Fire Me Up (22 page)

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. He wanted her with no regrets.

But sometimes, regrets didn't happen in the moment. Sometimes, they happened only after everything was lost.

“It's a little early for good morning, don't you think?”

The rumble of Adrian's voice caught Teagan completely unaware, and she jumped about a mile off the bed at the same time his arms shot out to hold her close.

“Gah! I didn't know you were awake!” Her heart slapped around in her rib cage, and she squinted through the gray shadows of her bedroom to take him in with a critical eye. Nothing about him had changed, from his position flat on his back to his closed eyes and relaxed breathing, but his heartbeat kicked a faster rhythm beneath her palm.

“You're awake,” he pointed out, shifting her against his side so her body fit under his uninjured arm. He trailed lazy circles over her back, sliding his fingertips from shoulder blade to spine and back again.

“Yeah.” Teagan's pulse wound down at the steady, warm pressure of Adrian's arms around her, holding her tight, and she wordlessly relaxed into his touch. “Guess I just popped up for a second.”

“It's early as hell, and I know you're tired. Go back to sleep.” Adrian leaned down, filling her drowsier-by-the-second senses with his cinnamon-spicy scent before pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

“I should get up. I can't go back to sleep,” she mumbled, making a feeble attempt to resist the yawn welling up from her throat. But Adrian's body framed hers, all hard lines and strong angles, and damn it, everything about him felt perfect on her skin.

“You can. I told you, I've got you, Red. I won't let you go.”

As Teagan's eyes drifted shut and she gave in to the exhaustion in her body and the pure, bright trust in her heart, she knew that Adrian was telling the truth.

And she was falling in love with him.

Adrian shifted his weight against the passenger seat of Teagan's Corolla, inhaling the woodsy-sweet scent of rosemary as her ponytail rode the early June breeze coming in through the open windows. Neither one of them had said much as they'd finally woken up and gotten ready to go to work, but that was fine with him. He'd spilled enough marbles last night to last him another decade.

And even when he'd told Teagan the darkest part of his past, the part that should've scared her the most, she hadn't run. She hadn't shut him out or shoved him away.

She'd let him stay.

Teagan cleared her throat, the soft sound pulling him back to the tight confines of the car. “You're awfully quiet over there.”

“Sorry. I must have been zoning out.” Okay, so it was a lame response, but he was pretty sure
sorry, I was just sitting here thinking that despite the fact that it's going to get my heart crushed like an overripe tomato and my ass thrown back in jail, I might be falling in love with you
would make him sound like an absolute wing nut.

Jesus. Nothing about this could end well.

“Oh. Okay.” For a minute, nothing but silence filled the space between them, until Teagan broke it with a curse. “Sorry, no. It's not okay. Look, I'm not any good at subtlety, so I'm just going to say this. I know things got a little crazy last night, and we both said some emotional stuff. But if you're, you know, having second thoughts—”

Adrian's head snapped up. “Having what?”

“Second thoughts about staying,” Teagan repeated, pressing her lips into a thin, strawberry-red line. “Why else would you be sitting there looking all freaked out and not saying anything?”

Oh hell. “I'm not freaked out because I'm having second thoughts.”

“You're not?”

Adrian closed his eyes for just a second before turning against the front seat to face her as completely as he could.

“No, Red. I'm freaked out because I'm
not
having second thoughts.”

“Oh.
Oh,
” she said, the second word wrapped tight in realization, and she pulled into the Double Shot's parking lot and put the car in
park
. “Really?”

“Really. I know the odds are stacked mile-high against us, but I don't care. I need to live my life with no regrets, and that means helping you all the way through this street fair, no matter what the risk.” Unable to help it, Adrian kicked one corner of his mouth into a half smile. “Did you honestly think I'd changed my mind?”

“No.” Teagan dropped her hands to her lap. “I don't know. I trust you. I guess I'm just . . . scared.”

Adrian leaned across the cramped space of the front seat, cradling her cheek in his palm. Sunlight streamed in through the car window behind her, illuminating her hair to a fiery red gold and showing him every inch of the honesty on her face, and suddenly, there was no
might be
about it.

He was a total fucking goner for this woman. Even if being with her was dangerous as hell.

“Not gonna lie, Red. We've got a lot in our path, and Lonnie's obviously been doing his homework.” Adrian pressed a kiss over her mouth, quick and reverent. “But we're going to get through this together. I'm not taking off on you. Not now.”

This time, Teagan eked out a tiny smile. “Okay.” Her eyes flicked to the restaurant over his shoulder, growing serious again as she returned her gaze to his. “But if you're going to stay, we need a game plan. The bar is a risky place for you to be, now more than ever. Your parole officer is out for blood, and if he finds out—”

“Oh, I'll deal with Big Ed,” Adrian said, his heart pounding a fresh load of adrenaline through his veins. The guy had gone too far, bullying him and threatening Carly. Felony record or not, that shit was going to stop, today.

“I agree that you need to talk to him, Adrian, but you also need to
think,
” Teagan shot back, her tougher side making a not-so-surprised appearance. “You said yourself he's just salivating for the chance to drag you back to jail. If you go at him full throttle, you might as well be gift-wrapping yourself for express delivery.”

Shit. As badly as Adrian wanted to let loose on Big Ed once and for all, Teagan had a point. Still . . . “He went too far this time. I'm sick and tired of these bullshit power plays.”

“So end them,” Teagan said, the words so direct and matter-of-fact that he had no choice but to listen. But he'd been sucking up Big Ed's veiled threats for the last three years because he'd had no other choice. How the hell was he going to make them disappear now, when he needed them gone the most?

Unless . . .

“Okay. Big Ed's threats work for the same reason Lonnie's do, right?”

“Leverage,” Teagan agreed, and oh holy hell, this just might work.

“But if he doesn't have any, he'll have no choice but to back off.” Adrian pushed a hand through his hair, hope percolating in his chest. “I wonder what my attorney would think of him putting the screws to a high-profile character witness like Carly.”

Teagan's eyes flashed with coppery surprise. “You're going to call your lawyer?”

“I'm going to meet leverage with leverage,” Adrian corrected, the idea snapping into place. “Big Ed crossed the line, and he needs to back off. I'm just going to motivate him to do it. I don't want to call my lawyer unless I have to, but it's past time for some pushing back.”

“Threatening him is a little risky,” Teagan said, her face unreadable. “Do you think he'll bite?”

“I think it's worth a shot. Look, I've put up with Big Ed's bullying for three years because a part of me believed I deserved it for screwing up so badly. But he's messing with more than just me now. I need to do
something
. If it works, he'll let up on Carly and we can focus on getting Lonnie paid back.”

Yup. And that just might be the biggest Hail Mary in the history of the two letters
I
and
f.

But Adrian stuffed down the thought. “We've got two weeks to make this street fair work, and like you said last night, it's gonna happen. I'll deal with Big Ed. We'll make this work.”

“And what about Carly?”

The question slapped him with a twin pang of surprise and don't-go-there. “What about her?”

Rather than get huffy or defensive, Teagan's voice went straight for matter-of-fact. “If you're going to deal with this, you need to deal with
all
of it. Carly's your boss, not to mention your best friend, and whether you like it or not, she's caught up in this, too.”

“She kicked me out of the kitchen,” Adrian argued, but Teagan countered his defensive pull backward with a single brush of her hand.

“Temporarily, yes. But Carly's had your back for the last five years. Do you really think she'd put you on leave without a good reason? Or that it didn't hurt her like it hurt you?”

“What?” Considering the utter shock reverberating through his chest, it was the best Adrian could muster. He'd been so caught up in the pain of being tossed from the one place he'd thought he needed, he hadn't ever considered that Carly's reasons for doing it might actually be sound. Or that putting him on a leave of absence would certainly have been hard for her, even if she thought it was right.

But Carly
had
been right. He really hadn't been living without regrets, in the kitchen or out. Only he'd been too torqued up trying to muscle through each waking moment to see what had been right in front of him the whole time.

Oh fuck. He was such an
idiot
.

“You're not an idiot,” Teagan said, and Adrian realized he must've uttered the curse out loud. She leaned in, the end of her ponytail brushing softly over his chest as she kissed his cheek. “You're just kind of prickly, that's all. And maybe a little thickheaded. I'm sure Carly knows.”

Adrian swallowed back a healthy dose of dread. As tempting as it was to tamp down his emotions with a fresh layer of tough-edged denial, closing himself off was what had gotten him into this mess to begin with.

Plus, as much as it scared the hell out of him, he trusted Teagan.

Enough to let her in.

“The stuff with Big Ed, I can fix. But I don't know how to make this right,” Adrian admitted, reaching across the center console for Teagan's hand, and damn. How did the simple feel of his fingers laced between hers make it so much easier to breathe?

“You want to live with no regrets, don't you?”

He nodded, and she lifted their entwined hands, pressing his palm over his breastbone with her own.

“Then stop being afraid of what's in here and just tell Carly how you feel.”

“You think she'll listen?” Christ, Adrian wouldn't be surprised if she punched his one-way ticket to voice mail purgatory.

Teagan said, “If she cares about you like I think she does? Yeah, I do.”

She pulled back, the corners of her mouth tugging into the sassy smile Adrian knew by heart.

“But for the record, Superman? It probably wouldn't hurt to lead with a giant apology. Now go make some phone calls. It's about time we had a little good news around here.”

 

 

Adrian hit the
end call
icon on his cell phone and sank back against the couch in the Double Shot's office, trying like hell to get the bitter taste of talking to Big Ed out of his mouth. As curdled as the conversation had been, Adrian's not-so-subtle promise to include his lawyer on their exchanges if Big Ed didn't leave Carly alone had hit its mark, and the surly old crank had agreed—albeit grudgingly—to back off. He hadn't backpedaled a bit on letting Adrian know he still had both eyes on the situation and one hand on the door. If Adrian fucked up, Big Ed
would
still drag him upstate.

And that had been the easier of his two personal calls. Although he'd tried her both at home and on her cell phone, the best Adrian had been able to do was leave Carly two messages saying he needed to talk.

Now he just had to hope she'd call him back.

Finding his feet, Adrian slid his phone to the back pocket of his jeans and aimed his heavy-soled boots toward the stairs. They had a hell of a workload in front of them today, and knowing Teagan, she'd already jumped in with both feet first with a yippee-ki-yay on her lips.

Despite the bone-wearying planning sessions they'd all been grinding out during the Double Shot's off-hours, Adrian and Jesse had been cutting it millimeter-close with the final menu for the street fair. Everything else had fallen into place over the course of the last week, from the setup to the entertainment to the contract with the brewery. But if they wanted to make enough money to turn Lonnie into nothing more than a bad memory, the food had to go above and beyond and above again, and Adrian was going to do everything within his power to make that a reality.

This street fair had to work. He couldn't leave Teagan in danger.

“Hey, slick. How's the coleslaw coming?” Adrian moved through the Double Shot's kitchen, claiming his spot next to Jesse at the prep station beside the grill.

“Good, I think.” Jesse reached past the scattering of ingredients on his cutting board, snapping up a tasting fork from the plastic container at his station. Scooping up a healthy bite of the dish in question, he handed over the fork with the same quiet efficiency he gave to all his kitchen tasks, and no way could Adrian deny that the guy had come a long way from washing dishes in the last three weeks.

Especially
after he tasted the coleslaw.

“Damn, Jesse. That's a whole lot better than good.” Adrian savored the creamy tang of the just-right flavors before heading over to the warmer. With careful motions, he plated two pulled pork slider sandwiches in the paper-lined red plastic basket in front of him, adding a ramekin of the freshly made coleslaw and a decent handful of seasoned fries before looking up at Jesse with a now-or-never exhale.

“You think she's going to like it?” Jesse asked, his eyes flicking to the counter with an even measure of uncertainty and hope, and Adrian slid the basket from the prep station as he set his sights on the swinging door.

“Only one way to find out.”

He edged into the dining room with Jesse following hot on his heels, and suddenly, his pulse kicked a brand-new batch of get-up-and-go through his veins.

“You two look like you're up to no good.” Teagan pushed back from her go-to spot at the end of the Double Shot's bar, late-morning sunlight scattering patterns across the hardwood floor behind her. She brushed a wayward strand of hair behind her ear, splitting a suspicious glance between him and Jesse. Her eyes crinkled at the weight of the smile on her lips, though, and damn. Adrian felt that smile from his baseball hat to his boots.

“That sounds about right,” he said, depositing the basket on the polished bar top at her side.

Both amber brows rose. “What's this?”

“Lunch.”

Teagan's laugh popped out, and man, he thought he'd felt her
smile
everywhere. “Adrian, it's ten forty-five in the morning. I know I usually skip lunch, but this is a hell of a preemptive strike, don't you think?”

“Humor me.”

Anticipation swirled in Adrian's gut as she lifted one of the slider sandwiches from the basket and took a big inhale. Her eyes sent an appreciative flick over the buttery-gold roll and the honey-brown pulled pork spilling out from the edges, but the small taste she took was merely polite.