Perfect Kiss (2 page)

“Oh, hey, Shelbs. I didn’t recognize your number.”

Levi leaned his hands on the bar and tried his hardest to focus, as Jake, who was the fire captain in Hope Falls, relayed a detailed story about saving a woman who had been trapped in her cabin for several days by a family of bears that were roaming around her property. The story was interesting, and Jake was always entertaining, but knowing that Shelby was on the other end of Matt’s phone line trumped both of those things.

“Great! I’ll let Amy know. See you soon.” Matt disconnected the call, and Levi found himself holding his breath.

“Was that your sister?” Mike asked.

Levi had never wanted to kiss a man in his life, but he wouldn’t have been opposed to a little lip-lock with Mike—who had just asked the question he was dying to know the answer to.

“Yeah.” Matt nodded, even though concern was written all over his face.

“Everything okay?” Levi made sure that his tone was casual. He figured that the follow-up question was a perfectly harmless, totally acceptable level of curiosity. Nope, no stalker flags were being raised here.

“I think so,” Matt answered vaguely, the distant look in his eyes seeming like he was miles away. Then, clearing his throat, he shook his head. “Shelby’s on her way here. She’s coming to see the girls and help Amy, at least until I get out for summer break.”

Matt stared down at the phone he was still holding in his hand and his brow furrowed; he was clearly distracted and something wasn’t quite right, but Levi could focus on one thing, and one thing only.

Shelby Kellan was coming to back to Hope Falls.

*

Shelby’s hand shook as she hung the phone up. That conversation had
not
gone as well as she’d hoped. Her brother hadn’t been totally sold on her reasons for her out-of-the-blue announcement that she was coming to stay for an unspecified time in the small mountain community he called home. But on the flip side, it hadn’t been a complete disaster. He’d let her get off the phone without giving her the third degree.

Sitting in her convertible Mustang in the deserted beach parking lot, she pulled the vanity mirror down and sighed. The foundation she’d applied that morning when she’d left the motel she’d been holed up in for the last week, was not doing its job of concealing anything. A deep-yellow-and-dark-purple half-moon under her left eye was clear as day, and the abrasion on her right cheek looked like she had a third-degree rug burn.

Shit.
Shelby’s mind was spinning as she thought about what her next move should be—just as it had been for the last nine days. She’d been living in a constant state of damage-control limbo, which had left her exhausted.

Bad news: Her sister, Sara, was already getting a little suspicious about her sudden “road trip” to surprise their brother in California. Sara’s sister-Spidey-senses were on high alert, and Shelby knew she would never buy that she’d just decided to stay another week in San Diego or Los Angeles before heading up to see their brother and nieces. Matt obviously had more questions than he’d voiced on their short phone call. The very last thing Shelby needed was for either of her siblings to start digging into her life because she had skeletons buried and she wanted those suckers to stay where no one could find them.

Good news: She was no longer limping and her wrist wasn’t as swollen as it had been. Also, she could get up and down from chairs without looking like an arthritic grandmother. Bonus!

Still…she couldn’t pretend that she was back to normal, at full speed. If she were a character in her favorite video game,
Street Fighter
, her health meter would be in the red.

Solution: A believable explanation. That was what she needed to come up with. Something that wouldn’t raise any red flags to either of her overprotective siblings.

Leaning back against the leather headrest, Shelby closed her eyes and let the sound of the surf wash over her. Inhaling deeply, she reveled in the salty sea air. The southern California beach she was parked at was fairly empty, but she could hear the sound of several kids who were building a sandcastle close to where her car was parked.

The kids’ laughter mixing with the waves forced Shelby’s hand to settle over her stomach.

Tears formed in her eyes.

No!
She was not going to let herself go there.

She needed to focus on three things. Survival. Forward movement.
Never
looking back. In that order.

When a particularly large wave crashed on the beachfront, inspiration struck. A surfing accident would easily explain away every one of the lingering physical effects she had. As the puzzle pieces of her cover story clicked into place, relief suffused through her like the IV fluids she’d been hooked up to during her three-day stay at University Hospital in downtown San Diego. Then a picture became clear. Although it was abstract, it was definitely plausible.

Shelby had always wanted to learn to surf. Her family knew that. It was the perfect plan.

With a deep breath she picked her phone up and dialed her sister’s number.

After two rings, Sara answered. “Hello.”

“Hey, sis.” Shelby was careful to modulate her tone.
Sound upbeat but not too upbeat. Happy, but not fake.
It was a fine line, and she was quickly discovering that she was about as great at walking it as a drunk driver taking a field sobriety test.

“Shelby? Whose phone are you calling from?” Sara’s tone was infused with worry.

Shelby reminded herself to keep her answers simple and to the point. If she volunteered too much information, it would seem like she was trying to hide something—which she was. But that was the last thing she wanted her sister to pick up on.

“Mine. I got a new one.”

“Why? What happened to your old one? Is that why you didn’t text me back this morning?”

Damn. Her sister liked to send her daily inspirational sayings or funny memes, usually at the butt crack of dawn, to which Shelby would respond with a corresponding emoji, since that took less brain power (which did not kick in until at least two cups of coffee) than typing a response.

As the waves crashed loudly, Shelby realized that the “surfing” cover story was even better than she’d originally thought. “It got wet when I was catching some waves yesterday.”

She cringed at her use of “catching some waves” and quickly made a mental note to herself that she would need to either research better surfing jargon or not attempt to use it at all.

“You were surfing!?” Sara asked, sounding as if Shelby had just told her that she’d been abducted by aliens.

Well, on the bright side, at least her sister hadn’t picked up on her lame attempt to sound like a surfer. On the dark side, why had she sounded so surprised?

“Yeah. What do you think I’ve been doing for the last week?” Shelby used one of the oldest tricks in the book: redirection. If she turned the tables on her sister, shined the interrogation-light on her, then it took the spotlight off herself.

“I have no idea what you’ve been doing! You haven’t been answering my calls, and all I’ve been getting were smiley faces, thumbs up, or, if I’m lucky, one-word texts saying you’re okay.” Sara sounded equal parts irritated and relieved.

As the baby of the family, Shelby was used to her sister being overprotective of her. And Sara had every right to that role. While they were growing up, their parents hadn’t been very hands-on. They’d been more interested in socializing with their friends than the three children they had at home. Sara, the oldest, had stepped up and made sure Shelby and Matt got their homework done and always had a packed lunch or lunch money and clean clothes to wear. It couldn’t have been easy, and Shelby knew she didn’t tell her sister enough how much she appreciated it.

“Sorry, sis. I’ve been toast every night after spending all day in the water. I crash as soon as I hit the pillow.”

“Well, I’m not the only one who’s been worried. Kevin stopped by. He looked…intense. He said he hadn’t been able to get in touch with you and wanted to know where you were.”

“What did you tell him?” Shelby asked over a lump that had immediately formed in her throat. Her heart was pounding uncontrollably in her chest.

“I said that I wasn’t sure, because I wasn’t. Is everything okay, Shelbs? He didn’t look…I don’t know…right.”

“Yeah.” She hoped that the shakiness in her voice was being disguised by the wind blowing. “He probably just wanted to know where to send my stuff.”

Shelby had told her sister the bare minimum about her and Kevin’s breakup. The less she knew, the better. It wasn’t that Shelby was lying to her sister…technically. Over the last six months, Shelby had mastered the art of half-truths. But that was behind her. In her rearview. And that was exactly where she needed it to stay.

“I’ll just tell him he can drop off the stuff here if he comes by again…” Her sister’s voice trailed off and she sounded briefly distracted before shouting, “Trevor! Do not feed your sister dirt!”

A smile spread across Shelby’s face as tears threatened her eyes once again. She was going to miss her niece and nephew, but the good news was that she was heading to meet another pair of nieces. Those two little angels should help the sting a little bit, but Trevor and Charlotte would always have a special place in Shelby’s heart.

“Because I said so,” Sara’s frazzled voice came over the line.

Sara’s husband, Jack, had been overseas for the beginning years of her niece and nephew’s lives, so she and Matt had stepped in and helped out more than aunts and uncles normally would.

“Shelbs, I gotta go. Give Uncle Henry my love. Call me when you get to Hope Falls.” The frustration level in her sister’s tone rose right before she hung up. “If I get to three you’re going to be sorry. One, two—”

The call disconnected before she got to three. Shelby had seen that countdown play out enough to know with all certainty that her nephew had made it just in the nick of time. Trevor had a way of teetering between rebellion and deep trouble, never tipping to the wrong side. Shelby used to have that talent, but over these past few months, she’d more than tipped…she’d capsized into deep trouble, which had landed her in her current predicament.

Now, her mission was to find her way back from trouble and stay safely away from the fine line she’d tightrope walked her entire life. She hoped that Hope Falls would be just the place to do that. Hope was in its name, after all.

When Matt had decided that he’d needed a fresh start after the devastating loss of his wife, Shelby hadn’t understood why he’d needed to go so far to start over. Now that she had demons of her own, his move made perfect sense.

Growing up, she’d visited Hope Falls a couple of times because her uncle, Henry Walker, lived there. Now, Henry was the beloved town mayor, and the last time she’d been to the small town was for Matt and Amy’s wedding.

Her thumb brushed over the picture that had been taken at her brother’s reception on her phone. It was the only pic she’d transferred to her new SIM card. She was slow-dancing with Levi, a bartender she’d met and shared an explosive, out-of-this-world, mind-blowing, panty-melting kiss with. It had freaked her out so much that she’d bolted from his apartment and driven back to Arizona the next morning, not even stopping for gas before blasting past the city limits sign—too scared that she’d run into the six-foot-four, brown-eyed bartender.

Ten days ago, Amy had texted her the picture. That was when all hell had broken loose. Kevin had seen it and become convinced that Shelby was cheating on him.

Flashes of the events that followed played in Shelby’s mind, but she pushed them down, refusing to give them—or her ex—even one more second of her time and energy.

She was going to Hope Falls, stay a few weeks, maybe the entire summer. Lick her wounds, then head to San Francisco, New York, Las Vegas, or Miami. All her life she’d dreamed of managing a five star hotel in one of those metropolitan destinations. After graduation, she’d gotten sidetracked by Kevin. But, that was a blip in the radar of her life. Shelby was back on track now.

Survive. Thrive. Forward movement.
Never
looking back. That was the name of her game.

Chapter 2

‡

“T
hank you so much for shutting down and letting us have the baby shower here, Levi.” Amy stood on a ladder and smiled down at Levi as he handed her several more balloons.

“No problem.”

Yesterday, Nikki and Amy had stopped by and asked if they could throw Tessa a surprise baby shower at JT’s. They’d figured that the guys from Jake’s fire station would be less uncomfortable at a co-ed baby shower if it were held in a bar. And Levi had gladly agreed to close for lunch.

“How does it look?” Amy spread out her arms wide.

Taking a step back, Levi scanned the room. The dining area, which consisted of a half dozen square, wooden tables that sat four, now had alternating pink and blue tablecloths draped over them, with colorful flower arrangements in the center. Pink and blue streamers were draped over the bar top and barstools and across the wooden planks that hung in the ceiling. Pink and blue balloons were tied to everything balloons could be tied to. There was a freaking lot of
pink
and
blue
.

He barely recognized the place. After he’d bought JT’s Roadhouse from his uncle, JT, he had always planned to renovate it, but the longer he was here, the more attached he got to its rustic charm. It wasn’t shiny and new, but it had character. Although, right now, it looked like pink and blue marshmallows had exploded all over it.

“It looks…” He wasn’t sure how to answer Amy’s question. He really didn’t think that he was the core demographic they were trying to appeal to. “Festive.”

At his description, Amy’s face broke out in a wide grin and she clapped her hands together. “Perfect.”

Levi held the ladder steady as Amy climbed down. He still couldn’t believe how forceful the normally quiet and reserved Amy had been when she’d
insisted
on being the one to hang the streamers and balloons in the rafters. He had not only offered to put up the decorations, but he’d even pulled out the big guns, reminding her that this was
his
bar. She hadn’t even blinked when she’d informed him that that may be so, but
she
was decorating it and more than capable of doing so.