by Rayne, Piper
Some sick, horny, adolescent part of me hopes she’s going to suggest a sexual relationship. I’ll seal that deal with her over my shoulder on the way to my bedroom.
“You help me with the business stuff, and I’ll be your date to the wedding.” She looks me right in the eye, like she did that night in the hallway when she reached up and touched my cut. It’s that look that has me feeling off-kilter.
“I’ll totally help you without you having to come with me.”
She sinks back into her chair, her smile turning downward. “I can’t let you do that.” She moves to slide out of the chair. “Never mind. It was a stupid idea anyway.”
“No, it wasn’t. I just meant I can help you.” I stand.
Now I feel like I released the string on her balloon and ran over her puppy based on the look on her face.
“I can’t in good faith let you help me and not do something in return.” She’s already at the door and the last thing I want is for her to leave.
“Wouldn’t it be hard for you to be at a wedding?”
She chews on her bottom lip. “My brother is proposing to Holly, so I’ll have to go to one eventually. I might as well practice at one where I don’t know anyone.”
I chuckle. “So, my mom can ask why my beautiful date is crying in the pew?”
“You can tell her I’m a romantic. Which I am, so you wouldn’t be lying.”
I step forward slowly. “You really would go to my sister’s wedding with me?”
“I get that you might not want me to. It’s okay.”
Truth is she’d stand out, but in the best possible way.
“I just don’t want you to be upset, Brooklyn.” I step closer, my hand itching to reach out and touch her. To cradle her face and tilt it up to mine. To see her eyes wanting what I do in this moment. But she’s not ready and she’s not the type to sleep with me without expectations. Never mind all the other reasons, it’s a bad idea.
“I’d like to do the favor for you because I really want to get this business going but with everything I need to do, I already feel like I’m drowning. Besides, you obviously need someone to take and for whatever reason you don’t want to ask anyone. We can go as friends, no expectations between us, and you’ll make your mother happy.”
Her eyes plead with me and I find the answer falling out of my mouth before I can stop myself.
“Deal.”
She smiles and my heart warms at the happy expression on her beautiful face. “YAY!” She jumps into my arms.
This is the closest we’ve ever been. Her hair is tickling my bare shoulder and her slender body slides along mine. Then I feel my dick growing just as excited as Brooklyn is and I put her back down before I’m as embarrassed as a thirteen-year-old at his first boy/girl dance.
“Okay, I’m going to grab my pad of paper so we can compile a list. Are you hungry? We can order in or something.” She’s out the door before I can even answer.
Then it dawns on me. I’ll have to tell her who I am. And my father’s biggest rule before I came here was that no one was to know who I really was.
Shit. How did I get myself in this situation?
I look down at my dick and point.
“You did this.”
Eighteen
Brooklyn
I’ve spent the last week with Wyatt filing business paperwork, talking about branding, and logos and web designs. Pretty much all boring crap. I yearn to be in the kitchen coming up with different oil combinations and experimenting with different products like soaps, lotions, lip balms, and other stuff but Wyatt assured me this is where we need to concentrate our efforts. He called in a favor to a friend that designed a kick-ass logo for me. I have one week to have all my products ready for the Farmer’s Market.
Working alongside him is hard at times—our hands brush and shivers run through me, or when I’m so excited that I jump up to hug him I can sometimes feel his own excitement pressed against me. I ignore it, body reflexes and all that. Technically I’m single, but I can’t stop the feeling that if I did anything with Wyatt, I’d be cheating. I have to mourn my relationship with Jeff before treading to new territory.
Not that any of that matters because the fact is that he’s my boss and we’re just friends.
I put my iPad down on the coffee table and relax back into the couch.
“So, I was in Mr. Clayton’s office and he was talking about this Buzz Wheel thing.” Wyatt leans back beside me, his ankles crossed and stretched out onto the table.
How can bare feet be sexy? I don’t remember ever being attracted to bare feet.
“I haven’t read it in a few weeks. I stopped after I came back from my honeymoon,” I use air quotes before and after honeymoon. “And people were doing the ‘I spotted Brooklyn’ crap.”
“What is it exactly?” he asks, sipping his beer.
“It’s an online blog. People send information to whoever it is that writes Buzz Wheel and they publish it sometimes with photos. It’s Lake Starlight’s own Gossip Girl.”
He glances my way, closes his computer and puts it on the table. “Is that why you’ve been keeping me inside? You don’t want people to see us together?”
I crinkle my eyes. “I don’t fear the Buzz Wheel. Well, I did after the wedding, but if I’m doing something good enough to report hopefully it means I’m having fun.”
He chuckles. “Look at you, little hell raiser.”
I laugh, tossing the pillow at him.
He dodges the pillow and grabs his tablet. “What’s the web address?”
I blow out a breath. “Really? You want to read it?”
“Yeah, I’m intrigued.” His eyes set on me, waiting for instruction.
“lakestarlightbuzzwheel.com.”
His thumbs move with ease over the screen. Why does my libido think that’s attractive? It’s not. He’s literally just typing like everyone else does. I guess the difference is that I don’t think about how other people’s fingers are long enough to hit my G-spot, but right now as I watch Wyatt that’s all I’m thinking. I shake the dirty thoughts from my mind. He’s my boss. I’m fresh from being stood up at the altar. I’m not going to start hooking up with people now.
“Shit,” he mumbles and clicks it shut.
I straighten up in my seat. “What? Is there something about me?”
He slides the iPad between his thigh and the couch. “No. It was just about the hotel. Bad review.”
I reach across his lap and his hand lands on the iPad. “They don’t review things, Wyatt. What does it say about me?”
His eyes meet mine. We’re so close it would take no effort for either one of us to cross the line. His gaze falls to my lips and I lick them without thinking. Suddenly, Buzz Wheel isn’t on my mind.
He clears his throat and shifts his vision. “It’s not about you.”
“Then what?” I ask, my hand clasped on one edge and his on the other.
“It’s about Jeff.”
He might as well have said there’s chocolate cake on the counter, but I can’t have any. He’s nuts if he thinks I’m letting this go.
“I’m a big girl, Wyatt.”
“I know, but you seem to be doing so well lately and…”
I sit back away from the smell of his cologne and away from his strong thighs. “I am, but I hate it when other people know something I don’t, especially when it has to do with me.”
He’s silent for a while, his hands still on the iPad and his gaze out his patio door. Without a word, he hands the iPad over to me.
“Thanks.”
He stands up and disappears into his kitchen. I’m not sure if he’s leaving me alone or if he’s mad or what.
I press the button to get on the screen and there’s Buzz Wheel’s logo on the top of the page. My eyes focus on the picture of Jeff at Liquory Split with a black eye and another picture of his car on cinder blocks without tires and the hood propped open revealing the empty space where the engine used to be.
&
nbsp; Jeff Brickle has finally shown his face in Lake Starlight. Not sure if someone had a tracking device on him, but he was here no longer than an hour before he was seen sporting the shiner you see in the picture below. Someone’s trying to keep the runaway groom from running back out of town based on the condition his car was left in. Can’t say he didn’t deserve it.
The Sherriff says they have some suspects and I think we all know who he’ll be questioning first. It’s worth mentioning that there are no witnesses to the crime and Jeff surprisingly says he didn’t see who jumped him. Interesting all around.
I flick the screen off and sit on the couch, my mind racing over what happened and who might have done it even though it’s not hard to put two and two together.
“I should mention.” Wyatt walks in with two glasses of liquor. No ice, no chaser, no mix. He sets one in front of me. “A few weeks ago, after I brought you that Chinese food, I left you asleep on the couch and when I left, Rome was in the hallway. He somehow swindled a key from Joel and…well…long story short, he knows about Jeff taking the honeymoon with someone else.” He tips his glass back, swallowing it all in one gulp.
My stomach introduces itself to my feet. “What? You told him?”
“I didn’t really have a choice. He saw me coming out of your apartment, went inside and saw you there. He wanted answers.”
My chest tightens and I stand, pacing toward the door. “You said you wouldn’t tell.”
“Brooklyn, I had no choice. He saw you.” His eyes plead.
“You could’ve told him I changed my mind. It’s just so embarrassing. I was a fool. A fucking fool and everyone knows it. Do you have any idea what that feels like?” I yell, my hands clenched at my sides.
“I can imagine.”
I laser focus my gaze at him. “Imagine? Live it. Feel everyone’s eyes on you, the questions murmured behind your back. Deal with everyone thinking you somehow missed something and wondering how you didn’t know the person you were set to marry didn’t want to marry you. I overheard someone at the Lard have Mercy saying that I probably put an ultimatum to Jeff to get engaged in the first place because I’m a spoiled princess who wanted what she wanted when she wanted it.” I throw my arms in the air. “Now my brothers do this and think them getting in trouble is going to help me?” I whip his door open and stomp over to mine.
“That person is an asshole and should keep their mouth shut.” He follows me, but I grab my coat and my keys and slam my door shut, heading toward the stairs and ignoring him. “Where are you going?”
I grab my phone from my jacket pocket and dial Rome. “I’m going to kick my brothers’ ass and get this cleared up.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea. Just let it die. Don’t fuel anymore gossip.”
I put my hand in the air. “Whatever.”
I run down the stairs alone, but I’m not at my car more than two seconds before the door to the building springs open.
“BROOKLYN!” Wyatt yells.
I turn to see him jogging toward me, his own jacket on.
“What?”
“I’m going with you, but we’re walking because by the time we get back, neither one of us will be able to drive.”
“You’re crazy, it’s a mile.”
He shrugs, grabbing my hand in his. “It’s a nice night.” He drags me to the sidewalk.
We’re halfway there when I figure out his plan because I’ve already calmed down considerably.
“Don’t be mad at your brothers. They’re defending you in their own way.” His shoulder bumps mine.
“I know. They’ve done stupid shit my entire life. Usually with the best of intentions though.”
I don’t blame my brothers, I just hate the fact I’m in Buzz Wheel. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t happy that they hit him and stripped his car.
“Speaking as an older brother, we’re assholes if we don’t protect our sisters.”
“Explain something to me then. How come you guys can be so protective of your sisters and moms and every other woman close to you, but treat a woman you have a romantic interest in so poorly?”
We walk under a street lamp and he glances over to me. “I don’t treat women poorly.”
I roll my eyes. “Let’s see, you look like you do, yet you’re not attached. You take a job a long way from home, didn’t want to bring a date to your sister’s wedding… I’d say you’re running from someone or something. I can sniff out a commitment phobe. At least now I can.”
We make the turn to Main Street. Lucky’s Tavern, and Smokin’ Guns Tattoo Shop are all lit up.
“All I’m getting from what you just said is that you think I’m attractive.”
I laugh. “Spoken like a manwhore.”
He grabs my hand, stopping us and pressing my back against the light pole. “You can call it whatever you want—commitment phobe, manwhore, but the women I’m with know the score. I haven’t sworn off the whole marriage and kids thing, but I’m smart enough to know if I don’t accomplish what I want before settling down, I’ll regret it. And just so you know, I’m not running away from anyone but my father.”
His eyes fall to my lips once, dipping farther to my breasts and I inhale a deep breath, entranced by the smell of him. He’s dangerous, so dangerous. I thought Jeff destroyed me, but I can feel in my bones that Wyatt would annihilate me.
I’m not sure what’s transpiring between Wyatt and me, but it scares me. I don’t remember ever feeling this way for Jeff—craving his body on top of mine, his hands running down my curves, his lips on mine. Because right now I’d give just about anything for one brush of my lips against his.
“This is Main Street, not your bedroom!” a deep voice yells from across the street.
Wyatt steps away, stripping his gaze away from mine.
I glance behind me to see Liam.
“Mind your business!” I scream back.
“You are my business!”
“So I heard.”
He holds up his hands in the air. “No idea what you’re talking about. I’ve been working and tattooing people for days.” He chuckles. “Want one? It’s on me.”
“Come on.” I nod to Wyatt to follow me across the street. “Nah, you know me. I like pristine skin.”
Liam wraps me up in a hug so tight he lifts my feet off the concrete. “How’s my pseudo-sister?”
“Ready to kick my brother’s ass. And yours.”
“I told you, I’ve been here for days. I’m innocent.”
I smack him on the shoulder when he places me down. “Liam, this is—”
“Hey, Wyatt.” Liam holds his hand out.
I wave a finger between them. “You two know one another?”
Wyatt nods. “That night, I went to Lucky’s with Rome.”
“Ah, the plot thickens. I don’t know about you, Wyatt Moore.” I poke him in the stomach, not as upset anymore that he told my brother about the honeymoon. Rome was probably bringing some chick up to my apartment. That’s the only good thing about him finding me there. He couldn’t screw some nobody. One day he’ll have to grow up.
“I was just heading down to Lucky’s.” Liam starts walking.
“Great we’ll join you.”
A minute later, we step into the tavern, finding my twin brothers at a table and my sister Juno with her friend Colton in a booth with Savannah.
I’m about to give my brothers hell when the bar grows silent and everyone stares behind me at the Sheriff.
Shit.
“Rome and Denver Bailey, I need a word,” he says, weaving through the tables filled with patrons until he’s standing front and center.
Nineteen
Wyatt
Rome and Denver snicker between themselves as the Sheriff stands in front of their table with his thumbs hooked into his belt loops.
In the month or so that I’ve lived in Lake Starlight, I see now how it doesn’t resemble Stars Hollow, but this cop reminds me of Barney Fife.
“Hey,
Sheriff Miller. How is it being a granddaddy? I ran into Miranda the other day and that boy is going to break hearts.” Brooklyn steps in with the sweet talk.
She manages to pull a smile from the Sheriff.
“Thanks, Brooklyn. I was sorry to hear about your nuptials.”
“You mean lack of nuptials.” She shrugs like she’s moved on with her life. “Better to never marry than to get a divorce.”
“True. Can you give us a minute here?” His eyes set on the twins, both of them leaning their chairs back on two legs, arms crossed in front of their chests.
“Sure thing.” Brooklyn signals with her head for me to head to the booth with Juno and Savannah and some guy I don’t know.
We’re close enough to hear, as is everyone in the bar. The Sheriff is clearly not going for discrete.
“You guys take my side.” Savannah slides out to head over to the twins’ table.
Sheriff puts up his hand. “No Savannah, we do not need you here.”
“If there’s questioning then maybe we need to call our lawyer. Is that necessary, Sheriff Miller?”
I’d hate to go toe to toe in business with Savannah Bailey. She looks like she could strip a man of his balls with one cut-eye.
Liam sits down with his friends, but his vision isn’t focused on the Sheriff, it’s on Savannah. Her cleavage to be specific. Are they a thing?
“No lawyer necessary. I just need to know where Rome and Denver were last night.”
They look at one another, neither of them changing their stances. Denver turns to the Sheriff. “Together.”
The Sheriff blows out a breath.
“Where do you think their tough-ass gene came from?” Juno whispers.
“Totally your dad or Dori,” the guy next to her answers and the two girls giggle and nod.
“I’m not amused, Denver,” the Sherriff says. “Come on. We all understand…” His words trail off and he glances to Brooklyn whose forehead falls to my shoulder. “But you can’t go around committing assault and vandalizing his car.”
