“Reece!” Bailey hissed. “You planning on drinking all of it? I might want some later.”
He didn’t realize he’d been guzzling the whole time. The jumbo cup was nearly empty.
“I . . . I ran a half marathon this morning,” he replied softly. Dude, where’d that come from? You’re such an idiot.
Bailey raised her eyebrows. “You ran a half-marathon before work?”
Fuck. I forgot today’s Friday, Reece thought.
“Uh, yeah. It’s . . . a thing I do,” he whispered. “I train pretty religiously. You have to, you know, if you wanna make good time. It’s, uh, all about the times. I’m pretty competitive, so . . .”
“What was your time?” Bailey asked.
Shit. I don’t know how far a half marathon is. Six miles? Ten? Let’s see, a seven-minute mile. Let’s just go with an hour. Hmm, maybe a little less.
“Fifty-five minutes,” he replied.
Bailey burst out laughing.
“Shhh!” someone called from their right.
“What? Is that bad?” he asked.
“More like impossible,” she replied, still chuckling.
“Pretty impressive, huh?” he asked.
“Very.”
Reece scrambled out of his seat and told her he was going for a refill.
“I expect you to make good time getting back,” she teased.
He paused in the aisle and looked down at her. Cute. That was really cute. She knew he totally lied to her—was just trying to impress her—and she was gracious about it. And playful. He was digging this chick hard, and he suddenly came to a decision. He squatted next to her seat and leaned in close.
“I’ll hurry. Especially since I plan to kiss you when I get back.”
He watched her face. He couldn’t see the circles of deep pink he’d painted on her cheeks, but he suspected they were there. They had to be. It was too bold a statement not to evoke some kind of response. He wanted her shifting relentlessly in her chair the entire time he was gone. He wanted her heart racing. He wanted her panties the slightest bit moist. He wanted this girl.
Bailey avoided his eyes when he returned. She sat rigid in her seat with the food tray in her lap, staring at the screen. Previews still rolled while she played with her fingers. Reece couldn’t stand the tension.
“Bailey,” he whispered. “I’m sorry I said that.”
She said nothing as she passed him the tray.
“I’m a guy, you know,” he went on. “And that automatically makes me an idiot.”
She continued to stare at the screen. He shoved a nacho in his mouth. They didn’t taste as good as he remembered. He swallowed and tried again.
“I just mess around. I’m a guy who jokes, is all.”
She lunged at him, nearly knocking over his nachos as she pressed her luscious, pink mouth to his. The initial lips-on-lips was aggressive, but nothing else about her kiss was. She explored his mouth gently, raining light pecks in a sort of question: “Is it okay that I’m doing this?” He responded by cradling her head in his hand, trapping her against his mouth so that he could kiss her back more deeply. More aggressively.
He was conscientious of the nacho he’d just eaten. It could go either way, but he was going for it, baby. Going for it. He teased open her mouth with his tongue, found hers immediately, like she’d been waiting the whole time, eager to share hers. She tasted like cherries. It had to be her lip gloss. That or she snuck cherries in her pocket and ate them while he was away. He grew hard again thinking of those cherries exploding on her tongue the second her teeth crushed them open.
He doubled his efforts and kissed her harder, mingling his tongue with hers until he felt her moan into his mouth. He couldn’t hear it for the crashing and banging of the movie preview, but he felt it reverberate in the back of his mouth, and that’s all it took.
Reece Powell was in love.
Bailey pulled away. “I don’t do things like that,” she whispered.
He didn’t know how to reply.
“You probably think I’m a floosy,” she went on.
“A floosy?” he whispered back, and chuckled. “First off, I love that you said ‘floosy.’ Second, you’re crazy. I hope you kiss me like that again.” He leaned in close. “And again and again.”
“It’s unwise,” Bailey replied.
“Shhhh!!” they heard to their right.
“It’s unwise,” she repeated softly.
“I can’t think of anything wiser than kissing you,” Reece said.
Bailey couldn’t think of anything wiser either. And she was terribly lonely and with a man she believed truly liked her.
“I just wanna keep kissing you,” she confessed.
Her honesty reached down deep, grabbed hold of something within his heart that had never been touched by another woman. It frightened him for only a second before he identified the feeling. It was comfort. Security. Home in this strange town with new faces.
He kissed her again. He kissed her throughout the movie. And when it was over, they parted ways, unsure where to go from here.
“Annie!” I squealed, running and scooping her up before she had the chance to escape. I rained kisses all over her face. She was clearly confused, but she seemed to like it. The evidence? She dropped her doll and squeezed my neck.
Erica stared at me through narrowed eyes. “No one, including me, likes my children that much. What is going on?”
Annie giggled on cue, like she understood her mother’s words. I laughed outright.
“Your momma’s silly, isn’t she? Isn’t she?” I asked, poking Annie’s sides.
“Oh my God, who are you?” Erica demanded. “Where’s my BFF who promised me she’d never have children so I could live vicariously through her? I swear to God if you’re pregnant…”
“Calm down,” I said over the top of Annie’s head. She twisted in my arms signaling she was over my show of affection. I placed her on the floor beside her discarded doll. “How would I even be pregnant?”
“Sex. It’s called sex,” Erica replied. She finished folding the last of Little Noah’s shirts, then tossed it in the laundry basket.
“Don’t say s-e-x in front of the baby!” I chided.
“B, she doesn’t know what sex is.”
“She’ll repeat it.”