“When you stopped talking to me, I thought you wanted to leave.  Then, you did.  With Jim.”

“Oh.”  I didn’t know what to say for a moment.  His eyes burned into mine, capturing me even through the beer haze.  My hands came to life at my side, reaching up to clutch the fabric of his shirt near his stomach.  My knuckles brushed his hard muscles.  I melted a little.

He exhaled and closed the distance between us.  As he lowered his head, excitement burst like a bubble within me, randomly splattering my insides with a cold fire.  The room tilted.  My blood rushed, and my eyes fluttered closed.  I held my breath, lifted my face, and forgot my vow to confine our relationship to the boundaries of friendship.

“Please stop,” he begged.

My eyes popped back open.  “What?” I asked confused.

His mouth hovered inches from mine.  The song changed.  A slow beat to match our sway.  I lifted myself up on tiptoes and let go of his shirt to wrap my arms against his neck.  I felt his breath on my lips.  So close...

He moved quickly, nudging my head to the side with his jaw, giving him access to bury his face in the curve of my neck.  His lips rested against my skin but didn’t move.  He inhaled deeply and groaned.

“Driving me crazy,” he murmured, answering my question.

It took me a moment to understand him.  I drove him crazy?  The look in his eyes, the way he held me, and what he’d just said added up to one conclusion.  Despite his previous assurance that he only wanted friendship, I thought he wanted to kiss me.  Had I misread the situation?  I tightened my arms around his shoulders, and he pulled me closer.  Nope.  I didn’t misread a thing.

“I don’t understand.”

“If you’ll let me, I’ll explain in the morning.  When you’re more lucid.”

The song ended, and he led me from the floor.  I stumbled a bit, the floorboards doing their best imitation of a rollercoaster.

“You found her.”  Jim grinned at me.  “Good.”  He handed Emmitt the truck keys and held out his hand, waiting for Emmitt to surrender the motorcycle key.  “You two have fun.”  He sat back on his stool and began to speak to the woman on his right.

Emmitt shook his head and tugged me toward the exit.  Tripping on the threshold, I fell through the door.  He spun and caught me before my eyes even locked on the gravel rising up to meet my face.  Without a word, he swung me up into his arms.  I snuggled into his warm chest and smiled, touching his shirt.

Chapter 10

I woke all at once.  Silence surrounded me.  Turning my head, left then right, I looked for the boys.  Their spots were empty, and I frowned and sat up.  The taste in my mouth distracted me; I needed a toothbrush.

I swung my legs out of bed and stepped on a piece of paper on the floor.  A childishly penciled arrow pointed to the hallway.  I picked up the paper and walked out of the room, curious.  I saw another paper in the living room but detoured to quickly brush my teeth and use the bathroom.

The arrow in the living room pointed to the door.  In the hall, another paper pointed to the apartment across from ours.  The fragrant aroma of browning bacon tickled my nose.  I moved to the door but stopped when I heard a childish giggle below.

Before I could peek over the railing, the door swung inward revealing Emmitt.  He held a spatula in one hand while he looked me over with a slow smile.  Behind him, bacon sizzled on the stove.  My stomach growled. Unlike the morning after tequila, I felt fine.

“Nice shirt,” he commented.

I looked down at the blue cotton t-shirt that almost covered the bottoms of my hello kitty cotton sleep shorts and fought to hide my smile.  “Thanks.  It’s really comfy.”

“I know,” he said shaking his head.  “Want some breakfast before we face the music for last night?”

I nodded, and he stepped aside.

“How’s your back?” I asked sitting on a new stool at the island.

Without furnishings, excluding the stools and cooking utensils, the sound of my voice rebounded off the walls.

“Fine.”  He grinned as he moved to turn the bacon.  “Is the floor behaving this morning?”

I laughed.  Last night, after he had carried me to the truck, the spinning had continued.  So much that I begged a piggyback ride upstairs when we returned home.  Not waiting for an answer, I’d leapt on him, bringing us both to the floor.  The ruckus brought Nana to her door.  She had looked at Emmitt with disapproval but only said that she would speak with us both in the morning.  Before she closed her door, she assured me that both boys were sleeping upstairs and hadn’t been any trouble.  Guilt had pierced me, then, and still did.  Sharp little jabs.

He set two plates next to the pan and split the bacon.  There had to be a whole pound between the two plates.  Leaving the grease in the pan, he fried up five eggs, sliding two on one plate and three on the other.  He added two pieces of buttered toast to each and set the smaller portioned plate in front of me.  I stared at the food, and my stomach gave a queasy twist.

“Too heavy after last night?” he asked, watching me.

I nodded.

He reached over, picked up a single piece of toast, handed it to me, then set the plate next to his.  “Better?”

“Much.”  I nibbled at the toast and watched him put away the grease-soaked food.  “I was thinking maybe we could spend today together.”

“We could all go to the lake again,” he offered.

I made a face.  “Maybe somewhere less public.  I’d like to learn more about you, like why a strong fast...person such as yourself could get knocked over by a nineteen-year-old light weight.  I’d prefer my brothers not see anything.”

“Nineteen?”  His fork clattered to his plate as he whipped his head around to stare at me.  He looked horrified when I hesitantly nodded.  “She’s going to kill me,” he mumbled pushing away his plate.

“What’s wrong?”  I set the half-eaten toast aside as I watched various emotions flit across his face.  Shock, concern, calculation, back to concern.

“We all assumed you were a bit older than that.”  He quickly gathered the dishes and stacked them near the sink.  “Come on.  Let’s get this over with.”  He offered his hand.

With a frown, I accepted it and followed behind him.

“Are you telling me I look old?”

“Ancient,” he threw over his shoulder with a wink.

As usual, both apartment doors stood open.  So did the main entrance door.  Outside, the boys were playing on the swing set.  Emmitt led us straight into Nana’s kitchen where Jim already sat contritely at the table.  Nana leaned against the counter, her eyes boring holes into Jim’s soul.  Well, that’s what it looked like anyway.

“Sit,” Nana said.

Emmitt held out a chair for me before seating himself.  I felt small and very guilty.  Taking a steadying breath, I opened my mouth to apologize for leaving her like I did, but she spoke first.

Nana’s gaze again drilled into Jim.  “Your irresponsibility knows no bounds.  What were you thinking taking her to a bar!  Our job is to keep her safe, not keep her stocked with booze.”

Keep me safe?  I blinked at the two repentant looking men, feeling as if I’d walked into a conversation near the end.  So this was about me being at the bar with Jim, not me leaving?

“And you,” she said to Emmitt, “are supposed to have her best interests at heart.”

Why was she putting so much of this on them?  It was my stupid decision.  I took a breath to say just that, but Emmitt beat me.

“That’s why I tracked her down and brought her back,” Emmitt quickly defended.  Jim grimaced.  That explained Emmitt’s earlier look of calculation.  He’d just thrown Jim under the bus.