Page 4 of Decidedly Off Limits

It wasn’t pretty.

They both got fired. That wouldn’t happen to Holly and me. We were too good at our jobs. The firm needed us. But it still didn’t mean I wanted to get involved in something messy like that.

Besides, I preferred keeping things casual with the women I dated. Want a commitment? Then you were chasing the wrong guy.

Want a great fuck? Then I was your man.

Another reason why I was all wrong for Kelsey.

Kelsey finally moved into the living room and I saw what made her freeze up. Liam was standing there with my brother-in-law, Darren, talking and laughing. While they seemed to be having a good time, the heavy feeling that always sat in the air just before Liam left on a mission was denser than the San Francisco fog. My heart pinched, understanding what Kelsey was going through, having lived through it myself numerous times with Liam and my brother. It was the feeling you had, no matter how positive you tried to be, that he might not return home in one piece…or might return home a different man.

Kelsey hugged her brother, and for a moment I was positive she would never let him go. Liam held her equally tight. It wasn’t because he feared he would never return. Their parents died while he was away on a mission. Kelsey had also been in the car and had come close to dying too.

His biggest fear wasn’t the assholes he was sent to fight. He was afraid of something bad happening to his sister and not being here for her.

I approached them as Kelsey pulled back, her eyes shiny. She blinked away her tears, and the sun returned to her face. “Just remember to kick some major ass, all right?”

Liam laughed. “I’ll be sure to do that.” Then he spotted me and the familiar smirk appeared on his face.

I gave him a one-armed hug. “Hey, you made it.”

“Of course I made it. I wouldn’t miss this party for anything.” He glanced in Holly’s direction. “How come you never mentioned your gorgeous girlfriend?” He draped his arm around her shoulders. “Forget Trent. He’s just a boring portfolio manager who spends his day making nice with numbers.” Liam pounded his fist against his chest a few times, King Kong style. “I’m a man of adventure who likes long walks on moonlit beaches.”

A laugh burst free from my lungs. “You need to work on your cheesy pick-up lines, bro. Then you’d have a better chance of getting laid.” I could guarantee Liam wasn’t the moonlit-beach-walking type.

“Hello? I’m standing right here,” Kelsey piped in. “I don’t need to hear about my brother’s sex life. Just like you don’t need to hear about what brand of tampon I use.” She laughed, and the tension I’d felt from my best friend putting his life at risk again eased off at the sweet sound. I hadn’t realized just how much I’d missed it until now.

“Point taken,” Liam said.

“Holly and I work together,” I explained, voice low. “She’s only here to keep Mom from asking about my dating life. So please don’t make a bigger deal of this than it really is.”

Kelsey looked slightly taken aback by that. Holly’s smile wavered for a second, then returned full force. It was the smile she always had whenever the stock market was having a bad day and I went shopping for discounts. She knew days like that gave me a hard-on.

Metaphorically speaking.

Or not.

“So, do you have a boyfriend?” Holly asked Kelsey. She glanced around the room, as if expecting some guy to magically appear. Most of the men here were my father’s age and no way would Kelsey go there.

Kelsey shifted on her feet, looking ready to run. I fought back the urge to pull her into my arms and stroke her soft skin, to comfort her.

“I was engaged but I ended it a few months ago,” she explained.

Holly’s eyes went wide. “Why? What happened?” She then blushed. “I’m sorry, that was rude. It’s none of my business.”

That might’ve been true, but I was curious too. Neither Erin nor Liam had told me what happened.

“No, it’s okay. Owen wants to become partner in his law firm. That means putting in never-ending hours. He rarely had time for me, and I got tired of feeling like I was no longer worth the effort, and of him constantly canceling on me because of his job.” Kelsey held her chin high, proud of her strength to walk away from a guy she loved but who was too much of a douchebag to appreciate what was in front of him.

“I understood why he had to do it, why the long hours,” she added. “He had worked hard to get this far. I was proud of him. I really was. But he just didn’t seem interested in finding a way to make room in his life for both his job and me.” She jerked her shoulders in a what-can-you-do shrug.

Holly chuckled. “That sounds a lot like Trent. I swear he spends more time at the office than he does at home.” Said the woman who spent almost an equal amount of time at the office as me. Maybe even more so lately.

But I at least had a reason. Several, actually. First came Angela.

She’d faked a pregnancy just to become the first Mrs. Trent Salway.

Then came Roselyn.