“Would you like a beer?” she offered. “Or there’s wine.”
“Beer’s good,” Rafe answered.
“I’ll get ’em,” Holt said, maneuvering behind her so he could reach the refrigerator.
Bailey realized tonight was going to be awkward. She’d expected it to be, considering. But she was bound and determined to do this because she couldn’t see another option. For some inexplicable reason, their worlds had collided. All three of them. And to find happiness, she wanted them to figure out how this could work.
Not that she was holding her breath or anything. How did something like this even work? She’d often wondered how the throuples in this town had come to be. She’d imagined that their intimacy had come about organically. Like, one minute, the three of them were talking, the next, they were kissing. Sure, she’d oversimplified it, probably. Now that she was in the thick of it, she couldn’t fathom how this would start without someone intervening.
Someone was going to have to make the first move.
“Would it help if she got naked?” Holt asked.
Bailey nearly spit out her wine. “Me?” She chuckled and looked at Rafe. “I mean, if it’ll help…”
Rafe’s eyes heated as they moved over her.
“It might help me,” Holt said, a hint of hopefulness in his tone.
“I’m not gettin’ naked,” Bailey told them. She wasn’t. Making the first move, especially one so bold and brazen, might come easy for some, but not her. She was just getting to know Bad Girl Bailey. She definitely wasn’t pushing it.
“What ifIget naked?” Holt offered, picking up his plate and beginning to eat from where he stood in the kitchen.
“That’s a much better idea,” Bailey agreed, glancing at Rafe. “It would be even better if you got naked, too. I mean, there’s no harm in takin’ in a show with dinner, right?”
Rafe rolled his eyes, but she sensed he was relaxing a little. However, he wasn’t getting naked.
Not that she was serious. Mostly. Of course, she wouldn’t look away if either of them happened to strip down to skin.
Realizing her thoughts were running fast toward the gutter, Bailey reined them in.
“Since no one’s gettin’ naked, why don’t we talk?” she suggested, carrying her plate into the living room. The kitchen table was small, so she figured they could spread out more here. Plus, it would force Rafe to move away from the back door.
“What would you like to talk about, little rabbit?” Holt asked when he joined her, sitting on one end of the couch while she sat in the small rocking chair.
“Why do you call her that?”
Rafe’s abrupt question startled her, but she looked at Holt for the answer.
“Growing up, we had rabbits in our backyard. Not pets,” Holt explained as though it was completely natural. “They would come and go, stealing the birdseed that fell on the ground. We had a dog. He would sit out on the back porch and watch them as they snuck up closer to the house.” His grin grew wide. “They were these little daredevils, taunting the dog until he’d give chase. They’d run and hide when he went after them, but they always came back for more.”
Bailey stared at him in shock, a smile on her face. Honestly, she’d never considered there was a story behind the nickname. She figured it was something akin tohoneyorsweetheart. Just something someone said.
“You’re the little daredevil taunting the big dog,” Holt said with a wink.
Bad Girl Bailey really liked that comparison.
Bailey looked at Rafe, wondering if that explanation was sufficient. When he didn’t say anything, she steered the conversation once more. “You were gone for a while. Did you two get a chance to talk?”
“A little.” Holt took a bite, chewed.
“What did you talk about?” She looked at Rafe, hoping he would contribute or, at the very least, come into the living room.
He did neither.
“Simple stuff,” Holt supplied around a mouthful.
When he didn’t say anything more, Bailey took a bite. Rafe hadn’t made a move to get his food, and she suspected he was debating on making a quick exit. Whatever he was doing, he wasn’t making an effort, which meant all of this had been for nothing.
