Lying to himself.
Now he was faced with her list of wants for the summer, and there was no way he was letting her loose alone, not to get drunk while some guy hit on her when she was vulnerable and definitely not while she skinny-dipped somewhere she might get caught or someone else might see whatever was behind those fancy clothes.
He took her back to her place after their trip to the estate and headed home to check in with his dad. He arrived to find Mrs. Mulligan, the widow who lived next door, sitting with his dad, a jigsaw puzzle spread on the cocktail table, where Braden had left it from last night.
She rose to her feet when Braden walked into the room. “Hi,” she said, straightening her floral dress. As usual, she looked tidy, her long, braided hair set in her usual style.
“Hi, Mrs. Mulligan. Dad.” He gestured to his father, Aaron.
“How many times do I have to tell you to call me Lucy?” she chided gently.
He shook his head at the refrain he was used to hearing from her. “Old habits. I grew up next door to you, calling you Mrs. Mulligan.”
She laughed. “Your father raised you to have good manners.”
He smiled his thanks at her before turning toward his father. “How are you, Dad?”
“I’m fine, son. How are you? Easy cases?” he asked.
The fact that he knew who Braden was and what his occupation consisted of was a damn good thing, but he knew that could change at a moment’s notice, as it sometimes did with his father’s dementia.
“I had an easy day,” he said. If he counted spending the day with a woman he wanted but couldn’t touch easy. “What about you?”
Mrs. Mulligan – Lucy – sat down by his father’s side. “As you can see, we’re doing a jigsaw puzzle.” Something his father’s occupational therapist had suggested to help stimulate concentration and boost his short-term memory. Plus it was a good pastime they could do together. Braden wanted all the quality time he could get with his father now, while he remembered him.
“I can’t find my glasses,” Jonathan said, patting the seat beside him. He jumped up from his chair, agitated. “My parents are going to be annoyed if I lost them again.” He began to rush around the room, frantic as he searched from sofa to table and back again.
Braden’s heart skipped a beat at the obvious reminder that things weren’t as good as they’d seemed on first glance. Lucy shot him an understanding look as Braden headed over to his father.
“Dad,” he said, turning the older man to face him – and catching sight of his glasses perched on his head. “Your glasses are right here,” he said, lifting the frames and handing them to him. And then so as not to upset him by reminding him his parents had passed away years ago, he said, “You see? Nobody’s going to be mad at you.”
His father’s shoulders slumped as he realized the frames had been somewhere obvious the whole time. “Thanks,” he muttered and walked back to the chair, sinking into one of the cushions.
“It’s okay, Dad. I lose things all the time.”
“Except it doesn’t mean anything when you do.” He turned back to the puzzle, ignoring those around him.
Braden groaned and Lucy put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
She gestured to the front door, obviously indicating she was ready to go.
“I’ll walk you out,” Braden said.
She picked up her purse. “Good-bye, Jonathan. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Don’t need a babysitter,” he muttered resentfully.
“He doesn’t mean it,” Braden said, not wanting to lose the woman who willingly came over to lend a hand so Braden could work.
She patted his arm. “I know that. Don’t worry. Listen, there’s a lasagna in the fridge for you to heat up for dinner. I had time while your dad was napping.”
“You didn’t need to do that.”
“I wanted to. I like being helpful. Ever since my kids moved out of state, I have no one to spoil.” She’d lost her husband over a decade earlier.
Braden nodded. “Well, it’s very much appreciated. If there’s ever anything you need…”
“I know where you live,” she said with a grin.
He watched her walk down the path and onto the sidewalk leading to her house before heading back inside.
“Dad, we have lasagna for dinner,” Braden said, locking the front door.
His father merely nodded, his attention on the puzzle pieces on the table.
At times like these, he wished he had a sibling, someone with whom to share the burden of losing his father, while at the same time knowing it was better nobody else had to go through the slow but steady decline Braden was living with his dad.
It also reminded him that he wasn’t in the position to bring any woman into his life right now. His ex-fiancée had left him when his father began demanding more and more of his time both at night and on the weekends. She claimed she hadn’t signed up for the babysitting his father required. The more time Braden had spent at home, the more resentful she’d become and she’d ended things.
He wasn’t sure he could blame her, either. Alzheimer’s was a long-term illness, and sometimes it could be eight or more years from diagnosis to death, with a prolonged time spent in the most severe stage. And though eventually Braden would be forced to put his father in a home when he could no longer safely take care of him here, she’d wanted to hasten that day. He didn’t. She also hadn’t comprehended how that move would financially impact Braden and dictate what he could and couldn’t afford to do in life. If she hadn’t broken up with him over his time, money would have eventually driven them apart later. Emily’s resentment had been real even if she had broken his heart.
Time had passed, and although he was over the shock and over her, he had no business obsessing about a new woman, especially one who’d spent her young life taking care of her own parent and was now embracing her freedom. Not to mention the differences between them in wealth. Even if he wasn’t working a case with her as the focus, she wasn’t right for him and he needed to stay away. Keep an eye on her as he was being paid to do, from a distance.
* * *
Juliette didn’t see Braden for the rest of the week. She worked her shifts at Grace’s and kept expecting to walk out of the kitchen and see him at one of the tables in the restaurant or waiting for her outside, but he was nowhere to be found. She hated to admit how disappointed she was over the fact that he hadn’t made time to see her again and wondered if she’d turned him off by her honest talk about what she wanted to do with her summer of freedom.
She frowned as she hung up her apron and said good-bye to both Grace and Tawny, the other waitress on shift.
“Wait up,” Tawny said, catching up with her as she started to leave. “Do you have any plans for tonight?”
Juliette shook her head. “I don’t know anyone in town. I was going to hang out at home.”
“Well, you know me. I’m going to the Blue Wall with some friends. It’s the main bar to meet people. Want to come?”
Juliette nodded. “I’d love to.”
“Do you know where it is?” Tawny asked.
With a nod, Juliette said, “I’ve passed it when driving around. What time?”
“Eight thirty work for you?”
“It does. I’ll see you then.” Juliette walked out with Tawny, parting ways on the sidewalk.
She was planning to go home, but she passed a boutique with cute, chic clothing in the windows and decided to stop by and see if she could find something for tonight. An hour later, she headed up to her apartment, bags in hand. She knew it had been a frivolous purchase, but the fact was, she didn’t have any appropriate bar clothes because the events she went to at home were dressier and even her casual clothes screamed out of place. She had two pairs of jeans she’d been wearing to work and she wanted something fresh and new and fun to go with her new life.
She’d already decided to be brave and go see her oldest sister, Phoebe, on Sunday morning. She just needed to
work up the courage, and she had the first part of the weekend ahead of her to do that. Tonight she intended to cross one thing off her goal list. She’d get drunk and dance in a bar even if she didn’t have Braden by her side as she’d hoped she would.
* * *
Braden felt like a heel watching Juliette’s apartment in case she went out for the night. He figured if she didn’t leave by ten p.m. he could head on home. Considering she didn’t have any friends in Rosewood Bay, he was confident he’d have a somewhat early night.
Except at eight fifteen, Juliette walked out of her apartment wearing a short black skirt, high wedge heels, and low-cut top that exposed the curves of her body and the swells of her breasts. This he saw from his position in his car in the far corner of the parking lot behind her apartment, and his body reacted immediately. His dick pushed insistently against the rough denim of his jeans, the hard state a permanent one around Juliette Collins.
He called Lucy and asked if she could stay longer tonight to make sure his dad didn’t wake up and wander, offering the use of his guest room if she wanted. Because it looked like Braden was going out.
To his surprise, Juliette got into an Uber car, which he followed to the Blue Wall. She climbed out of the vehicle and he noticed he wasn’t the only guy to take in her long, sexy legs and the sway of her hips as she walked into the bar side of the building.
I want to get drunk and dance at a bar. Her softly spoken words echoed in his mind as he parked his car in the lot and headed inside, planning to save her from herself… from afar.
He found a table in a dark corner, the music providing a steady, loud beat around him, and settled in to watch, ready to step in if necessary. Though he hoped it wouldn’t come to that, because his determination to keep Juliette at a distance remained intact. Even he knew his attraction to her was a dangerous thing to his case, the money he’d be getting from it, and most of all to his piece of mind, something he was holding on to by a thread.
Juliette met up with a group of women by the bar. He recognized Tawny from Grace’s Coffee Shop along with friends of hers he’d seen before. Their night started harmlessly, the women talking and ordering drinks, Juliette sitting all ladylike, legs crossed, sipping her drink from a straw. If he’d come to the bar looking for some action, he’d have zeroed in on the classy-looking woman perched delicately on the barstool.
Nursing a beer, he began to relax, but just as he let his guard down, the bartender served the women a round of shots. Juliette looked at the glass hesitantly, then shrugged and tilted her head back, drinking down the contents in one gulp.
She came up for air coughing, but when another round was ordered and a glass placed in front of her, she gamely downed the liquid, followed by a third one.
Things went downhill from there, as a group of guys walked over to the women, cocky and strutting around like they owned the place. When the other women paired off, Juliette let a blond asshole pull her onto the dance floor.
Braden clenched his hands into fists but remained in his seat. He watched her dance, those gyrating hips moving in time to the rhythm. He gritted his teeth yet managed to survive the song until the asshole put his hands on her waist and pulled her against him, grinding his cock into the body Braden had already mentally claimed as his – despite all his warnings to himself to back off and keep his distance.
Braden launched out of his seat and came up beside them, bracing a hand on the guy’s shoulder. “Back off,” he growled, physically moving him away from Juliette.
“Braden!” she exclaimed, clearly happy to see him.
“What the fuck, man? We were dancing.” The other guy shoved at Braden’s chest.
Braden grasped Juliette’s hand in his. “She’s coming with me. Find another dance partner.”
“You came for me!” A drunk Juliette wrapped her arms around his neck, her fragrant scent a potent reminder of why he’d been trying to stay away.
The other man frowned as he took in Juliette’s excitement at seeing Braden. “Fine. I’m not looking to start with some other guy’s bitch,” he muttered and sauntered off, presumably in search of someone else to grind with.
Braden peeled her off him, keeping an arm around her waist as he pulled her back to his seat, which by some miracle remained free, with his beer still on the table.
He eased her into the chair beside his and sat down.
Instead of remaining where he’d put her, she immediately rearranged the seating, placing herself on his lap. “I haven’t seen you in days,” she said, an adorable pout on her lips.
“I’ve been busy,” he said gruffly.
“Well, I missed you. You said you were going to help me with my summer of freedom.” She wriggled on his lap and his cock thickened beneath her.
“Your what?” he asked while bracing his hands on her hips, stilling her movement.
“My summer of freedom. That’s what I’m calling my time in Rosewood Bay. Tonight I got drunk and danced in a bar,” she said, sounding pleased with herself.
“I can see that,” he muttered, his teeth still clenched because, though he’d stopped the shifting around, his dick still registered the fact that a warm, soft woman sat above him. And he wanted her.
“I thought I was going to have to do it without you but you came.” She wrapped her arms around his neck, her breath warm against his skin, her breasts crushed against his chest.
He grabbed her wrists from behind him and pulled her arms to her sides. “I think we should get you home.”
“But I’m having fun. Let’s dance.” Jumping up, she grasped his hand, dancing in place while swinging his arm back and forth as she moved, her breasts swaying beneath her top.
He shook his head. “I don’t dance.” And he needed to get her to bed.
Just the thought conjured images he needed to get out of his head. Juliette, his mouth on hers, kissing those pouty lips, moving lower, licking, nipping, tasting her puckered nipples for the first time before delving lower still, his mouth on her pussy, teeth on her clit as she screamed—
“Braden, please? Let’s dance.”
He shook his head hard to clear his dirty thoughts. “No dancing,” he gritted out.
“Then let’s get a drink!” She pulled him, urging him to his feet.
“No more alcohol for you. And I’d rather get you home.”
“Fine.” She turned toward the bar. “Oh my God, that’s Phoebe. That’s my sister,” she said in awe, pointing to a woman with pale blonde hair in a business suit, talking to another woman with hair closer to Juliette’s coloring wearing a long, floral dress. “And that’s Halley!”
“How do you know?” he asked.
“My father had pictures in his files. Oh my God, I have to go see them,” she said on a drunken squeal.
Before she could take a step, he hooked an arm around her waist and yanked her against him.
“What are you doing?” she asked, squirming to get free.
“Stopping you from meeting them for the first time when you’re completely plastered.”
“But they’re here now,” she said on a whine.
“Trust me, you’ll thank me tomorrow. Come on.” He kept her in the crook of his arm, guiding her past the dance floor and to the front exit, avoiding where her sisters sat by the bar.
He managed to get her into his car’s passenger seat, hooking her seat belt before coming around to the driver’s side for the short trip to her place. He helped her through the parking lot and up the long flight of stairs leading to her apartment.
By the time he got her inside, she was yawning and stumbling. His city girl was a lightweight when it came to holding her liquor. The apartment was small and sparse, and he had the definite sense Juliette was used to much more luxury than this place offered.
He had every intention of leaving her inside her front door until she pulled him in along with her and kicked the door shut behind them.
“Why don’t you get ready for bed,” he suggested. “And I’
ll just go–”
She cut him off, pressing her lips against his. The touch of her mouth short-circuited his brain and he deepened the kiss, thrusting his tongue into her mouth, delving deep, tasting her for the first time.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and pushed her breasts against his chest, her hands threading into his hair. His body throbbed with desire, the woman he’d been dreaming about finally in his arms. She kissed him back with equal intensity and fervor, her tongue tangling with his.
Arching into him, she ground her hips against him, his throbbing erection hard and painful. He wanted her, but the rational part of his brain was telling him she was drunk and it wasn’t the right time to take things any further.
His cock cursed his brain as he grasped her hands and lowered them to her sides and stepped back, putting distance between them. And with that distance came the realization that no time would be the right time to take her to bed, no matter how much he desired her. There were too many obstacles in his path.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
He looked into her glassy eyes, and gentling his tone, he said, “You’re drunk and I’m too much of a gentleman to take advantage. Not that I don’t want to.” He couldn’t leave her with the impression that he didn’t want her.
“I’m not that drunk.” She took a step back and tripped, quickly righting herself, but not before he got a glimpse down her shirt of her lush breasts pushing up against her lace bra.
“And I beg to differ. Are you going to be okay if I leave?” Because he couldn’t handle helping her undress and leaving her alone in her bed. That would be too difficult for even a gentleman like him.
She pouted a little but nodded. “I’ll be fine. Before you go, can I ask you a favor?” She nibbled on her lower lip, nerves showing.
“Sure thing.”
“Well, I’d already decided I want to go meet my sister on Sunday. I picked Phoebe because she’s the oldest. Anyway, I’m hoping she’ll be home but I’m nervous as hell. Come with me?” She reached out and took his hand, seeming more sober now than she had minutes before.
He couldn’t say no. Not when she asked with so much raw honesty behind the request. And not when she was trusting him to help her through such a life-changing moment.
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