Page 41 of Secret Sins

After unlocking her door, Bailey pulled me further into the apartment. I didn't see Charlie anywhere, so either he was hiding well or I'd missed him at the store. Finally, I realized Bailey was headed to the bedroom, and I resisted her tug on my hand.

"What?" she said when we stopped in the doorway.

"Now isn't the time for this."

Frowning, she looked at me and then looked at her bed. "Oh, honey, as much as I want that, it's not what I was thinking."

"Then what were you thinking?"

"I need this." Leaning into me, Bailey hugged me tightly, her head resting on my chest. "And I thought maybe you did, too."

There they were again, my emotions softening and threatening to drown me. Since she was there—and she was right—I held on. Burying my face in her hair, I inhaled the scent of cinnamon and vanilla. Clinging, letting her hold me and comfort me, felt perfect.

"Want to try this over there?" she suggested, pointing to the bed.

"Are you certain?" Granted, we'd been headed in that direction less than an hour ago, but something told me things had changed.

"Yes, I'm certain, Van."

Her bedding was colorful, happy, just like she was. I noticed her apartment held all the spirit of the woman who lived there, whereas my place was a lifeless box. Here, I felt more at home, more subdued, and less anxious.

"You're right about one thing," I said as I sat on her bed and then lay next to her.

"What's that?" Rolling to face me, Bailey pillowed her hands under her cheek.

"My anxiety lessens here." As close as we were, I could see all the shades of brown in her eyes. Lighter like whiskey, darker like chocolate, and even her favorite cinnamon. Her lashes fluttered when I reached out to brush her hair from her face.

"I'm glad."

Turning her cheek into my palm, she rubbed against me like a kitten. I kissed each of her eyelids, then her forehead, feeling more at peace with myself than I could remember in a very long time. Her handling of the earlier situation was not lost on me, and I knew it was the reason I hadn't completely lost my shit in the middle of her store. Which reminded me I wanted to ask her about how well she knew the officer and the deputy.

"You know the police in this town pretty well, huh?" I asked.

"Yeah, but not because I've had any reason to be at the police station. It's only because I know everyone in Port Townsend. As a matter of fact, I went to school with Kaylee from elementary all the way through high school. Eric is older, so I don't know him quite as well, but he frequents the bakery enough that I can say we're acquaintances. His partner, Eli, comes into Bookish pretty often. He likes nonfiction science books the most since he teaches it at the middle school."

Leave it to her to have everyone's book preferences memorized. "Something about the way you dealt with them gave me a sense of security." I sighed softly when she traced her fingertip over my eyebrows. "I knew they weren't going to throw me to the ground and arrest me while you were there chatting them up."

"You have no reason to be arrested, Van."

"Easy for you to say. You've always walked on the right side of the law."

"I might have stolen a piece of bubble gum from my teacher's desk once in the third grade."

That made me chuckle. "You bad, bad girl."

Bailey scooted closer, barely leaving a breath of air between us. "Oh, I like the way you say that."

"Mm." Her hand had wandered to my neckline, so I found her waist and pulled until she fit snugly against my body. "Naughty girl."

Her eyes closed, and I took the opportunity to kiss her. A small moan escaped her when I touched her lips, and she shifted her legs to tangle them with mine. This was farther than we'd gone before, merely from the intimacy of being in a bed together. Angling my head to avoid bumping her nose, I deepened the contact until I could sweep my tongue along hers. She clutched the pillow under my head with one hand and my shoulder with the other. When she broke away to breathe, I sucked in air until my lungs wanted to burst.

"I was so scared, Van," she whispered into the skin of my throat, and I finally exhaled.

Though my temperature had risen, I responded, "Me too."

"If you have to leave town, I don't know what I’ll do." Creeping further down, Bailey found the pulse in my neck with her mouth. "It's easy to claim I would go with you, but it wouldn't be easy in reality."

"No, it wouldn't." And yet, she seemed determined to show me she would follow me anywhere.