)(56)

“Gavin, women have been posting pictures of you on every social media site since the day we met. Sometimes they even post pictures of us and photoshop me out of them. I’m used to it.”

“If there was a website where strange men posted thousands of pictures of you, yeah, I w-wouldn’t get used to it.”

“That’s different. I’m not famous like you are.”

“You’re the most important person in the w-w-world to me, so I beg to differ.”

Her lips parted, and a kaleidoscope of contrary emotions danced through her eyes. As if she didn’t believe him but desperately wanted to. Then, before he knew what was happening, she rose on tiptoe and placed the softest of kisses on his lips.

It was over so quickly that he almost didn’t believe it happened. She backed up with a small head shake. “Sorry, I don’t know why I did that.”

Gavin tried to ease the tension with a joke. “I should take you shopping for w-w-washi tape more often,” Gavin mused.

The joke worked. Thea relaxed. “Wait until you get me in the paintbrush aisle.”

“How fast can we get there?”

Thea playfully pushed at his chest.

Sadly, nothing happened in the paintbrush aisles. Nothing good, anyway. But after studying about twenty different brushes in various sizes between two different rows, Thea suddenly grabbed his arm and tugged him down so she could whisper.

“OK, you’re going to think I’m paranoid after that Pinterest conversation, but I think you might actually have a couple of crazy fans following you right now.”

The hair on the back of Gavin’s neck stood on end. “What are you talking about?”

“There are these two strange guys who keep showing up wherever we are in the store. They’re too obvious. I don’t know. Like they’re watching you but trying really hard to look like they’re not watching you.”

Gavin tried to keep his face neutral. “What do they look like?”

“I’ll point them out if we see them again. I’m probably just being paranoid.”

“Just stay close to me,” he said, tensing. This was the one thing he hated about being a ballplayer. His family was exposed. All joking about Pinterest aside, it sucked to know he couldn’t even go out with his wife without worrying that someone was going to stare enough to make her uncomfortable.

They checked out, and on the way out, he gave one last look back to see if the weird men she’d mentioned were still there. Seeing no one, he relaxed but kept his hand on her back as they walked. Gavin loaded the bags into the back of the car and then helped Thea into her seat again.

“So where to now?” she asked as he pulled onto the street.

He almost suggested a dark road and the back seat, but that was probably pushing his luck. “Dinner,” he said, turning left.

“Good. I’m starving.”

“Me too,” he said, looking pointedly at her. Her shy smile expanded his chest.

A quick drive on the freeway took them into the city. Even on a Tuesday, traffic sucked and crowds surged. Gavin inched through a stoplight and turned into a parking ramp near the restaurant. He pulled up to the valet stand as Thea reapplied lipstick and fluffed her hair in the mirror. His chest expanded again. She was so beautiful that it sometimes literally hurt to look at her. Like now.

After exchanging keys for a ticket with the valet attendant, Gavin once again put his hand on her back as they walked out to the street. They were a few blocks away from Broadway, the main tourist thoroughfare through downtown Nashville. But it was still crowded with both locals and out-of-towners who wanted something off the beaten path.

They walked mostly in silence for a block, stopping and going with the flow of tourists in search of bourbon and music. He kept her tucked protectively against his side, especially when the inevitable began.

“Dude, I think that was Gavin Scott,” a guy in cowboy boots said as they passed.

Thea looked up with a grin. “Dude,” she said with a snort.

“Just keep walking, and hopefully they’ll leave us alone.”

A few feet later, another man recognized him. “Hey, aren’t you—”

Gavin held up his free hand in a polite wave that said not now, please.

Since the grand slam, he got recognized more than he ever used to out in public. Which almost made him choose a different spot to bring her tonight, but the restaurant was a famous steak place that he knew Thea would love. It also featured live music and a dance floor, because there was no other kind of restaurant in Nashville. When Gavin made the reservation, he’d requested as private a table as possible. He didn’t use his own celebrity much, but he’d laid it on thick to ensure he got what he wanted. It paid off, because the hostess treated them like royalty when they arrived and led them to a private loft overlooking the dance floor.

The table was set for two with a candle in the center next to a vase full of daisies. The hostess said a waitress would be by soon to take their drink orders, and then she left them blissfully alone.

“Did you ask them to do that?” Thea asked, pointing to the daisies.

“I did.”

The gesture obviously made her uncomfortable. “I’m sorry I don’t remember that day, about the daisy.”

“I noticed you a long time before you noticed me, so I w-wouldn’t expect you to remember it.”