About That Kiss:A Heartbreaker Bay Novel(36)

"I'll up your game, baby," said a guy on the other end of the bar.

The guy's buddy shook his head. "Man, are you nuts? That's Joe's baby sister."

The first guy went pale, stammered an apology, and nearly ran out of the pub.

"Dammit, Joe!" Molly yelled.

Joe, across the room and involved in a mean game of darts with Caleb, Spence, and Lucas, looked over. "What?" he yelled back.

"Stop ruining my sex life!" his sister yelled.

With a grimace, Joe put his fingers in his ears and turned away.

Molly rolled her eyes. "He's not going to stop. He's giving me anxiety. I  need some action. My lady bits need some action, people!" she said.  "Someone needs to man up!"

"Thought you were going to try online dating," Elle said.

"I did. But it turns out there are a lot of frogs out there." Molly  looked around the pub a little wistfully. "I mean, it's not like I'm  asking for too much. All I want is a six-foot-plus guy who's funny,  smart, respectful, outgoing, well dressed, loyal, honest, hardworking,  and obsessed with me. Oh, and he should have great stubble too. Or a  beard."

Elle snorted. "Well, if that's all."

"Hey," Molly said, pointing at Elle without taking her eyes off the  crowd. "You don't get to judge. You're wearing a diamond ring that could  blind the whole city."         

     



 

They all looked at the ring Archer had put on Elle's finger. It could  indeed light up all of San Francisco. Maybe the entire state of  California.

"I know diamonds are supposed to be a girl's best friend," Willa said,  "but then leggings happened. Leggings are the new diamonds." She looked  at Tina with her perfect hair and makeup and sighed. "The fact that you  wear extensions and false eyelashes astounds me because I can't even be  bothered to put on real pants."

"Girls, that's just sad," Tina said. "You gotta use it or lose it."

"I'm going to really hope that's not true," Molly said.

"Well, no matter what happens, pizza will always be there for you," Tina said. "Through thick and thin, in crust we trust."

They all drank to that and then the chitchat turned to Haley, who'd had a  blind date the night before. "How did it go?" Willa wanted to know. She  had a vested interest since she'd set Haley up with a girlfriend of  hers.

"Well," Haley said, playing with the condensation on her glass of wine. "Sober-me and drunk-me are no longer on speaking terms."

"Dammit," Willa said. "It didn't work out?"

"I didn't say that." Haley looked at Tina. "Use it or lose it, right?"

They high-fived.

Kylie's gaze crept back to Joe, still across the room in a game of darts  with Spence and Lucas. Given their intensity, it had to be a pretty  serious game, which was in complete opposition to the fact that they'd  all dressed for the Western theme.

Spence was in jeans and a cowboy hat. So was Lucas, both looking extremely hot.

And then there was Joe. He too was in a hat, but his was a backward  baseball cap topped with dark sunglasses he'd shoved up there and  clearly forgotten about. He wore an open flannel plaid shirt in dark  blues over a white T-shirt and a pair of old, clearly beloved jeans  well-worn in the stress points, and even from across the room it was  obvious that he had some pretty excellent stress points.

She couldn't tear her gaze off him.

As if he felt her looking at him, he lifted his head and locked gazes  with her. They hadn't spoken since he'd left her that morning still wet  from their shower, naked and panting and practically purring.

His mouth curved in a barely-there smile and she felt her face heat.

Next to her, Archer and Elle were arguing over his order, which had just  arrived. "Look," he was saying, "I love you but I asked you what you  wanted and you said nothing, so I ordered wings. The exact amount of  wings I wanted to eat."

Elle narrowed her eyes. "But I only want a few-"

"Exactly the right amount, Elle."

She paused. "Okay, but I want you to remember this because later when  you want to get lucky, I'm going to tell you that you're S-O-L because  I've already had all the lucky I want today."

Archer opened his mouth, but she held up a finger. "Exactly the right amount," she said.

He stared at her and then laughed and hauled her onto his lap. Elle  smiled and grabbed a wing, making yummy sounds as she ate it. Archer  watched her, then leaned in and licked the sauce off the corner of her  mouth, making his own yummy noise.

"Is that what love is?" Molly asked the room. "Sharing food when you don't want to?"

"Yeah," Kylie said softly. And it was also letting someone in when maybe  you hadn't meant to. Again her gaze sought out Joe and again he looked  at her right back, not bothering to hide it. He clearly spent zero time  worrying about what anyone around them thought. It wasn't a problem for  him.

Nope, his problem was that he didn't want to let love in.

Which of course had somehow, when she hadn't been looking, become her problem.

Later, after they'd all finished eating, Molly opened her presents. When  she got to Joe's and unwrapped the gorgeous mirror Kylie had made, she  went stock-still before lifting suspiciously sheeny eyes to Joe.

"It's the right one, yes?" he asked in the universal voice of male panic when a woman appeared to be on the verge of tears.

"Yes, you idiot," she said and then limped her way closer and threw herself at him.         

     



 

"Okay." Joe patted her on the back. "Okay, then."

"Such an idiot," Molly muttered and held on.

He grimaced. "Are you crying or drooling?" he asked, trying to break free.

"An asshole idiot." Molly only held him all the tighter. "I love you, you big jerk." She pulled back and gave him a shove.

And that, clearly, Joe knew how to deal with. He didn't budge, of  course, but he did laugh and looked greatly relieved that his sister was  over her moment.

Anyone could see that they had a close, strong relationship. But  sometimes, like now, Kylie also caught glimpses of an odd, nameless  tension between the two of them that she didn't quite understand.

After the last present had been unwrapped, everyone scattered, to dance  or play pool or get another drink. Molly plopped next to Kylie.

"You can take the boy off the street," she said, "but you can't take the  street out of the boy. He really hates it when I get all emotional over  him."

"You like to bait him," Kylie said.

Molly shrugged. "It's my civic duty as his sister, right? You have any siblings?"

"No," Kylie said. She'd often wished for a sister or a brother, someone  to share the load with, someone with the same blood so she'd always have  them at her back. Friends like Molly, Elle, Pru and all the others had  filled the gap for her, but deep down there was a hole where family  should be.

Molly was watching Joe. "He pretends he's so tough, but I'm his  kryptonite. Thanks for making that gorgeous mirror for him to give to  me."

"He paid for it."

"Of course he did," Molly said. "Joe knows better than most that nothing  comes free. Not even friendship-or whatever it is that you two are  really up to. My point is that he'd never expect anything from you."

Kylie knew this. She wasn't sure how she felt about it. "Friends do stuff for friends."

"Not where we come from," Molly said. "My dad told me he met you. He  also told me you're going to be the one to bring Joe to his knees."

Something deep inside Kylie reacted to that. She wanted to say it was  denial. And maybe a week ago it would've been. Deep, dark,  head-in-the-sand denial. But today, right now, after all the things she  and Joe shared, all the intimacy . . . it wasn't denial at all.

It was hope, which was infinitely more dangerous.





Chapter 24





IllBeBack



Molly glanced at Kylie. "You look like you either just swallowed a bee or had an epiphany."

Kylie managed a laugh, but yeah. She'd just had a hell of an epiphany.

She was falling for Joe.

So not good and so not smart, but before she could freak out about it  too badly there were some cheering and a few groans across the bar.

Joe had won at pool.

"Yeah," Molly said, laughing wryly as her brother collected cash for his  victory. "Definitely the street rat in him still comes out here and  there. He can't change everything."

Kylie tore her gaze off Joe and looked at Molly. "Change? What has he changed?"

She shrugged. "Growing up, he was always . . . well, untamed."

"Don't see how that's changed at all," Kylie said dryly.

Molly laughed. "Trust me, he's definitely mellowed, a lot. Oddly enough,  the military did that for him. Or to him. Same with working at Hunt.  He's more focused now. Driven. And . . . caring."

"You guys are close. He cares about you very much."

"Yes," Molly said. "But a good part of that is guilt."