Suspended

by Taryn Elliott

  On her second refill she told him about the will.

  “I knew Larry had some secrets.”

  She sat next to him on the edge of the cushion. She was so tired that if she sat back and settled in, she was pretty sure she’d go right to sleep. “You did?”

  “Larry liked to be everything to everyone, especially Shane.”

  Everything to everyone, except for her.

  His green eyes gentled. “I’m sorry, Kendall. That was thoughtless to say.”

  “It’s okay. I don’t understand the man you knew, but I remember flashes of a strong and charming Lawrence Justice. But for me, he was simply a man who turned his back on me and my mom.”

  “The man I knew was so worried about being the best man for Shane and his employees. And when he came to me, I couldn’t turn him away. Even when he asked me not to tell Shane. He had far too many people counting on him.”

  Kendall worried the knot of her bracelet. She could still see the shattered shock on Shane’s face. In her head she knew Shane had lost more than she had, but hers was a distant empathy. He was a stranger to her. Their afternoon together had only added more confusion to the mix of emotions. “Shane’s had a few too many punches today, I’m afraid.”

  “Far too many,” Shane said from the doorway.

  “How long have you been there, brother?”

  His face was shuttered up tight. Nothing was there to soften the harsh planes of his jaw. Even his soft mouth had hardened. “Long enough.” Shane looked down at her. “Cozy.”

  She flushed. She had no reason to feel guilty, but her gut churned thanks to lack of food, alcohol, and a rising fury. She stood. Who the hell was Shane to keep poking at her? She was just as angry and just as lost about this whole thing as he was. He took her glass from her and knocked back the last mouthful and took it for a refill.

  With his back to them, he splashed another healthy dose of whiskey into the tumbler and gulped it down. He braced his hands on the bar. “Jonas won’t tell me what’s going on.” He refilled and turned around. “Did you really think I wasn’t going to ask questions? That I was going to just walk away without a word?”

  Kain got up and walked to him. “I told your old man this wasn’t the way to go.”

  “You could have told me, Kain.”

  “There was a lot more to this deal, and you know it.”

  Kendall frowned. She was sick of being on the outside of this conversation. “You two need to clue me in before I get on a stool and clock you both with that crystal decanter.”

  Kain grinned. “She’s spunky.”

  Shane sighed. “You have no idea.”

  She waded in between them and stabbed Shane’s chest. “You don’t know me well enough to make that comment.” She turned to Kain and tipped her head back. “You need to give us some answers—and straight ones—before I let him loose on you.” She pointed her thumb behind herself at Shane.

  “Yep, spunky.” Kain looked over her head at Shane. “I like her.”

  “Can we talk about me later?” she growled.

  For the first time Shane’s mouth quirked up at the corner. “You heard the lady.”

  “Shane, your dad knew about the furniture.”

  Shane’s face closed off again. What the hell were they talking about now? Kendall took the glass away from Shane and drank down a little too much. She coughed before handing it back to him. “Will you two stop with the word games? Shane and I are now officially joined at the hip thanks to my father’s idiotic will. I deserve to be in on this discussion.”

  Shane tossed back the rest of his glass. “Looks like we’re staying here tonight.” He grabbed the decanter and another glass and headed into the kitchen.

  “Seriously. If he doesn’t stop walking away from me, I’m going to toss him through your glass window and see if he’d like an up close and personal taste of the ocean.”

  Kain tipped his head back, and the booming laugh startled her.

  “I’m glad you think this is funny.”

  “`nela, you’ve no idea what you’re in for.”

  She had enough liquor in her that the room was getting hot. She shrugged out of her jacket and shoved it at Kain and followed Shane into the kitchen. “Do you think I’m just going to stand around and get drunk with you tonight?”

  “It’s the current plan,” Shane said wearily.

  “I’m not getting drunk in a skirt and silk.”

  Shane leaned on the counter with hooded eyes. She didn’t need to focus on what she could do in a skirt and silk. But instead of saying anything, he took another drink.

  Kain came in and opened the fridge. He threw packages of deli meat, cheese, and condiments on the wide granite island, then pulled out bread and rolls from a cupboard. “Go to the top of the stairs and hang a left. My sister has some clothes in the closet. Might be a little big on you. You’re a tiny thing.”

  “As long as it’s not your clothes, I’ll be fine.”

  “You’re not wearing anything of Kain’s.”

  Kendall put her hands on her hips. “Oh, really?”

  Shane looked up. His gaze was steady, and everything about him seemed too still. “Yeah, really.”

  Her skin tingled, and her nipples tightened. She turned and took the stairs two at a time, hoping to God that neither man noticed. What the hell was wrong with her today? First she’d hopped on a table and had…well, the best sex of her entire life. With a stranger, no less. Oh, and a stranger who was going to take half of her home.

  “I’M ASSUMING HANDS off?”

  “Assume right.” Shane rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck. After he’d walked off his mad, when he’d come in to see Kain and Kendall cozied up on the couch, all the mad had come back like a goddamned breaker off Big Sur. And that wasn’t going to work. He had too much at stake now to get messed up over a woman. Even if the woman felt so good he was already half-hard at the thought of her naked upstairs.

  “Good to know. Christ, Shane. Larry’s daughter?”

  “I didn’t even know she existed.” Shane stuffed roast beef and cheese into a roll and added mayo. Nothing made sense. Family was important to his father. How many times had his father given Shane shit about working too hard and not visiting him enough? And he had a daughter he’d left behind?

  If she didn’t have the same exact odd-colored hair as Larry, he’d question the validity of that in the document as well.

  “This will has me twisted up as fuck. What the hell was he thinking?”

  “He was looking for a way out. He was maxed out on every card, every line of credit, and even owed some to a loan shark before he came to me.”

  Shane rubbed his hands over his face. “Thanks for bailing us out.” Pride pricked at him, but he knew his friend only wanted to help. Kain did have more money than God. Between his clients as an architect and the construction company, Kain had already made a name for himself. Kain wanted to make his own mark, away from his father. That was why he’d stayed in California after college.

  Shane dug his fingertips into the bunched muscles along his shoulders. He’d thought he was being so clever with Avery Furniture. He’d been happy to adopt his stepfather’s name when his mother married him, but he and Kain both had a need to establish themselves away from their fathers’ reputations. Every penny he brought home from work had been poured into materials for his own company. If he hadn’t bought all that lumber from Hawaii, he wouldn’t be so strapped now.

  Kendall came down the stairs. Soft pants hit just above her ankles, leaving her feet bare. A flash of silver winked from her toes. His gaze slid up to the flare of her hips and the matching gray hoodie that hugged her like another skin. The clothes would be too big, his ass. “I hope it was okay to dig into her workout clothes. Everything else made me look like a twelve-year-old playing dress-up.”

  Nothing about Kendall said teen, but the street clothes did make her look far younger than when she wore the suit.

  “Come and eat, `ânela.�
��

  Shane’s head snapped to Kain. He’d already given her a Hawaiian nickname? Kain let his native language fly when he was drinking, but Shane was pretty sure he was sober.

  She padded over and hopped up on one of the stools at the end of the island’s breakfast nook. “Make it a Dagwood for me.”

  Kain grinned. “I love a woman with an appetite. If Shane fucks up, you’ll find yourself chased.”

  Kendall blushed. “I haven’t eaten anything all day.”

  “That’s because Shane forgot his manners along with his tact.”

  Kain was laying it on a bit thick. Shane’s gaze rested on Kendall. He couldn’t blame his friend for the interest. Without the prim suit and mask of makeup, she was softer, even more beautiful than when she’d landed on his walkway. His voice gentled. “It’s been a shitty week.”

  Kain laid a hand on his shoulder as he passed by and set a plate in front of Kendall. Shane drew in a deep breath. He didn’t want to alienate anyone, least of all his best friend. “So you took on my father’s debt for the names of all his clients?”

  “As well as a meeting with each of them to make sure the transition would be flawless.”

  And he’d been distracted working ten-hour days for Justice and then six or more hours in his shop every night. His goals had been more important than seeing that his father was floundering. What did that make him?

  “We were meeting with the final few clients just before he died. He was going to tell his employees that they’d be under Kainoa Construction by the start of the new quarter.”

  “Did you lose anyone?”

  “Just a handful. Some were looking for a way to start their own firms, and Collins and Frederickson were fucked off— Shit, sorry, Kendall.”

  She shrugged and swallowed. “I hang out with fishermen and hunters. You couldn’t insult me if you tried.”

  Shane picked at his sandwich. He couldn’t quite rectify the idea of Kendall in hip waders and fishing poles.

  “They didn’t like the idea of change. I have a feeling they’ll be in contact with me soon. Especially now that your father is…”

  “It’s okay. He’s gone.” The grief sat inside his chest like an organ without a purpose. He didn’t know how to push it out or make it feel less. He’d lost his mother so long ago that she was just a vague memory of laughter and the sweet scent of vanilla.

  Kendall’s attention was on her food and the slice of tomato that had slid from the roll she could barely hold with both hands.

  “Your dad wanted to retire. I offered him a job, but he said he wanted to have his freedom,” Kain said quietly.

  A freedom he’d never gotten. Larry Justice was always taking care of someone. Whether it was an army of employees, contracts, or friends. He rarely spent a moment alone.

  “And he knew you’d be fine. You were almost self-sufficient with Avery Furniture.”

  “Avery Furniture?” Kendall’s dark eyes met his.

  Shane didn’t like to talk about the wood he was compelled to work with. Being a foreman for the job site was his life as far as his father was concerned. But he liked to build. He needed to feel the smooth wood under his hands and decide what would be created out of it.

  Kain sighed. “Shane is a master carpenter.”

  Shane slanted a look at him. “I’m a carpenter.”

  Kain held his hand out to Kendall. “Let me show you something.”

  Shane cracked his knuckles as she took his friend’s hand and followed him. If Kain was looking for a fight, he was going to get one if he didn’t stop manhandling her. Shane tossed back another inch of whiskey and followed them out into the entertaining area. He knew what Kain was going to show off. It was one of his personal favorite pieces. And the reason he’d started Avery Furniture.

  Kendall had squatted down, and he bit back an oath. The soft pants hugged every inch of her perfect ass. He forced his attention back on the task at hand. The bench was made from koa wood. The striations reminded him of marble and had taken hours to sand and plank to find just the right thickness. He’d left some of the natural edges and varnished them until the surface was smooth as glass. He’d taken it a step further and planked boards up the wall and added a water feature with a bed of river rocks Kain had flown in from Honolulu. The entire piece had cost thousands, but it suited the space and Kain down to the ground.

  She stood and turned. “You did this?”

  He tucked his hands under his arms. “Yeah.”

  “Yeah?” Her face was incredulous. “All you have to say is yeah?” She swiveled to Kain. “Does he always downplay his work?”

  “Yep.”

  Kendall’s face softened. “This is what you want to do?”

  His jaw hardened. “This is why I have no money in the bank. Building a company doesn’t come cheap.”

  “If you let me back you—”

  “No.” Shane rocked back on his heels. “We’ve been over this, Kain. I’m doing it on my own. I don’t want to owe you anything, let alone twenty percent of my profits.”

  “It doesn’t make you weak to ask for help. I had to ask your father for help.”

  Shane’s breath stalled in his chest. “Yeah, and you had to dig him out of a hole because I didn’t pay attention.”

  Kain sliced a hand through the air. “It wasn’t like that. He was just too proud to show that he couldn’t take care of everyone.”

  Shane turned and went to the sideboard. All he knew was that his father hadn’t trusted him. And nothing was the same. He took the first bottle he saw. “I’m taking my usual room.”

  Chapter Four

  “Son of a bitch.” Kain stalked back into the kitchen.

  She followed him, rubbing her arms against the tiny hairs that had risen. Shane’s emotions were volatile and made her want to go to him. To fix it and soothe him. It wasn’t her job, dammit. She should be home taking care of the Heron and her mother, not dealing with this minefield of emotions.

  The room felt empty without his prowling, angry presence. Not that it should, especially with a man like Kain in the room with her. Confidence and the indefinable male charisma infused the space around him. She wasn’t sure she’d want to be one of his enemies, but she’d spent her life trusting her instincts about people. Strangers were her livelihood, and Kain was a nice guy under all the wealth and power.

  If she weren’t in the middle of this insane situation, she’d have jumped at the chance to flirt and see where things went with him. Normally, an easygoing attitude and offhand way of flirting were two of her draws. But the only thing she felt was comfort. Kain didn’t stir her up or make her skin feel too tight.

  Shane was too intense, too volatile, and filled with far too much anger.

  All she should want was a bed and six straight hours on her face. If she was dumb enough to be interested in anything, Kain was the better choice. He was the wild weekend of laughter and sun-baked sex. Kain had fun fling written all over him.

  So why did she want to go upstairs and check on Shane? Why did she want to grab on to the man who was more like a lightning rod? And why did she want more of that contact burn that left her shaky and tingling?

  “You sure you know what you’re doing?”

  She looked up. Kain’s weighty stare had lost the easygoing edge, and his voice was serious instead of playful. “What?”

  “I can spot a woman hatching a plan. And you are wading into dangerous territory, Kendall.”

  Could Kain read her damn mind? She lifted her hand to her cheek. Was she as flushed as she felt on the inside? “How do you mean?”

  “He’s angry, and his pride has taken a helluva hit. Now’s probably not the right time to start something.”

  “Are you warning me off?”

  “I’ve known him for ten years. And I can tell you right now that he’s not the same guy he was two weeks ago. He just lost everything and a father he loved so much that he would rather keep his own happiness buried in a workshop than disappoint his
old man.”

  Kendall looked down at the perfect hardwood floor. The quick prick of tears came with a lump in the center of her chest. “That’s a Lawrence Justice I just don’t know.”

  “Shit. I’m sorry. You’d think I would stop making that mistake. You’re like the minifairy hot version of Larry.”

  She snorted. “Thanks.”

  He laughed. “No, I mean the coloring and the hair—definitely the hair but not the eyes.”

  “My mom’s Italian.”

  “That explains that one. Boy, you got everything else from Larry, though.”

  “DNA doesn’t lie,” she said with a shrug.

  “That’s the thing. I can’t wrap my brain around the fact that he had a daughter and never told anyone. Shane is—was—the center of his world.”

  Kendall rubbed the heel of her hand along her breastbone. The lump felt larger and heavier. She’d made her peace with the fact that her father hadn’t wanted her a long time ago. Why did that man have to drag her into this? What gave her father the right to take the only thing he’d ever given her and make her share it with Shane?

  Kain stepped closer, his large hands gentle on her shoulders. His light touch was comforting as he rubbed up and down her arm. “And I’m not helping at all.”

  “It’s okay. I’m not one of those broken girls who misses her daddy. My mom was enough. She loved my father, and he walked away from us. He got in his car and drove away one day without saying good-bye. At least to me. He broke her heart into a million pieces. I don’t mourn for that man.” She looked up at Kain. “I’m sorry, I don’t. But I do know that Shane does. And I can see that you do too.”

  His brows were snapped together in confusion. “It’s just not the Larry I know.”

  “Maybe he changed. Maybe Shane became the perfect family he’d always wanted.”

  Kain shook his head. “I don’t know. I do know that Shane lost his mom when he was sixteen. It’s only been him and Larry for a long time.”

  “You love him a lot.” That she could understand. Her best friend was just as important. Bells was like a sister to her. Blood definitely wasn’t the qualifier for love.