Just One Kiss (8 page)

“Is there someone else?” she asked.

“No.”

“Are you playing me?”

He touched her cheek. “No. I give you my word.”

“It’s because you didn’t come back before now, right? This is about why you stayed away?”

She saw the truth in his eyes and took a step back.

“Okay,” she said slowly. “Tell me now. Why didn’t you? Why was it okay to see Ford and not me?”

“Because I can’t hurt Ford.”

“And you can hurt me.” She raised her chin as she spoke, determined to be strong.

“I don’t want to.” He seemed to struggle for words. “Dammit, Patience, I know what’s right and I can’t resist...”

Her? Them? Sex? This was not the best time for him to be unable to finish a sentence. She waited, hoping he would say more. Maybe admit she’d haunted him. Because she would love to be thought of as the kind of woman who haunted a man rather than one who wore fun T-shirts and did hair.

He cupped her cheeks and lightly kissed her mouth. “Complications. Come on. I’ll buy you a cup of coffee at you-know-where.”

She should probably refuse. Walk away and pretend none of this had ever happened. She had enough going on in her life without dealing with Justice. But she couldn’t seem to summon the strength to resist.

“I may want a couple of pumps of mocha in mine,” she told him.

“I think I can handle that.”

* * *

J
USTICE
STARED
AT
the spreadsheet on his computer screen. Felicia had done her usual excellent job of sorting through the numbers and breaking them down into relevant relationships. If she went into a little too much detail, it was a small price to pay.

He was about to read the income projections when he heard a knock on the door.

He rose and crossed the living area of the suite at Ronan’s Lodge. Eventually he would have to get an apartment or rent a house, but for now, the hotel suited his needs.

He opened the door, prepared to tell housekeeping that he didn’t need any more towels. But instead he found himself staring at a ten-year-old girl.

“Hi,” she said. “I’m Lillie McGraw. Patience’s daughter.”

“I remember.”

Lillie had obviously come from school. She had a backpack over one shoulder and a book in her hand. She gave him a tentative smile.

“Can I talk to you?”

“Sure.” He grabbed his room key and stepped into the hallway. “Let’s go down to the lobby. I’ll buy you a soda.”

She smiled. “That would be nice. Thank you.”

They took the elevator down to the spacious lobby. Justice settled Lillie on a sofa in the corner.

“What would you like?” he asked, glancing toward the coffee cart in the lobby.

Lillie shook her head. “I’m okay. I’d like to just talk, if that’s okay.”

“Of course it is.”

Her eyes were the same brown as her mother’s. He could see a lot of Patience in her, as well as a few features he didn’t recognize. Her father’s influence. Patience had said things hadn’t gone well, but hadn’t provided any details.

He took one of the club chairs across from the sofa. “How did you know where I was staying?”

Lillie smiled. “There aren’t that many hotels in town and when Grandma was talking about you the other night she said you weren’t a B-and-B kind of guy.” She paused. “That’s a bed-and-breakfast. We have a couple here in town.”

“I saw.”

Lillie leaned forward and unzipped her backpack. She pulled out several bills and thrust them toward him. “I want to hire you.”

Justice hadn’t been expecting that. “What’s the job?”

“I need a bodyguard. There’s this boy at school. Zack.” She wrinkled her nose. He’s always around and he watches me. It’s creepy, you know? I don’t know what to do about him and I don’t want to say anything to my mom because she might take it wrong. Maybe talk to my teacher. That would be embarrassing. But you’re a guy and I thought if you talked to Zack it would be better.”

Justice watched her carefully. “What exactly has he done? Has he hit you? Pushed you?”

Lillie frowned. “No. He doesn’t even speak to me. He’s— Oh!” She shook her head. “No, he’s not bullying me. We study that in school and watch movies and talk about it. I’m not being bullied. He’s just there all the time. I can’t figure out what he wants. I did ask, but he ran away. Boys are very strange. Mom says I’m going to like them someday, but I don’t think so.”

He relaxed a little. “Okay.”

“I don’t want her to worry. You can’t tell her.”

“I have to tell her if something is going on in your life, Lillie.”

The girl sighed. “Can you tell my grandma instead?”

She was a good negotiator. “Sure. I’ll tell Ava if I find anything, and I’ll report to you.” Because if someone was bothering Lillie he wanted to make sure it stopped.

“Great.” She held out the money again. “Is this enough?”

“You don’t have to pay me. The first one is free.”

She smiled. “Thanks.” She put the money in her backpack and withdrew a piece of paper. “Here’s his name and where he lives and stuff. So you can find him.”

He took the information. “I’ll look into the situation and get back to you.” He wasn’t sure what was going on with Zack, but he would sure find out.

“Thank you for helping me. Mom’s busy with her new store. She’s really happy and I knew this would upset her. Grandma’s excited, too. So I didn’t know where else to go. Maybe it would be different if I had a dad.” She put her elbows on her thighs and rested her chin in her hands. “I mean, I
have
a dad, but I never see him.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I don’t remember him at all. He left like when I was born or something. He doesn’t see me.”

She spoke without emotion—because this was all she knew. He wondered what kind of man could walk away from his child, then told himself the question was stupid. Parents walked away from kids all the time. Or did worse. Look at his own father. Justice had lived the nightmare of parental abuse. Having Bart abandon him would have been a kindness.

“If you have questions about him, I’m sure you can talk to your mom,” he said.

“I know. Or Grandma. They tell me that. But what am I supposed to ask?” She straightened and stood. “Thanks for helping me.”

“You’re welcome. I’ll get back to you in a couple of days.”

She grinned. “Can we set up a secret meeting place, like we’re spies?”

“Sure.”

“I’d like that. But it’s okay if you just come to school, too. Mom says you’re busy with your business.”

She picked up her book and her backpack and walked to the main entrance to the hotel. Justice followed her to the door and watched her walk away. Then he took the stairs back to his room. He returned to his computer, but instead of seeing Felicia’s detailed spreadsheet, he saw the past. A much-younger Patience and how she’d smiled at him.

She’d only been about four years older than Lillie. A pretty girl who had grown into a beautiful woman.

He stood and crossed to the window, then stared out at his view of the mountains.

If things had been different, he thought, even though he knew it was a waste of time. Things couldn’t have been different. Not with who he was and how he’d been raised. Bart Hanson had liked living on the wrong side of the law, liked the risk and flirting with death. His sociopathic tendencies had kept everyone around him on edge.

Justice remembered his last night in Fool’s Gold all those years ago. How the phone call had come, warning them Bart had escaped from prison and been spotted in the area. Justice had been whisked away in a matter of seconds. Less than an hour later, a team had arrived to clean out the house. By morning it was as if they’d never been there at all.

He’d raged against being taken away. Had tried to bargain to be allowed to at least phone Patience and tell her what had happened. One of the marshals had explained if she knew, she was in danger. Justice had known that was true and had stopped asking.

After Bart had been captured, Justice was finally free. The murder conviction along with his other crimes had ensured that he would die behind bars. But he hadn’t gone quietly and his final screams as he was led away had been a vow that his son would die. That Bart would hunt him down and kill him.

Even now, long after his father’s death, Justice couldn’t shake the sense that Bart was still out there. Waiting. Watching. That if Justice went too far, got too close to being like everyone else, too close to being happy, his father would pounce and destroy it all.

He glanced down to the street below and saw Lillie walking along the sidewalk. She was joined by a couple of girls her age and they talked and laughed together.

He couldn’t risk it, he thought grimly. His father haunted him. There was no way to know that he could keep anyone he cared about safe. Especially if the enemy was him.

* * *

P
ATIENCE
STOOD
LOOKING
at the floor in her newly leased space. She’d swept and cleaned in preparation for her meeting with her contractor. But before she handed over the deposit for the remodeling, she wanted to be sure. So she’d shown up, armed with a plan, a tape measure and masking tape.

So far she’d taped in the back and front counters, along with several tables and chairs. She walked back to the front door to confirm the flow, then wandered over to the empty area by the far window. What exactly was she going to put there? She had a cold case she was eyeing, or she could put in some kind of shelving and keep it for small meetings. Like for a book club. Ava kept suggesting a karaoke machine, but Patience wasn’t thrilled about that idea.

She pulled out her phone and took a picture of the taped outlines on the floor, then looked at the next hand-drawn design. Maybe if she moved the tables to the right of the door, she thought.

“Patience?”

She turned toward the sound of her name and looked at the man standing in the open doorway to the store. With the sunlight behind him, she couldn’t see him clearly at first. As he moved inside, she saw the features of an older man. He had green eyes and nearly white hair.

Her first thought was that she’d never seen him before in her life. Only there was something about him. Something familiar. They must have met somewhere and...

Her body stiffened as her brain filled in the blanks. She instinctively took a step back.

“Hello, Patience.”

“Steve.”

He gave her a slight smile. “I wasn’t sure you’d recognize me. We only met that one time.”

“Right. Two weeks before the wedding. You took us out to dinner and promised you’d see us at the ceremony.”

Ned’s father had made other promises. He hadn’t kept those, either. Instead he’d disappeared. She’d been shocked, but Ned had shrugged it off. He wasn’t used to anything better from his father.

“Why are you here?” she asked, her voice cold and stiff.

“I wanted to talk to you.”

“I’m not loaning you money.”

Steve’s expression turned rueful. “I suppose I deserve that. I haven’t been a very good grandfather.”

He’d been just as bad as a father, she thought. When she’d met Ned, one of the things they’d had in common was they’d both been abandoned by their fathers. She hadn’t seen hers in years, while Steve had drifted in and out of Ned’s life. When they’d talked about what they’d been through, Patience thought they had learned the same lesson. That it was important to follow through. To commit.

Instead, Ned had learned how easy it was to walk away.

Maybe it wasn’t fair, but she blamed Steve for that lesson. On a personal level, she wasn’t sorry to have Ned gone and had no interest in having him back. But this wasn’t about her. Lillie was the one who suffered without her father.

He glanced around at the empty storefront. “I heard you’re opening a coffeehouse.”

“Something like that.”

“Congratulations. That’s very exciting.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and watched him. “That’s not why you’re here.”

“No, it’s not.”

He wore a white shirt tucked into jeans. Not the least bit threatening. Still, she couldn’t help thinking she could make a dash for the back door if she had to.

“I’m not the man I was,” he told her. “For years, I had lousy priorities. I lost my wife and my son because of that.”

“You didn’t lose your son,” she told him. “You walked away. There’s a difference.”

“You’re right. I take responsibility for what happened with Ned. I’ve tried to see him, but he has no interest in me.” His green eyes grew thoughtful. “I can’t blame him for that, but I do wish things had been different.”

She tensed. “You’re here because of Lillie.”

“I’d like a chance to get to know her.”

She wanted to tell him no. To scream at him to get out of here and never come back. Lillie didn’t need another male relative breaking her heart.