Something Moore (Forever Moore Book 1)

by Hunter J. Keane

  “That would be convenient for you since you are always staring at my ass,” he said with a wink. “Brace yourself, Banks. It’s pie time.”

  Molly’s Diner was exactly what I expected to find in that town. It was quaint and old-fashioned, with a friendly wait staff and nosy locals eavesdropping on our every word. I ate not one, but two, slices of the world’s best apple pie. William watched me with humor dancing in his eyes.

  “I guess I was supposed to eat two bites and say I was full since this is our first date,” I said guiltily after clearing my plate.

  “I would have been very disappointed if you had done that,” he said with a smile. “I like that you are yourself around me, Riley. It’s refreshing.”

  “Do a lot of people pretend to be someone else around you?” I had never been good at faking it. That was probably why I was having such a hard time moving down the partner track at work. That was going to require a certain amount of ass-kissing that I wasn’t sure I could do.

  William shrugged. “I’ve gotten used to it. Being the boss tends to put other people on edge. Scott is the only person I see regularly that doesn’t guard everything he says and does around me.”

  “Is that why you fly hundreds of miles to go fishing with your brother?” I said. I had to admit that the more I got to know William, the more I found myself falling for him. Once you got past his confident outer-shell, he was surprisingly deep and thoughtful.

  “I’ve found it hard to make new friends lately.” He looked around the room. “That’s why I like this town. No one here cares about my money or business. They still remember me as the little kid that used to ride his bike around town in the summers wearing hideous neon shorts and GI Joe Band-Aids on my skinned knees.”

  I smiled at the visual. “I bet you were an adorable kid.”

  “I bet we would have adorable kids,” he said with a wicked smile. “Lots of them.”

  I could practically feel my uterus contracting into my body. “Slow down, Moore. I haven’t even agreed to a second date yet.”

  “You will,” he said confidently, momentarily distracted by something over my shoulder.

  “William! I didn’t know you were going to be in town this weekend.”

  The female voice sounded just a little too happy to see him. I half-turned in my chair and found a striking brunette standing just over my shoulder. A young girl peeked around her and smiled shyly at William.

  “Hey, Tanya. Good to see you. This was a last-minute decision actually.” He quickly turned his attention to the child. “Nola, how is gymnastics going?”

  “Good.” Her smile widened, revealing two missing teeth. “I got third place on beam last weekend.”

  “Wow, that’s pretty awesome. Did you nail that new dismount?” William was focused only on Nola and when I glanced at Tanya, it was obvious that she was just as smitten with him as her daughter.

  “I stuck the landing!” Nola said with a happy giggle.

  William and Nola exchanged a high-five and then he turned to me. “Riley, Tanya was on the fund-raising committee for the park and Nola is the best gymnast in the state. Ladies, this is my special friend, Riley Banks.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Tanya said with a forced smile that implied she didn’t mean the words. “I hope you enjoy your time in town. William is an excellent tour guide.”

  “He’s been crushing it so far,” I said, eyeing my empty plate. “How long have you lived here?”

  “My whole life. William and I used to play together in the summers growing up. I’ve known his family for years.” She almost sounded challenging as she said the words. “He’s also Nola’s biggest fan.”

  “That’s true. President of her fan club,” William said, smiling at the little girl. She giggled again and blushed. “Will you be performing at the summer carnival again this year?”

  Nola nodded enthusiastically.

  “Can’t wait to see that.” William looked at me. “We should get going.”

  I stood and waited as William said his goodbyes. Nola even gave him a quick hug while Tanya looked on longingly. She almost seemed jealous of her daughter.

  “Take care,” William said, putting his hand on the small of my back to guide me to the door. He tossed a stack of bills onto the table that was way more than the cost of a few pieces of pie. No wonder William was so popular in town.

  “Bye, Will!” Nola called after us.

  I stopped outside the diner and turned to him, looking him over slowly. “You weren’t kidding earlier, were you? When you said you want a bunch of kids?”

  “I like kids,” he said with a quick shrug. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “I can’t believe it,” I said, shaking my head slowly back and forth. “It’s actually working.”

  “What is?”

  “This!” I threw my arms open wide. “You showed me your world, William, and now I want to be in that world. I want to be with you.”

  He moved quick, catching me at the waist and pulling me into his arms. “You’ve been a part of my world since that first night, Riley. I think the difference now is that you want me to be part of your world.”

  As his lips moved slowly toward mine, I sucked in a deep breath. There was a look in his eyes that both scared and exhilarated me. I wanted those eyes in my life. William was right. I wanted him in my life.

  CHAPTER TEN

  William

  Riley was like a different woman away from the city. The impenetrable wall she always kept around her slowly crumbled until she finally let me inside. By the time we got back to the house, she was leaning her head on my shoulder as she told me about one of her family vacations to the beach. It was the first glimpse she gave me into her past, and I knew that it was a significant moment for both of us.

  “Turns out, it wasn’t a shark. My brother was just being paranoid. But they had already shut down the entire stretch of ocean by then.” She laughed as she remembered the story. Then her face slowly hardened and she said, “That was the last vacation we ever took as a family.”

  I hesitated before pulling away to open the door to the house. It felt like everything was about to change and Riley was going to put her wall back in place. I didn’t want that to happen.

  “Where does your brother live now?” I asked, hoping to keep her talking.

  “Michael has been in prison,” she said quietly, offering no further explanation.

  “I’m sorry,” I said automatically, not sure what the right response was after someone tells you that their family member is in prison.

  “Don’t be. He belongs there.” She looked at the sky, then to the ground. Anywhere but at me. “Can we go inside now?”

  I opened the door and stepped aside to let her in first. She took a few steps down the hallway and then froze as she decided what to do next.

  “We can head back to the airport if you still want to get back tonight.” I failed at masking the disappointment in my tone.

  “Do you want to leave?” Riley said, sounding displeased. “I’ve been having a nice time.”

  “I don’t want to leave,” I hurried to clarify. “You just mentioned something earlier about needing to work tonight.”

  She frowned. “I probably should be working, but that’s the last thing I want to do now.”

  “Good.” I smiled. “I don’t want to share you with anything or anyone else tonight.”

  “Then you better find a way to keep my attention,” she said with a perfect curl of her lips. I noticed that she was holding her arms tight across her chest. The temperature had dropped at least ten degrees since lunch time.

  “Let me find you something more comfortable to change into, and then I’ll get a fire going outside. We can watch the sunset and count the stars.” I hoped that would be enough to hold Riley’s attention. She was impossible to read.

  I was relieved when she said, “That sounds perfect.”

  It took some digging through closets, but I managed to find a pair of
sweatpants that didn’t look too huge and an old t-shirt that would completely drown Riley. As she changed, I arranged firewood in the stone pit while trying not to think of the fact that she was naked inside the house. Every part of me wanted to still be inside with her.

  She appeared quietly, walking in her bare feet across the sand. “Thanks for the stellar outfit,” she said, tugging at the oversize shirt.

  “Anytime.” I stood and put a hand over my heart. Even covered in layers of men’s clothes, she looked amazing. “I’m pretty sure you would even look sexy in a burlap sack.”

  “You’d be right. I wore that to my last New Year’s Eve party.” She took a seat in a chair that was big enough for two, leaving enough room for me. “Please feel free to resume bending over. I was promised a good view.”

  I laughed and made a big deal over bending down to drop another log of wood on the pile and Riley whistled appreciatively. Once I got the fire going, I joined her in the chair. The sun was already fading over the water and the sky was streaked with orange and pink.

  “It’s beautiful,” Riley said, pushing her body against mine.

  I put an arm around her shoulders and drew her even closer. “I had my first kiss on the beach with a sunset just like this in the sky.”

  “That’s pretty romantic for a first kiss. Who was the lucky girl?”

  “Tanya,” I said, instantly regretting having mentioned the story.

  “The Tanya I just met at the diner? Nola’s mother?” Riley’s eyes widened dramatically as she looked at me. “Is there something you need to tell me about Nola?”

  It was so absurd that I laughed loudly. “Hardly. We were thirteen and it was our first, and only, kiss. Tanya actually dated Cole for a couple of years.”

  “She may have dated your friend, but it’s pretty obvious she’s got it bad for you.” Riley grinned. “Not that I can blame her.”

  “Enough about me… tell me more about Riley. When was your first kiss?” I was determined to get her talking about herself again.

  “I don’t know… sixth grade maybe?” She looked up as if she was actually searching her brain for the memory. “I think it was Andy Lawson. Or Trent Corvel. Or Ryan Lark.”

  “Alright, I’m regretting that question.” I didn’t want to think about Riley kissing anyone else, let alone three pipsqueaks waiting for their voice to drop. “Tell me more about your family. What are your parents like?”

  Riley looked away, her eyes drifting over the water. Her body tensed and moved away a couple of inches. When she didn’t answer right away, I worried that the distance she was putting between us wouldn’t be just physical.

  “My parents are dead,” she said suddenly.

  “I’m sorry, Riley. I didn’t mean to bring up something painful.” I squeezed her shoulder gently, but she didn’t seem to feel it.

  “They were murdered,” she continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “I’ve never told anyone that.”

  Of all the things I had thought Riley might be trying to hide about her past, murdered parents had never crossed my mind. I had just assumed it would be a tale of an abusive lover or an absent father. I wasn’t prepared to hear something so tragic.

  “Wow, Riley,” I said stupidly, racking my brain for any words that might not sound completely ridiculous. Instead, I mumbled, “I don’t know what to say.”

  “Don’t say anything,” she said quickly. “That’s not the worst part. My brother is the one that killed them.”

  For the next thirty minutes, I sat quietly while Riley told me the whole story. Michael had been a normal kid until his teenage years. He fell in with a bad crowd and started doing drugs. By the time he was 16, he had been kicked out of school and left home. Riley and her parents didn’t see him for almost four years. Then one day, out of nowhere, he showed up on their doorstep.

  Riley tried to tell her parents that they shouldn’t take him back. She could tell that he was still on drugs, and the rumor around town was that he was a notorious dealer. She didn’t think it would be safe to have him in their home. It turned out that she was right to be worried. It wasn’t long before men showed up at the house looking for Michael. He was heavily in debt to some very scary men. Despite Riley’s objections, her parents had insisted on giving him another chance.

  Just a month after Michael returned, Riley came home from school to find her parents dead, shot in their heads execution style. It didn’t take long for the police to tie Michael to the murders and he was charged almost immediately. A few months later, his lawyers managed to spin a story about Michael being mentally ill. When the prosecution became convinced that the jury might believe that story, they struck a deal and Michael was sentenced to twelve years in a psychiatric facility.

  “He wasn’t sick,” Riley said, bitterness dripping from her words. “I knew my brother better than anyone, and he didn’t become evil because of a mental break. It all started a long time before that. When I was thirteen, he tied me up and locked me in a closet for an entire day for no reason. He was just bored. Two weeks later, he killed my cat and then told my parents the neighbor kid had done it. Michael was just selfish and cruel. He killed my parents for the insurance money. He should’ve been locked away for the rest of his life after what he did to my parents. But instead, he got to spend twelve years doing finger paintings and crying to therapists all day.”

  “Is he still in treatment?” I asked, speaking for the first time in a long time.

  Riley’s eyes darted in my direction. She hadn’t looked at me since she started talking and I was surprised by the fear in her eyes. “I don’t think so. He called me last night. That’s why I fainted.”

  “Oh.” It took a few seconds for me to process her words. “He called you? How did he know your number? Did you stay in touch with him?”

  “No way.” She shook her head furiously. “I haven’t seen or talked to him since he was arrested. I have no idea how he tracked me down.”

  Now I understood the fear in her eyes. “Hey. It’s going to be okay. I’m not going to let him hurt you, Riley.”

  “If Michael really wants to get to me, there’s nothing you can do to stop him.” Riley looked back toward the water. “I always knew I would have to face him eventually. I just hoped that it would be on my terms. Now I have to keep looking over my shoulder.”

  “Not here. You’re safe here.” I moved over to close the distance she had created between us. “Riley, I’ll do everything I can to protect you.”

  She was quiet for a long time. I could tell that she was fighting some difficult emotions. Her voice shook when she finally spoke. “I know that you were just hoping to have a nice weekend away. I’m sorry I ruined it by bringing up my depressing past.”

  “You haven’t ruined anything,” I said. If only she could understand that all I wanted from the weekend was a chance to get to know her better, depressing past and all. “I wish you didn’t have such a horrific past, but I am glad you told me about it. I want to know everything about you, Riley.”

  “I’m scared of spiders,” she said with a small smile. “Like in the obnoxious girly way where I scream whenever I see one.”

  It was such an unexpected admission that I laughed. Until about thirty minutes ago, Riley hadn’t struck me as the kind of girl that was scared of anything. “You’re in luck, my lady. I happen to excel at dispensing of spiders.”

  “And building fires, apparently,” she nodded toward the still raging fire. “You are quite the renaissance man.”

  “And you are apparently easy to impress.” My body relaxed slightly as she leaned into me. It was like my own comfort was dependent on having her as close to me as possible. As ridiculous as it sounded, I was already yearning for her. No other woman had ever made me feel that way. “Maybe for our second date I will rebuild the transmission in your car.”

  “Oh, no you don’t. Next time it’s my turn to do the wooing.” She moved in suddenly to kiss my cheek. “I really had a nice time this weekend, William. Than
k you.”

  “It’s been my pleasure,” I said, looking hard into her eyes. For the first time, I saw vulnerability in them. Her guard was completely down. “The weekend isn’t over yet.”

  “What else did you have in mind? It’s going to be hard to top that pie.” The sparkle had returned to her eyes.

  I quickly ruled out some of my more lurid ideas and opted for more wooing. “I’m going to cook you dinner.”

  “Ooh la la!” She waggled her eyebrows at me and then turned shy as she asked, “How did I get so lucky?”

  “I think you and I were meant to find each other,” I said, finally voicing out loud what I had been thinking all day. “I’ve never felt so at ease around someone else, or at least someone that isn’t one of my brothers.”

  “So, I’m just like one of the guys?” Her easy smile said she took it as a compliment. “Or is this your way of asking me if I want to join your family?”

  I winced. “Definitely not. We would start our own family, completely separate from the rest of the Moores.”

  “Let’s just start with dinner, okay? I need to make sure you can deliver before I agree to anything.” She pushed herself out of the chair and my body ran cold where Riley used to be pushed against me. I couldn’t begin to imagine how it would feel when I had to drop her off at her place tomorrow.

  We still had plenty of time left together that I could push that thought away for now. Riley followed me to the kitchen and poured us both some wine while I prepared the steaks and started chopping vegetables.

  “How do you have all this fresh food in a house you don’t live in full-time?” she asked.

  “I have a resource in town that I can call and put in an order. Another woman comes by and cleans and I’ve got a lawn guy. With my kind of money, it’s easy to find people to do the unglamorous things for me.” I wasn’t proud of having money. There was no denying that a lot of luck had gone into my success and that wasn’t something I was comfortable claiming as my own. “The lawn guy, Chuck, was friends with my dad. He lost his job a few years back and he’s too proud to accept a handout, so I like to throw him work.”