Spring River Valley: The Spring Collection (Boxed Set) (16 page)

Matt shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I never really cared what went on in a girl’s life before I met her, you know.”

Owen’s brow wrinkled with concern. “Oh…this sounds like trouble. The last thing you want to do is start worrying about who she did it with before. You start comparing yourself to some other guy, man, you’re a goner.”

“I’m not comparing myself to anyone, and you just said she and Taylor weren’t anything. She didn’t
do it
with him.”

“So what are you so uptight about?”

“I’m not uptight. I like her. I just want to be sure I’m not walking into some kind of drama.”

“Said the king of drama. Wasn’t
it just a couple of months ago you had two girls take a fight outside to the parking lot because you gave one of them an extra cherry?”

Matt pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. One reason he resisted Buck’s efforts to get him to flirt more heavily with customers was because he’d gotten himself into some trouble here and there by being too nice. Buck seemed to think the more attention he paid to the ladies, the more money the bar would rake in, but to Matt it felt a little dishonest. He loved women, and he loved having a good time with the customers, but he had no desire to lead anyone on or hurt any feelings. He certainly didn’t want Bailey to think he was some kind of man whore. “Yeah, now I count the cherries very carefully.”

Owen laughed. “You should always be very careful with the cherries.”

“Seriously, dude.”

“What? I get it. You like the girl. I told you, Taylor’s not in the picture. He’s been like a cardboard cutout lately, to be honest. I don’t think a harem could get him out of his funk. I mean, I saw Bailey. She’s hot. He could have dated her, and he wasn’t into it. He seriously needs to get back in the game.”

“You just said he’s hung up on his ex.”

“Yeah. She dumped him like a week after he bought a house for them. She even took the dog. We’ve been jumping through hoops trying to get him to move on, but he’s not ready.”

“Well, as long as he’s not into Bailey.”

“Relax, Matt. He’s not. The girl’s all yours.”

“I hope so. I can’t get her out of my head.”

Owen eyed him squarely. “Do you need to make a mix tape?”

Matt made a face. “You’re hysterical. The Eighties called—they want their lame jokes back.”

Owen chuckled while he sorted sheet music. “Just one piece of advice, my friend. Play. It. Cool. If you let this girl know you’re all dreamy over her after one date, you’re a goner.”

Matt laughed off Owen’s remark, but the truth echoed in his head.
I’m already a goner
.

Bailey puckered up and ran a wand of shimmery coral gloss over her lips. She blew a kiss to herself in the bedroom mirror and stood back to admire the black lace bra and panties she’d bought two months ago and just now had found the courage to wear.

She fluffed her hair a little, giving it a sultry messiness that said,
I just rolled out of bed, want to roll back in?

“Oh my God, what am I doing?” She flew to the bed and grabbed her bathrobe to cover herself. Since the moment she’d started to dress for her date with Matt, she’d been strutting around her bedroom like a call girl, thrusting her hips around, trying on higher and higher heels and practicing her sexy looks in the mirror.

She’d totally lost her mind. Hadn’t she promised herself she was going to play it cool this time around? She’d moved too fast with Dan, falling in love with him within months of meeting him and leading herself to believe he felt the same way. She’d read too much into everything he said and did, convincing herself he was as loyal and trustworthy as she wanted him to be without seeing the rotten core he hid from the world.

She wiped the lip gloss off and searched for a more austere color, then tried to dust away some of the dark shadow she’d smudged on her eyelids. She was rummaging in her bureau for decent underwear when the doorbell rang, and she gasped.

“Oh, no. He’s early.” She grabbed her bedside clock. He was due at seven, and it was only… “Five forty-five? That can’t be…it can’t be…” She shook the clock, which had stopped. “Damn it!” Her battery-operated alarm clock was supposed to keep the time in case of a power failure. Why did it have to pick today to have a power failure of its own?

Her cell phone told the real story. It was seven on the dot.
She
was late.

“I’ll be right there!” She raced back to her closet and pulled out the first dress she came across. Chocolate brown with paisley dots…what had she been thinking? She flung that away and grabbed the next one, a navy sheath with no decorations. It would need jewelry to look acceptable, but she could pull that look together in a second, and it would hide the underwear she didn’t have time to change. But it zipped up the back!

“Oh, hell.”

The bell rang again. He hadn’t heard her yelling. “Be right THERE!” she bellowed, sounding more like an angry truck driver than the sweet, sultry, dignified woman she wanted to be. “Oh, God.”

She jumped into the dress, grabbed a necklace of pearlescent beads from her jewelry box, and hopped down the hallway, slipping on the matching flats as she went. “Purse!” she remembered halfway to the door and raced back to her bedroom, grabbed her purse, and flew back to the living room. She flung open the door to find Matt standing there looking perplexed.

He looked amazing in a gray shirt with a black tie and black Dockers. His face lit up when he saw her, purse and left shoe in one hand, necklace in the other, and trying to hold her unzipped dress up in front of her to hide the sexy bra. “I was getting a little worried that I got the time wrong. But I see you’ve started without me.” He arched a brow and smirked.

Bailey’s face flamed. “My bad. My clock stopped; I was lost in my closet for half an hour, and I can’t zip my dress.” Dear Lord, was she actually going to ask him to zip her up? She had no choice. She’d dislocate her arm if she tried to do it herself. Why had she bought this dress again? Oh, for Dan’s office party…and
he’d
zipped it up for her.

Matt grinned. “Turn around.”

She obeyed mutely, grateful for a second to compose herself. He stepped into the living room and paused. Bailey held her breath. Obviously he could see shimmery satin and the lace straps of the bra.

A second later her knees almost buckled when his fingers played across her lower back and found the tiny zipper. He tugged it up halfway, where it got stuck. “Umm…little problem.”

“Tug harder.” She covered her face with her free hand.

“Okay…” He pulled on the zipper, sliding it down an inch, then back up to the same spot. “It keeps getting caught. I think one of the teeth might be broken.”

Damn. She’d only worn the stupid dress once. And as she recalled, Dan had been somewhat enthusiastic about taking it off her. She cringed. “Ah…stay here. I’ll be right back.”

She dropped her purse and headed back to her bedroom.
He must think I’m out of my mind
, she thought as she dove back into her closet.
Red dress, no. Pink dress, definitely no.
Landry’s Pier was too fancy for jeans and a blouse.
Green dress…okay, try that.
She shimmied out of her blue dress and put on the green one. It would do, and it didn’t need to be zipped. She straightened her skirt, tossed the blue shoes into her closet and dug a pair of black ones out of the pile.

When she returned to the living room, Matt was sitting on her couch, his back poker straight.

“Hi, sorry. You okay?”

“Yeah. You? You seem frazzled.”

She smoothed her skirt and scooped her purse up off the floor along with the necklace which she slipped on. “I’m…not usually this nervous.”

He stood up and moved close. “I make you nervous?”

“A little.” She swallowed. He smelled fantastic. Whatever cologne he was wearing made her want to rip his clothes right off. She had to remind himself she’d only known him for just less than twenty-four hours.

“I’m flattered. You don’t look like the kind of girl who would be flustered by a guy, any guy.”

“What kind of girl do I look like?”

“You look like the type of girl who makes men run around bumping into walls. I know I was doing that last night. Do you know how many glasses I dropped behind the bar during my shift?”

She shook her head. She hadn’t seen him drop any.

“There’s a soft pad on the floor, so they mostly don’t break, but I probably fumbled about six. I
never
do that. But I was so busy looking at you, I wasn’t paying attention.”

She smiled. This line of conversation was making her feel great, but it wasn’t doing much to calm her nerves. In fact, her heartbeat hammered against her ribs. When he lifted a finger and ran it along her jaw, she thought she’d faint.

“Don’t get me started on that black bra. Are you trying to kill me?”

“I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean for you to see that…yet.”

“Well, I’ve seen it. I don’t think I’ll be able to concentrate on dinner with the vision of your naked back in my mind.”

“Oh…”

“When did you mean for me to see it?”

“Umm…maybe later…” Who was she kidding? She’d dreamed about Matt last night and woke up sweating and tangled in her own sheets. She’d put the sexy underwear on with him in mind, and maybe she’d unconsciously wasted time getting ready so he’d have to see her half dressed. She needed mental help. She was totally losing her mind over this guy, which was exactly what she’d never wanted to do again. “I’m sorry.” Bailey sank to the couch and shook her head. “I’m being a tease, and that’s inexcusable.”

Matt raised a brow. “I can excuse it.”

“I’m serious. Look, I’ve been out of commission for a while…almost a year since I broke up with the last guy I dated. My plan was to use that time to get my head on straight and not be so…”

“Scared?”

“Stupid.”

“That’s not a word I’d put in the same sentence with you.” He sat down beside her, his knee just touching hers.

“Well, you didn’t know me. I was the biggest, dumbest fool on the planet. I was completely in love with a guy who was…humping everything that moved, and I was the only one of his little entourage who had no idea what kind of a player he was. I didn’t trust myself to date anyone because I was afraid of being used again, so I did everything I could to distract myself for the last year. I was going to take this all slow…ease back into dating someone, and here I am practically seducing you on our first official date.”

He shrugged. “I’m not complaining.”

“Well, you should be. This isn’t me. This isn’t how I want to be.”

“Okay. How do you want to be?”

“I want to go out to dinner and get to know you and have a nice time and not attach anything to it. I don’t want to be the girl who analyzes every word you say for hidden meanings, or who follows you around to make sure you’re not seeing someone else behind my back.”

He raised a brow. “
Were
you that girl?”

She threw her hands in the air. “No, but I always worried that maybe I should have been. If I’d paid more attention, maybe I wouldn’t have been the last to know.”

“Are you still in love with this guy?”

“God, no. But I’m still totally unsure of everything. I don’t know if I trust myself yet.”

Matt faced her. He took her hands in his. “It’s okay. I meant what I said yesterday about commitment. I may not be looking for a walk down the aisle with anyone, but I’m not a two-timer. I don’t cheat; I don’t lie. I’ve thought about nothing but you since the moment I saw you. I want to spend time with you, and I don’t care if you follow me around or analyze every word I say. Go ahead, because I don’t have anything to hide.”

Bailey managed to hide a half-hysterical sob with a giggle. “So it’s okay if I follow you around town?”

He shrugged. “Sure. I’ll write down my license number to make it easier for you.”

She laughed harder this time. “Do you think I’m insane? I'll understand if you want to run for the door now and never look back.”

“Yeah,
you’re
insane. I wrote your name in the steam on my bathroom mirror this morning.”

“You didn’t.”

He nodded. “And I Googled you.”

“Oh my God, I never thought to Google you. I’m sorry.”

“That’s okay. We can Google each other later.” He waggled a brow at her, and her cheeks heated at the naughty implication.

“What did Google tell you about me?” she asked, fanning her face.

“Nothing embarrassing.”

“Good. I won’t have to change my name.”

Matt rose and tugged her off the sofa. “Come on. Let’s go have dinner and talk about everything. Then we can come back and discuss this black underwear and Googling and whatever else comes up.”

Bailey took a deep breath and followed Matt to the door. If this was how he reacted to her craziness, how was she going to stop herself from falling in love with him?