That was really sweet. I just assumed he would make me fend for myself. And his brother came over here to check on me for his fiancé, and he didn’t have to do that. It seemed like everyone in his family, aside from Carly, was really nice. And I was the bitch. And I hated apologizing.
With a heavy sigh, I turned to Will. “I’m sorry I hit you over the head with the lamp. And tried to smother you with the pillow. And called you a bitch.”
He shrugged slightly. “It’s okay. I really just thought you were passed out.”
I nodded and looked away, unsure of the procedures from here.
“Thanks for stopping by, Will.”
“No problem. These are Charlie’s instructions,” he said, handing Joe a piece of paper. “She said that if she wasn’t feeling better in a few days or if the pain got worse, to come see her.”
“Thanks, man.”
“Sure.”
“Are you sure you don’t need a doctor?”
“I’ll be fine,” he grumbled. “Besides, she swings like a girl.”
“A girl that knocked you out,” I mumbled under my breath.
Will glared at me before heading to the door. Now that all the excitement was over, I was really feeling it in my ribs. I lowered myself onto the bed, cringing in pain. Joe walked back in the room and picked up the bandage.
“Do you want me to do this?”
“Well, now that I’m awake and know that you’re not some psycho here to molest me, sure.”
He muttered something under his breath, but I couldn’t understand him. He knelt down in front of me and cleared his throat. “I need you to…lift your shirt.”
“Oh.” Refusing to look at him, I lifted my shirt so that it was just up to my breasts. I inhaled sharply when I felt the bandage graze against my skin. It didn’t hurt, I was just hyper aware of how close Joe’s fingers were to my breasts. I held my breath as he gently wrapped the bandage around me, taking extra care not to hurt me. When his knuckles brushed against the underside of my breasts, I inhaled sharply.
“Am I hurting you.”
I couldn’t look at him, so I just shook my head. His whole hand slid across the expanse of my ribs, gently holding the bandage in place. My heart was beating out of control and my face heated. Hell, my whole body felt like it was on fire.
“Is it hot in here?” I asked, fanning myself with my other hand.
His eyes met mine and there was something different about the way he was looking at me. I couldn’t look away. I was locked in this trance and all I saw was him. I licked my lips, panting slightly from the way he was touching me. And then I wondered what it would feel like to have him touch me in other places, places that I had only ever touched myself.
I subconsciously squeezed my thighs together, feeling a pulsing sensation that I had never felt just by looking at a man. His blue eyes darkened the longer he stared at me. I couldn’t help myself. I leaned forward slightly, my eyes dropping to his lips, wondering what it would be like to kiss him. I was so close now that I could feel the heat from his breath kissing my lips. And then his lips were on mine, pressing against me as he sucked in a breath.
His arms wrapped around me, pulling me against him as he pushed me backward onto the bed. My legs spread instinctively for him, allowing him to press right up against me. I moaned as something hard pressed against me. Oh God, it was unlike anything I had ever felt. And then his tongue slipped inside my mouth and he was kissing me with so much passion that I felt dizzy. His hands were in my hair, gripping me tightly to him as his hips jerked against my body.
I cried out against his mouth, my heart hammering out of control. It was intense and crazy and I loved every minute of it. I had never felt alive before. I had never felt this way with Graham.
“Graham,” I said, coming back to reality. Joe pulled back and looked at me in confusion. Then he was pushing away from me and staring at me like I had just slapped him. I blinked several times, unsure of what to say or do. I wanted to explain why I said his name, but Joe didn’t give me the chance. He turned and stormed out of the room before I could say anything.
* * *
Since I didn’t know a lot of people in town, I was surprised when someone knocked on the door a few hours later. I had been stewing over what had happened with Joe earlier, trying to figure out what to say to him when I saw him. And I couldn’t even call him, because I didn’t have a phone and didn’t know where he would be.
When I swung the door open and saw Carly standing there, I was a little shocked. And quite frankly, a little terrified. She wasn’t someone I wanted to fight again anytime soon. Not without a few classes.
“Hey,” she grinned. “Nice shiner.”
I touched my face absentmindedly, well aware that my eye was still swollen, though not as bad as yesterday. “You didn’t come here to beat me up again, did you?”
She laughed. “I thought we were past all that.”
“Were we?”
“Yeah, you were pretty happy when you left us yesterday.”
She shoved past me into the apartment and started rummaging through some bags. I shut the door and moved over to her cautiously. I had no idea what was in the bag and when she pulled out a silver stiletto, I stepped back immediately.
“Relax. I figured that you needed some clothes since our shopping trip was…interrupted.”
I frowned. “You brought me clothes?”
She sighed, putting her hand on her hip as she turned to me. “Yes, Sofia. It’s what friends do for each other.”
“We’re friends? Even after you beat the feathers out of me?”
“The feathers?” She laughed, going back to rummaging through the bag. “Okay, that’s a new one. Here, since you seemed to love it so much, I got this shirt for you.” She pulled out the red shirt that we had been fighting over and handed it to me. “I won’t make you choke on it this time.”
I smiled and then started laughing a little, holding my side when it started to hurt.
“Here, let me see,” she said, pulling my shirt up before I could stop her. Her fingers prodded at my bruised side, making me wince. “Ouch, that looks bad. I’m surprised that Joe didn’t wrap this for you.”
“He did, well, he tried to, but then I kissed him.”
“Ah,” she grinned. “So, you got a little sidetracked.”
“Well, sort of, but then I messed it up.”
“How do you mess up kissing?”
I winced. “By saying another man’s name.”
She shook her head and sighed. “Where’s the bandage?”
“On the bed.”
She grabbed it and then was back, wrapping it around my ribs. “I know a little something about that. When I first came back here with Josh, I had this old boyfriend that I was having a hard time letting go. I didn’t want him, but he was part of my life. Josh didn’t get it at all.”
I was surprised because that was almost exactly the way I was feeling. “I don’t want Graham. It was more that I was kissing Joe and he was making me feel all these things that I had never felt with Graham. And if I kept kissing Joe…”
“You have to let this thing with Graham die,” she finished.
“Right.”
“And you’re not sure you want to let go of that life.”
I shrugged half-heartedly. “It’s only been a few days. Joe doesn’t even like me. Not like that. He may want to mess around, but am I willing to give up my whole life, everything I’ve ever known to sleep with a man that sees me as an annoyance?”
“I wish you could have seen him yesterday when he walked into Eric’s house. He was worried about you, and not in a friendly way.”
“Um…I’m not sure what that means.”
“He was looking at you like you were his, and he didn’t like that you were hurt.”
“Because of you,” I pointed out.
“Still, it wasn’t friendly concern.”
“You think? Because he doesn’t seem to like me very much.”
/> “Because you’re spoiled.” I glared at her, but she just glared right back. “Look, it’s just a fact. You were raised differently from him and it’s glaringly obvious. You two will never work out because you’re a stuck up snob from a rich family, and he’s just Joe.”
“That’s kind of harsh, don’t you think? You’re judging me because of how I was raised. I can’t help that.”
“Maybe not, but it’s not like the two of you would ever work together. He’s so down to earth and you’re a princess that needs everyone to do everything for her. How would that possibly work?”
It irritated me how right she was. I could see the way everyone looked at me, like I was some helpless creature who had no clue about life. And if I went back to my parents, that’s the way it would remain. I would always need someone to take care of me because I couldn’t take care of myself. But Joe didn’t coddle me. He was rude and mean, but he was trying to help me.
“Look, I get it more than you think. I was a mob princess,” she said in quotes, rolling her eyes, “and Josh was just like Joe. There was no reason that it should have worked between us.”
“So, why did it?”
“Well, I didn’t like my life. I literally killed myself off so that I could start over. So, as different as Josh and I were, we both had the same end goal in mind, which was just to have a simple life. I didn’t want anything fancy. I didn’t like all the expectations that came along with that lifestyle. But you do. You still want the money, and you don’t want to work, which would make having any kind of relationship with Joe pretty difficult.”
I didn’t exactly like the job Joe got for me, but I appreciated the effort. I just didn’t know if I could work in a job I hated just to get out of that lifestyle.
“Oh shit! I was supposed to be at work at four this morning!” I glanced at the clock, noting that it was already well past ten. “My second day of work and I’ve already screwed it up.”
“Chances are Mary Anne didn’t want you to come back anyway. You were really terrible. Nobody ate anything you made yesterday.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”
“No, it’s just a fact. You really are terrible as a baker.”
I gingerly sat down and rubbed at the tiredness oozing from my eyes. “Then what am I supposed to do?”
“Well, the first thing you need to do is fix things with Joe. Explain to him what happened. Then you need to decide if you want to stay here and try and figure out how to survive or if you’re going to run back to your parents. But whatever you do, don’t be a jerk to Joe. He may be a weirdo at times, but he’s really nice and he doesn’t deserve to be treated like shit.”
“I can see that.”
She headed for the door and turned back to me one last time. “I brought you enough clothes for about a week. If you decide to stick around, I’ll take you shopping again. And I promise, I won’t even hit you next time.”
Joe
I should have fucking known. What the hell was I thinking kissing her? She wasn’t like me. Men were something to be used to get what she needed, and I had nothing to offer her. Hell, I couldn’t even blame her for saying someone else’s name when I was kissing her. She had been engaged to be married and had only been here a few days.
To think that this connection I felt with her would be reciprocated was just ridiculous. Nobody fell for someone else so quickly. Not in real life, and especially not when one of them was engaged to another person. I wasn’t sure if Eric was around today, but I wanted to talk to him about all this. I was confused and I didn’t know where to go from here.
I headed to his office, hoping he hadn’t already left for a job, but when I got there, Anna was the only one there.
“What do you want?” she asked, eyeing me suspiciously.
“Does Eric have a lot of work today?”
“He’s out on a job now, but he should be back soon. Why?”
I sighed and plopped down in the seat across from her. “I need some advice about Sofia.”
“Yeah, I’m not really the person to hand out advice.”
“See, she’s a brat. Everyone knows it. Hell, Andrew thinks I’m fucking insane for even looking at her.”
“Again, I’m not the person to talk to.”
I stared at the desk and sighed. “I know we don’t belong together. She’s rich and I’m scraping by. I could never give her what she wants. Is that the way it was with you and Robert?”
She groaned, rolling her head back as she looked up at the ceiling. When her eyes slid to mine, I could feel her annoyance rolling off her in waves. “Not at all. Robert wanted to buy me everything.”
“See, I can’t give her everything.”
She rolled her eyes at me. “Like I said, I’m not the person that you should be talking to.”
“The thing is, despite the fact that she’s a spoiled brat, I also see this other side of her, you know?”
“Not at all.”
“And I think that given the chance, there could really be something between us. She’s a product of how she was raised, but I can tell she wants more. She just doesn’t know how to get it.”
“Again, I have no answers for you.”
My brows furrowed as I thought back to this morning. “She kissed me, and I know that it wasn’t just me imagining how intense it all was. She really wanted me. I could feel it. But then she said his name. It was like I meant nothing to her. What do you think that means?”
“I think it means that you need to go talk to another guy.”
I sighed and slumped back in my seat, staring up at the ceiling. “Is this what love feels like?”
I heard a heavy sigh and then heard the creak of her chair. “Come on,” she said, pulling me up out of my chair. “I’m not going to get anything done if you stay here with me.”
“You’re kicking me out?”
“No, I’m pulling your head out of your ass. Of course you’re not in love with her. You’ve known her for five minutes. This is infatuation. This is you wanting to save her. You see a damsel in distress and you want to make it better for her.”
“You think?” I asked, looking at her like the sad, pathetic man I was.
She pursed her lips. “Look at this logically. She appeared in your life out of the blue. You dragged her home,” she ticked off on her fingers. “You offered her a place to stay even though she was a complete bitch to you. You found her a job. You gave her money for clothes. And when she was injured, you looked at her like a woman that needed to be saved.”
“She is a woman that needs to be saved. She’ll never survive out there on her own.”
“You know, you were doing so well at this whole ‘kick her ass into gear’ until you went and kissed her. You’re not doing her any favors by trying to save her.”
“So, what do I do?”
“You come with me. We’ll get you some coffee and I’ll call one of your brothers to deal with you, because frankly, I don’t know what to do with you.”
I nodded and stood, following her out of the office. Before I knew it, we were walking into the bakery and Anna was ordering us some pastries and coffee. I took a seat, only barely acknowledging anything else around me.
“You know, I think maybe she said Graham’s name on accident. That happens, right?”
Anna sighed. “Are we back to this again? Joe, I can’t help you. I am not the person to tell you what you need to know.”
“But if it was you, and you were kissing another guy and accidentally said another name…there would have to be a reason, right?”
“Oh my God,” she practically shouted. “What happened to the man that was making her work for every last thing she had? Now you’re fawning over her and acting like a little sissy boy. Grow some balls and be a man!”
I flinched back at the anger in her voice. Then she turned her gaze to the entrance of the bakery. I followed her line of sight and groaned, tossing my head back at the ceiling.
“What?” Anna as
ked.
“It’s her.”
“Who?”
I glared at her. “Who do you think?”
She pursed her lips, crossing her arms over her chest as she very loudly called out Sofia. “Well, if it isn’t Ms. Needy as we speak.”
When Sofia’s eyes locked on mine, she swallowed hard and started for me. But all that gooey shit I was just feeling vanished and all I could remember was wanting her so much, only to feel like I was slapped in the face all over again.
“What do you want?” I sneered. “Come to tell me you’re going back to Graham?”
“Can we talk in private?”
I narrowed my eyes at her, standing there all tall and proud like nothing could touch her. She was the one that fucked up, but she was standing before me like she wasn’t the one at fault.
“Talk here,” Mary Anne shouted out from behind the counter. “I need some more customers.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and waited for her to continue. “Okay. I guess, I want to start by telling you I’m sorry. I never meant to say someone else’s name when you were kissing me.”
“She kissed Joe Cortell and was thinking about another man?” a woman at the next table hissed. I glanced over at the woman, and then back to Sofia. Anna was right. I needed to have balls right now.
“Look, it’s not like we’re dating or anything,” Sofia said frustratedly. “We kissed and it was pretty amazing, but it’s not like you’ve asked me out on a date like a gentleman. And where I come from, that’s something a man does. And the only reason that I said his name was because I was thinking about how terrible it was that I was kissing one guy when I hadn’t decided if I was going to go home to another.”
Her attitude was out in full steam right now, and I couldn’t help the gleam in my eyes. I loved it when she got all feisty. It made me hard.
“So, what you’re saying is that you’re trying to decide if you’re staying.”
“Well, I’m not going to stay if you’re going to be an ass about everything.”
“And I’m not going to let you stay with me if you can’t hold down a job and be better than the trophy wife you were raised to be.”
Priceless Ink: A Small Town Romance Page 12