Page 61 of Never and Always
I saw flannel out of the corner of my eye, but I’d smelled him first.
“You want to talk about it, big city?”
I swiveled. “Ugh, that shirt, Murray. I swear, I will get you to wear your proper uniform shirt if it’s the last thing I do.”
He leaned closer and more of his scent hit me in way too many places.
“You know the deal. I told you what it would take to get me to wear it.”
Heat filled my already warm cheeks. I remembered. In great detail. With a sniff, I sipped my martini.
He grabbed the glass and whisked it out of my reach.
“Hey!”
“You’re already on your way to tipsy.”
“So?”
He cocked his head, a lock of brown-gold hair falling over his forehead. “What happened?”
“I’m a grown woman. I can drink whenever I want to.”
“You eat dinner already?”
“No.” I didn’t mention I hadn’t eaten lunch either.
He pressed a hand to my thigh. “Piper, talk to me.”
I stared at the shelves behind the bar for a full minute. “Chance called me.”
Everett muttered a low curse.
“I told him to come here. I told him someone tried to grab me.” I blew out a breath. “He said he was sorry, and he promised to fix it. Then he hung up.”
Everett cursed again.
“I know.” I threw a hand up. “Him trying to fix it is only going to make things worse.God.”
Grabbing my hand, Everett tugged me to face him. “Listen, he’s a grown man. He makes his own decisions, and his own mistakes. You can offer to help, but your focus needs to be on keeping yourself safe.”
“He’s my brother,” I whispered. “And I need to keep my mom and Gram safe from this too.” I bit my lip. “I don’t know how to fix this, Everett.”
“You can’t, babe. But right now, you can lean on me.”
“I take care of things. It’s what I do. I can’t lean on you.”
“Yeah, you can.” His fingers tangled with mine. “You did the other night.”
I met his gaze, my heart thumping. “I can’t make a habit of it.”
“Lean,” he said.
“I…don’t think I’m very good at that.”
“Try.” He slid off the stool and pulled me to stand beside him.
Crap, my legs felt a little wobbly.
