Can't Fight The Moonlight (Whisper Lake Book 3)

by Barbara Freethy

  "Don't waste your breath arguing, Lizzie," Gianna interjected. "If Keira wants us to sing, we will sing."

  Keira gave a careless shrug. "You guys always complain and everyone always has a good time in the end."

  "All right, all right," Lizzie said, getting to her feet. "Come on, Gianna, Chloe. Let's do this."

  "Not me," Chloe said. "I want to call home and check on Leo." She pulled out her phone, got up from the table and headed to the door, leaving a somewhat tense silence behind her.

  "What is going on with them?" Lizzie muttered.

  "Kevin is being an ass," Adam said tersely. "In case you haven't noticed."

  "He's just finding his way back into the group," Lizzie said.

  Adam gave his sister a disbelieving look. "You always look for the positive spin, but in this case, there might not be one."

  "I hope that's not true. They have a baby to raise together."

  Adam got up from his seat. "I'll be back."

  Justin didn't know if Adam was more annoyed with the missing Kevin or with his overly optimistic sister, but he disappeared into the crowd.

  "What is with him?" Lizzie asked.

  "Forget him," Keira ordered. "Let's sing. This is supposed to be a party."

  "Adam's party," Lizzie reminded her.

  "He'll be fine," Chelsea put in. "Go sing."

  Lizzie, Keira and Gianna left the table, leaving Justin with Chelsea, Brodie and Zach.

  "How's your head?" Brodie asked.

  "It's fine." He still had a dull ache in his temple, but the beer was helping with that.

  "What happened?" Chelsea asked.

  "I was driving behind your sister, Lizzie, when she braked very fast to avoid a deer. I swerved to avoid the back of her truck and ended up in a ditch."

  "I saw Tom earlier," Brodie put in. "He said your car was totaled."

  "Well, it was a rental car, so hopefully insurance will take care of it."

  "And now you're staying at the inn?" Chelsea asked.

  "Yes. I'm here for my grandparents' vow renewal ceremony this Saturday. They got delayed, so they're not arriving until tomorrow."

  "Where are you from?" Zach asked curiously.

  "San Francisco."

  A gleam entered his eyes. "I used to live there. I had a condo south of Market. What about you?"

  "I'm in Russian Hill."

  "Great area."

  "What brought you to Whisper Lake?" Justin asked.

  "I was doing a remodel at the summer camp for a buddy of mine. I ran into Gianna, and that changed everything. We'd actually met at that camp when we were kids. A decade or so later, we end up back at the lake at the same time, and now we're married. We got a second chance, and we took it."

  "And you run your business from here?"

  "Yes. It's actually not that difficult. I visit job sites when I need to, but the rest of the time I'm here. I have an eight-year-old daughter, and this is a good place for her to grow up. I have to say this lake really changed my life."

  "Mine, too," Brodie said. "It gave me a second chance, too. I had to reinvent myself, and I was able to do that here."

  "I saw you ski once at Aspen," he interjected. "You were amazing."

  "I used to be," Brodie agreed with a matter-of-fact nod of his head. "But that part of my life is over." His gaze moved to Chelsea. "I can't say I'm sorry, because it brought me here. It brought me Chelsea."

  She gave him a soft smile. "I feel the same way." Dragging her gaze away from her fiancé, she added to Justin, "I also got a chance to start again."

  "That seems to be a theme around here."

  "It is," she said. "If you stay more than a few days, you might find yourself changing in a way you never expected."

  "I'm happy with the way I am."

  Brodie grinned. "I thought the same thing."

  "Me, too," Zach said. "Talk to us when you've been here a week."

  "I didn't come here to change or reinvent or heal. I just came for a wedding. Maybe if I was looking for something else, I'd find it, but I'm not." He didn't know why he felt the need to tell them that so forcefully. Perhaps because their words scared him just a little. He only liked change when he was in complete control of that change. Anything else brought back a feeling of helplessness from his past that he never wanted to experience again. Seeing the thoughtful looks coming back at him, he felt a little too exposed, so he refilled his beer mug and then passed the pitcher to Zach. "Might as well finish it off. Looks like we have another two coming," he added, seeing Kevin heading to the table.

  "Who needs another drink?" Kevin asked, setting the pitchers down on the table. "And where did everyone go? Where's Chloe?"

  "I think she went to the ladies' room," Chelsea said.

  Kevin nodded and sat down, wincing a little as he did so.

  "Still feeling that knee?" Brodie asked.

  Kevin shrugged. "It's fine. Everything is good. I keep telling Chloe that, but she wants to make problems where there aren't any." He stopped talking. "Sorry, I don't know why I said that." He poured himself a full glass and drained half of it in one long swallow. Then he stood back up again. "I'm going to find Chloe. I know she's on the phone. She can't trust anyone with Leo, not even my parents."

  As Kevin left again, Chelsea let out a sigh and shook her head. "I want to help, but what can we do?"

  "Nothing," Brodie advised. "Kevin and Chloe have to work out their own life." Brodie looked at Justin. "It's a long story."

  "You don't have to tell me," he said, realizing he was getting very caught up in the lives of Lizzie's friends.

  "Kevin is on medical leave from the army," Chelsea put in. "He went through a rough time, and while he's been back almost ten months now, he's still not fitting into his old life."

  "My father always had a hard time when he was home in between deployments," Zach put in. "I see a lot of my mother in Chloe. But Chloe has her husband back. Hopefully, he'll realize that being home with her and his son is where he needs to be and where he wants to be."

  "Looks like the girls are up," Chelsea said, drawing their attention to the small stage where Keira, Lizzie, and Gianna were standing in front of a microphone.

  As the women began to sing, Justin realized one thing very quickly—they were good, especially Lizzie, who was front and center. While she'd expressed reservations about singing, she didn't look at all uncomfortable. And in the glow of the stage lights, her beautiful face, framed by a cascade of silky brown waves, hit him like a sucker punch. He had to force some air back into his body, shocked at his reaction to her.

  But who could resist that laughing, inviting smile, or the way she moved her hips with the rhythm of the song? It felt like she was looking right at him—singing Whitney Houston's hit, "I Wanna Dance With Somebody."

  And damn if he didn't feel like dancing with her.

  Not just dancing. He wanted to kiss her mouth, run his hands along her curves and through her hair. And then he wanted to get even closer.

  He told himself to look away. Better yet, he should get up and walk away. He didn't need to get tangled up with a small-town innkeeper with a cheery personality and a heart of gold. They wouldn't be a good match at all. She was emotion; he was logic. She was warmth; he was cold. They were complete opposites.

  But he couldn't quite get himself to move…

  Chapter Five

  Justin was still trying to pull himself together when Lizzie returned to the table. She gave him another dazzling smile, and he had to shove his hands into his pockets, so he wouldn't do something crazy like grab her and kiss her in front of her friends and her family. The impulsive idea was completely out of character for him. He really needed to get a grip.

  "What did you think?" she asked, as she sat down next to him. "Did we sound better than a bunch of squealing cats?"

  "Hey, set the bar a little higher," Keira complained.

  "You sounded great," he told them all.

  "And you're probably just being nice
," Lizzie said.

  "I'm not really known for that."

  She tilted her head, giving him a thoughtful look. "It's not a bad thing to be known for. I'm nice."

  She was many more things than nice, but he wasn't going to get into that.

  "Where is everyone?" Lizzie asked. "Chloe, Kevin, my brother?"

  Chelsea sighed. "Chloe and Kevin are fighting. Adam seemed to be annoyed by that. I'm not sure what's going on, or if anyone is coming back."

  "I think they'll be back," Brodie said. "Maybe. But we can have fun without them. I'm thinking about singing a song."

  "You are?" both Lizzie and Chelsea said at the same time.

  "Yes. Justin, Zach, you two in?" Brodie asked.

  "I gotta go," he said quickly.

  "I thought you were going to show me how much fun you can be," Lizzie said pointedly.

  "I don't sing well."

  "You don't have to sing well. You just sing," she told him.

  "Come on, join us," Brodie said, as he got to his feet. "We'll find a good song."

  Somehow, he found himself propelled to the stage with two guys he'd met less than a half hour ago. "What are we going to sing?" he asked. "No sappy love songs, or you two are on your own."

  Brodie laughed. "No love in your life?"

  "Not at the moment." He perused the list of song choices, trying not to wince at the older couple on stage currently attempting to sing "Just The Way You Are".

  "Here's one," Zach said, putting his finger on the page. "What do you think?"

  He read the title and grinned. "I like it."

  Brodie laughed. "Let's do it."

  A moment later, they took the stage and pounded out the lyrics to "Born To Be Wild."

  Being on stage with the lights in his eyes, and the pulsing beat of the song running through his body, he felt wilder than he had in a long time. He wasn't in a business suit. He didn't have a tie choking his neck. He wasn't talking to investors or engineers. He was belting out a song in a bar in a town he'd never been to before with a couple of guys he'd just met. It felt both good and unsettling. If he wasn't himself anymore, who was he?

  That question left his head when his gaze met Lizzie's. She was wide-eyed, as if she couldn't quite believe what she was seeing. And that made him want to shock her even more. He grabbed the microphone and rocked backward on the last chorus, practically knocking over Brodie and Zach as he busted out the line: "We were born, born to be wild."

  The bar erupted as the song ended. Brodie slapped him on the shoulder. "Nice job turning us into your backup singers."

  Despite his words, there was no anger on Brodie's face, just amusement.

  "I was fine with it," Zach put in. "I could feel myself singing out of tune."

  "You were great, both of you," he said. "I just felt like letting loose, which I don't actually do that often."

  They moved off the stage as the next group stepped up. When he returned to the table, they were met with applause. Adam, Chloe, and Kevin had also returned, and seemed to have eased whatever tension was brewing among the three of them. He grabbed his beer and took a long swig, then he gave Lizzie a challenging smile. "How fun was that?"

  "Really fun," she said with an approving gleam in her eyes. "I didn't know you had it in you."

  "To be honest, I didn't, either."

  "You have a great voice, Justin," Chelsea put in. "You can definitely sing."

  "Hey, what about me?" Brodie complained.

  Chelsea leaned over and gave her fiancé a kiss. "You can sing, too."

  Brodie grinned. "I can't, but I just wanted the kiss."

  Justin smiled at the sexy banter between them. They certainly made love look easy, which was not his experience. "I should get going," he said, thinking it was past time for him to head back to the inn. "It was nice to meet all of you."

  "I should go, too," Lizzie said. "I'll walk back with you, Justin."

  He was surprised at her words, but he could hardly say no.

  "You're leaving, Lizzie?" Keira said, disappointment in her eyes. "It's early. Hannah isn't even here yet."

  "Tell her I'm sorry I missed her, but I'll see you tomorrow at the inn's happy hour, right?"

  "I'll be there," Keira said. "In fact, I'm going to bring someone. I should probably talk to you about that."

  "That's fine. The more the merrier."

  "But—"

  "We'll talk tomorrow," Lizzie said, cutting off Keira. "Have fun everyone."

  After a round of good-byes, they left the restaurant.

  When they stepped onto the sidewalk, Lizzie let out a breath. "It feels good to be outside. It's not so noisy."

  "I thought you like noise and action."

  "I do, but I also like quiet." She paused, giving him a speculative look. "So, were you really born to be wild?"

  He laughed. "No, I think I was born to be boring."

  "I haven't seen boring yet. Impatient, annoyed, driven, a little isolated, yes. But boring? No."

  "That's how you see me, huh?"

  "It was before you decided to rock and roll it out on the stage."

  "Maybe your first impression was wrong."

  "I'm thinking it might have been," she admitted. "Are you glad you joined the party?"

  "Yes. Your friends are great, very down-to-earth, friendly, welcoming. Well, most of them anyway. I don't know what was going on with Chloe and Kevin or your brother, but they were not in the best moods. Is there some kind of love triangle?"

  She frowned at that question. "Chloe and Adam got really close while Kevin was on his last deployment. He was pretty much gone for eighteen months straight. But my brother respects their marriage. And I don't believe he has ever acted inappropriately, but there's a part of me that thinks he might be in love with her, and I don't see that ending happily. She's taken. She has a baby with Kevin, and she's been with Kevin since she was a teenager. I think they're just going through a rough patch."

  "Have you talked to Adam about it?"

  "God, no. My older brother does not discuss his love life with his sister."

  He nodded. "I probably wouldn't, either."

  "I just don't want him to get hurt. But what can I do?"

  "Nothing. He's his own man. And you should stay out of it."

  "I agree, but it's difficult for me to do nothing when people I love are hurting."

  "He seemed more pissed off than hurt to me."

  "Men always act angry when they're hurt. I think it's some kind of defense mechanism. I bet you do it, too."

  He thought about that and realized she was right. "Maybe occasionally."

  She gave him a knowing look. "Probably more than occasionally. Anyway, what do you think of Whisper Lake so far?" She waved her hand toward the street.

  "It's charming. It feels like a small town, but there's actually quite a bit of business here. More than I would have expected."

  She paused as they stopped at a corner. "Do you feel like taking a walk down to the lake? It's less than a mile, and there's a lovely park to go through on the way."

  Alarm bells went off in his head at her suggestion. Taking a walk in the moonlight with this beautiful woman seemed a little dangerous, but her inviting smile made it impossible for him to say no. "Sure," he said. "I haven't actually seen the lake up close yet. And to be honest, I'm not sure what I'll do back in my room with no electronics."

  "You could always read. We have a great selection of books in the library."

  "And in my room."

  "Which were all handpicked for you."

  He raised a brow. "Seriously? How would you know what I like to read?"

  "I asked your grandparents when they booked your room. They said you used to be into spy thrillers. They weren't sure if you read for pleasure anymore, but that you might be tempted to pick up a book with a fast-paced, techno-thriller plot, so that's what I put in your room."

  He was incredibly impressed by her attention to detail. "I can't believe you give such personal at
tention to a small detail like what book to put next to someone's bed."

  "It's all part of the Firefly Inn experience. I want you to feel so comfortable that you never want to leave."

  "I'm beginning to see why my grandparents love your inn so much."

  "They're becoming two of my best customers," she said with a laugh. "Oh, and the book I picked out for you came out two months ago, and the author was someone my mother found in the slush pile. She works for a literary agent in Denver. She told me about the book the second she read it. She said it was amazing and that she thought it would be a bestseller. Luckily, the agent she works for agreed, and managed to get the author a good deal. I'm not sure it has hit any lists, but she's still very proud of her find. She's always looking for the diamond in the rough, but she doesn't find them that often."

  "That sounds like a fun job, if you like to read."

  "Which she does."

  "What does your father do?"

  "He's a tax accountant. He's very much about the numbers and things adding up. I do not take after him, unfortunately, but I have other skills."

  "Does he help you with your financials?"

  "No. I have an accountant here in town. However, my parents are two of my investors, so I will have to show them the books for this year when they're finalized, which will be soon, and possibly depressing. So, let's not talk about that. Tell me about your parents. Your grandparents mentioned that there was some tension in the family, but they didn't seem inclined to explain."

  "That's an understatement," he said dryly.

  "Are they together?"

  "Oh, yeah, they're together. They've always been their best selves with each other and probably their worst selves with the rest of us."

  "Do you have any siblings?"

  The question shouldn't have caught him off guard, but it did. "My grandmother didn't tell you about Sean?"

  "No. Who's Sean?"

  "He's my half brother. My mom had Sean when she was seventeen. One of those accidental one-night stand kind of pregnancies. When Sean was five, she married my father, and I came along a year later."

  "Were you and your brother close?"