Casanova(37)

“And if there isn’t?”

“Bad guys don’t give roses to apologize.”

She was right there. But she was...different. She always had been.

“Just do something, okay? Make my life a little easier. Do something super amazing that I can write about. Something that’ll make people believe in you again.”

I already did it on a weekly basis, but I couldn’t tell her about the shelter. If she didn’t understand what she’d been to me when we were teenagers, she wouldn’t understand what the shelter was to me now.

An escape—the moms and kids I spent time with every single week were an escape for me. Mostly because the smiles on their faces put everything into perspective.

“There’s the color run this weekend,” Lani said after a moment. “I’m covering it for the paper. Just...think about it, okay? Most people are running for charity.”

“I don’t have time to raise money.”

“You don’t need to raise it.” She smiled. “By the way? Whiskey Key Elementary teachers are running to raise money to renovate the gym hall and set up a vegetable garden. If you were interested.” She walked back in the direction of her grandma’s house. “If you run, let me know.” Her smile turned a little smug. “You’d look good on the front page, covered in pink and purple paint.”

I laughed as she turned and ran across the sand.

I couldn’t deny that her idea was a good one. I’d spent years hiding the good side of me down in Key West. Maybe I needed to do something good in Whiskey too.

Goddamn her for making me want to be a better person. It was so much fucking easier not to be.

Fuck it.

I ran after her down the beach. “Lani!”

“What?” She stopped at the edge of her grandma’s property.

Shit, she was the one who should be doing the run.

I didn’t say a word. I grabbed her face and kissed her. She squealed as my lips pressed against hers, but she didn’t push me away. Maybe she was too shocked to do it because she didn’t grab me either, but still.

I released her just as quickly as I’d taken hold of her. “See ya.”

“What the hell was that for?” She demanded, following me around to the front of the house.

“That was for smacking my ass in the store. And this,” I grabbed her by her ass and pulled her body against mine, “Is for making me want to be a decent human being.” I kissed her again before releasing her and pulling my car eyes out of my pocket.

Her mouth dropped open and she stepped forward, hand poised as if she was going to slap me. She stopped herself only inches from me.

A slow, sly smile crept over her mouth as she backed toward her front door. “Yeah? I’ve been kissed better for worse reasons.”

Well if that didn’t sound like a motherfucking challenge, I didn’t know what did.

I yanked open my car door, my cock twitching inside my pants. “One day, Lani Montana, you’ll learn your lesson. Today is not that day, is it, kitten?”

“Fuck off with your kitten!” she shouted. She stormed inside and slammed the front door, leaving me standing in the driveway, chuckling.

I turned and came face-to-face with a very confused-looking Connie. “Hey, Connie.”

She looked between the house and me. “What did you do to her?”

I shrugged a shoulder. “I pissed her off because I kissed her. Oh, and I called her kitten.”

She tilted her head to the side and then laughed quietly. “You know she needs to get laid, right?”

“You don’t say.” I laughed myself and got in my car. “Hey, I wouldn’t put it past her to be planning my death right now, so you know. Can you make sure it’s not too painful?”

Connie walked toward the door and threw a grin over her shoulder. “Oh, you have no idea, do you?”

No, no I didn’t.

But there was way more to that than just the death planning, I knew.





CHAPTER ELEVEN


LANI



“You need to get drunk and get laid.” Connie dug a cookie out from the jar. “Like, tonight.”

“Yeah, did that work out well for you?” I snapped, then froze. “I’m sorry. That was unfair. I’m just really pissed off.”

Connie laughed and patted her stomach. “Being drunk might have worked out better. I probably would have fallen asleep before the sex happened.”

She was probably right. Connie was a sleepy drunk.

“Why are you guzzling mouthwash?”

I put the bottle down and poised the cap right in front of my face. “I’m washing Brett Walker out of my mouth.”

“Now if he didn’t just tell me he’d kissed you, I’d wonder what the hell you’ve been doing with him.”

I threw the cap full of mouthwash into my mouth and glared at her. I swilled the vile tasting liquid around until I felt sure I’d rinsed every bit of my mouth out. The now foamy, green liquid spattered across the sink when I spat it out. “He’s unbelievable, Connie. Being around him today was just about bearable, and then he had to go and kiss me. Twice! And it wasn’t even the first damn time he’d done it.”

“Back up.” She fished another cookie from the jar. “He kissed you before today?”