Second Chance Pass (Virgin River #5)(95)

“Have you seen Nikki?” he asked Vanessa.

“I haven’t. I thought maybe she turned in.”

“Maybe she did,” he lied. “I just wanted to say good-night—I’ll probably be out of here real early in the morning.”

Damn, he wasn’t ready to give up on that one. He hadn’t been drawn to a woman in a while, but this one had hooks in him like grappling. He wasn’t exactly sure why, but it was fierce.

The party was dwindling to just a few people—Rick and Tom and their girls, the bride and groom, the general, Mike and Brie, Shelby. The caterers were packing up and cleaning the kitchen. Joe stepped outside onto the now-dark deck. He took out a cigar, clipped the end, struck a match on his shoe—and it illuminated her. She was standing at the far end of the deck, out of sight, out of the light from within the house, her back to him.

He started to get excited at having found her, feeling a crazy lift in his chest. The match burned down to his fingers and he shook it out with a muffled curse. He took a breath and walked up behind her. “The stars again?” he asked softly.

“Something like that,” she said, her voice teary.

He slipped the cigar back into his shirt pocket and gently grabbed on to her upper arms. “What’s the matter?” he whispered.

“Nothing. I’m fine,” she said. Then she sniffed.

“Nothing? Fine but for the tears?” He gave her arms a squeeze. “Don’t cry, now. I can’t stand it when a woman cries. Wipes me out.”

“Go back inside,” she whispered. “Go on.”

“Can’t,” he said, leaning toward her a little, inhaling her scent. “I’m kind of stuck here now.”

“Just go, okay? This is sort of embarrassing.”

He turned her around slowly. He looked down into those dark, liquid eyes, a trace of tears on each cheek. “All this wedding crap, huh?”

“I don’t want Vanni to think I’m not happy for her.”

“She wouldn’t think that. She’d understand.”

“Someone told you.”

“I asked Paul why a woman as beautiful as you seems sad. Bad breakup, he said. I don’t know the details, but I’m sorry that happened. He’s certifiable, the guy who let you go.” He pressed his lips first against one of those tear tracks, then the one on the other cheek.

“What are you doing?”

“The only thing I can think of is kiss the tears away. I don’t want you to cry anymore, but if you do, I can take care of it.”

“You shouldn’t. We don’t really know each other.”

“You know, I’ve been thinking all day—we should get to know each other better.” He put his hands on her waist. “I’ve been wondering about this all day,” he said. “I can get my hands around your waist.” He lowered his lips to hers, barely touching them. “I think there was a small tear there,” he whispered.

“There wasn’t.”

“There was,” he insisted. He put his lips there again. Barely touching. He ran his tongue along her upper lip. “Tear,” he said. “I’m sure of it.”

Her eyes closed and another tear squeezed out and ran down her cheek. He was right on it, kissing it dry. It took many soft kisses. “No one should make you cry like this. Tell me who he is. I’ll kill him for you.”

“I wasted so much time on him,” she said with a hiccup of emotion.

He kissed her eyes. “He’s a dick,” he said. “Worse. He’s a stupid dick.”

She responded with a small, whimpering laugh.

He pulled her closer, slipped his arms around her and lowered his head to kiss her neck.

“There are no tears there,” she said in a whisper.

“I know that now,” he said. “Do you have any idea how good you smell?”

“Of course. I meant to smell this way,” she said. Her hands were on his arms. Not embracing, but not pushing him away. “Do you do this a lot?”

“I’ve never done this before,” he said.

“You’re such a liar,” she said softly. “I bet you pick up girls all the time.”

He lifted his head. “I try,” he admitted. “It doesn’t work that often. And I swear, I have never found a beautiful woman crying over some jerk and kissed her tears away. Never. But I think I like it. And I’m getting good at it.”

“Not too bad,” she said with a sigh, laying her head on his shoulder. “For an amateur.”

He chuckled. “Nikki, you’re beautiful and sexy. And funny. You shouldn’t be treated badly by anyone. No one should make you cry. Ever.”

“Believe me, I want you to be right.”

“Oh, I’m right.” He touched her lips again, a little more firmly this time. He moved over them tenderly. “I think you’re starting to feel a little better.”

“Not yet,” she said, her eyes closing as she leaned into his kiss again.

Something happened inside Joe’s head, inside his chest. There was a kind of lightness and fullness at the same time. He opened his lips as he kissed her, tasting her mouth, and she was delicious. In fact, she tasted even better than she smelled and he was falling headlong into her. Whoa, he thought. I’m wanting this girl, this woman. I want the maid of honor. She opened her lips under his and allowed his tongue inside and it brought a thrilled, lusty moan from him. He held her close against him, probing the inside of her mouth. No way he was letting her go, now that he finally had her in his arms. Her arms went around his neck, yielding to the kiss, making small noises that were not associated with crying. He found himself thinking, Paul is going to kill me. I’m thinking carnal thoughts about the maid of honor and how to get her out of this pink dress and Paul is going to kill me.