Maybe.
One could always hope, at least.
To his surprise, she didn’t mention the bitch comment at all. Knowing her, she was probably saving it for another time, planning to let it marinate good and long in her woman vault of Things You Did That One Time and haul it out and make him pay later.
Instead she merely lifted her eyebrows. “Do I need to do the whole ‘do you know what time it is’ routine, or is it pretty clear why I’m here?”
“Ahhh—”
For a moment Josh’s brain turned off, because the way her purple tank top hugged her firm, round, slightly perfect breasts made him wish she were here for an entirely different reason.
“Well, hello there. You must be 4C,” Trevor said, coming to the door and giving Josh a reprieve.
Heather shook Trevor’s hand. “My reputation precedes me, I see.”
Josh’s eyes narrowed. Was that flirting he heard in Heather’s voice? He didn’t think the ballbuster was capable of it, but . . .
Yup, that was definitely an eyelash flutter he just saw.
“Can I get you a beer?” Trevor asked.
“Don’t bother,” Josh said. “She’s here to kill all joy in the world.”
“Not all joy, Josh. Just yours,” Heather said, still smiling prettily at Trevor. “And I would also like a beer.”
Josh’s mouth dropped open as Heather came inside.
“Do you want to borrow a sweatshirt?” he asked her gruffly, surprised at himself even as the question came out unbidden.
Finally she looked at him, those wide eyes narrowing. “Why would I want to borrow a sweatshirt?”
“Just thought you might be cold,” he muttered, shutting the door.
“Hey, who’s this?” Felix asked, coming out of the practice room with Donny.
“This is 4C,” Trevor said before Josh could respond.
“Heather,” his neighbor corrected sweetly, going to shake Felix’s hand as well as Donny’s.
“So, you guys must be the band keeping me awake,” she said good-naturedly, as though she didn’t secretly want them all to die a painful death for stealing her precious sleep time. Josh felt like he’d just stepped into the twilight zone. Who was this smiling, friendly creature? Why was she not waving her hand around all crazy-like, forcing him to kiss her to shut her up?
And from the speculating look on Trevor’s face, he wasn’t the only one who noticed that Heather Fowler in her skimpy little tank top and flowing pajama pants looked ridiculously kissable.
“What kind of beer?” Josh asked Heather.
“I’ve got it,” Trevor said, appearing at Heather’s side and pressing a bottle into her hand as she stuck her head into the practice room.
“So this is where the noise happens, huh?” she asked.
Josh’s eyes narrowed as his friend’s hand touched Heather’s back briefly. “Absolutely,” Trevor said. “We’re sorry it keeps you up though.”
“Oh, it’s okay,” she said, waving her hand. “I mean . . . it’s not. But tonight I couldn’t sleep anyway, so you get a free pass. What do you all play?”
“Donny’s bass, Felix is on drums. Josh is lead guitar, and I, as the most important member, have the pipes.”
“Oh! I thought Josh was the singer,” Heather said with a quick glance over her shoulder at him.
Their eyes locked, and Josh felt a flicker of . . . something.
“Ah, is that what he’s telling the women these days?” Trevor joked.
“No, I just . . . I hear him, singing sometimes,” Heather muttered.
“Our boy can carry a tune well enough, but wait until you hear me, love,” Trevor said.
Josh turned away in mild disgust, pulling a beer out of the fridge as Trevor and the other guys coaxed Heather into the practice room, thrilled to have any sort of audience, even a reluctant one.
“Yo, Tanner,” Felix called.
“What?” he called, popping the lid off the bottle and tilting the beer to his lips as he tried to shake off whatever was bringing down his mood tonight.
“Let’s show Heather here that we’re more than a bit of noise coming through her bedroom wall.”
Josh turned around to see Donny dragging one of his kitchen chairs across the room, disappearing into the practice room.