Chapter 26
CHAPTER 26
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I didn’t want to see Ford. I still felt too raw from our encounter yesterday, and there hadn’t been time to rebuild any of my defenses. All through my shift at the Brewhouse last night, I’d felt like a giant exposed nerve, to the point that I’d shut myself into my office to work on tax shit rather than risk facing any actual people.
But Ford had invoked the one thing that would unequivocally override my reservations—Peyton. I might have thought he was abusing that fact, except that the 911 request had come via group text. If he’d tagged in Sawyer and Willa, Gabi and Daniel, both his moms, and me, something was up. I thought of what he’d told me about the FBI’s interest in Peyton and wondered if something else had happened there. I couldn’t imagine what other reason he’d have for bringing us all together without the girl herself. She was currently up at the Brewhouse, head to head with Pop, talking pirates again for her school project.
If Peyton was in some kind of trouble or danger, I wasn’t going to let my own complicated feelings for her father stop me from being there to help. That was the only thing that sent me across the patch of lawn separating our houses barely twenty- four hours after I’d banished Ford from my kitchen. Keeley trotted at my heels, tail a cheerful metronome.
Everyone else had already arrived. I’d waited until I’d seen the crowd of cars in the driveway to ensure I wouldn’t be stuck alone with him. I didn’t know what else he might try to say to me, and I wasn’t prepared for any more emotional upheaval.
I hesitated at the door before finally just opening it and walking inside. We weren’t that kind of friends anymore, but if everyone was talking, it was possible nobody would hear my knock. My dog bolted inside, making a beeline for Willa and Roy.
Gabi pulled me into a hug. “Hey, girl.”
“Sorry I’m late.” I squeezed back, grateful for her steadying presence.
Willa waved from where she sat on the floor with both dogs. “You’re right on time.”
Sawyer stood beside her, arms crossed, his usual easy smile nowhere in sight. Whatever was going on had him worried. Or maybe that was lingering worry over the fact that David Galef’s killer was still on the loose.
“Bree, honey.” Mimi swept over to hug me, and I fought the urge to melt into her maternal warmth the way I had when I was younger.
Mama Flo lifted the coffeepot in silent question.
“Yes, please.” I’d do better if I had something to do with my hands.
Daniel, Gabi’s Coast Guardsman boyfriend, nodded from his spot by the window. He and I weren’t close, but I appreciated how good he was for her. He’d taken an apartment on the island to be closer to her, though his posting at Nags Head had him gone a lot.
And then there was Ford.
My breath caught at the sight of him, echoes of yesterday’s conversation hitting me like a punch to the gut. Dark circles shadowed his eyes, and scruff darkened his tight jaw. When our gazes met, the weight of everything said and unsaid between us felt like an elephant sinking down on my chest.
“Thanks for coming.” His voice was rough.
The mix of grief and gratitude in his expression made me want to look away, but I forced myself to hold his gaze. “You said it was about Peyton.”
That was all I needed to know. That would always be enough to bring me running, and we both knew it.
His shoulders relaxed a fraction. “Yeah. We need to talk about keeping her safe.”
“What’s going on?” I settled into the remaining chair, purposefully not looking at him. “Did something else happen with the feds?”
Daniel’s brow winged up. “The feds?”
I listened as Ford gave us the update. The varying degrees of surprise on everyone’s face suggested he hadn’t told anyone but me about that initial visit at the police station. Maybe it was because we’d all been derailed by Galef's murder. I wasn’t sure what it meant that he’d come only to me.
“The agent I spoke with yesterday was pretty firm that he believes the potential threat to Peyton is slim, but slim isn’t none. So I wanted to bring in all of you. The more eyes we have, the better, and I’ll be having a conversation with Peyton about not going anywhere alone.”
Sawyer looked pensive. “Obviously we’ll all help, but seems like we’re a little thin on the details.”
Frustration pulled Ford’s brows together. “Don’t I know it? But that was all he was willing to say.”
“You want me to tap Dax? See what he can dig up on Casey’s former employer?”
“Who’s Dax?” I asked.
“Friend of mine from the Navy,” Sawyer explained. “Former Naval Intelligence, like Jace. He’s been doing contract work since he retired. He’s the one who tracked down the link between Roland O’Shea and that asshole doctor who fucked with Willa’s head.”
The guy who’d let us know exactly who the threat to Willa was last summer. He’d almost been too late, but if not for that last-minute phone call, we wouldn’t have known where to even start looking when she’d disappeared. A handy man to have in our corner.
Ford nodded. “If he’s got time and is willing, I’d appreciate whatever light he can shed.”
“Sure. I’ll message him tonight. Do you know the name of Casey’s company?”
“No, but that I think Peyton probably does, so I’ll ask her when she gets home.”
We continued to discuss the best plan of action for keeping eyes on Peyton. Between the eight of us, it would be relatively easy to manage coverage for all the hours she wasn’t in school. How she’d feel about that, I wasn’t sure.
“Are you planning to tell her what’s going on?” I asked.
Ford scrubbed a hand down his face. “I haven’t decided. I don’t want to freak her out. But I don’t want her uninformed, either.”
“You could explain all of this away as just caution because of the Galef murder,” Daniel suggested. “And if Sawyer’s guy finds something more pertinent, address it then.”
Ford met my gaze across the room. “What would you do?”
It was a strange feeling being consulted like this. I understood why. I was the most like her. But it didn’t change the sense that he was treating me as if I were Peyton’s other parent.
“I think she’s had enough challenges settling into a new life here. If we can do this without giving her cause to worry more than she already does, I think that’s better. Everything’s too vague right now, so telling her is only going to bring up a lot of questions none of us have answers to. She has enough unknowns.”
“Okay. Then that’s what we’ll do.”
We finalized a few more details, then everybody began filing out, heading their separate ways, until somehow I found myself the only one left. This wasn’t where I wanted to be. I’d tried to avoid exactly this. My brain urged my feet to move, to carry me as far as possible from this man who still had the power to decimate me. But one look at Ford’s face stopped me. His broad shoulders were slumped, the weight of this threat only adding to the responsibility and worry of new parenthood. I couldn’t just walk away when he looked like this.
“Hey.” I touched his arm. “We won’t let anything happen to her.”
His eyes met mine, raw with emotion. “I just found her. And now I find out someone could be after my kid?”
“That’s not going to happen.” Before I could think better of it, I stepped closer, wrapping my arms around him in the first hug I’d initiated in more than ten years.
Ford’s breath caught for half a beat before those big, strong arms wrapped around me, pulling me tight against that broad, muscular chest. It was the same and somehow different. Even though we’d both changed, my body recognized his. The shape and scent of him. The steady thump of his heart, and that indefinable feeling that, in his arms, I was anchored against anything and everything the world could throw at me.
God, I’d missed this. Missed him.
His brow came down to rest against mine. Our breaths mingled, and suddenly this was no longer a friendly hug. But I didn’t pull away. Callused fingers skimmed up the side of my neck, and I couldn’t hold back a shiver as he brushed the hair back from my face.
“I’ve missed you, Bree. So fucking much.” His voice had gone to gravel, as it always did when he held back big emotion. “Not just your friendship, although absolutely that, but what we might have been if I hadn’t been so damned stupid.”
My heart thundered in my chest as I stared into the stormy green of his eyes. What the hell was I supposed to do with that? Or with the attraction that still hummed between us? “What are you saying?”
“That it wasn’t a mistake. That we weren’t a mistake, and I wish I’d never left.”
I hardly dared to breathe because this was everything I’d wanted to hear from him for years. But how could I believe him? This man had shattered me once before. Only a fool would allow him close enough to do it again.
But my brain short-circuited as Ford’s thumb traced along my jaw. I shivered at the warmth of his touch, unable to run because every cell in my traitorous body wanted more. His eyes darkened, and I almost wept as he closed that final distance between us. The first brush of his lips against mine was tentative, careful—so different from that desperate, drunken night we’d never discussed.
This was deliberate. Intentional. And somehow that made it more devastating than anything we’d shared before.
I’d kissed other men in the past ten years. Plenty of them. I’d done a hell of a lot more. But they’d all been just physical release. Carefully managed encounters that never threatened my heart. But this… this was Ford . My best friend. The man who’d known me better than anyone. Who still knew exactly how to touch me to make me melt.
His tongue swept across my bottom lip, and I opened for him with a soft sound that might have been a whimper. I didn’t care. One of his hands slid into my hair while the other curved around my hip, pulling me closer. The solid wall of his chest pressed against mine, and suddenly I couldn’t get enough. After so many years with almost no physical contact, I needed to feel him. All of him. My fingers curled into his shirt as I rose to my toes, deepening the kiss, desperate to get closer.
All my carefully constructed defenses, my determination to hold on to my anger, my hurt, were dissolving under the heat of his mouth, the perfect fit of his body against mine. I’d forgotten how right this felt. Or maybe I’d just refused to remember.
God knew, there was no way I could make myself forget again.
Ford’s hands slid down my back, and I arched into him with a gasp. His mouth traveled down my throat, finding that spot below my ear that drove me crazy. I clutched at his shoulders, my body on fire, every shred of my good sense simply gone.
His voice was rough against my skin. “I’ve dreamed about this. About you.”
My fingers tangled in his hair as I dragged his mouth back to mine. I couldn’t handle talking right now. Not when he’d reduced me to a quivering mass of sheer need. The kiss turned fierce, desperate. He gripped my hips, lifting me up until my long legs wrapped around his waist. The bulge of his erection pressed against my center through my jeans, driving me a little more crazy as he carried me into the kitchen. My ass settled on a hard surface. The kitchen counter. I could work with that. I tightened my legs, pulling him closer as I devoured his mouth.
The sound of a car door slamming had us jerking apart, gasping.
Ford looked lust-addled and utterly confused.
“Peyton,” I murmured.
For one more second, we stared at each other, panting. His hair was mussed where I’d run my fingers through it. My lips felt swollen, and I knew I had to look just as disheveled.
The door handle turned, and Ford backed up. I slid off the counter, shoving away from him, nearly falling in my haste to put some kind of distance between us.
Peyton bounced inside, stopping short with a look between us. “Oh, hey Bree! I didn’t know you were here.”
Could she see my heart thundering in my chest? “I was just leaving.” My voice came out half an octave higher than normal. I couldn’t look at Ford. Couldn’t process what had just happened. “I’ve got to get back to the Brewhouse.”
I bolted for the door, calling for Keeley and ignoring Peyton’s confused “But I thought Monty was covering tonight?”
The cool evening air hit my flushed face as I practically ran across the yard to my house. What the hell had I been thinking? I couldn’t do this. Not with Ford. Not again.
I slammed my door behind me and sagged against it, trying to catch my breath. But all I could think about was the heat of Ford’s mouth and how badly I wanted to go back for more.