Bad Boy’s Bridesmaid(100)

“That was before he almost killed you.”

“It wasn’t him!”

“You don’t remember a thing from that night, Jo-Jo. I do. Stay away from him.”

Granddad coughed again. Too hard. I handed him more water, but he batted it away, accidentally spilling the contents over him and the floor. He swore. It only caused more coughing.

Would it always be this hard to watch him? To see the man who raised me get sick?

Get weaker?

Granddad silenced again. He stared at the TV, but he wasn’t ignoring me or losing himself in the show. His mind was fine, just cluttered with impatience, rage, and…regret?

Like he wished he hadn’t survived the fire.

The thought ached in my chest. I cleared my throat, changing the subject.

“I have a job today,” I said. “I had to make every cookie I know for Nolan Rhys. His campaign fundraiser is today.”

Granddad fiddled with the remote. “That Nolan. He still pestering you?”

“You have no idea.”

“Might be time to consider him.”

Gag. “No thanks, Granddad.”

“He’s been after you as long as Maddox.”

Yeah, but Maddox actually loved me. Nolan? He was evil. Manipulative. Someone who would kill to get what he wanted.

And no one knew but me.

“I’m not interested in Nolan,” I said.

“You’re twenty-two years old. It’s time you start thinking about your future.” Granddad set his jaw. He tapped my hand. “I’m not gonna be here forever. And that candy shop—”

“We’re gonna rebuild.”

Granddad didn’t answer, and I wasn’t going to say anything else. My future was buried under twenty-five pound bags of sugar and nothing was going to change that. Not Nolan.

Not Maddox.

It was getting late. I leaned over and kissed Granddad’s forehead. Wrinkled. The gray dusted hair that was once midnight black. Everything faded with age. I just hoped he wasn’t giving up. If only he had some faith in the candy shop. Instead, he started to sound like the rest of Saint Christie. They preferred to remember the past while I worked hard for my future.

Once I proved that Nolan was responsible for the fire, nothing would stop us from rebuilding, forgiving, and starting our real life.

Then maybe, finally, I could imagine a life with Maddox again.

I didn’t know what I dreaded more—Granddad’s silence when I wished him goodbye or Nolan’s campaign event.

His campaign circus.

The fundraiser filled the ballroom/continental breakfast hall of the largest motel in Saint Christie. After he bought the majority of rooms in the hotel, he asked for favors from most of the townsfolk to put up more of his campaign organizers. This included decorators who festooned the motel with stars and stripes. The only thing Nolan loved more than the acclaim of the town was his name scrawled in posters throughout Main Street.

Fortunately, I could duck His Majesty. I waved over the nearest staffer and informed her of the cookie situation unfolding in the back of my car. She and an intern unloaded my trunk, and another passed me an envelope with a check.

Easier than I thought it’d be.

“Josie!”

My skin crawled. The artificial charm slathered over his words, sticking to me like simple syrup left in globs on a counter.

Nolan approached me with an outstretched arm. At least he shook my hand instead of forcing me into a hug. Not that the handshake was much better. His grip was too firm, too aggressive. His palm swallowed my fingers.

I got the feeling that he liked that.

Nolan grinned, baring teeth too sharp for his smile. He might have been handsome if I wasn’t so sure he’d bite me like a jawbreaker just to scrape out the sugar inside.

“I had hoped to catch you before the fundraiser began.” He hadn’t released my hand. Those blue eyes studied parts of me I wished he wouldn’t imagine. “I wanted to thank you for your support in my campaign. I hope I’ll have your vote this November.”

We were surrounded by too many people for me to make a scene. He pulled a Rhys for My Rep sticker from his pocket and gently patted it onto my shirt. If we weren’t in sight of everyone, I was sure his hand would have patted lower.

If he had a soul, and I had any other life, maybe we might have found a common interest in each other. Nolan wasn’t bad looking—he was actually attractive. Blue eyes, blonde hair, and every inch he fought to six feet exuded confidence. He was two years older than me, Maddox’s age, but even in high school his gaze lingered too long. He thought his name would get him far with me. It didn’t, and that was the greatest insult of all.

“I brought the cookies.” I placed a step between us. He immediately closed the gap. “Your campaign people are just finishing the set up. I’ll be out of your way in a minute.”

“You’re never in the way, Josie.” He said my name, testing it, probably imagining how it would sound spoken with a Congressman and Mrs. Rhys. “I have a few minutes before I’m needed. I was hoping you’d join me for a cup of coffee.”

Absolutely not, but did he expect me to say no? I wasn’t sure how much I could get away with around him, not now that Maddox was back in town.

“You’re awfully busy,” I said. “I should get going.”

“I need to talk with you, Josie. Let me buy you a cup of coffee, and we can settle things.”

Nolan either wanted to do business with me or to pin me against the wall. I didn’t trust either proposition.

“Maybe some other time.”

Nolan didn’t let me run far. “Maddox is out of jail.”

I stilled. The coy edge in his voice forced me to turn. Nolan rubbed his strong chin.

“Keeping secrets?” he asked.

I swallowed. It didn’t help. All the cookie dough I ate for breakfast solidified into a rock in my stomach. I forced a smile, if only to keep up appearances.

“What do you want?” I whispered.

“Just a cup of coffee, Josie. A chance to talk.”

Like I had a choice.

Nolan offered his arm. The thought revolted me, but I wouldn’t challenge him at Maddox’s expense. I took his elbow. My skin somehow looked darker, less cinnamon and more toffee under his hand. He liked that, but I wasn’t used to being a fetish.

Anne’s Beans wasn’t owned by Anne Wilks anymore—she sold to Tommy Waddock ten years ago who willed the property to his second wife, Anne Markson. They kept the name, but the locals still called it Tommy’s place. In any case, it was the best shop to get a cup of coffee in the town, especially when Anne, Tommy, and Annie each sent their customers to my family’s shop for a treat with their drink.

Rebecca Darcy worked the shift tonight—nine months pregnant to a husband she hadn’t seen in ten, but the town kept that quiet as poor Cade was on his second tour and did all he could. We sat, but Rebecca hovered, winking as I claimed the corner table. She was one of the townspeople who thought Nolan and I made a good match.

Well, most everyone thought it.

Nolan ordered two coffees. I didn’t touch mine. He added just enough creamer to match the coffee to my skin tone. Then he savored every drop, licking his lips as he dumped in enough sugar to open his own candy store in the cup.

I said nothing, but that was fine. Nolan didn’t like me for my conversational skills. He glanced over me as though I were a thousand dollar contribution to his campaign and smiled.

“Did you sleep with him?”

My breath caught. I stared at him.

“Excuse me?”

Nolan was direct. I was sure he imagined every moment I spent beneath Maddox.

“I asked if you slept with him.”

I licked my lips. “I don’t think that’s any business of yours.”

“Did you, or didn’t you?”

“I’m not telling you.”

“We had an agreement, Josie.”

My stomach twisted. “No. You told me what you wanted. I never agreed to anything.”

He sighed, blowing on the coffee to cool it down. “I’m only doing this for your own good.”

That wasn’t true. He wanted to control me.

And he could.

I lowered my voice, hissing just like the disgusting snake pretending to be a prince. “You threatened Maddox’s life. You said you’d kill him if I stayed with him.”

Nolan didn’t flinch. “I said no such thing, Josie.”

“You meant it.”

“It’s hard to prove intent.” He stared me down, the blue in his eyes deceptively sweet. “Maddox is the wrong man for you. If you stay with him, you’ll get hurt.” He sipped his coffee. “And so will he.”

No doubt. And Nolan would be the one pulling the trigger. No—he’d hire someone else to do it, the same sort of low-life and hardened man that Maddox nearly became.

I hated this. These horrible threats shouldn’t have existed in a small town like Saint Christie. We weren’t a big city. We didn’t have crime. We had…Maddox. His family was bad news, and he looked kinda scary in a leather jacket with his tattoos, but the town wasn’t unsafe. Our biggest threat came from a raccoon appearing in the afternoon and the occasional firework that exploded too near a cranky neighbor’s house.

But Maddox always said darkness lurked anywhere a shadow was cast—big city, small town, campaign fundraiser, or candy shop.

Nolan’s family was supposedly legit, and their favorite son a man of principal and ethics. The town trusted him, but I knew the truth. Nolan hated Maddox, and Maddox had enough skeletons in his closet and crimes in his past that no one would think twice if one day he stopped coming around.