“I’ll watch Dad,” she said, teetering on her heels.
I nodded and watched her pull August forward.
Dad might seem like everything was okay with him and Campbell, but we all knew that it was a volcano waiting to explode. Talking drugs with Vail certainly wasn’t going to help anything. Even if Campbell was the one who had gotten Helene marijuana to help with her cancer treatments. He’d thanked him then. He wouldn’t for this. We all walked on a razor’s edge.
It was quite a conversation to have right before we all strode into church.
We always sat on the far-left side of the nave, and I followed my family over to their seats. The Wrights were already in attendance, splayed out across the front pews. They’d gone from five lonely siblings without parents to five siblings, five significant others, and seven kids with one more on the way. Even Jensen’s oldest, Colton, was in attendance, sulking broodily, the farthest he could get from his dad.
Morgan came over to speak with Nora about her upcoming nuptials. I sat down next to Campbell. He drummed his fingers on the back of the pew in front of us. He was in a constant state of motion. He had always been like that. A fidgety kid who had always gotten in trouble for never being able to sit still. Now, he’d taken that energy and made a career out of it.
I watched the rest of the congregation fill the space. That was when I saw her. I blinked in shock. I didn’t come to church every Sunday, but I came enough with Dad to know most of the people in attendance.
And I’d never seen Piper Medina here.
Before I could think better of it, I was on my feet and striding across the room. I should have thought it through before I blundered in her presence. She was with her family. She probably didn’t want me to bother her. Did I care?
“Hey, Piper,” I said with a smirk, stopping her before she could reach the pews.
She was fucking stunning. It was a statement of fact. Her full, dark hair was loose, down around her shoulders. Her dark eyes were rimmed in kohl, and her lips were painted a soft pink color that made me want to lick it off of her. She wore high-waisted black trousers with a white blouse tucked in, pulled tight across her chest. She’d shucked off a jacket, and she held it in one arm.
But it was the way she froze at the sight of me. Her eyes traveled down my body, as if she were interested in what I looked like under this suit. I wanted that look. I wanted to bottle it up and devour it.
“Hollin,” she finally said in a breathy voice.
And I was done for.
8
Piper
Hollin Abbey was in a…suit.
I’d never seen him in anything but T-shirt with jeans or soccer shorts. The way his muscled thighs were revealed in the red shorts as he ran powerfully across the field. The arch of his ass in the fitted jeans that had been made for working and admiration. But a suit…I could hardly process this Hollin.
Charcoal molded to his shoulders like an artist had taken their instruments to draw the sharp definition of him. His trousers cut him in tight at the waist and hung on those hips and over the powerful thighs. Then opened the collar of his shirt to reveal a few inches of tanned skin.
I normally hated the smirk on his stupid, pretty face. The one that said he was going to try to drive a scalpel under my skin and pull up until I screamed at him. The teasing that drove me crazy and also made me wonder if all this anger could be fuel for something potentially delicious.
My eyes glazed over at the sight of him. My toes curled in their little pumps. Dammit, why was he so hot?
“Who’s this, amorcita?” Abuelita asked, stepping gingerly up to my side. She reached out and took my arm to steady herself. She’d been doing that more and more lately, as if her own feet weren’t enough.
I jerked out of my reverie and crashed back down to reality. His smile only grew as he watched my anger light a fuse between us. I didn’t want to want him. What was wrong with me?
I clenched my hand and released it. “Abuelita Nina, this is Hollin Abbey.”
“Well, why didn’t they make men this handsome in my day?”
I scoffed. “You were married for fifty years.”
“Shush,” Nina teased. “He might not know.”
Hollin barely held back his laughter. There was a new light in his eyes at the sight of my grandmother. As if he couldn’t believe my eighty-something-year-old grandma was flirting with him. Well, neither could I.
“Can I help you to your seat?” he asked, holding his arm out.
My eyes rounded in shock. He was going to go along with this?
Abuelita preened under his attention and put her hand on his. “Isn’t that sweet of you?” Abuelita looked back up at me with a wink. “Find yourself one of these.”
I shook my head as Hollin escorted my grandmother down the aisle. And they were actually flirting. Jesus Christ, strike me down for taking your name in vain inside your house, but who was this man? Hollin Abbey was acting distinctly like a gentleman, and I didn’t know what to think of it. It was quite unfathomable.
Abuelita sat down with a wide grin on her face. I hadn’t seen her look like that since Peyton had moved home. What kind of magic had he worked on my poor grandmother?
My hackles immediately came up. “What are you doing?”
He raised his eyebrows. As if he were innocent. “What do you mean?”
“Nothing,” I grumbled. Abuelita grinned toothily at the both of us. “Just leave us alone.”
“Piper,” Abuelita gasped. “Where are your manners?”
I straightened further, resigned to the fact that I could say nothing against Hollin while my grandmother sat there. Nothing at all. Abuelita was right anyway. Hollin wasn’t doing anything wrong. I was anticipating him doing something or having a motive that I couldn’t yet see.
Finally, I shot him a rare smile. “Thank you.”
He looked taken aback for a split second before grinning down at me. “Anytime, Medina. Anytime.”
He tipped his head at my grandmother again and then returned to his family. Campbell was sitting next to him. Wasn’t he on tour?
I didn’t have a chance to find out as piano music filled the atrium, signaling for everyone to return to their seat for the service to begin. I sat between Abuelita and my mother. Mom shot me a questioning look as soon as I sat down, but thankfully, I wouldn’t have to answer that until later. Hopefully much later. Or never.
When the service ended, I helped Abuelita back out into the narthex, where she immediately began to gossip with all of her friends. We wouldn’t move her from there for another half hour. I stepped out of the cross fire inside and outside, where it had begun to drizzle. There was possible snow on the radar for tonight. A late snowstorm always swept through Lubbock in March, blanketing everything just enough to be annoying. I was hoping it wouldn’t happen this year. But the rain was making me reconsider. Maybe I’d stop at the store on the way home for provisions just to be safe.
“So,” Hollin said at my back.
I raised my eyes to the heavens and sighed. “What?”
“Nina is nice.”
“Mi abuelita is the best of us,” I said automatically.
She was the strongest and bravest and the best cook. She was my entire childhood, wrapped up in one teeny package. She was only four foot nine, and we used to have a holiday when any of us got taller than her. We’d celebrate while she reminded us that she was still the smartest of us all. She’d looked utterly ridiculous on Hollin’s arm, considering he was easily six and a half feet tall.