Page 29 of Big Rowdy Cowboy

She takes my rolling case with ease and jerks her head toward the exit sign. “You’ll get used to it.”

“I don’t know about that,” I mutter as I hurry to catch up with her. She’s barely taller than me but she strides fast for a woman wearing heels.

I follow her to the waiting limo, disappointed when Zac isn’t inside. I try to keep my expression neutral but Thea notices. She gives me a sympathetic look. “He’s busy today. That’s why he sent me to look after you.”

I paste a bright smile on my face. “Thanks, but you don’t have to. I’m sure I can find something to do in Nashville by myself.”

She reaches for a bottle of champagne, uncorking it. “You don’t understand. I’ve been dying to meet the woman who hit Zac with her car.”

“I didn’t hit him with my car,” I rush to explain.

She passes me a flute filled with the bubbly drink. “Listen, you didn’t do anything that I haven’t wanted to do myself a dozen times.”

I take a small sip of the liquid. I’ve never cared much for the taste of alcohol, but I don’t mind champagne. “It was more like I tapped him with the car.”

The limo pulls to a stop in front of an upscale mall. This isn’t my hotel, like I thought Thea was taking me to. “What are we doing here?”

Thea squares her shoulders. “Buying you some armor.”

Before I can ask her about it, she’s out of the limo. She moves so quickly and fluidly, never seeming to waste a moment of time.

“You don’t actually mean that,” I tell her when I’ve finally caught up with her inside of a boutique shop that caters exclusively to women my size.

She pauses surveying the store to focus on me. “You’ve seen the comments on social media. You got a little taste of it again in the airport. Everyone thinks that they have the right to criticize you despite the fact that they don’t even know you. They’ll judge your hair and your makeup. They’ll analyze everything you say and what you don’t say. Nothing is off-limits in Zac’s world, not even his girlfriend.”

“You’re saying it’s going to get worse,” I answer, dread coiling in my belly.

“I’m saying you’re strong enough to withstand it,” she says and nods to one rack. “We’re starting with those dresses over there.”

“Thea, I can’t afford this dress,” I hiss an hour later when I step out in third dress that fits me like a glove. If Thea ever gets out of the music industry, she would make an amazing fairy godmother.

“Don’t worry about it,” she says far too casually.

“I’m an intern,” I explain, my cheeks turning pink. I know that Zac makes an insane amount of money from the research I did on him. His net worth is huge. He earns in one year what I can only hope to make in my entire career. “These dresses cost what I would make in three years.”

She reaches into her purse and produces a plastic square. “And this is Zac’s credit card. Zac who told me to spare no expenses when it came to his girlfriend.”

“But—”

“Zac is going to lose his mind when he sees you in that,” she reminds me. “Besides, he gets a tax write-off for like a billion things. This is one of them.”

“I’ll never understand his world,” I mutter, twirling in front of the mirror. The wraparound dress does amazing things to my curves, and I love the sweetheart neckline.

Thea nods to a sales lady indicating we’ll take it.

“I only need two dresses,” I protest. The one for the awards show and one for the after party. It’s not like I do anything in Courage that would need something this fancy, not even a Sunday morning baptism would require this.

“Zac is taking you to dinner tonight. You can wear it then. Just act surprised when he mentions it later,” Thea tells me as she hands over Zac’s credit card to the associate.

After we buy the dresses, shoes and bags to match, the limo takes us to the hotel.

“This is beautiful,” I tell Thea as I step onto the plush carpeting. “Is Zac’s room across the hall?”

She chuckles. “This is yours…and his.”

I pretend to inspect the expensive coffee machine by the mini fridge, fiddling with the buttons and checking the water level. “Have you and Zac ever shared a hotel room?”

“The only thing Zac and I have ever shared is a tour bus and a hunger to succeed.”

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