Chapter 20 #2
Lily took them in at a glance; both looked tanned and well rested from what should’ve been her honeymoon.
How lovely for them. A complicated mix of emotions swirled through her. Grief and anger. Sadness and embarrassment. Hurt.
She focused on her breathing, slowly inhaling calm and exhaling tension—I am a still lake—and kept her expression composed, uncomfortably aware that every eye in the pub was watching her, Tucker, and Madison.
They stood there at the entrance just a little too long.
No one greeted them. No one waved. Tucker, still wearing that cocky smile and Madison, less smiley and more subdued.
She actually looked a little miserable, Lily couldn’t help but notice, being dragged along on Tucker’s arm.
Her smile was brittle, and she wouldn’t meet anyone’s eyes. Guilt, or nerves. Maybe both.
Tucker searched the pub, and when he spotted her, his smile widened.
That smile—wide and polished and sharp around the edges—sent a warning straight to her gut. She knew that smile. Tucker could be charming when he wanted to be, but when he was feeling petty or mean, that smile was the opening shot. He always did have a massive ego.
Lily sat up straighter, lifted her spine, and straightened her shoulders. New Lily, she reminded herself sternly.
Tucker leaned down and murmured something to Madison, who crossed her arms and started biting her thumbnail, looking anywhere but at Lily. Then he steered them both toward the table.
Shit. She closed her eyes for half a second, searching for that inner strength she kept promising herself she had, but it felt slippery now and just out of her reach. When she opened them, her gaze went unerringly to the man across the bar, watching her intently with cool gray eyes.
She reached for the rose quartz around her throat and drew in a shaky breath.
I am a still lake.
“Lily,” Tucker said smoothly, arms crossing over his chest like he was settling in for a show. His gaze bounced between her and Bradley with mock curiosity. “This your new boyfriend?”
Bradley let out a loud burp.
Lily blinked slowly. The universe, it seemed, had a real sense of humor.
“Oh no,” Bradley muttered. He fished a folded white handkerchief out of his pocket like he was ninety and dabbed the sweat glistening on his forehead.
“Thought I took enough anti-gas meds, but it’s hard to tell sometimes.
” He looked at Lily apologetically. “IBS can be so inconvenient.” He scooted out of the booth with a groan. “Excuse me. I might be a while.”
Lily stared at the table, her fingers wrapped tight around her glass, her knuckles white. She could feel the weight of a dozen eyes on her—some curious, some protective, all watching, and she wanted to slide under the table and out the front door and vanish.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Amber and Theo making their way over to her from across the bar. Amber’s eyes were fiery, despite her awkward, belly-first waddle. She looked ready to brawl. Theo looked grim, already loosening his tie like he might need to drag his wife off someone.
Cap was heading over, too, weaving around tables with a thunderous look on his leathery face. Killian stepped out from behind the bar, drying his hands on a dish towel, his jaw tight as he eyed Tucker.
The cavalry was coming.
Which somehow made the entire situation even worse.
She could not handle her family coming to her rescue right now.
Tucker was practically cackling. “Didn’t think you’d have the guts to show your face,” he said, dragging Madison against his side like a trophy he’d won at the carnival.
“I mean, it’s not like we planned this little reunion.” Tucker’s grin turned smug, and his eyes glittered with something mean. “You’re the one who decided to make a public spectacle of yourself. But then, you always did love attention, didn’t you, Lils?”
Lily refused to rise to the bait. Not here. Not like this. But the words she wanted to scream trembled on her lips, and she pressed them firmly together, staring straight ahead as her hands curled into fists beneath the table.
But, of course, Tucker wasn’t finished.
“Guess I should thank you,” he said, louder now, like he thought this was some kind of comedy roast. “If you hadn’t run off, I wouldn’t have ended up with Madison.
” His laughter sliced through the crowded bar loudly.
“Worked out pretty great for me. Not so much for you, huh?” Har har har.
Tucker grinned slyly, looking around the bar for someone to join in on the joke. The bar stayed uncomfortably quiet.
Tucker either didn’t notice or didn’t care.
Her throat tightened painfully. Her eyes burned. Damn her emotions. Don’t cry. Not here. Not for him.
He looked around like he was working the crowd. “Hey, all I’m saying is that trade-ups happen for some of us, right? So that’s the new guy, huh?” Tucker jerked his chin toward the bathroom. “Looks like a real downgrade.”
That was when she felt it.
A heavy, familiar arm slid over her shoulders, pulling her back against a solid wall of warmth and strength. A hard thigh pressed along hers as he slid into the booth beside her, anchoring her in place.
Rush.
His name moved through her like a sigh. She tilted her head slightly, catching the strong line of his jaw and the dark scruff darkening his face. He didn’t look at her. He looked straight at Tucker, with that calm, unreadable expression that somehow said everything.
“No,” Rush drawled, in a voice she felt more than heard in the rumble where she rested against his side. “That would be me. Right, darlin’?”
He looked down at her and raised one dark brow in question.
This okay?
“I… um….” Lily tried to form words, but instead, a huge grin spread slowly over her face.
Yes.
Rush returned it with one of his own, a lazy, lethal grin that tugged up the corner of his mustache and made her stomach flutter with memories.
Then, just as quickly, the smile vanished, and before her eyes, he changed as he turned to Tucker, the authority of a sheriff settling into his bones like a second skin.
“Is there a problem?”
Tucker’s mouth, which had dropped open enough to see the gold fillings in his back molars, snapped shut. Lily bit the inside of her cheek to fight the hysterical urge to laugh.
“No problem,” Tucker said, all false, chummy charm now. “Just catching up with my ex.”
Rush didn’t break eye contact. Instead, he reached down, took Lily’s hand, and threaded his fingers through hers like it was the most natural thing in the world. His palm was warm and calloused against hers.
Tucker let out a bark of laughter, shaking his head like he finally caught the joke. “You had me going for a second there, Rush.”
Rush didn’t blink. “It’s Sheriff Callahan.”
Tucker’s smirk faltered then slid off his face. “Look, I get it. You’re playing the hero, but Lily and I have a history.”
Madison tugged on Tucker’s arm. “Let’s just go,” she said, looking uncomfortable.
Rush tilted his head slightly and fixed Tucker with a level stare. “You had history. Now you don’t. I suggest you leave Lily alone now.” Rush’s words weren’t a suggestion, and Tucker knew it.
Tucker hesitated, but he wasn’t stupid, not when the sheriff of Northfield was looking at him like that.
Rush leaned in, his breath warm against the shell of her ear. “You ready to call it a night, sweetheart?”
Lily swallowed hard. “Y-yes.” It came out as more of a squeak than a statement, but no one seemed to notice.
Tucker choked on his drink and stepped back as Rush stood to his full height, towering over Tucker and forcing him to move aside as he stared at them with his mouth open again.
Rush slid out of the booth and turned, offering his hand.
For a heartbeat, she didn’t move. She just stared at the broad, calloused hand in front of her—followed it up with his thick wrist dusted with a few dark wisps of hair, along the hard slope of his forearm where he’d shoved up his sleeves, over the curve of his biceps and up, up, up until she met those amused steel-gray eyes that seemed to see straight into her thoughts.
Her mind flashed to all the deliciously naughty ways those powerful hands had felt against her much softer body, and heat surged through her in a dizzying wave.
Rush’s mouth curved into a knowing grin, sealing her fate.
She didn’t even hesitate.
“I’m ready,” she said, her voice stronger now. She grabbed her jacket, slipped her hand into his, and stood.
The entire bar seemed to let out a collective exhale.
“Have fun with Sheriff Sexy!” Amber shouted from across the pub.
Laughter and raucous cheers erupted, replacing the tension with good-natured teasing. Someone whistled. Cap tipped his head toward them in approval, and the rookies raised their beers, not entirely sure of the occasion but happy to be a part of it anyway.
Rush stopped abruptly.
“Oof.” Lily grunted as she walked into what felt like a brick wall.
He turned around, and for a moment, she wasn’t sure how he would react, knowing how much he disliked public attention.
Instead, a slow, wicked grin crept across his face, and he lifted his chin toward Amber.
“We intend to, ma’am.”
A fresh wave of laughter broke out behind them as he slung his arm around Lily’s shoulders, tugging her close to the heat of his body.
And just like that, they walked out into the snow like a couple.