Page 21 of Kiss and Tell

Joey chuckled. “Seriously?”

“Yep. I don’t even attempt to line dance anymore because I can assure you, if everyone else is going left, my ass will be boot-scooting to the right. Remi’s declared me a dance floor hazard.”

“Maybe so, but I’m still planning to drag you out there for a slow song,” Joey warned her.

Lucy lit up. “I’d love that.” Unfortunately, her smile didn’t last long as she glanced toward the bar. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“Did I do something to piss Miles off. I mean…he was cool in the car just now, but most of today during the filming, I got the impression he was avoiding me.”

Joey was hoping Lucy hadn’t noticed Miles keeping his distance because he’d suspected it would hurt her feelings. Looked like he was right.

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” he reassured her, wondering if he should offer her more, then realizing he didn’t know what he’d say. He couldn’t figure out Miles’s deal himself.

“Okay,” she replied, clearly unconvinced. “But you should probably know something else about me.”

“Another confession?” he asked, recalling her first-day admission about talking too much when she was nervous or excited.

“I have a fatal flaw.”

Joey shook his head. “I already don’t believe you. You have no flaws.”

Lucy laughed, delighted. “You sure are a charmer, Joey Moretti.”

“That wasn’t charm. It was me stating a fact. You’re easy to be with, Lucy. I’m really happy for the chance to get to know you.”

Her eyes softened. “I feel the same way.”

They held each other’s gazes for nearly a minute, and for the first time, Joey started to get a sense that he wasn’t the only one lost to insanity, falling way too fucking fast.

She gave him a wry smile. “I probably shouldn’t say this, but I’m going to be really sad when you leave. Time is moving too fast.”

Joey was blown away by her openness, her willingness to share her feelings without knowing if they were returned. “Yeah. I’m not looking forward to leaving either. And you’re right, the days are flying by. Looks like we need to figure out a way we can see each other again. Miles and I will be traveling off and on for six months, with a longish break for the holidays in between, but Philadelphia and Gracemont aren’t that far away. Maybe you could get some time off to travel to Philly. I could show you the city and you could meet my family.”

Lucy’s eyes sparkled. “I would love that.”

“Then it’s a date.” He leaned toward her, giving her a kiss on the cheek, enjoying the way it made her blush.

“A date,” she repeated softly.

Then Joey recalled the way this conversation had begun. “Although maybe you’d better tell me what this fatal flaw is before we start planning an itinerary,” he teased.

She glanced over her shoulder at Miles, who was still standing at the bar, laughing with Theo. “I can’t stand it when people don’t like me. Or maybe I should say when people I like don’t like me back. I don’t really care if assholes don’t like me,” she added, giggling.

He hadn’t set her mind at ease about Miles at all. “Hedoeslike you, Lucy.”

She lifted one shoulder as if to shrug off his reassurance. “He seems to have warmed up to everyone else on the farm. With me…he gets a lot chillier.”

Before Joey could come up with a response to that, Remi returned to the table and, a couple of minutes later, Miles and Theo arrived with the pitchers of beer.

Remi poured a glass for each of them, claiming she was an expert pourer, thanks to her experience as a server at the brewhouse. Miles and Lucy smiled widely and “hmmed” in appreciations after they took a sip. Something Theo and Remi found hilarious.

“Oh my God, Lu,” Remi exclaimed loudly. “Miles is as big a beer snob as you.”

“I just appreciate good beer,” Miles said, jerking his thumb toward Joey. “While this dude downs Bud Light like it’s something special.”

Lucy crinkled her nose adorably.

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