Page 54 of Moonstruck Kiss

I hide a sigh. I, for one, am glad that they didn’t call the officer in charge of our two-person police station. If they had, Magnus would probably have arrived here earlier and would have approached much more stealthily—and caught Brax and me in a compromising position.

My cheeks start to burn so I change the subject. “Since you’re here, would you like to help us move some tables and chairs? We’ll only have thirteen participants on Sunday, including Ollie.”

“Of course,” they say readily.

While I explain the furniture set-up which creates some space for the artists’ finished artwork to be displayed, Brax suddenly does a double take, looking at the floor.

Then I see it, too—the black material right next to Cutie’s feet.

My undies!

“Uh…” I lose my train of thought as panic sets in.

Chapter

Ten

BRAX

“What’s wrong, Brax?”Cutie asks, noticing my surprise.

Fuck, they mustn’t see Joey’s underwear. I do the first thing that comes to mind.

“Before anything else,” I say with a touch of drama, “I want to say thank you again for the plaque. You don’t know how much I appreciate it, and I suspect that the two of you have a lot to do with it.”

I rush to the two women, gather both of them in my arms, and hold them tight. While they’re trapped, I flick Joey’s panties towards her with my foot.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see her bend down, grab them off the floor, and stuff them in her pocket.

I release Cutie and Maggie.

“Oh, it’s our pleasure,” Maggie states with a giggle.

“You deserve it,” adds Cutie with a slap on my arm.

“Okay.” I let out a huge breath, glancing at Joey who looks utterly relieved. “Let’s move some tables, shall we?”

With four of us sharing the load, not only do we rearrange the furniture but we also clean up the place quicksmart. Thank God I was able to hide the airbed under the chair that didn’t need to be moved.

“Thanks so much,” Joey says when we finish. “I’ll just have to put up the new banners on Sunday morning and the barn will be ready for the competition.”

Maggie nods. “You can spend more time this week on the paintings you want to put up for the exhibition.”

“What exhibition?” I ask.

“All of the judges and contestants in this year’s competition are going to exhibit some of our artwork for a whole week here in this barn,” Joey answers. “Most of our pieces will be for sale. Unfortunately…” She pauses. “You and Ollie will be gone by then. It’s next month.”

My heart stutters. “That’s a shame,” I murmur.

“It is, isn’t it?” Cutie says with a pout. “That child of yours has such a special talent. Hey, maybe he can still exhibit some of his paintings even though you won’t be here. We can get them delivered to your place in New York once the exhibition is finished if you don’t want them sold.”

“That’s a great idea!” I turn to Joey. “Is that possible?”

“I can’t see why not. After all, Ollie will be participating on Sunday so he should be counted as a contestant. In any case, I don’t think anyone will complain.”

“That’s great! Ollie will love it. Maybe someone can take a video for us so Ollie can see his paintings hanging on the walls of a real art exhibition.” Even though I sound excited, my chest feels heavy. We won’t be here for it.

Cutie raises her hand. “On it! I’ll take some good photos, too.”

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