Free Wreck (Bareknuckle Boxing Brotherhood Book 2) by Cara Nelson

over to stand beside Olive, and Shea snapped a photo of them.
    “Now silly faces!” She prompted, and Olive rolled her eyes ostentatiously before sticking out her tongue at the camera phone. “Now give me big smiles. Say ‘cheese’!”
    “Cheesy. Lame. Embarrassing,” Olive said.
    The father and daughter beamed, and Shea took a snapshot. Shea found the picture strangely moving as she noticed the awkward, formal way Kyle had his arm around Olive’s shoulders, the way the crescent-shaped scar on his face shone pale in the photo, and the way their blue eyes were exactly the same. It made her chest feel full and fragile, like a balloon: floating upward, light, but in peril as well.
    “Would you come and meet my mom sometime? She’s your grandma. Her name is Carla Dolan. You look a lot like her.”
    “You said I look like your brother.”
    “I said you remind me of my brother. You look like my mom, though. She’s going to be wicked proud of you. And mad as hell at me for not knowing you sooner,” he said with a fond, rueful grin, “I want you to meet my family.”
    “Duh. I am your family.”
    “Right, but I’d like you to meet the rest. They’re your family, too.”
    “Okay, I’ll ask my mom and Greg later.”
    “I’ll text you. And, Olive, I’m really glad I got to see you today. Thanks.” He leaned toward her, but backed off, like he was hesitant to hug her.
    Kyle’s phone lit up again. “Yeah, you better go,” he said. “Hi, yeah, I’m sending her out now. I was telling her bye. Yes, I know we’re a couple minutes—okay, six minutes—late. Bye.”
    Olive took off, and Kyle looped his arm around Shea’s shoulders.
    “How bad did you want to hug her?” Shea asked.
    “So bad,” he said with a nervous chuckle. “It was so weird. I didn’t want her to leave.”
    “I know.”
    “Did you feel that way about her, too?” he asked in wonder.
    “No, not really, but I can tell you did.” She said, “I’m KIDDING. She’s great, Kyle. You should see your face. I guess I’m no Larry the Cable Guy, sorry.”
    Kyle laughed, and she felt herself relax as she laughed with him, the tension of the day melting off them.
    “Let me take you out.”
    “We are out. We just ate. Do not tell me you’re hungry again already.”
    “No, but we could go for a walk. Maybe down to the harbor.”
    “That’s like ten thousand miles,” Shea moaned.
    “Pop quiz. Which one of us was a semi-pro athlete?”
    “I work on my feet every shift. When I’m off, I like to sit down and relax. In my sweats. With the TV on,” she teased.
    “Fine, so not the harbor. How about…”
    “How about we count it a victory that she didn’t make fun of our matching shirts and call it a day?”
    “Are you going to go to sleep or something?”
    “I could use a nap.”
    “Could you use some company?” Kyle asked, and she felt almost overpowered by a need to tell him yes.
    “I really can’t,” she said truthfully, “I mean, I want to, but I can’t.”
    He looked at her, puzzled. She couldn’t think of a way to tell him she was scared, or that she loved him and knew he could wreck her completely with a careless word or by disappearing as soon as they slept together. She wanted to postpone the inevitable heartache, live in the moment of bittersweet anticipation a bit longer.
    “I had a good time today. Thanks,” he said, relenting with grace.
    “Me, too,” she said, and faltered, reconsidering, when his phone rang again.
    “Crap, it’s Ashley,” he said, and answered it. “Yeah, I asked her to meet my family,” He paused, meeting Shea’s eyes while he listened to his ex’s diatribe.
    He held up one finger to let Shea know it would be a minute, that he wanted her to wait. She could hear the other woman’s voice blaring from his phone. She caught phrases like “bad influence” and “dangerous”, and she shook her head, waved to him and left.
     

CHAPTER 5: BOSTON—KYLE
     
    Kyle Dolan listened to the