“Hiya, Kitty-Kat.” Vanessa always sounded two parts happy and one part sad on her voice mails. Like she couldn’t be completely happy because of the distance—both physical and emotional—Kat kept between them. Every voice mail twisted the knife in Kat’s heart that had been there since the day Nessie left for college almost fifteen years earlier. “So, I’m sitting here making seating charts for the wedding. I really miss you, Kat, and even though I’m so happy with Jackson, the only thing that could make my wedding day perfect is having you there with me. If you call me, I’ll fly you out and fly you back to wherever it is you want to go, I promise. Just…” Sigh. “Listen, I’m going out of town tomorrow for a couple weeks. I’ll be unavailable by phone, but I’ll call you as soon as I get back, k? I love you, Kitty-Kat. ’Bye.”
Hot tears singed Kat’s cheeks as they streamed down her face. Nessie had been Kat’s whole world growing up. A day didn’t go by that it didn’t kill her to not be in her life. And now that her sister had found the love of a good man—something neither of them had ever believed existed—she felt even more remorse that she couldn’t be there for Nessie to share in her happiness.
Kat returned to the futon and stretched out on her side, hugging the Snuggie to her front and tucking it between her legs. It was too damn hot to wear a thick blanket with sleeves, but she couldn’t sleep unless she was at least holding onto something. When she was a little girl, it had been her stuffed animals or Nessie. Once she left home, she adapted to using the comforter or blanket or even another pillow to clutch in front of her. It didn’t matter, just so long as she didn’t feel so alone.
She wiped away the tears and reminded herself that at least her sister had made it. If good things were truly possible for people like them, then she was glad they’d happened to Nessie. She was the pure one of the two, and she deserved every good thing the world had to offer.
Kat, however, was too tainted by their past. It had touched her in ways it hadn’t Vanessa, and the results had stained her soul irreparably. Though Kat had made peace with that knowledge a long time ago, there were times when she couldn’t help but wish it could be different. That maybe she could find happiness with a man who would never hurt her.
Someone like Irish.
As her eyes drifted closed, Kat remembered the way he’d gently tilted her face up to his so he could look her in the eyes. And it was with that image that she finally, blessedly succumbed to sleep.
Chapter Four
Aiden watched as Kat picked up a tray of drinks from the bar and wound her way through the customers, noting her unusually flustered behavior.
Usually she worked her tables with an aloof grace and confidence. But at the moment, she reminded him of that kitten again. Her eyes constantly shifted, and she’d been startled more than once tonight. Her actions were classic paranoia.
The question was, was it due to what happened with Mullineaux? Or the cryptic placemat threat he suspected in fact did belong to her?
As though proving his point, she jumped when someone put a hand on her shoulder and she spilled an entire tray of tap beers. Aiden quickly made his way through the crowd, using his broad shoulders to push people to the side when they didn’t move fast enough for him. When he got there, Kat was in the middle of trying to calm a guy wearing a Skid Row T-shirt with apologies as she bent to pick up the broken pieces of glass. From the look of the guy’s pants, he’d caught the majority of the backsplash, and he was wicked pissed about it.
Aiden stepped in front of Kat and got in Skid Row’s face. “Hey, back off, buddy. It was an accident. She said she was sorry.”
“Sorry isn’t going to fix my pants, asshole. The dumb bitch should have been looking where she was going.”
Aiden flexed his jaw and clenched his fists at his sides. One, two, three… It was a total cliché, but counting was one of his tricks that kept him from going Hulk, smash! on every idiot who pissed him off. That, and staying stone sober. But instead of calming him, the numbers felt more like a countdown to how much longer before he gave in to his inner monster. He needed to handle this differently before that happened.
Signaling Xander to deal with the dick who was now insisting he and his friends drink free for the rest of the night, Aiden bent down to where Kat was trying to gather the broken glass onto her tray.
“You okay?” he asked by her ear.
Her body jerked and he could almost see the year of life he’d scared out of her leave her body. “Shit!” she said, dropping a large shard to the floor.
He turned her hand over to see a big cut weeping bright red on the heel of her palm. “Come with me.”
“Wait, I have to—”
“No, you don’t,” he said, yanking off his white T-shirt and wrapping it around her hand. The way it was bleeding, she’d leave a trail all the way to the office. Aiden hauled her up with an arm around her waist and ushered her toward the back, despite her protests. Before they got to the hallway leading to the business end of the place, he told one of the bar-backs to go clean the mess before anyone else got hurt. Then he took Kat into Lou’s empty office and closed the door.
“Will you please stop?” she said. “I’m fine.”
“I’ll be the judge of that. Have a seat.”
He grinned when he heard her huff in frustration while he retrieved the first-aid kit. She decided to sit on the desk instead of Lou’s chair, and he didn’t blame her. Lou was a large man, a profuse sweater, and not overly fond of showering on a daily basis. Opening the plastic case, Aiden took out all the supplies he needed and arranged them on the desk.