by Wendy Vella
“You ready to go home now?” Maggs came to where she stood with Joe.
“She’s coming home with me.”
Bailey felt Joe’s hand on her spine.
“If I want to?”
“Do you?” He held her eyes.
“Yes.”
Maggie accepted with a knowing smile. “About time, if you ask me.”
Her friend hugged her hard, and then left with Luke and Jack. As everyone was aware of what had happened to Bailey earlier, and no one was leaving solo until that man had been caught.
After the last customer had gone, she went with Joe to his pickup.
“Did you recognize that man at all, Bailey?” he said as they drove down the main street.
“No, he was in the shadows, plus his face was lowered.” Bailey had heard something in his voice that made her look at him. “Why do you ask, Joe?”
He hesitated.
“Tell me.”
“My father has been seen around Ryker.”
“But he would have no reason to attack me, surely? Besides, how did he know I’d be out there at that time?”
“I don’t know. Maybe he knows about us, and recognized you.”
“What us? We’ve barely spent any time together.”
“I can’t be within a foot of you, Bailey, and someone not know what I’m thinking, and tonight you stood up for me in public.”
She didn’t want to feel the slither of fear that crawled up her spine, but it was there nonetheless.
“I won’t let him hurt you, Bailey.”
“I can look after myself, Joe.”
“Sure, kick-ass chick is what you are, but I have your back too, just like you had mine tonight.”
She thought about that as they drove through Ryker, and liked the idea that someone had her back.
Bailey was silent as he pulled his pickup into the garage. Switching off the engine, Joe got out and came round the hood to join her.
“What is that noise?”
Joe listened as Buzz’s yowls increased in volume.
“Buzz is letting me know he’s not impressed that I left him home alone. With, I might add, a large rawhide bone, and soft bed, which he won’t use, as he will have slept on the furniture, and his favorite music playing.”
“Wow, it’s really loud.”
“This is the side to that mutt that the townspeople don’t see. He sulks, spits up on things, and chews my shoes.”
“He’s the best dog I’ve ever known.”
“Not you too,” Joe said, brushing a kiss over her hair. “Come inside and be quiet, I want you to see the treatment I get from him when he’s pissed off like he is now.”
Joe opened the door and led Bailey though the mudroom, and down a hall, into the living area.
“Hey there, Buzz.” His dog was sitting with his back to the door Joe and Bailey had just entered. “Come on, bud, don’t be a baby, come and greet me.”
Buzz yowled out a chorus of what Joe liked to think of as insults, and refused to face him. Beside him, Bailey giggled.
“He’s so cute.”
The dog turned so fast, his neck had to have cracked. He then got up with a loud, joyous woof, and ran at Bailey. She dropped to her knees and hugged him.
“Hello,” Joe said. “Owner here. You know, the one who feeds and puts a roof over your head,” he said, and was ignored by those participating in the mutual admiration festival taking place before him.
“Be nice to your daddy, Buzz.”
The dog looked up at him, and gave him a small tail wag.
“Gee, thanks, Buzz, I’m overwhelmed. Now you’re going outside for a run.”
Joe took the dog out, leaving the door open for when he was ready to come back in, which he knew from experience would be some time. When he came back inside she was looking out the windows.
“This is amazing, Joe.”
The main feature in here was the floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out at the mountains. The moon was bright tonight, and showed off the view.
“It’s so beautiful.”
It was, he acknowledged, looking at her. The room was pretty awesome too. He’d lived here for long enough that the thrill should have passed, yet he still felt it when he realized that this was all his. When you came from nothing, you tended to love what you eventually got. Joe loved this place.
The cream walls held artwork he’d picked up on his travels. Each had its own memory.
“That’s one of Maggie’s.”
Bailey walked to where a miniature bronze statue of a man stood. His hands were spread wide, and his face could only be described as elated.
“What is it called?”
“Freedom.” He’d had to have it the minute he’d laid eyes on it.
Bailey traced a finger down the arm.
“It’s beautiful.”
“I thought so,” Joe said. In fact, what he’d thought when he saw it was that it symbolized the man he now was. Free from his past, and living life as he wanted.
“I understand how he feels.”
Joe slipped his arms around her, and she turned to face him.
“Do you feel free now, Bailey?”
She nodded. “Since coming to Ryker I’ve felt freer than I ever have before. Just as you do.” Her fingers traced the lines of his forehead and then down his nose. Just the lightest of contact, yet Joe felt it through his entire body. She rose to her toes when her hand reached his lips and replaced her fingers with her mouth.
He let her set the pace, let her kiss him, explore him. Joe knew she was inexperienced, he also knew she needed this, to find the confidence to take things further. His body went up in flames with the first tentative touch of her tongue. Innocent, yes, but so goddamned sweet she had him hard in seconds.
He cupped the back of her head and angled it, allowing her better access, then gently took it deeper. Joe felt her hands on the buttons of his shirt. With each one she opened, her fingers brushed the skin beneath, and he was an inferno as she reached the last, then pushed the edges open and slid her hands inside. The breath hissed in his throat as she touched him. She turned him inside out, and made him feel things he’d never felt.
“I love your body.”
He managed a strangled groan as she leaned in and kissed his exposed skin. Her lips then trailed every inch of his chest, leaving him reeling. The breath rasped in and out of his throat as her hands moved to the buttons on his jeans. Flicking each one open, she slid a hand inside and caressed him. His body was rock-hard, and her touch was exquisite torture, but he made himself stand still, made himself let her do what she wanted. When her finger traced the band of his shorts, he nearly expired.
“Bailey, you’re killing me here.”
Her hand stopped. “Am I doing it wrong?”
“No... hell no,” he managed to get out. “You’re doing it right, and because I want you so much that right is driving me crazy.”
“Oh.” She liked that idea, he knew because a sultry little smile played around her mouth.
“Oh, indeed.” He kissed the smile away, and didn’t let up until she was sagging against him. He then stroked her dress up her lovely body, and stripped off her bra and panties.
“Sh-should we... your bed?” She sighed as he picked her up and walked backward.
“I won’t make it.” He settled her on the cabinet, and braced his hands on either side of her. “You know that orgasm you had the other night?”
She nodded.
“We’re going for round two.” Joe kissed his way down her body, spending time on her breasts, teasing, nibbling, and then sucking a nipple into his mouth. Moving lower when she was panting, he placed hot, openmouthed kisses on her stomach, then moved lower.
“Oh my.” Her hips jerked as he stroked his tongue over the soft, wet folds between her legs. “That’s....” Her words fell away on a long, soft moan. Joe had never heard anything so erotic. He teased her, pushing her forward to a climax, then swept his tongue over the hard b
ud, and she lost it.
“Jesus, you are one sexy woman.” Joe looked at her. Hair now loose, breasts full, a heavy-lidded look in her eyes.
“I want to do that to you.”
“Not tonight, I don’t have that much restraint.”
The thought of her mouth on him had him ripping open a foil pack and sheathing himself. Joe stepped between her legs, and slid home. It was slow this time; he eased out and then back in a few times.
“More,” she begged as he pulled out again.
“Seeing as you asked nicely,” he managed to get out. Thrusting back in harder this time, he set the pace, and was rewarded with her body tightening about him. Their breathing became labored, and she called his name as she came in a shuddering rush. Joe followed seconds later.
Once their breathing had slowed, and he thought his legs would hold, Joe lifted her into his arms and carried her to the door.
“Buzz, get your ass in here!”
The dog galloped inside and straight to the kitchen. Joe shut the door, then hit the lights, and headed up the stairs; he had just enough energy to make it to his bed. Pulling back the covers, he lowered Bailey onto it, and followed. Hauling her back into his arms, he closed his eyes. She was slumbering before him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Bailey woke with her back pressed to Joe’s front, and his hand around her waist. She felt surrounded by him, and having never slept with a man the entire night before, she thought it was something she could get used to. The night had been a revelation of feelings and emotion. He’d wrung so much out of Bailey she wasn’t sure she could put herself back together the way she’d always been, contained, unemotional. He’d demanded she participate, demanded she tell him what she was feeling, and she had. She wanted to purr as his hand stroked her thigh.
“I stood at the end of the main street the day you left, and watched you drive away. I remember thinking, there goes part of me.” He spoke the words into her hair, his face resting there. “The pain in my chest was physical, and I’m ashamed to say I went a bit crazy. I wasn’t strong enough to cope with how I felt losing you, Bailey.”
“I cried for hours,” she said. “My mother got angry with me, and said I needed to grow up, but I couldn’t stop. The sadness and desperation gripped my entire body. It was like I couldn’t function without you.” Maybe because she wasn’t looking at Joe, Bailey could say the words. Whatever the reason, it felt good to finally let them out. “At the time it hurt so badly to leave you that I wondered if I would carry that pain forever.”
His lips settled on her shoulder.
“You’d asked me to be the best man I could be for you, Bailey, and I failed for a while. I lost my way totally after you left.”
“Oh, Joe, I’m sorry.” Bailey had to face him now. She rolled onto her back and looked up at him. “That must have been a terrible time for you all.”
His lips touched hers in a kiss that was so sweet she felt it through her entire body.
“I rebelled against Aunt Jess and the rules she wanted to put in place. In fact, I pretty much rebelled against everything and everyone. I missed the one person who I felt knew me... understood where I was coming from. You were mine alone, Bailey. I had to share you with no one, and suddenly you were gone. I’m ashamed to say I became a bad person.”
Bailey cupped his cheek. “But you came through it, and that’s what matters, Joe. I just went further into myself. I never wrote to you about how I really felt, just kept it light—”
“I know. I read about where you lived, the city, and what you were doing, but never a word about how you were feeling.”
“I couldn’t put that on you.”
“I wish you had, maybe then I wouldn’t have been such an ass, and picked up a pen and written back. But one thing in all those letters that never changed was the closing line.”
“I miss you so much, Joe.” Bailey remembered writing the words over and over again.
His smile was sad. “I read those letters so many times, trying to read between the lines.”
“I thought you were throwing them away.”
“Never.”
“I’m glad you turned things around, Joe. Glad I came back here and found you happy, because I always wondered.”
“Is that why you came back?”
“I don’t know... maybe, or maybe I just came here because it was somewhere that once, for a brief period of time, I actually felt like I belonged. Both you and Maggs gave me that.”
“I’m glad you came back, and for now that’s enough.”
Joe kissed her again, long and slow. He then picked up her hand and kissed the scar that ran down her wrist and into the palm.
“Does it still hurt?”
“Sometimes, just an ache, but it’s better.”
“How did it happen?”
“I was running, actually, down some stairs, because I was late for practice, and I tripped and fell through the window at the bottom.”
“Christ, you’re lucky these were all you ended up with.”
“I was. The surgeons said that.”
“And you spent time in hospital?”
“That was where I did some thinking, and realized I needed to change my life. Grandfather wasn’t happy, but I didn’t care. I did rehab, then told him I wanted a break. He refused, we argued, so I left. I simply packed up my things, and walked out the door.”
“I hate that you were in pain, Bailey, but I can’t be unhappy about the fact that you came back to me. I’m just sorry that your accident was the catalyst.”
His smile was gentle, as was the kiss he placed on her lips. It grew deeper, and when he slid inside her, Bailey was soon lost to all thought but him.
When Bailey arrived at the stables, she found Jack in the office. He swiveled in his chair to look at her.
“You have the same smile on your face that Joe had when I saw him earlier.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Sure you do. The ‘I’m extremely happy with myself’ smile.”
Bailey wasn’t used to people speaking like that, especially about personal stuff.
“Bailey, Bailey, Bailey,” Jack said, rocking back in his chair as color filled her face. “You need to harden up to that kind of thing if you and my brother are in a relationship. You’ll get a bucketload of teasing from the others, believe me. I’m just warming you up.”
“We’re not.”
“Not what?”
“In a relationship.” Are we? The thought of being in a committed relationship with Joe was both terrifying and exciting.
“So it’s just sex then?”
“Jack!”
“Sorry, I couldn’t resist.” The smile fell away. “But for what it’s worth, Bailey, I like the idea of you and my brother being together. The history between you also supports that.”
“Joe told you?” Bailey wasn’t sure how she felt about that, because for so long it had been their secret.
“Some, but not all. And thanks for watching out for him when he needed it, and we couldn’t.”
“He watched out for me too.”
“Good to know. Now, I need you to ride Rae and Lou, then lunge Jacqui. I’ll take Sandy and Beccy when I get back.”
“Should you be riding?”
“I’m better.” He dismissed her words. “But I have to go to the hospital for a checkup, and then meet this guy who wants to sell me his horse.”
“I’ll take Sandy and Beccy out if I have time and you’re not back.”
“Are you sure? It’ll be just you here.”
“Do I look soft or something?” She narrowed her eyes at Jack.
“Wellllll, you do have that Boston rich-girl look, and those soft hands.”
“Which have been working for you for a while now, so watch it, buddy, or I’ll demand a pay raise.”
He laughed, then ruffled her hair. “Can you feed Kimi too? She’s about ready to have her kittens.”
“You guys and your female animals. It’s r
eally unsettling,” Bailey said, following him from the room.
“We like to be surrounded by females, what can I say. Plus, we have Arthur and Blue, so that evens the numbers some.”
She swatted his shoulder, and he laughed, heading out the stable doors.
Bailey saddled Lou first, after they’d had a cuddle, and headed outside. The horse was a big baby, and loved to be hugged. Buzz had decided to stay with her today, and ran alongside as she took the horse on a slow canter over the paddocks.
Looking around, she still couldn’t take it in, that Bailey Jones, concert pianist, was riding a horse for a living, and mucking out stables. She loved it. Playing the piano was in her blood, but for now this was something she wanted to do. If she could also play at A.S., then she was happy.
“Joe,” Bailey sighed.
What she felt for him scared her, there was no getting around it. Last night had been one of the most wonderful nights of her life, but what now?
To blow away the thoughts tumbling around inside her head, Bailey urged the horse into a gallop. Muscles bunched beneath her as he sprang forward, and soon the wind was in her face, and she was smiling. Turning when they were both breathless, she headed back. Buzz was waiting for her in the doorway.
“Did we go a bit fast for you, boy?”
He gave her a woof, and a tail wag. Bailey rode into the stables, and dismounted. After rubbing the horse down, she gave him some food, then saddled Rae.
When she was done with the horses, Bailey put the tack away. She got a dog biscuit for Buzz, and topped up his water, then fed Kimi, who was settled in a stall in a pile of hay. Her belly was big now, and Bailey thought the kittens would be arriving any day.
Back in the tack room, Bailey took a soda out of the fridge, then sat in a chair and drank until her thirst eased. She’d never guzzled in such an unladylike manner before, and the thought of what her grandfather and those she’d mixed with while playing concerts might think made her giggle. When the tack room door slammed, she rolled her eyes. Jack must have come back early. Getting to her feet she tried to open it but it wouldn’t budge.
