Arizona Skies: The Muse Read Free Page A

walking and was watching us with a smirk. I knew she probably had a smart remark, but she just winked at me as we continued to walk around the ship.
    Two of the guys seemed to be happy to follow her as she strutted her stuff for them, enjoying every minute of it. John the big dark haired guy was quiet, smiling at us as he followed behind his friends. Shelly was cute and perky, and all the guys always went for her. I normally just quietly stood back and watched the show. But Jesse never looked her way once—I couldn’t believe it. He wasn’t paying any attention to her at all.
    We stopped walking and watched our ship sail toward the open seas. The view from the railing was magnificent. Seagulls were flying all around the ship as the waves hit the side of the bow. Jesse grabbed my hand again, pulling my mind back to him. I tried to pull my hand away, totally un-nerved by his touching me. He let go of my hand with a smile. I’d just met him and even though we had talked we were still complete strangers, but what he said to me next had thrown me off kilter.
    “When you looked at me earlier from the dock, I felt this immediate connection with you,” he said. I sucked in a deep breath. He’d just confessed the same feelings that I was feeling when I saw him.
    “You may think this is silly but, I think you may be the girl I’ve been looking for all these years.”
    “Not really, I felt the same way about you,” I confessed before I realized the words had flown out of my mouth. Way to stay mysterious there, Bailey!
    “You know, somehow, I felt that. It was so strong that I made the guys search all over this ship for you,” he admitted with a sly grin.
    “Yeah, we practically knocked people over to get close enough to see if you were the girl he described to us,” Scott laughed. I looked at Jesse, who smiled sheepishly at me. I still couldn’t believe that he’d searched for me. I didn’t mention that I was secretly searching for him too. He took my shaking hands in his and looked into my eyes with a big, apologetic smile.
    “I’m scaring you right now, aren’t I?” he asked.
    “A little,” I nodded, feeling embarrassed but excited at the same time. I pulled my hand away again experiencing intense heat between us that had my body humming with all these new emotions. How is this possible we just met?
    “I’m sorry; I know we just met. I didn’t know my friends were going to rat me out like that,” he said, giving his friends an annoyed look.
    I had to chuckle at their discomfort as they squirmed at his comment. His friend John just smiled at the two of us. “Whatever man,” Scott said with a shrug and turned his attention back on Shelly.
    “Listen, Bailey, I swear I’m a nice guy,” he said, crossing his heart. “I just believe in going after what I want.” He smiled at me.
Oh my god he just said he wanted me!
Now I really was nervous and I turned bright red and looked over at Shelly. She was watching us and heard what he said, giving me a look with her hands on her hips. I knew exactly what she was thinking:
Don’t fuck this up, Bailey
. Jesse followed my eyes to look at her too. I pulled my hands from his and raised them in a “what?” gesture as she blurted out, “Remember our list.”
    I nodded my understanding. I knew she wanted me to pursue whatever Jesse and I might have together, but I’d already decided I would do just that after he saved me from falling on that cable. Maybe he was the knight in shining armor I’d always dreamed about. Jesse looked confused with one eyebrow raised.
    “List, what kind of list?” He smirked.
    “Oh, just ignore her,” I said, waving my hand to dismiss the issue.
    “Dare I ask what’s on that list? Or maybe I don’t want to know.”
    “Long story,” I said, desperately trying to change the subject and kill my best friend and her big mouth.
    “I’ve got time,” he said, looking intrigued.
    “Not today,” I said. I turned to see Shelly giggling