I placed my hand over hers on her stomach and smiled warmly at my best friend.
“I’ve missed you too. I’ll do better,” I promised.
Bronagh had wanted children for as long as I could remember, and I was so happy that she and Brendan were pregnant. I needed to make more of an effort to share this time with her, but I’d been so wrapped up with work and Brady, that I hadn’t made much time for my friends.
“Brady’s on fire tonight!” Cass yelled as she danced, her arms above her head.
My eyes were drawn back to the stage, back to Brady as he played his solo.
God, he was so freaking hot!
Dark hair and tanned skin, his coloring favoring his mother’s Mexican heritage rather than his father’s Irish, eyes closed as he let the music flow from him. He was tall, built, and sexy as hell.
He’d always been fine, but after his time in the police academy and the subsequent months on the force, Brady was ripped.
“Can I get you ladies anything else?”
I tore my eyes from Brady to see Natalie standing next to our table, her tray full of empty glasses and bottles.
Natalie was beautiful in a fragile sort of way. Her hair was black, like mine, but she’d recently cut it all off into a cute pixie cut, which only made her sad eyes seem to take up more of her face. She always seemed to be poised to bolt, and kept her head down and shoulders hunched. I felt sorry for her, even though I was jealous of her.
Not of her life, her job, or her circumstances, of course. No, I was jealous of the way Brady looked at her. Like she was a delicate flower, whose petals could fall at any moment.
He never looked at me that way.
I knew he found me attractive. And the way he looked when he was turned on had kept me fully satisfied on my nights away from him. But the way he looked at her, like she was something to be cherished?
I’d kill to see it aimed at me.
Shaking my head, I tipped my lips up and answered, “No, thanks.”
Natalie lifted her head slightly in response, those big eyes seeming to look in my soul, then she turned and moved through the crowd.
“I have to go to the bathroom,” Bronagh said with a shrug. She seriously peed every five minutes, so we were used to her constant trips to the restroom.
Once we were alone, Cass leaned in to me and said, “Can you get together next week to start talking baby shower?”
“Yeah, absolutely,” I replied, mentally looking through my schedule to see where I could fit it in. “Wednesday at lunch?”
“Yeah, I can do that,” Cass responded, then put her fingers to her lips and let out a shrill whistle when Brendan thanked the crowd for coming out tonight. When she was done she turned her head to me and asked, “You going home, or do you want to hit up a club?”
I looked to the stage to see Brady walking off and heading toward the back door.
“No, I’d better get home and turn in, I’ve got to get up early for work,” I lied, knowing full well I wanted to hurry home so that I was there when Brady came over.
Maybe it made me weak, sad, and girly, but I lived for the sound of his fist hitting my door.
I could tear a man apart on the stand, and loved the thrill of a good debate, but Brady O’Malley made me feel like a teenage girl again, all giddy and excited … And at the same time, all he had to do was look at me with those dark brooding eyes of his, and my body lit on fire.
Being in a non-relationship with a man I loved who only wanted me for sex may be a bad thing, but being bad had never felt so damn good.
Chapter Three ~ Brady
I was in my Chevelle, about to head over to Ming’s house, when my phone went off.
“O’Malley,” I said as I pressed accept.
“Hey, Irish, sorry to interrupt your concert, but Smitty says they need us down at the station,” my partner, Tyler Dubois, said when I answered.