Never had she considered that there might be more to the story.
“I’ve actually got something for you too.” Holly’s eyes widened at Shane’s words – but the man wasn’t looking at her. He rifled through his jacket pockets and came up with an unmarked white envelope, which he extended to her. Silently, Holly took it, opening the crumpled paper to dump the contents in her palm.
To her surprise, she found the wooden pendant Tommy had carved for her when they first started dating. It was an ugly little thing – woodwork had always been more Shane’s forte, but Tommy put ten or twelve hours of labor into shaping her name out of a piece of pine before threading it onto a braided loop.
Holly had gushed over it when he gave it to her – and been devastated when she lost it a few weeks later.
“I found it in his things. I guess he found it and never gave it back.” Swallowing thickly, Holly stared at the pendant until it swam in and out of focus. She couldn’t cry. Not now.
Quickly, she stuffed the pendant back into its envelope before setting it on the coffee table before her. “Thank you, Shane. I appreciate it.”
“No problem.” Sitting up, the man shucked his jacket off to drape over the back of the couch and Holly found herself sucking in a low breath.
No, Shane was most certainly not his brother. Tommy had never been the type into piercings, tattoos, and things of the like. When Maddy was born, he even protested Holly having their daughter’s name tattooed just behind her ear.
Beneath his polo shirt, Shane’s body was a network of dark ink. Angels, script, Japanese artwork and characters – both arms were covered all the way to his wrists and she’d be willing to bet his chest was covered in ink as well.
What she wouldn’t give to see it… “Holly, I’m sorry.”
The man’s words jerked her to the back of the present and she felt her cheeks warm, hoping she hadn’t been too terribly obvious. What the hell was wrong with her? This was Shane, her old friend. Tommy’s brother, for God’s sake. It had to be some kind of sacrilege to be drooling over him the way she was. “Sorry for what?” Her words came out entirely too breathless, and she cursed herself.
“For this.” He extended his hands, gesturing to the house as his low baritone thrummed through her. “Showing up unannounced. I wanted to call but…truth is…I didn’t know if you’d want me to come.”
A sharp pang of guilt twisted her stomach and Holly swallowed a groan. “I know how this must be for you…Tommy dies, I show up…but I swear to fucking God I haven’t come to take advantage.” He winced as he realized too late what he’d said. “Pardon the language.”
What language? Holly simply didn’t want Maddy learning certain words before it was time. One or two curse word was nothing compared to how foul mouthed they’d all been in high school. “I know…I know Tommy couldn’t have been too fond of me in the years I was locked up. I messed up. Badly. Don’t think I don’t know it. But the truth is…I came to visit you guys because you’re all I’ve got. You and Dad. I wanna get to know my niece, Holly. And I want us to be like we were before.”
Like before?
That was impossible. Before, they’d been young and naïve. They’d known nothing of pain or suffering. Of how cruel the world could be. There was no way they could erase eight years of jail time, a brutal murder, and the remnants of that pain.
Slowly, Holly shook her head. “Shane, we can’t.”
The man stiffened, immediately opening his mouth to protest, but Holly stopped him with a raised hand. “There’s no way things can be like they were before. We aren’t who we were before. But…” She sighed, reaching up to work the tangles from her long, dark hair with her fingers. “There’s nothing that says we can’t start over with what we have now.”
Shane’s mouth snapped shut. For a moment, he just stared hard a Holly, confusion rampant in his deep green gaze. They were, Holly realized, so much like Tommy’s, and, at the same time, nothing like her husband’s gaze at all.
In a movement so quick she didn’t quite realize what happened until she was in his arms, Shane stood from the couch, sweeping her tightly against him. The movement wasn’t the slightest bit sensual. His hands were very firmly above her waist and she, still sitting down, was pressed flush against the firm strength of his chest.
But Holly’s body reacted wildly. Her heart jumped into overdrive, dancing against her ribs as Shane held her close. Her nipples perked anew beneath the dress she wore and warmth shot down to pool between her legs. She was immediately enveloped by the intricate, masculine smell of him, and Holly found she wanted nothing more than to lose herself in him. To forget everything that threatened her and be content, even it were only for a couple of hours.
“Thank you.” Shane whispered against the top of her head, his voice vibrating through her already over-sensitized body. “Thank you, Holly.”
Somehow, she didn’t think Shane would be thanking her if he knew how she was betraying his brother’s memory. But, somehow, for the first time since Tommy’s death, Holly didn’t feel ashamed of the heat between her legs.
She was consumed by it.
Chapter 6
Shane found himself torn.
He stood in front of a mirror in a shop that he normally wouldn’t be caught dead in, staring at his own image and cursing himself.
He looked like a fucking idiot.
Holly had invited him to dinner at Tommy’s restaurant and he was making every attempt to dress nicely, but he looked like absolute shit in a suit. He felt strange when he visited his brother’s grave in one, and he felt strange now.
The shit just didn’t fit him properly. It was too narrow at the shoulders, too wide at the waist – and despite the shop clerk’s insistence that the damn things could be tailored to fit, he still found himself skeptical. If he was going to be eating and drinking, he wanted to be comfortable. The simple truth of the matter was that when he sat down in suit pants, they strangled the fuck out of his cock, and he’d be damned if he would forgo underwear to compensate.
Looking at himself from several angles, Shane frowned hugely.
No way was he wasting six hundred dollars on this mess. That was about half of what he made in a week anyway, and he’d never wear the fucking thing again. In a fit of frustration, he yanked off the tie and suit jacket, tossing them on a nearby chair before he sauntered back to the dressing room, ignoring the salesman’s vain pitches.
If he was going to look nice, he would look nice his way, and that was that.
Two hours later, he reluctantly handed the keys of his bike over to the valet in Tommy’s parking lot before eying the building dubiously. When he and his brother had their falling out, Shane had sworn that he’d never set foot in what he declared to be a “shit establishment”. As he walked through the doors now, the comment came back to haunt him. Tommy’s restaurant was clearly very high class, and he imagined his brother had worked hard to make it that way.
“Oh my God, Shane?”
He looked to see none other than Kelly standing in front of the hostess’ podium, her blue eyes wide in shock.
He was less surprised to see her – but only because Holly already told him that Kelly worked as a manager in the restaurant. That, however, made her no less a sight for sore eyes. He couldn’t help but grin, holding out his arms. She came into his embrace without the slightest hesitation and he squeezed her hard.
She, like Holly, had obviously matured over the years. Kelly had always been the stereotypical beauty. In high school, she could have had any boy she chose, but she stuck with Holly, he and his brother because Holly was her best friend. All of them had been close and, despite the few times he and Kelly had hooked up, they remained that way with no hard feelings. In Shane’s humble opinion, Kelly had always been a bit more…forward than Holly. She wasn’t afraid to kiss a man – hell, she’d never been afraid to kiss him. And even now, there was a subtle slide of her body in the way she hugged him – something that said she was used t
o getting her way and using her curves to do it.
If Shane’s mind hadn’t been full of Holly, he might have been taken with her subtle offer. But instead of being aroused by the blonde minx in his arms, all he could remember was the way Holly clung to him when he hugged her a few days ago. There had been no sensuality in gesture – not the slightest suggestion. Instead, she clung to him as if she was afraid he’d let her go – afraid that something beyond the scope of her vision threatened and he was her port in the storm.
Meanwhile, he was trying to force his dick to behave.
The feel of Holly so warm and tight against him wreaked havoc on his senses. She smelled like lilac and vanilla and, in that moment, all he wanted was to carry her upstairs to her bedroom and love her until all she remembered was his name.
But that was out of the question. She was his brother’s widow, and if the look on her face when she received Tommy’s pendant was any indication, she was still grieving.
But Kelly…Kelly was a different story. “You look good!” Pulling back, she eyed him the sensual smile he remembered from their high school days. The blonde might have grown older, but her coy technique was still the same. “Better than good.” Sliding her hand up his shoulders, she squeezed his biceps suggestively and he smirked.
“Down girl. Your boss around?”
Kelly merely laughed, stepping out of his way to bow low playfully. “Let me show you to your table, sir.”
“Thank you very much.” He returned smartly, winking at her.
The place was surprisingly packed, considering that Holly had mentioned their profits went down after his brother died. If this was down, he could only imagine what Tommy’s had been like in its heyday. The place was high-ceilinged and well lit, with polished wood paneling lining the walls and pristine while marble on the floor. Booths lined the back half of the restaurant while a smattering of tables seating four to twelve people filled the interior, with a few spilling out onto the front walkway to serve those who wanted to dine beneath the stars. The décor was classy without being obnoxious, the music tasteful and low.
Kelly led him to a booth in the back where Holly sat alone, a huge stack of paperwork on the table before her. Though she was clad in a knockout black dress that skimmed her curves and fell down past her knees, her expression was grim. She chewed her full lower lip, completely absorbed in the forms she read over.
At least, until he reached her side. “Stop that.”
Holly actually jumped, almost scattering the papers as she looked up at him in surprise. “Dear Sweet Jesus, Shane, you scared the shit out of me.” Immediately, she whisked the papers from the table to set them on the leather seat next to her, a smile turning the corners of her mouth upwards and banishing her gloom. “You look nice.”
He could only hope so. After the suit fiasco, Shane had returned to the loft and settled for the cleanest pair of black jeans he owned along with a black button up he rolled up past his elbows. Sliding into the seat across from her, he chuckled. “You kiss your kid with that mouth?”
Rolling her eyes, Holly stuck her tongue out at him. “Bite me.” It was startling how easily they slipped into their old rapport. Almost as if they had never been apart.
“I would definitely volunteer to have this man bite me,” Kelly pointed out, pouring glasses of water for each of them. “I might even suggest where to bite.”
Holly’s cheeks flushed as she waved her friend away. “For the love of God, Kelly, if you’re going to hit on Shane, save it for when I’m not around.”
“Yes ma’am.” Kelly saluted her before providing them with menus. With a final wink, she disappeared, and Shane sighed shaking his head in amusement.
“She hasn’t changed much.”
Laughing, Holly took a sip of her water. “She has half the male population of Miami in the palm of her hand.”
“Yeah…and balls deep in her goods.” Holly choked on her water and Shane had to reach over to smack her on the back a few times to help her clear her windpipe. “Sorry.” He added. “That was shitty of me.”
“No, no.” Holding up a hand, Holly shook her head as she recovered. “You’re right. Even if you’re blunter than I’d ever be with her. I just want her to be safe, but right now, she’s hell-bent on every sexual encounter putting her on top of the world.”
“Yeah…just as long as she doesn’t go home with the wrong people.” Shane glanced over at the blonde, who was shamelessly flirting with a party of businessmen near the front of the restaurant. “You’d think eight years would have mellowed her.”
Holly shrugged, looking over the menu as if she didn’t know every inch of it by heart. “Kelly’s looking for something. Heaven knows if she’s ever going to find it, but I hope to God she does.”
Well, that sounded familiar. Shane himself was looking for something – and he hoped that his family could provide him with it. “I’ll drink to that.” He raised his water glass to tap against hers, the fragile clink echoing about the back corner of the restaurant.
Holly chuckled softly. “To Kelly’s happiness then.”
Shane nodded. “And to yours.”
For some reason, Holly’s expression darkened at the statement. She set her water glass down on the table, twisting her fingers around its base until she leaned back against the seat, dropping her hands into her lap. As quickly as the cloud had passed over her, however, she forced a smile back onto her face as she fixed him with her gaze once more – but this time, her enthusiasm failed to reach her haunted gaze.
“So…how are things with your father?” Shane blew out a breath, deciding to let the matter pass for the moment as he accepted Holly’s subject change.
“He was an old, grumpy bastard before. Since Tommy died he’d become an old, reclusive grumpy bastard. He’s probably just about as hung up on my mistakes as I am.” Tossing the food menu on the table, Shane picked up the wine and liquor list. “If we’re going to talk about Dad, I’m going to need something stronger than water.”
With a soft laugh, Holly nodded, sliding to the end of the booth to rise from the table. “Right. I’ll be right back.”
Shane was sad to see her go, but it was damn delightful to watch her leave. For someone with so minute a waist, Holly’s behind was pert, round and tempting as fuck. That, he believed, was something she’d been blessed with after giving birth. He watched the way her hips swayed, transfixed, until he noticed something that sobered him substantially.
Holly was limping.
The motion was slight – so tiny that anyone who didn’t look for it wouldn’t notice, but it was there. Holly favored her left foot ever so slightly, and the realization made him frown. His gaze rose to her face, watched her as she reached upward to grab a bottle of whiskey from one of the top two shelves behind the bar. As she did so, she winced.
Visibly.
Shane’s frown deepened.
She was hiding it.
He’d seen it more than he liked to remember in prison – feigned it. When people behind bars saw you were injured, they preyed on you relentlessly. Wounded people had already taken a hit – which meant that another one would land more easily. While he’d been incarcerated, Shane had mastered the art of pretending to be less hurt than he actually was. It was a fucking art that had saved his ass from being beat a multitude of times.
And it had no business here, in Tommy’s restaurant.
When Holly returned to the table, Shane silently watched her pour them each a double Macallan’s – neat. He respected her taste in whiskey, but that wasn’t enough to distract him from the matter at hand.
“Are you ok, Holly?”
Her head immediately jerked up, and for a split second, the alarm in her expression was palpable. But for the second time that night, Holly buried the expression as quickly as it had appeared. “What do you mean?”
Shane’s green gaze narrowed slightly. “You’re hurt. Limping. Did you fall?”
For a beat too long, Holly stared at him across
the table before reaching for her drink. Shane watched as she kicked the entire thing back in a single swallow, shuddering, before she faced him again, her smile firmly back in face. “I’m fine. Had a little tumble down the stairs yesterday. Maddy leaves her toys all over, you know?”
Shane nodded in understanding.
For some reason, she was lying to him. It was on the tip of his tongue to press her – a protective instinct so strong it screamed to be released pounded at his ribcage, snarling like a beast.
And Shane restrained it.
As far as Holly knew, he was the same guy he’d been before he was locked away. A trouble maker who had finally chosen the straight and narrow and was ready to get his life on track. If he let his protective side take over, she would see a side of him he wasn’t ready to expose. The darker, primal portion of his psyche that saved him from losing his mind when he was locked up.
If Shane had his way, that side of him would never come out again.
So, for now, he left it.
Taking his own drink, he offered Holly a small smile. “Right. Now, what were we talking about?”
Holly smirked. “My father in law. And how he’s a grumpy, reclusive old bastard.” Somehow, her tone of voice told him that she was both relieved to be changing the subject – and that she agreed with his assessment of Thomas Wilder.
“Right,” he chuckled, enjoying the smooth burn of the whiskey down his throat. “That.”
While Holly originally told him that she only had an hour or so to eat before she had to return to work, that one hour quickly bled into two, and then three. They had a few more drinks, and a heavy dinner that was a testament to how well Tommy’s sous chefs had learned his recipes before he died. The food tasted so like Tommy’s cooking that Shane found himself struggling to swallow a few times as he inhaled his meal.
If he had listened to Tommy…if he hadn’t been such an ass…then maybe he would have been able to come to this place while his brother was alive. To have Tommy cook for him like he used to when they were young, dumb, and believed they were invincible.
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