Her face disappeared from the window, but I had no doubt that she was still peeking out from somewhere, watching and listening. Any bit of gossip she could spread to her friends was like mining up a big chunk of gold. What better gossip than her own sister dating the lawyer that was trying to bring down the richest family in Kirkland?
The dust coming off the driveway caught on the light breeze coming in from the coast and scattered into vanishing swirls as Shane’s car rolled to a stop only a few feet away. His headlights were on, although they weren’t quite yet needed, and my shadow was cast against the wooden porch furniture and the flat wall near the entryway behind me. I waved towards the windshield where he sat; a little kid’s excited sort of wave, done standing on my tiptoes with my hand still in the air and my fingers folding over rapidly in greeting. My body was alive, bursting with anticipation, while my mind was absolutely mortified at my ungraceful reaction to Shane’s arrival. The butterflies in my stomach were flapping their wings.
Why did he make me so nervous and eager at the same time? Was I like this with Hale?
Then the engine’s quiet hum was snapped into silence and the lights went off. The interior lights came on. I could see him behind the wheel. My fingers stopped their nervous, folding wave, and laced together in front of my chest. Shane opened his door and stepped out; missing the suit he’d been wearing when I saw him on television earlier in the day, and now dressed in well-tailored black slacks and a fashionable, collared shirt – the kind I instantly pictured myself tearing open to get at his tight, firm body underneath.
Oh, my. I swallowed hard. That’s why.
“Hey,” he said plainly as he walked towards me and lifted his head slightly, a much cooler and collected gesture than my nervous wave. His eyes were locked on my form. The charming smile I’d begun to recognize was etched with an expression of pleased surprise. Shane stopped at the bottom step and held out one hand.
“Amazing,” he said and shook his head, blinked, and then gave me a thorough once-over. “You look absolutely stunning, Kat.”
I brought my hands down and shyly turned my shoulders. “I was kind of worried you wouldn’t like it.”
“Are you kidding me?” Shane said and led me down the steps, one at a time. “I’m going to have to beat back all the other guys in town the entire night. Who knows if I’ll even get a chance to dance with you.”
“You’d better,” I warned, flashing him a playful smile of my own.
Shane held my hand for just a moment longer than necessary and looked towards the house. “For some reason I’m surprised your folks aren’t out here to see us off. I met your father the other day, but we only talked briefly.”
“He said it was a pleasure to meet you, Shane. I don’t suppose he brought out the shotgun, did he?”
“The shotgun?” Shane said, surprised. “No. Is that a real thing? I thought people only did that in the movies.”
“Oh, it’s a real thing, alright. He used to sit in his easy chair and polish it when boys came over to take me out on dates. Scared the life out of them, I’ll tell you that much.”
“Must have been hard to get a second date like that,” he said with a laugh and then went on, “So, where’s the family at tonight since they aren’t around?”
“Momma was feeling better. Good enough to haul Daddy off to the steakhouse for a big meal. I hope it doesn’t come back to bite her. She has barely been eating at all the last few weeks.”
“Oh, I see. Well, I’m glad to hear that she’s feeling better. I remember you telling me she was sick.” Shane pulled up his sleeve and looked at his watch, then furrowed his brows. “I was going to say it’s time to get going, but I forgot this watch isn’t much good for telling the time at all.”
“Reservations?”
“Sort of,” he said, adding a chuckle. “I think you’ll like the place, though.”
“Where are we going?”
“That’s a surprise, young lady.” Shane escorted me to the passenger side door of the slick black car and pulled it open. “Are you ready to go?”
“Definitely.”
I slid into the leather seat and he closed the door for me. The inside of the vehicle was pristine; there was not a speck of dust to be found on any surface and the entire cabin smelled fantastically of brand new car. I watched Shane through the windscreen as he walked around the front and I tried to remember if Hale had ever acted like such a gentleman during our relationship. Few times and awful far between.
Shane opened the opposite door and situated himself behind the wheel before turning his key and bringing the engine back to life.
“This is nice,” I said, and ran one fingertip along the thin strip of metallic trim that created a line down the carbon fiber dashboard. “A lot nicer than the piece of junk I had when I started school.”
“Did it break down? Is that why you needed a ride on…uhm, that day?”
“I had to sell it,” I answered softly. “Wasn’t much use to me anyway since I lived right next to the college and could just walk to class. Clinicals were at the same hospital as the other students most of the time, so we carpooled in groups and I helped pitch in for gas.”
Shane spun the wheel and backed us up, pointing the vehicle back in the direction he’d come. He probably hated having to drive his new car down what amounted to little more than a dirty, uneven trail. Dust puffed up around the wheels and stuck to the fenders, the windows, to everything. It seemed almost like a joke that it hadn’t rained a single drop since the storm that washed in with me weeks ago, and if it didn’t rain again soon, the crops, nearly ready for harvest now, would dry up and wither away in the fields. Daddy would have to be out early to get whatever he could before then.
“Didn’t you say something about buying one of these?” I asked.
“You don’t think it’s too flashy, do you? I don’t want people to think I’m some kind of spoiled brat or something, just a guy that appreciates a reliable machine that can get him from A to B.”
He seemed at home behind the steering wheel, and while the BMW was not exactly a cheap ride, it looked reserved enough to not be showy. “It’s not too much. I think it fits you perfectly.”
“Who was that guy I saw on my way in?” Shane suddenly asked, causing me to grip just a little harder on the armrests. “The one who waved at me and then went in the garage?”
I looked out the window towards the fields on the other side of our property and tried to act uninterested. “He’s…he works for my father. Our equipment mechanic.” Ok, so at least it wasn’t a lie.
“Everyone is so friendly around here,” Shane said. He looked into the rearview mirror with those dark, brooding eyes of his and watched the farm, the garage, and the bare-chested man inside it, which he knew as only ‘our mechanic’ disappear behind us.
“Southern hospitality is a very real thing,” I said.
Shane twisted his head as if he were agreeing but not entirely. “I suspect things will change though, once everyone learns what I’m here for. Before long they’ll be calling for my blood and blaming me for destroying half the jobs around.”
“An angry mob armed with pitchforks and torches? That kind of thing?”
“Let’s hope not, Kat. Most of the folks around here sound like they’re well-armed.”
I held up one finger. “With shotguns.”
“Right.”
“I saw you on the afternoon news today while I was at the clinic with Momma. I think it’s safe to say that most of the town already knows who Attorney Shane Logan is by now.”
“Yeah, that.” Shane smirked. “Nature of the beast. It’s pretty big stuff around here so the media jumps all over it. These people may not think the feds prosecuting Patterson Reid is in their best interest, but it is.”
“I thought you looked cute.”
“Really?” he asked, sounding a little more than modest, and the car left the dirt road and rolled steadily out onto the paved street. All four tires met asphalt
and the rough, crumbling sensation of riding on dust and gravel was no more. “I was hoping for intimidating. Not that I mind looking cute, though. Was it the tie?”
“I think it was just you,” I said. I couldn’t help flirting again. He’s just the kind of guy that makes me feel good, makes me want to tease him a little.
He smiled widely and stepped on the gas. I could tell he really liked that. “Too bad you aren’t sitting on the bench, Kat. I have an unfortunate feeling that cute isn’t going to do much to help me out with Justice Hackleford or the all-star lawyer team Reid has put together.”
“Team is right. It looked like there were enough of them to start their own football game. I didn’t recognize any of them, though. Should I have?” I said.
“Maybe. The lead attorney for the defense is none other than the infamous Crenshaw James. He’s the guy that squirreled Royal Petroleum out from under that oil drilling mishap out in the Gulf a few years ago. Millions of barrels of crude washing up on the shorelines in Florida, destroying damn near everything, and they got nothing more than a slap on the wrist and a ten million dollar fine. Drop in the bucket to them.”
“Who were all the other people standing up there with him? Assistants?” I asked.
“Partners in his firm, junior attorneys, you name it. He’s going to need them all for this one. We’ve got Reid dead to rights with all our survey data, not to mention all the past incidents that happened.”
“So he’s pulling out all the stops, huh?”
“They always do. Companies like PCR and their owners, like Patterson Reid, that is. They’ll do anything to keep raking it in.” Shane patted the steering wheel and sighed. He looked into the rearview mirror again, turned his head slightly towards me and let his dark eyes drift discreetly from my face to the smooth, naked flesh of my thighs at bottom of my dress. “But enough about the case. It’s tiresome to even think about. I’d like to hear more about you, Miss Atwater.”
“What do you want to know?” I asked, trying to fight off the thrill that his wandering eyes gave me.
“Anything. Everything,” he said, and held up the palm of his hand as invitation. “I’ve wanted to know all that since the moment I sat down next to you on that old couch.”
“There’s not that much to know, I guess. I’m just your average girl, raised on a farm in the middle of nowhere. I didn’t even know the internet existed until I learned about it in the school computer lab.”
“I’m assuming you were born and raised in Kirkland then?” he asked.
I nodded. “Sort of. I was brought up here. I was born in Wilmington, though, in the back of an ambulance, fifty feet away from the emergency room entrance.”
“Couldn’t quite wait, huh?”
“Yeah. Momma always said I’ve been inpatient,” I answered, and played with the zipper on my purse. I could feel it each time his eyes glanced at me, taking me in from time to time, and I had to admit I was doing the same thing with him. The tension was palpable. “How about you, Shane? Didn’t you say you lived in-” I turned my head and tried to remember what he’d told me on the bus. The accident was long past, but some of the memories were still a little hazy. “Snowberry. Was that it?”
“That’s right. We moved all around. Snowberry was where we stayed the longest, from when I was born until I was about eight years old.”
The fields and trees gave way to the monuments of civilization; strip malls, gas stations, and little nests of suburban developments littered along the highway. My gaze shifted to the window as we passed the green, rectangular sign welcoming us to Wilmington, and streams of traffic closed in on all sides. People were everywhere, trying to get home, or to work, or anywhere else but where they were at that very minute.
“So, where did you say we’re going again?” I asked.
“Nice try. You almost got me. You’re a crafty one, Miss Atwater.”
“Darn.” I snapped my fingers in mock disappointment. “Foiled again.”
“Not big on surprises?” Shane said. “Or were you like me, searching the house for Christmas presents and hoping to find them before they were wrapped?”
“I don’t know. Probably both. My last relationship wasn’t filled with many, and most of them were the kind you didn’t want.”
“Well, this is one you’re going to like. Promise.”
“The presents were always wrapped,” I said, an afterthought. “I think Momma did it the minute she got home with them after her shopping trips.”
“Same here. It was always fun to try and find them, though.”
“And shake them. Try to figure out what’s inside.”
“I got it right a few times. I could always tell when it was clothes, at least till my mother started packing toys in with them to fool me.”
Shane exited the highway and rolled onto Market Street, where buildings were packed in so closely together it was hard to tell where one stopped and the next one began. On the right we passed a boldly-painted wooden sign that advertised tours on the decommissioned Battleship North Carolina, which I’d been on half a dozen times with my family or on school trips. As we went along further, the crowded four lane road collapsed into two, and curbs turned from concrete into lush green grass and moss-covered trees which hung deep and thick overhead like a tunnel of vegetation. Modern homes and glass-front businesses faded into colonial architecture built with rough stone and brown brick.
“How about a hint?” he offered, and raised his brows expectantly. “We’re almost there now.”
“I’d love one. I had no idea there were any restaurants or clubs this far at the end of town.”
Shane smiled, perhaps even happier that he was doing such a good job keeping me in the dark about our destination and said, “All right. When we turn and go down this next street up ahead, look over to your right and tell me what you see.”
I waited as we drove along, peering in the direction he’d told me. The street began sloping severely downwards and in the distance, where the road seemed to drop straight off, I could see dozens of boats floating along in the Cape Fear River. Shane turned a corner before we got there and my view was obstructed by more buildings before opening up again to a picturesque, vast horizon of water, shimmering in the purple-pink rays of setting sun.
“I see the Cape Fear,” I said, anxiously peering out my window. “It’s beautiful.”
“Keep looking.”
I did. Shane turned again, heading towards the water now, and a white steamboat appeared in sight. It was several stories high, with thick blue lines of trim along the top of each deck and two great, charcoal-black exhaust pipes coming right up through the middle. Brilliant brass railings ran the course around the upper and lower decks of the boat, anywhere a person might stand, and every few yards the rail was dotted with a glowing light.
She was docked along a lengthy stretch of wooden pier that reached far out into the river. There were people, at least thirty or forty of them, lined up towards the boat and waiting, some with their feet on the concrete sidewalk or the sandy median, some patiently standing on the pier. Several of the men had on suits or tuxedos, and they stood around with their hands gracefully around their women or shoved deep into their own pockets. The women laughed and chatted, cheeks rosy, while donned in fine dresses covered in sequins that gleamed, vibrant ones that were covered with all sorts of patterns, or sleek, solid-colored ones like the black number I had on.
We drew closer and then passed into a gated lot. Hand-painted gold leaf writing across the tail end of the steamboat read, “The Enchanting Queen”. I held my breath and brought a hand to my mouth. The same romantic dinner cruise that I was supposed to have gone on with Hale. That was so long ago, the one that ended with me cursing him while he sobered up behind bars.
“I…Shane, it’s beautiful.”
“Ok, so it wasn’t much of a hint,” Shane said, and swung the car into the nearby parking area. “I really did want to surprise you with something nice. The hotel I’m staying
at had brochures for the thing, and it looked like fun. Have you ever been on a steamboat before?”
I shook my head slowly. My mind was clicking, stuck between recalling all the emotions of that fated Valentine’s night and processing the coincidences that had brought me there, at last, wearing the dress I was supposed to wear on another night that might have changed my life forever.
“Please don’t tell me you’re scared of being on the water or something,” Shane said concernedly, while watching me stare out at the enormous, fanned propeller on the rear of the boat. “You seem a little freaked out.”
“No. I love it.”
I was filled with the compulsion to reach across the seat and hold onto Shane and embrace him again like I did at Stokes Pond. Such a thing deserved a sincere, honest thank you such as that. He might have thought me foolish to act that way, however, so I placed my hands in my lap and smoothed out the wrinkles on my dress instead. After all, how could he have any idea what was going through my mind?
Could he have known what happened in the past or what this truly meant to me? No, there was no way. I’d forget what happened, live in the moment, and experience it like something I’d been waiting for all along.
And it would be so very good.
A man clad in a stark white uniform and hat with royal blue adornments appeared from the boat’s staircase entrance and lifted a simple chain that held back the line of people. One by one he greeted them with his bushy moustache smile and took their passes, showing each the way to board the ship with an easy wave of his gloved hand. After the short climb up the stairs, the people entered into a room that was full of bright, hanging lights.
“I’ve got our tickets,” Shane said and produced them from a pocket. “All set?”
“Y-yes…thank you.”
Without another word, he popped open his door and leisurely stepped around to open mine. Shane extended his hand and aided me out, then wrapped his arm around my waist. Together, with his firm, warm body pressed next to mine, he escorted me across the street and handed the uniformed man our tickets. Up the stairs we went, just like I’d watched the other people do, like I’d imagined myself doing with Hale before when I was just a love-struck teenager, and we entered the room full of lights.
Ultimate Alphas: Bad Boys and Good Lovers (The Naughty List Romance Bundles) Page 20