Chapter 9

This had to be some kind of cruel joke. Either that or I'd pissed off some higher power recently who was getting a real kick out of getting back at me via second-and-third-degree burns. At the rate things were going, I was going to need a skin graft soon.

I'd been so focused on taking that first sip of coffee—Sinful Sweets really did brew a superb cup of coffee—that I hadn't been paying adequate attention to the table I was passing, and the woman shoved her chair backward, plowing right into me, sending the coffee splattering down my front.

This was what I got for venturing into town again because I'd been too busy over the past few days to run out and replace my broken coffee maker at home. Never again. I was never leaving my house again.

"Oh my God. I'm so sorr—" The cat owner's lips parted on a quiet exhale as those dove gray eyes of hers went wide. "You."

"You have got to be kidding me," I gritted out, hunched forward and grasping the front of my shirt in an effort to keep the steaming hot fabric off my skin.

I could have sworn I heard her say, "Holy shit. Not again," under her breath as she whipped back around to her table and snatched up a wad of paper napkins. "I'm really sorry." She spoke at a rapid-fire pace as she dabbed and rubbed at the coffee stain on the front of my shirt that was finally cooling, but had rendered another shirt ruined. "I swear, I didn't do this on purpose."

A bolt of electricity shot through me at her touch, the current traveling beneath my skin and creating this strange pins-and-needles effect I'd only ever felt when a limb had fallen asleep. Thrown by the sensation, I grabbed her wrists to stop her, jerking when that simple touch caused a static shock I knew she felt by the way those expressive eyes of hers flared when they shot back to mine.

I dropped her wrists, breaking the connection, and did my best to shake off the disconcerting feeling. My brows climbed higher up my forehead. "You sure about that?" I meant it to be teasing, but that simple touch left me flustered. And judging by the way her brows slammed together in a frown, my tone was much more brusque than I meant for it to be.

She promptly stopped smearing the coffee stain, oblivious that she was only making it worse, and shot me a killing look. "Of course I'm sure. I'd never intentionally cause someone pain... or ruin a perfectly good cup of coffee, for that matter."

"Um, do you guys know each other?"

I looked at her companions. I didn't recognize the one who'd asked the question, but the other woman sitting beside her was the one who'd assisted with this lady's cat the day of our first encounter. She elbowed the blonde sitting next to her. "That's the guy I was telling you about. The one Smoosh climbed like a tree."

I fought back the curl in the corner of my mouth as I turned back to the woman who couldn't seem to stop physically assaulting me. "I take it Smoosh is your devil cat?"

"Yes," the blonde answered quickly at the same time Calamity Jane over there cried, "She's not a devil cat!"

Her friends did a terrible job of trying to mask their snickers, earning an evil glare from Calamity.

It hit me that I still didn't know this woman's name, which sat in my stomach like a lead ball for some reason, but the nickname I'd come up with in my head fit her to a tee.

With her focus on her friends for the briefest moment, my eyes traced every inch of her face, taking in the arch of her brows, the thick, dark lashes that lined her almond-shaped eyes. I warned it not to, but my gaze traveled to her mouth. Her lips were pursed unhappily, but there was still no missing how full and pink they were. I caught my mind wandering to how it would feel if I were to trace that indent on the top lip that made a perfect bow shape with my tongue.

Fucking hell. Get your shit together.

I blinked back the visions of leaning down and kissing this complete stranger as she turned back to me. Christ, my cheeks felt hot. Was I actually blushing? What the hell?

Never. Coming. Into. Town. Again.

"Smoosh is actually a very sweet cat. She just has this weird fear about her carrier. I'm sure if you got to know her, you'd like her."

"Doubt it," I returned. I was about as much a fan of cats as I was people, maybe less so. "And you'll have to excuse me for having no interest whatsoever. Between the two of you, I worry how much money I'll be flushing down the drain for replacement suits."

Her entire face crinkled, and damn if I didn't think she looked adorable as hell, even while trying to look menacing. "You're just as much to blame as me or Smoosh."

My chin jerked back at her weak defense. "And how exactly do you figure that, Calamity?"

"I'm not a calamity," she bit out. "And who the hell even wears a suit on a freaking Sunday, for crying out loud? Haven't you ever heard of a day of rest?" She threw her hands in the air dramatically. "If you dressed like a normal person, that spilled coffee wouldn't be such a travesty."

A bubble of incredulous laughter spilled out of my mouth. I couldn't remember the last time I laughed, incredulous or not. "So it's my fault for wearing suits? That's your reasoning?"

"Yes," she continued snobbishly, even though we both knew she didn't have a leg to stand on. "That second cup of coffee had to be the universe's way of telling you to pull that stick out of your ass and lighten the hell up."

Calamity was a hazard to those around her, and a massive pain in my ass, yet, instead of being annoyed that I was standing in the middle of a crowded restaurant having a grade-school-level fight with this strange woman, I was entertained. I hadn't stopped once to consider how behind schedule the childish argument we were having was going to make me. Hell, in the past five minutes, I hadn't thought of work at all.

I couldn't remember the last time that had happened.

On that note. I couldn't remember the last time someone had talked to me the way Calamity just had. It was almost... refreshing. I usually garnered one of two reactions. If people knew who I was they'd fawn over me because of how much money I had or what I could possibly do for them. Or if they didn't, they found me intimidating because of how I came off and my lack of people skills. This woman didn't have the first clue who I was, but she sure as hell wasn't intimidated.

"Um, Jo..." her blonde-haired friend said, her gaze directed over our shoulders at something outside. "We've got a bogey incoming, and it seems to have locked on you as its target."

"What should we do?" the other friend asked. "You want us to block your path so you can sneak out the back?"

Calamity looked in the direction of her friends a second before the color faded from her cheeks. "Ah, shit," she hissed, all the fire that had been burning hot in her gaze only a second ago going out like a campfire that had been smothered with sand.

Curiosity tugged my attention toward the window her friends were looking through at the same time it pulled my brows into a frown. It took a few seconds for me to recognize the man heading right for the door as Leighton's fiancé, Bart. Or Barnett. Or Barney, I couldn't remember.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit. This is the last thing I need right now," she said in a panic, drawing my gaze back to her as she shuffled from foot to foot like she was seconds away from bolting.

Something uncomfortable and hot churned in my gut, leaving me unsettled. It made my skin itchy and my muscles tight. Jesus, what the hell was going on? "You know that guy?"

She puckered those sexy lips and blew a dramatic raspberry. "Yes, unfortunately. He's my ex."

That churning got even worse, making it feel like my intestines were tied in knots. My fists clenched involuntarily. I hadn't cared much for the guy when I had to suffer through that family dinner with Leighton and all her bullshit, but having Calamity call him her ex made me hate him on sight. He could have been the one to cure cancer or have dedicated his life to feeding the homeless and it still wouldn't have mattered. My dislike for him was solidified.

"Your ex?" My heart went from beating steadily to grinding like something had been shoved into its gears. "You dated that guy?"

Why the hell did I keep asking, like the answer would somehow change? And why did it matter so damn much?"

"We were engaged, actually. He broke it off, and I found out today that he's engaged again. Only this time it's to the worst woman ever."

Maybe if Leighton and I had grown up together—and her personality was completely different from what it was now—I would have felt a flutter of brotherly loyalty. But we hadn't been raised under the same roof, and Leighton was who she was—specifically, the worst.

However, that wasn't what was sticking in my head just then.

"You were engaged to that guy?"

What she did with her eyes was a combination of a roll and a cross as she puffed her cheeks and blew out a self-deprecating raspberry. "Don't remind me, okay?"

The unsettling sensation that had been churning inside me started to calm at her response. "So you don't want him back?"

Again . . . why did I care?

There wasn't an answer to that question. I just knew I did. Which meant I needed to get the hell away from this woman as fast as possible. But instead of doing that, I ended up doing something so out of character I didn't recognize myself.

From the corner of my eye I could see Barney closing in, and instead of thinking, I just acted. "Don't stiffen up," I said in a low rumble of warning as I reached up and took her chin between my thumb and index finger, tilting her face upward.

Her dove gray eyes that revealed everything she was feeling went wide. "Wh-what are you doing?"

"Just . . . trust me. What's your name?"

"J-Jolie."

Jolie. It was unique. Beautiful. Fitting. Just like Calamity.

"Well, Jolie, remember what I just said." On that, I closed the distance between us and brought my lips down on hers. A live current shot through my veins instantly like I'd grabbed hold of a fallen powerline.

The sharp inhale she sucked in at the press of my lips against hers spurred me on, pumping through me and causing my free hand to come up and grip the swell of her hip. My eyes remained open, taking in the million different feelings that skittered across her expression in a single heartbeat like a spinning kaleidoscope of emotion. I sure as hell didn't expect the massive punch to the sternum at that first feel of her soft, pillowy lips, but when her eyelids fluttered closed, my fingers pressed deeper into her skin, absorbing the heat coming off her skin beneath her clothes.

"Jolie?"

At the sound of Barnaby's voice Jolie's eyes flew open and a growl worked its way up my throat at having her name fall from his mouth. A voice in the back of my head screamed that he didn't have the right to speak such a perfect name, but the tiny bit of rationality still lingering kept me from reaching out and punching him like I so desperately wanted to. It was as if one little kiss was enough to undo all my control and send me back to the most base, primitive version of myself.

She broke the kiss before I was ready, taking a step back, and stumbled over her own two feet. She would have hit the ground if my arm hadn't shot out and wrapped around her waist, yanking her against me. I should have gotten the hell out of the shop the moment she caused me to spill a second cup of coffee on myself. I should have turned and walked away instead of engaging in another argument. And I sure as hell shouldn't have kissed her. But what was done was done, and I couldn't seem to make my body listen to what my brain was trying to get across. In fact, when I felt her body tense beside mine, my arm tightened in anticipation of her trying to make a break for it.

Bartholomew's eyes bounced back and forth between us before settling on where my hand rested on her hip, intimately touching her like I had every right. His jaw hung open as he tried to wrap his head around what he was seeing.

"Do you two know each other?"

Jolie sputtered as she tried to form a response. "Uh, we.. ." That was all that came out.

I was suddenly very aware of the fact that the entire café had grown eerily quiet and Jolie and I seemed to be the center of attention. I could feel all those eyes drilling into my skin, sending an uncomfortable prickle down my spine, but I held fast to her and stood my ground.

"We're seeing each other."

Where the fuck had that come from?

I ignored the choking coughs coming from her friends at the table behind us. Jolie's poker face was terrible. Something we'll have to work on, a voice in the back of my head said before I could stop it.

This wasn't supposed to be a permanent thing. Hell, I wasn't sure what it was supposed to be. For the first time since I was thirteen, I'd acted without thought. Without a plan. It was a foreign concept for me. After having it taken from me far too often when I was younger, control was now something I required, and the last thing I felt in the situation I'd just created for myself was in control.

But with this calamitous woman pinned to my side, I felt anchored instead of adrift.

Strange.

"You're—you two—you guys are seeing each other?"

Jolie's mouth opened and closed over and over. Clearly, she wasn't going to be any help with this whole ruse.

"It's new." I opened my mouth and the lies just kept on coming. "We met the other week, not long after I arrived in town." I lifted my chin in a defiant gesture like I was silently daring him to object or call me on the bullshit I was spewing.

Proving, once again, he didn't have much in way of a spine, Bartleby blinked away his surprise and pinned a brittle smile on his face. "Small world, huh?"

Jolie spoke for the first time since our kiss, tilting her head to the side curiously. "How so?"

"I just mean I'm with Leighton, and now you're dating her brother? Talk about a coincidence."

I heard a string of muffled curses from the women behind us, but I was too focused on the one still tucked beneath my arm who was now staring at me with what appeared to be murder in her thundercloud gaze.

"Half-brother," I quickly amended. "And we aren't that close." Turning back to the douchebag, I explained, "Jolie and I haven't had the whole family talk yet. Like I said, it's new. Did you need something, Baxter?"

He blinked twice. "I-it's Barrett. And, um, well..." He fidgeted anxiously, finally taking notice of the attention our little trio had drawn and lowered his voice before continuing to speak directly to Jolie. "I saw you through the window and I just... wanted to say I was sorry, you know, for springing the whole engagement thing on you. I mean, I wanted to tell you personally, but you know Leighton." He let out an uneasy chuckle that made Jolie's shoulders stiff as a board. "Anyway. I'm sorry you had to see it in the paper instead of hearing it from me."

Christ, this dickhead wasn't only spineless. I wouldn't have been surprised if my sister had his nuts in a jar on her bedside table. Those two deserved each other, that was for damn sure.

"No problem," Jolie responded. Finally seeming to get with the program, her body began to loosen, and my heart beat heavily against my ribs when she sank deeper into my side. "I'd say it all worked out for the best." She tilted her head and rested it on my shoulder as she lifted a hand to place on my chest. Just like that, the saliva in my mouth dried up like I'd just sucked on a cotton ball. My Adam's apple bobbed on a thick swallow as my hold on Jolie tightened. She smelled like what I imagined sunshine might smell like—all citrus and sugar, and I couldn't help but lower my head to her hair and breath in deeply.

For fuck's sake. Now I was sniffing her?

His smile dropped a fraction. "Yeah, totally. For sure," he said, sounding like he didn't believe it for a second.

I shifted my attention back to the man in front of us, giving him a look that had sent better men than he scurrying out of boardrooms. "Well, it was good to see you again, Baxter. But I'm sure you have other things to do."

The muscles in his jaw ticked. "It's Barrett. And you're right. Leighton wants to do some wedding stuff today," he added pettily. "I was on my way to meet her."

I shooed him off with a wave of my hand. "Then by all means, don't keep her waiting."

I took immense pleasure at the sight of his cheeks turning a mottled red, but instead of saying anything to me, he looked back at Jolie. "See you around, Jo."

I watched as he finally made his way out of the café, waiting for the panic that usually accompanied my lack of control to slam into me like a Mack truck. But it didn't come.

Not even when Jolie turned to look up at me, her expression full of rebuke.

"You don't have any clue what you've just done."

I didn't, but even as I dug down deep, I couldn't find it in me to care.