AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She inhaled, enjoying the smell. Then she wondered where the groceries came from, as her idea of breakfast consisted of cereal eaten over the sink. But another more pressing question picked at her brain. “He wouldn’t tell you?”
“Holt is my best friend.”
Not the clearest answer, but then she guessed that might be her real answer. “I’ll take that as a yes.” Which raised another question. “Is he always so...bossy?”
Shane made a noise that sounded like a snort. “Absolutely.”
Just as she feared. Having two of the same type under the same roof—and Shane might add a third—would make the next few days rough. “Wonderful.”
He dumped the bacon on a rack and then turned back to her. A smile lit his face a second later. “Really, never play poker. You don’t exactly hide your feelings well.”
“Your best friend can be difficult.” An understatement but not wrong.
Shane put a cup of coffee in front of her and pushed the milk container closer to her. “You should meet his sister.”
Lindsey froze in the act of pouring. “I didn’t know he had one.”
“A baby sister. Makena.” Shane got a strange look in his eyes. “She’s...um.”
Well, well, well. “Is the word you’re looking for hot?”
“She’s definitely that. Tall with long black hair.” Shane wiped a hand over his mouth, then shook his head. “They share their Japanese mom’s features and a raging case of stubbornness, which I blame on their tough career military dad.”
Lindsey liked the insight into Holt and his personal life, but she got the very real sense Shane had pivoted into biographical data to keep from talking about Makena. A part of Lindsey would love to know what Holt thought about his best friend having an obvious thing for his baby sister.
Later she just might, but now she stuck with low-controversy subjects. “Sounds like a good way to grow up.”
“Not really, but I’ll let Holt tell you about it.”
That grabbed her attention. After spilling about her past last night, she’d drifted off to sleep. Holt didn’t offer up anything, but she really hadn’t given him a chance. “I’m not sure he will.”
Shane dumped food on her empty plate. “You don’t see it?”
The aroma of eggs and bacon filled her head. She fought off the temptation to start eating before he took his share. “What?”
“How he looks at you.”
Her appetite withered and she lowered her fork. “Like he wants to strangle me?”
Shane laughed. “Yeah, sometimes that, but I mean the other times.”
She ran through the conversation and the things he’d said last night after the deputy left, and she came to one conclusion. “Are you matchmaking?”
“Of course not.” He dug his fork into the pile of eggs in front of him. “I’m a tough run-and-gun type.”
But that twinkle in his eyes. Shane might be big, but he was also quite charming. She wondered if Makena had ever had all that attraction and cuteness aimed in her direction. The woman wouldn’t stand a chance.
Shane swallowed and reached for his coffee mug. “I’m also the only one in this house sleeping alone. Just saying.”
Lindsey thought about ignoring the comment but decided not to. “I don’t trust many people.”
“I get that, but if you’re going to pick one person, Holt is the right one.” Shane shoveled in another forkful of eggs and washed it down with more coffee. “And after that comment I need to go out and shoot something to get my commitment-phobic reputation back.”
Definitely matchmaking. “Very reasonable.”
This time he picked up bacon. “It’ll give me something to do while Holt is out.”
The way Shane said it clued her in. Holt had mentioned work and errands and things he needed to do, but it sounded as if Shane knew more. “Where is he?”
“The boss called him in for a one-on-one meeting.”
“You mean that Connor guy who runs the Corcoran Team, right?” She hoped but she doubted.
Shane winced. “I mean his boss at the gun-running cult. Holt is pretending to be Hank at the moment.”
Her stomach dropped and a spinning started in the center of her chest. She dropped her fork and it clanked against the side of the plate. “I notice you waited until now to tell me that part.”
Shane looked at her plate, then at her face. “Did the stall work?”
It only prolonged the inevitable. Now she’d worry all afternoon until Holt walked in the door again. “Let me put it this way. Do you have a gun I can borrow for some of that shooting practice?”
