Perfect Kiss (25 page)

But to her surprise, he simply tipped his hat, wished them both a good day, and left the café. When the door closed, her uncle turned to her.

“What was that about? Who gave him the shiner?”

Shelby wasn’t sure if it was her story to tell, so instead, she said, “It’s a long story.”

“I think I have a pretty good idea.” Henry gave her a knowing look. “From what JT had to say about Charles Dorsey, I’m guessing Levi was not too happy to see his dad.”

“You are a very good guesser, Uncle Henry.”

He smiled. “And since you just received an apology, I’m guessing you were there for the reunion.”

Shelby smiled; she couldn’t help it. Her uncle was good. “You need to trade in your cowboy hat for a deerstalker and change your name to Sherlock.”

Henry laughed then turned more serious as he covered Shelby’s hand. “Sweetie, I wish I would have known sooner what was going on. I hate to think about you going through all of that all alone.” Tears filled his eyes as he sniffed.

“It’s fine,” she assured him.

“No.” Dipping his head, he wiped the moisture beneath his lids and took a deep breath. When he looked back up at her a few moments later, he was no longer watery-eyed. “It’s not fine. And no matter how badly I wish I could, there’s nothing I can do to change what happened in the past. But I want you to promise me that, from here on out, no matter how big or small you think it is, if anything happens, you’ll come to me.”

Guilt washed over her. She was already breaking that promise by keeping the fact that Kevin had called last night to herself. Still, she nodded in agreement as she bit the inside of her lip.

Interpreting her guilt as something else, Henry tipped her chin up. “Now, you listen to me, Spunky. None of this was your fault. You should not be embarrassed or feel ashamed at all. The only person to blame here is the man who laid his hands on you. That man does not deserve to be drawing breath, and if I ever get my hands on him, he won’t be.”

Shelby believed him.

All her life, she had only known her uncle to be a fun-loving, hard-working, caring, smart, and loyal man. She’d never seen the look he had in his eyes. Oddly enough, instead of freaking her out, it made her feel better. If Uncle Henry could have that look in his eye and make those kind of threats, it backed up her instinct that Levi really was a good guy.

As they finished their lunch, she changed the subject to happier topics, and he relaxed. So did she. The conversation flowed easily, but Shelby’s mind kept wandering to a certain dimpled bartender with biceps that made her weak in the knees. She hadn’t seen Levi before she’d left this afternoon to come to lunch with her uncle, but she was scheduled to work that night at the bar and so was he. And she was looking forward to it. She couldn’t believe how much she missed him.

*

“Everything checks out.” Adam, who was sitting across from Levi, looked at his iPad, his eyes wide with disbelief that mirrored exactly how Levi felt.

“No outstanding warrants? Nothing?”

“No. It looks like he was arrested eight years ago in Boston after being pulled over for speeding. He had several outstanding warrants that were pleaded down to misdemeanors. He served eighteen months of a two-year sentence. When he was locked up, he started taking college courses online and got his degree a year after he was released. He’s been working as a drug counselor for the past four years.”

“A drug counselor?” Levi couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Yeah. And he got married six years ago.”

“He’s married? Legally?” Levi knew that that was one of the scams his father would run. He used false identities, married older, wealthy women, and then took them for all they had.

“He was. His wife passed away six months ago.”

“How did she die?” Levi hoped that she hadn’t mysteriously disappeared and his father hadn’t graduated from con artist to murderer.

Adam brushed his finger across the screen and read down the page that had populated. “Brain tumor.”

“Was she rich?” Levi hated that that was the first thing he’d thought—well, after he’d thought his dad was a murderer. But hey, when you have a track record like Charles Dorsey, what else could you expect?

Adam scanned, typed, and swiped the screen. “Not rich. Well-off though. She was a lawyer. His lawyer, actually. It looks like that’s how they met. He was named as her beneficiary. The life insurance was moderate, nothing life changing. He has fifty thousand in savings, ten in his checking. Good credit. And the life insurance check is still being processed. He won’t receive it for another month.”

Levi had no idea how to process this information. His dad had a job? He’d had a wife? He wasn’t in trouble with the law? He didn’t need money?

“If he’s got his shit together, why is he here? What the hell does he want?”

Adam looked up from his device. “I can find out anything you need to know
except
that. If you want that answer, you’re going to have to ask him.”

Leaning back in the wooden chair, Levi scrubbed his hands over his face. He was so confused. Why had he had to show up now? Now? When Levi’s life could not have been going better. He had the B&B. Shelby and him were…whatever they were.

“I can’t believe you really took this place over,” Adam observed as he looked around. “And now, you have the B&B, too. That’s great, man. I’m impressed.”

“Thanks. I would ask you how things are going for you, but since you work for the
CIA,
you probably can’t say.” He leaned forward, looking straight into his cousin’s eyes.

“Nice try,” Adam grinned. Then, after taking a drink of his beer, he asked, “So, what’s the deal with you and Shelby?”

There it is.

Last night, when Levi had gotten back from walking Shelby to the cabin, he’d expected to get the third degree from his cousin. Instead, they’d caught up on life in general. Adam had talked about all the places he’d traveled to, and Levi had filled him in on how Logan and Lucas were doing. Also, he’d told him about buying and renovating the cabin and his plans for it.

But not once had the subject of Shelby come up until now.

“I thought you could find out anything on that thing,” Levi teased his cousin.

“Almost anything,” Adam grinned.

Shaking his head, Levi sighed. “Man, if I knew, I would tell you. It’s complicated.”

A haunted look crossed Adam’s eyes. “Yeah, I hear you.”

Levi realized he hadn’t mentioned Alexis since he’d shown up. She and Adam had been together since Adam’s first tour in Afghanistan when he was nineteen. Levi thought he remembered that they’d eloped when he’d gotten out of the Army, but he couldn’t really remember the details. He felt like an idiot not even knowing if his cousin was married, but that wasn’t really the tight-knit family they had.

“We’re not together,” Adam said as if reading Levi’s thoughts.

“Oh.” Levi had not seen that one coming. It wasn’t like he’d spent a lot of time with her, but they’d been together a long time and they were one of those couples he thought would never end. They were Adam and Alexis. “I’m sorry to hear that, man. What happened? Do you want to talk about it?”

Adam took another swig of his beer before answering flatly, “It’s complicated.”

Levi had to smile as he lifted his own beer in the air. “To us. We are quite a pair.”

Adam nodded, a grin pulling at his lips as he clinked Levi’s longneck in cheers. “So, what’s the plan with your pops? Do you want me to talk to him?”

Did he? That was a good question. Then a thought hit him. “He might not even still be here. He could be long gone by now.”

Adam looked back down at his iPad. “Unlikely. He signed a six-month lease on a cottage yesterday.”

“Six months?” Levi couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “I thought you said he had a job.”

“He does. Apparently, the clinic he works for approved his transfer because he can work remotely.”

“I thought you said he was a counselor. How do you counsel remotely?” None of this made any sense to Levi.

“Video chat,” Adam said as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

Levi had never been a huge fan of all of the advances in technology. Now, he really wasn’t.

“You gonna tell the twins?” Adam asked.

“I don’t know.” Levi knew they had a right to know. They weren’t kids anymore, but he still felt the need to protect them.

Just like he needed to protect Shelby. Too bad he had no idea how to do either. Actually, now that he thought about it, if his cousin could discover anything, he had one more person he wanted Adam to check up on.

Chapter 23

‡

“W
ho. Is. That?!” Nikki, who’d just walked in with Amy and Jane, asked as the girls took their seats at the bar.

Shelby looked over and saw the object of Nikki’s enthusiastic question as she started making the girls their drink of choice. Cosmos.

“Adam. He’s Levi’s cousin.” Shelby had to admit that she kind of liked having the inside scoop on the man who had all the women in the bar talking.

“What’s his deal?” Nikki asked conspiratorially, leaning forward.

Shelby and Adam had had a chance to talk when she had come in to open the bar. He’d been friendly but guarded. Shelby had been the same way, so neither of them pushed with too many questions.

“He was in the Army. Now, he’s some kind of IT specialist.”

“
He’s
an IT specialist?” Nikki asked as if it were entirely out of the realm of possibility that someone who looked like him could be into computers.

Shelby, in an uncharacteristically gossipy mood, lowered her voice. “Yeah, but I have a feeling there’s more to the story than that. He’s insanely smart, and I think he was being vague about his résumé because he thought it would be over my head. It was definitely more of the ‘I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you’ variety.”

Nikki’s eyes lit up. Amy looked very thoughtful as she glanced over at Levi and Adam, who were playing pool with Eli and Casey. The guys were cracking up about something.

“Well, Levi looks happy to see him,” Amy said. “I’m glad he has family visiting. Levi’s always seemed lonely to me.”

Shelby might have been feeling a tad more gossipy than usual, but she was not about to share the fact that Levi had more family than just a cousin in town.

“Oh, believe me. A man who looks like
that
is never lonely.” Nikki observed before turning to her left. “What do you think, Jane?”

Shelby, Nikki, and Amy all turned towards Jane, who still hadn’t sat down. She stood frozen in place, staring at Adam, her jaw on the floor.

“Ummm, Jane?” Nikki asked a little louder.

“Huh?” Jane looked over at the girls, and Shelby was surprised that there weren’t cartoon hearts floating over her head. She looked downright twitterpated.

It was so funny to see her like that. Jane was Nikki’s husband, Mike’s, assistant. From what Shelby had heard, Jane had been working for him when he was a Senator and had followed him from the bay area to Hope Falls where he’d started a non-profit. From the little bit of time she had spent around her, she’d seemed like one of the most on-top-of-things, organized people Shelby had ever met.

A sly smile spread across Nikki’s face. “I asked what you thought about
Adam
.”

“Who’s Adam?” Jane asked, obviously having tuned out their entire conversation.

Nikki cracked up. Shelby tried to hold in her laughter, and Amy was doing the same thing, but they weren’t successful.

Keeping her voice quiet, Nikki said, “Adam, the guy who you’ve been zoned out in a lust trance since we walked in here, is Levi’s cousin. He’s an IT tech from…” She looked at Shelby for assistance.

Shelby shrugged. “No idea. But he did say he just got back from Greece.”

“He’s an international-traveling IT tech,” Nikki proclaimed.

“Oh.” Jane blushed as she brushed her hair behind her ear and took a seat.

Nikki’s eyes darted to Jane and then back at Shelby before narrowing. “Is he single?”

Lifting her hands, Shelby flipped them palm side up and shrugged. “No idea. But I didn’t see a ring.”

It wasn’t that she had checked for herself—obviously. It had just become a habit working in bars. Her eyes automatically went to a guy’s left hand. It was like a human studies course, watching the difference between how married men and single men acted at bars. Sadly, most the time, married men were way sleazier.

“You should go talk to him,” Nikki encouraged Jane, whose cheeks were tinted pink.

“What?” Jane looked at Nikki like she’d just asked her to strip down and streak through the bar. “No. I don’t… I can’t… No,” she said firmly.

Shelby could see how uncomfortable Jane was, and she hoped that Nikki didn’t push her. She knew that Nikki liked to stir things up, but she was hoping that she would see Jane’s genuine discomfort.

“Okay, it was just a thought,” Nikki said, backing off. “But for the record,
that
man, or
any
man, would be lucky if you gave him the time of day.”

Jane smiled while simultaneously shaking her head dismissively. Shelby could see that, even though she was a little embarrassed, she appreciated the compliment.

Nikki then turned her attention to Shelby. “Well, if I can’t fix this one up, let’s work on you. How are things going with
you
and
Levi
?”

For some reason, the way Nikki asked the question caused the slideshow of her and Levi’s sexathon to start playing in her head. She could feel her cheeks heating as she poured the girls drinks and distributed them. She wasn’t blushing out of embarrassment though; she was blushing from the memory.

They hadn’t talked yet. But from all the stolen, private glances and flirty “accidental” touches and brushes, Shelby had a good feeling that they would definitely be boarding the S.S. Sexcapades again and shoving off into erotic waters. Sooner rather than later.

“Good,” Shelby answered simply.

“Daaaammmnnn,” Nikki emphasized as she smiled. Then, looking at her sister, she pointed out, “I haven’t seen you blush like
that
since before the girls were born.”