I glance up, and the way he’s staring down at me sends a jolt through my heart. I suddenly want very badly for him to kiss me.
My gaze dips to his mouth, and I feel like I can’t breathe.
For months now I’ve been trying to deny that there was anything real between us. It was a simple flirtation, and that was as far as it would ever get. That was all it would ever mean to me, period.
I’ve denied it, because I don’t want this. I like my life just the way it is. It’s safe and simple and comfortable. Relationships make everything messy and confusing, and in the end, someone usually ends up getting hurt. I don’t need that in my life.
But sitting out here on the dock with the cool autumn breeze blowing across my skin and the afternoon sun peeking out from behind a cloud, this feels like the simplest thing in the world.
I want Colton Tucker to kiss me.
Something I haven’t wanted from any man in as long as I can remember.
My lips part so that I can draw a breath, but my heart is pumping so hard, it catches in my throat. Not once does Colton look away from my face, and as he moves toward me, half my body lights on fire in anticipation.
“Jojo, get up here,” Daddy calls from the porch. “You’ve got to see this. It’s hilarious.”
Colton pulls back and stands so fast, I’m surprised when he doesn’t fall backwards into the lake.
I sit up and run a nervous hand through my hair. “Coming,” I yell back.
Daddy disappears into the house, and Colton holds his hand out to me, helping me get back to my feet.
“Maybe we could—”
“I should go—”
We both start talking at the same time, and then laugh like awkward teenagers. The perfect moment has passed, and as we make our way back up to the house, I wonder if it will ever come again.
Chapter Twelve
“How many of y’all are ready for some good music tonight?”
The crowd at Rob’s is epic this weekend. Rob told me there was a line of fifty people still waiting outside when they had to close it down. I told him we better work on getting a bigger place, and he just laughed. But from the way things are going, Rob’s is quickly becoming the place to be on a Saturday night.
“I couldn’t hear you guys, I said who’s ready for some music?”
The screams get louder, and I search for those deep brown eyes behind the bar. Jo smiles and shakes her head, but I know she loves it.
“Okay, settle down. Y’all don’t have to scream. I can hear you,” I say, and everyone laughs. I turn to put my arm around the lead singer of this week’s band. “Let me introduce y’all to one of the best up-and-coming bands in the South. Out of Athens, Georgia, let’s give it up for Woodland Pride.”
The music begins and everyone goes wild. I heard the band during their warm-up, and they’re pretty darn good. Mostly covers with a few original songs thrown in, but I’ve got something really special in mind for a few weeks from now. If I can pull it off.
I can’t wait to tell Jo about it. She’s going to totally freak out.
I jump down off the stage and make my way through the crowd, my eyes on her.
It’s been a week since the day out at the lake, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about her. There was a moment there where I felt so connected to her, it scared me. I was pulled toward her, as if I couldn’t control myself or think of anything but wanting to kiss her.
If her father hadn’t come outside at just the wrong moment, we would have kissed. And there hasn’t been a minute since then that I haven’t wanted to do it again.
We worked together a few times over the past week, but we never had any time alone. There’s a part of me that wonders if it wasn’t a blessing that her daddy interrupted our kiss. She’s technically my boss, and this job is the best thing to come around for me in a long time. I can’t afford to mess this up, and the one surefire way to do that is to get involved with her.
It’s stupid, right? A fling with Jo would be amazing, and there isn’t a part of me that doubts how good it would be to turn