Arizona Skies: The Muse Read Free

of mine and pulled my hand up to his lips. I thought I was going to faint.
    “Bailey, what a beautiful name,” he said kissing my knuckles. He stared into my eyes for what seemed like an eternity, until one of the guys slapped him on the shoulder. I pulled my hand free to try to compose myself.
He was really here and was looking for me
, I thought to myself as his three friends smiled at me.
    “Hey, man, you gonna introduce us?” the blond guy said. Jesse chuckled and turned to introduce me to his friends.
    “Bailey, these are my friends, Scott, John, and Keith.” They all said hi to me in unison with big smiles on their faces. All of them were good-looking and smiling at me like I was the flavor of the month. It was a little un-nerving and I blushed feeling four sets of eyes on me. I looked at Shelly who was giving me the evil eye, waiting for me to introduce her to these hunks.
    “Hello, earth to Bailey,” she said, looking at me and Jesse. I pulled myself from the testosterone coma I was in and introduced them to Shelly, who immediately went into flirt mode. The heat from my connection with Jesse was causing me to squirm as he moved closer to me and started to talk looking me straight in the eyes.
    “I’ve been looking for you,” he grinned.
    “Yeah, we’ve all been looking for you.” His friend Scott interjected.
    I blushed. “Me? Why?”
    “You’re the girl in the red dress; that’s what Jesse told us to look for. It took us two trips around this ship to find you,” his friend Keith chuckled.
    They were all laughing as I smiled and looked at Jesse, who gave me a sly grin. I couldn’t help but chuckle along with them as they all stared at me.
This is weird
, I thought feeling uncomfortable as I blushed and lowered my head. All of them looking at me made me self-conscious; I’m not used to all this attention. Shelly smiled at the guys. I wondered if I had changed my clothes, would they have found me.
    “I just had to find you,” Jesse said, lifting my chin so our eyes were connected. My attraction to him was immediate, I wondered if he felt it too.
    “Can I walk with you?” he asked.
    I nodded, looking at Shelly, who said “Sure” immediately.
    Jesse squeezed in next to me, separating me from Shelly. He asked where I was from and what I did for a living. I’d never had a guy so interested in me before. I answered his questions, looking up at him from my lowered eyes. He seemed to be interested in getting to know me. I’m sure I must have looked terrified as we talked. I could hear Shelly laughing as she joked with the other guys. She was much better at this than I was.
    I asked him questions too. He told me he was twenty-six and a graphic artist and lived in Arizona where he worked for an advertising company. He had this quiet confidence about him, calmly walking along and talking to me like we’d known each other for a long time. Every time he smiled, that dimple had my heart racing. I glanced up at him as he continued to talk to me, taking in a very handsome man that seemed to be solely interested in me. He was looking at me very closely as we walked; it’s a good thing because I wasn’t watching where I was walking and almost tripped on a very large cable that was coiled up near the railing of the ship.
    “Be careful there, beautiful,” he said, grabbing me around the waist and pulling me to safety. My face was next to his neck, and I inhaled this spicy, manly scent mixed with the sea air. It was intoxicating as his muscular arms held me close to his body. I knew right then that I was in serious trouble with this guy as he held me suspended in his arms.
    “Thank you,” I said after he lowered me back to my feet. Blushing I adjusted my dress; positive I’d probably exposed my underwear to have the passengers on the deck. Taking a deep breath I tried to calm my beating heart. Jesse had saved me from what could have been a very embarrassing fall. I looked over at Shelly, who had stopped