After the Kiss (24 page)
Authors: Lauren Layne
Chapter 1
Nine years later……
Fallon Parker’s feet hurt.
Bad.
Her decision to wear a brand new pair of black Kate Spade ankle boots on the night of the Assassins’ New Year’s Eve party would haunt her for weeks. She wanted to look cute because she would be seeing friends and a lot of customers so she had dressed to impress. She had done that by wearing a high-waisted black pencil skirt with white lacy shirt.
Even if her feet were killing her; it was the price of fashion.
Fallon tried to walk lightly as she made her way around the bar to look over the crowd of 500 that had gathered at the Luther Arena. The party was in full swing since the crowd was celebrating the New Year and also the run for the Stanley Cup. The Assassins were having a winning hockey season from what Fallon was told, not that she cared.
Those days were over.
All Fallon cared about now was that the sponsorship was perfect between Rocky Top Wines and the Assassins. For the most part it was. Rocky Top Wines had its own level in the Luther Arena AND a restaurant. But what Fallon
really
wanted was a cellar in the arena. A place where customers could pick up a bottle of their favorite wine for the after party at home. It was her dream, and she was working hard to make it a reality.
Fallon slowly leaned against the bar, sipping on her own glass of the company’s Chenin Blanc. It was one of her favorites, going down smoothly as she took in the scenery of the arena. The team colors, purple and black, covered every inch of the arena. People moved around her, buying bottles and getting refills of their favorite wines.
God, she loved her job. Being surrounded by wine all the time!
Who could ask for more?
A smile broke across Fallon’s face when she spotted one of her dearest friends. Of course, Elli Adler was dressed to impress in her floor length black sparkly dress. Her beautiful brown hair was in an intricate updo and her makeup was done to the nines. No one would ever be able to tell that Elli had just had a baby two months ago. No matter how many times Fallon told her, Elli still didn’t believe it. But it was true. Elli was beautiful. She was also the team’s newest owner, which made her the center of attention that night. Elli wore a full smile as she wrapped her arms around Fallon, hugging her tightly.
“I know you’ve been here at least an hour! Why am I just now seeing you?” Fallon teased as Elli rolled her eyes.
“You know I gotta go around sucking up to people! You become the darn owner and everyone wants a piece of you!” Elli said as she talked with her hands, “Plus, why am I gonna come on over here to my favorite wine bar when I can’t drink?” Elli asked with an annoyed look.
Fallon stood there for a moment, confused. Was she missing something? “Huh?”
Elli slowly nodded her head, “Shea knocked me up again!”
Fallon’s mouth dropped as Elli just shook her head. “You just had Shelli two months ago!”
“I know! He’s on me like white on rice! I swear he’s gonna have me pregnant for the next three years!”
They both shared a laugh at that. If Shea Adler, the Assassins’ captain, had his way, he probably would. “Well the good thing is that your kids will be like me and my sister. We are 10 months apart and the best of friends.”
“Yay.”
Fallon laughed as Elli just looked longingly at the wines. “Oh come on, I know you’re excited.”
A small sweet smile went over Elli’s face as she said, “I am, but it’s gonna suck the next couple months with him being gone all the time.”
“I thought he was quittin’.”
“He said he will when this baby is born, but I know he won’t. He loves hockey too much and who am I to ask him to quit?”
Fallon was green with envy as she listened to Elli talk about her perfect relationship with her hunky, gorgeous husband and her perfect baby girl with another on the way. Fallon couldn’t be happier for Elli. She loved Shea and baby Shelli, but Fallon desperately wanted a family, too.
Why couldn’t she find her Shea Adler who wanted to impregnate her all the time?
“So when is this big wine party?” Elli asked, bringing Fallon back to reality.
“March first. I’ll be by the office to drop off tickets and stuff soon.”
“Great, Shea will be on a break,” Elli said with a grin. She still got that dreamy look in her eyes when she talked about her husband. It was expected though; they hadn’t even been married a year.
“I know, that’s why I planned it like this. I need all the players. I need everything to tie together. Hockey and wine will work.”
“Isn’t it beer and hockey?” Elli asked with a grin.
“Not no more, we are gonna sophisticate this damn sport.”
“Good luck with that,” Elli said with a laugh before a pair of arms came around her. They both looked up to see Elli’s husband smiling down at them.
“Hey Fallon,” Shea said before placing a kiss on Elli’s cheek.
“Hey Shea,” Fallon sang as she smiled up at him, “heard ya knocked her up again.”
“Sure did,” he said with a bold grin. “Gotta keep the baby train going. We’re knocking on 30’s door.”
“Oh Lord! Not 30!” Fallon said in mock horror, making everyone laugh.
“It’s the excuse he’s using,” Elli said with a laugh.
“I think it’s all a ruse, he just likes making babies,” Fallon giggled as Elli’s cheeks warmed with color.
Shea let out a booming laugh before saying, “You got that right!”
They shared a laugh before Fallon took a sip of her wine. She loved hanging with Elli and Shea, they were so cute and perfect together. Even if their love made her want to puke, she still loved them.
“Fallon is going to sophisticate hockey,” Elli said with a grin for Shea. He laughed as he looked back over at Fallon.
“Are you now?”
“Yes, I am. I can do it. I’m awesome.”
Elli giggled as Shea smiled, then Elli said, “You sure are babe! Oh Shea, there’s Ricky Owen. Hey, excuse us Fallon, I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Sure, great seeing y’all,” Fallon said. She watched as they walked away, hand in hand, with big smiles on their faces. They were so stinkin’ happy, it was sickening. But then she thought of what they had to do to get to where they were, and she couldn’t help but be happy for them.
What could she say? She was a sucker for love.
Fallon stood for a little while longer before starting to work the room. She grabbed a bottle of the Rocky Top’s Big Orange Cabernet Sauvignon and started towards the crowd.
Fallon always walked with confidence — she had to or no one would buy from her. She knew what she had with her products and knew that with only one taste anyone would fall in love with Rocky Top’s wine. It was
that
good.
It had been in the family for over 80 years. Fallon grew up with dirty feet and grape-stained clothes. She loved it, she lived it, and now that Fallon ran the PR department, it was finally getting to the level it needed to be. Rocky Top should to be at the top and if Fallon had anything to do with it, it would be.
After handing out business cards and vouchers for free bottles, Fallon spotted Elli standing with some older guy who had an empty glass. Since he looked like he had money, Fallon made her way towards him. She always liked to schmooze the big money guys. If Fallon got lucky, they usually hired Rocky Top to supply the wine for their company parties.
“He has a bad rep. Money, booze, females, I don’t know,” the older guy said when Fallon reached the group. It was only Elli, Shea and the older guy. Elli didn’t seem very happy.
“He’s clean, I feel good about him,” Elli said sternly. The older guy shook his head.
“I don’t know Mrs. Adler. Brooks is a fighter.”
Fallon blinked a few times, totally stunned. It had been a long time since she had heard that name.
“Yeah, but he’s second in the league for goals.”
“And first for penalty minutes. He’s a got a huge chip on his shoulder.”
“I’ll knock the damn chip off it for him if I need to, or hell maybe we’ll get Fallon to sophisticate him,” Elli said with a grin when she noticed that Fallon was just standing there staring at them. “Ricky Owen, Fallon Parker with Rocky Top Wine. She is one of our biggest sponsors.”
“Who?” Fallon asked totally ignoring Ricky’s hand, and hoping like hell that there was another Brooks in the NHL who fought a lot.
Because she only knew one …
“You probably don’t know him, Lucas Brooks? He was just traded in from the Sharks.”
Fallon wasn’t sure how the bottle of wine slipped from her hands, but the next thing she knew it was in pieces around her beautiful boots. Cabernet Sauvignon was everywhere, and Fallon’s face was beet red as she tried to catch her breath. Everyone looked down in shock before looking back up at Fallon’s stunned face.
Shea starting laughing as everyone still looked at Fallon in shock, then he said, “Or maybe she does.”
Oh, Fallon knew Lucas Brooks alright.
He was coming to Nashville?
Great, that was just
fucking
great.
Read on for an excerpt from Elisabeth Barrett’s
Long Simmering Spring
The telltale sound of the metal-on-metal rigging clanging above deck was a clear indication that Cole Grayson wasn’t inside a stifling-hot canvas tent in Kunar Province. The gentle pitch and roll under his back and the aromas of salt and sea could mean only one thing: he was on his brother’s houseboat in Star Harbor, thousands of miles from Afghanistan. His eyeballs were sticking to his lids, but for once, waking up early didn’t bother him.
He’d finally slept through the night. It had taken him only seven years, three months, and nineteen days.
Not that he was counting.
He swung his legs out from his berth and stood carefully, knowing his head would graze the ceiling of the small cabin. Houseboats simply weren’t designed for men of his size. Given that Val nearly matched him in height, he had no idea how his older brother had made do on the vessel for so long.
Still, he wasn’t complaining. The eight months Val had let him stay on board had been a huge chunk of rent-free time. He’d given Val some money for the upkeep of the boat and for docking fees, but it wasn’t nearly as much as if he’d been paying for an apartment. As always, his brother had been more than generous.
Cole grabbed his jeans from where they were neatly folded on a nearby shelf and pulled them on over his boxers, not bothering with a shirt or shoes. Still a bit wobbly, he used a hand on
the ceiling as a guide to steady himself and slowly walked to the short ladder that led up to the deck.
Pushing open the cabin’s door, he emerged topside. There was a dim glow on the horizon. When the sun rose, it would cast a glorious amber light over the inner harbor, creeping over the piers and moving up the sides of the buildings in town. The fishing boats, wet with dew and seawater, rocked gently in the breeze, creaking and straining against their moorings. Seabirds welcomed the pre-dawn morning, their shrill cries piercing the crisp spring air.
Bracing himself against the morning chill, Cole joined his brother, who was leaning against the side of the cabin and drinking a cup of coffee from a stainless-steel mug. Illuminated by a string of Christmas lights they hadn’t bothered to take down, Val gave him a nod. As he imitated the gesture, Cole bit back a smile.
There was no mistaking that they were brothers, from their clear blue eyes to their speech patterns, and most definitely to their mannerisms.
“Sleep well?”
Cole nodded. “Yeah.” Clearly, the time he’d spent with the shrink in Boston to help manage his post-traumatic stress disorder had paid off. But although both the Boston P.D. and the Star Harbor Sheriff’s Department had cleared him for active duty, he knew he’d always be living with it. And the more under control he could get it, the happier he—and everyone around him—would be.
“Didn’t hear any yelling last night.”
Cole merely grunted. Typically nothing got past that brother of his, and it was impossible to hide anything from Val on this tiny boat.
“Sounds like you’re doing better. Still, I don’t know why you quit seeing that psychologist when you moved here. I’d keep at it if I were you,” Val said, staring out to the horizon. Cole knew that all three of his brothers had noticed the change in him since he’d left the army, but only Val had the balls to say something to his face.
“I know,” Cole said, tightly. “It’s a time issue, more than anything.” Val’s point was well
taken. Cole’s nightmares had plagued him since he’d received his honorable discharge, and his sharp bursts of temper were something he still had to struggle mightily to keep under control. Coming back to Star Harbor to head up the Sheriff’s Department was a last-ditch effort to integrate back into civilian life. It had helped a lot, but things could always be better. “I’ll think about it.”
“That’s all I’m asking.” Val paused for a few moments, as if weighing what to say next. “You know I like your company, but I get that you might be itching to move on.”
“I appreciate you letting me stay here. Really.” Cole rubbed a hand over his eyes. Val had known what he was getting himself into.
Me, with all my baggage
. “I told you it would take a while to figure out where I want to live.”
“I know. But seriously, I’m glad you’re here. Free labor.”
“You joke, but the least I can do is help out on the boat. I’ve been crashing here way too long. Still, I have to admit, I’m glad to be back. Seems like we Graysons can’t go for too long without coming home to Star Harbor,” Cole said, throwing their younger brothers, twins Theodore and Sebastian, into the mix.
“You can’t keep away, can you?” Val murmured. “For me, it’s the memories. Remember that warm summer night when Dad took us out on his boat to see the swarm of glowing jellyfish? He knew just where to find them. I couldn’t believe how bright the water looked. And I’ll never forget the pirate stories he told us later that night. He was amazing, wasn’t he?”
“I miss Dad,” Cole said flatly. “And Mom, too.” Being back in Star Harbor meant that memories of his father, who’d been killed twenty years ago on his boat in a hurricane, and his mother, who’d died twelve years ago of a stroke, were always in the forefront of Cole’s mind. In some ways, living in town again was both cathartic and depressing. After a childhood of hell-raising he was glad to finally be able to give something back to the community, but things weren’t as easy as he’d hoped. The war had given his life a skewed focus, though slowly, things had been improving.
Slowly
being the key word. He’d gotten good at blocking the worst of what he’d seen from his mind. But every now and then, a sight, a sound, or even a smell would trigger
his memory and something he wished to God he could forget would be right there, happening all over again.
