America's Geekheart (Bro Code #2)(83)

Her nose wrinkles while she laughs again. “You are utterly insane and I really, really missed you.”

“You had important work to do. Like that blog post. Which was excellent, by the way. I had Ellie translate the big words for me.”

“Beck.”

“Okay, okay, I read it and understood every word. Don’t tell anyone. I have a reputation to uphold.”

“I like you more than I like your reputation.”

We get to the bottom of the stairs, and I catch Charlie’s eye and manage to communicate a request that she check Sarah’s back seams while my parents hug her and Judson gives me the we’re heading out to the pasture for me to put a bullet in the back of your brain and bury your body amidst the tumbleweeds glare, which has to be for the cameras, because we’re at least two thousand miles from the nearest tumbleweeds.

Though definitely not that far from the nearest pastures.

Huh.

“You certainly clean up nice,” Sunny tells me with a bright smile. “And what are your intentions for my daughter after this evening’s over?”

“Ice cream,” I reply without hesitation. “We’re going out for ice cream.”

We’re among the last to arrive—as planned—so I’m not surprised when Charlie gives me the keep moving, slowpoke head jerk. Along with a thumbs-up indicating Sarah’s dress is fine.

We pair up and head through the exhibits toward the tilted dome theater. Sarah pauses as we make our way through the winding hallways, sometimes pointing out a particular moon on Jupiter painted on the walls, and sometimes, I’m pretty certain, just to catch her breath, and I have to wonder just how tight that dress actually is, and if she’s going to be able to sit in it.

Copper Valley’s mayor, who’s straggling behind enjoying the artwork, does a double-take and gawks at Sarah.

So do two pro soccer players and the quarterback for Copper Valley’s football team when we finally enter the theater.

“They’re waiting for me to fall on my face, aren’t they?” she whispers as she accepts a flute of champagne from a server.

“Not a chance.” I squeeze her hand. “They’re wondering how a dumbass like me got the most gorgeous woman in the room.”

She snorts softly. “Uh-huh.”

“Too bad for them, they don’t know I got the smartest, biggest-hearted one with the worst taste in dates too.”

That gets a smile, and also causes a guy in a tux to trip over his date’s chair as he tries to get to an open seat.

Sarah stops and glances at him. “You okay?”

“Ergalaaargh,” he replies as he stares into her eyes.

“You need a paramedic?”

“Sit down, Jeremy,” his date hisses. “And stop staring at her boobs.” She mutters something about implants as I nudge Sarah along our path toward the front of the room.

Her brow furrows. “Did I miss something?”

“You are so fucking adorable,” Ellie declares with a grin.

Which doesn’t help Sarah’s confused expression.

But my whole family is clearly falling in love.

As they should be.

I gesture her into the front row, greeting familiar faces behind us because that’s what I’m supposed to do, before I take my spot beside her. When she glances at the dark curved walls around us, I decide I’m putting a planetarium theater exactly like this one in my place if it’ll make her smile again.

Shit.

I don’t have it bad. I have it baddest.

And that’s before she slips her hand in mine and squeezes when the planetarium show starts with the livestream of Persephone pacing in her enclosure at the zoo. “I forgive you for making me wear Slimzies,” she whispers.

“Next time my tailor’s in charge of your dress,” I whisper back.

“I don’t think so,” Sunny murmurs on my other side.

Before I can ask if she means there won’t be a next time, or she’s fighting me over the rights to dress Sarah, the zoo curator steps to the front of the room to welcome us all, to thank the Friends of the Zoo for putting together tonight’s event, and to give a special welcome to one very dedicated blogger for bringing Persephone to the attention of so many people around the world.

The lighting in the theater is low so that we can all see the video of Persephone pacing in her habitat, but I can easily make out Sarah’s cheeks light up with that unique blush.

She gets a round of applause so long that she starts shifting and mutters something about her damn dress.

The curator doesn’t mention her parents. Or me. Or Charlie, who basically ran the Friends of the Zoo this week to pull this all together.

Which is how it’s supposed to be, because tonight’s not about me, or Charlie—who clearly never sleeps—or about anything other than Persephone, and Sarah.

When the applause dies down—seriously, it reminds me of back in the day when the guys and I would finish a concert and there were demands for an encore—the curator smiles at Sarah once more. “And we hope we’ll be seeing many, many more of your very enlightening videos. Solo, I mean. Without the aid of a camera hog.”

Everyone chuckles, Sarah smiles and blushes harder and hides it behind a sip of champagne.

We’re treated to a twenty-minute show about the big bang theory—sung to rock music, because dude, that’s way more awesome than somebody talking—and then we’re led into a conference space that’s set up for a formal sit-down dinner.