The Christmas He Loved Her (Bad Boys of Crystal Lake 2)

Snowflakes fell from the night sky, illuminated like diamonds by the parade floats that moved down Main Street. It was perfect.

“I’ll grab us something if you guys get a table.” Jake pointed toward an unoccupied table in the far corner.

Raine nodded and slipped through the crowd, smiling and waving to several familiar faces. Lori was out with Brad Kitchen, and though the hairdresser did her best to hide it, her head swung like a pendulum as she looked from Raine to Jake and back to Raine. There had been a lot of similar looks cast her way as they stood along the parade route, Lily on one side of Jake, while she was on the other.

She was pretty sure the rumor mill was already chugging full steam ahead, but it wasn’t as if she could hide the way she felt. Raine was in love. He’d held her hand off and on, and at one point she’d said something to make him laugh and he had surprised the crap out of her by planting a kiss on her lips.

The night would have been perfect except for the third wheel who had insisted on coming along for the evening. Lily.

Raine still wasn’t entirely clear on Jake’s relationship with the woman, though she trusted Jake when he said it was platonic. But still, the woman was gorgeous, a celebrity of sorts, and from what she’d seen, Lily totally had Jake’s back.

Raine wasn’t threatened, but the two of them together made her kind of crazy. Did that make Raine a bad person?

Marnie thought Raine had saved Jake, but Raine suspected Lily had had just as much to do with it, if not more. Lily knew things about Jake—things he hadn’t shared with Raine—and that was a bridge she wasn’t sure how to cross.

Raine shrugged out of her jacket and slipped into the closest chair, smiling politely at Lily as she did the same. The blonde had changed out of her old jeans and sweatshirt and was dressed like a million bucks in a deep blue sweater, the kind that clung to her generous curves, and indigo skinny jeans tucked into leather boots that probably cost more than the average weekly salary for most folks around these parts. Her hair hung down her right shoulder, a platinum braid that was arranged as artfully as her makeup.

Which was flawless.

She was the kind of woman you’d love to hate, yet Raine sensed that the woman didn’t have her shit as together as she liked everyone to think.

A few moments of silence passed between them, broken only by a rousing shout of “Hell, yeah” when Springsteen’s “Merry Christmas Baby” rolled over the crowd. The dance floor was full, and it was hard not to get caught up in the good vibes that were abundant and robust.

“I was sorry to hear about your brother,” Raine said quietly, her eyes on Lily. This was the first that they’d been alone all evening.

“Thank you,” she replied, a hint of waver in her voice, “but please don’t say it was for the best, or I might have to hurt you.”

“I didn’t say that,” Raine replied.

“No,” Lily said grudgingly, “it’s what everyone else said. I swear it was my father’s mantra.” Lily smoothed her braid. “He’d been in a coma for so long that everyone told me it was a blessing, that he’s in a better place, but they’re full of shit.” Her eyes hardened. “His place was here, and it’s not right that he’s gone.”

Raine nodded, because she understood how the woman felt. “He served with Jesse.”

Lily glanced over to the bar before leaning closer. “Blake thought the world of Jesse and Jake. He talked about them all the time. He told me that Jesse was intense and that Jake was a bit of a hell-raiser.”

Raine nodded and smiled. “That sounds about right.”

“He said that both of them were the kind of guys you wanted at your back when the shit hit.”

Something flickered in Lily’s eyes and Raine swallowed thickly, suddenly feeling anxious and not knowing why. She shot a quick glance toward the bar, but the crowd was three deep, and Jake was nowhere near getting their drinks.

“Jake means a hell of a lot to me, you know that, right?” Lily’s intense gaze touched something inside of Raine, and she was adult enough to acknowledge it and call it what it was. Jealousy.

“Yeah,” she replied drily. “I got that.”

“I love him.”

Okay, the woman had balls. Raine cocked her head to the side. “Do you want to elaborate on that a little more?”

Raine got the feeling that Lily was enjoying herself.

“Sorry, that didn’t exactly come out right,” Lily said sweetly. “What I meant to say is that Jake was there for me when no one else was, and for that I’ll always be grateful. For that I’d do anything for him.”

The angry green monster inside Raine twisted again, and as she gazed across the table at one of the most famous women in tabloid land, she wanted to dislike her. She wanted to thank her very much for whatever it was she’d done for Jake and to tell her to go home.

But there was something in Lily’s eyes, something that told Raine all was not what it seemed. So she held her tongue and said nothing.

“It means that I’ll do something for him even if I know it will piss him off.” She leaned forward. “Because I know he won’t do it for himself.”