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Switching it off to his tired body.
Switching it off to that night in Oshkosh.
And switching it off to the man with the sinful mouth and a bad habit of disappearing into thin fucking air.
Bailey still couldn’t believe that tonight—well, this morning, really—had actually happened. That out of all of the people in Chicago, he’d pulled over the only man who’d ever tempted him into a one-night stand. Not that that night had actually happened, Bailey thought, as he tossed his keys on the small table in the breakfast nook and walked over to the fridge.
A quick inspection of the contents revealed his serious lack of choices, and after he grabbed the orange juice and milk, he went and rummaged around for some cereal.
One bowl of Cheerios later, and he was back to doing what he’d promised himself he wouldn’t—thinking about Henri. Not that he had much to go on, and maybe that was the problem. Maybe if he knew more, this guy wouldn’t be such a mystery—he’d just be another guy.
But Bailey didn’t know more. All he knew was Henri’s name—first and last now—so that was a step in the right direction, at least. He knew that Priest was his ex, and that Henri lived in Chicago in a really nice area that Bailey may, or may not have, looked up after he’d let Henri go this morning.
He had a few misdemeanors here and there, but nothing recently, and certainly nothing to warrant a red flag, and that was it. That was all Bailey knew, other than Henri’s voice was like velvet when he whispered in Bailey’s ear, and he smelled incredible. Like sex and sin all wrapped up in one dangerous package. He was addictive and potent, and that thought had Bailey getting up from the table and dumping his bowl in the sink. The last thing he needed to do was obsess over a guy who had left him without a word the night of Priest’s wedding.
Why had he left like that, anyway? I was a sure thing for him that night. Something came up? Yeah…right.
It’d been embarrassing enough the first time around, wondering what he’d done to turn Henri off. But it had also been a stark reminder why Bailey didn’t do the one-night-stand thing in the first place.
Unlike a relationship you were actually invested in, a one-nighter meant walking out the next day and never looking back. Detaching from the situation, not giving a fuck how the other person felt. And regardless of whether they knew each other well, being left without so much as a word had left him feeling like shit. It had made him paranoid, pissed off, and, most of all, Bailey thought as he stripped out of his shirt and unzipped his jeans, it had left him frustrated as hell.
He drew the blackout curtains closed with a little more force than necessary, then he shoved his jeans off and climbed into bed. As his head hit the pillow, he closed his eyes and tried to drift off, but his mind once again circled back to Henri.
Shit. Maybe Xander was right and Bailey was working too hard. All these hours he’d been pulling lately had really kept him out of the dating loop, and maybe that was what was messing with him.
Maybe his own damn loneliness was the reason he was looking in Henri’s direction. But there was no denying it: Bailey was looking, and thinking, and craving Henri, even though he’d done everything he could to bury his reaction to him.
Bailey squeezed his eyes shut, willing his exhaustion to take over his obsession. Henri was nothing but trouble, Bailey knew it, could feel it. But there was no shaking him. Henri Boudreaux had weaved some kind of spell over him, and Bailey had to wonder what it was going to take to break it.
Chapter Eight
CONFESSION
The best way to stay out of trouble is
to not go looking for it, or so I’m told.
Pity I’ve never been very good at listening.
FRIDAY MORNING, HENRI made his way across the marble lobby of one of downtown’s tallest buildings and came to a standstill at a bank of elevators, where the morning crowd of suits all waited for one to arrive.
Damn lawyers—they always made him uneasy. They looked like a bunch of lemmings about to follow each other off the edge of the earth. But he needed to talk to one lawyer in particular, so Henri was willing to brave assimilation to get the information he was after.
He was on a mission this morning, one that he’d thought about a couple of weeks ago but decided it wasn’t worth the shit he’d have to deal with. But after his run-in yesterday with Bailey, and knowing he was going to have to deal with Priest sooner or later anyway, Henri figured, why not make it on his terms? That way, he held the cards.
