Page 42 of Second First Kiss

Kat threw her arm around his shoulders. “There’s always two sides to every story.”

“Then why did he just stop calling and showing up to my Junior SAR meetings?”

“I don’t know, but here’s your chance to ask him,” Kat said, jerking her chin to the federal cruiser coming down the street.

Tommy leapt to his feet and was grabbing his skateboard before Kat could even stand. He dropped the board to the ground and looked ready to roll.

He skated past her, and Kat grabbed the back of his hoodie and yanked him off his board. “Wait—you’re going to leave me holding the bag?” she asked him.

“I don’t want him to be mad at me.” Now there were tears in his eyes. “Promise you won’t tell him it was me.”

“You want me to lie to him?” she asked, and something that wouldn’t have phased her a few days ago suddenly felt like a burning stone in her belly.

“Please,” he pleaded. “He’ll hate me and then he’ll lock me up.”

“He won’t hate you.” She didn’t think he’d lock him up either, but hadn’t he just brought Tessa down for questioning for simply being at the wrong place at the wrong time, wearing the wrong jacket?

“Please.”

Kat looked up for divine intervention and puffed out a breath of air. “Fine. I won’t lie to him, but I won’t out you unless he asks.”

Tommy flung his arms around her waist and her heart grew two sizes. Before she could respond to the embrace, the kid wiggled free and skated down the street—in the opposite direction of Nolan’s car.

Fuk indeed.

11

On his porch stood Kat, looking delicious and guilty as hell. After his day she was the last person he’d expected to see, but the first person he’d wanted to see, which was the only reason he could think of for why his heart began to race.

Nolan had had a busy day. When nine-to-fivers grew tired of the routine and wanted to come vacation in Sierra Vista to blow off some steam, that meant hiking, biking, boating, and camping. And beer. Lots of beer. Which led to a lot of drunk and disorderly, trespassing, and lost hikers, which led to paperwork.

In fact, he’d spent the better part of the afternoon filling out reports because of a couple of tipsy campers who’d driven their speedboat into a ten-mile-an-hour buoy while doing thirty. Thank god no one was badly injured. That was followed by a bachelorette party who decided to go skinny-dipping in the lake, where spring temperatures and ice runoff were sitting around forty-five degrees; a group of lost hikers; and a tourist who climbed a cliff to get a photo of the lake, only to remember halfway up he was afraid of heights—earning Nolan a cold beer of his own. Which he intended to savor on the back porch while watching the sun set over the Sierra Mountains and decompress from the day.

Alone.

He didn’t miss his ex; he was over her, his heart had healed. It wasn’t fully intact, but betrayal would do that to a man. What he did miss was the companionship that went with a romantic connection like having someone to share his day with. Then again, that was part of the problem. Nina couldn’t handle the dangerous parts of his job. She wanted someone who, when shots were fired, ran in the opposite direction. Probably why she married a periodontist.

Running toward danger was ingrained in Nolan’s DNA. He couldn’t imagine running away from a chance to make a positive impact, even if that meant putting himself in harm’s way. Nope, his hours, aspects of his job, even how much time he spent with his family weren’t the right fit for Nina.

And how could he blame her? Fostering a healthy relationship when he worked twelve-hour days was difficult at best. It was why divorce was so high in his field. Then there was his responsibility at the lodge—a responsibility where he was falling short.

Entertaining anything close to a relationship was a bad idea. Yet he’d been thinking about Kat nonstop. Another thing he’d been thinking about was that kiss. A kiss he’d been dreaming about for months.

It had started because he wanted to wipe that challenging look off her face. God, he loved a challenge in shredded black denim, and it had quickly turned carnal. Scratch that: she’d turned it carnal. Taken something that had depth and was growing legs to superficial.

Nolan didn’t do superficial in his professional life and it no longer interested him in his private life.

So he’d pulled back.

Following her lead would evolve into touching, and touching would lead to a quickie in his truck. That seemed to be her MO. All fun. No ties. Which was how he’d spent most of his time since his and Nina’s split. But there was something about Kat that he couldn’t seem to walk away from.

And he’d be damned if he was about to be just another guy who breezed through her life, even if that’s the desire she portrayed to the world. She wanted connection, he saw it with how she interacted with her friends, her sister, even her coworkers. She knew everything about everyone, was the kind of person to step into the ring to protect her loved ones, yet from what he could tell she had a hard time accepting help for herself. It was like she was afraid to hope, only to be let down.

There was another reason he’d stopped himself. For the first time since Nina, he wanted more than meaningless sex. He wanted her to like him because he liked the hell out of her. Which complicated things.

He didn’t have the time or the inclination for a relationship, especially with someone who had a dependent—been there, still had the tire marks on his heart—not to mention she had a penchant for breaking the rules. She was far from the girl-next-door that he usually went for. Ironic since she literally was the girl next door. Scratch that, the woman next door with a smart mouth, a wild streak wider than the Sierra Nevada Mountain range, and the saddest fucking eyes he’d ever seen.

Yet there he was, his heart racing at the thought of seeing her. He just hoped she wanted to see him back. Sure he’d lent her his truck because it was the neighborly thing to do, and he’d have been worried at the thought of her walking home from her shift at the bar in the dark. Especially after the other night. But a selfish part lent her his truck because it gave him a reason to check in on her.

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