“You’re…rich.”
And suddenly his wish came true. Bailey Wilcox smiled. Big. And then laughed.
Chase felt himself grinning. “I am. Seriously.”
She shook her head. “Wow. I mean…who says stuff like that?”
He shrugged. “It just kind of popped out. But I am. I’ve got money. I’ll give it to you to save your alligators.”
She was clearly not sure what to make of that. She blew out a breath. “No, Chase, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“How can me giving you money for alligators not be a good idea?” he asked. “Of course, it’s my father’s money, technically, but maybe you could come home with me and give a presentation and win my dad over. Too.”
She looked beyond surprised now. She looked a little like she thought Chase might be a weird stalker. Probably because that was the kind of thing a weird, stalker might say. They’d just met and he was talking about taking her home with him to meet his parents? And indicating that he was suddenly interested in alligators because of her?
But, stupidly, he was. He might just have some reading to do on the subject of the Louisiana coastline.
Not to mention his interest in the idea of taking Bailey home with him where he could take her out and show her around D.C. and… What the hell was he doing?
“I don’t think I’m going to take your money, Chase,” Bailey said.
Right. Because he was acting like a weird stalker.
“I understand. But I really would like to make a donation or something. Maybe—”
“I can’t take your money.”
But instead of backing away and looking for the nearest exit, she stepped forward.
Before Chase could react or analyze that, Bailey took the front of his shirt in her hands and pulled him forward while going up on her tiptoes.
If he’d realized what was happening, he might not have lost his balance and taken an unexpected step forward.
But he would have never in a million years expected Bailey Wilcox to spontaneously kiss him.
So, his chin hit the top of her head, snapping his teeth together. While reaching out to keep from knocking her over, he also stepped on her foot. And ended up with one hand grappling for the wall behind her. While the other landed on her left breast.
Bailey instinctively pulled back, her head thumping against the wall behind her. She tried to steady herself by grabbing the first thing in reach, which was his side, and the skin bared by his shirt pulling up as he stumbled. Her nails raked over his skin, the sharp sting making him suck in a breath.
Finally, the clumsy cascade stopped and they both froze. Three ticks passed on the clock. Then they looked at each other.
And Chase became aware of several things at once. Bailey had tried to kiss him, this was possibly the most awkward kiss of his life, and his hand was still on her breast.
He gave her a small smile. “Maybe we should try that again.”
He leaned in, but she turned her head just as he was about to make contact. His lips skimmed over the corner of her mouth and he almost face planted into the wall as she ducked under his arm and slipped away.
“Uh, no.”
Chase turned. “No? You started it.”
“Yeah. And I was going to say something like it would be a bad idea to take money from you because that would make the kiss I wanted really gross. But I changed my mind.”
“The kiss would be gross?”
“If I kissed you and took money from you. That’s kind of icky, right?”
“There is nothing icky about us kissing, Bailey.” He paused. “I mean, I assume. Since we haven’t actually done it yet, I guess I’m not sure.”
Her eyes got a little wider at that and she planted a hand on her hip. “You think it would be icky? Even without the money thing?”
Even his attempts at levity weren’t going as planned here. “I wouldn’t put it quite that way. I haven’t described anything as icky since I was about five.” When her eyes got even wider, he held up a hand. “Of course it wouldn’t be icky. Or gross. It would be…”
He should not have trailed off. That became clear almost immediately. Trailing off indicated that he was trying to find a nice word. And that wasn’t true. He was trying to figure out what he expected a kiss with Bailey to be like.
He really wasn’t sure. At all. The things he thought of when he thought of Bailey were not as simple as hot. He suddenly realized that hot was such a weak word. What did it even mean? It was superficial and over-used and somehow not appropriate for a smart, impassioned, hard-to-impress scientist who came to bars because she simply liked the beer.
“I can not believe that you can stand there, staring at me like a dope, saying nothing and yet being incredibly insulting,” she said.
“I’m not trying to insult you,” Chase protested. “I was trying to imagine kissing you and all I can think about is you sitting at the bar with a highlighter and the fact that you tromp around in hip waders trying to protect alligators.”
He should probably stop talking now.
“You should probably stop talking now,” she told him. “That whole kiss idea was stupid and I’m thrilled that you think of my highlighters and hip waders when you think of me. Goodnight, Mr. Dawson.”
Without thinking, Chase reached out and snagged the back belt loop of her pants, stopping her. “Hey, just a second.”
She whipped around, opening her mouth to no doubt tell him to go to hell. But before she could say more than, “Wha—” Chase leaned in to cover her mouth with his.
At least, that had been the intention. She was still talking and he ended up somehow kissing her teeth. Kind of. It wasn’t really a kiss so much as it was his mouth landing on—or sort of inside—hers, then their foreheads colliding, her jerking back, and him stepping on her foot again.
He lifted his head and met her eyes. Geezus.
He let go of her belt loop and she took a step back. Two of them.
“I’m usually pretty good at this,” he said.
Her eyes narrowed. “I’m sure you think so.”
“If you would just stand still and keep your mouth shut, I’d show you.”
Again, wrong thing to say to the woman who clearly didn’t know when he was kidding around. Of course, he did really want to show her. Not just because he really wanted her to know he was good at this, but because he really, inexplicably wanted to kiss her.
“Gee, if my mouth is shut, how will I go on and on about what an amazing sex god you are?”
He actually loved her sarcasm. And the way her ponytail kept slipping. And that she loved frogs. This was so fucking strange.
“Good point,” he told her. “You’re allowed to say the following words, Yes. More. Harder. Oh, Chase. And you’re the best I’ve ever had.”
There was a flicker in her eyes that told him she knew he was being an ass on purpose this time.
“You know, I think I’m going to stick with the big lizards that I know are going to bite me if I get to close rather than the…animals I’m not as sure of.”
Animal, huh? He gave a little growl. “I’ll bite you, Bailey, but only if you ask really nice.”
She gave him a smile. The kind that he’d wanted from the beginning of all of this—genuine and just a little flirtatious.