I’m married, I kept repeating to myself. To a woman like Olivia or not, I shouldn’t be thinking about another woman this way . . . and Tate—shit. I swallowed the lump in my throat and had to force my eyes shut before I could turn away from Casey and leave my brother’s house.

3

Kamryn

May 9, 2015

“THINGS ARE GREAT, Barb, I swear.”

She sighed. “If you say so, baby girl. You just sound off today.”

I am off. And I know exactly why. I haven’t slept since the barbecue at Jace and Kinlee’s four days ago because all I can think about is a certain brother.

“You’re sighing.”

“I am?” I kept myself from sighing again and looked around the coffee shop to make sure I didn’t know anyone there before hanging my head. “I met a guy, Barb.”

“You did? Oh, baby girl! Then why do you seem so sad about this? Tell me all about him! Is he handsome?”

I smiled and felt my cheeks get warm. “Yeah, you could say that. But nothing’s going to come of it.”

She tsked at me, and I pictured her pointing whatever cooking utensil she was holding in the air like I was there next to her. “Kam. I don’t know why you won’t let yourself date any of these men Kinlee tries to set you up with. It’s not like you got out of a long relationship that you were happy in. You were miserable with that preppy bastard. You deserve someone better, so let yourself be happy.”

“That’s not it, Barb. This isn’t one of the guys Kinlee tried to set me up with, although she tried that this weekend again. And if I hadn’t met this other guy, I actually think I would’ve really liked to get to know Aiden—”

“Oh, what a great name,” she whispered.

I laughed. “But then I met Brody . . . he’s Kinlee’s brother-in-law.” Even I could hear how pathetic I sounded now.

“There’s nothing wrong with that, I’m sure Kinlee wouldn’t mind—”

“Yeah, but I’d bet his wife would,” I mumbled lamely.

“Oh, baby girl. Don’t you go getting caught up in that. Nothing good can come from that, and I raised you to be above all that nonsense.”

“I’m not, Barb. I told you, nothing’s going to come of it. And besides, I only saw him for all of two minutes.”

“So then why do you sound like your mother when I hide her Xanax?”

I laughed out loud and covered my face with my free hand when people around the coffee shop looked at me. “Oh, my God, Barb . . . you’re the one who does that?” My mom didn’t suffer from anxiety—she just liked the effect Xanax and vodka combined had on her. She was always accusing my dad of hiding the pills and would go into a faux-depressed state until they reappeared. Knowing Barbara was the one hiding them made me love her even more.

“Course I do. Now explain. Two minutes knowing a married man and you’re acting like this?”

“I—I can’t explain it without sounding crazy.”

“Well, I’ve lived with Crazy One and Crazy Two for twenty-five years, I’m an expert on it.”

“True,” I huffed softly. “We just . . . had these moments. We couldn’t look away from each other, couldn’t speak to each other . . .”

“This is all my fault for letting you read trashy romance novels growing up,” she mumbled, and I laughed.

“I’m being serious! I swear I distinctly remember the way he smelled, and I can still feel where his hands were.” I looked down to see goose bumps spreading on my arms at the same time I heard the aforementioned cooking utensil hit the counter.

“He had his hands on you and he is married? He is bad news, Kamryn! You stay away from him!”

“No, Jesus, Barb! He caught me. I literally ran into him and almost fell over. He just caught and steadied me.”

“Oh. Well. Still. You need to remember the man is married, and there are some lines you just don’t cross. And don’t you dare take the Lord’s name in vain around me again, young lady.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Why don’t you tell me more about this other guy . . . Aiden, right? Let’s talk about him until Kinlee gets there. I’m assuming she’s running late again?”

“Of course, she is.” I sighed and rolled my eyes as I looked up at the door to see if it was her who just walked in. “Oh . . . my . . . word. He’s a cop,” I whispered.

“Who is?” she whispered back at me.

“Brody. He just walked into the coffee shop.”

“Kamryn, don’t you dare—”

“Barbara,” I hissed as I forced my eyes away from Brody in his uniform and looked around to see if there was anything I could hide behind. There wasn’t. “He’s married!”

“Baby girl, you are not too big for me to give your behind a good swat! Don’t you use that tone with me! I’ll fly to Oregon just to remind you of your manners.”

“Yes, ma’am, but I need to hide, and there’s nothing to hide behind. Maybe he won’t—”

“KC?”

Son of a bitch! “He found me,” I whispered, before turning to look at Brody. “Hi,” I said through gritted teeth. Oh, Christ, he looked better than I remembered . . . and with that uniform on, this was not about to go over well.

Brody gave me a strange glance before looking to the side and back to me. “You don’t remember me, do you? I’m Brody—”

“No, of course, I do. You’re Jace’s brother.” How am I supposed to forget you? I can’t sleep because of you! “Barb, I have to go, call me later.” She was spouting off warnings as I tapped the END button and laid my phone on the table.

“Sorry, I didn’t realize you were on the phone. You didn’t have to get off.”

“It’s fine.” I wanted to ask how he was, or if he’d been able to get any sleep since this weekend. But we hadn’t even said anything to each other at Kinlee’s house. I wasn’t some old friend who could ask how the family was. Wife, Kamryn. He has a wife. Like a bucket of ice-cold water had been thrown on me, my mind cleared and I straightened in my chair. “So, police officer, huh?”

That crooked smile crossed his face, and his eyes bore into mine. “Yeah.”

“Y’all’s family is really covering all the bases. Jace is a firefighter, you’re a cop. Do you have another sibling who’s an EMT?”

He huffed softly, and I tried to focus on anything other than his face. “No, no other siblings, but my parents really should have thought about that one when they were having kids. Would have rounded it out well.”

“Right?” I said with a laugh. His eyes were locked on mine, and I felt myself wanting to get lost in them. Clearing my throat, I broke the connection for a moment and shot him a grin. “So you left kinda quick the other day. Everything okay? Or do you just not like slumming it with the firefighters?” I instantly regretted teasing him when a wave of some indescribable emotion passed over his face. Whatever it was, it wasn’t good.

“I’d just forgotten I had somewhere to be.” He looked around the shop quickly before his eyes landed back on me, but that crooked smile was gone. What did I say? “Are you meeting someone here?”

“Um, just Kinlee, but she’s—”

“Late? Figures.” He shook his head, and that perfectly imperfect smile was back. “Well, I need to get back on patrol. Can I buy you a drink?”

“Oh, no, that’s fine. You have a good night.”

“I insist. I mean, it’s the least I can do. I interrupted your phone call.”

That had to be the last reason for needing to buy me coffee. But that stupid crooked smirk was there, and his gaze was holding mine intently, and to be honest, I was starting to forget why I wasn’t supposed to be attracted to this man. “Okay.”

He stepped back and waited for me to stand before silently leading me over to the registers. After ordering a large coffee for himself and a caramel latte with whip for me, he walked over to the side with me to wait for my drink, and I tried to hide my smile.

“What do you do, KC?”

“I own a bakery.” His eyes widened, and I stupidly pointed in the direction of the strip where my bakery was. “It’s right next door to Kinlee’s boutique.”

“How old are you?”

“Um, twenty-three?” It came out sounding like a question, but I didn’t understand why he was looking at me the way he was. “Why?”

“You’re twenty-three and you own a bakery. That’s just really impressive. Something like that obviously has to be something you love, and not many people get to say they do what they love for a living. To be that young, own your own business, and be doing what you love—like I said . . . it’s impressive.”

“Th-thank you. I guess? Um . . . huh.” I turned back toward the counter and waited for my drink to appear. I could feel the heat in my cheeks and felt it get worse when I saw him watching me from the corner of my eye. I didn’t know how to respond to what he said. That was a compliment, right? You say “Thanks” to compliments . . . don’t you? My mind flashed through different instances with Charles and my parents, and I quickly shook my head to get rid of any thoughts of them. Those people wouldn’t know how to give a compliment if their life depended on it.

“How long have you been in Oregon?”

My head snapped to the right, and Brody laughed softly at my question-mark expression.

“Well, it’s obvious you’re from the South.”

I always went back to talking normal—well, normal for me—after a phone call with Barbara, and I hadn’t even tried to hide it. I cursed silently and smiled as I reminded myself to talk as not-normal as possible. “About eight months.”

“Where’d you move from?”

“Don’t even try it, Bro. She won’t give it up to me, she’s not about to tell you.”

Brody and I both jolted away from each other at the sound of Kinlee’s voice, and I grabbed my latte as she kissed his cheek and grabbed me for an awkward hug. I hadn’t even realized how close Brody and I had gotten to each other until then, and from the way he was looking in between his sister-in-law and me, he hadn’t either.

“Sorry I’m late, there were people on the road, and they were in my way. You know how it goes.”

I nodded and laughed. “Other drivers? Yeah, they do tend to get in the way sometimes, Lee.”

“Whatever, they should’ve known I had somewhere to be. There’re other roads they can be on.” She turned toward Brody and grabbed his hand before whispering. “You okay? I’m sorry about Jace, don’t let him . . .”

I quietly stepped back and walked over to the table where I’d been sitting. The way Brody’s face instantly shut down when Kinlee asked if he was okay let me know I was not meant to be there for that conversation. I wanted to know what Jace had done, and I figured that must have been why Brody left their house so suddenly last weekend, but I kept my life private. I wasn’t about to go snooping through theirs. The hair on the back of my neck stood up, and I looked up from my coffee cup to see Brody standing there looking down at me.

“Why won’t you tell her where you’re from?”

“It’s a part of my life I’d rather forget about,” I whispered before I could stop myself.

His brow furrowed and his mouth opened, but it snapped shut and he leaned away as his eyes got a faraway look. After a few seconds he grabbed the radio on his shoulder. “Unit four-eighteen, go ahead—unit four-eighteen, ten-four en route. I have to go,” he stated, but he didn’t move away, in fact he moved closer, his gray eyes pinning me to my seat.

My heart began racing impossibly faster as I once again felt something I’d never experienced with any other man but the one standing less than two feet from me. It felt like I was being pulled to him, and I wanted to give in so bad.

“Have a good night, KC,” he said in a low voice, and I shivered from the warmth and roughness of it. “I enjoyed seeing you again.”

“Be safe tonight.”

One corner of his mouth pulled up, and he knocked his knuckles against the table twice before backing away with his eyes on me. When he got a few more feet away, he turned, called out a good-bye to Kinlee—who was tapping rapidly on her phone as she waited for her coffee—and walked out the door.

I tried not to, but I followed his movements as he jogged out to his patrol Tahoe and pulled open the driver’s door. At the last second, he turned to look at the window where I was sitting, and I swear I could feel the heat from his gaze even from that distance.

“Okay!” Kinlee exclaimed, and I jumped. “I’m here. Sheesh, I really need to start driving with you so I won’t be late anymore.”

“That would just make both of us late.”