Page 49 of Second First Kiss

“And she’s not the only one,” Kat said. “There are others. And I want to talk to each and every one of them.”

“How did you get their information?” Gemma asked, suspicion lacing her voice. “Please tell me you didn’t—” Kat distracted her mouth with another doughnut hole. “Kat, this is so bad. Look what happened last time you hacked into something.”

“I didn’t know what else to do. Tessa keeps sneaking out of the house.”

“Trust the cops. Trust Nolan,” Milly said. “He wants to bust R. J. too and he always gets his man.”

Kat didn’t doubt that was true. Nolan was damn good at his job. He was determined, dedicated, and dangerous as hell when on the trail of injustice. “I’m just not sure he can get him before R. J. does something to hurt my sister. Nolan wants to put him behind bars, I want to scare the hell out of Tessa so she dumps his ass.”

“Tread lightly,” Milly warned. “I don’t want to see this backfire. I wouldn’t be surprised if the councilman could get you fired from the county if provoked. Just look at what his son did to your car. I don’t want to see this escalate any further.”

“I don’t know what else to do. I figure if maybe I can get some of his exes to talk to Tess, it would knock some sense into her.”

“I’m surprised that she’s still even entertaining a relationship with him after he shoved you,” Gemma said.

“According to R. J., he was just trying to defend himself and I bounced off his body.”

“Speaking of bouncing off bodies.” Milly waggled her brow suggestively. “Nolan seemed pretty intense about the whole thing. He couldn’t take his eyes off you.”

“He was just making sure I wasn’t going to pop off again and punch a customer,” Kat said.

“It looked more like he was fighting the urge to surround you with all of that yummy protectiveness he’s known for,” Gemma argued.

“He doesn’t get that way with anyone but family, so his behavior was interesting,” Milly said, and she’d be the one to know. Ever since becoming engaged to one of the famous brothers, she was the expert on all things Jax—including his family.

“Well, I don’t need protecting.”

While those words were true—she could handle anything that came her way alone—they didn’t feel as empowering as they once had. In fact, all that statement made her feel was lonely. That was her superpower. The ability to feel alone even when surrounded by people who loved her.

When she was with her friends, she was engulfed in love, she knew this. The whole island of one thing was all on her. But opening herself up to accepting love was difficult, if not impossible. Too much rejection at such a young age had demolished her ability to trust that love.

“Honey, if a man as good-looking as Nolan wanted to be my knight, I’d let him. Especially if he showed up in his uniform and cuffs. The man is fine,” Gemma said. “And I’m officially on a man-free diet.”

“With his family, once you’re in, there is no escaping the coddling,” Milly informed her with a gleeful smile. “And it will come from all directions.”

“Good thing I’m not, nor will I ever be, in,” Kat said. “Besides, I barely know his family. Other than working at the bar, and that party I crashed a few months back, I’ve never been around them since high school. And even then, we hung in different groups.” She was the goth girl with a crush on the town’s golden boy who always had a nice word to say but never showed any interest in getting to know her better.

Kat didn’t have much experience with healthy families like Nolan’s. Hadn’t a clue as to how to navigate that kind of situation. He came with a large, loud, and loving family and even after a year of dating she’d never made it to the “meet the family” with the limited few who made it boyfriend status.

Another gift from her ex.

It was the first, and only, time meeting Ryan’s family and she’d been on her best behavior. She’d been affectionate, attentive, and everything that a girlfriend should be when meeting her future in-laws. It had gone swimmingly.

Or so she thought. Instead of singing her praises, his mom warned him that Kat wasn’t the one. Not only didn’t she fit in with the family, she wasn’t the kind of nurturing woman who would make a good wife or mother. Two things Kat’s childhood hadn’t prepared her for. Instead of fighting for her and defending her, Ryan cowered to his mother’s opinion and that very next day he’d broken things off.

After her coward of an ex, Kat decided it was best to avoid serious relationships. Especially ones that lent themselves to family get-togethers.

She stuck to a strict two-week regiment. Just enough time to have a little fun but not long enough for things to progress into something deeper. Something that had the possibility to break her when taken away. Because it would always end, history had taught her that.

Something she desperately needed to keep in mind, because she couldn’t afford to break, not with so much on the line. So this fun flirtation with Nolan could never go beyond that.

She wouldn’t allow it.

13

“What do you mean the security feed is missing?” Jax asked.

“Just what I said. The cameras that are in the back parking lot were mysteriously not working during the time that Kat’s car was vandalized,” Nolan explained, guilt and anger roiling through him.

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