Page 74 of Second First Kiss

“Maybe. If I ever find someone I can trust enough to let in. Then…” She shrugged. “Maybe,” she repeated.

She wasn’t the kind to bring dinner. She liked sex, this he knew, just like he knew she never took things past a night or two. Yet here she was, sitting on his couch, asking him about his ex, talking about her past, sharing pieces of herself he’d bet she hadn’t even shared with her closest friends.

“The more you tell me, the more curious I become about your life,” Nolan told her.

This was the part where she shut down. Used that key to lock her heart up tight and close the walls around it. Which was why he was so surprised when she said, “Well, hell. What do you want to know?”

Not expecting that, he bumbled a bit, then said, “Whatever you’re willing to tell me.”

“You can ask anything, and you waste it by giving me an easy out? My favorite food is Pop-Tarts.”

“I didn’t officially ask.”

“But you left it open.”

“Okay, fine?—”

“Nope.” She stood and grabbed her garbage. “You had your chance. Time’s up on this kumbaya unless you want to braid each other’s hair. Now let’s go save your pipe from premature drip. No woman likes a drippy pipe. Especially a premature one.”

19

Nolan had started his day at four a.m. with a call for a pair of lost hikers, a local teen and his buddy, who never made it home last night. The immediacy was that one of the kids was diabetic and didn’t have his insulin on him. A SAR trailing dog and its owner found them around noon about five miles up the mountain, cold, dehydrated and in diabetic shock.

Nolan had checked in on the kid at the hospital and discovered he was going to be fine. He also promised to never leave home unprepared again. Then Nolan had another search warrant to execute. Tessa had remained mum, but after considerably more legwork, he now had three witnesses who chose to remain anonymous but had seen the handgun, and he’d been issued another search warrant, this time on the entire Locke residence. But the family had been given a heads-up, giving plenty of time to get rid of any and all evidence they might have had, which was ridiculous. But the judge and Mr. Locke were golfing buddies.

I guess it paid to be a government official.

They came up with jack shit. Even with all of that, Nolan was still in a good mood, and he couldn’t explain why. Okay, he could, but he needed to stop thinking of Kat like that or he was bound to get hurt. Distance was going to be his friend in this situation. Friends. But a distant friend?—

Who happened to live next door and share the same friend group, and, soon, Milly.

Nolan’s stomach growled like a grizzly. Even though it was nearly dinnertime, the days were getting longer and the sun was still high in the sky. It had been a picture-perfect day in the Sierras, attracting all sorts of visitors.

Even now, the roads were packed with cars with out-of-state plates. But Nolan didn’t care. The sky was a clear blue, the sun reflecting off the last of the melting ice and mimicking sparkling diamonds. The normal hustle and bustle didn’t bother him. Even though it made him fifteen minutes late to the weekly family meeting. Which they had moved to later to accommodate his chaotic schedule.

With a perma-smile on his face that had been there since the other night, he waltzed into the boardroom and came to a sudden stop, that smile widening. Because there, sitting at the conference table with her back to him, was Kat.

Her hair was pulled back into some kind of messy knot that looked like she’d haphazardly twisted it up, but he knew she’d spent time on it. She was dressed in a black skirt that had inched up to mid-thigh, a blue blouse, and sleek knee-high black leather boots.

Today she was dialed into Professional Kat. A side of her he’d never seen before—and he liked it. Not as much as Ballbuster Kat, but it was a close second. He normally went for the girl next door who had maternal instincts, a mini-van, and a white-picket fence stamped into her DNA. Don’t get him wrong, she was maternal and protective as hell over Tessa, but it was on her own terms and in her own way. And it worked. He didn’t think she allowed other people the privilege of seeing that side of her, but she’d gifted him with a glimpse and he liked it. A lot.

He just hoped that the social worker saw that amazing piece of Kat because it was special and unique. And made her the best person to raise Tessa.

She hadn’t noticed him yet because she was speaking, and that smoky voice did all kinds of things to his body.

“I don’t know who is behind it, but I will definitely find out. I just need a few more days,” Kat vowed.

Brynn met Nolan’s gaze and a bright smile lit her face. “Glad you could make it.”

“Rough day,” Nolan replied.

Eyes never leaving Kat, he watched as she visibly tensed, her shoulders climbing to her ears and her spine going ramrod straight. She slowly turned toward him and he noticed that her blouse had these tiny buttons spread from neck to navel. The top three were undone, giving a tasteful hint of cleavage that made him want to undo the rest—with his teeth.

Professional Kat was smoking hot.

“Yeah, we heard about the lost kids,” Lucas said. “We wouldn’t have blamed you if you hadn’t showed up at all.”

“And miss this?” His eyes went back to Kat. “Nah.”

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