One Last Shot (Cupid's Conquests) (7 page)

“Hey, John
, y
our cousin sells real estate, right?”

“Yeah. He was top agent last month.”

“Tell him to call me.”

He held her stare for a full minute like he was gauging how serious she was, but he finally nodded and pulled out his cell phone.

#

Justin
pulled in the parking lot, relieved to see
the white Mustang
parked in back.
The bar
wouldn’t be open for another hour
and he hoped
to
get at least a few minutes
alone with
Shelby
.
His phone buzzed as he headed for the
backdoor
. One glance at the caller ID and he hit ignore, sending Sean’s call to vo
icemail for the third time this morning
. He stepped through the backdoor as John walked out of the storeroom. The linebacker-sized bouncer blocked the hallway and glared down at him. They’d
shared a few classes back in high school
, had even got
ten
drunk together a time or two, but there was no love in John’s face.
Unlike most people in town, he and the rest of the staff at Shooters weren’t so thrilled about his homecoming.

“Hey, John. Is
Shelby
around?”

“She’s in a meeting.”

“I just need a minute.” The pit
yawning
in his stomach couldn’t wait until closing
time
for answers. “Please, man.” Something must have shown in his eyes because John relaxed his stance and stepped out of the way.
John wrapped his thick fingers around Justin’s arm before he could pass.

“She’s had a shitty day already. You make it worse, you’re out on your ass.” His level stare said it wasn’t an idle threat.

Justin
agreed, slipped passed the bouncer, and
followed the sound of voices to the front of the bar where
Shelby
sat at a corner table, papers spread between her and a guy he didn’t recognize.

“So you’ll have the listing posted today?” she asked.

“As soon as I get back to the office,” the man said then lifted his eyes and recognition dawned
across his face
. “Holy shit! I heard you were back in town.” The man stood and held out his hand to
Justin
.
“I’m Tim Harris. It’s great to meet you, man. I’m a big fan.”

“Thanks, Tim. Nice to meet you, too. I hate to interrupt, but do you think I could have a minute with
Shelby
?” He saw her shift from the corner of his eye, but he
had to
get rid of this guy first.

“Sure
thing
. We were just wrapping up.”

“Don’t you need anything else from me?” she asked.

“No, no, we’re good. I just need your key. I’ll make a copy and drop it back off to you before closing.”

Shelby
slid a key across the table. Tim snatched it, shook
Justin
’
s
hand again and was gone.
The papers, the key, the slick dressed man all started to click in
Justin
’
s
mind
.
H
e was about to ask Shelby what she was doing when s
he pushed away from the booth, walked to the nearest table and started pulling the chairs down, setting up for the lunch crowd. His chest clenched at the tension in her shoulders
, bringing back the real reason he was here to see her
.
Still
reeling from their amazing night and his discovery
, t
he last reaction he expected from her was this.
A hello or, hell, even a hug would have been a little more appropriate. But this?

“Good morning, Shel.”

“Look,
J
ay
, I’ve got a lot going on right now. Can we do this later?” She
jerked
the last chair down and moved to the next table.

“Do what later?”

“I don’t know
.
W
hatever
chat you were planning to have.”

A chat?
Is that all he was worth after a night like that?
“
You don’t think I deserve at least a good morning after last night?”

“
I figured nights like that were routine for such a big star.
” She slammed a chair on the floor and grabbed another.

“No night with you was ever
routine
. They were always more to me. You were always more to me, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. You obviously never felt the same
, which is why you walked
away
.”

Her shoulders tensed like she’d taken an actual blow then she moved on.
“Is this the poor little sports star story? Because I’ve got
bigger things to deal with than your ego right now
.”

His muscles twitched, wanting so badly to grab her, spin her around, force her to look him in the eye and tell him the truth.
She’d always been good at using her anger to deflect things, but he wasn’t going to let her push him away so easily again.
“You’re the one who
left
,
Shelby
. No explanations, no returned calls.
It wasn’t my ego you bruised back then.
”

Her back stiffened
, hands frozen on the chair
.
He slid up behind her, trapping her against the table.
“You could at least explain this
,” he breathed against her ear, dropping the baseball ticket on the table.

Her breath caught
,
fingers
trailing a
cross the
worn
edge of
the
ticket
. She
turned her face to his, their lips a heartbeat away from each other. His body reacted to her,
to
the tang of her perfume, and the emotion in her eyes. It was all he could do not to throw her down on the table and let his stiffening erection have its way.

She swallowed then opened her mouth.
“I
—
”

“Shelby Stephens
,
”
a
man called from the doorway.

They spun and found two police officers followed closely by John who looked pissed enough to rip both of their heads off.

“Can I help you?”
Shelby
asked, voice steadier than
Justin
’
s
heart
rate.
Heavy shadows hung beneath her eyes and, despite the slight flush to her cheeks, her skin
was
pale and taut.

“
Assault charges have been filed,
Shelby
. We need to take you down to the station,”
Seth,
the taller officer said.

“Fucking pussy,”
Shelby
said under her breath.

“What’s going on here, Seth
?
”
Justin
asked, stepping between Shelby and the approaching officers.

“You might want to ask your brother,” Seth said.

Justin
glanced at Shelby who looked unfazed by the charges. “What happened?”
he asked.

“Let’s just say you can pull off a broken nose a lot better than he can
.
”

John stifled
his laughter
with a not
-
s
o-
subtle coughing fi
t.
Justin
cocked an eyebrow, but
Shelby
just shrugged.

“
You’ll have to come with us
, Shelby,” Seth said.

“I don’t have time for this bullshit, Seth
.
”
Shelby
return
ed
to pulling chairs down from the tables.

“We have witnesses.”

“I’m sure you
do
.
W
e were standing in the lobby of the damn bank.”

John snorted, but
Shelby
ignored him and slammed
another chair on the ground.

“Don’t make me arrest you
,
”
Seth said, resting his hand on the cuffs hanging from his belt.

“I’d like to see you try
.
”

Justin
knew that look in her eye; she meant what she said, and from Seth’s face, he knew it, too. The other cop glanced from Seth to
Shelby
, not sure what to do.

“Here’s the deal, Seth,” she said
,
moving to the last table. “I’ve got a shitload of work to do so I’m not going to let you arrest me today. But I’
d
be happy to come down to the station tomorrow and file a
complaint
against Mr. Tanner
for sexual harassment
, which makes his nose job self-defense
. And you can tell Bleeder
Billy I’ll be filing that
with his corporate office as well.”

“Did he touch you?”
Justin
stepped closer,
fists clenching
. Brotherhood be damned
. I
f Billy even tried to lay a finger on
Shelby
, he’d break a hell of a lot more than his nose.

Shelby
met his eye and shook her head then turned back to Seth. “He looked down my shirt, commented on my
tits,
and called me a whore.”

Justin
mumbled, “Fucking asshole,” but from the smirk on
Shelby
’s face, she must have heard him.

“
You can’t arrest her if she was defending herself
,” John said from the back.

“I still need you to come in and give a statement.”

“Look, Seth
…
”
Justin
put a hand on his shoulder and walked him over to the bar, giving them
the illusion
of privacy
.
“Let me talk to my brother. You know damn well how
much they hate each other. This is a pride thing
. I
t doesn’t have to be a legal thing. I’ll get him to drop the charges.
And
Shelby
won’t bother with charges if this is dropped. She already humiliated him.
”

“And if he doesn’t
drop it
?”

“Then I’ll personally drive
Shelby
to the station to give a statement
.”

Seth rubbed a hand across his chin and nodded. “Yeah, all right, but if he doesn’t call the station to drop the charges by the time my shift starts tomorrow, I’ll be right back down here to haul her in.”

“Fair enough, but if it comes to that, you better bring something bigger than that to help you.”
Justin
nodded to Seth’s scrawny partner.

“No shit. I’ll bring my
T
aser and riot gear.”
It would have been funny if the look in Seth’s eye wasn’t dead serious.
Shelby
had earned her reputation a long time ago and there were few men in this town
who
would cross her.

Seth shook Justin’s hand then
nodded to his partner who followed him out of the bar.
Shelby
took down the last chair then gr
abbed a tray of salt and pepper
shakers. She wove in and out of the table
s
,
delivering a pair
to each then
moving on.
Justin
’
s
eyes followed her as she leaned in to the center of each table. His palm tingled remembering the feel of her
curves
beneath his hands the night before. Lust warmed his skin
chased by a shot of anger at the thought of his brother disrespecting her.
Shelby
was quick with her fists, but rarely without cause. The strain in her neck and stiffness in her shoulders had to be more than her regretting the night before. Whatever it was, he’d find out. After he talked to Billy.

#

Justin
pulled into
Billy’s
driveway
.
H
is brother’s black Mercedes shone like obsidian in the afternoon sun.
His long strides took the steps two at a time
and
he
let himself
in without knocking. Billy sat on
a
leather couch,
collar unbuttoned, blossoms of red dotting his shirt
, an ice pack resting on his face.