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“Maybe we once had that... but not now. We’re different, Joe, and tonight I turned another corner in becoming who I want to be.”
He drew her in closer, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her into his body. He thought she’d resist, but instead she rested a palm on his chest, leaving a few inches between them.
“What drove you round this corner?”
“Friends, and maybe two glasses of wine, but the point is I have a long way to go to become the person I want to be. I can’t complicate that with... with you.”
Someone bumped into her, sending her into Joe.
“We can’t talk here. Let’s go.” Joe took her hand in his and began walking through the crowds, towing Bailey behind him. He walked around the back of the bar and let himself inside, closing and locking the door behind them.
“Piper and Maggs will wonder where I am. Plus Maggie’s nursing a broken heart. I should be with her.”
“He didn’t break her heart, Bailey. He was a loser, and she knows it.” Joe led her through the room, which was lit only by security lights. Reaching the bar, he grabbed Bailey and lifted her onto a stool.
“I can’t see, Joe.”
“I can, and you look seriously hot tonight.”
“Joe, what are you doing? I thought you wanted to talk?”
“We’ll get to that.” He held her face, looking into her eyes. “Right now I really need to kiss you again.”
“No.” She shook her head, but leaned closer so they were only inches apart. “I don’t think we should.”
“Yes, you do.” He kissed her softly, giving her a chance to pull back. When she didn’t, he took it deeper.
“This is real, Bailey.” He eased back a little. “We owe it to the people we were to pursue this.”
Her fingers shook as they touched his jaw.
“I’m a mess, Joe. I’ve never lived like others. I’m.... I let someone else run my life for me. I don’t even know the person I am or want to be, and my friends made me realize how much growing I have to do.”
“Friends. I bet that feels good?”
“So good,” she whispered. “I didn’t realize how good until I came back here and found some.”
Joe cupped his hands around her face, holding her eyes on his. “I’m not going to stop you growing as a person, Bailey. Not going to stop you from doing what you want. I simply want to get to know you, and if in the course of that I get my hands on you... well, that would work too.”
Her giggle was sweet. She then traced the line of his cheekbone tentatively, before moving to his hair, where her fingers stroked. Joe was already hard with wanting her; her touch ignited him further.
“I don’t know how to do this.”
“This being?”
“Flirting, interacting, being a woman with a man she feels something for.”
His heart kicked at her words.
“You’ll learn, and if you keep touching me, that education will come sooner than you expected.”
“I know what happens, the sex part, and yes, I’ve done it once. But I wasn’t very good at it.”
“How did we jump from flirting and interacting to sex?” Not that he minded.
“Because the wine has loosened me up, and because when I’m around you I feel this ache deep inside me, which tells me I want you, Joe.”
“I have that ache too.”
