Going Hard: Steele Ridge Series

by Kelsey Browning

  Carlie Beth.

  28

  Son of a bitch. Grif stood in the middle of Jonah’s office just staring at all the circles, hoping he would see a connection that his little brother hadn’t. But the Baby Billionaire hadn’t become richer than sin because he was an idiot and overlooked things. He’d made a stack of cash because he was so fucking smart he made other people look like slobbering idiots.

  Carlie Beth wrapped a hand around Grif’s biceps.

  “He’s right,” she said.

  “Reid, we need security now. Yesterday.”

  “I’ve got some guys I can call to patrol the house.”

  “Jonah, can you take some pictures of the board? There’s no way in hell we’re leaving Maggie out of this. We need all the help we can get. We have to catch this bastard before he moves on Carlie Beth.”

  “You don’t think—” she started.

  “The only thing I’m thinking right now is that I want you and Aubrey safe.” He hadn’t planned for them to return to their house tonight regardless, but now, they wouldn’t be returning there for the foreseeable future. “You’ll be sleeping at my place tonight.”

  Carlie Beth looked up at him. “Have you forgotten that you have one bed and a sofa we already determined is questionable?”

  Damn.

  “You can stay out here,” Jonah said.

  “I don’t want to put your mom out.”

  Grif took Carlie Beth by the shoulders and turned her toward him. “You’re not going back to your house. If y’all need some of your stuff, I’ll pick it up.” And first thing tomorrow morning, he was going out and buying a houseful of fucking furniture. He wanted his family with him. Under his protection. “I don’t want you back in your forge or out on any jobs alone until we figure out who this guy is. You so much as step outside onto the porch, and you’d better have one of us with you. Same goes for Aubrey.”

  “What about school?”

  “I’ll send her with a damn bodyguard if I have to.” The thought of someone putting their hands on his daughter made his blood boil through his veins.

  “I still can’t believe someone is hurting people because of me.”

  “We’ll figure it out.” He sealed his words with a kiss, one full of promise. Carlie Beth’s mouth was so sweet, but he tasted heartache on her tongue. “Finding this guy is my top priority. Nothing else.”

  “Ah…Grif?” Jonah went to the closet and pulled out two suit bags with the name of an Asheville formalwear store on them. “Did you forget about the State of Steele Ridge reception this week?”

  “Dammit. I can’t think about that right now. The last thing I have time for is town politics.”

  “You’ll lose any ground you’ve made with the business owners if we don’t follow through on this,” Jonah said. “Besides, it’ll give you a chance to scope out all the people who might have it out for you.”

  “We decided this”—he gestured toward the whiteboard—“was about Carlie Beth.”

  “Nothing happened before you hit town.”

  “Nothing happened before you bought the damn town, you mean.” He spared a glance at the black bag in his brother’s hand. “So help me God, if you tell me you rented me a tuxedo from off the rack I will—”

  “Mom called your tailor. Don’t worry, no one else has sweated his balls off in your tux. This one was made to order.” Jonah shot a pointed look at Carlie Beth. “And please tell me you have a date.”

  Her mouth opened and she backed up several steps. “Uh…no. No thank you,” she told him. “I don’t do dress-up events. Besides, I don’t have anything to wear.”

  Grif said, “I’ll buy you—”

  Carlie Beth shot him a look hotter than the coals in her forge. “Money’s already gotten you in trouble once. Besides, I haven’t been asked.”

  Ah, so his beautiful tomboy wanted to be romanced, did she? What a hell of a time for it, amid all the chaos right now. But he was more than happy to give her what she wanted. So Grif took her hand and bowed over it. “Would you do me the honor of accompanying me to the State of Steele Ridge reception?”

  “Is this like a real date?”

  He smiled up at her, knowing damn well his expression was both smug and wolfish. “This, Carlie Beth Parrish, is absolutely a real date.”

  29

  Grif was forcing himself to stay busy—finalizing his economic development plan for the city—so he wouldn’t storm into Maggie’s office and demand to know what was going on with the investigation into Austin’s death. That hadn’t, however, kept him from calling her multiple times a day.

  His ear was still ringing from the frustrated lashing she’d given him. “Dammit, Grif, stay out of my investigation and do your own damn job before I’m tempted to commit murder myself.”

  Fine. It was time to pick up Aubrey from school anyway. And he’d only agreed to let her go back on the conditions that she was never alone and that he would be the one to drive her to and from. He grabbed a jacket to protect against the rain that had blown into town. Which meant when he arrived, the carpool lane was so backed up that the parking lot was a snarl of cars, trucks, and SUVs.

  He’d been shortsighted on the minivan purchase. He should’ve bought something with all-wheel drive. “To hell with it,” he muttered to himself and turned the wheel to hop a curb and drive over a patch of newly sprouted grass and back onto the asphalt. A glance in the rearview told him he’d probably be paying for some new flowerbeds after the next school board meeting.

  What the hell ever.

  As he got out and hurried toward the building’s glass doors, he saw Aubrey wave from inside. He raised his hand in return, but realized her gesture hadn’t been for him when she pushed open the door and ran toward a red Subaru.

  How many times had he told her not to go anywhere alone and to stay inside that building? And hadn’t he made it clear to the principal that he’d have his ass if anything happened to Aubrey while she was on school property?

  “Aubrey!” Grif bellowed. But with all the rain and traffic and people, his words were swallowed up. His damn Gravati loafers didn’t have the best traction, but he when he saw his daughter lean inside the car’s open window, he put on an extra burst of speed, internally cussing his choice of ineffective footwear.

  Closer now, he shouted again, “Dammit, Aubrey, get the hell away from there.”

  Yeah, that reduced the noise level around him a little, and his daughter glanced up, her eyes going wide. “Dad, I—”

  Grif yanked open the driver’s door and grabbed an arm.

  “What’re you doing?” Aubrey called.

  Still glaring at his daughter over the top of the car, he wrestled the driver out of the car. “Let me see your face, you son of a…”

  That’s when he realized the arm he held seemed small, and he glanced down at the person he’d manhandled onto the sidewalk. Shit.

  Aubrey raced around the front of the car. “Have you lost your mind?”

  Apparently. He released Yvonne’s arm so quickly that she stumbled to the side and smacked her hip against the open door. He tried to catch her, but she shifted away, her eyes full of distrust.

  “God, I’m sorry. I thought…”

  Yvonne rubbed at the spot above her elbow where he’d grabbed her and gave him a sickly smile. “After hearing about what happened to Austin, I just wanted to check on Aubrey. I never meant to scare either of you.”

  His hand shaking, Grif rubbed a palm across his forehead. “Let me see your arm. I pulled you out of there pretty hard. Maybe I should drive you to the clinic.”

  “I’m fine.”

  Aubrey scooted by him to wrap her arms around Yvonne, then turned a glare on him. “I’m not stupid. I knew it was her.”

  “Still, I told you to stay inside.”

  “You may not remember this,” Aubrey said, “but my mom and I aren’t princesses you can lock up in some tower. We took care of ourselves for a lot of years just fine without you.”
/>   “Those years are over. Forever.”

  * * *

  Carlie Beth was a wreck. Had to be because she was basically trapped out at Tupelo Hill. Ha. Trapped on twenty thousand acres. Not that she had access to more than a handful of them.

  Or maybe she was a wreck because she had nothing to wear to a formal event. Who did that kind of thing in Steele Ridge?

  No, that was probably the wrong question.

  People hadn’t done that kind of thing in Canyon Ridge. But times had changed with the Steele Brothers taking charge.

  No one in this town would ever be the same again.

  Especially not Carlie Beth.

  She was picking through the meager wardrobe of dresses she’d had Grif pick up for her when there was a knock at her door.

  “Come in.”

  Aubrey walked in and eyed the outfits strewn across the full-size bed. “None of those are nice enough.”

  Carlie Beth wanted to roll her eyes the way her daughter did sometimes, but she restrained herself. “I know, but shopping isn’t in the cards today.”

  “I hear we have visitors!” A teasing feminine voice came from the hallway and Evie poked her head inside the room. Although she wore a smile, her troubled eyes made it clear Joan had already filled her in on what had happened to Austin. Evie came farther into the room and studied the pile of clothes. “What’s up?”

  “I’m no longer allowed to go to the State of Steele Ridge reception.” Aubrey shook her head in disgust. “Plus Mom has a date with Dad, she has nothing to wear, and we can’t shop.”

  Evie waved them across the hallway. “C’mon over to Evie’s House of Fashion and we’ll see if we can hook you up.”

  When she opened the double doors to the closet, Carlie Beth and Aubrey both stood there gaping. Although filled from side to side on two rows, the space was immaculately organized.

  “It’s color coordinated,” Aubrey breathed, her admiration clear.

  Evie turned to Carlie Beth and must’ve caught her puzzled look because she said, “I worked part-time at La Belle Style in town before I started my nursing clinicals. The owner, Brynne, hooked me up with clothes.” Her smile was slightly chagrined. “And Grif takes me shopping a couple of times a year when he flies me out to LA to visit.”

  “You’ve seen where he lives?” Aubrey asked.

  “Yep, and it’s nothing like Steele Ridge.”

  The slightly sick feeling Carlie Beth had been carrying around all day flared. Here she was, stressed about a little dress-up event and Grif probably did this kind of thing every day of the week.

  “His condo is in Westwood,” Evie elaborated. “Very modern and slick.”

  Again, nothing like Carlie Beth’s decor of retro real-life.

  “I can’t wait to see it,” Aubrey said. “Maybe this summer.”

  With cheerful efficiency, Evie began to pull dresses out of the closet one by one, laying them over the bed and hanging them from the window trim. She motioned Carlie Beth forward and held a shimmery green dress against her. “Hmm. Pretty, but so cliché.”

  Then she chose a short red thing that Carlie Beth was pretty sure would show her underwear.

  Evie shook her head. “Definitely washes you out.”

  Thank Jesus.

  Maybe Evie had a denim skirt. The thought made Carlie Beth chuckle.

  “Mom,” Aubrey said in a warning tone, “whatever you’re thinking, stop.” She told Evie, “I never let her go shopping without me. The one time I did, she came home with a stack of jeans from the boys’ section and shirts she bought from the tractor supply store.”

  “I’ll have you know I bought that gray hoodie I love in the girls’ department.”

  “See what I mean?”

  “Ooh, I’ve got it,” Evie muttered and reached for a waterfall of fabric that at first glance looked black, but when she pulled it from the closet, it changed in the light, becoming a flash of bronze.

  “He is going to swallow his tongue,” Evie said.

  Aubrey laughed. “That sounds kinda gross.”

  Carlie Beth got a good look at the dress’s neckline and backed away. “Uh-uh. No. I don’t do”—she waved a hand up and down—“that.”

  “This is the dress,” Evie insisted. “I got a deal on it at the boutique. Haven’t even worn it yet. See, the tags are still on it.”

  “Then save it for a special occasion,” Carlie Beth said. “You know what, I’ll just tell Grif—”

  “Strip,” Evie ordered.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Don’t make me wrestle you to the ground. A girl doesn’t grow up with four brothers without learning a few tricks. Now, down to your underwear.”

  Evie’s blue eyes were filled with determination, and Carlie Beth knew she could either drop her pants or risk not making it out of this room alive. So she reached for her T-shirt and pulled it over her head. And knew immediately what Evie’s tongue cluck and Aubrey’s groan were about.

  “I happen to like wearing a sports bra.”

  “It’s a good thing you can’t wear a bra of any kind with this dress.”

  Yeah, probably not, since the dress would show her belly button.

  Once she extricated herself from her bra, Carlie Beth ditched her pants and Evie unzipped the dress. While Aubrey supervised from her perch on the bed, Evie held the dress for Carlie Beth to step in. And oh, what was this made of? The fabric was cool and sleek against her skin, eliciting a shiver as Evie lifted the dress and hooked the bodice around her neck, leaving at least half of her back bare. The skirt swept the floor like something from a fairytale.

  Well, a slightly wicked fairytale.

  “Come look in the mirror,” Evie told her.

  “Mom, you look amazing.”

  Carlie Beth shot her daughter a smile. “Thanks.” Then she caught her reflection. Even with her hair in an anti-glamorous ponytail, the sight of herself in this beautiful, shimmery dress stole her breath. “It’s gorgeous, Evie.”

  Evie stood behind her, also reflected in the mirror, and grinned. “No, you’re gorgeous. One shot and he’s a goner.”

  Aubrey bounced on the bed. “I just met him, so I’d like him to stay alive a little longer.”

  “We’ll do CPR,” Evie told her.

  The mention of the lifesaving technique made Carlie Beth’s chest tight with grief for Austin. His parents had been devastated. Although it was tough, she tried to remember that death always, always gave the living a gift. This time, it was a reminder to grab life and hang on to it.

  Watching Evie and Aubrey together, Carlie Beth felt a bittersweet ache. How had she never realized how much her daughter needed a family? One bigger than the two of them.

  Carlie Beth twisted her torso to get a look at the side of the dress and a breeze wafted across skin it shouldn’t have been able to waft across.

  Aubrey laughed and fell back on the bed, and Carlie Beth looked down at herself to find, sure enough, that her left boob had popped clean out of the so-called bodice. Quickly, she pulled the fabric, what there was of it, over her breast. “See, this won’t work. One reach for an appetizer and I’ll send Mayor Hackberry to the hospital from a morality stroke.”

  “That’s why they invented this.” Evie opened a dresser drawer, grabbed a small box, and waved it like a magic wand. “Boob tape!”

  Aubrey lost it again and Carlie Beth stared at the box. “You can’t be serious.”

  “Look in that mirror again,” Evie demanded. “And tell me what you see.”

  “It’s beautiful,” she admitted. “But if I have to corral my boobs, it’s also going to be a royal pain in the…”

  Now, Evie’s grin was knowing and wicked. “I know someone else who’s a royal pain, but he also knows clothes. You in that dress will take away all the syllables in that man’s vocabulary except for uh and ah.”

  A heavy knock came at the bedroom door, and Carlie Beth patted her chest to make sure her breast was back under wraps.

  “Wha
t do you want, Reid?” Evie called.

  “Security called up,” he said. “Someone’s here to visit Carlie Beth. Yvonne Winters from the gallery in town. Do you want to see her?”

  The reality of the situation hit Carlie Beth. Reid’s security people were screening her visitors. This was insane. “Of course,” she called out. “She’s my friend.”

  “Send her up,” he said from the other side of the door.

  A few minutes later, he knocked again. “Yvonne’s here.”

  When Evie opened the door, Reid caught sight of Carlie Beth. His jaw worked as if he were carrying on a conversation, but not a single word came out.

  Evie nodded with satisfaction. “What did I tell you? That dress is a man-killer.”

  “Wow,” Reid finally said. “I…uh…ah…You clean up real nice there.”

  Evie pushed at his shoulder. “And Mom wonders why you’re single? Yvonne, come on in.”

  Reid pointed at his sister. “Don’t forget what I told you about locking your French doors.” As he started to close the door, he winked at Carlie Beth. “If my brother is too stupid to see what he’s got right in front of him, remember I’m the better-looking one anyway.”

  Knowing he was being a total tease, Carlie Beth gave him a saucy toss of her head. “Don’t think I won’t.”

  Yvonne took two steps into the room and stopped cold, staring at Carlie Beth. “Wow.”

  “That’s two wows now,” Aubrey said, hopping up to give Yvonne a hug.

  But she was so busy making a slow circle around Carlie Beth that she didn’t notice. “You…that’s…gorgeous. And crazy sexy.”

  “Which means Evie shouldn’t have had it in her closet in the first place,” Reid said before pulling the door closed.

  Evie just said, “Brothers!”

  “I don’t think I understand all this brother-sister thing,” Aubrey said to Evie. “It seems like y’all can’t stand each other.”

  Evie plopped down on the bed beside her and gave her a shoulder nudge. “That’s called affection.”