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So we ordered drinks and sat at a high table off to the side. After my first margarita, I started to relax. Just as I sipped my second, music started playing. However, it wasn’t anything I’d ever heard at the bar before.
In fact, it was vaguely familiar. Then it hit me—it was the exact song Nolan and I had danced to at Emmy and West’s wedding.
A mixture of longing and sadness crashed over me. I missed Nolan, every second of every day. And this song? It was like twisting a knife in my heart.
I stood so quickly that the bar stool fell over. “I-I can’t stay. I need to go.”
Turning, I was about to rush toward the door when he was there, in front of me.
Nolan Wolfe.
Looking as sexy as ever, dressed in a…kilt.
He took a step toward me, his hand raised. “Please, Katie. Don’t run away. Dance with me, and we can talk.”
I wanted nothing more than to run into his arms, hug him, and never let go.
But Wendy’s threat—one of her bodyguards had shown up the day before to issue it—bounced around my head: Get back with Nolan, and I’ll not only press assault charges but I’ll also sue your family for every penny they have. But that’s not it. No, then I’ll destroy your brother’s reputation and ensure no one ever buys his cheese again. So it’s your choice: stay away from my man or I’ll make your family homeless, penniless, and humiliated. If I get a whiff of you sharing this, I’ll start taking apart your happy family piece by piece. And that’s not an idle threat. And if Nolan finds out and confronts me? I will destroy you, country girl. I promise you that.
If it were just me she threatened, then maybe I would’ve risked it. But I couldn’t chance destroying my family as well.
“I-I can’t, Nolan. I’m so sorry.”
Tears threatened to fall, so I dashed out of the bar and into the parking lot. The cool air felt good, and I looked for a spot where I could hide until I could get a ride.
However, Nolan must’ve run after me, because he easily found me.
At his concerned expression, I swallowed and did my best not to cry.
“Katie, baby, please just talk with me. I’m so fucking sorry you had to face Wendy on your own that night. I didn’t leave by choice, I promise you.”
I blinked at his words. “What do you mean, it wasn’t by choice?”
He put out a hand, palm up. “Won’t you at least sit in my car and talk? I can see you’re shivering, baby, and it kills me.”
Rationally, I should say no. I should run far, far away and never see Nolan again.
But as I stared at his outstretched hand, at the man wearing a kilt because I’d mentioned once how I’d like to see him in one, reason went out the window. I desperately wanted to know why he’d left me at the charity benefit. Surely one conversation wouldn’t get back to Wendy and start her rampage?
“Please, baby. Just let me explain.”
Before I could change my mind, I placed my hand in his. As his fingers curled around mine, some of the weight I’d been carrying lifted from my shoulders.
He brought my hand to his mouth and kissed the back of it. The press of his warm, soft lips against my skin made me shiver, in a good way.
“Come on. This way.”
We walked in silence to his car, although I kept stealing glances at his profile and his bare legs as the kilt swayed as he moved. Before I could think better of it, I blurted, “Isn’t that cold?”
The corner of his mouth ticked up. “Let’s just say my balls have nearly ascended back into my body. Women in skirts have my respect now, for sure.”
I smiled and was about to make a joke about the plus side of skirts and kilts—easy access—when I caught myself. We weren’t dating, we weren’t anything but exes at this point. And I needed to guard my heart and steel my resolve if I wanted to spare my family any pain.
He opened the door for me, and I slid into the seat. Once he was also in the car, he turned toward me. “I’ll get straight to the point—the reason I wasn’t there when Wendy made her announcements was because I’d been drugged and kidnapped.”
My jaw dropped. “What?”
“It’s true.” He explained about waking up in a strange house, finding a way to get free, and how Matt Bellis and Wendy had worked together to make it happen.
