Even though it had almost been a year since Bailey ended things with Harley, he still wasn’t ready to date. Even a one-night stand didn’t interest him right now. “Can we leave my nonexistent love life alone?”
Travis sighed as he sat back. Everyone at the fire station had been giving small comments about how Bailey needed to move on and find somebody. None of them knew what he was going through or understood. He had undergone counseling at the resource center when it had first happened, but Bailey had convinced Taylor Tate that he was fine.
But he wasn’t fine.
“Are you going to the cookout at Bear’s house Saturday?”
Bailey shrugged. “I’m not sure.”
“He invited a few people from town. You never know, you just might get lucky.” Travis held up his hands when Bailey glowered at him. “Okay, I’ll back off.”
Downing the rest of his drink, Bailey set the empty mug on the bar. “I’m heading home.”
Travis stood, grabbing Bailey’s arm. “Seriously, you can’t let one man ruin your love life. Harley was a work of art, we all know that. He fucked your head up, Bailey, but it’s time to give a decent guy a chance.”
“You offering?” Bailey asked jokingly, wanting this conversation over with. Travis was a good friend, but Bailey didn’t want to talk about Harley to anyone. The wound still hurt like hell.
“If you were my type, Harley wouldn’t have gotten near you,” Travis replied in an affectionate tone. “Just don’t keep closing yourself off. You just might let Mr. Right slip through your fingers.”
Easing his arm from Travis’s grip, Bailey nodded. “Good advice.”
“Advice you won’t take,” Travis said before Bailey walked from the Lucky Clover and into the night air. He wished everyone would leave him alone when it came to dating. He knew his friends cared or they wouldn’t be trying to help him through this. But Bailey needed to work things out on his own.
It didn’t matter who gave him advice. Until he was ready to move on, the words were lost on him. He pulled his keys from his pocket and swooned a little. Bailey sighed, knowing he’d had one too many beers to drive.
He considered asking Travis for a ride home, but Bailey didn’t want to hear any more lectures about being frigid. Hadn’t Reno said something about taking Baker to the diner for dinner? Maybe Bailey would hitch a ride home from his other fellow firefighter. Reno was the only person who hadn’t been pestering Bailey about his love life.
Turning away from his car, Bailey began to walk down the street. The diner wasn’t that from the bar. It was a nice, warm night anyway. The walk would help him clear his mind as well. Maybe Travis was right. Maybe Bailey needed to get laid. He wasn’t going to let his heart become vested in another man, but sex was just sex.
Bailey rubbed his sternum, feeling that familiar ache whenever he thought about Harley. He wished to god he had never met the guy. To have a person give him everything he could ever desire in a man and then rip that false dream away was something Bailey never wanted to experience again.
Fuck love and fuck committing himself to another. Sex was it for him, nothing more. He wasn’t going to allow himself to care for anyone else. If he didn’t care, he couldn’t be hurt again. It sounded very logical to him.
Bailey came up short when a pretty tall guy walked out of Mark’s Garage, the two nearly colliding. When the muscular stranger turned to look at him, Bailey almost gaped at the guy.
Wow…just…wow.
The stranger had smoldering amber eyes that took Bailey’s breath away. They were worldly and sharply intelligent. Bailey felt drawn to him in a way he’d never experienced before.
“Sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going.” The stranger stuck out his beefy hand. It looked like it could swallow Bailey’s whole. But Bailey was only half paying attention to the man’s hand. The voice was so rich, so deep that his insides quiver. It was cultured and smooth as the man gazed at him with a sparkle of merriment in those bedroom eyes. “I’m Jordan Sommers, the new mechanic here.”
Without thought, Bailey shook the man’s hand, shivering at the warmth that enveloped him as something passed in the air between them. “Bailey Fester, fireman.”
Jordan gave him a dazzling smile as he pulled his hand free. Bailey just couldn’t get over how large and handsome the man was. Fate was a cruel, cruel bitch because Bailey couldn’t get over how fascinated he was, either. “I’m new in town. Is there someplace I can go for dinner?”
Bailey felt a bit panicked when his heart leapt at the thought of going to dinner with Jordan. The man was not supposed to interest him. Hadn’t Bailey sworn off dating? Yeah, Jordan could be a one-night stand, but damn, the man was smoking hot! His fingers itched to reach out and touch the guy’s raven-colored hair, letting the shoulder-length black strands slip through his fingers. His teeth ached to take a nibble at the man’s jaw that held just a small amount of shadow from a beard. The stranger was ruggedly handsome.
“There’s a couple places to go,” Bailey answered as he blinked out of his semi-daze. “There’s The Pit, Lucky Clover, or the diner.”
“Have you eaten?” Jordan asked, the timbre in his voice vibrating inside Bailey. It was an invitation to seduction, pure and simple. Jordan’s voice was nothing short of liquid heat that could probably make Bailey orgasm if he listened to it long enough.
Bailey stopped himself from shuddering at the sound. He had to get out of there because his cock was reacting to this guy. He could just imagine having all that muscle wrapped around him. The guy was like a huge teddy bear and Bailey was not about to
