LITMIR.BIZ

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question about it.

      Too bad she wasn’t that kind of girl. Rules were in place for a reason. “I need to get my sister and get her home.”

      “Are you sure?” He lifted her chin so it was inches away from his lips, and his warm breath reached her.

      She wasn’t sure of anything as she stared into those eyes. They were kind eyes, and not the eyes of a man on the prowl, which made him all the more confusing. She could kiss him, if she was a different woman. If she wasn’t Emily Parker, currently researching her family tree, and if she was willing to forget who she was for a second, she could. Maybe. Might even let him kiss her. In another life.

      It wasn’t going to happen tonight. Emily pivoted out of his arms and turned in time to see the back of Molly’s head.

      Leaving the bar with Thomas.

CHAPTER TWO

      “MOLLY!” EMILY HEADED after her sister. No way would this happen under her watch. Molly had obviously had too much to drink and ignored her promise. Either that or she’d lost her ever-lovin’ mind.

      A man was the last thing Molly needed right now. She used men to distract her from the real work she had to do on herself. Sooner or later Molly would have to face the mess she’d left behind.

      Emily stomped through the couples on the dance floor, and they parted like the Red Sea. She thought she heard some of their whispers:

      There she goes, and she’s mad. Boy, I tell you, she almost looks like Molly right now.

      I mean, there’s no way you can keep it inside for so long. Before you know it, blast, you’ve got a disaster on your hands.

      Yes, sir, Emily’s about to let someone have it. Should we go watch?

      She threw open the bar’s side door and spied Molly about to get into Thomas’s car. A few quick purpose-filled strides and Emily stood next to Thomas’ old beat-up Ford.

      “Where are you going, young lady?” Emily grabbed Molly’s arm.

      “She’s going home with me.” Thomas bowed. The smell of tequila nearly knocked Emily off her feet. He sure wasn’t driving her sister, or anyone else.

      “No, she’s not. She promised me. Right?” Emily pulled at Molly on one side, and Thomas pulled on the other.

      “Sorry, mister, but I have a sister.” Molly swayed a bit to the right, demonstrating her own level of intoxication.

      “Why you gotta be such a killjoy?” Thomas tapped Emily’s shoulder hard enough to make her wince. “If you don’t want to have any fun, that’s your business. But don’t ruin it for Molly.”

      “You should take your hand off her right now,” a voice said from behind Emily.

      Emily turned. All the planes of Stone’s face were set in hard lines, his jaw rock hard. He looked different. Still dangerous, but in a whole other kind of way.

      “What did you say, buddy?” Thomas sidled up to Stone, clenching a fist in the air.

      “The lady is not going home with you. And you’re not going anywhere until you sleep it off.”

      “That’s right. Thank you.” Finally, someone had come to her aid instead of the other way around.

      He shot her a hot look she felt down to the heels of her boots. Not to mention how it began to melt her shield.

      While she tried to take her focus away from his lips and back to the matter at hand, a flying fist seemed to come out of nowhere and connect with Stone’s jaw.

      Stone reacted Ninja-style and had Thomas on his back within moments.

      “Cool,” someone said from the back of the crowd. “Did you see that move? I can do that.”

      “Emily!” Molly, as if she’d suddenly realized the mess she’d made, reached for her.

      Emily pulled Molly to her side as others spilled out from the bar to witness the fight in the parking lot. Except, from the looks of it, there wasn’t much fight left in old Thomas there on the ground, twisting and writhing under Stone’s pin. A fresh pint of guilt seeped through Emily’s veins, knowing Stone had probably taken a hit because she’d distracted him for a moment.

      What she should do is stay behind and thank him. Properly. But there were two problems. First, she’d never kissed a man she didn’t know, even if this might be a good time to start. Second, she’d given up men, and this one would be trouble. Trouble rolled into fun with a heaping side of heartache.

      Jedd soon joined the fray to help Stone, not that he seemed to need any help and, between the two of them, they had the situation under control. Right now Emily had her own damage control to do and needed to get her sister back home. Her drunk and sad sister, who had fooled Emily into coming here tonight.

      “Let’s get out of here.” Emily pulled her sister away from the commotion, throwing one last glance in the direction of her hot hero. His back was turned to her as he restrained Thomas, who was now calling out every expletive Emily had ever heard, and some she hadn’t.

      This wasn’t the way she’d envisioned parting tonight, and her chest tightened with the mess she’d left Stone to handle. She should have explained that she couldn’t take it any further with him, not now. Not ever. Casually drop in the fact she didn’t do risky and didn’t do strangers. She didn’t do much of anything, period. Not anymore.

      Emily pulled her sister away from the chaos and shoved a sobbing Molly in the front passenger side seat of the Chevy truck.

      Good thing Molly was already crying or Emily would have said something to make her. Emily gripped the steering wheel and high-tailed it out of the parking lot, kicking up gravel. She turned left on Monterey Road and headed toward Fortune Ranch.

      “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for it to happen,” Molly bawled.

      “Look at it this way. Thomas won’t be driving anyone home tonight, which is the way it should be. But I thought we agreed. Why did you do this?”

      “I wanted to feel good, even for a little while. Do you know how long it’s been since a man wanted me? I mean, really wanted me. And only me.”

      “We’re not going there. You are not going to talk to me about being lonely.”

      “I’m sorry. But you know how to be alone, and I don’t. I feel like crap. And I probably look like it, too.” Molly pulled out a tissue from the glove compartment.

      “You ought to feel bad. The man took a hit to the jaw, and you don’t even know him.” Neither did she, but after tonight, she almost wished she did.

      “I have to apologize to him.” Molly rubbed at her mascara-smeared raccoon eyes.

      “Don’t worry yourself too much about it. Something tells me the man can handle himself.” Or had Molly missed those special forces–like skills he’d displayed? Emily didn’t even know what the man did for a living, but she’d bet her family’s ranch it didn’t involve sitting behind a desk.

      “Before you say anything, I know I have to start making better choices.” Molly rocked back and forth in her seat.

      She sounded so pathetic and broken. Emily wished she understood, but she still wasn’t sure she could put her finger on what exactly had gone wrong. Of course, Molly wasn’t talking about it, either. For the first six months of her daughter Sierra’s life, Molly isolated herself from the rest of her family. The next thing anyone knew, Molly had taken off to Hollywood, leaving Dylan and Sierra behind. To a place so foreign to the Parker family, she might as well have gone to Mars.

      “You have to get your mind off men. They’re not going to make anything better for you. Work on yourself first, like I am. Everything else will fall into place then.”

      Emily

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