Page 93 of Second First Kiss

“Which is why, while you were digging into this last night, I called in a favor with a buddy of mine at the DA’s office to get R. J.’s juvie file unsealed. Eli’s offenses get worse. Guess who was R. J.’s arresting officer in all three drug charges?”

“Eli?” Jax asked.

Kat clutched the tablet to her chest again. “You listened to me?”

“I might not always agree with your methods, but I will always listen to you and try to see your side. And that’s what I should have said last night.”

“What happened last night?” Brynn practically giggled, resting her chin on her steepled fingers and batting her lashes.

“Yeah,” Milly butted in. “What happened?”

“Nothing that’s anyone’s business and it’s going to stay that way until after the custody hearing,” Nolan said with so much authority, a delicious shiver when down Kat’s spine. She liked this bossy, authoritarian side of him. Maybe he could use it in the bedroom sometime.

As if reading her mind, he smiled. A wicked smile, then he winked, and her thighs clenched. She watched as his smile faded, as if just realizing what she’d said, and he stood. “You didn’t think I’d believe you?”

“It was fifty-fifty. He was your partner, after all.”

“We’ll have to circle back to what I’m doing wrong that you’d think this way, but right now I need to go find Eli. He has some explaining to do.”

Kat jumped to her feet and rushed around the table, blocking his exit. “Please, don’t go alone.”

“I might have a Superman complex, but I know when to call in Batman and Wonder Woman.”

An hour later, Kat found herself at the bar with Milly and Brynn, all three of them anxiously waiting to hear something, anything, from Nolan. But he’d gone radio silent. Jax had assured them it was because they were creating a task force, getting their ducks in a row, and acquiring the right warrants to arrest a former agent.

It was a tricky situation and they needed to do it quietly and by the books.

As far as Kat was concerned, a swift kick to the nuts followed by cuffing him to the back of Bette Davis to be dragged through town as a guy who makes drugs to sell to kids should be the first steps of justice.

“I can’t believe Eli would do that to my fam…” Brynn sucked in a sharp breath, placing her hand over her heart. She breathed again and again it was cut short.

“You okay?” Milly asked, placing her hand over Brynn’s.

“Fine,” Brynn said, but she didn’t look fine. “Just heartburn. Too much pizza earlier. Now stop fussing, you’re as bad as Jax.”

Milly put her hands in the air in surrender. “I won’t fuss, as long as you promise me that if it starts to hurt, you’ll tell me.”

“Pinkie swear.”

There was an exchange of glances that led Kat to believe that Brynn would rather suffer a heart attack alone than worry her family any further. Brynn shot Kat a Help me look. Kat didn’t know much about Brynn’s heart issue, but she knew what it felt like to be cornered so she said, “Nolan looked really upset earlier.”

With a thank you! in her eyes, Brynn gleefully took the change in subject. “I’m not surprised. Eli has been like a part of the family for years. When he got hurt, Nolan took it hard. Even gave him a job when his security team was already full. I can’t believe he took advantage of our trust.”

“I had no idea the connection went so deep,” Kat said, feeling all kinds of protective feels for Nolan in that moment.

“This is a huge betrayal to Nolan. He needed another betrayal like he needed a hole in his head. He’s been misled and lied to so many times by the people he loves,” Brynn said.

Her heart ached for him. She hated that he’d gone through this and she, more than anyone, knew what it was like to be let down by the people who claim to love you.

“Which is why I have to ask, what’s going on between you and my brother? I know you aren’t typically a relationship kind of girl, while my brother has relationship in his DNA. We all do.”

And here she’d thought his family was cheering for them.

“Don’t worry, we aren’t even in R-word territory. Couldn’t hurt him If I tried,” Kat said.

Her heart was in R-word territory, even if her head told her not to be. But no one would believe them even if she told them because, to the people of Sierra Vista, Kat was still a one-night wonder.

Brynn reached over the table and took her hand. “It’s not like that. I think you are the best thing to happen to Nolan.”

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