“Look around. See how crowded it is? It’s like this most nights. Our only truly slow night is Sunday. Plus, we all live upstairs, and this place is paid for, so it’s not like our expenses are high.”
Pursing her lips, she glanced around, taking in the people eating and drinking. It was a busy night and the place was packed, but she still didn’t look very convinced. “And you’re sure this is all there is to it?”
It definitely wasn’t. They were Enforcers—shifter law. They regularly went on missions to track down evil shifters, but it wasn’t like he could tell her that. And that was why, other than Brandon, he’d never had any human friends. He hated that he had to lie about what he was all the time.
“I’m sure. Have you always been this suspicious, or is it new?”
The flush in her cheeks deepened, but she just shrugged, her eyes defiant. “I can’t help it. It just feels like something isn’t adding up.”
Blowing out a breath, he shook his head as he looked around the bar. “We haven’t spoken in three years, Lily. Shit’s changed since then.”
“It wasn’t my idea for you to disappear. And of course, things change. I just hope the core of you, the honorable man Brandon said you were, hasn’t changed.”
Honorable. Didn’t that feel like a joke. But he couldn’t say that to her, because that would lead to questions he didn’t want to answer. Ones he couldn’t answer.
“I’m the same person. Why’d you come here, Lily?”
She hesitated, and before she could answer, Blake called out to him from across the bar. “Noah. Church. Now.”
Noah squeezed his eyes shut, barely resisting letting a groan out. He’d wanted to find out what she wanted and then send her on her way before he lost more of his s
anity, and a meeting would only delay that.
He briefly considered ignoring the Enforcer’s leader, but in the end, he knew he couldn’t. If Blake was calling a meeting, they had a mission come through, and the sooner they got those under control, the better it was for everyone.
“If all your MC does is run the bar, why do you need secret type meetings and stuff?”
His lips quirked at her persistent suspicion. But hell, she was right. They might not be doing anything illegal—the exact opposite of that in the shifter world, actually—but she wasn’t wrong about him keeping things from her.
“We have meetings about the business. Bar and grill type stuff. I better not keep him waiting. Blake doesn’t like that. Can we pick this up when I’m done?”
She pursed her lips but, after a long moment where he thought she’d refuse, she finally nodded. “Sure. I’ll be here when you’re done.”
He nodded, not saying anything else as he spun around and walked toward the archway in the back. And it wasn’t until he was away from her and his lion started pacing again that he realized his cat had calmed while he was near her.
Chapter Three
Lily wrapped her arms around herself as she watched Noah stride away. It seemed like everyone just parted for him, automatically taking one look at the gigantic man striding purposefully through their midst, and scrambled to get out of his way.
It was kind of amusing, because Noah might be huge, but he wasn’t a violent man, despite being a former Marine.
Or at least, the Noah she used to know hadn’t been. True, she hadn’t been close to him at all, but Brandon wouldn’t have been friends with him if he was back then.
Didn’t mean he hadn’t changed, though.
Lord, Lily, who are you now? she thought to herself. The person she’d been since she walked into B&B Bar and Grill wasn’t like any version of herself she’d ever known. The suspicion was a little weird on its own, for sure.
But it was the way she felt determined to get to the truth that threw her. She wasn’t normally like that. And knowing she had no right to pry into Noah’s life didn’t seem to be enough to stop her.
Add in the way she was suddenly noticing things she shouldn’t—how he made her feel delicate as he towered over her; how amazingly well he filled out the soft cotton of his t-shirt; how his bulky muscles seemed delicious to her—and it was like she was a completely different person than who she’d been just a few hours ago.
She wasn’t comfortable about any of it, but she could handle her suspicious nature better than she could the sudden attraction to Noah.
Brandon would certainly approve of her trying to make sure Noah was in a good place, and that he hadn’t gotten himself into anything illegal or dangerous. But she wasn’t so sure he’d approve of her lusting over his best friend.
Guilt washed over her, strong enough to make her close her eyes. She’d always been sure she’d spend the rest of her life alone, because nothing and no one could top what Brandon had been to her.
If she thought about it, she would have said she’d feel guilty for moving on with anyone, even though she knew he would have wanted her to be happy. But Noah… that was a whole different kettle of fish. And even if Brandon wanted her to move on with someone else, she didn’t think that included his best friend.