She swallowed hard. “Well, I’m good at that. Disappointin’ people. It’s what I do, Detective.”
Baz closed the distance between them before she had a chance to bolt. He cupped her jaw with one hand, sliding his fingers along the warm, smooth skin of her neck.
“Youdidn’t disappoint me, JJ,” he whispered. “I want to spend time with you. That’s all. But I told you, I’ll wait for you.”
“I don’t want you to wait for me, Baz,” she said, her voice quivering slightly.
Nowshewas lying.
He’d gotten rather adept at pinpointing untruths because that was his job. And while JJ wasn’t necessarily easy to read, he’d caught on to a few of her tells. When she lied, she pressed her front teeth against her bottom lip. It was subtle, but he’d been looking for it.
“Tough shit,” he said, brushing her cheek with his thumb.
Oh, how he wanted to kiss her, to touch her, to make love to her. Before he’d ruined things by pushing her too hard, they’d gotten close. Shared some dinners together, talked endlessly although mostly about work. And yes, they’d ended up in bed together, which had been fucking fantastic. Phenomenal, in fact. And for a few moments, he’d even believed some of those walls were coming down and JJ was letting him in.
He should’ve known better, but he’d been blinded by his feelings for her. What he felt for her … well, it had taken him completely by surprise. He’d never fallen for a woman so hard, never wanted to spend every waking moment with anyone.
“Baz.”
Pulling himself out of his thoughts, he stared into her eyes. “I’ll wait for you, JJ,” he repeated.
JJ shook her head, took a step back.
Baz had no choice but to drop his hands, to stare at her and wait for her to decimate him one more time because that was what she did to him when she continued to push him away.
“We can’t do this,” she said softly. “We can’t. It just doesn’t make sense, you and me.”
He could feel his heart shredding in his chest, but he didn’t move, didn’t speak.
“I’m not in a place where a relationship makes sense. It just doesn’t. Not right now.” She lifted a finger, pointed at his chest. “And you can’t put your life on hold for me. I’m not worth it.”
That was more painful than anything. The fact that this woman honestly believed she wasn’t worth anyone’s time. Someone had broken her heart. The question was who? He doubted it was a romantic interest who’d broken her down. JJ wouldn’t let a man do that. But someone had.
“JJ—”
“Please don’t,” she rasped, her eyes glassy with tears.
That was the only reason he backed off, didn’t push the issue. He wasn’t sure he’d survive seeing her cry.
“Okay,” he finally said. “Okay, JJ. You win.”
As he was walking out of the barn, he heard her sob, and it was like a two-by-four upside the head.
Chapter Eight
Trey stepped into Moonshiners not knowing whatto expect for the night.
He’d never been a big fan of New Year’s. To him it was celebrating just another day, so he didn’t quite understand the rationale behind it. He figured some people needed a reason to party, and this was just another in a long list.
He was not one of those people.
Not to mention, aside from the occasional beer, Trey didn’t drink all that much. Had something to do with how he’d overindulged a few years ago, right after his split from his ex-husband. He’d teetered damn close to becoming an alcoholic and it worried him, so these days he shied away from booze.
Granted, he wasn’t usually one to pass up a night out, some time to hang with both family and friends, having some laughs, enjoying conversation. Unfortunately, he wasn’t feeling it tonight, but he wasn’t quite sure why that was. Something just felt off.
However, he wasn’t going to give his brothers or his cousins a reason to give him shit, so when they invited him to Moonshiners to ring in the new year right, he had graciously accepted.
And here he was.
