by Taylor Hart
“Do you think we can prove abuse?”
Brad nodded. “We have a witness. The maid, if she would talk. Unfortunately, she’s refusing to.”
Lily tried to ignore the flashes of irritation in her gut. It was beyond her why people wouldn’t get involved in something when a child’s life was on the line. “Then you have to make her.”
Brad gave her a soft smile. “Don’t give me a rah-rah speech.”
“What? We’re fighters, warriors. Brad, you have to get her to talk. You can do this. I know you can. You’re Brad Walker, attorney-at-law. Your name is on the door. It means something.”
His grin widened. “Fine. All right. Man,” he said, letting out a breath. “I guess that’s why I keep you around, to remind me who I am.”
She liked this interplay between them. “Dang straight.” She started humming the soundtrack for Rocky.
He laughed. “Stop.” Then he reached for her hand across the table, placing his on top, his mood sobering. “How are you?”
The softness of his tone didn’t affect her. She might have been vulnerable yesterday at the concert, but she’d recovered. Eight years of hiding her emotions had trained her well. Returning his smile, she let her fingers lace with his. Brad had been trying to get closer to her. After the funeral, he’d wanted to come in and stay with her that night, but she’d refused him.
Standing on the porch, holding her, he’d simply kissed the top of her head and told her, “Lily, I want more with you, but I won’t push.”
Now, she gave him a soft smile. “I’m good.”
He put his other hand over their hands, his smile deepening. Leaning closer, he brushed his lips over hers.
Nervous flutters filled her stomach. The smell of his aftershave wafted toward her. It was light and spicy. She liked it.
Pulling back a bit, he flashed her a grin. “I was worried you’d be swept off your feet by Montana Crew.”
Even though he’d said the name as a joke, like water to a flame, the mere mention of Montana cooled everything inside of her. Untangling her hand from his, she placed them lightly on her lap. “Funny.”
“Wait, Lily,” Brad chastised, but he didn’t attempt to get her hand back. Scrunching up his nose, he took a sip of water. “It just kind of came as a shock to me when you told me you two had been an item in high school.”
The only reason she’d told Brad was because he’d been with her at the funeral when Jason’s mom had asked her when she’d be taking Montana the envelope. Rolling her eyes, she focused on keeping her breathing even. She’d found this tactic useful during law school when she was stressed during exams. “It was a long time ago.”
Settling back into his chair, Brad nodded. “You said that. But you saw him last night, right?”
“You know I did.”
He nodded again. “Right. You gave him the envelope for Jason.”
“Yep.”
“What did he say?”
Averting her eyes, she lifted one shoulder. “Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
Glancing back, she noticed Brad’s arms were crossed, and his face had gone serious. “Are you jealous?”
Straightening, he uncrossed his arms. “Me? No. No. No. I mean, why would I be jealous of an old boyfriend you get weird about every time his name is mentioned?”
“I don’t get weird,” she said quietly.
“Yes, you do.” His voice was wistful.
The food was brought to the table and served. Putting her napkin on her lap, Lily sighed. Maybe she did get a bit weird about Montana, but she wasn’t going to explain it to Brad. Taking a bite, she pulled out her phone, checking her email.
“So you’re going to handle this conversation by not handling it?”
It was a tactic in negotiation; Brad had taught it to her.
Not liking that Brad called her on her crap, but gaining respect for him because he was smart enough to know how, she gave him a little smile and shoved her phone back into her purse. “No, I’m going to talk to you.”
Holding a forkful of food in midair, he narrowed his eyes. “This is new.”
She took a bite and didn’t agree or disagree.
“Okay. So you had a relationship with Montana Crew?” His voice had taken on a lawyerly tone.
“Yes,” she said, voice clipped.
“What ages?”
She let out a breath.
“C’mon, Lily. I just found out you have a best friend that died, and I didn’t even know about him. You never mentioned Jason before last week.”
“Why would I?” She pushed back.
“Ah, let’s see, maybe because we’ve been friends for a couple of years. Maybe because we’re together a lot, and we’ve been dating for a few months.”
She wasn’t going to argue with him, but she wasn’t going to feel bad. “I have a past, so what?” she challenged.
“A past you never talk about. Friends and old boyfriends you never talk about.”
Briefly, she hesitated and then rolled her eyes. “Fine. We dated sophomore through senior years.”
“Then you broke up after graduation?”
“Yep.” She closed her eyes and reveled in the taste of tender veal.
“Lily,” he said patiently.
Flashing open her eyes, she matched his challenging gaze. “Yes.”
“And you never spoke again?”
All of these details she’d told him. “Correct.”
A puzzled look passed over his face. “What was in the envelope?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“You didn’t stay and chat? Do the polite talk?”
The idea of it elicited a light laugh out of her. “Ah, no.”
Seeming to be confused, he quietly ate his food for a few moments.
Not wanting to talk about it, she did the same.
“You’re weird about him.”
“No, I’m not.” She took another sip of water, hating the way Brad could see into her soul.
Putting his silverware on his plate, he leaned back into his chair. “I’ve known you for three years, and you’ve never acted this way about a guy.” He snapped his fingers. “You act this way about the cases sometimes.” He nodded emphatically. “You get flustered when you’re fighting for those kids, but you never get flustered at any other time, except now.”
“If I get flustered, which I don’t, while I’m fighting for those kids, it’s because they have no one else to fight for them.”
“I know.” He looked at her solemnly. “Why do you think I requested you to help me on these cases? Even while you were interning for us as a law student, you were all heart.”
She did not like the way he was looking at her, like he could ever know the real reason she got flustered when the name Montana Crew was mentioned.
Brad focused on his food for a few bites before putting down his fork. “You dated a lot of guys in college, right?”
This was not the turn in conversation she expected. Another laugh came out of her at his increased jealousy. “You’re being ridiculous.”
“Admit it. You dated a lot of guys in college.”
She’d never thought of it like that. “I worked as a program planner, and I attended a lot of functions. I had to have someone with me. I wouldn’t call it dating.”
Giving her a patronizing look, he cut into his chicken. “Those guys were interested, believe me.”
This whole turn of conversation was making her feel trapped. “Oh, please.”
He pointed his fork at her. “Honestly, I didn’t think you’d make it unmarried out of law school.”
“Stop,” she dismissed him. Apparently, Brad didn’t know her as well as he thought.
“What? Are you denying you had a lot of choices? I know at least two of those guys proposed to you.”
Controlling her emotions had become a necessity as an attorney—you couldn’t let people have that much insight—but she knew she was blushing.
Cockin
g his head to the side, he smiled. “Lily, my point is that you’re beautiful and smart, and I can hardly believe I’m lucky enough to date you.”
Hearing the defenselessness in his voice softened her.
“It’s true,” he insisted, rolling his eyes and letting out a sigh. “Man, I guess I’ve just lost all my leverage revealing how much I like you.”
Hesitating, Lily reached out and covered his hand with hers. “You haven’t lost any leverage. I like you too.”
He smiled. For a moment, he searched her face. Then he asked, “Are you still in love with him, Lily?”
“No,” she puffed out.
Giving her a slow nod, his lip cocked to the side. “Okay, then that’s that.”
“Okay,” she agreed.
He paid the check, and they walked to his car hand in hand. When they got to it, he opened her door and paused, pulling her into him and staring deeply into her eyes. “I’m glad you’re not in love with a country rock star.”
She smiled at him. “I’m focused on becoming partner. You know that.”
He kept her close, touching his lips softly with hers. “Is that all?”
The lower part of her stomach fluttered. Staying true to his word, Brad had taken it slow with her, giving her space. As they had evolved into more, she realized she did like him. A lot. “I might like dating this tall, handsome attorney.”
He pulled back, the side of his lip tugging up. “Oh yeah?” He looked genuinely pleased. “Can I get that in writing?”
Flippantly, she rolled her eyes and giggled.
Pulling her back in, he kissed her again. This time he deepened the kiss.
Warmth filled her, and she let herself relax into him.
He pulled back. “I plan on getting to know you a lot better, and I don’t want any old rock star boyfriends getting in the way.”
She flashed a smile. “Believe me, you don’t need to worry.”
4
She’d just gotten back and settled into work when Charity ran into Lily’s office like she’d seen a ghost.
“Oh my gosh.” Charity put her hand to her head.
Lily paused. “What’s wrong?”
Charity put both hands on the front of Lily’s desk and leaned forward. “I always knew you had something in your past. Something really cool that you kept hidden. Some lost love.”
Lily frowned. “What are you going on about?”
Charity let out a light sigh, then stopped and wiped under her eyes. “Sheesh, I need to check my makeup.”
“Charity.” Lily didn’t like to use the mom voice on her, but it usually calmed her down.
“Montana Crew came in while you were gone.”
Lily let that sink in and then yanked back from her desk. She stood, feeling herself start to tremble.
“I know you had to go deliver an envelope to someone in Vegas. Is this about that?” Charity was clearly perplexed and excited all at once. “When I told him you were at lunch, he said he’d come back in an hour.”
“Uh, yeah.” Lily wasn’t an avoid-the-situation type of person, normally, but this was different. She grabbed her purse and went to her other office door, the one that led to the service elevator.
“Where are you going?” Charity demanded.
Lily glanced back while opening the door. “If anyone asks, I had a dental emergency. Thanks.”
“What about Montana Crew?”
Lily hesitated before shrugging and drifting out the door. “Tell him to stay away from me.”
Bypassing the service elevator, she hurried to the stairwell and rushed down. It was four flights, but she moved so fast it felt like her feet were barely touching the ground. Good thing she’d been doing all that triathlon training this year. She would be able to make her escape quickly.
Dashing out the door, she crossed the street, looking back and forth for cars. She rushed into the parking lot where she kept her car.
He was here? Montana was here? She felt like she was running away from an oncoming tornado. She needed to duck for cover and hole up until the storm was gone.
She was almost at her old Camry, the one she’d bought her first year in law school with hard-earned waitressing money, when she stopped short.
Montana.
Right by her Camry. Shoot, he’d foiled her evasion plan.
He was propped against the Camry. Propped in that way that cool guys used, half leaning and half looking all pouty and broken-hearted. The cowboy hat was plopped down on his head in his trademark style. She had no idea why he wore it. He had great thick, black hair that was shaved on the sides and longer on top. Not that she’d noticed at the concert. She hadn’t. He had on his black cowboy boots, dark jeans, and a button-down black shirt. A shirt that looked like silk. Not that she cared about that either.
Anger burned through her. “What are you doing here?”
The side of his lip tilted up, and he pushed up his cowboy hat, looking her blatantly up and down. “I didn’t get a good look at you the other night, Lil, and I knew I’d seen you in the audience.”
A rabbit. That’s how she felt. She needed to run.
“I knew you’d try to bolt. That’s what you always did when Mr. Swenson would get on you about something in math, remember? Based on your actions the other day, I figured you wouldn’t want to see me again. That’s why you let off the explosive and ran, wasn’t it?”
The memory of her and Jason and Montana letting off those explosives they’d found in her father’s shed fell through her. They had literally dropped them down the old mine shaft outside of town and then run as fast as they could to their motorcycles.
An unwilling grin filled her face.
He pointed at her, like he’d caught her. “Are you thinking of the mine shaft?”
She didn’t say yes or no.
“Man.” He sighed and pulled off his hat. “I was thinking about that on the way into town today. We did some crazy stuff, you know that?”
But she wasn’t going to do that. This. Whatever this was. “What do you want, Montana?”
Pulling in a long breath, he let his grin disappear. He held out his hand with the key in it.
“And?”
“This was in the envelope.”
“I gathered that.” She’d felt the key, but she hadn’t asked. All she knew was she’d made a deathbed promise to Jason to get the envelope to Montana, and she’d done her part.
“Why didn’t anyone notify me when he died?”
“Rich. That is completely rich coming from you. They did.”
He flinched. “What?”
“Cindy and Frank tried to get word to you, but you kind of have something akin to the Berlin Wall around you.”
Cocking his head to the side, he rubbed his eyebrow. “Oh.”
“Why do you think I had to deliver the key personally?” Her confidence came back. It always did when she felt like she was on the right side of something. She closed the gap between them and got in his face. “They notified your ‘organization’ that Jason died, and guess what your organization did?”
“What?”
“Sent flowers. They were beautiful. Your assistant has good taste.” She glared at him.
Clearing his throat, he looked away. “I didn’t know, but you’re right. My people deal with stuff like this, because my life gets crazy.”
“Right. Yes, I know. You’re a famous country star. Big deal. For the record, I don’t care about your life, and I don’t keep track of it.”
“Okay,” he said slowly.
This was insane. Why had she said that? “Look, the point is you don’t get stuff from your best friend all the time.” The air puffed out of her.
All of a sudden, Montana put up a hand to cut her off. His eyes grew hard. “He wasn’t my best friend. And he sure as heck wasn’t family.” He turned away from her and sucked in a breath.
Lily noticed she was breathing hard too. She looked away and tried to figure out what to do. She moved for her car.
Getting into the car, she looked back. “What?”
Montana moved to the side of her car door. “You drop some key into my hand, and when I come to you for help, you ditch me?”
Her lips pinched into a frown. She yanked the door shut and started the car, rolling down the window. “Stay. Away. From. Me.” Shifting into reverse, she pushed hard on the gas, shoved it into drive, and took off.
5
Montana watched the Camry scream out of the parking garage and rushed after her. Glancing back, he caught her eyes in the rearview mirror. “Come back!” he yelled.
But the fire inside of him instantly went out.
She was crying.
Lil was crying.
* * *
Two hours later, Montana stood in front of Lil’s townhome. It was older and small, but quaint and well taken care of. He banged on the door. He figured he didn’t have to fake niceties with her.
No answer.
He knew she was there. The P.I. he’d hired before he’d even gotten to Billings still had eyes on her. He felt guilty about watching her, but he had to. He banged again.
He heard someone moving to the door, and his heart thudded like a caged bird inside his chest. The report said she’d been dating a partner at the firm, the one Charity told him she was with at lunch today. If a man answered the door, he didn’t know how he would handle that scenario. It was pushing his ego to think he’d have to deal with another love interest.
Flinging back the door, Lily wore complete black spandex and was holding a yoga mat. Her blond hair fell in light curls around her shoulders. She rolled her eyes. “What are you doing here?”
Seeing her in all that spandex made him feel completely tongue-tied, the same way he’d felt that first day he’d met her at the swimming hole. He was speechless. She was beautiful. He got lost in her blue eyes. He’d spent far too many hours thinking about them.
“What?” she demanded.
Rocking back on his heels, he gave her the rock-and-roll smile he’d trained himself to give whenever he was nervous. “Do you realize who you’re talking to?”
A slight grin of annoyance filled her face. “Oh, you mean the king of country music?”
