Page 36 of Lost and Found

Wes snickered. “I’ve seen you pressure people before. If that’s what this is now, you’ve lost your touch.”

“I have not. This is just…real life. Not an interview or a statement I’m trying to get.” Dinner. With Wes and Matt. It wasn’t as if she’d brought home a guy for her son to meet. They were coworkers, just as she’d introduced Wes to Matt. Did Wes have a girlfriend? He’d asked her about a relationship, but she hadn’t asked him. God, Bailey was overthinking this. She had to stop thinking of him as anything but a coworker.

Wes, once again unflappable, crossed the kitchen to her and ran his large hands down her arms. She drank him in, his scent, his strength, until he pulled away. The hair on her arms stood. She was in so much trouble.

“I’ll stay,” he said, his voice low and scratchy. With broad shoulders and a well-muscled chest, he towered over her. He didn’t say anything. Didn’t explain why he was so close, and she simply didn’t care, so long as he didn’t move away.

“Mom?” Matt called from the living room.

Bailey jumped back as though they’d been caught kissing. A blush bloomed on her cheeks. She ripped her gaze away from his full lips. “One second.” Wes held her gaze until she took another step back. “Give me a minute.”

“Whatever you need.”

She needed his mouth. His hands. She needed space. Bailey spun on her bare feet. Her skirt tangled around her legs as she hurried to Matt. “Hey, honey. What’s going on?”

“Can I have another Popsicle? Or maybe ice cream? Please?”

She laughed. A normal request on an otherwise strange evening. “No.”

“Are you sure I can’t have ice cream?”

She smoothed her hand over his hair. “How about we have the cookies we made after dinner instead?”

“Is Wes staying for dinner?”

Anxious, Bailey eased onto the couch next to Matt. “Is it okay if he does?”

“He looks like he eats a lot of food.”

She laughed, quelling the uneasiness in her belly. “Probably more than you do, but we have plenty to share.”

“Pizza, right?”

She nodded. “That was the plan. Are you still good with that?”

Matt reached for the remote. “Yeah. We should share with him.” He resumed the movie. “He can watch Mater if he wants.”

“I think we’re going to talk about work,” she said, and she meant it. Whatever his intention had been when Wes touched her arms, she’d read it wrong. He might’ve flirted on the phone, but in no possible situation did Wes want her. She’d focus on work when she returned to the kitchen. “But I’ll let him know.”

The movie had sucked Matt back in. “Uh-huh.”

She kissed his head and backtracked to Wes. “You’ve been invited to watch Cars if you want.”

He had relaxed while she’d been out of the kitchen, kicking back at her kitchen table. “I’d like that, but maybe later.”

His smile was genuine and made her heart squeeze. She didn’t know what to do with that, so she busied herself preheating the oven before joining him. Wes nudged out the chair in the corner adjacent to him. His gaze unnerved her. She couldn’t think when he watched her like that, and she fumbled for something to say. “What’s home like?”

His forehead creased. “My home?”

“Sure. Or where you grew up. Whatever you want to tell me.” She knotted her fingers. “Just curious.” And bad at small talk, apparently.

“Home. Hmm. Where I grew up… It was shitty.” He stuck his thumb out and turned it down. “Nothing worth sharing. But where I live now? That’s a pretty nice place. Sort of a valley town tucked in the side of the Blue Ridge. There’s a main street with all the small-town charm you can imagine.”

“That sounds nice—wait, I thought Titan Group had their office outside of DC?”

The oven beeped. Bailey hopped up, tossed in two frozen pizzas, and set the timer.

“That’s their main headquarters,” Wes explained. “Vivian runs a separate division in Granite Creek.”