The Wedding Party (The Wedding Date, #3)(45)

“I look forward to it,” Maddie said.

He held his breath and waited for the door to close.

“Wait!” Oh God. Why was Alexa doing this to him? He was freezing in here! “What’s going on with the show? Did they schedule your big interview yet? Do you know if it’s going to be on camera, or . . . ?”

“We can talk about that later. Go home and make your list!” Maddie said.

The door closed, but Theo didn’t move. Alexa might come back. Or she might still be there, or . . .

“You ever coming out of there?” Maddie stood at the door of the kitchen with a grin on her face.

“Oh thank God. I love Alexa like a sister but I thought she was never going to leave.”

Maddie laughed.

“I kept thinking about you hiding in here naked and almost lost it more than once as she talked and talked. Do you know how much of a struggle it was to keep a straight face? Especially when I saw your work bag in the corner of the living room and just kept praying she wouldn’t notice it. Every time I thought we were almost done and I could get her out of here, no, she had something more to say. And then I would think of you naked in here and almost laugh again.”

This made him laugh, and soon both of them had dissolved into giggles.

“I was dying! In addition to trying to silently react to the news that the wedding is in less than four months, and not freeze to death in your incredibly cold kitchen, I kept thinking about the look on her face if she knew I was hiding naked in here while she was pouring out this story to you.” Theo wrapped his arms around Maddie and shivered. “And I had to listen to you two drink coffee and not have any of my own.”

Maddie handed him her cup.

“Here, I took pity on you and saved most of mine for you. I felt like the worst friend in the world; here Alexa was dealing with something super stressful and I was trying to help but I was so distracted envisioning you naked in here.”

He leered at her.

“I’m glad thinking about me naked distracts you.”

She swatted his butt, and he grinned. Damn it, why did he have to have so much fun with her?

She led him into the living room and tossed him the blanket that was draped over the couch.

“Okay, fine. Here, I’ll take you out for some of your stupid fancy coffee. Will that make you feel better?”

Oh thank God. This lukewarm coffee wasn’t going to do it for him. He wrapped the blanket around himself and smiled.

“Blue Bottle? Please? I know it’s not your favorite but it’s only a few blocks away.”

She frowned at him.

“Don’t give me those puppy-dog eyes. It doesn’t work on me.”She picked up Alexa’s cup and turned to take it into the kitchen. “But fine, Blue Bottle. Get dressed, naked boy.”

Theo walked down the hallway to Maddie’s bedroom, trailing the blanket behind him like a cape. He heard her call out to him from the kitchen.

“Did you alphabetize my spice rack?”

He shrugged.

“I had to do something to keep myself busy in there!” he yelled back.





Chapter Eleven




AGAINST HIS BETTER JUDGMENT, THEO WAS IN THE BACK SEAT OF ALEXA’S car two weeks later, along with Maddie and Olivia, on their way to go wedding dress shopping. Olivia had flown into town for the weekend to help Alexa find a dress, and Alexa had invited Theo to come along, too. She’d made it clear he didn’t have to go, but he felt like he had to support her. And when would he ever get this opportunity again?

Plus, he hadn’t seen Maddie for well over a week, not since their relaxed—and very hot—Fourth of July at his apartment. They’d texted funny—or sexy—notes to each other almost every day for the past week, but the night he’d texted her to see if he could come over, she had been out on a doomed wedding dress shopping trip with Alexa and had an early-morning client the next day. A few days later, she’d texted him, but he’d been at an event with his boss and ended up getting home past midnight.

Now she was on the other side of the back seat, and it took all his willpower not to reach over to touch her.

“There’s a plan B, right?” Alexa asked the car at large. “In case the people at this boutique are assholes, too, and all these dresses also look terrible on me and I can’t find a wedding dress anywhere in the nine Bay Area counties? Maddie, do you have some sort of white fabric in your studio that you can, like, drape around me for me to walk down the aisle so I don’t have to do it naked?”

When he said he’d come shopping, he hadn’t accounted for Alexa’s wedding dress–related breakdown.

“I told you, don’t worry. This place is great—you’ll see,” Maddie said.

“Don’t worry? Don’t worry?!? It’s already July! My wedding is in October! I don’t have a dress, and from what people tell me, it’s virtually impossible for me to GET a dress when you look like me and have this little amount of time to go before a wedding. How can I not worry???”

He’d never seen Alexa this panicky. She’d told him the first two trips had been disastrous, but he didn’t realize she’d be this stressed about it. Maddie should have warned him that today was going to be like this. He still would have come; he just might be more prepared for it.