“Ha ha.”
“I’m not joking,” he assured her. “But in the interests of keeping you happy, can I buy you a drink?”
“No, thanks. I had a glass of wine with dinner and that’s my limit.”
“One glass?”
She nodded.
“Okay, how about a dance?”
“The words sound like an invitation,” she remarked. “But the tone suggests that you’re hoping the offer will be declined.”
“Maybe, for your sake, I’m hoping it will,” he said. “Because I’m not a very good dancer.”
“Then why did you ask?”
He shrugged. “Because it might seem like everyone else is paired off, but I have noticed that there are a few single guys in attendance and I know they’re just waiting for me to turn my back for a second so they can move in on you.”
“Should I be flattered? Or should I get out my pepper spray?”
“Maybe you should just dance with me,” he suggested.
So Serena took the hand he proffered and let him lead her to the dance floor. But the minute he took her in his arms, she knew that her acquiescence had been a mistake. Being close to him, she felt those unwanted feelings stir again.
She’d had a few boyfriends in her twenty-five years, and even a couple of lovers, but she’d never really been in love. And though she didn’t know much about Bailey, the intensity of the attraction she felt for him warned her that he might be the man she finally and completely fell for.
But she also knew that he didn’t want to be that man, and his brief and blunt comments about his marriage gone wrong should serve as a warning to her. Which was too bad, because she really liked being in his arms. And notwithstanding his claim that he wasn’t a good dancer, he moved well.
As the last notes of the song trailed away, she tipped her head back to look at him.
The heels she wore added three inches to her height, so that if he lowered his head just a little, his mouth would brush against hers.
She really wanted him to kiss her.
But they were barely more than strangers and in a very public setting. And yet, in that moment, everyone and everything else faded into the background so that there was only the two of them.
Then he did tip his head, so that his mouth hovered a fraction of an inch above hers. And she held her breath, waiting...
A guitar riff blasted through the air—an abrupt change of tempo for the couples on the dance floor—and the moment was lost.
Serena stepped back. “I—I’m going to check out the auction items.”
So Bailey returned to the table without her.
“Watching you and Serena on the dance floor, I could see why Brenna thought that you guys were together,” Luke commented.
“Why were you watching us instead of dancing with your wife?” Bailey asked his brother.
“Because I was working at Daisy’s at 4:00 a.m.,” Eva responded to the question. “And my feet are very happy to not be dancing right now. But he’s right,” she continued. “You and Serena look good together.”
“Except that we’re not together,” he reminded his brother and sister-in-law.
They exchanged a glance.
“Denial,” Eva said.
Luke nodded.
“Look, it’s great that the two of you found one another and happiness together, but not everyone else in the world wants the same thing,” Bailey told them.
“You mean they’re not ready to admit that they want the same thing,” Eva said.
Bailey just shook his head.
“A year ago, I was a skeptic, too,” Luke said. “And then I met Eva.”
The smile she gave her husband was filled with love and affection. And maybe it did warm Bailey’s heart to see Luke and Eva so happy. And Danny and Annie. And Jamie and Fallon. And his sister Bella and Hudson. And maybe he was just the tiniest bit envious.
But only the tiniest bit—not nearly enough to be willing to risk putting his own heart on the line again.
Thankfully, he was saved from responding by the sound of—
“Is that dogs barking the tune of ‘Jingle Bells’?” Eva asked.
“That’s gotta be Serena’s phone,” Bailey noted.
Luke picked it up from the table, his brows lifting when he looked at the case. Then he turned it around so Eva and Bailey could see the image of a bulldog wearing a Santa hat.
Bailey wasn’t going to judge her for loving Christmas as much as she loved her dog, especially when the call had provided a timely interruption to an increasingly awkward conversation. He took the phone from his brother and went to find Serena.
“This would send Marvin into a frenzy of joy,” she told him, gesturing with the pen in her hand to a Canine Christmas basket filled with toys and treats that had been donated by Brooks Smith and his wife, Jazzy.
Bailey glanced at the bid sheet. “Looks like there’s already a bidding war between Paige Traub and Lissa Christensen.”
“And now me, too,” she said, as she scrawled her offer on the page.
He lifted his brows at the number she’d written. “You doubled the last bid.”
“It’s for a good cause,” she reminded him.
“So it is,” he agreed.
“Is there anything here that’s caught your eye?” she asked.
He knew she was referring to the auction table, but the truth was, he hadn’t been able to take his eyes off her since she’d arrived.
“I’m still looking,” he told her. But as he’d very recently reminded his brother and sister-in-law, he wasn’t looking for happily-ever-after.
“There’s a lot to look at,” she said. “Everything from kids’ toys and knitted baskets to a weekend getaway at Maverick Manor.” She sighed. “Unfortunately, the bids on that are already out of my price range.”
And yet she was willing to overpay for some dog toys to support a good cause and make Marvin happy.
“Is this Marvin?” he asked, holding up her phone.
She smiled. “No, it’s a stock photo, but I bought the case because it looks a lot like him.”
“Well,
