All Grown Up(28)

He grinned and waved for me to join him over on his deck. “Come have your coffee with me and listen to my new favorite band.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Come on. I downloaded two full albums.”

I laughed, but went to join the crazy man on his deck anyway.

Boy.

Crazy boy.

I walked down my stairs, took a few steps on the sand, and went back up his stairs to the deck. When I reached where Ford was sitting, he stood and took my mug from my hand, setting it down on the table.

“What was your favorite song? Wait…let me try to guess… ‘I Want it That Way’?”

“Nope. But I think that was their most popular song.”

The song ‘Everybody’ was currently playing—it had a disco dance rhythm to it, and Ford took my hand and led me into a twirl. I giggled when he then took a turn at twirling under our arms.

“I’m not a great dancer,” I said.

“No one’s watching, I promise.”

We fooled around dancing for the rest of the song. It felt really good. When the next one came on, he still had my hand.

My eyes lit up after the first few bars. “This is it! This was my favorite song. It’s called ‘Incomplete’.”

“Yeah? Well, then we definitely can’t stop dancing yet.” Ford tugged my hand, and I practically tripped into his arms.

Before I could give it any thought, he’d wrapped his other arm around my waist and pulled me flush against him. God, it felt good. It had been a long time since I’d been in a man’s arms, especially one with a body so firm—so, so firm. And he smelled incredible, too—woodsy, but clean, very masculine.

I took a deep breath in, and Ford pressed his hand against my back. Every muscle in his body felt so hard against my soft. He knew how to slow dance and was confident in his lead, which made my mind wonder if that skill might carry through to the bedroom.

Stop it, Val. Don’t go there…

Ford’s head ducked down, and he rested his cheek against mine. He sang some of the chorus—about being sexual and rocking your body, and I fully gave in to enjoying the moment. I knew it was dumb, but…did I mention how good his hard body felt? This was as close as I would likely get to feeling it pressed up against mine, so, hey…why not? I let myself get lost in him.

Which was why I didn’t hear anyone coming until the squeaky screen door of his house slid closed.

“Thought we had a no overnight guest rule,” Bella quipped.

I jumped out of Ford’s arms and stumbled back, almost falling on my ass.

Bella’s eyes widened as she caught sight of me. “Oh. Val, I didn’t realize it was you. It’s so early. I assumed he’d had a girl overnight.”

I was so flustered. “No. Just me.” I reached for my coffee on the table. “It was…Backstreet Boys…and…yeah….my favorite old band…and so…I should be going.” I practically ran from their deck. “Achoo!”

God damn it. Bella probably thought I was nuts, but I didn’t stop to look back to check.

Inside the safety of my own house, I leaned my head against the door. I was breathless from, well, everything—the way it had felt to be in Ford’s arms, getting caught red handed, running up the stairs to my house. What the hell had I been doing, allowing that to happen? I’d been so deprived of human contact, contact from a man, that I’d let myself get caught up in a touch that felt good.

Eve was right. I really needed to get laid.

But at the moment, I really needed a cold shower.

***

“Knock, knock,” Bella called from my back door.

I got nervous, thinking she might’ve been coming over to bawl me out—tell me what a dirty old lady I was for what she’d walked out to see earlier.

I took a deep breath and slid the door open. “Hey.”

“What are you up to today?”

“Ummm. Nothing.”

“Wanna go to the art show in town? It’s outdoors under tents in the square.”

I let out the relieved breath I’d been holding. “Oh. I read about that. I didn’t realize it started today.”

“My mom and I used to go every year. They had some pretty cool stuff. If you’re not into art, they also have jewelry and ceramics, too.”

“No, I love art shows. Especially local ones like this. But…”

She smiled. “Ford left me a credit card and said I can get something for my new apartment. I’m moving out of the dorms next semester. We should go do some damage.”

“He left you a credit card…so he’s not going with you?”

She shook her head, seeming unbothered by my asking. For that matter, she didn’t seem to care about finding us dancing on the deck earlier either. “He went to the city for a meeting.”

“Is he coming back?”

She shrugged. “Tomorrow, I think.”

I didn’t have anything to do today, so I told Bella I’d go with her. It would be a good distraction from this morning, anyway.

Since Bella drove a small car, we took my Volkswagen in case either of us found anything big we wanted to haul home. After I got over the anxiousness I felt thinking Bella might say something about Ford and me, I actually had a good time.