Shaun nodded and took a drink of her cocktail, turning slightly so that she wasn’t looking directly at Kasey, who still stood across the fire from her. He was talking with Jodi, Free, and Levi, and over the music and the sound of the crackling of the fire, she could hear that low drawl that made her knees weak.
“How are things down south?” Shaun asked Roxy.
The redhead shrugged her shoulders, taking a drink of her own cocktail. “They’re alright. Calmed down some, finally.”
“No more trouble from the ex?” she asked, her brows drawing together. Jodi had confided in her the harrowing story of how Roxy’s ex-boyfriend had gotten physically abusive at the end of their relationship. Roxy had left him, moved in with Free down in Texas, and had gotten a restraining order, but while Free was in Michigan for his brother Shane’s wedding last fall, her ex had accosted her one night on her way home and beat her into a bloody mess.
“He hasn’t shown his face in over a year,” Roxy said, shifting from one foot to the other, and Shaun saw the way her mouth tightened just the slightest. “Good riddance, if you ask me.”
Shaun motioned awkwardly to her face and said, “Looks like everything healed.”
Roxy snorted and took another drink of her cocktail before saying sourly, “For the most part, yes. I still have this scar—” she said and pointed to the left side of her bottom lip, where Shaun could see a jagged white scar that bisected her lip and downbelow the pink fullness of it to her chin, “—and the vision in my left eye is still a little blurry. He rocked my shit pretty hard.”
“Don’t you get nervous being alone?” Tessa asked from where she sat in the chairs to their right.
“Nah,” Roxy said and lifted one shoulder. She motioned toward Kasey, and Shaun’s eyes found his again. “Kasey checks in pretty regularly, when he’s not on the road, anyway. And Bobby, the landlord, checks in a lot, too.”
“It would be a helluva lot easier to check in on you if you ever answered your damn cell phone,” Kasey grumbled over the fire. The redhead stuck her tongue out at him.
“You know our offer still stands, too,” Free said then and Jodi nodded.
“What offer?” Shaun asked, pulling her gaze away from Kasey. He had hunkered down, pouring a hefty portion of what looked like expensive bourbon into his empty cup before standing.
“They’re trying to get me to move up here,” Roxy said and laughed while shaking her head. “I’m not made for the cold.”
“You’re also not made for a body bag,” Free muttered, but it was good natured. The friendship between the three of them was obvious. “Kasey is gone most of the year and I’m up here full time now.”
“I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself,” Roxy snapped, and Shaun almost laughed. She liked Roxy. She seemed to keep Free and Kasey on their toes.
Levi’s deep voice rumbled over the fire from where he stood beside Jodi and Free, addressing Roxy, “As a native Texan myself, I can assure you that you will get used to the cold. I back Free and Jodi’s offer. If you ever feel unsafe, please don’t hesitate to take them up on it. As a father, I’d rather see you have to bundle up in extra layers than the alternative.” Gesturingaround them to the gathering crowd, he rumbled, “This here is family. You’re a part of that, now. We take care of our own.”
Shaun’s nose tingled slightly with emotion, and she smiled over at her dad at his heartfelt words. Jodi cleared her throat and wrapped her arm around Freeman’s waist and said to them all earnestly, “We are so glad that you all were able to make it this weekend for our engagement party, and we cannot wait to have you all standing with us in a month and a half when we say ‘I do’. It means the world to us, you guys.”
Kasey winked over at Jodi and said, “I’ll have the getaway car on standby if you need it, doll.”
“Fuck off,” Free laughed then, reaching out and shoving Kasey hard on the shoulder. “Get your own Kendall woman. This one is mine.”
Shaun’s breath hitched in her throat when Kasey’s gray-blue eyes found hers across the fire, and she could read the message in them loud and clear;Don’t mind if I do.
EIGHT
He was having the damndest time keeping his eyes to himself.
Everything she did was maddening. The way she tipped her cup to her lips, the way those full, kissable lips pressed to the rim of the cup, the way the cool air had made her cheeks and the tip of her nose pink, the way she threw her head back and laughed, the way her straight white teeth looked as they clamped down on her bottom lip every time she failed at keepinghereyes toherself, too.
They maintained the fire-widths distance from each other at all times, but he didn’t mind, because that meant he could watch her no matter where she was. The black jeans she wore hugged her mile long legs and cupped her fantastic ass in ways that made it hard to concentrate on what was going on around him. He was also fighting a near constant chubby and had to keep readjusting his jeans because fuck was she gorgeous in the firelight.
Kasey took another swallow of the bourbon he’d brought with him as an engagement gift for Freeman, the rich, smoky liquor turning the slow burn in his belly into an inferno as he continued to watch Shaun. His eyes kept skittering over to the patio door every time it would slide open as more guests arrived, waiting for the moment when that douche bag fiancé of hers would make his appearance.
His cousin Shane and his wife Cassie had joined them, her pregnant belly extending out in front of her. He watched as Serenity, who he’d met earlier in the evening, fussed over the younger woman, forcing her to sit in one of the more comfortable chairs surrounding the fire before insisting that Levi run inside to grab an extra blanket, just in case she got cold. The older man nodded in agreement before sauntering acrossthe darkened lawn, returning a couple minutes later with the blanket for Cassie. He liked Shaun and Jodi’s parents and felt very comfortable around them, though the way Levi watched him watching his daughter was a good deterrent to staring at the woman unabashedly like he wanted to.
Levi and Serenity had settled into a wooden bench swing across the fire, and the older man’s arm was draped over his wife’s shoulders, tucking her securely into his side. His booted toe rocked them continuously, and Kasey could see where Freeman had learned a lot of his mannerisms from, as he’d spent nearly a decade with the Kendall family growing up. The friendship between the older man and Freeman was obvious, too. He had a better understanding of why Freeman had fought so hard against the attraction he’d felt for the eldest Kendall daughter for as long as he had. Camaraderie like what Levi and Free had was hard to come by and he understood not wanting to betray his friend and mentor by pursuing the man’s daughter.
Glancing at the watch on his wrist, he was surprised to see it was after eleven. The evening had flown by. Roxy excused herself into the house, along with the two women he’d been introduced to earlier, Jodi’s other bridesmaids. The three of them made their way across the yard, giggling and chattering until the patio door slid closed behind them.
Shaun had settled herself into one of the Adirondack chairs across from him and had pulled her knees to her chest. She had tucked her feet up onto the seat and wrapped her arms around her legs. Her chin rested on her knee as she stared into the flickering flames between them. Her eyes looked like glittering sapphires in the low glow of the fire. Taking another sip of his bourbon, he made his way slowly around the ring of the fire, stopping at the chair Roxy had vacated beside Shaun.
Sinking into it, he sighed heavily and leaned back against the smooth wood. Stretching his legs out in front of him, he crossedone ankle over the other and turned his head to look at her. She stared straight ahead into the flames, but he could see the way her breathing had kicked up a notch, and he watched as she swallowed hard. His own heart was beating like a drum in his chest. Just being near her did things to him.
