Sweet Nothings (30 page)

But he had her. And he intended to keep her.

As they walked in, they both greeted people on either side of them. Most everyone they passed were residents, but there was the occasional tourist among the faces. No one did much more than offer a quick hello, but he noticed something odd happening after each initial contact. Whoever they spoke to stopped dancing. Or they stopped talking. And they just watched.

Wow. They really never had seen Joanie out with someone, had they?

His chest swelled at the thought that he was the one she’d chosen.

He caught the bartender’s eye and the man motioned with his chin to an empty two-seater in the far corner. Nick would owe him a heavy tip for keeping the table clear for them. He might be changing up his normal routine and bringing Joanie to a club instead of a nice restaurant for their first date, but he wasn’t about to have them standing at the bar to eat.

When he pulled out the chair for her, she gave him a knowing smile. “You bribed Brandon?”

Brandon was the bartender.

Nick gave an acknowledging tilt of his head. “Whatever it takes, right?”

She laughed and they both settled into the evening.

They enjoyed tasty—if not especially great—food, dirty dancing on the dance floor, and then witnessed something Nick found highly disturbing. Money changing hands.

All night, people would spend a bit of time watching them, then they would head over to one of the servers and slip her a bill. The server would nod, jot something down, and go on about her business.

Then it would happen all over again. All night long.

“They’re betting on me,” Joanie said.

Nick looked at her. “What?”

They’d just returned to their table for another drink and a breather. He’d discovered Joanie may not be able to outdrink him, but she certainly could outdance him.

“The money exchanging hands.” She motioned with her head and he turned to catch yet another person slipping the server a bill. “The bet I told you about. The curse.”

The idea made him angry, but that’s exactly what he’d determined was going on, too. These people were seriously betting on her. But for what? That was the real question. And was it upsetting Joanie?

“You want to get out of here?” he asked her.

She lifted a shot of whiskey. “Because they think I’m going to fall victim to some curse?” She blew him a kiss, then tossed down the shot. “Not on your life.”

But he caught the look in her eye. She sounded all brave, but she was scared. She feared what was between them. And she was certain it was going to end badly.

He would simply prove otherwise.

Two days later, Nick stood at the St. Patrick’s Day parade in the midst of Joanie, Cody, Lee Ann, and the rest of Sugar Springs. Everyone was out
and about today. Even a good-size number of tourists. If someone wasn’t watching or cheering from the streets, they were participating in the parade.

The last few days had been really good. Aside from the damper the obvious collection of the bet had put on their first date, they’d had a good time and it had ended with him at her place overnight. The next night they’d gone into Knoxville for a movie, then grabbed Cat and they’d all once again gone back to her place.

This morning they’d both slept in. When they’d woken, it had taken a long time before either of them were ready to get out of bed. Pretty much a perfect way to start a Sunday morning.

Joanie had also finished clearing out everything at the house over the last couple of days, and the work on the remodel was almost done.

They were targeting having everything ready in another twelve days, and it looked as if he and his crew were going to make it. That would put the house on the market the last weekend of the month, though now that Georgia was gone, the urgency had lessened.

Similar to the urgency for Joanie to go through Georgia’s things. Apparently she was content to continue holding off. They’d spent each night since the funeral at her house, but she had yet to tackle that job; the boxes remained smack in the middle of the living room floor, almost as if she didn’t even notice they were there. He couldn’t blame her for not wanting to go through them. It had taken him a couple weeks to ready himself to dig into his mother’s affairs after she’d passed.

The high school band turned the far corner down West Main, heading toward the square. According to everyone around him, the band signified the end of the parade.

“I’ll be right back,” he said to the group. Joanie shot him a questioning look and he added, “Need to speak to Holly.”

With that, he jumped out into the street. He crossed in front of several dancing leprechauns, trying to stay out of the way, but going fast enough that he hoped no one would follow him. He wanted to talk to Holly alone. She’d become a good friend, and he had a question he needed an answer to.

“Nice shoes,” he said as he found her in the crowd and sidled in beside her.

She laughed and held up one green, sequined Chuck Taylor. “Thanks. Seemed the day for them.”

“Saw you dancing at the Bungalow Friday night,” he said. They’d seen her come in before they left, but it had gotten so crowded they hadn’t worked their way over.

“Did you now?” She shot him a wide grin. “Saw you, too. And Joanie. That was new.” She waved to someone in the parade. In return, handfuls of candy were tossed her way.

He followed the direction of her next wave and saw Kendra in her cheerleading costume, grinning at him from ear to ear. She bombarded him with candy. The junior high cheer squad was out in full regalia and he couldn’t be more proud.

Candy had passed earlier as part of the basketball team. Both girls had sought him out in the crowd as if he mattered to them. His chest expanded, feeling like he’d found the answer to his prayers.

He nodded. “Yeah, finally talked her out of the house.”

“Good for you.” Holly laughed and gave him a one-armed squeeze. “About time someone toppled her world.”

He agreed.

He kept Holly against his side and spoke into her ear, “What’s the bet, Holly?”

She pulled back. “You aren’t supposed to know about that.”

He arched his brows. Clearly he did.

“Are you all seriously laying down money on me breaking her heart?” he asked. That had bugged him as much as the thought of them betting that she was going to get hurt. He knew he wasn’t one of “them,” but he’d thought he was
kind of
one of them.

With a sigh, Holly tugged him away from the group. As he followed, he caught sight of a very tight, very low-cut green shirt out of the corner of his eye and glanced up to find Gina watching him. The line of her mouth turned into a smirk. She hadn’t spoken to him since their date,
and he’d heard through the grapevine that she had not been a happy camper about how it had ended.

He gave her a friendly smile, hoping she’d forgive him at some point, but knowing there was little he could do about it if she didn’t. She’d wanted one thing from that night, and he’d given her something entirely different. She apparently held grudges.

When Holly had them standing behind the main part of the crowd, she tugged his head down to hers.

“It’s not a bet about the curse, dummy. No one believes in the curse even though we’ve teased her about it for years. It’s about when she’ll realize she’s head over heels for you. When she’s ready to commit. We all know you two belong together.” Holly punched him in the ribs. “It’s just a matter of when
she
figures it out.”

His pulse raced at the words. He’d known they couldn’t be betting on Joanie being hurt, but it had never occurred to him they might be betting on
them
. And they thought it would happen in the coming weeks? It was hard not to grin like a loon.

“She says the good money is on her birthday,” he told her. “Who has that day?”

Holly gave him a droll look. “I have her birthday, sweetie. Make sure it’s a good one, will you?”

Oh yeah, he definitely would. He already had plans in the works.

“And don’t you dare tell her about the bet. It’ll skew the results. I could lose my winnings just for talking to you.”

With more happiness than he thought possible, he leaned in and laid a big one right on Holly’s mouth. She giggled, then wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss in return.

“For old times’ sake,” she said. She patted him on the cheek and winked. “You’re a good guy.”

Yeah, he was. And he was okay with that.

He laughed out loud at the pure pleasure of the day, and smiled all the way back across the street. He made it to Joanie’s side just in time to watch the band pass.

“What was that about?” she asked.

Like he was going to tell her that the whole town was betting on them. He shrugged. “Just wanted to tell her hello.”

“With a kiss?”

He took his eyes off the parade and looked down at her. “You wear jealousy well, babe. You picked a fine day for it, too. Green goes with the holiday.” He winked. “And your hair.”

“I am not jealous.”

“Right,” he said, nodding. “But not to worry, she’s just a friend. Kind of like her brother is to you.”

At the mention of Brian, Joanie’s eyes narrowed. “You’re using her to try to make me jealous?”

“Nope.” But it didn’t hurt. He was still annoyed with the thought that she and Brian had probably once hooked up. Not that it mattered if they had. He had her now. And he didn’t intend to let her go.

She huffed out a cute little sigh when he said no more. “Then what was it? I know it’s not the first time you’ve kissed her. Maybe you liked it so much you want more.”

He winked at a couple tourists who were avidly watching the two of them, then leaned down and kissed Joanie, catching her off guard, and lingering just long enough to make it interesting. When he pulled away, he smiled at the fact that she was out of breath.

“Does that feel like someone who’d rather be kissing Holly?” he murmured in her ear.

He watched her throat rise with a gulp before she slowly shook her head.

“Then deal with it,” he whispered. “It’s you I want. Not anyone else.”

When she looked up at him, her eyes more serious than they’d been only moments before, he blew her another kiss and had a very dirty thought. He guessed from the way her gaze dipped to his mouth, she had a dirty thought of her own.

He was suddenly ready to head back to her place.

Chapter Seventeen

L
et’s go through GiGi’s boxes tonight.”

Joanie looked up from where she lay snuggled against Nick’s side, her legs spanning the length of the couch, with both cats lying by her feet, and raised her brows. “What brought that on?”

He shrugged. “It feels like it’s time.”

“Shouldn’t I be the one to decide that?” She straightened but caught the cats before they could get away, repositioning them once she was sitting up. They still ran as soon as she turned them loose.

It was midweek and she and Nick had been back at the Barn the last few days. She’d brought Bob with her, along with a handful of clothes and necessities, so she didn’t have to run home before work each morning. It was fine staying at her place, but there was so much more room here. The cats seemed to like it better, too.

The only problem was that the workers showed up too early. The bedroom she and Nick were sleeping in was finished except for the paint and the floors, so she could remain hidden until she felt like coming out, but it wasn’t like she could sleep through a houseful of men in work boots clomping all over the place.

“You should have the final say,” Nick answered, flipping through channels until he found a hockey game. “But since you’ve been avoiding the task for a week, I figured I’d nudge you along.”

“Well, thanks.” Her tone was sarcastic. He did have a point, though. She was avoiding the inevitable. But she wasn’t ready to dig into her grandmother’s memories. She worried it would bring out too many more of her own, she supposed. “How about we give it a few more days?” she asked. “Maybe a week?”

He reached over and snagged her hand before pressing a warm kiss on her palm. It amazed her how fast her body went from zero to sixty.