The girls scattered in all directions, scooping up balls anddropping them into the ball cart. To collect them as quickly as possible, a few girls popped one or two under their shirts, like a pregnant woman. I gulped as I walked toward the parents. I’d never coached a sport in my life.
And then I gulped again.
Because sitting there, in the middle of the group, was Silas’s super hot younger brother Holden. The one I’d kissed right after Silas broke my heart. And he was scrutinizing me with his honey-brown eyes. I swear if a gaze could burn, he would’ve scorched two iris-sized holes right through me. He leaned back and folded his arms across his chest, a slight smirk at the corners of his mouth. I should’ve looked away, but he was wearing dark slacks and a light blue slim-fit business shirt that hugged his muscled chest just right. I knew it was muscled because I’d run my hands all over it when I’d kissed him. And let me tell you, abs for days.
His dark blond hair was perfectly coiffed in the front as if he’d just walked out of the barbershop two minutes ago. He had the chiseled jawline of an underwear model, and his eyebrow cocked, like, are you going to look away or what? A muscle in his jaw pulsed, hinting irritation at our little interchange, but his lips looked kind of happy about it. Either that or they’d like to take a bite out of me. Heat prickled my cheeks, and I quickly sat on the front row, turning my back to him. But my mind was ablaze, knowing he was in the same room. My hands wouldn’t stop mangling each other.
Holden was…my friend. Or, he had been. I’d turned to him during Silas’s and my “reset.” What had been a moment of weakness on my part had morphed into nightly phone calls,The Officewatch parties, and truth sessions that had pulled some of my darkest secrets out of obscurity. Like how I was a disappointment to my mother for letting both of my younger sisters find husbands before me. Or how I’d failed to claim the valedictorian spot in high school by two-tenths of a point. Orhow I couldn’t run for crap because my lungs seized, and I always ended up with my head between my knees, wheezing for air. I told him things that would’ve made the polish peel right off my mother’s manicured nails. “Put up your best front always,” Mom said on repeat. “You never know when a man will look at you as something more.” And yet, Holden kept coming back every night for weeks.
Yeah, I’d kissed him out of desperation. My heart had felt like it was on the edge of the world, about to drop off into a dark, bottomless abyss. But something unexpected had happened during that kiss. The way he’d touched me, gently but with a torrent of underlying desire. How he’d looked at me between carefully placed pecks on my mouth like I was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. The patient slowness of the movement, like he’d stay there all night if that’s how long it took to make that kiss perfect. The heat that had hit in ways it never had with any other guy. How my heart had swollen so big I couldn’t take a full breath.
I wanted to fan myself just remembering it.
Hands down, it was the best kiss of my life. Not a runner-up in sight. Top of the medal stand, totally alone.
Until Silas showed up and made me feel like a cheap floozy. And I’d played the part just how he wanted me to. Taken all the blame and then turned, tail between my legs, and bolted for my motel room. With weeks to reflect, I shouldn’t have done that. Maybe I had kissed his brother, but he’d broken my heart. We were even.
I glanced back at Holden, whose massive biceps were now locked around adorable Anna, listening intently as she animatedly told him, I don’t know, probably about her first day of high school. My chest tightened, and I exhaled. Good gosh, he was even more attractive when he was being sweet and interested in his niece.
My heart panged hard. If I was being honest, I missed himand his friendship. Achingly. He was smart, kind, and hilarious. And yes, I could’ve reached out. I could’ve apologized for going after Silas instead of standing firm next to him. I’d started to text him multiple times.
But I wasn’t going to.
Because the thing I’d had to remind myself hourly, no minutely, was this…
Holden was a big, fat player.
Silas had told me that, and Holden had admitted it in one of our first conversations. He’d dated over a hundred girls. Well over. To the point that he’d stopped counting. But I felt confident in labeling him a serial dater. So, no wonder the kiss had been so incredible. He had a PhD in perfectly placed hands and the right amount of pressure needed to induce a moan, or how to use those warm eyes to elicit certain emotions…
But it hadn’t meant anything to him.
The entire reason I’d first gone out with Silas when he asked wasn’t because I was super attracted to him. Even though I’d grown up in Wyoming, cowboys weren’t my type. Nope. Players were. Good-looking, cocky ones, just like Holden. In high school and college, I’d been naïve enough to think I could tame a guy like that. Had even brought one home to meet my family once.
But I’d realized after having my heart obliterated that maybe some girls were capable of conquering a ladies’ man—like my little sister Gabby—but I wasn’t one of them.
So, while Holden might be dreamy and swole—as I’d heard two teenage girls say today—and his rose petal lips might induce a full-body tremble, weaving an exhilarating spell around your heart—one thing was perfectly clear.
I needed to stay far, far away from Holden Dupree.
three
HOLDEN
Iloved everything about this courthouse. The orangey smell of the oiled wood, the Jeffersonian architecture of the dome on top of the building, high school memories of clerking for Jedd Pruitt, who was still the District Attorney to this day. This was where I’d fallen in love with the law. Wonderful stuff happened in this building—I’d witnessed plenty of it—and I was feeling hopeful about today’s outcome.
Silas was hiding his nerves fairly well. He’d always been pretty good at that. I was probably the only one in the courtroom who could see, but his left foot hadn’t stopped bouncing since he sat down. Lemon on the other hand looked as stiff as I’d ever seen her. Even with Silas’s arm around her shoulder—which was weird but awesome to see—she couldn’t relax. Her posture was taut, jaw clenched. I tried to catch her eye, give her a smile, but her stare was glued to Judge Franklin’s face, as if looking away might disqualify them from any chance of becoming Anna’s guardians. Silas pressed a kiss to her hair and still her eyes stayed trained on Franklin.
I’d already spent twenty minutes laying out all the reasonswhy Anna should be allowed to choose who she wanted to live with. She was mature for her age, made good decisions, had straight A’s, and had been incredibly close with Sophie before she passed. I’d given the judge a copy of Sophie’s letter, proving it was Silas and Lemon she’d chosen for Anna. And I’d had Lemon and Silas bring the letters Sophie wrote to each of them, reiterating that fact. The judge was folding them back up now.
“Let me be clear,” said the judge, an older woman with slices of gray running through her jet-black hair. “When I first read through the paperwork of this case, I thought it was the oddest stipulation I’d come across in many years. Ninety days under the same roof to decide custody? I thought to myself, is this a reality show? Am I being pranked?”
I laughed and masked it with a quick cough into my hand. Unprofessional, but she’d caught me off guard. Working in DC, it was like everyone was so busy with the business of running the country that they forgot it was okay to laugh now and then. That it was okay to be yourself. One of the things I loved about this small town was the realness of the people who lived here.
Everyone glanced at me wide-eyed—Lemon, Silas, Mom, Dad, and Anna. Good grief. Clearly, being in a courtroom had them on edge.
Judge Franklin looked down at the six of us Duprees and continued. “The whole clause of residing together is odd, I’ll admit. But then, I thought, maybe this Sophie was a genius.” I bit the inside of my cheeks to keep from smiling. She looked pointedly at Silas and Lemon. “Maybe she wanted this to be a trial run before she handed over her daughter to you to raise.”
Lemon squeezed her eyes shut like she was in actual pain. She was being way too hard on herself.
