11. All The Details
ALL THE DETAILS
“You kissed Baker? Baker Hansen?”
Tasha looked over at Micah playing with Dylan at Margo’s house, neither child aware of the conversation that was going on behind them, both absorbed in crashing cars into each other.
“It’s the only Baker I know.”
Margo’s eyes grew almost as big as the hormones in her body ready to claw out and yank Baker to her room last night despite the fact she’d said she didn’t do those things.
“What? When? Where? Tell me about it.”
She grabbed Margo’s hand and pulled her into the kitchen where they could see the kids still playing. “I’m trying to do that,” she said, laughing and doing a spin around the island. “But you’re not letting me.”
“Oh, my God. You’re glowing. Did you have sex?”
She snorted. “No.”
“But you wanted to.”
“Hell yeah, but I wouldn’t have.” She waved her hand. “We are getting off track.”
“We are. You need to catch me up. You haven’t said a word to me about him other than like ten days ago when you asked if I knew if he was the one Jolene had her sights set on.”
“He is.”
“How did you find out?” Margo asked. “I couldn’t very well ask her or she’d know we were talking. And you know once she knows everyone is onto her, she digs in even deeper.”
“I know. I hadn’t talked to Baker for a week. Then yesterday I’m coming home from dropping Micah off at my parents.”
“Your night alone. I hate that for you. You know you can come hang out with me.”
“I have before, but you worked yesterday, so you want to come home and relax. And I remember how tired I was at the end of the day when I was pregnant. Then add in you’ve got Dylan.”
Margo put her hand on Tasha’s arm. “No need to explain, but I’ll always be here for you, you know that.”
“I do. And that’s why I’m here with Micah rather than at home playing with him. I had to tell someone and you’re the only one I can and who understands the situation we are in on top of it.”
“Back to your story. I want all the details.”
She leaned over to see the boys still playing, then turned back to her best friend. “I got a flat tire driving home yesterday afternoon.”
Once she finished the story about Baker noticing her, fixing her tire, her cleaning his cut, then washing his shorts, and ending with a kiss, Margo’s eyes couldn’t have gotten any bigger.
“He just kissed you for no reason? Like a thank you for dinner?”
“I kind of left out the part where we talked about Jolene.”
“So you both know it’s the other?” Margo asked, her fingers gripping her arm harder, the laughter rolling out.
“Yes. Okay. First, let me just describe the kiss to you.” She fanned herself dramatically. “Wow, baby. Scorching. I mean it. I’ve felt nothing like that before. Ever. The way he pulled me in, that little slip in his control was just enough for me to walk away if I wanted.”
“And you didn’t want to!” Margo squealed.
“No way.” She grinned. “And get this. I actually started it. I made the first move. But mine was playful.”
“Then Baker took charge?” Margo demanded, practically bouncing on her toes.
God, she had missed this.
Missed sharing the good parts, the breathless parts, the maybe-this-could-be-something parts with someone who cared.
She’d never had those things with Shane. She’d kept everything with him quiet and tucked away, like she’d known deep down that something wasn’t right.
That too many pieces didn’t fit no matter how hard she’d tried to force them.
The two weeks he was gone and barely reachable. The rare responses, always during the school day when she was teaching, never at night when they were supposedly both home. Then the rushed phone calls while he was always out somewhere and never consistent.
A dozen red flags she’d painted pretty bright colors.
What an idiot she’d been to not see that.
But she was no idiot with Baker.
She put it all out there and got the reward for her risk.
The moment he pulled her closer, something in the air charged.
She’d barely had time to breathe before his hand slid to the back of her neck, and his thumb brushed the soft spot just beneath her ear. It wasn’t rough, but it wasn’t gentle either. It was certain. Like he’d been holding himself back for far too long.
She started the kiss in a light, teasing way. The kind that invites more rather than demands it.
But the second her lips touched his, he inhaled sharply, like she’d knocked the wind from him. Like for that moment she just had to gain a tiny bit of control for her own peace of mind.
Then he took over.
His mouth claimed hers in a slow, deep pull that made her knees weaken. Heat uncurled low in her belly as he drew her closer, eliminating every inch of space until she could feel the steady thrum of his heartbeat against her chest.
His hand slid from her neck to her waist, his fingers flexed with the kind of restraint that felt more dangerous than if he’d simply given in.
He kissed like a man walking a razor’s edge. Controlled enough to let her choose to step back, but intense enough to make her forget why she ever would.
“Oh, he took control,” she murmured. “Then he handed it to me, then snatched it back before I could grip it tight.”
“Your face is so red right now it’s as if you can feel it happening all over again.”
Her hands went to her chest. This was so dangerous it was almost painful and she wasn’t sure she could survive it again.
But she was willing to give it a try. With boundaries.
“It feels it. Feels like something I’ve waited for forever. One of those fairytale kisses you only ever dream about. Tell me I’m nuts. I don’t want to be an idiot again. I don’t think I can handle it a second time.”
“You’re getting me worked up enough that I might jump Liam when he walks in the door. No, you’re not being an idiot. Baker is a great guy. He has to be if Jolene has him on her list.”
She thought of that too. “Go for it. Jump your husband when he gets home.”
“Mama.” She turned when Micah came running in. “Drink.”
“Do you want water or milk?” Margo asked, automatically reaching for one of Dylan’s sippy cups.
“Milk,” Micah said.
“Dylan,” Margo called out to her son. “Do you want milk?”
“Yes, please.”
They filled the cups and handed them off, then went back to the living room to finish this conversation, just quietly now and with less excitement.
She got everything out for now.
The tingles and the giddiness of feeling free for just a few hours in her life again.
“Now tell me the rest,” Margo said. “You said you talked?”
“We did. It was my suggestion and I need you to tell me I’m losing my mind.”
“I doubt I’m going to do that. Especially with how happy you look right now.”
“I feel it,” she said. “And that brings on guilt. Should I be happy over this? It’s not right.”
“What’s not right? Being attracted to a single man who shares the same with you? He is single, by the way. No way Jolene would consider anyone who wasn’t.”
“I know. And you know my trust is very fragile. I told him that. I didn’t explain why. I told him Micah’s father is off the table in terms of a conversation.”
“How did he take that?”
“Well. He said something that I won’t share. It’s not important other than I think he let it slip and then I questioned him and he didn’t want to share. Something about trust too. So that is off the table too.”
“Seems fair for now, but it can’t stay that way forever if you want this to materialize into anything.”
“That’s the thing. I proposed it as us both dipping our toes in. No commitment but exclusive.”
“Friends with benefits?” Margo whispered. “I never thought you’d do something like that.”
“We aren’t. Not really. I don’t know if it has a term. I think it’s that maybe we both have some hesitations. Neither of us is the type we normally both go for either. And I don’t want him to meet Micah or be in his life right now, so that limits things.”
“Makes sense. He was okay with that?”
“Yes. So it’s kind of a weird situation. The kiss was to see if there was even chemistry.”
“Sounds to me like you almost blew up the lab with that kiss.”
“I don’t know why I thought it’d be otherwise. I’ve noticed him for weeks. He said he did the same as me. Now we live close to each other. Just one of those other connection things.”
“So tell me this. What’s the next step?” Margo asked.
“That’s the problem. I just don’t know. We had no answer other than we exchanged numbers. We’ll chat casually at work, but anything more will throw up flares and I’m not ready for that.”
“But you said Mason and Ben know what Jolene is doing. Even Gavin. And I find that whole thing funny with Gavin, but he’s a riot when he gets involved. He had a lot to do with Faith’s setup.”
“You told me.”
“Jolene was so mad about that, so Gavin gets his fun in too.”
“In his way,” she said. “I don’t think this is part of it, but it sounds like Gavin really likes Baker a lot.”
“Gavin loves his liquor and that the business expanded into that,” Margo said. “I know he spends almost as much time with Baker as he did Mason early on.”
“I hadn’t realized that. I’ll keep that in mind.”
And that Baker had slipped and said something negative about his father.
“You still didn’t say what the next step is.”
“Because I just don’t know. I guess we’ll find out together.”
Which almost made the anticipation just as great. At least she hoped so.