Bourbon Springs Box Set: Volume II, Books 4-6 (Bourbon Springs Box Sets Book 2)

by Jennifer Bramseth

“So how do you know?”

  “None of your business,” she repeated. “But I haven’t told anyone, and I didn’t tell you. So keep the secret.”

  “I can do that,” he said.

  “Oh, yeah, I forgot that you’re good at keeping things to yourself. So how’s Drake?”

  He rolled his eyes, pushed away from the table, and went to stand by the window with his back to her.

  “He still has it bad for you,” Jon said and turned to face her. “As do I.”

  He drained his mug and walked out of the nook and into the kitchen.

  Pepper stood, ready to confront him, but Hannah chose that moment to return from the bathroom.

  “Um, sorry, but I need to go.” She looked very pale. “I’m going to go home.”

  “Let one of us drive you,” Pepper urged, and took Hannah’s hand.

  “No, I’m good, but I hate to leave Jon here,” Hannah said and looked at him standing near the sink.

  “I’ll take Jon back to the distillery, but are you sure I can’t drive you home?” Pepper asked.

  Hannah insisted she was okay, and refused to allow Pepper to drive her back to her house. “I’m sick, that’s all. Not an invalid.”

  Pepper helped her into her coat and saw her to her vehicle.

  “I should’ve insisted on driving her home,” Pepper moaned as Hannah disappeared down the long driveway toward Ashbrooke Pike. Jon was standing a few feet behind her.

  “The mistress of the mash does what doth please her,” Jon said, and leaned in close. “Just like someone else.”

  She brushed past him on her way back into the house. “Get your damn coat,” she snapped. “You’re leaving. Now.”

  He trailed her back inside. “Hear me out, Pepper,” he pleaded as they entered the house. “I’m sorry.”

  She stopped in the foyer and faced him, hoping to cut short the encounter she knew he wanted.

  “Apology accepted,” she said tersely, her jaw set. “Now please get your coat.”

  “Is there any way we can get back together?”

  “Were we ever together?”

  “How can you say that? What happened wasn’t just some quick fling for me. And I thought it wasn’t for you either.”

  She shook her head and closed her eyes. She should’ve known better than to think he’d let the chance pass by to be alone with her without trying to plead his case for reconciliation. Jon was, after all, a lawyer. But she wasn’t going to be so easily swayed.

  “Jon, we shouldn’t have slept together. It was a mistake. And having a romantic relationship with you—it wouldn’t work out, as I think we both know.”

  “No, I don’t know that. We didn’t give it much of a try, did we? And I will not listen to you say that it didn’t matter to you!”

  “That’s really not the point and you know it,” she said in a warning tone as she opened her eyes. “You know why it didn’t work. You know.”

  She strode from the foyer and moved into the kitchen, Jon at her heels.

  “And maybe you were just looking for an excuse for it not to work,” he claimed.

  That made her stop in her tracks and spin around. “What the hell are you talking about? You weren’t honest with me or Drake!”

  “Yes, and I admitted that. I’ll admit it again: I wasn’t honest. There. I’ve apologized for it and you just said you accepted it. And yet you still say we can’t be together?”

  “Jon, what happened was—it was just a hookup, okay? Hot, yes. Absolutely. Very hot. But that’s all it was. All it can ever be. We need to move on, forget about it.”

  She still would not look at him as he neared her at the window, and she moved to the opposite side of the nook to keep her distance from him.

  “At least you’ll admit it was hot. The best ever for both of us. And as far as forgetting—well, that’s not going to happen for me. Or for you.”

  Her face was burning and so was her body. She finally dared to look at him and saw the regret and pain on his face as well as the hope that still lived there.

  “How can you be so sure about me?” she asked angrily.

  “Because you were the one that brought up how hot it was. How good it was. You’re not going to forget. You don’t want to forget, Pepper.”

  She backed into the kitchen as he crept closer to her around the kitchen table; if he got near enough, she was going to have trouble resisting him. She needed to get the man out of her house before they ended up naked and naughty together in her upstairs bedroom.

  “It would not work out, Jon. And I don’t want to get hurt again.”

  “Like you’re hurting me now? You’re killing me. The past month has been nothing but misery as I’ve kept thinking about you, and what we—” he closed his eyes and shuddered.

  “We’re better as friends. And I just couldn’t get beyond why—why did it happen after now, after all these years?”

  He moved toward her in the kitchen, but she was tired of trying to evade him and stayed put in front of the sink.

  “Wrong question, Pepper.”

  “So what’s the correct one, counselor?”

  “Why did we wait so long?”

  “Because we were friends and we knew better,” she said, “or were supposed to know better.”

  “What’s wrong with being good friends first? What better way to begin?”

  “You weren’t much of a friend lately,” she accused. “Always working. I hardly saw you anymore.”

  “Really? And what about you? I know you had it hard with your mother, but you pulled away after Leigh left. You know how that felt?”

  “Yes, I do,” she said. “I missed you. I thought that’s what I just said.”

  Had they really kept away from each other out of a sense of wounded pride or belief that we-can’t-go-there?

  If so, it was little wonder things had finally ignited between them.

  Jon neared her but she stood her ground. “Then hear what I’m telling you: I’m right here and I want to be a part of your life. So why not? Why can’t this happen for us?”

  She thought about throwing the honesty thing back at him, but she’d already told him she’d accepted his apology. But it still really bothered her that he’d not been forthright.

  “Jon, how likely is it that it would work out? Our personal history is so complicated—and then we went off and made it more complicated by getting between the sheets. It’s ridiculous to think that we could—could—”

  “I’d say it’s at least as likely as you winning the lottery,” he said and crossed his arms over his chest. “In fact, much better odds.”

  “Says the man who taunted me as I bought the ticket!”

  His face hardened, moving from desperation to something akin to anger and resolve. He stood inches from her and looked down into her face.

  “You know who else I am, Pepper Montrose?” he asked in a strained voice. He gave her no chance to answer as he put his hands on her face and drew her close. “I’m the man who’s in love with his best friend. How’s that for honesty?”

  Pepper offered no resistance in the face of his admission, and closed her eyes and let him kiss her. She was ready to surrender, to once more be consumed by him. Her mind and body had missed this man, had craved the return of his touch, and both celebrated as he reclaimed her.

  She slowly encircled her arms around his waist and allowed him to press his body against hers. His lips were firm and just a little demanding, and felt so damn good.

  Had it really been a month since they’d kissed, since that frenetic bit of lovemaking before meeting Hannah for lunch?

  The reasons for her struggle and doubt retreated as Jon’s broad hands migrated to her back and under her shirt. He pressed his palms against her lower back and the warmth they imparted was delicious against her cold skin. She began to hope that he’d move his hands lower, and slip them under her jeans and down to her ass—and other warm and getting-wetter-by-the-second spots.

  But then Pepper
felt his arousal against her leg and knew that they were once more heading down that road where they surrendered to desire instead of reason.

  And that scared the shit out of her.

  She broke away, her mind reeling, and she started to pick through all the reasons that it couldn’t happen—not again.

  “If you’re so honest, let me ask you a question: you tell Drake yet?”

  He looked aghast, his mouth open and eyes wide.

  “I’d never tell a soul what we shared.”

  “You could’ve told him about your ulterior motive without telling him where it got you.”

  “I didn’t lie to get you into bed, Pepper. And if I do tell him my so-called motive, as you put it, my professional relationship with Drake will likely be ruined.”

  “Don’t you think he should know what kind of law partner he has?”

  “You’re a real hardass, you know?” he griped like a little kid who’d been given an unfair punishment for a transgression.

  “You bet I am. Don’t you think with my history I have reason to be when it comes to people not being honest?”

  “You have every right to be that way. But that tells me something about you.”

  “And that would be?”

  “That you haven’t accepted my apology,” he said. “I’ll go and confess to Drake if that’s what it will take to make it right with you. But that wasn’t a condition of your forgiveness. You just keep bringing it up. You’re looking for reasons that we can’t be together.”

  “I don’t need to look for them. They’re everywhere.”

  “Especially if you keep looking for them. But let me tell you something that you should be able to see quite easily: I love you. I’m in love with you. That’s not going to change. It’s not wrong or stupid or misguided just because we were friends first. There’s nothing in our way, except for how scared you are.”

  “And that’s not some small thing. Because even if I forgive you, you still have to earn my trust again, Jon. And to trust you again does scare me.”

  “I know, and—”

  A distinctive ringtone echoed from her phone and interrupted Jon’s plea.

  Upon answering, caller’s voice was familiar, but offered no comfort. Pepper felt the blood draining from her face as she broke out in a cold sweat as the woman on the other end of the line continued to speak.

  “She’s already there…? In the ER…? I’m on the way,” Pepper said.

  Pepper terminated the call, walked past Jon as though she didn’t see him, and made for the garage. When Jon spoke and asked what was wrong, all she did was tell him to get his jacket and get in the car.

  But he grabbed her arm and spun her around to face him. “What is it? Your mother?”

  Pepper nodded and swallowed, trying to keep the emotion from overwhelming her.

  “She fell and broke her hip. Get in the car. I need to take you back to the distillery.”

  He grabbed the keys from her hand and snatched his jacket from the couch.

  “Like hell you will. I’ll drive you.”

  “Stop it. I don’t need some Prince Charming to ride in here and take care of me.”

  “I’m not trying to be your Price Charming. I’m trying to be your friend. Or are we not even friends anymore?”

  She surrendered.

  “Hurry up,” she said and ran out the kitchen door as the tears fell.

  12

  Pepper jerked awake, and the blinding light of the sterile waiting room immediately gave her a headache. She let out a grunt and put a hand on her neck.

  “Oh, honey.” Mona Buckler put her arm around her. “You okay? You were asleep in such an awkward position, but I hated to bother you.”

  Pepper rubbed her tight neck muscles. It was nearly three and Glenda was still in surgery. She put her head on Mona’s shoulder and looked around the empty room. Jon wasn’t there.

  “Did Jon go back to the office?” Pepper asked.

  “Of course not,” Mona insisted, looking surprised at the question. “He went to the bathroom. Said when he came back we should all go get something to eat.”

  “I don’t want to leave,” Pepper said sleepily and rubbed one eye.

  “But the doctors said it would be some time before we’d know anything, dear,” Mona said. “We can spare a few minutes away from here.”

  Pepper pushed herself off Mona’s shoulder. She didn’t want to leave but her stomach had just reminded her with an embarrassingly audible rumble that she was starving. The last thing she recalled eating were stale ginger snaps with Hannah and Jon.

  It had been a good thing he’d insisted on driving, because once they’d gotten in her car and hit Ashbrooke Pike, Pepper had completely lost it and had fallen into a fit of tears. She’d composed herself once they got to the hospital, but just barely. She had been able to function and communicate with the doctors and nurses, but when not dealing with them, Pepper had sat and cried into Jon’s chest until his mother arrived, and then she cried on Mona’s shoulder. Pepper had been glad for Jon’s company that day—for his presence there as a friend.

  One of two large doors at the far right of the area began to slowly open. Pepper expected to see Jon, but Lucy Davenport appeared instead.

  “Oh, my,” the sprite-like Lucy said upon seeing the little group.

  She was tinier than Lila Davenport and looked a little bit like a Christmas elf, as she was dressed in a bright red sweater and dark green pants.

  Lucy, Goose’s mother and Fuzzy’s widow, was good friends with Mona, and had been friends with the Montroses until Walt stole a small settlement Lucy had received when he represented her in a bizarre property damage case involving her car exploding. Someone with a propane tank in the trunk of his car had backed into Lucy’s car, which had been parked directly in front of Over a Barrel on Main Street while she had dashed in for some bourbon balls. The tank exploded, both cars caught fire, and all the windows in the deli were blown out, thus depriving the populace of Bourbon Springs of bourbon balls for approximately twenty-four hours.

  The settlement hadn’t been much money, but the case was significant; it had been the one which had caused Walt’s house of cards to fall apart. The check Walt gave Lucy had bounced (after he’d kept delaying her for weeks), and there wasn’t a dime in his escrow account (where the money should’ve been) to pay her or the other clients he’d screwed over.

  One might think that if a lawyer were going steal from a client, he would have the sense not to rip off the sheriff’s wife. But Walt had been desperate or stupid or arrogant.

  Or all three, as Pepper had decided years ago.

  When Lucy’s money had not been forthcoming after the “misunderstanding” (as Walt had put it) of the bounced check, then-Sheriff Davenport had gone straight to the state police. The result was an investigation, Walt’s indictment and ultimate conviction on multiple theft counts, and his disbarment.

  It was widely known in the area that Lucy had felt terrible because she had been the one responsible for getting the ball rolling on Walt’s professional demise. Pepper recalled that Lucy had tried to maintain a friendship with her mother, but that had proven impossible during the investigation and prosecution.

  After Walt had gone to prison, Glenda had withdrawn from what little social life there was in Bourbon Springs and resisted Lucy’s attempts to rekindle the friendship. Pepper remembered how ashamed her mother had been of her husband’s misdeeds: he’d stolen not only from a client but from a friend.

  This same sense of shame still tainted Pepper; she knew her purchase of the farm was in part a subconscious attempt to make amends to Bourbon Springs, to show the world that she was not her father, and that she cared about her community. It was the same sense of guilt that had driven her to be a schoolteacher and volunteer at the animal shelter before her big win: she felt compelled to give back since her father had taken so much.

  “Glenda broke her hip,” Mona said as Lucy approached.

  Lucy sat on
the other side of Pepper and hugged her. “Oh, honey. I’m so, so sorry.”

  Pepper sat quietly while Mona filled in Lucy on what had happened: Glenda had fallen on the way to the bathroom.

  “Not sure when she’ll be out of surgery,” Mona said.

  Pepper’s stomach growled loudly again as Jon entered the waiting room.

  “Pepper, you’ve got to eat.” Mona stood. Her son joined her and they both gave Pepper a stern look which told her that she shouldn’t bother arguing the point.

  “I’ll stay here in case there’s any news.” Lucy explained she’d been at the hospital that day to volunteer in the gift shop and had come back to the waiting room when someone mentioned Mona being there. “I’ll come and get you if you’re needed.”

  Jon offered his hand to her, and for a few seconds she could only stare blankly at it. He shifted his weight, and she knew he feared she was rejecting his kindness—and in front of his own mother too. But the truth was she couldn’t accept his courtesy because she had started to cry again.

  Mona and Jon helped Pepper to her feet as Lucy pulled some tissues from a pocket. Pepper wiped her eyes with the proffered tissues, apologizing for her sudden tears.

  Jon put a hand on Pepper’s left shoulder, and she slowly brought her left hand up to cover his. For the briefest second, she considered brushing away his gentle touch but instead squeezed hard. Jon grabbed her hand and kissed it, and then their clasped hands fell to their sides. Mona gave them an odd look, but Jon forestalled any questions by asking his mother to lead the way to the cafeteria.

  “The food is actually pretty good here,” Lucy called out behind them as they left. “Try the milkshakes.”

  Ten minutes later the trio found themselves sitting in the nearly empty hospital cafeteria in the basement of the building. Besides the cafeteria workers and one nurse who was passing through to buy coffee, they were the only occupants.

  Mona sat Pepper at a table by herself while she and Jon went to retrieve food. Pepper gave them a vague food order—a sandwich—as she started thinking about her mother’s condition and whether she’d done the right thing by putting her in a home.

  Because Pepper was feeling massively guilty.