Free Never Stopped Loving You by Keri Ford Page A

move and after today and all.”
    “I won’t take no for an answer. We want you there, don’t we?” Whitney pinned them with a stare.
    Wade cleared his throat, only doing this for Whitney. He swore that was the only reason. If Whitney wanted her, then damn it, he’d figure out some way to deal with it. “Sleeping is for the dead. We won’t stay too late. Long enough to grab a beer. Have a few laughs.”
    “Shit,” Tate groaned. “Yeah. Sure. It’ll be a party.”
    “But I...”
    Whitney grabbed her hand and tugged her toward her truck. “No buts. Get your skinny ass—”
    “Your mouth, Whitney,” Tate cut in.
    Whitney rolled her eyes. “A drink will be good for us all.”
    Tate put his hands in his pockets. “Or just a Coke.”
    Whitney’s lips parted as she stared at Tate. “Right, that’s a good idea for you, but I’m taking whiskey. Straight up.”
    Tate’s gaze swung to Wade’s. “You said you’d watch her after Mom left!”
    Wade shrugged. After all this time, that—he didn’t know—spark was in Whitney’s eyes. He hadn’t seen her smile like that since before her dad died. Whether it was because of Kara, the good day or just random coincidence, he couldn’t help but play along with her. “I do. I watch her. Then I drive her home if I need to. Honestly, Tate, she’s only passed out once at the bar.”
    That made Kara laugh and Wade was knocked back on his heels from it. She laughed with his sister. He’d seen that since her return. He’d so far not been this close when it happened. The sound echoed through him. Vibrated his already-pulsing blood to racing levels.
    What would it be like to have her tucked along his side? His arm over her shoulders? Not to simply put it there—he’d done that before—but for her to want him that close too. Like they were before he’d crossed that line. He shook his head and headed for his own truck. Like hell was he going to be trapped in a small, enclosed place with her sweet scent filling him.
    Tempting as it was to stay home and in the barn he was renovating, Wade walked to his truck and climbed in. And Tate hopped in the passenger side. “Guess I better go.”
    “No one is making you.”
    Tate rolled his eyes. “Let me tell you what’s going to happen. We’ll get to the bar. That jackass John Martin is going to be there and you’ll likely end up in a fight. You’ll either get your nose broken—”
    “Thanks for the confidence.”
    Tate buckled up and kept on. “Or you’ll kick his ass. Either way it leads back to people talking about us all because Kara returned to town.”
    Wade pulled out of the drive and followed after Whitney. “Did you put a fortune teller table in at your store?”
    Not that Wade disagreed. With John showing up. He had no plans to get in a fight tonight so it was either spend the evening in disaster at the bar where he fully expected John Martin to show his face or at home wondering if the two of them were making out in a not-so-dark corner.
    He meant what he’d said. He wouldn’t have her running around like she had before. Because of the business. And he was only going so that if John caused a problem, he could stop it before it became a big problem.
    The parking lot was packed and as he figured, John’s red pickup was parked off the front corner. Wade parked his truck well away along back of the building. Leave it to John Martin to do something like ding his doors for the hell of it.
    Tate pointed. “Told you.”
    “Anyone ever told you you’re a genius?”
    “Anyone told you lately you’ve got a stick up your ass?”
    He sighed and shook his head. It was Kara doing this to him. Driving him nuts.
    Why, why did Kara have to fall for John? Of all the men in the world. Every option out there, she turned and blinked her pretty eyes and long lashes at fucking John Martin. Wade hadn’t realized what a dick the guy was until after she’d stepped between them. And it wasn’t just because John had the woman