Bailey let out a breath and looked away from me. "Jackson, we can't do this."
"We can't do what?"
"This...us, in front of our friends." She buried her face in her hands. "I'm not ready. I was barely ready for this. I'm not ready to date you.” Bailey scrambled out from under me and, holding the blankets against her chest, sat up on the other side of the bed.
"Why? Give me one good reason why not, because ever since you've been back in town, I've been getting nothing but different messages from you."
"What? How do you figure?"
"Come on, Bailey. Do you really need to ask me that? How about all the late-night text messages, the need to feel protected when you are at work with Ben. You weren't calling Cara or one of the other girls. You're calling me."
"Seriously? The late-night text messages were about the wedding, nothing else."
I threw the covers off me, grabbed my sweat pants, and threw them on. "Sure."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Bailey, it may have started out that way, but when we were still texting at four in the morning about nonsense bullshit, flirting back and fourth, I'd say it’s more than just about a wedding."
She sat there glaring up at me, saying nothing, because in her heart she knew I was right, and I knew she knew it. I walked over, picked up the phone, and ordered two coffees to my room, ignoring the fact that she was planning on leaving. Then I turned back to her. She still sat there, looking at me, saying nothing.
"I see you're at a loss for words because you know I am right."
She swallowed hard and looked up at me. "Fine, maybe a couple of nights I might have been flirting with you."
"A couple of nights? Are you fucking kidding me. Do I need to show you our messages? It was every fucking night."
"What are you talking about?" she bit out, pulling the covers up against her chest.
I reached for my phone and pulled up one of our last conversations. "I wish you were here. I wish you were laying behind me with your arms wrapped around me so I could sleep again," I read out loud.
"I'd had a few drinks."
I scrolled down through the messages. "Did you have a few drinks when you sent me this?" I questioned, showing her the image on my phone. Her cheeks flushed and she buried her face in her hands when she saw the picture of herself that she had sent me three nights before the wedding. "You can't tell me for one second that this was about the fucking wedding."
"Fine, you’re right, I was flirting, but that doesn't mean I am ready for the pressure of a relationship with you."
"What pressure? I've never pressured you into anything, ever."
"I'm not ready for the pressure of everyone knowing. I'm not ready to hear it from not only our friends, but from my mother. Do you know I'd been in Sunnyville less than a week and someone saw me downtown by the station and they were already calling my mother to ask if we were back together. Not to mention, my mother has barely stopped bringing up your name since the morning you brought me home."
I watched as her chest rose and fell in rapid succession as she sat there. I sat down beside her and placed my hand on her cheek.
"Bailey, no one needs to know. We keep it between us for a little while, see how things go. We work on us and only us."
She shook her head. "I don't know," she muttered.
"There doesn't have to be any pressure. We can keep it quiet, just between us. We put all the old shit behind us and we just focus on things between us with no outside influence. That way if we don't work out, we aren't hurting anyone else."
Bailey giggled. "Are you suggesting we sneak around like a couple of kids."
I shrugged. I had no idea what I was suggesting, but if it meant that I got to work on another chance with the woman I knew I still loved, then I would do damn near anything. "I guess maybe I am."
Bailey was quiet as she thought about what I'd suggested. A knock on the door tore me away from those gorgeous blue eyes, and I wandered over and took the two cups of coffee from the guy. When I returned to the bedside, Bailey sat there with a small smile on her face. I could tell she was still thinking about what I'd suggested.
"Here," I said, handing her the cup of hot coffee.
"Do you think we could do that?" she asked as I sat down beside her.