Holly Madison (Sins of the Father, 2) (5 page)

I hold my breath when Tristan’s eyes slice to me again. 

“Yeah,” he answers.  “But not from a fight.” 

My body tenses. 

Kitty’s lips purse when she realizes that she isn’t going to get any further information.  My breath is still stuck at the thought of him having broken bones and concussions from something other than fighting.  Hell, from something at all.  I’ve always had a sense that he was a badass growing up, but something or someone hurting him like that would have brought me to my knees had I been standing at the moment when he said, “Yeah.”

Kitty opens her mouth to say something else, but Mom interrupts her.  “Kitty, sweetie, maybe we should leave the two of them to their date.”

Her mouth snaps shut.  I smile up at Mom in a silent thank-you while sending another silent thank-you to the Lord
above.  He must’ve come off break at exactly the right time. 

“Lizzie!  Kitty!” another familiar voice rings out from across the restaurant.

Sweet baby Jesus.

“Carol?” Mom and Kitty shriek.

“Ladies, can you please take this to another table?  We’re trying to enjoy our dinner.”

They weren’t listening to me.  They were giggling and hugging and then beaming at Tristan.

“Tristan, how’s the family?”

“Doing great ,Mrs. Schwartz.  How is Mr. Schwartz?”

“A mean son of a bitch as always.  But I love him.  He keeps me ornery.”

“That’s great!” Tristan replies.

“Carol?  Kitty?” Mom interjects.  “We really should leave these two to their supper.  Tristan is spending a pretty penny on this meal.  Let’s go.”  She spins, takes a good, hard look at me, and grins before saying, “Love you, beautiful.”  Then, with a wink, she’s herding the ladies away from our table and out the door.

Tristan’s hand slides across the table and grabs mine.  I look at him and see that he’s having the time of his life. 

“That was the woman who raised me.  That was her friend Kitty, who has been around since I can remember.  That was also her friend Carol, who has been around since we moved to the area when I was in high school.  I love them, but I could strangle them at the same time.”

Dimple.

He releases my hand and we dive back into our food.

As we finish our dinner, our conversation is light and funny, and it flows naturally for the rest of the evening.  He teases me about my right hook, and I tell him that I am more than willing to work on that with him by using his face as a punching bag.  He doesn’t find that all too funny. 

We laugh—or he laughs.  I snort.  Apparently, Tristan finds it cute.  I, however, do not.  Before I know it, the evening is coming to an end.  Way too soon.  He leads me back out to his bike and I squeal a little. 

Tristan takes the long way so that I can enjoy the ride.  He helps me off the bike when we get back to my place, and I take off the helmet before handing it back to him.  Once the helmets find their home on the back of the seat, he grabs my hand and tugs me firmly but carefully and I go flying into this chest.

“Cupcake,” he says speaking quietly, “I had an amazing evening with you tonight.”

I lean back, putting my hands flat to his chest, and my eyes slide up to his.  I am about to speak but stop myself when it becomes clear that he is ready to take control of the situation. 

His arms go around my waist and he walks us backwards to my building.  When we stop, his arms tighten around me, bringing me closer to his body.  His other hand dives into my hair, cupping the back of my head and holding me still, tipping it to one side.  He slants his head to the opposite side and slams his lips to mine.

A moan leaves my chest and my body starts to hum with want when he thrusts his tongue into my mouth.  He deepens the kiss, and any tension that may have been present flows from me as my knees go wobbly.  Tristan supports my weight by holding me up against him with his strong arms.  My hands slide up his chest, around the back of his neck, and into his hair, keeping
him right where I want him. 

I press my body deeper into his as our tongues go into battle with one another.  He pulls me even closer—as if we could possibly get any closer with our clothes on.  The passion behind this kiss is so intense that I almost can’t handle it.  I need more.  I melt my hips and breasts into him and devour him.

Then he stops.

He tears his mouth from mine, shuts his eyes, and rests his forehead to mine, breathing in heavily.   I close my eyes to try and pull myself together.  When they open and drift up to his, he is staring at me. 

“You want to come up?” I ask, hoping that he has nowhere else to be for the next twelve hours because I am going to use him like an amusement park tonight.

Tristan groans as he tilts his head down and buries his face in the crook of my neck.  I can feel him smiling against my skin.

“Tristan?” I call out to him.  I’m not sure what his reaction to my invite means.  Normally, he would jump at the chance.  My body stiffens. 
Is he not going to take me up on my offer?

He lifts his head and bores his gaze into mine.  “I like you, cupcake.  I like you a lot.  I am trying really hard to be what I know you need.  I can’t make any promises that I can be that guy, but I am going to try damn hard, because if tonight is any indication, I can see this thing between us being good.  I’m working through my shit and am in no position to tell you it’s going to be exactly the way you want it.  What I can tell you is I like your smile and the way your eyes light up when you are happy—and even when you’re angry.  I like that you are an independent woman, and I like that you wear pencil skirts and heels to work all while being able to throw one hell of a right hook.  I like the way you smell and the way your hair looks when you get off my bike.  I like the way you cared for your best friend when she was going through one of the worst and most unimaginable moments a woman could ever experience.  I like the way you kiss and the way you fuck.  This has been the best
first date
I have ever had, and I hope to have more dates with you in the near future.  What I can do is give you another kiss before I get on my bike, but because I want to do this right by you, what I cannot do is go up to your apartment right now.”

Wow!
  I am completely and utterly speechless.

He moves his head so that his mouth is so close that it is almost touching mine.  Then he whispers, “Get your ass upstairs and I’ll text you when I get home.”

“Okay,” I whisper back. 

“All right,” he mutters, turning me in his arms to face the building and swats me on the ass for the second time this evening. I’ll text you,” he states once more, and I nod, making my way up the steps.

“However, I hear the tap of his boots coming up behind me.  I spin to him and almost barrel into his chest. 

“Before you go, cupcake, I need to taste that mouth of yours one last time.”

I can feel a tremble roll through my body.  I reach up onto my toes and gave him what he wants.  Tristan takes it soft and sweet.  Then he releases my lips and kisses me on the tip of my nose.  I flash him a grin and head up to my apartment. 

By the time I put my purse on the couch, I hear his Harley come to life and trail off.  He kept his word and was a complete gentleman all evening.  Giving him a chance may be a risk, but it’s one I just may be willing to take.

Two days after what appeared to have been a successful first date with Holly, Tristan walked into Holts for a beer.  He loved this bar.  Always full of good, small-town people he grew up around.  His father and brother Braden ran this place.  Now, more Braden and his woman Emma since his pop has taken on a somewhat retirement status these days.

Emma was tending bar and Olivia was running around like a loon.  Same ol’, same ol’. 

He hadn’t seen Emma since he’d shown up at his brother’s house with a case of beer and an attitude.  Holly had been getting under his skin and he’d needed to talk it out.  Hell, who was he kidding?  She’d already embedded herself deep within. 

Emma was pregnant with his future niece or nephew and marrying his brother not long after the baby was born.  The two of them deserved a lifetime of happiness after what they had been through.  With the whack-job who had raped and tried to kill her and her dickhead father, it had been a fresh surprise when Braden had announced at a Sunday dinner that luck was finally on their side. 

Tristan quickly moved to the bar, took a stool and settled in.  Two things were on his mind: a cold beer and Holly Madison. 

“Hey, Tristan,” Emma called when she got closer.  Her eyes brightened and she lifted her hand to tuck a loose strand that had escaped from her ponytail behind her ear.    She popped the top of a beer, placed a bar nap in front of him, and plopped the bottle on top of that. 

“Hey, Em,” he murmured.  Then he snatched the beer she offered and took a pull. 

Damn, that’s good.

“Hey, brother!” Olivia hollered from the other end of the dining area.

“Hey, brat,” he responded before losing sight of her as she bobbed and weaved through the mass of diners.  It was five o’clock, which meant happy hour and the beginning of the dinner rush.  Holts was always busy around this time.

“Tristan, we have to talk,” Emma stated as a matter of fact, snapping him out of his thoughts.  He wasn’t quite ready for this conversation, but he knew that it had to happen at some point.

He tilted his head to the side and skimmed his eyes over her face.  “What’s going on, Em?”

“I can’t let you hurt my girl again.  You know that, right?” 

He was definitely not ready for this conversation. 

“She’s beautiful, has a good job, loves to the max.  She has a shit dad who has been in jail since she was nine or ten years old but has an amazing mother.  If anyone can cancel out her luck in the dad department, it’s definitely her mama.  She cares so much for everyone else that she never makes time for herself.  She works hard and dedicates herself to helping others.”

“Go back a sec.  What did her father do to end up in the slammer?” Tristan interrupted. 

Emma shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. “Don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“No, I don’t know.”

“Em, you’ve known her for half of your lives and you don’t even know why her father went to jail?”

Tristan watched as the red crept up Emma’s cheeks.  She really had no clue why her best friend’s father had been sent to prison.  He must have done something big to be put away for this long.  He marked that down on his mental to-do list:  Google Mr. Madison.

“It’s not something that I choose to press her for.  I have always known that she had an absent father, but I never pushed the topic.  It makes her uncomfortable.”

Tristan nodded his head in acceptance and took another swig of his beer.

“Look, T, Holly is a quiet laid-back kind of gal—“

“Until you piss her off. Then she has one hell of a flying fist,” he jabbed.

Emma laughed.  “Yes, well, if you weren’t in your office giving the business to Giggles—“

“Jesus, she got to you too?”

“Anyhow, my point is that I want you to make sure that you know what you’re getting yourself into with Holly.  I don’t want you running her through the ringer and then tossing her aside when what you perceive as something better comes along, shaking her tail at you.”

“Not gonna happen.  I’m goin’ in on this with my eyes trained on the prize.  I know I was stupid and made a mistake.  I didn’t know we were going to be doing this exclusive thing.  I told her the other night that I couldn’t make her any promises but that I wanted to see where this thing goes with us.”

“She’s definitely worth the shot, T.”

“I know she is.”

Emma pulled another beer out of the cooler, twisted the cap, and extended it to him in exchange for his empty.  Tristan kept his eyes on her the whole time, waiting for more.  If he knew Em, he knew that this conversation wasn’t over yet.

She held his eyes a moment before nodding.  “I’m not going to make you suffer too much longer.  I just want you to know that you snagged a good one.  Don’t let her get away.  She likes you.  She’s never taken a chance on a man before.  Don’t get me wrong.  She’s had dates of course.  I mean, look at her.  Her problem is that she gets so lost in taking care of everyone else that she doesn’t think to actually take care of herself.  She has had a few fruitless endeavors and decided long ago that she would rather dive into her word porn than waste her time on a man who is just going to break her heart in the long run.”