by Karigan Hale
"Lizzie?" he asked. Hurt flickered in her eyes. Again, what the fuck? She had kissed him back. He hadn't forced her.
"I must be more drunk than I thought to allow that to happen. Let's forget it, okay?" she said. She pushed off the tree and bent to retrieve her phone.
"Not gonna happen," he said. "I can't forget our first kiss, Lizzie."
"You'll forget it the second some other more breasty chick in a tight skirt and too much make-up catches your eye. She'll probably let you grope her all you want in the woods," Lizzie said. She found her phone, turned on the flashlight app, and started back up the path.
Zander caught her arm and spun her around. "Let me go," she said pulling on his grip.
"You seemed all too willing to let me grope you a second ago," he said with fire in his eyes for an entirely different reason.
"And I also said I'm drunk. I changed my mind. Now, let me go," she said pulling on her arm again. When her angry expression turned to one of fear, he did let her go. God, he was an ass.
But she made him so... so...
He couldn't put into the words the tumultuous feelings Little Lizard caused in him. He took another deep breath to calm his racing heart, adjusted his pants, and followed her back to the clearing.
Dammit. He'd kissed Lizzie. And probably ruined everything.
Just forget it, she'd said. He scoffed. Not in this lifetime. That was one of those I-need-to-fuck-you-right-now-or-I'll-literally-die kisses. A kiss that proved he was alive and also doomed. A kiss that dwarfed all other kisses he'd ever had in his lifetime.
Okay, maybe he was a little more drunk than he thought, too. But he had to make sure their reaction wasn't a fluke. The next chance he got, he needed to kiss her again. To prove to himself, and to her, their passion had nothing to do with alcohol and everything to do with their chemistry. They couldn't deny their passion much longer.
When he broke through the clearing, Lizzie avoided his eyes. She had sat back down next to Nick, who was thankfully still drinking water. Zander resumed his place on the log where he's sat before going into the woods.
Nick grimaced back and forth between Lizzie's flushed face and Zander's hair, which was probably still messed up from when she had her fingers tangled in it, and squinted his eyes in suspicion. He leaned over and whispered something to Lizzie who shook her head. She'd always been a terrible liar. Nick stood up, but Lizzie pulled on his arm. He shook her off.
"Zander, a word in private," Nick said clenching and unclenching his fist. Xavier stopped playing and flicked his eyes between the three of them. He stood, too, and handed his guitar to Gabby.
"Nick, you're drunk. It's nothing. Sit down," Lizzie pleaded, still holding his wrist.
"Whatever you have to say, you can say right here," Zander said not getting up.
"Fine," Nick said. "Lizzie may be a grown woman, but she's still my little sister."
"Duly noted," Zander said sarcastically.
"Keep your hands off of her," Nick said.
"I think that's up to her," Zander said looking at Lizzie whose eyes were flitting around the campsite at everything but him. She shook her curls over her ears to hide her blush.
"There are some things that are off limits," Nick started.
Xavier cut in, "Nick, don't blow things out of proportion. You're drunk."
"Stay out of it, Xavier," Nick said, not taking his eyes of Zander.
Six interrupted. "Well, I'm getting really tired. Zander, can you take me back to get my car?"
Lizzie jumped up. "I'll do it. If you don't want to ride on the motorcycle, I can take you in Nick's car. Zander can bring my bike back later." She still wouldn't look at him. Which made it even more painfully obvious Nick's outburst wasn't entirely unfounded. That and the fact that she looked like she had been thoroughly kissed.
"Thanks, Lizzie. That'd be great," Six said.
"I’ll drive you girls back," Brendan said taking advantage of the opportunity not to be in the middle of a pissing match.
Lizzie grabbed her shoulder bag and held her hand out to Zander for Nick's keys. He took them out of his pocket.
"Just toss them to me," she said looking at the keys.
He walked over to her instead and took her slender hand in both of his as he placed the keys in her palm. "Lizzie," he whispered. She looked at him then with glossy eyes. He felt it to his gut. He reached out to tuck her hair behind her ear, but she pulled away and walked up the hill towards the cars without a backward glance.
"What the hell was that?" Xavier asked when Brendan and the girls were out of sight.
"Something happened between them in the woods. I know my sister, and she was upset," Nick said. "What did you do to her?"
"What makes you think I did anything to her?" Zander asked defensively.
"You don't have the reputation you do for no reason, Zander," Nick said.
Zander threw up his hands. "I've never had to force a woman to do anything she didn't want to do. And although it may be hard to believe, I respect women more than that. Especially Lizzie."
"Well, something happened. Lizzie wouldn't even look at you," Nick said.
"That's between me and Lizzie. Who, like you said, is a grown-ass adult and can make her own decisions," Zander said.
"Well, she's not exactly sober, and you have a reputation," Nick threw back in his face.
"Nick, what the hell? You're supposed to be my best friend," Zander said.
"I am. Which is why I can tell this to your face: if you touch my little sister again, I'm going to beat the shit out of you."
"Are you like this with all her boyfriends?" Zander asked.
"Not the nice ones," Nick shot back.
"Then why me?"
"Because you're not good enough for her!" Nick shouted.
"Don't you think I know that?" Zander shouted back. Then ran his hands through his hair and paced away from his friends. "Dammit. I know that."
"Zander," Xavier said putting his hand on his brother's arm. "Come on. He didn't mean it."
"Yes, he did," Zander sighed. "He's not wrong."
"Look. You are leaving soon. And Lizzie isn't a one-night stand kind of girl," Xavier said.
Zander gave his brother an incredulous look. "No shit."
"All I'm saying is Lizzie means a lot to all of us. If you're looking to score, there are plenty of other girls I could hook you up with. Just come sit at the bar one night—"
"Jesus. You're both treating me like I forced myself on her or something. Nothing. Happened. Nothing's going to happen. She made that abundantly clear. So lay off. Both of you." He grabbed his helmet and Lizzie's, which she'd left in her rush to leave, and stormed up the path towards the cars.
Nick caught up with him. "Look, man. I'm sorry. Okay? I just saw Lizzie's expression and freaked out. She's my little sister, man, you know?"
"It's fine. Forget it," he said.
"Don't leave. At least stay until you're sober enough to not crash Lizzie's bike. She'd kill you if anything happened to it."
"I'm fine. Nothing like a slap in the face from your brother and best friend to sober you up real quick," he said and stormed off up the path.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Well shit, Lizzie thought as she absently stroked Peabody's back later that night. Even if she wasn't obsessing over the kiss with Zander, she wouldn't be able to sleep. Nick snored like an antique chainsaw in the guest room next to hers. Xavier had dropped him off at her house since she had his car and Nick allegedly wanted to check on her. She thought it was sweet—for a half second. He barely waited for her response before dragging himself to the couch to crash.
She wished now she would have left him there. His snoring was always worse when he drank. Maybe the snoring would have only been half as intense then. But, being the good sister she was, she woke him up and basically drug him upstairs to the guest room.
She really wanted to ask him what happened after she left, but he was in no coherent state to answer her. Even
Xavier had given her a non-answer when he dropped Nick off. She reminded him to tell Zander to bring her bike back as soon as possible.
Of course, that meant she'd have to see Zander again. She wasn't ready to see him again. She could just hide until he went back to Atlanta.
She ran her fingers over her still tingling lips. When she took a deep breath, she could still smell him. She could still feel his hands on her skin lighting little fires wherever his fingers caressed her.
Then she remembered what he said. I can't stop thinking about you in that green dress. That had thrown a bucket of cold water on her libido. Of course, that would be the catalyst for him to actually make a move on her—remembering her wearing a fancy dress and not her typical attire. He confirmed with that one statement he did have a type. And that type wasn't her. Not the real her. He barely gave her a second glance until he saw her in a fucking dress.
And dammit, for just a moment in the woods, the moment when he explored her with so much passion, so much need, she really thought he liked her.
"Idiot," she whispered. Peabody grunted. "Not you, big guy. Me."
Not only was that humiliating enough, but all of her coworkers and her brother clearly knew something had happened. Why couldn't she have a good poker face just once? And why couldn't her stupid brother just let it go?
They were going to have a talk whenever he woke up. About last night and his current stress-level which he failed to mention to her. She gave Peabody an extra scratch on his head, then pulled the pillow over her head to try to get some sleep. She had to help at the bar tomorrow to get it as ready as possible to open Saturday night, and a huge shipment of supplies had to be inventoried. She also had to sneak the invoice away from Brendan.
She closed her eyes and imagined Zander with hair coming out of his nose and ears and the huge pulsing goiter on his neck. That helped a little. But she still didn't get much sleep.
Nick still snored away in her guest room when she finally gave up and stumbled sleepily into the shower. One good thing about obsessing over the kiss last night in the woods was she no longer pictured Zander in her bathroom. She had the memory of him actually touching her instead of just undressing her with his eyes. And that was so much more palpable. She changed the temperature in the shower to cold.
Well, she could now cross "Kiss Zander Drake" off of her bucket list. She wished she could rub that in all the high school mean girls' faces. Of course, they were both pretty tipsy at the time. Tipsy on the verge of drunk. And he imagined her as one of those girly-girls he seemed to gravitate toward. Why hadn't she just changed out of that silly dress before rushing to McConnell's?
"Okay," she said to herself and took a deep breath. She needed to stop persevering on it and just let it go. It had happened. So what? It was just one drunken kiss.
One kiss that was the best kiss of her entire life. God, his tongue knew exactly what to do. His body fit perfectly against hers. And she hadn't imagined his reaction to the kiss, either.
She finished her shower and left a note for Nick, still snoring away, then left for McConnell's to help with the delivery and inventory. As she started her car, she cursed Zander one more time for not bringing her bike back last night. He probably kept it on purpose, so he could drive it around for a while. She would text Xavier when she got to McConnell's. If he could tell Zander to drop it off at her house when she wasn't there, that would be ideal. Then she wouldn't have to see him.
Brendan was already at the bar when she got there. No surprise. He'd be there 24-7 if Six didn't force him home every night. Xavier showed him how to get the security feed on his phone which helped ease some of the worry of a repeat performance.
Lizzie could hear the delivery van pulling up in the side alley as she entered the front door. She raced back to the kitchen to intercept the driver.
"Hey Brendan," Lizzie said when she saw him waiting by the door. "If you want to help the guys bring in the boxes, I'll square with the driver."
"Thanks. You're just in time," he said moving to the back of the truck. No kidding, she thought.
Well, getting passed Brendan was easier than she thought it would be. Now she could sign the invoice and hide it before Brendan saw she had paid for most of the shipment. The driver handed her a clipboard, which she signed. She tucked her copy into her pocket and went to help unload.
"The barstools and extra chairs should be here later this afternoon as well," Lizzie said in between carrying boxes to the bar. "We should be okay to open tomorrow night."
"That would be awesome. At least to show those idiots they didn't completely ruin us," Brendan said.
"Any leads from the police?" she asked hopefully.
"None yet. But they are hopeful if it's kids, they'll talk or post something on social media bragging about it. Someone knows something," he said opening a box to unload.
"I'm sure it's just kids," she said trying to reassure him.
"I hope so. 'Cause if it has anything to do with my brother's past, we may never catch them," Brendan said.
"Hopefully whomever it was got it out of their system. And with our new surveillance they'd be stupid to try again," she reminded him.
They worked in comfortable conversation while unpacking the boxes to reshelve their inventory. The extra mugs and cups had arrived yesterday before the bonfire. Brendan took a moment to look around the space. Lizzie regretted all the irreplaceable things—Irish touches from Brendan's youth, signed sports memorabilia from retired or deceased players, the original woodwork in some areas. Still, it could have been much, much worse. And not everything was ruined.
"I think we should count on a pretty large crowd tomorrow night," Lizzie said.
Brendan scoffed. "With limited inventory? I doubt it."
"This community loves you, Bren. And I think they'll come out to support a local business that has supported them. You'll see," she said with a smile.
"This may be one time your silver lining doesn't come to fruition," he said.
Lizzie was about to suggest a friendly wager when an engine roar from outside distracted her. She knew that sound like a mother knows her baby's cry. Her motorcycle.
Shit. She never texted Xavier to tell him to drop the bike at her house. Great. Now she'd have to see Zander. And of course she was all sweaty and dirty from unloading boxes. Oh well. This was the real her. Not that girl in the green dress.
She heard the Drake brothers' voices as they approached the open bar door. She turned away and busied herself putting bottles on the shelves behind the bar.
"Wow," Xavier said when he entered. "This place almost looks back to normal! I think we'll definitely be ready for tomorrow night."
"Stools and chairs are coming later this afternoon. Then we'll be ready," Brendan said. "Jerry's also going to come in to prep some garnishes and food for tomorrow."
"I'll put an announcement on the website about our Grand Re-opening," Xavier offered. "And push it out to social media as well."
"Great idea," Brendan said. "Let me get you set up in my office. The other one is still being used for temporary storage." He lead Xavier through the swinging door into the hallway where the kitchen and two offices were. Which left Lizzie and Zander alone in the bar room. She continued to ignore him by unpacking the boxes.
"Lizzie?" he said tentatively. "Do you need some help?"
"I've got it," she said shortly.
"Listen. About last night..." he started, then trailed off.
"I thought we were going to forget about it. Just a drunken mistake, right?" she said putting another box on the counter to unpack.
"What made you stop? I thought we were both enjoying that kiss," he asked coming around the bar to stand beside her.
She hesitated. Should she tell him? Would he care?
He wouldn't get it. Boys never did. She went with a half-truth instead. "I just came to my senses. Listen, it was a good kiss." Liar, she thought. Good didn't do it justice. "But so what? It had to stop sometime. It's not l
ike we were going to do it in the woods with our friends 10 feet away."
"Why not?" he asked playfully raising one eyebrow. Her face heated. Clearly, he was teasing. He wouldn't really have let it get that far.
Right?
He stood a little too close for her comfort. But she wasn't going to admit that to him.
She pointed a bottle at him. "That is exactly why not. You would be considered a playboy. I would be labeled a slut. Double standard."
"Only if people found out," he said. She rolled her eyes and turned to put the bottle in the refrigerated case behind her. "All I'm saying is I barely slept last night from thinking about our kiss. I've been wanting to do that since high school," he admitted.
She stopped cold. Since high school? She snapped her head toward him and scowled. "Only to get a rise out of me."
"No, Lizzie. I had a major crush on you in high school. Why do you think I offered to give you motorcycle lessons?"
She gaped at him. What was his angle? She obviously didn't believe him, but he made a good point. Back in high school she chalked it up to Zander being nice to his best friend's awkward little sister.
Then the reason hit her.
"You're just flirting with me to butter me up. You want to borrow my bike while you're here. Is that it?"
"I mean, I won't turn it down if you're offering." He took one step closer and brought his hand up to her face. It took all her strength not to lean into it. She held her breath.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
"Lizzie, I—" Zander started but Brendan again interrupted by coming back through the door. "Dammit. That man has terrible timing."
Lizzie stepped back and busied herself by digging around in the case in front of her. Zander leaned back on the bar trying to look normal and ignore the electricity buzzing between him and the stubborn blonde beside him.
Brendan eyes jockeyed between them. "I can busy myself in the kitchen," he said pointing over his shoulder.
"No need. Zander was just saying good-bye," Lizzie said pointedly.
