Joel lifted his hands in protest. “Finally? Damn, you’re demanding.”

“Hey, the clan expects instant updates at all times,” Lisa teased, her expression still questioning as she peeked at Vicki, at Joel, and over both their shoulders at Jesse.

Ahhh, shit. The tension was thick enough to cut with a knife. Vicki wiggled in her chair, and he draped his arm around her, trying to reassure her and protect her at the same time.

It was about as awkward as the evening Travis had showed up with one woman after forgetting he’d already invited another to meet him at the bar. Joel twisted to eyeball the pool game, hoping it would be over soon and the guys would join them. And yet he didn’t really want Jesse to come over and hang around Vicki either.

He’d fucked up. Big time. Or more to the point, he hadn’t realized how bad the situation was going to be. Setting them up as a couple meant being in public, but this was damn painful.

Vicki answered a couple questions, but pretty much sat silently as the girls attempted to keep a conversation flowing, and the rest of the people in the bar found reasons to wander past and gawk.

The girls turned to watch something at the other end of the bar, and Joel leaned down to whisper in Vicki’s ear. “You okay? Want to stay or want to go?”

She caught his shirtfront, turning until her lips brushed his earlobe. “Staying here is like a negative twenty. Top of the list is going back to my place and having sex. And somewhere in the middle is getting you drunk enough you agree to teach me how to give you a blow job.”

Joel’s body tightened—everywhere—her words slamming into him and taking this way off the comfortable chart and into dangerous territory. “Don’t push me, darling.”

“I’m not, I’m trying to tempt you.”

Temptation was there, that was true. Joel wavered, because for a tiny package, Vicki was dragging him to the very limits of his control. And right now, he couldn’t blame her. Getting away and getting naked was way more attractive than the current option.


Vicki squirmed, the heavy sensation of being stared at worse than ever.

Well, wasn’t this a ton of fun?

She glanced around the room and counted how many people’s gazes darted away as she skimmed past them. Maybe the whole idea of breaking through her bad-girl rep was stupid. Awkward for sure. And this time she’d hauled Joel along into her unique brand of torment.

Brilliant. Way to go.

The idea of leaving was very appealing, so when Joel rose, hope rose with him. He caught her by the hand, tugging her to her feet. “Come on.”

Thank God. “My jacket…”

She reached for it, but he shook his head. “Not leaving. Let’s dance.”

Okaaaay.

He led her around the divider between the two halves of the bar. On one side of Traders were the pool tables, dartboards, and seating for the get-away-from-it-all crowd who wanted to relax and shoot the breeze. On the other was the dance floor, where tall standing-room-only tables lined the edges to entice drinkers to watch and mingle.

Vicki could count on one hand the number of times she’d been in the bar. Not only did she tend to avoid places where the ridicule got worse, she’d lied her ass off to Joel—she couldn’t drink at all.

But as the music volume increased, she focused less on the people around them and more on the man holding her hand as he guided her through the maze of bodies.

He turned and took her in his arms. She relaxed, resting her cheek against his chest as they moved to the slow music.

He chuckled, his body vibrating under her. “That was pretty terrible, wasn’t it?”

Vicki tilted her head as his fingers touched under her chin. “Let’s not talk about it. If we pretend it’s not there, it’ll go away.”

“Actually…” he nodded, “…it will. So let’s have some fun.”

The floor was only partway full. Joel’s older brother Matt was dancing with his fiancée Hope, and the two of them smiled as they caught sight of Vicki.

“Remind me never to get on the wrong side of your dad, okay?”

Joel frowned. “What makes you say that?”

She pointed to Matt and Hope. “After his rah rah speech the other day, your immediate kin seem to have calmed down about me being around. He put the fear in them I guess.”

“Hope’s a damn good woman. She’s got pain-in-the-ass family as well. I think she can empathize, and so can Matt since the pain in the ass is his ex.”

“Right.” Vicki glanced their way again, a rush of sympathy hitting. Hope’s older sister was back in town, and her strange behavior continued to light up the gossip circles as bright as the tales regarding Vicki’s family.

Maybe it was stupid to feel a connection—having family who wasn’t much family—but somehow Vicki felt it. Real or not, for the first time since they’d walked into the bar, she got her mind off herself and the damn town gossip, and focused on someone else.

“You ever double date with them? Or, you know, hang out?”

“With Matt and Hope?”

“Yeah.”

Joel tucked his hand against her lower back and pulled her in tighter. “Sometimes. Usually do more with Jesse and Travis, but…”

Yeah, she’d put the kibosh on that option. “Not a big deal.”

With his hands spread on her body, the smooth slide of his touch as he stroked her suggested how they could spend their time once they left the bar.

Joel interrupted her dirty daydreams. “I think Matt said something about camping out for a weekend before the snow flies. You want to join them?”

“Camping? Like, in a tent?” Vicki laughed. “I’ve never been. Other than at the cabins for the kids’ camp.”

“Then you’re in for a treat. Baked beans and hotdogs over a fire. S’mores. Coffee in the morning strong enough to wake the dead.”

“Jumping in the creek for a bath?”

His expression twisted into sheer mischief. “Dare ya.”

Bastard. “Now, that’s cheating.”

Joel’s grin increased. “So I have figured out the way to motivate you. Awesome. I’ll get the gear together, and you can help with the food. It’ll be fun.”

The music tempo increased, and they slipped apart, more gyrating and hip shaking going on than up close and personal. The floor got crowded enough they bumped and connected, Joel inserting his big body between her and the others.

She’d never really been protected like that before, and it felt kinda awesome.

A loud cheer went up, and the crowd pressed aside, giving more room to a couple who was using the music way too vigourously for her to match. Joel tucked her against him and retreated farther, ending up close to where Travis had a firm grip on a blonde in a skintight outfit.

Travis rocked his lady, his fingers splayed over her hipbones as she nestled her back to his front. He raised his voice to be heard over the pulsing music. “Joel, Vicki. You know Ashley, right?”

Vicki recognized her, but didn’t know her. “Hey.”

Something about the way Ashley checked her out didn’t bite like the stares of the rest of the crowd, especially since she gave Joel that same once-over. It was less judgmental, more sensual. Her lips curled into a smile that somehow looked hungry. “Well, damn, don’t you two look hot together?”

Travis swatted her ass. “Be nice, Ash.”

“I am,” Ashley protested. “If I’m not allowed to admire a good-looking couple while you’ve got your hands on me, you need to work on your self-esteem.” Her gaze returned to Vicki even as she rocked her hips against Travis. There was no doubt that the two of them were more than first-time dance partners.

The move screamed intimacy, and heat pulsed inside Vicki. She moved closer to Joel, looking for more of the passion between them, because, damn, watching Travis and Ashley rub together was making her hot.

Something flashed in Ashley’s face, as if she’d read Vicki’s mind. Vicki’s cheeks flushed, but she refused to look away. Refused to draw back from Joel who had her by the hips, one leg slipped between hers, brushing her core on his thigh.

It was crowded enough there was a reason for her to be riding him, but not enough reason for her to lose her mind and forget herself completely. She and Joel were supposed to be setting a new direction, not becoming the talk of the town for doing it on the dance floor.

The woman gave her a wicked smile. “We got the best guys in the house, sweetheart. What say we make everyone jealous?”

“Shh.” Travis spun Ashley and squeezed her against his body, hands capturing her ass and keeping the motion of their hips going. “Behave. Joel and Vicki aren’t looking for your kind of mischief, sweetheart.”

Joel chuckled. “No, but don’t let that stop you.”

Vicki glanced around the place, enjoying having Joel holding her tight, relishing the way the energy of the room seemed for once to be working with her and not against her. People still stared, but for the most part they were engrossed in their partners, bodies undulating in time with dance, with the music. She wasn’t experienced enough as a dancer to try anything fancy, content to make touching the connection between her and Joel.

Compared to the couples around them, they must have looked prim and proper, but she didn’t care, barely noticed. An organic flow to everything took her, and she ignored the dirty dancing, lifted her chin and focused on Joel.

His hands circled her waist. The wide grasp made her feel delicate and fragile, even as his expression said ravishment was rising on the agenda. Vicki trailed her fingers up his chest until she caught hold of his neck, nothing but fabric separating them.

His pupils dilated, his breathing increased in tempo. It wasn’t just the dancing, wasn’t the energy around them feeding the demand. Vicki felt it, needed it. Needed something with an urgency she’d never experienced before.

I want you. The words were there in her brain, yet she kept her lips from forming them. Not in public, not with their plans.

He seemed to have heard her anyway, his nostrils flaring. If he’d dragged her from the dance floor in that moment, she wouldn’t have been surprised, the tension thick enough to make her want to throw caution aside.

Good thing one of them was in control, because she seemed to have lost it, and this time it wasn’t her temper making her careless and foolhardy, it was the fire in her veins that called for his touch. For more than public glances and caresses.

The music broke, switching to another slow song. But instead of taking advantage of it, Joel found them a spot at one of the tables and tucked her against his side. “I need a drink.”

So did she. Ice water, to pour on her head. “Okay.”

Travis and Ashley joined them. Matt and Hope. In the time they’d been on the dance floor, more of the Coleman clan had switched to the dance side, and suddenly the space around them was filled with Joel’s family. Another couple of the older guy cousins who Vicki only knew vaguely stepped closer. Tamara was there with a lean, dark-haired man. It was a totally overwhelming and complete surrounding.

Only, this time the atmosphere changed subtly. No one focused on her alone. No one checked her and Joel and Jesse to see if something kinky was about to start.

Especially since Jesse had found someone to dance with, and the two were wrapped around each other on the floor. He’d as good as put up an I’m not interested in Vicki sign, and she couldn’t be happier.

Maybe this evening hadn’t been a mistake after all. Glancing up at Joel and the wicked promise in his eyes, the evening wasn’t over either.

Vicki reluctantly untangled herself from his embrace. “Got to hit the washroom.”

She needed a moment alone to cool off. She patted water on her face when she was done, trying to soothe her heated cheeks, but there was no hiding the sparkle in her eyes.

She hadn’t felt this alive in forever. Being with Joel and his family was a different world. Hope for the future gave her a reckless courage. This relationship was only going to last for the next six months, but she was going to enjoy every minute of it.

She was headed out of the bathroom when the door opened. Vicki moved aside to let a group enter when one of them blocked her path.

The woman gasped indignantly. “I can’t believe you have the guts to show yourself in public.”

Without any warning she raised her hand and slapped Vicki in the face.

Chapter Fourteen