Beautiful Redemption (The Maddox Brothers #2)(19)
Author: Jamie McGuire

Thomas’s expression made me feel guilty. I tilted my head. “Do you want to go?”

“If Val will be there, it would be less awkward if Marks were going,” he said, standing.

“Agreed.” I thought about it for a moment. “Invite him.”

Thomas’s eyes sparked, and he lifted his cell phone, tapping out a quick message. Within seconds, it beeped back. He looked up at me. “Where?”

“A place downtown called Kansas City Barbeque.”

Thomas laughed once. “Is she giving you the official tourist tour?”

I smiled. “It’s the same bar from Top Gun. She said she didn’t do those things when she moved here, and she’s never gotten to it. Now, she has an excuse.”

Thomas tapped on his phone, a grin spreading quickly across his face. “KC Barbeque it is.”

I sat on the end stool, glancing around the room. The walls were covered in Top Gun memorabilia—posters, pictures, and signed headshots of the cast. To me, it didn’t look anything like the bar in the movie, except for the jukebox and the antique piano.

Val and Marks were deep in conversation about the pros and cons for the solicitation notice of the 9mm pistols versus our standard issue Smith & Wesson. Thomas was on the other side of the L-shaped bar, standing in the middle of a small herd of California girls any Beach Boy would be proud of. The women were all giggling as they drank and took turns at the dartboard, clapping and cheering every time Thomas hit a bull’s-eye.

Thomas didn’t seem to be overly flattered by the attention, but he was having a good time, glancing over at me every now and again with a relaxed smile.

He had taken off his jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his oxford, revealing several inches of his thick tanned forearms. His tie was loose, and his top button had been left undone. I willed away the jealousy threatening to bubble to the surface every time I looked over at his new fangirls, but I could still feel those arms around me, pulling me into different positions and watching as they flexed while he—

“Liis!” Val said, snapping her fingers. “You didn’t hear a flippin’ word I said, did you?”

“No,” I said before finishing my drink. “I’m going to head out.”

“What? No!” Val said, pouting. Her protruding bottom lip pulled back in as she smiled. “You don’t have a ride. You can’t leave.”

“I called a taxi.”

Val’s eyes reflected her feelings of betrayal. “How dare you.”

“See you Monday,” I said, situating my purse strap.

“Monday? What about tomorrow? You’re going to waste a perfectly good Saturday night?”

“I have to unpack, and I would actually like to spend time in the condo I’m paying for.”

Val was back to pouting. “Fine.”

“Good night, Lindy,” Marks said before turning his attention back to Val.

I pushed the door open, smiling politely to the patrons sitting outside on the patio. The multicolored string lights hanging overhead made me feel like I was on vacation. I still wasn’t used to the fact that the balmy temperature and camisoles were now my normal. Instead of trudging through the frozen tundra of Chicago in a down coat, I could step outside in a summer dress and sandals if I wanted, even in the wee hours of the morning.

“Leaving?” Thomas said, seeming rushed.

“Yes. I’d like to get completely unpacked this weekend.”

“Let me drive you.”

“You look”—I leaned over to peek at his groupies through the window—“busy.”

“I’m not.” He shook his head as if I should have known better.

When he looked at me that way, I felt like the only person in the city.

My heart fluttered in my chest, and I begged any hatred I still had for him to make itself known.

“You’re not driving me home. You’ve been drinking.”

He sat his half-empty bottle of Corona on a table. “I’m good. I swear.”

I glanced at my wrist.

“That’s nice,” Thomas said.

“Thanks. It was a birthday present from my parents. Jackson never understood why I’d wear something so tiny that didn’t have any numbers on it.”

Thomas covered my watch with his hand, his fingers wrapping around my small wrist one and a half times. “Please let me drive you.”

“I’ve already called a cab.”

“They’ll get over it.”

“I—”

“Liis”—Thomas slid his hand from my wrist to my hand, leading me toward the parking lot—“I’m going that way anyway.”

The warmth in his smile made him seem more like the stranger I had taken home and less like the ogre at the office. He didn’t let go of my hand until we were at his black Land Rover Defender. It looked almost as old as I was, but Thomas had clearly made some upgrades and modifications, and he kept it meticulously clean.

“What?” he said, noticing the look on my face after he sat in the driver’s seat.

“This is just such an odd vehicle to own in the city.”

“I agree, but I can’t give her up. We’ve been through too much. I bought her on eBay when I first moved here.”

I had left behind my four-year-old silver Toyota Camry in Chicago. I hadn’t had the money saved up to ship it, and that long of a road trip hadn’t sounded appealing in the least, so it was sitting in my parents’ drive with the words For Sale and my cell phone number written in white shoe polish on the front windshield. I hadn’t thought of eBay. I was so determined not to think about Jackson or home that I hadn’t thought about anyone or anything inside of Chicago’s city limits. I hadn’t called my old friends or even my parents.

Thomas left me to my thoughts, lost in his own, as he navigated his SUV through traffic to our building. My hand had felt lonely ever since he let it go to open my door. Once he parked and jogged around to my side to be a gentleman again, I tried not to hope that he would take my hand, but I failed. However, Thomas didn’t fail to disappoint me.

I walked with my arms crossed against my chest, pretending like I wouldn’t have taken his hand anyway. Once inside, Thomas pressed the button, and we waited in silence for the elevator. Once the doors opened, he motioned for me to step inside, but he didn’t follow.

“You’re not coming?”

“I’m not tired.”

“Are you going all the way back?”