Read Online Suspended by Taryn Elliott - Free Book Online

comforting as he rubbed up and down her arm.
“And I’m not helping at all.”
    “It’s okay. I’m not one of those broken girls who misses her
daddy. My mom was enough. She loved my father, and he walked away from us. He
got in his car and drove away one day without saying good-bye. At least to me.
He broke her heart into a million pieces. I don’t mourn for that man.” She
looked up at Kain. “I’m sorry, I don’t. But I do know that Shane does. And I
can see that you do too.”
    His brows were snapped together in confusion. “It’s just not
the Larry I know.”
    “Maybe he changed. Maybe Shane became the perfect family
he’d always wanted.”
    Kain shook his head. “I don’t know. I do know that Shane
lost his mom when he was sixteen. It’s only been him and Larry for a long
time.”
    “You love him a lot.” That she could understand. Her best
friend was just as important. Bells was like a sister to her. Blood definitely
wasn’t the qualifier for love.
    “I loved both of them. My father wasn’t an easy man. His
empire in Hawaii was all that mattered. The N’ai name and the power behind it
were his sole focus. Larry was a great guy who cooked burgers on the grill and
took Shane camping. He welcomed me into the family like a…well, like a son.”
    “Sometimes family isn’t about blood,” Kendall said quietly.
    “No, it’s not. And that’s why it’s hard to see Shane like
this. He’s always the serious one but never like this.”
    She’d had a feeling Shane wasn’t exactly the angry type.
There were far too many laugh lines that didn’t match the somber-faced Shane
she’d met today. It didn’t make sense for her to want to go upstairs and check
in on him. If he wasn’t talking to his best friend, why would he talk to her—a
complete stranger?
    She sighed. “I suppose you’re the charming one?”
    He grinned. “I’ve been known to be charming.” He dropped his
hand to her lower back, turning her toward the island.
    She climbed onto the stool in front of her. Everything in
the kitchen was outfitted for a giant. “I bet.”
    “Not interested?”
    She laughed. “If I were a smart woman, I would be.”
    He arched a brow. “You’re not?”
    Yeah, he was a pussycat. A Bengal tiger-sized pussycat but
harmless. She leaned on her propped hand and couldn’t fight a giggle.
    “Good thing I have a healthy—”
    “Ego?”
    His face melted into a devastating smile. “I was going to go
with sense of self-preservation. No matter how attractive you are.”
    Her heart thudded. “Thanks. I think.”
    “If Shane wasn’t in the picture, my interest would be
crystal clear.” He leaned in. “Crystal.”
    “Shane and I…” What? They’d had sex. Spectacular sex, but in
the end, it was just a reaction to a crazy situation. When death was involved,
some people got drunk, and some people got laid.
    Shane was currently on the get-drunk portion of the night.
And her formerly dormant hormones were still sizzling. That was all. “My
interest is purely physical.”
    “Oh.” He blinked and crossed his arms over his chest. “Can’t
say I was expecting that answer.”
    “I might be from a small town, Kain, but not the small-town
sensibility. We’re both adults, and things happen.”
    His eyes went from friendly to cool. “That wouldn’t include charming
my best friend out of his inheritance, would it?”
    Her eyebrows shot up, and her spine went rigid. “Of course
not.” Shit. She wasn’t some femme fatale.
    “The terms of the will don’t do you any favors.”
    “No, they don’t. The will has been nothing but a nightmare,
but I can’t change things.” Not when it was her own mother who had put them in
this position. If her mother had just changed the deed into her name when her
father gave them the house, they wouldn’t be in this mess. Her father was and
would always be an opportunist. Her mother had her head in the sand, but
Kendall had been just as guilty. She hadn’t protected