Gray.
“Sneaked out of the house,” his brother whispered. “Penny’s engrossed in a Supernatural marathon and a tub of popcorn. It’ll be hours before she surfaces.”
Aidan broke eye contact with his mom only to have his eyes lock in on Lily like she was a homing beacon. “I said I’d handle it,” he whispered back.
“Yeah,” Gray said. “And it looks like you’re doing a bang-up job of it just standing here too. You going to make a move or keep pretending you’re invisible?”
One of the bartenders came up to them, smiling sweetly at Gray and completely ignoring Aidan.
Shelly.
Ah, so the night could get worse.
“What can I get for you?” she asked Gray.
He ordered a beer and then looked at Aidan. “The same for you?”
“Yeah, thanks.”
“Oh, I’m not serving him,” Shelly said to Gray.
Gray grinned at her.
Shelly winked at him and sauntered off.
“A real fan of yours, I see,” Lily noted dryly.
Gray laughed, fully enjoying the show, the ass. “Don’t worry, man, she’ll bring you a beer. She likes her tips too much not to.”
Aidan could only hope that was true.
“But she’ll probably spit in it first.”
Aidan sighed. “Yeah. Thanks.”
At the other end of the bar, Char stood up. She pointed two fingers at her own eyes and then at her boys before heading down the back hall toward the restrooms.
Her date, Marcus Dolby, was looking both relaxed and amused as he sipped his beer.
“Go,” Gray said. “Make our move.”
Aidan slid his brother an incredulous look. “Are you crazy? She just let us know she’s onto us.”
“Just do it,” Gray said in his annoying big brother voice.
“Do what?” Jonathan wanted to know.
“It’s about her date,” Gray said. “He’s gotta go.”
“You’re going to try to scare him off?” Jonathan asked. “I know Marcus. He’s not scared of much.”
“Not scare exactly,” Gray said, and paused. “Maybe intimidate. Just a little bit.”
“That’s … horrible,” Lily said.
“She’s not in a dating place,” Aidan said. “She’s … healing.”
“She’s fine,” Lily said, and when Aidan and Gray just stared at her she said, “She is! I did her hair for tonight and she’s great, actually.”
Shelly snorted as she walked by on the other side of the bar. “You gotta keep in mind that these two geniuses think their dear mama’s too old and feeble to do the nasty. A bad hip is a setback not a deterrent.”
Aidan shuddered.
Gray looked … well, gray. He gave Aidan a little push. “Get on with it. I gotta get back before Penny runs out of popcorn.”
Aidan walked the length of the bar and sat down on the empty barstool next to Marcus.
Marcus nodded at him.
Aidan nodded back.
“What happened?” Marcus asked. “You lose at rockpaper-scissors?”
Aidan’s gaze slid to Gray. “Uh—”
Gray jerked his chin as if to say, Go on, do it.
Lily rolled her eyes.
Marcus grinned and leaned back. “Well, let’s hear it already.”
“Hear what?”
“All the reasons why you think I shouldn’t date your mom. Does it have anything to do with the fact that I work for you?”
“No.”
“What then?” Marcus asked.
“She’s not up for it, for one thing,” Aidan said. “You shouldn’t have asked her out. You—”
“First of all, she asked me.” Marcus smiled when Aidan just stared at him slack-jawed. “That’s right. And I jumped on the chance. She’s funny, she’s warm and wonderful, and if you want the truth, she’s sexy as hell.”
Aidan scrubbed a hand over his face.
Marcus laughed softly as he leaned in closer. “Things don’t shrivel up just because you turn the big five-oh, you know. In fact, some things just get better with time. Your mama is one of them.”
Aidan closed his eyes. “I will pay you to stop talking.”
Marcus laughed again. “And I’ll pay you to still be sitting right here when she comes back from the restroom, because we both know she’s going to be pissed as hell at you.” He just grinned when Aidan made a sound of frustration. “Tell you what,” Marcus told Aidan. “You walk away right now and I won’t mention this to her.”
“Mention what?”
They both stilled at Char’s voice and then turned in unison to face her.
She stood, hands on her hips, glaring at Aidan. “Son,” she said evenly in that mom voice that mothers the world over have perfected.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Let me guess,” she said. “You’re here to say, ‘Have a good evening, love you, Mom,’ right?”
“Yes,” Marcus said, before Aidan uttered a word. “That’s exactly what he told me he was here to tell you.” Then he set his big hand in the middle of Aidan’s back and shoved him off the stool.
Aidan stood, towering over his mom but still feeling like he was two feet tall.
“Aw,” his mom said, softening, enveloping Aidan in a warm hug. “That’s sweet of you, baby.” Then she put her mouth to his ear. “Now I know that you and your brother are so full of poo your eyes are brown, so you listen up good. If you screw this night up for me, I’m going to put an ad in the paper saying you’re ready to get married and have kids and that all singles should apply. Especially the criers, the stage-five clingers, and poetry lovers.”
Aidan shook his head. “Been awhile since I’ve seen the ruthless side of you.”
“I know. So in case you’ve forgotten, I’ll remind you that you should be afraid, very afraid.” She cupped his cheek lightly and then tapped it—not so lightly. “Now go away, baby. The adults want to get back to their date.”
“Fine. Have it your way. But be careful, Mom, okay?” He leaned down to brush her cheek with a kiss and knew he didn’t imagine the way she clung to his arm just a moment longer than necessary.
Aidan made his way back to Gray. Lily and Jonathan were still there, as was Shelly, all of them watching him like he was better than a sitcom.
“Well?” Gray asked. “Did she understand—” He broke off, staring over Aidan’s shoulder across the bar. “What the—Aidan, why is Marcus putting his arm around Mom? And now he’s leaning in and— Shit, he’s going to kiss her! He is kissing her! What the hell did you say?”
Aidan just shook his head and looked at Shelly. “I really need a drink.”
She smiled evilly and produced two beers. Aidan reached to take one.
She slapped his hand away from it. “Not that one. That one’s Gray’s.” She handed it to his brother. Then she held out the second.
Aidan stared at it. “Do I even want to know what you’ve done to this one?” he asked.
She smiled. “Nope.”
Shit. He set the beer down.
Lily stood and kissed Jonathan on the cheek. “Well, this has been enlightening, but I’m out.”
Aidan started to follow her, but Gray stood up and got in his way.
“What are you doing?” Aidan asked.
“Stopping you from making your second mistake for the evening.”
“Hey, talking to Mom was your bright idea,” Aidan said.
“Yeah but you’re the one who screwed it up.”
Aidan blew out a breath. “Whatever, man. Get out of my way.”
“Fine.” Gray lifted his hands in surrender. “Apparently you haven’t gotten in enough trouble tonight. You need more. Go for it.”
Aidan shoulder-checked him on his way toward the front door and then was stopped again. He turned, ready to rumble, but it wasn’t his brother, it was Jonathan. “Listen, about Lily,” he started.
Shit. Aidan liked Jonathan, he really did. But if the guy was about to try to
lay some kind of claim on Lily and then ask Aidan to back off, they were going to have a problem.
He got that such a thing made no sense at all. He didn’t have any plans to go after Lily for himself, so it shouldn’t matter one little bit if Jonathan did.
But it did matter.
A whole hell of a lot. “What about her?”
Jonathan paused, searched Aidan’s gaze, and smiled. “Never mind. You already answered my question.”
“Wasn’t aware you asked one.”
Jonathan looked away and then back to Aidan. “I’m about to overstep my friendship boundaries with her to tell you something because I think you need to know it. Don’t disappoint me, okay?”
Aidan narrowed his eyes. “Is she in some sort of trouble?”
Jonathan relaxed his shoulders and smiled. “Yeah, you’re not going to disappoint me. You do know why she’s back, right?”
“She lost her job.”
“And to face her past,” Jonathan said. “Which we both know sucked. She blames herself for what happened to Ashley.”
“She shouldn’t,” Aidan said.
“No shit.” Jonathan slid his hands into his pockets. “But have you ever successfully talked a woman out of believing something she wanted to believe?”
Aidan huffed out a barely there laugh. “No.”
“Yeah. So good luck with this one.”
“Wait—What?” But Jonathan was already walking back to the bar, whistling to himself like he had no care in the world.
Aidan was pretty sure he’d just been tasked with relieving Lily of her guilt, which was a bad idea.
The worst of bad ideas.
He stepped outside into a summer night mist and found Lily in the parking lot on her bare knees fighting with the lug nuts on her back left tire, which was flat. When she couldn’t get them loose, she smacked the tire with the wrench.
“Yeah, that’s not exactly how to fix it,” he said.
Her back to him, she went still and tipped her head back to stare up at the misting sky. “Seriously?” she asked it. “What have I ever done to you?”
“Who are you talking to?” he asked.
“Karma. Fate. God.” Getting to her feet, she swiped the rain from her face with a forearm and turned to face him. “Whoever’s listening.”
Walk away, he told himself. Just walk away.
But he couldn’t. One, because he was an idiot. Two, because she had muddy knees and that, combined with the killer dress, did him in. He loved a woman who could get down and dirty.
And three, because there was something in her voice he hadn’t heard earlier. A sadness that gripped him by the throat. He hated this for her. She was carrying way too big of a burden, one she didn’t deserve.
Christ, Kincaid, don’t do it.
But he did. He stepped closer. “Lily—”
“No. Stay back,” she said, pointing a finger at him.
He went still. “Why?”
“Because when you come close I do stupid things.”
“Like?”
“Like let you kiss me.”
“Let me?” He laughed ruefully. “Lily, you just about crawled up my body to get at these lips.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Like I said. Stupid.” Turning away, she hugged herself tight.
And he felt like a first-class asshole. “What’s wrong?” he asked her quietly.
“Other than my tire’s flat and not one person has responded to any of my resumes and I’ve gained five pounds in a few days?” she asked on a mirthless laugh. “Nothing at all is wrong.”
“I’m going to fix your tire,” he said. “And you’ll find the right job soon, you will. And you look …”
She glanced up when he trailed off.
“Amazing,” he said.
She blushed and then remained quiet so long he was sure she had no intention of speaking to him again. Then, so softly he had to move closer to hear her, she said, “Today’s her birthday.”
Aw, hell. He didn’t need to ask whose. Ashley’s, of course.
Chapter 11
Lily didn’t fall apart often. She’d made it through the public humiliation of being fired and having to come back to her hometown a big failure without losing her collective shit.
Well, mostly.
But after seeing everyone at The Slippery Slope tonight, so close and comfortable with each other, she realized that their lives had gone on without her, almost like she didn’t even exist.
That’s when she’d realized she was … lost. Lost and unsure where she belonged. Especially right now standing next to the hottest guy she knew in a light mist staring down a flat tire and another endless, sleepless night in front of her.
“I’m sorry it’s so hard for you to be here,” Aidan said quietly.
She closed her eyes. “It’s not that.” Although it’d be a lot easier if she had any job—or life—prospects. Or an umbrella. She swallowed past the football-size lump in her throat. “It’s that I miss her. I miss her so much.”
“Aw, Lily,” he breathed and when he held out his arms she was just wrecked enough to walk into them. He opened his jacket for her to get closer and she snuggled inside, finding him dry and warm and smelling like heaven.
A sigh escaped her as those strong arms closed around her. And she pressed her face into his chest, letting him hold her up for a moment. For just a moment … “I feel so alone,” she whispered, hating that the words escaped, though they were the utter truth and she was tired of holding on to them.
Because she did feel alone. Alone and sad and restless, like maybe she was missing the boat that was her life.
“But you’re not alone¸” Aidan said, stroking a big hand down her back. “There are people here in Cedar Ridge who care about you.”
She didn’t say anything to this. Mostly because she was remembering how she’d felt like such an outsider at The Slippery Slope. Maybe he was talking about himself caring about her. That would be nice. Yes, she was crazy. She blamed the fact that he smelled delicious and had to tell her hopeful body that she was not going to kiss him again. She couldn’t. Not and live with herself. “You want to hear something stupid?”
“Always,” Aidan said, voice low, a little rough and a whole lot sexy.
“I pictured Cedar Ridge as standing still the whole time I was gone.” She shook her head and leaned back to see his face. “I expected it to be the same, but it’s not. Everything’s different, everyone’s changed.”
As if adding an exclamation point to this sentence, Mother Nature chose that moment to turn the mist into rain. Lily let out another mirthless laugh.