Betting the Bad Boy (Behind the Bar)

by Stefanie London

  Was it possible she’d hit a nerve? Noah had acted amused at the time, like her words were nothing more than twigs being flung at a boulder. But perhaps he was more sensitive than he let on. She looked up at him. The night shadowed his face and the passing cars swept their headlights over his features, distorting his expression.

  “Tell me,” she said.

  “When you argue with someone, and I mean about something real, not about who forgot to unload the dishwasher, you can’t hide.” He jammed his hands into his pockets. “The only way that you come back from it is if the good feelings outweigh the bad. So by arguing, you’re betting that the other person will still accept you at the end.”

  Paige blinked. It’d never occurred to her to think of it like that—arguments were part of life. And disagreements of opinion were not a “throw everything on the line” type of deal. But then again, Paige’s family didn’t often argue about anything real. She’d been brought up never to air her dirty laundry, as her mother used to say. And her parents, while they had their squabbles every now and then, rarely went toe to toe. She’d assumed that was because they never had much to disagree on, but perhaps it was easier to sweep things under the carpet than to appear vulnerable.

  “That seems like an extreme way of looking at it,” Paige said. “People argue all the time.”

  “Maybe. But where I come from, arguments meant packing your bags.”

  The words wrenched in her chest. “I don’t understand.”

  “I was in the system for most of my childhood. Lived with a bunch of different foster families.” His tone was dead. No emotion. No vulnerability. Just flat, monotone nothingness.

  And yet it spoke volumes.

  “Oh.” She had no idea what else to say.

  “I got bounced around a bit. I guess I was what you might call ‘troubled.’” He made quotation marks with his fingers. “I didn’t like school…or authority. That meant a lot of the people I ended up with were disappointed with the merchandise. Figured they’d get some shiny little bundle of joy who was grateful for being saved…and instead they got me.”

  “And your sisters?”

  “Not blood related.” He cleared his throat. “But they’re still my family.”

  That explained why she hadn’t picked up on any resemblance at the bar. God, she felt like an idiot. She’d labeled Noah—stuck him into the box of moral-less playboys—when all he was doing was protecting himself.

  …

  Noah wasn’t quite sure what he’d been hoping to achieve with that little spiel about his past. But part of him wanted Paige to understand the real Noah, the reason behind his reluctance to engage in anything more than sex. Not to mention his reluctance to take on a position that sounded like more trouble than it was worth.

  Why? You’re used to people judging you—why the hell is she any different?

  There was no rhyme or reason to it, but Noah found himself wanting to defend his position. He found himself wanting to make her see that he was a good guy even if he couldn’t offer her exactly what she wanted. That his desire for casual sex wasn’t about collecting notches for his bedpost.

  It was about making sure he didn’t set himself up for failure.

  “Ginnie and Megan are my family,” he said. The omission of Amanda’s name danced in the back of his head, but he didn’t want to go there right now. “And Paul and Des are like my brothers. That’s all I need.”

  Paige bobbed her head. “You don’t keep in touch with your foster parents?”

  “No.” Despite unrelenting pressure from his sisters.

  “I feel like I have to share something now,” she said with a nervous laugh.

  They found their way to the edge of Southbank, the Yarra River cutting across the path in front of them. Despite the earlier rain, people were out in droves. The area was a bit of a tourist hot spot, but Paige wasn’t from Melbourne so he’d hoped she might enjoy it.

  “Why don’t we get a bite to eat and you can confess your sins over ice cream?”

  Her eyes lit up. “Ice cream? Excellent idea.”

  “Have you been here before?” They turned onto the strip that ran along the river.

  The iconic Crown Entertainment complex rose up to their right. It wasn’t his scene. The casino and five-star hotel were a little too flash for him with all the designer shops and restaurants that served tiny portions of food for insane prices. Not his jam at all. But there was one thing he liked about this part of Melbourne.

  “I don’t think so.” She shook her head. “We used to come in to Melbourne every six months or so but it was usually to do something specific like go shopping for a special outfit or to see a show. We never ventured down this end of town.”

  “So you haven’t seen the dragons, then?”

  “What?” She raised a brow, her adorable freckle-covered nose wrinkling.

  He glanced at his watch. “They won’t arrive for another twenty minutes. Let’s get our ice cream and then we can sit here and wait.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I haven’t heard of any dragons.”

  He reached out for her hand. “Just go with it, okay?”

  “Fine.” She slid into his grip. “But this place better have mint chocolate chip.”

  “And if they don’t?” His interlaced his fingers with hers as they walked toward the ice cream shop, which had a long line snaking from the counter.

  “I’m tapping out and finding a supermarket.” She grinned. “It’s mint chocolate chip or bust.”

  “Do you always get what you want?”

  “Absolutely.”

  They joined the end of the line. Paige’s hand was still nestled in his, and she hadn’t made a move to change that. It was impossible not to feel how smooth and slender her fingers were, or to imagine them gliding over his body. Despite the red flags popping up in his head, he wanted her more than ever. He wanted to win that bet and taste the sweet victory of her surrender on his lips.

  Something niggled deep in his chest. Spending time with Paige didn’t resemble a usual “date” or make him feel the way he normally did when trying to seduce a woman. With her, he felt a little raw. A little exposed. She asked too many questions and picked him apart with her eyes. He was off balance, and he didn’t like it one bit.

  “Okay,” he said as they inched forward toward the window of neon-bright desserts. “I told you something about me, so now it’s your turn. How about you tell me why you’re so hung up about casual sex.”

  A dark expression flittered across her face. “Do I need a reason?”

  “No. Your parents obviously did a better job at instilling values in you than mine did with me.” He cocked his head. “But I think there’s more to it.”

  “My brother got a girl pregnant not long after his twenty-first birthday.” Her gaze drifted to the slow parade of people walking up and down the river’s edge. “He’d been away at university for three years and had offers for a bunch of highly coveted graduate programs in Melbourne. But then he came home, briefly, and had a one-night stand. She ended up getting pregnant.”

  Noah swore under his breath. “That’s rough.”

  “And that might be fine if you’re in a big city and no one knows your business, but in a small town everybody knows everything. When it was clear he still planned on leaving, people started calling him a deadbeat dad, and my parents were horrified.” She let out a rough laugh. “That’s not the kind of people we are. We take responsibility for our actions.”

  “What did he do?”

  “He turned down the job offers and proposed to the girl, but they broke up eventually. They never loved each other, and staying together for the sake of their son made them both unhappy.” The line shuffled forward, and Paige moved zombielike, her hand still entwined with his. “She gave him hell over custody, saying that if he moved away he wouldn’t be able to see Bradley because she didn’t have a car to drive him back and forth. So my brother gave up everything. All that time he s
pent studying, all those job offers. Poof, gone.”

  “And now he still lives there?”

  “Yep. Bradley is thirteen now, and he’s a smart kid. My brother can’t move away, not while Brad’s doing so well at school. His mother is flaky, too, disappears all the time, so John looks after him more often than what they’d agreed. He doesn’t mind, of course, but he’s tied to that place now.” She sighed. “He’s stuck there.”

  “What does he do?”

  “He works part time for my parents and is doing some study by correspondence to try to get a qualification in something useful, since they don’t have too much need for his international relations degree.” Her eyes were fixed on something in the distance. “He had all these dreams of seeing the world, but he never even got his passport.”

  Shit. Noah felt for the guy. He understood all too well what it meant to get screwed over by life’s circumstances. To feel like you fell short because of a bad decision.

  “It might have been okay if he’d loved the girl—they could have made it work and moved around for his job. But she treated him like crap and made him miserable.” Paige sighed. “And now he struggles with dating because a lot of women his age aren’t ready to deal with a teenage boy.”

  The line had shrunk ahead of them, and before he had the chance to respond they were greeted by a young woman in a white apron. “What can I get you?”

  “Single scoop mint chocolate chip,” Paige said, and then she turned to Noah. “What’s your poison?”

  The sadness had cleared from her eyes and she smiled, but it was a guarded expression. One that told him not to push.

  “You can choose for me,” he said, pressing his hand to the small of her back.

  “How am I supposed to know what you like?”

  He winked. “You’ve done a pretty good job so far.”

  There was a slight twitch on her lips and the flicker of something dark and excited in her eyes. “Okay, it’s your funeral.”

  Two minutes later Noah was walking away to some curious stares. Apparently, this creamy monstrosity was called a Perfect Princess. The purple scoop of bubble-gum ice cream had been dipped in pink sprinkles and had edible glitter dusted on top. A little stick with the top shaped like a crown stuck out one side. As they walked to the river’s edge, people raised their brows, and one little girl had pointed and proclaimed “I want one!” at the top of her lungs.

  “How is it?” Paige asked, barely able to contain the laughter.

  He might look ridiculous as all get-out, but he wasn’t about to let her win that easily.

  “Delicious. Easily the best ice cream I’ve ever tasted.” He dragged his tongue across the top and tried not to choke on the tooth-achingly sweet dessert. “No idea why I haven’t tried it before.”

  Paige dropped down onto a metal bench and tucked her feet underneath her. “You’d better eat every last bite of that. I don’t treat everyone to ice cream, you know.”

  “Don’t worry.” He took the spot next to her. “I have a big appetite.”

  Her eyes flickered over him as she ran her tongue along her mint-green scoop. “I’m sure you do.”

  Noah chuckled to himself and leaned back against the bench. The ice cream was disgusting—but he was going to eat every last bit of it. Not only because he wanted to get the better of Paige but because he wanted to keep the night going as long as possible.

  Instead of feeling stifled by his confessions about his past, he was curiously light. Unburdened. Shrink after shrink had told him to “open up” about his feelings, claiming it would help him deal with the anger and regret and frustration that’d plagued him since childhood. He’d never believed them. But Paige had a way of coaxing the real him to the fore, and she wasn’t backing away.

  He slid an arm along the back of the bench and she took the cue to scoot closer. For once, he wasn’t putting on the moves. Simply being next to her had soothed the rough patches on his soul. And that was an entirely new feeling.

  Chapter Twelve

  Noah dutifully consumed his ice cream, despite it looking like something a baby unicorn had vomited up. She appreciated his good nature in playing along, but her choice wasn’t simply about playing a joke. The thing was, Paige was precariously close to letting her attraction to him go from a flickering flame to a blazing inferno.

  She’d hoped that watching him eat that ridiculous purple ice cream wouldn’t be sexy. I mean, it wasn’t possible for a guy to hold something so childish in his hand and still look like a sex god, right?

  Wrong. Noah’s tongue darted out to swipe against the vibrant scoop, and Paige’s insides fluttered. The skill with which he commanded his mouth was borderline criminal. It was oh so easy for her brain to connect the visual to her fantasies, to imagine how good that tongue would feel licking her from head to toe.

  “Uh, Paige.” Noah pointed to her ice cream. “You’re melting.”

  She blinked and shook the obscene images from her head. “Well, it’s hot.”

  “Sure is.” He grinned.

  She caught the trail of green running down her hand with a tissue. Damn it. This was exactly why Noah was bad for her—he had a remote detonation button for her brain cells.

  “You’re insufferable, you know that, right?” She couldn’t stop the tug of a smile at the corner of her lips.

  “I have no idea what that means, but I’m taking it as a compliment.” He crossed one long leg, resting his ankle on top of his knee.

  He took up most of the bench, his broad shoulders and bulky arms crowding her in the most delicious way. Her gaze landed on the muscles in his throat, watching them work as he devoured his cone. Gold hair flopped over his eyes, too long and too damn sexy. He had the kind of hair that told of hours in the sun, his skin tanned to match.

  “You’re staring again,” he said with a wink.

  “Just thinking how hilarious you look right now. Damn, I should have taken a photo.” She slapped her thigh. “It would have gotten me a few likes on Instagram.”

  “Taunt me all you want, Paige. I’ll get my revenge.”

  She didn’t dare tell him that he’d already won. Her head and heart were at a disconnect—actually, make that her head and her lady parts. Her heart had nothing to do with it.

  Then why do you care about who he is…about where he’s come from?

  Hearing him open up about his childhood had done something funny to her insides. That little peek at his vulnerability made her want to crawl into his lap and kiss him until her lips were bruised and puffy. But what if she gave in and then he discarded her? She couldn’t risk it. Right now, there was too much else for her to worry about—she needed to find a job and somewhere to live. Stressing over whether or not a man was going to use her didn’t factor in to that equation.

  “The dragons are almost here.” Noah’s hand landed on her shoulder, the touch burning her skin and sending a frisson of excitement right through her.

  “Where?” Paige scanned the area, but all she could see was the inky reflection of the Yarra River and the throngs of people out enjoying the summer air.

  “Look up.”

  She tilted her face to the sky. “Where? I don’t see—”

  Her words were cut short when the sky was suddenly filled with vibrant gold light. Flames roared from the top of a pillar close to them, the searing heat flooding over her skin for the briefest second.

  An “ooooh” sound rose from the crowd, which had come to a halt. Paige pushed herself up and stood on the bench to get a better view. The flames whooshed again, and this time the crowd cheered. She closed her eyes as the wave of heat fell over her once more. The light show went on for a few minutes. There were pillars dotting the whole length of the walkway and they came to life in time and then one by one, the light racing from one end to the other. Flames bursting to some magical, silent tune.

  It was like fireworks only more…dragon-y.

  “Does this happen all the time?” she asked, dropping back to the gr
ound and finishing off the last bite of her ice cream. She dumped the container and spoon into a nearby bin.

  “Every hour on the hour as soon as the sun goes down.” He stood and held out the last bit of his ice cream. “Want a taste?”

  “It’s all yours, buddy. Don’t try to wriggle your way out of it.” She jabbed him in the chest with a finger.

  His free hand snaked out and caught her wrist, making her feel like a fly who’d stumbled into a spider’s web. His grip was gentle, but firm. Every nerve in her body hummed at the touch, at the closeness of him.

  “You know I’m not going to sleep tonight with all this sugar.” His voice had dropped to a low rumble. The sound rubbed along her skin, causing her nerves to spark. “What am I going to do tomorrow when I have to get up for work?”

  Paige gulped as he released her. His mouth consumed what was left of the ice cream, and he bit into the cone with a crunch. “Maybe have some warm milk before you go to bed. That always helps me sleep.”

  “Warm milk? Christ, you are too innocent for me.” He tossed the remainder of the cone into the bin.

  “I’m not innocent.” She resisted the urge to poke him in the chest again. “But I know what I want.”

  “And you don’t want me?” His tone made it sound as though he knew the answer. As though he knew to the very depth of her desire how much she did want him. “You want a guy who’s going to give you warm milk before bed. Is that it?”

  Did she want a boring, sweet, safe guy? She’d thought so once. But when her last boyfriend had announced he was leaving, Paige had shocked herself by having absolutely no feelings at all. He could’ve announced he was going down the street to get some orange juice for all she’d cared.

  “I want a guy who’s in it for the long haul.” She swallowed, remembering the burning rejection she’d felt when she’d seen her university boyfriend with another girl on his arm the day after she’d slept with him for the first time. After she’d slept with anyone for the first time. He hadn’t even told her that she was dumped. “I want a guy who’s going to commit to me.”