“Shut up, Joe.” Kevin shot him a dirty look. “You got your girl. Trying to get mine here, if you don’t mind.”
The heat in her face spread to her entire body and Beth cursed the postpartum hormones that had to be to blame for the sudden hot flashes. “I should get back to Lily so Paulie can come back to work. Give Keri my best, Joe.”
She fled before Kevin could say any more. Clearly whatever cease fire he’d declared when she had the baby was over and she was fair game again. The assault by his charm, his sincerity and—God help her—his sexuality had resumed.
She needed to keep reminding herself that, if she surrendered, Lily’s happy childhood could be the hardest hit casualty.
***
“She’s not even giving you an inch, huh?”
Kevin shook his head as Beth disappeared through the door to the back. That was one way of putting it. “She already knows I want the whole mile.”
“What’s the deal with you guys, anyway?”
An empty mug raised at the end of the bar, but Randy was right on it. “She wants us to be friends.”
“More friendly than working together, practically living together and having a baby together?”
“No shit. But she’s got it in her head I’m all hot and bothered for a relationship because of the baby and that if we get together because of that, eventually it’ll fall apart and then we won’t be friends anymore, which would suck for Lily.”
Joe shrugged. “I get being worried about ruining the friendship, but relationships don’t come with guarantees no matter how they start. And it’s not like you just met. You guys have been together now—kind of—for what? Ten months?”
“No, she’s been holding me at arm’s length now for ten months, which sucks.” Except for that one time in February, which was way too damn long ago. So long ago the memory barely kept him warm at night anymore. “At first she was afraid I’d take over her life and now she’s afraid of ruining our friendship.”
“That’s a lot of afraid.”
“I’m afraid my balls are going to explode.” Too late, Kevin remembered they weren’t alone, but thankfully nobody seemed to be paying any attention. Wasn’t the kind of thing a guy wanted getting around. “She’s killing me. This whole thing is killing me.”
“Have you told her that? How you feel, I mean, not that your balls are going to explode because nobody really wants to know about that. Especially me.”
“She knows how I feel. I’ve made it pretty damn plain.”
“L word?”
“Yup.”
Joe arched an eyebrow. “That’s pretty damn plain. I’m guessing you didn’t get it back.”
“No, I got an explanation of how what I was feeling was because she’d been hit by a bus and then had a baby. It wasn’t real. Just emotional upheaval. Hell, even before the L word came into play, she had excuses for anything I might be feeling. I only cared about her because she was pregnant and shit like that.”
“Well how ’bout now? She’s not pregnant, she hasn’t been in any more accidents and Lily’s two months old.”
Now it was his turn to shrug. “I haven’t said it again.”
“Why not?”
Why not? Because having your emotions thrown back at you and explained away as not being real wasn’t something most guys did for shits and giggles. “Not really up for being emotionally kicked in the balls again, thanks.”
“A bit hung up on the family jewels there, pal.”
“Screw you, Joe. Easy for you to say, since you’ve got a loving wife waiting for you at home.”
“And you think it was easy? That she just magically fell into my arms?” Joe shook his head. “I took a few hits to the sac, too.”
“So you know, then. That it’s not easy to keep putting yourself out there.”
“I know it.” He took a long sip of his soda. “I guess the question is whether or not she’s worth the risk.”
He didn’t even have to think about it. “She’s worth it.”
“Then think about this for a while—if you haven’t told her how you feel since the accident-slash-having a baby, how is she supposed to know she was wrong?”
It was a damn good question and it gave him something to think about as his fool brother stood and called for another round on the house. The beer and the congratulations flowed again, as did a couple more lipstick-smeared napkins, which he tossed into the basket unread.
The only woman he wanted had made it very plain she’d never kiss a napkin for him.
***
Two-thirty in the morning and Kevin had his forehead and palms pressed to Beth’s door, listening to his two-month-old daughter cry.