Page 9 of Color of Love

She waited, holding her breath, her heart pounding as they slowly turned again. But just as the bar came into view, Beau spun them the other way and she nearly cried out in frustration. What’s wrong with you?Stop looking for him and stop thinking about him! She tried to put him out of her mind but as the bar came into view for the fourth time, she realized Blake wasn’t there and her disappointment was intense.

“You okay?” Beau asked over the music, looking down at her with furrowed brows. She pasted a smile across her face and nodded. She tried to distract herself by telling Beau about the Ladies’ Night Taylor was organizing now she had been given the green light by Bob.

“Oh yeah? That sounds awesome, so single men are welcome?” he asked, a spark of mischief gleaming in his eyes, she just laughed and nodded. When the song finished an upbeat number started and they all danced together, tune after tune blasting out. Justine danced until her feet were raw and that night as she slept, her dreams were full of stolen glances with a mysterious deputy sheriff who had the most captivating eyes she had ever seen.

*

On Monday night Blake found himself outside the small community hall, watching as residents from Citrus Pines entered the building, chatting to each other. All day he had gone back and forth in his mind over whether he should’ve asked Austin to attend instead. Blake wanted to serve his community but also keep them at arm’s length. It was better he didn’t get close to anyone at the moment, he was constantly so on edge that it was only a matter of time before he lashed out again, potentially hurting someone.

He stood in the dark, torn. Did he go in? Did he leave? He recognized Dean entering the building, and was surprised that he was going to the meeting. Blake assumed that these programs were usually run by old ladies only wanting to get in everyone’s business. Dean was a pretty nice guy, he’d spoken to him a few times, and he was someone Blake would be happy having a beer with if he ever felt like trying to make friends, which he didn’t.

If Blake didn’t go in, then what else was he going to do? Go home and stare at the four walls of his house and wait for another panic attack? Sit there all night watching TV and willing his body to finally sleep? The prospect of a bleak evening pushed him to come out of the shadows and walk into the building.

Once inside, he looked around. A square table took up the centre of the room with chairs surrounding it. The refreshments table on one side held an assortment of pastries and drinks, and most people were congregated around that table. Blake stood in the doorway feeling awkward, he actually felt nervous, what the fuck was that about? This is where having a friend would come in handy, his brain mocked. He didn’t know who to approach, who to speak to, or even how to act and he started panicking, his anxiety rising. Then Dean spotted him and broke away from everyone, coming over. He held his hand out to Blake.

“Hey, man! Nice to see you,” Dean enthused, and Blake grasped his outstretched palm.

“Thanks, nice to see you too,” he replied, and was surprised to find that he meant it. Okay so maybe, maybe he missed male company. God, why was he being so lame about this? He didn’t know what to say to Dean next and started freaking out internally at his lack of social skills. Luckily for him, Dean took over.

“Is this your first meeting?” Dean asked.

“Yep, not really sure what happens at a Neighborhood Watch Society meeting,” Blake tried to smile but lately that didn’t come naturally.

“No problem. I can introduce you around if you like, so you can get a feel for who everyone is?” Dean offered. Blake felt some of the tension ease from him.

“Great, thanks.”

Dean took him over to the people gathered around the pastries and started introducing him. He met the school principal, a couple of small business owners, some healthcare workers, local council members and stay-at-home parents. Everyone he was introduced to was friendly and each wanted to speak to him about their various ideas and thoughts for the town. When he finally broke away, Dean came up next to him, chuckling.

“Sorry, I should’ve warned you they would pounce on you.”

“You’re not kidding, I’ll need to bring a notepad next time just to keep up with the demands,” Blake replied, and Dean just slapped him on the back.

“Come on, buddy, it’s about to start, you can sit with me.” Dean said, leading him over to the table. Blake tried not to get excited like a damn teenager over sitting together. The meeting was called to order by Janet Hayes, the leader of the local council. She ran through the minutes of the previous meeting and Blake could feel himself getting lost in his thoughts until a loud bang startled him. His heart began pounding, what was that? Where did it come from? He looked around, alert, hunting out the threat, concerned for the safety of everyone in the building.

“Sorry I’m late!” called a smoky voice that could only belong to one person. He looked up and saw Justine hurrying in to take a seat in the empty chair opposite him. As she sat down, she met his eyes and froze for a moment before that cold professional smile slid into place.

“Hey Justine, you know Blake, don’t you?” Dean said by way of introduction.

“Pleased to meet you, Blake,” she replied smoothly, and he inclined his head. She turned to Janet.

“Sorry, Janet.”

“That’s quite all right, dear.” Janet replied before continuing on with reading the minutes. Blake felt even more on edge than he had been before, knowing she was here. That she was so close. Why couldn’t he seem to get away from her at the moment? He had seen her more times this last week than in all his time so far in Citrus Pines. He discreetly watched her, concentration furrowing her brow, pinching her lips in the cutest way as she listened to Janet.

He turned away, mad at himself for getting distracted and staring like a creep. Had he not gotten his fill during their first session? Apparently, that hadn’t been enough though, just like last night at the bar when he couldn’t take his eyes off her while she danced with Beau. He had ended up leaving, annoyed with himself because instead of looking for a hook-up, he wanted to storm over to her and Beau and rip them apart. Why were you even bothered? He couldn’t answer.

She cleared her throat, drawing his attention to her again. She swallowed and his eyes tracked her throat as it bobbed delicately with the action. Her tongue swiped across her plump bottom lip, and he felt a sharp lance of arousal hammer through him, his cock twitching in his jeans. Goddammit. He tore his eyes away and focused on Janet again. But Justine’s scent soon made its way over to him, cocoa and vanilla, a sinful combination. It drove him wild, his thoughts going crazy until he was sitting in a meeting full of people with a hard-on. He bit his cheek in frustration at getting aroused so easily like a damn teenager.

The rest of the meeting passed by fairly quickly, Janet spent the time filling him in on what they usually did. They talked about local issues and ran through development requests for their own properties or for the town. Residents reported any suspicious activity they’d noticed and on a few occasions ran civilian stakeouts to catch suspected criminals in the act. They were even working on how to branch out into monitoring cybercrime to protect some of the kids at school from internet trolls.

He was really impressed with everything they’d done. They had caught criminals themselves and the town was safer because of the work they did. By the time the meeting was over he had invitations to visit the school and the council offices to look at the work they were doing there.

He chatted to Dean briefly as everyone started filing out of the hall and when he looked up, he was disappointed pleased to see Justine had already left. He made his way home and worked out for a couple of hours before heading to bed. He lay there, staring up at the ceiling, willing sleep to come but as usual it eluded him. His mind filled itself with thoughts of his new psychologist and how her thick hair would feel wrapped in his fist as he drove into her, her cries of pleasure ringing in his ears.

He was still thinking about her when the sun rose the next morning which riled him up even more. He definitely needed to get laid; that was the only reason he’d been thinking about her so much. He’d overheard Taylor talking at the bar the other night about the singles event that she was organizing. Maybe he would swing by and see if he could meet someone who would be up for a quick, no-strings-attached fling. That should solve everything.

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