“Nope. All good.” She was dressed in the same exact costume as me, with her hair and makeup done up just like mine. “You ready to go out there?”
She narrowed her eyes skeptically, but eventually gave in and nodded. “Yep. Let’s go put on a killer show.”
And that was exactly what I intended to do. Out front, the lights on the stage went down, and I took my place with the other girls. As soon as the music kicked on, I wiped my mind clean of everything except what I’d be doing for the next several minutes.
Dancing had always been an escape for me, and I needed it now more than ever.
I was up and out of bed the next morning much earlier than I normally would be after working at the club, but no matter how hard I’d tried the night before, I hadn’t been able to find sleep. Thoughts of the kiss I’d almost shared with Pierce wouldn’t stop playing on a loop in my mind. A pulsing ache had formed between my thighs, alerting me to the gnawing emptiness, and it hadn’t gone away since I all but ran out of his house that night.
During the rare couple of hours I did manage to doze, my sleep was riddled with dreams of him touching me, kissing me, saying my name in that gravelly velvet voice of his.
There were two more texts on my phone by the time I climbed out of the shower, and each increased in frustration, telling me that Pierce was most certainly not happy with me.
Pierce: I never took you for someone who’d tuck tail and run. Guess I was wrong.
The first time I read that one, a lump of shame had formed in my throat, making it almost impossible to breathe, but as I read and re-read that message, that shame gave way to anger. He didn’t know me. Not really. So who the hell was he to make judgements on my character?
Full of righteous indignation, I’d nearly texted that back to him. Then I read his last message, and the fire in my belly had been snuffed out like someone had just kicked sand on it.
Pierce: If you want to avoid me, that’s fine. But don’t even think about disappearing on Eli. He doesn’t deserve it.
Oh hell.
That was a direct shot.
I thought back to that sweet little boy, to the conversation we’d had in his bedroom and the sadness on his face when he talked about wanting a mother. There wasn’t a chance in hell I’d consider disappearing on him. I cared about that kid more than I cared about myself.
I couldn’t not reply to that one.
Me: I’d never do that.
I could see that the message had been read, but he never bothered responding. Not that I blamed him.
I was out of my apartment before eight, swinging into Muffin Top, the best coffee shop in all of Hope Valley, and probably the country, loading up on sweet caffeinated drinks and pastries before I pointed my car in the direction of Tali’s house.
My sister answered the door, surprised to find me standing on her front porch.
“What are you doing here at eight in the morning? Didn’t you work last night?”
“Just felt like visiting with my sister,” I said nonchalantly as I shoved past her and into the house, making a beeline for the kitchen. “You already drop the kids at school?”
“Yeah. I have a blissful few hours of silence before the drama starts again.” She spotted the logo on the bag and coffee cups I’d just placed on the kitchen island. “Is that Muffin Top coffee?”
“You bet.”
“Ugh! I love you so much. I’m going to leave everything to you in my will,” she declared as she grabbed the cup I held out to her and took a big swig while I pulled the pastries out of the bag.
“Danika is trying out a new muffin flavor,” I stated, waving it beneath her nose. “I lucked out and got there early enough to grab a couple before they sold out.”
She sniffed, her eyes going wide. “Is that—”
“Maple bacon? Yep.”
“Gimme!” She snatched it out of my hand so fast I was afraid she’d take one of my fingers off. Chomping off a big bite, she closed her eyes and groaned. “I take that back,” she said through a full mouth. “I’m leaving everything to Dani in my will,” she mumbled through a full mouth, speaking of Danika, the woman who owned the coffee shop and the brilliant mind behind the pastries.
I rolled my eyes at her dramatics as I bit into my own muffin. The saltiness of the bacon combined with the sweetness of the maple syrup created a party in my mouth that I never wanted to end.
“Damn,” I sputtered, sending crumbs flying. “I should have ordered more.”
“Yeah, well, just be sure to remember next time.”
The minutes ticked by as we finished off our muffins and coffee, and the whole time I felt itchy and agitated, that sensation of ants crawling across my skin.
“Will you just spit it out already?” Tali huffed. “It’s so obvious you’re here because you need to talk about something, so quit stalling.”
“Am I that obvious?”
She lifted her brows. “Babe.”
I waited for more, but that was all I got. “Is that supposed to be an answer?”
“Everything you’re feeling is written all over your face. Always has been. Why do you think you’re such a shitty poker player?”
“I’m a great poker player.” I harrumphed.
“Oh please! Remember that sister trip we took to Vegas? You couldn’t stop giggling every time you had a good hand. You lost every dime you brought with you on the very first night. Had to spend the rest of the trip playing penny slots.”
“Only because I went all in on that one hand,” I argued, feeling the irrational need to defend myself.
“You went all in on a pair of twos,” she declared, her tone screaming you big dummy.
I shrugged innocently. “I thought I’d try my hand at bluffing. Everyone else was doing it.”
“And the lesson you learned there is that you suck at it. Now stop changing the subject. You didn’t come here just to see my beautiful face, so either tell me what’s going on, or I’m going to make you help me clean the bathrooms.”
“I almost kissed Pierce the other night,” I spit out. The thought of having to go anywhere near Matt’s bathroom would have been enough to scare anyone into talking. I firmly believed that if the FBI or CIA needed to extract information from terrorists, all they needed to do was bring them over to Tali’s house and lock them in my nephew’s bathroom for five minutes.
Tali’s eyes bugged out comically wide. “You did what?”
“Actually, he almost kissed me. I think. It all happened so fast.”
“Well? What stopped you from going all the way, so to speak?”
I gave her a bewildered look. “You mean other than the fact I hardly even like the guy?”
She pinched her lips together and to the side, blowing out a loud raspberry. “Pfft. Oh, please! You’ve been talking about the guy for days now. It’s clear to anyone around you that you like the guy just fine.” She hit me with a cheeky smile and waggled her eyebrows. “Maybe you more than like him if you almost kissed him.”
“What are you, twelve?” I deadpanned.
Tali responding by singing, “Pierce and Marin, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N—ow! Damn it.” She glared and rubbed at her arm where I’d just pinched her.