Almost Just Friends

by Jill Shalvis

  “He’s Emmitt’s son.”

  Jenna looked confused. “Emmitt . . .”

  “My neighbor. The guy who runs the marina.”

  Jenna’s smile faded. “Rowan’s brother?”

  “Yes. He’s a Coast Guard Reservist and with the DEA, though he’s on temporary leave from that at the moment.”

  “Okay, let me see if I’ve got this straight. You’re boning a sexy DEA slash military hottie, who happens to be the marina owner’s son . . .”

  “Oh my God, you’re a child.”

  “Just tell me you got some,” Jenna said. “Wait, never mind. If you had, you’d be smiling.”

  Jenna was her best friend, but how Piper felt about Cam was complicated. But he’d definitely made her smile . . .

  “What aren’t you telling me? Wait a second, are you suddenly smiling into the window?”

  “You can’t possibly see that.”

  “Maybe not, but I can hear it.”

  “I’m not smiling.” But she wanted to. “Look, there might’ve been a kiss.” Or two . . . “But that’s all I’m telling you.”

  “Shut up. No, don’t shut up! Tell me everything! You buried the lede! Did he throw you down on the bed and jump your bones? Oh my God, I want someone to throw me down on the bed and jump my bones!”

  “If a man threw me down on my bed,” Piper said dryly, “it’d better be followed up with him telling me to stay put because he’s going to clean the whole house for me.”

  This was a big fat lie. If she had Cam in her bed, they’d absolutely not be talking about cleaning.

  “You’re ruining the fantasy. Back up and start at the kiss.”

  “We’re done talking about this.”

  “Are you going to sleep with him?”

  Piper tossed up her hands. “What part of ‘we’re done talking about this’ don’t you get?”

  “Come on. If he’s only here for a couple of weeks, you need to hurry up and blow off some steam. Or just blow.”

  Piper laughed; she couldn’t help it. “You did not just say that.”

  “Look, he’s perfect for you. He’ll be gone before even you can screw up any real relationship with him.”

  Is that what she did?

  “Yes,” Jenna said, reading her mind. “It is. See Ryland as an example. He wanted more, you bailed. Also, you put everyone’s needs ahead of your own, making yourself the lowest priority. You need to stop, by the way. And you should also put that in your journal under your ridiculous list of rules for yourself.”

  “Shh,” Piper said, and turned up the radio connecting them to the scene of the accident. “They’re calling for another unit.”

  “That’ll be Noah and Sonya.”

  They both groaned at the name Sonya. She’d gone to school with them and was Jenna’s nemesis because she was dating Jenna’s ex, whom Jenna wasn’t over yet, though she wouldn’t admit that upon threat of dismemberment.

  At the intersection ahead, police were already working on handling the traffic and blocking off the scene. CJ was one of them. He and Piper had been friends for years now. Ever since he’d had his heart broken by Gavin years ago.

  Noah and Sonya’s rig came up beside theirs and they all hopped out. The four of them grabbed their gear and were directed by CJ to one of what looked like a three-car pileup.

  “Toyota ran a red,” he said. “T-boned a semi, which got rear-ended by the Ford. The Toyota spun off the semi, rolled a few times, and then slid into a pole. The truck driver made the call, says he’s uninjured, but has blood pouring down his face from a head wound.” He pointed to the guy sitting on the curb, being watched over by another cop. “The driver of the Ford took off. We’re in pursuit now. Firefighters are attempting to extract the guy in the Toyota, who’s alert and very chatty.”

  “Like DUI chatty?” Jenna asked.

  CJ touched the tip of his nose.

  “Divide and conquer,” Piper said.

  “Be careful,” CJ said, and she smiled at him.

  “Always.”

  Noah and Sonya headed to the trucker sitting on the curb. Piper and Jenna jogged over to the firefighters at the Toyota. It was Ryland and Xander. She’d gone to school with Xander, and Ryland . . . well, they were both professional enough to leave their past where it belonged. Both firefighters were working the jaws of life, trying to get the crumpled and clearly jammed driver’s door open. Inside was a male, early twenties, hanging upside down by his seat belt. He was yelling and swearing and waving his fists at what appeared to be the semi and the Ford.

  Chatty indeed.

  Xander and Ryland gave Piper and Jenna a chins-up greeting and kept working to free the guy. Piper bent low and cocked her head to the side to try to assess their patient. One, the inside of his car, even with the windows busted out, reeked like a brewery. Two, no blood that she could see. Which wasn’t to say he hadn’t been injured. She’d seen people walk away from car accidents thinking they were fine, only to collapse and die hours later from internal trauma.

  “Hey there,” she called out. “What’s your name?”

  “Suck it,” he yelled. “I’ve got my rights, you know.”

  “And what rights are those, sir?”

  “To be treated professionally and not like a criminal.”

  “That’s all we’re trying to do here. Are you in any pain?”

  “No, but you will be if you don’t get me outta here.”

  Both Xander and Ryland reacted to this with barely perceptible body language suggesting they were ready to subdue the guy once they freed him if needed. But neither would interfere with Jenna and Piper getting their jobs done unless it was deemed vitally necessary. It was a respect thing, and though Ryland might not respect the decisions of her heart, he absolutely respected her on the job and she appreciated that.

  “Get me the fuck outta here now!” the guy yelled.

  Piper looked at Jenna, who gave a tight smile. They usually ro-sham-bo’d for the shit jobs, and this one qualified, but it was Piper’s turn and they both knew it. She squatted low to get eye to eye with the driver. “Sir, we’re going to need you to cooperate so we can get you out of here, or—”

  “Or what, you won’t save my life? I’ll sue your ass, dead or alive!”

  Nice. But before she could respond, Xander and Ryland finally broke into the car. It took all four of them to get the guy out and subdue him, because it turned out he was also high as a kite, and whatever he was on had given him some serious superhuman strength.

  She felt completely done in by the time she got home after her third hellish twelve-hour shift that week.

  It was habit to bypass her house and head across the property to check on Emmitt. She jumped over the creek that was thankfully small again and knocked on the back door. As she waited, she flashed back to the other day, when they’d all had dinner together like they were a unit.

  But it wasn’t the memory of dinner that had butterflies taking flight in her stomach, or why she was suddenly starting to sweat. Nope, she knew exactly what was up and his name was Cam.

  No one answered, but she could hear talking, so she turned and followed the voices down to the marina and the lake, where she found Emmitt and Cam on one of the docked boats.

  Along with Winnie.

  Winnie was talking a mile a minute, and laughing too, and Piper stilled, feeling a little left out. Of everything. How long had it been since she’d seen her sister looking happy like that? She honestly couldn’t remember, and she knew if she intruded now, she’d ruin it.

  So she started to walk off, but Cam called her name. With a grimace, she turned back and found all eyes on her. “Hey,” she said, as casually as she could.

  Winnie waved with great cheer, which from experience Piper knew was mostly guilt. But what the heck could her little sister be feeling guilty about?

  Winnie rose and brushed a kiss to Emmitt’s cheek. “Thanks for the tips. I’m going to go get started right now.”

  “Started
on what?” Piper asked.

  “It’s a surprise.”

  “What kind of a surprise?”

  “A surprise! Jeez!”

  “The last time you surprised me was when we ran into each other in the middle of the night. I was going to the bathroom, you were sneaking out to a party.”

  “I was fifteen!” Winnie tossed up her hands. “Give me some credit.”

  Piper watched her stalk off, feeling the heat of humiliation on her cheeks as Cam and Emmitt moved to join her. “I can’t seem to engage with her without a fight.”

  “The only thing that ever worked on Rowan was not reacting,” Cam said.

  “Advice you didn’t learn from your mom,” Emmitt said dryly. “Her favorite thing was reacting. Usually overreacting.”

  “True,” Cam admitted. “I learned in the Coast Guard. Sometimes the guys in my unit act like a bunch of middle-school boys.”

  “Don’t you mean girls?” his dad asked.

  “Nope. Middle-school girls are smarter than middle-school boys. And that doesn’t change with age, by the way.”

  Which gave Piper her first laugh of the day.

  Chapter 9

  Choose your own adventure!

  Cam stood by while Piper checked his dad’s vitals, noting that his dad looked good.

  Piper looked exhausted.

  “She takes better care of everyone around her than she does of herself,” Emmitt said.

  Yeah, Cam was starting to get that. He waited until his dad had hugged Piper and walked off before turning to Piper.

  Who’d also started to walk off, toward her house.

  “Hey,” he said, gently catching her hand, pulling her back around to face him. He bent his knees a little to look into her face. “You okay?”

  “Of course.”

  Of course. He shook his head. “You’re the only person I know who could work the long shifts you do day after day, and then come home to put in some time fixing up your place, and say of course you’re okay.”

  “But I am.”

  He ran a finger along her temple, tucking an errant strand of hair behind her ear, not missing the little shiver his touch gave her. “You hungry?”

  “No.”

  “You tired?”

  “No.”

  “Okay then,” he said, knowing she was lying on both counts. “Do you trust me?”

  She slid him a look. “I mean . . . maybe situationally.”

  He laughed at that. “Blunt. I like it.”

  “Most people don’t.”

  “I’m not most people.”

  She stared up at him. “You might be right.”

  “You think you can turn off your mistrust enough to come with me somewhere? You won’t have to think or do anything other than enjoy.”

  “Is it a one-way trip to a deserted island? Because that’s on my list.”

  He smiled. “I thought Alaska was on your list.”

  “I’ve decided to become more adaptable.”

  He studied her. “Would you actually get on a plane with me right now?”

  “No.”

  “Would you get into my truck if I promised you less than a thirty-minute drive, and then an amazing time?”

  She arched a brow. “You think you’re an amazing time?”

  He laughed. “It’s possible I have my moments. You’ll have to come with me and decide for yourself.”

  She snorted, but some of her exhaustion seemed to lift away as she nodded. Smiling, he sent a quick text, then took her hand and started for the truck he’d rented while in Wildstone. On the way to the destination he had in mind, he stopped and got Mexican takeout, which, in spite of claiming not to be hungry, Piper inhaled.

  “Oh my God,” she moaned around her grilled-chicken-and-cheese burrito. “Amazing.”

  “I like that you’re easy to please. It bodes well for me.”

  She laughed, as he’d intended. “You can’t make me buy that you’re not cocky as hell,” she said.

  “With you? It’s actually the opposite.”

  She bit her lower lip. “For the record, ditto. But you always seem so sure and confident.”

  He shrugged. “You know how it is out there on the job. You’ve got a decision to make, sometimes many decisions all at the same time, and often with less than a second in which to make them. You’ve got to think fast, and own your actions. Sometimes, I guess that ability wrongly comes off as cocky.”

  She took another bite, chewing while she studied him thoughtfully. “To be fair, you’re the only one of the two of us putting your life on the line every single second of the day you’re on the job.”

  “That’s not true. As a first responder, you put your neck out there, just like I do.” He glanced over at her, taking in the fading bruise along her jaw.

  When their gazes met, hers was warmer now, no wariness to be found, and he felt like he’d won the damn lottery.

  “Thanks,” she said quietly. “So where’s home base for you? Near your mom back East?”

  “Yes, but she’s gone now.”

  Her eyes flew to his, stricken.

  “About ten years ago,” he said. “Accidental overdose.” At least that had been the official verdict, but he knew the “accidental” part was up for debate. She’d not been able to manage her mental illness, and she’d suffered so much that he wasn’t sure she hadn’t just given up.

  Something else he blamed himself for. Because maybe if he hadn’t left for the Coast Guard, he could have helped more. He missed her, but he felt bad the most for Rowan, who’d never really gotten to know her.

  “I’m so sorry.” Piper’s voice was soft. “So your dad . . . he’s your only living relative left?”

  Except for the baby her sister was carrying. The baby she didn’t yet know about, no matter how much he bugged Winnie to tell her. And while he’d promised not to give away the secret, he wouldn’t, couldn’t lie outright to Piper. She didn’t deserve that. And as always when his mind went down that path, he deeply regretted giving Winnie his word. Holding back from Piper didn’t feel good, but when he factored in how attracted to her he was, how much he wanted her, it felt even more wrong.

  Piper apparently took his silence as the need for a subject change, so she turned to the window and her brows went up as they exited the highway at Pismo Beach.

  “Why do I feel nervous?” she asked, when he pulled into a parking lot.

  He got out of the truck and came around for her, taking her hand. “Maybe it’s me. Maybe I give you butterflies.”

  “You don’t,” she said, so quickly that he grinned, because now he knew that he totally did. “Whatever,” she muttered. “It’s not like you don’t know that you melt bones when you kiss.”

  And now he kept grinning, because he was incredibly flattered that he could melt her bones. But it was more than that. When he touched her, kissed her, he got flashes of the real Piper, the one she liked to hide from the world. The real Piper was softer, sweeter, and reached him in a way no one else ever had. “You’re good for my ego.”

  “Like you needed help in that arena.”

  He laughed as they walked to the beach. Hills made of sand spanned in either direction, making this a beach people tended to come to for four-wheeling rather than sunbathing.

  “What are we doing here?” she asked, eyeing the choppy deep-blue water and heavy surf. “Don’t tell me we’re going swimming.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I’m”—she appeared to fight herself for a moment—“not super comfortable around the water, which I know is ridiculous, since I live on a lake.”

  “For the record, I’d never say that. But what are we talking about here, a general light fear of the water, or full-blown phobia?”

  “Just a light fear,” she said, her breathing a little fast from just talking about it.

  Okay, then. Phobia it was. He thought back and realized he’d never seen her on the docks at the marina. Earlier, she’d remained on shore, not taking a s
ingle step onto the dock at all. “We’re not going in the water,” he promised, leading her down the stairs to the beach and then about a hundred feet to a small shack with a huge sign that read:

  CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE!

  “Oh, boy,” Piper whispered. “Um—”

  “Are you . . . uncomfortable with sand?” he asked.

  “No.”

  “Are you uncomfortable with wind in your hair?”

  She bit her lower lip again, possibly to hide a smile now. But he wasn’t sure; it could be to hide her urge to murder him. “No,” she finally said.

  “Are you uncomfortable having a good time?”

  She turned to him, utterly serious. “I’m not sure I’d recognize a good time.”

  He smiled and cupped her face as he leaned in and gave her a soft kiss. “Then trust me to show you one. One hour, Piper. Yeah?”

  She stared at his mouth for a beat, like maybe she wanted it back on hers—which made two of them—and then nodded. “Yeah.”

  Chapter 10

  “That was possibly the most thrilling ride of my life.”

  Piper had no idea what she thought she was doing. She didn’t treat herself to fun very often. Or ever. But it was on her list of things to do, so that made her feel better, because tonight she’d be able to check off a box. She loved checking off boxes.

  “That looks good on you,” Cam said.

  “What?”

  “The smile.”

  She nearly tripped over her own feet. She was starting to realize that he saw her as someone far more adventurous and fascinating than she really was. Maybe . . . for this little while at least, she could be the woman he saw.

  The guy standing at the shack waiting for them looked like every cliché of a surfer dude Piper had ever seen, sun-bleached hair to his shoulders, sunglasses, no shirt, board shorts, and no shoes. He grinned at Cam and gave a smart-ass salute. “Got your text. Your adventure awaits.”

  “Piper, meet Brodie,” Cam said. “We were in initial training together, eons ago.”

  Brodie smiled at Piper. “Did he tell you that I beat him in every training exercise?”

  “No,” Cam said. “Because that’s a lie. And anyway, who tapped out after his four years?”