Chasing Shadows (First Wives #3)(31)

Unless she wanted him to go far . . .

He had no hold on her. So why was he thinking about what she was doing and whom she was doing it with?

“Do you know where the party is?”

He shook his head. “Somewhere in Texas.”

“Texas?”

“Yeah, her friend lives in Texas.”

Michelle scooted her textbook closer. “I can’t help you with Texas. I would imagine there’ll be men dressed in boots and hats and little else.” She sighed. “I like that idea.”

Liam moaned.

Michelle kept her eyes on the pages in front of her while she spoke. “You know the best way to make sure a woman isn’t surfing for a date other than you?”

“What’s that?”

“Text her, call her . . . tell her to have a good time and that you’re thinking about her.”

“Sounds too easy.”

“If she’s at all thinking about you as much as you’re obviously thinking of her, and you reach out . . . chances are she’ll avoid the private lap dances.”

“Private?”

“Yeah, the kind where they ask if you want to go to a private room.”

Liam stopped smiling. “They do that?”

Michelle looked up long enough to roll her eyes. “Where have you been?”

Liam reached for the phone in his back pocket and stepped out into the backyard.



Currently onstage, the Cowboy Connection was living up to his name. Avery had to appreciate a man wearing chaps with a thong underneath.

“That man can move,” Andrea, one of Trina’s aunts-in-law from her first marriage, was well on her way to being sloshed. She and her sister, Diane, were screaming the loudest and tipping the most. It was hysterical to watch. For once Avery wasn’t kicking back drink after drink. While she wouldn’t currently get behind the wheel of a car, she wasn’t drunk. Even Shannon seemed to be a few more ahead of her than normal.

Their waiters, all wearing next to nothing, kept coming by their party to pour their drinks and flirt. Now that they’d been in the woman-filled room for an hour, and the crowd had grown considerably, the noise level was close to deafening. Avery decided it was time for some bride attention.

Once Mr. Cowboy finished his set and his chaps had found their way to the side of the stage, Avery flagged over their concierge. At that moment, two of the best dancers flanked Trina and took her to the stage.

“Oh, no.”

“Oh, yes!”

Trina didn’t put up much of a fight. Blushing and more than a little tipsy, Trina sat center stage.

“Welcome Trina to the stage.”

Their party cheered the loudest.

“You’re looking a little nervous, darlin’.”

Trina couldn’t talk. She was too busy smiling.

“When is the big day?” Stud Number Two asked.

“Next Saturday,” she said into the microphone.

“That gives us plenty of time,” Stud Number One said.

The music started, and the men turned on like a switch had been thrown.

Like something out of Magic Mike, there was flesh, and push-ups . . . and taking Trina out of the chair and laying her on a bench. She would reach out when encouraged, and laughed with the fun of it all.

Somewhere in the middle of Trina’s wedding dance, Avery felt her phone buzz in her pocket.

Flushed and slightly embarrassed, Trina left the stage and dropped into her chair. “I’m going to make that up to you,” she told Avery.

“I look forward to it.”

“Where were you guys when I was getting married?” Andrea said.

“In elementary school?” Lori teased.

Avery moved back to the man in charge of their party and pulled out her wallet. With lap dances ordered for them, the married women offered weak protests and then gave in.

Lost in watching, Avery felt her phone buzz again.

She checked the number and smiled. “Hold on,” she told Liam after she picked up. Avery moved to a balcony, where some women congregated to smoke or just escape the noise for a few minutes. “Hey,” she said once she could hear him.

“Sounds like quite the party.”

“We’re having a night to remember.”

“Really? I’ve never been to a bachelorette party.”

“That’s because you’re not a stripper.” She peeked through the glass.

“I thought only men went to strip clubs.”

“You’d be wrong.”

“My sister corrected me.”

Avery smiled at the thought of him asking his sister about the shenanigans of women at a prewedding party.

“So why are you calling, Liam?”

“Uhm . . . well,” he stuttered. “To say I was . . .”

“Checking on me?” He was totally checking on her.

“Of course not.”

“I don’t believe you.” Avery leaned against the wall, her back to the door.

He paused. “I’m thinking about you.”

Avery fell silent, her heart skipped a beat. “You knew I was out with the girls.”

“Yeah. I won’t keep you. I was thinking about you and wanted to let you know.”

Did she tell him she had thought about him multiple times during the night? Like when one of the bigger strippers had managed a backflip on the stage while taking off his Velcro shorts. The image of Liam bending over backward had her grinning.