Searching for Neverland (29 page)

“It was your tone.”

“What’s wrong with my tone?”

He opened his mouth to respond, but then he must have changed his mind about what he was going to say. “I’ll be back in a few days. Remember, we have that meeting with the Leanna on Monday, and Sean on Tuesday, and I need you to make sure everything goes okay at O’Donnell’s. Brad has your number, so he’ll call you if he needs you at night, but you’ll need to work the daytime manager shifts. I should be back on Wednesday.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Josh, are you sure you want me to take those meetings? Don’t you want to reschedule?”

I was fine with the manager stuff, but making final decisions about the remodel had me feeling like I was in over my head.

He shook his head. “I trust you and your decisions. Leanna’s going to need to place the orders for some of the furniture and décor, so we can’t push the meeting back if we want to meet our deadline, and Sean’s team is getting started on the kitchen next week, so you need to walk through everything with him before they start, just to be sure everything looks okay, and you need to sign off on the remodel plans for the main part of the bar. Sean told me Cole made the adjustments we asked for, so it’ll be easy.”

He smiled encouragingly at me, and that alone gave me confidence, even though I was freaking out inside.

“You’ll be fine, and when I get back on Wednesday, we can talk.”

“Talk?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I think there are some things we need to get out in the open, don’t you?”

I swallowed hard, wondering if that was when he was going to tell me he knew about my feelings for him and let me down gently – again. Maybe I’d missed my chance. That would suck.

“Yeah, we probably do,” I said, wishing I could crawl into a hole and die.

“Cool,” he said, no doubt relieved that he wouldn’t have to be around me and my inappropriate crush for a few days.

“Have a good trip,” I said half-heartedly.

He smiled, and I melted. Damn, stupid perfect smile of his.

He was up and off the bed before I could say anything else, and I watched as he hurriedly threw things into a duffel bag.

“What time’s your flight?”

“Two hours,” he said, as he moved into the bathroom to grab his toiletries.

I watched him, wondering if it was the last time I’d get to watch him getting ready while snuggled under his covers where everything was warm and smelled like him. I doubted he’d want me back in his bed after he brushed me off.

He threw his small toiletry bag into his duffel, grabbed his iPad and looked around the room. “I think that’s everything,” he said, as his gaze came to rest on me. “Well, not quite.”

He set his iPad down, crossed the room in two strides and sat down on the edge of the bed. His gaze was so intense it sent my blood pounding through my veins. And before I knew what was happening, Josh dipped his head and pressed his lips to mine for several beats. He didn’t deepen the kiss or even open his mouth, almost as if he was mirroring what I’d done the night before, but I knew there was more to the kiss than just a goodbye, and it sent my heart soaring.

It was the strangest, most gratifying, confusing kiss I’d ever received, but it was also quite possibly the best kiss I’d ever had.

“We’ll talk on Wednesday,” he said, and I knew it was his way of telling me not to respond.

But I didn’t want to. I just wanted to stay where I was with the feeling of his lips still on mine, completely and utterly blissed out by the sudden prospect of what might be between us.

I love you,
I thought, as he left the room and turned around to smile at me.

Chapter 15

“Come on, Tanner!” I cheered loudly when my brother stepped up to the mound. “You can do it!”

His team was down by two runs, and they needed him to hold the other team from scoring, so they could make back the runs they’d lost in the previous inning due to two fielding errors. I could see my brother was rattled by the pressure just enough that he needed to get focused.

“You’ve got this, T,” Trey yelled to him. “Rock and fire, baby.”

Tanner paused before approaching
the
mound and grinned up at us. He was over-the-moon that Trey had shown up at his game to surprise him. Trey’d called our parents to tell them he was coming, but they hadn’t told Tanner.

“You got this, T,” Trey repeated. “Strike him out.”

Tanner just gave him very grown up head nod before he stepped up to the mound and proceeded to strike out the first batter in four pitches.

“He’s so happy you’re here,” I said, putting my arm around Trey.

“Little man is so awesome,” Trey said in admiration as he watched Tanner throw two more strikes.

“Isn’t he,” my mother said, as she returned to the stands with snacks and drinks for us. She loved to feed her kids.

“Thanks Mom,” Trey said, as he grabbed a soda from her and took a long pull.

I rolled my eyes and grabbed the whole tray of sodas, so she could free up one of her hands.

“Here, take this to Dad,” I told Trey, handing him a Gatorade.

My dad was one of Tanner’s coaches, so he was inside the dugout.

“Fine,” Trey grumbled.

“Where’s your sister,” my mother asked as she settled in beside me.

“Strike three!” the umpire yelled, and we were both on our feet then.

“Alright, Tanner!” I cheered. “One more out, buddy.”

“Yea Tanner! That’s my baby,” my mother said, and I shook my head at her.

“Oh, sorry. Sorry, Tanner,” she yelled toward the field, and Tanner just shook his head. He hated when she babied him, especially when he was playing.

“So where is your sister?” she asked again.

“At home,” Trey said, as he climbed back up the bleachers. “She and Noah were sleeping in. She’ll be over for dinner, though.”

“Who is Noah?” our mother asked, and I shot Trey a murderous glare.

“Sorry,” Trey mouthed, as I recovered for him.

“Noah’s a friend of hers from UNC. He sometimes spends the night on her couch.”

“Mom, Dad needs you for something,” Trey said then, as if remembering that our father had sent him with a message.

“Okay,” she said, getting up again as the batter hit a fly ball off of Tanner’s pitch. We all held our breath as the centerfielder caught it and the inning ended.

“I think I might be dating Josh,” I told Trey as soon as our mother was out of earshot.

“Really?” Trey said, as he discreetly put in a dip.

“Are you still doing that crap?”

“Yes, and don’t say anything. Mom thinks I quit.”

I rolled my eyes as he pushed the tobacco to a part of his mouth where our mom wouldn’t be able to see it. Trey had been dipping for years, and I knew he’d tried to quit, but he was a college baseball player, so I also knew it wasn’t easy. A lot of his teammates dipped, so it was a hard habit to break when it was right there in front of you.

“Hi guys,” Taryn said, sliding into the seat next to Trey. “What did I miss?”

“The whole game,” Trey said sarcastically. “It’s the seventh inning.”

She waved her hand in dismissal. “Plenty of time to see little man pitch. Hi Tanner!”

Our brother stuck his head out of dugout and grinned and waved at Taryn.

“I thought you were sleeping in,” I said sarcastically.

She shrugged. “I got up and decided to come watch Tanner play.”

“So, why do you think you’re dating Josh?” Trey asked before Taryn and I could start bickering.

“What?!” Taryn interrupted, before I could respond.

So I recounted the story of what happened the night before and that morning’s kiss as rapidly as I could. My mom loved Josh, and I did not need her getting her hopes up that he and I would end up together. I was already anxious enough without knowing how he truly felt, although his kiss had certainly spoken volumes.

“Shit, that’s hot,” Taryn murmured, as she fanned her face with her hand.

“And now I just have to sit and wait until he’s back on Wednesday to see what’s going on.”

“Ooh, that reminds me,” Taryn said, changing the subject. “Do you want to go to a concert on Thursday night?”

“Who’s playing?”

“It’s my friend Emily, well, her fiancé, Zack’s, band, Liar’s Edge. They’re on tour right now, and they’re playing a club in St. Pete.”

“Dude, they’re awesome. I’m seeing them Monday night in Gainesville,” Trey chimed in.

“Are they that band you were telling me about last month?”

Taryn nodded. “Yeah, they just released their first album last month, and their song
Glimpse
has been on the radio a ton, and their other song,
Jump,
was just released as a single last week, but it’s been in a movie trailer, a commercial, and I heard it on a reality show last week, too.”

“Really? Oh, is that the song from the ad for that chick-flick about the guy who tries to commit suicide and then falls for his therapist?”

She nodded. “Yeah, that’s the one.”

“Oh, I love that song.”

“I know, right. Well, they’re getting really popular, really fast. Emily’s their PR rep, and she’s one of my best friends, so she
can get us back
stage, and give us free stuff. You should totally bring Josh. He liked their music when I played it for him.”

I thought about watching a concert with Josh, his arms around me as we swayed to the music, and I got all giddy inside.

“Sure, we’ll be there,” I said, hoping I was right about his intentions. If I was wrong, then he was certainly sending some confusing signals. “Burn me a copy of their CD, so I can learn their lyrics before Thursday.”

“I’ll bring a copy to dinner tonight,” Taryn said, grinning at me.

Chapter 16

If I was a fingernail biter, I would have had stubs left, but since I wasn’t
,
I sat on the couch bouncing my knee up and down as I watched the clock like a hawk. Josh’s plane was due to land in fifteen minutes, which meant he’d be home shortly after, and I was slowly driving myself insane.

“Fuck it,” I said out loud, as I jumped off the couch.

I grabbed my keys and flew out of the driveway as fast as I could. I was at the airport in fifteen minutes and sliding into a parking space shortly thereafter. As I burst into the terminal I remembered that airport security was trained to look for insane people, so I took it down a few notches, not wanting my hopefully romantic gesture to be ruined by my arrest as a potential threat to homeland security.

I glanced around for one of the big walls of TVs and spotted one a few feet away. My eyes flew to the listing of arriving flights and found Josh’s flight right as it flipped over to ‘landed’. I took a deep breath, as if to steel myself, and surged forward.

I didn’t get far, since I couldn’t go past security, but I could wait just outside the exit to the monorail that led to the outlying terminal.

The minutes ticked by slower than ever, and each time a train arrived, I’d stand up straight and my heart would start pounding, and then when I didn’t see Josh, I would sink back down onto the edge of the large potted plant I was resting on.

And then a train arrived, and there he was, his duffel bag slung over his shoulder as he walked into the main terminal, his eyes fixed on the exit, never expecting I’d be there waiting for him. I grinned to myself and stepped forward.

“Josh,” I called out, my smile practically bursting off of my face.

He looked up, and it took a few seconds for his brain to register what he was seeing, but then his face broke into a smile that was sure to rival my own. I took that as a sign as I surged forward, dodging people hurrying past us, and threw my arms around his neck.

His duffel fell to the floor, and his arms wrapped around my waist, as he lifted me off the ground, and held me tight against his chest.

“Taylor,” he said, as he buried his face in my hair and inhaled deeply.

He set me back on the ground after a few seconds and appraised me.

“Hi!” I said, as all of my nervous energy bubbled to the surface. My heart was pract
ically pounding out of my chest
as he looked down at me, his arms still looped around my waist.

Yeah, we were totally going to do this.

“Hi,” he said softly, as he reached up and tucked my hair behind my ear and cupped my cheek with his hand.

Then he lowered his head, so slowly, it was as if he was giving me an opportunity to back away if I wanted to, but I wasn’t going anywhere. Instead, I met him halfway and pressed my lips to his, and in a second the world was on fire. Josh wasted very little time before he surged forward, parting my lips with his tongue and capturing my mouth in one of the most passionate kisses I’d ever had.