“What do you mean? Why would you sa—” My phone buzzed, interrupting what I was sure would have been an epic rant, and I pulled it out of my bag. It was my mom. If it was anyone else, I would’ve ignored it, but it wasn’t, so I picked up.
“Hey, Mom.”
“Hi, sweetie pie! I’m stuck in traffic and I’m not going to be back in time for Tutus and Tap. Can you cover it?”
Tutus and Tap was one of my favorite classes to teach at Simply Dance. I loved the three-to-four year old age group. But the last thing I wanted to do right now was cut my conversation with Holden short to go teach it, however, I didn’t have a choice. “Sure. I’m just finishing up yoga. I’ll head right over.”
“Thanks! Love you.”
“Love you.”
I disconnected the phone and looked back at Holden.
“That was a great class.” He grinned tightly before turning and walking toward the door.
I wanted to stop him. There were so many things I wanted to say to him, but I knew that now wasn’t the time, so I just replied, “Thanks.”
He stopped in the doorway and looked over his shoulder. “I loved seeing you in your element. You are…magic.”
Then he was gone.
I stood there, speechless. My mind was racing trying to process what had just transpired.
Had Holden Reed really just called me magic?
Magic?
What does that mean?
I had no idea…but I was determined, more than ever, to find out.
Chapter 13
Holden
“Even if ya’ll are on the right track, you’ll get run over if ya just sit there.”
~ Maggie Calhoun
“Do you want to see some pictures?” Travis spoke loudly to be heard over the music and drunken conversations happening around us. The Tipsy Cow was packed, and I could barely hear him.
“Sure.”
He eagerly pulled out his phone, his face beaming with pride as he pulled up photos of his daughter. “She changes every day,” he said as he handed me the phone.
I took the device and scrolled through the pictures of his newborn baby girl. I had to admit, she did look different than she had when I’d seen her at the movie premiere the first night I got back.
It had only been a month, but it seemed so much longer than that. My schedule consisted of going to PT Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and restorative yoga on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The class was beneficial, which was the only reason I went. But I made sure to show up a minute or two after class began, and I was the first to leave after namaste.
I didn’t trust myself to speak to Olivia. The last time I had, I’d told her she was magic. I hadn’t meant to. But when I’d seen the look in her big hazel eyes, so vulnerable and raw, I’d just said it and it had left her speechless. It was like she’d expected me to say something rude. Which I guess I couldn’t blame her for considering my actions over the past nearly twenty years. But seeing her reaction had only made me want to go over and show her, not tell her, what I felt for her even more than I’d wanted to before.
So when she’d shown up on my doorstep the night after that first class, and nearly every day since, I hadn’t allowed myself to answer the door. I knew it wasn’t the most mature way to handle the situation, but since I was scared if we did speak, I’d confess my feelings for her and cross lines that couldn’t be uncrossed, I figured it was the best way. For both of us.
Since coming home, the only other people I’d talked to were my brothers, my parents, and Jake during PT. Other than that, my social life was nonexistent, unless you counted the Golden Girls and Mr. Rogers. It had gotten so bleak that I may or may not have started DVRing Sunset Bay and spending my evenings with Alexis, Trent, and the nurse Deidre, who I was fairly certain might actually be his wife who had been presumed dead but who had actually just gotten amnesia after getting in a disfiguring car accident and having reconstructive facial surgery.
That was the theory I was pondering when Bentley stopped by and insisted I come out for a drink. I figured it might not be a bad idea.
“She’s beautiful!” I handed Travis the phone back as Bentley returned to our table carrying three shots of Jägermeister.
“I’m so glad that I finally got your ass to leave the house!” Bentley announced loudly as he set the shot glasses down.
“Shots?” I couldn’t remember the last time I’d drank more than a beer. I looked at Travis, who appeared to be about as excited as I was over the prospect of drinking them.
“Hell yeah, shots!” Bentley lifted up his glass. “To good friends, old times, and new memories!”
Travis, and I followed suit and lifted our glasses, clinked them together in cheers before tapping them on the table for good luck and downing them. The sweet, saffron flavor of citrus and licorice slid down my throat.
As soon as we set the glasses down, Travis yawned.
“Are we boring you already?” Bentley teased.
We’d been at the bar for a little more than an hour and this was the third time I’d noticed that Travis had yawned.
“Man, I don’t remember the last time I slept more than three hours straight.”
It was so strange that my friends were all settled down and starting families. I’d been so wrapped up in my career, I’d barely noticed. But now that I was back in town, I was beginning to wonder if they’d done it right. I’d put everything into my career, and for what? What did I have to show for it?
“I don’t know how my parents did this nine times.” Travis shook his head and took a swig of his beer.
“Hey, boys!” A brunette server greeted the table as she grabbed the empty shot glasses and smiled at me. There was recognition in her eyes, but I didn’t have a clue who she was. Although, there was something about her that looked vaguely familiar. “Can I get you guys another round?”
“No.” Travis and I chorused.
“Lightweights,” Bentley chuckled.
“I heard you were back in town.” The brunette brushed against my arm as she set down clean cocktail napkins and put all of our beers on them. “It’s good to see you.”
I grinned, still not having a clue who she was.
“Yeah, you too.” I nodded.
“Hope to see more of you.” A dimple on her left cheek appeared as her lips turned up in a flirty smile. Her long ponytail fanned out as she turned and weaved her way through the tables.
She was attractive, friendly, and honestly, if I had any interest in dating someone or I wasn’t in love with my best friend’s little sister, I might be interested. But since those weren’t the circumstances, I wasn’t.
When I looked back at the boys, they both had grins on their faces.
“What?”
“You gonna do something about that?” Bentley wagged his brows.
“I don’t even know her.” I knew that was a weak excuse, but it was all I had.
“Are you serious?” Travis asked.
“Yeah.”
“How bad is your brain damage?” Bentley joked.
I just stared at him, not finding him amusing at the moment.
“That’s Kenna,” Travis explained.
“Kenna Rogers?” I said aloud. Kenna was Fred Rogers’s granddaughter. I remember my mom talking about how her parents had planned on naming her Kenny if she was a boy. Yep, Kenny Rogers. “No. She’s a kid.”
“Not anymore.” Bentley took a drink of his beer. “She just turned twenty-four. Soooo?”
“So what?” I shrugged.
“Are you still dating that Victoria’s Secret model?” Travis asked.
Luci had never done Victoria’s Secret, she’d been in Sport’s Illustrated swimsuit edition, but I didn’t feel the need to point that out. “Nope.”
“So what’s the problem?” Bentley’s forehead creased. “Kenna’s cute. And since I walked in on you watching Sunset Bay tonight, I think you’ve got the free time.”
I remained quiet and internally kicked mys
elf for not turning off the show before I answered the door. My viewing habits aside, I still wasn’t interested in dating her.
“You don’t still have that dumbass rule about not dating anyone from Wishing Well, do you?” Travis gave me the same confused look he’d had when the subject of me not dating anyone in Wishing Well came up when we were teenagers.
“Your brother had the same rule,” I weakly defended myself.
“So?” Travis dismissed. “That doesn’t make it any less ridiculous.”
“I don’t want to date anyone right now.”
I hoped like hell my nose didn’t pull a Pinocchio because I definitely did want to date someone. She happened to live next door to me and had been going on a lot of dates.
I’d counted three just this week. It was like she was trying to set a Guinness World Record or something. And from what I’d seen, she was not too discriminating over her choices of companions. One guy had shown up at her door wearing a tuxedo shirt. When she’d made a joke about it, he’d gotten butt hurt.
Who in the hell wears a tuxedo shirt unironically? A dickhead, that’s who.
“Are you fucking serious?” Bentley set his glass down on the table with a little bit more umph than strictly necessary.
Travis and I looked at each other to see if we knew what he was talking about. We didn’t.
“What?” I asked.
His chin jutted out toward the entrance. “She’s here with another one.”
I turned to look to see who he was talking about and I saw Olivia with a random guy that looked like he belonged on Wall Street, not in a bar called The Tipsy Cow.
“My source tells me that that’s the third date she’s had this week.” Bentley announced.
“Your source?” I questioned. I hadn’t been telling him jack shit, so I knew it wasn’t me. If I had, then he’d know that this was actually the fourth date she’d had this week.
“Maisy. Since you’ve been slacking, I had to call in reinforcements.”
“She’s dating. What’s the big deal?” Travis asked.
“The big deal is that she’s meeting these randos online. She doesn’t know anything about these guys. They could be the next Ted Bundy. It’s not safe.”
I wished that I could argue with him and stick up for Olivia like I’d done when we were kids and she wanted to bike ride, or skateboard, or go bridge jumping with us. I’d always assure Bentley that Olivia could handle herself and was capable of taking care of herself. But this was different. The danger level was different. The consequences were different.
The worst that could’ve happened back then was her getting a broken bone. The worst thing that could happen now was her getting assaulted or…I couldn’t even think about it.
I glanced back over to them just in time to see Mr. Wall Street checking out Kenna’s ass as she took the order at the table beside them. He wasn’t even trying to be sly about it. I didn’t understand how any guy could even notice another woman when they were with Olivia.
When I looked at her, the entire world disappeared.
Travis’s phone buzzed and he grabbed it off the table. “That’s it for me boys. Mia needs me to stop by the store for a diaper run. Doody calls.”
“Dad jokes?” Bentley shook his head with disappointment. “Really?”
“Yep.” Travis was beaming, looking anything but disappointed that he was calling it a night to go home to his wife and baby. “Later guys.”
“Alright, man. Good seeing you.” I lifted my hand in a wave.
“You too.”
Travis hadn’t even made it out of the bar before Bentley’s phone lit up. From the smile that spread on his face, I didn’t need ask who the text was from. “Maisy’s done with her meeting early.” Bentley downed his drink. “I gotta go. Booty calls.”
“That was worse than Travis’s dad joke.”
“’Cause I’m not a dad. Yet.” Bentley stood and his face split in a grin from ear to ear, clearly excited at the prospect of future fatherhood. “You gonna head out or…?”
“Nah, I’m gonna hang for a bit.”
“Alright, man. Well don’t be a stranger.” He pulled me in for a one-armed man hug. “And do me a favor. Keep an eye on Liv.”
Bentley didn’t have to ask for a favor. That was exactly what I planned on doing.
Chapter 14
Olivia
“Don’t wear your wishbone where your backbone needs to be.”
~ Maggie Calhoun
“Did you always know that you wanted to be a lawyer?” I asked, doing my best to appear interested in Matthew’s answer even though I was counting the minutes until this date could end.
He turned back to me after checking out yet another woman that walked by. If I had a dollar for every female’s ass he’d ogled I’d be going home with at least a hundred bucks.
“What?” he snapped, obviously irritated that I’d interrupted his gawking.
“Nothing.” I finished off my second drink of the evening, one that I had been nursing for the past hour.
When I set my glass down, Matthew leaned forward, his eyes gleaming with more interest than he’d shown all night. “Are you ready to take this party out of here?”
This “party” was going absolutely nowhere and under any other circumstances, I would’ve been out of here an hour ago after one drink if I didn’t have such a captive audience. Even though I knew it was ridiculous that I was playing games, I couldn’t help myself. Holden Reed was watching me like a hawk, and I was more than happy to be his prey.
As much as I wanted to believe that his interest in me was personal, I had a feeling that it was the same motivation that had caused him to move next door to me. He was Bentley’s spy. That was the only thing that could possibly explain why he was still at the Cow.
My brother and Travis had left over an hour and a half ago, but Holden was still perched at the high top with his eyes glued to me. He wasn’t even trying to be subtle about it. Every time I looked in his direction, we locked eyes.
I hated myself for it, but I loved that he was so focused on me, even if his reasons were just out of loyalty to my brother. So, I planned on squeezing every last second out of this date I possibly could, because I was not ready to relinquish Holden’s undivided attention.
“Do you want to dance?” I asked Matthew.
He stared at me for a beat, and I could actually see him calculating whether or not it would be worth it to put in the work of getting off his ass and taking a spin on the dance floor with me to get a chance at tapping my ass. That was never going to happen. But over the last ninety minutes I’d discovered Matthew suffered from two conditions that made it impossible for him to recognize that. He had an overly inflated ego, and a pathological inability to read a room.
He also broadcast everything he was thinking and feeling on his face in high def. I hoped that he had a better poker face when he was defending his clients because otherwise even the weakest and most inexperienced prosecutor would mop the floor with him.
“Sure,” he finally agreed, albeit less than enthusiastically.
We stood and he followed me onto the dance floor. It took less than an eight-count of “Tennessee Whiskey” to figure out that Matthew had even less rhythm than he had decency, and that was a low bar.
He’d already stepped on my foot twice when he got a phone call that he “had to take” and rushed outside. In any other circumstances, I would’ve been bummed to be left on the dance floor partner-less, but all I felt was relieved.
I’d been milking this train wreck of a disaster date for all it was worth, but I knew it was time to throw in the towel. I couldn’t help but feel the sting of embarrassment that I’d subjected myself to an hour and a half of douchebag just because I was enjoying Holden’s silent attention. It was pathetic, and I was going to download all the self-help, self-esteem books I could find when I got home. What a waste of ninety minutes that I would never get back.
My shoulders were slumped in shame
and defeat when I started to make my way back to my table through the other people on the dancefloor. I only made it two steps before a hand wrap around my wrist. The hold was gentle yet firm and my body lit up like a Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. I knew, even before I lifted my eyes, who had grabbed me because of my Holden sixth sense.
When I did look up, my suspicion was confirmed.
Holden Reed was standing beside me. “Do you want to dance?”
Was this the knight-in-shining-armor moment I’d been waiting for all these years?
Had witnessing my date with Matthew caused him to see me in a different light?
Was seeing me with another man all it took to expose hidden desires for me?
I didn’t have those answers, but I did have an answer. “Yes, I’d love to dance.”
As soon as I turned to face him, he lifted up his right hand and placed his left on my lower back and my heart skipped a hundred beats. A small smile tugged at my lips as I placed my hand in his and he began leading me around the crowded dance floor. Left foot change, right foot change, left foot change, right foot change.
While all the other couples were swaying back and forth, Holden and I were waltzing.
“I can’t believe you remembered,” I managed to say even though emotion was clogging my throat.
“Remembered what?” he asked with a totally blank expression on his face.
My heart sank for two reasons. First, he hadn’t remembered a very special night we’d shared. And second, that meant another woman had taught him the dance. For some inexplicable reason, that made me more jealous than thinking of him being intimate with another woman.
“Nothing.” I forced myself to smile as I blinked back the moisture that was starting to build beneath my eyes.
His lips parted and pulled up in a wide smile, the same smile that I’d commented on after yoga class. “Do you mean the night before your first competition? The Dallas Classic? You’d been out in the studio that was connected to your garage all night and I went to grab my bike and found you in tears. I asked you why you were upset, and you said that you were sure that you were going to mess up and embarrass yourself. I told you that whenever I got nervous, I remembered to go back to basics and use—”
Educating Holden (Wishing Well, Texas Book 11) Page 9