by Jill Shalvis
her off, and they’d spent the night at her place.
In her bed.
He’d known his words had thrown her. Hell, they’d thrown him. But he wouldn’t take them back—after all, they were the truth—and he wouldn’t hide from them either.
So he’d done his best to keep the rest of their hours together light and sexy and fun. No pressure.
Because no way was he going to rush her.
Ten seconds later, the first call of the shift came in, and he had to set aside his thoughts on what they’d done in her bed to each other.
The call was an accidental death, and they arrived first on scene to a screaming woman.
She’d found her husband in the garage, and he was indeed dead. He’d gone to get something out of the garage refrigerator in a robe and lightweight slippers. Near as they could tell, he’d inadvertently stepped into a puddle of water just as he’d opened the fridge and electrocuted himself.
Sheer, dumb bad luck.
An hour later Aidan and Mitch were still on-site, sitting in the rig working on the report, when a uniformed Hudson climbed up into the shotgun seat and met Aidan’s gaze.
They hadn’t spoken since several nights ago, when tempers had gotten hot and Hudson had called him a damn hypocrite.
“Need a minute,” Hudson said.
“Later.” Aidan tried to get around his brother, who swore beneath his breath and blocked Aidan’s path.
“I shouldn’t have called you a hypocrite,” Hudson said quietly. “Or implied that you don’t think of me and Jacob as family.”
Shit. When Hudson got a stick up his ass to discuss something, he never cared who was listening. But Aidan was very aware of Mitch trying to eavesdrop, because the lot of them were like a bunch of schoolgirls. “Okay,” he said. “Good talk, thanks.”
Hudson didn’t budge.
“We can do this later,” Aidan said grimly.
Hudson dropped his head, swore again, and then looked up. “How about a peace offering?”
None was needed but Aidan was hungry. “Sure. A loaded breakfast burrito would do it.”
“I’ve got something better. I’m not going to make you drop trou and prove you’re not wearing the latest delivery.”
“Shit,” Aidan said. “I completely forgot.”
“—because you spent the night at Lily’s.”
Behind Aidan came Mitch’s intake of breath.
“Okay,” Aidan said, and he shoved Hudson out of the truck. “Turns out I do have a moment. A moment to kick your ass. What makes you think I spent the night with Lily?”
“Heard it,” Hudson said smugly, all remorse gone.
“From who?” Aidan demanded. “Who’s talking about what I do on my own damn time?”
Hudson flashed a grin. “Me. You didn’t come home. And I saw your truck in front of her building when I did a drive-by last night.”
Shit. “Oh,” he said brilliantly.
“So I assume you’ve been working on letting her in, showing her by example?”
“Seriously,” Aidan said. “You need to stop taking those night classes.”
Hudson smiled, but the smile quickly faded. “Now that you’re talking to me … let’s hit on why I’m here.”
“Oh, for chrissakes—”
“I need to know why you don’t want me to contact Dad.”
“Not this shit again—”
“I went to Gray,” Hud said.
Aidan tensed. “What?”
“Yeah. And he told me it’s your story to tell, not his.”
Aidan relaxed marginally.
“But,” Hudson went on. “This isn’t a damn monarchy. You can’t just lay down the law like I’m some little kid. I’m asking you for just one reason. And when you give it, I’ll be on your side no matter what.”
Aidan closed his eyes. “I don’t want to do this.”
“Because he hurt your mom, right?” Hudson asked quietly. “Is that it? He hurt Char and … also you?”
Aidan’s eyes flew open. “Why? Did he ever lay his hands on you?”
Hudson’s entire demeanor changed. He tensed and his eyes went dark with fury. “Shit. So he did,” he breathed. “He beat you. And you never said a word.”
When Aidan didn’t respond, Hudson’s hands fisted. “Because you were protecting us. Goddammit, Aidan.” He let out a purposeful breath. “Okay. Okay.” He nodded. “So we keep him clear of here at all costs.”
“Not for me,” Aidan managed to say. “But for my mom. She …” He shook his head. “I don’t want him within a thousand miles of her.”
“Ten-four on that,” Hudson said tightly. He nodded, his eyes still hot but also softer now, with an understanding Aidan had hoped to never see. “I’ll let you get back to it,” he said quietly, but didn’t move.
“If you try to hug me …,” Aidan started.
“Hell no,” Hud said. “We’re on the street in broad daylight.” He paused. “But we’re okay, right?”
“Aren’t we always?” And then to lighten the mood he said, “And maybe I was at Lily’s last night for a late dinner. You ever think of that?”
Hud went brows up. “At three a.m.?”
“Fine,” Aidan said. “You caught me. I’m a grown-ass man sleeping with a grown-ass woman.”
Hudson grinned. “Does Char know?”
“No. And we’re going to keep it that way, you hear me?” Aidan asked warningly. “If she found out, she’d probably start planning some big, fancy wedding and then I’d have to kill you dead. You get me?”
Hudson laughed.
“What?”
“You just said wedding without getting hives,” Hud said.
“I’m not allergic to weddings, you dumbass.”
“No, you’re allergic to letting someone love you,” Hudson said.
This stunned Aidan into momentary silence. “You don’t know shit,” he finally said. “I’m perfectly willing to let Lily love me.” He made a point of looking at himself in the sideview mirror of the truck. “Look, Ma, no hives. Now don’t go away mad, just go away.”
“Not yet,” Hudson said, studying Aidan. “Because there’s something else bugging you, I can feel it. And I’m not leaving until you tell me. I’ll never make that mistake again.”
Aidan took in the tension lining Hudson’s mouth and felt like a complete asshole. Hudson blamed himself for Jacob’s vanishing act, thinking if he’d only gotten Jacob to open up, he might have been able to stop him from leaving.
Which was complete bullshit, but the Kincaids never had been much on common sense. Still, he wasn’t going to let Hudson feel responsible for anyone else in this family, ever. “It’s about Lily. It’s not important right now.”
“Humor me.”
Aidan sighed. “I’m just not sure she’s ever going to let herself …”
“What?”
“Be loved. She’s been independent and on her own all this time and she’s gotten good at it. She doesn’t see herself as worthy of letting anyone in.”
Hudson nodded and then, proving he wasn’t just a pretty face, came up with a shockingly simply and brilliant solution. “So show her otherwise.”
Lily rushed toward the salon at ten minutes past nine, gulping down some desperately needed caffeine to wake herself up after not enough sleep. This was directly related to how she’d spent the rest of the night, and not the waxing emergency.
Aidan hadn’t said “I love you” again, and she hadn’t said anything at all, but as magical as his place had been, her bed was just as good. Her bed, her shower, her kitchen counter …
A few feet from the door of the salon she fumbled with her purse to put away her sunglasses and ran right into a hard chest that belonged to—
“Aidan,” she gasped as he easily caught her, steadying her coffee as he did.
He felt amazing, but when she lifted her face to see his, she frowned at the tension she saw there. “What’s wrong?”
For a beat he looked startle
d, like he hadn’t realized that she could read him so well. Then he cleared his face of all expression.
“Aidan,” she said softly. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Just been a long morning already.”
She’d sought comfort from him before. She’d sought his help as well. But he’d never asked her for either of those things. He’d never asked her for anything at all and probably never would. So she stepped into him, into his warm, hard body.
He hesitated before moving into her, wrapping his arms around her waist and burying his face in her neck.
“What’s going on?” she asked softly, stroking a hand up his back, past the nape of his neck, tunneling her fingers into his hair.
“It’s nothing,” he said, and then paused like he was struggling with whether or not to share.
“Nothing.” He paused. “Hud and I’ve been fighting about our dad,” he finally said. “He wanted to bring him here, make him help us clean up the mess he left.”
Lily didn’t know much about Richard Kincaid, other than he was deadbeat dad of the century for starting and deserting not one but three families. “And you don’t want him to come,” she guessed.
“I don’t want him anywhere near my mom. He screwed her over when he left.”
“And you,” she said quietly.
“No, I wanted him gone.” He tightened his grip, keeping his face hidden. “I wanted him dead.”
“I’m sorry, Aidan.”
“Don’t be. You didn’t do anything.”
“I’m sorry for your bad memories.”
“Yeah, well, we both have those.”
Yes, but she had a feeling his were even darker than hers. She held him tighter.
He gave her another long moment, and then he pulled back and looked into her face. “You were in a hurry.”
“Yeah, I’m running a little late.” She watched the small smile flirt at the corners of his mouth and felt her face heat. “Listen, I’m not so great with this whole morning-after-quickie stuff, so I’m just going to …” She gestured to the door, but he slid a hand to her waist to stop her.
“We talked about this,” he said. “It’s more than a quickie.”
On some level she knew he was right. It just wasn’t a level she could fully access right now. “Aidan—”
“Yeah, and you know it,” he said, and took her mouth. Tender, soft, his lips coaxed more than a kiss from her, until she felt open to him and willing to give him everything she had. Somewhere in the dim recesses of her mind she heard her purse fall to the ground, but she didn’t care. This had sneaked up on her. He’d sneaked up on her. Quiet and strong, he wanted her to believe things she’d never been able to believe before.
Believe and trust …
“You’re stronger than you think,” he said softly, making her realize she’d spoken out loud. “You’ve always been stronger than you think.”
She stared up into his fathomless gaze, hoping that was true. He looked so sure as he met her gaze. She could use some of that confidence. “What do you want from me?” she blurted out.
He picked up her purse and handed it over. “Worried?”
“A little.” She paused. “Or, you know, a lot.”
His smile was warm and made her throat tighten. “This,” he said, and put a hand over her heart. “I want this.”
Oh. Well, if that was all …
He kissed her once more and then opened the door to the salon for her, giving her a little nudge in. “Have a good one,” he said, and he was gone.
Just like that, as if he hadn’t only a second ago made a bid for her heart. She shook her head to clear it and walked through the salon, taking a big sip of her coffee.
Jonathan spoke without looking up from his laptop. “You’re ten minutes late. There’s only two acceptable excuses for being late. A life-or-death situation, or morning sex.”
Lily choked on her coffee.
Jonathan looked up. “Holy shit,” he said. “Ding-dong, we have a winner at door number two. You got morning sex, you lucky bitch.”
Lily stopped and inspected herself in one of the mirrors. “No way could you tell that by just looking at me.”
“Yes, way,” he said. “And I want to hear every single detail, including size and expertise, but for now get the towels out and start up the register.”
“I thought that was Rosa’s job.”
Rosa popped her head out from the back. “Nope. The person who gets morning sex has to do the shit jobs so the rest of us feel better about our sexless lives.”
Jonathan nodded. “It’s in the employee handbook.”
Lily shook her head. “Fine,” she said, heading to the back. “But no one’s getting any details out of me.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Lenny asked.
Lily hadn’t noticed him in her hurry, but he was standing right there. In his T-shirt and jeans low slung thanks to his tool belt, he had sawdust in his hair and all over her floor. “What are you doing?” she asked.
“Just put in some new shelves. Gray said I could handle your list of requested renovations as a side job.”
She looked the shelves over and nodded approvingly. “They look great. Let me grab a broom and sweep up the sawdust before any clients get here.”
“No worries,” he said. “I’ll clean up after myself. I’m a full-service contractor. So about that promise …”
Baffled, she shook her head. “What promise?”
“You said you’d think about going out with me.”
No, she hadn’t. She’d been careful not to lead him on. “Lenny—”
He smiled. “You going to break my heart, sugar?”
She rolled her eyes. “We both know I couldn’t do that.”
“Don’t underestimate yourself.”
There was something different about him today from the last time she’d seen him. His cheeks had a lot of color, and his eyes were glassy. She might have thought he was sick except for one thing—she could smell liquor on him. “Have you been drinking?”
“Is that against the law?” he asked.
“It’s not even nine thirty.”
“But it’s five o’clock somewhere.”
“You’re on the job,” she said quietly.
His smile was a bit tight now. “You going to rat me out, Lily? Wouldn’t be the first time you told on someone, would it?”
She narrowed her eyes at the reference to what had happened at her last job. “Maybe you should just go.”
“Because that would be easier than admitting to my face that you never had any intention of going out with me. Is that it?”
“I never had any intention of leading you on or going out with you,” she said. “I’m sorry if you thought otherwise.”
“Because you’re fucking Aidan?”
Their gazes met and held. She couldn’t be surprised he knew about Aidan. Cedar Ridge was a small town, and the people in it enjoyed talking. A lot.
“I’ve seen you with him,” he said. “Funny thing about body language. It’s always honest.”
“This conversation is over,” she said.