Free Back To Us (Shore Secrets 3) by Christi Barth Page B

struggled to choke back sobs. He’d been ready to find whoever put her in this state and kick their butts to the opposite side of the lake.
    “The Morrissey family,” he said slowly, tamping down years of frustration, “is all caught up with status and tradition. Everything is measured and decided against how it would look. How it would be judged.”
    Zane stretched out his arms along the back of the bench. “They sound stuck-up. Or like stick-in-the-muds. Or both.”
    Barely scratched the surface. “They’re uptight, egotistical pains in the ass. They dictated everything about Piper’s life.” Ward scrolled through dozens of examples in his mind. Because examples of the Morrisseys treating their daughter like a pet to be trained and disciplined—but without the affection—were almost as plentiful as trout in the lake. “She wanted to play the trombone. Her mom said it didn’t appear feminine enough and made her join choir instead. I mean, thank God she loved it, but that’s just one example of a million. Same with the family business. No options on what she’d do for a career. It was expected that she’d help run the winery. Because it would be seen as a slap in the face if she turned her back on her family and did anything else.”
    Along the edge of Zane’s jaw, a muscle clenched as he gritted his teeth together. “I haven’t met either of her parents yet. Now I’m glad of it.”
    Now Ward started pacing. Because talking about the raw deal Piper got from her parents worked him into a lather every time he thought about it. “She got on board with the career plan. Not to make her parents happy, but because her Grandpa Will taught her to love the vines. But the one thing she wanted was to go to college in California. UC Davis has the most famous viniculture and enology degree program in the country.”
    Zane mimed shooting a basketball through a hoop. “Sounds like a slam dunk.”
    “Nope. Everyone in the Morrissey family went to an Ivy League school. Her dad put his foot down. Insisted Piper do the same.”
    “Seems counterintuitive not to let his daughter get the best training possible.” A snort of laughter. “And I don’t recall any movies where Harvard or Princeton students trudged through the snowdrifts to their grape-growing classes.”
    “Yeah, no. But Cornell does have a decent program. Not as good as Davis, but good enough, especially when paired with a business degree the way her dad insisted. Piper was devastated.”
    Ward chunked at the nearest tree with the toe of his boot. Maybe he shouldn’t still be so mad, ten years later. Maybe he shouldn’t have to cross to the opposite side of the street every time he saw Patrick Morrissey to keep from giving in to the urge to kick his balls so high up his throat they’d look like tonsils. But he did. Whoever hurt Piper, blood relation or not, had a permanent spot on Ward’s blacklist.
    “She’d been dreaming of flying off to California for years. And when she showed the application to her parents, they ripped it up.”
    “Quite the sensitive parenting approach.” Along with the clenched jaw, the professor now had a matching distended vein over his temple.
    “Piper was all torn up. Ran out of her house, and kept running until she ended up over at my family’s barn. That’s where I found her. Held her while she fell to pieces. I couldn’t take it. The sound of her crying about broke me. I didn’t know what to do, how to make it all better. So I kissed her.”
    Zane stood to high-five Ward. “Typical guy logic. I probably would’ve done the same thing. Did she stop crying?”
    “Yeah.” Instantly. The tears dried up. The sniffles and cries replaced by pants and moans. Neither one of them had realized how much bone-deep attraction was at play until they acted on it. He’d never tasted anything sweeter than Piper’s kisses. Had never felt such an intense connection just from making out. Or maybe that was the perk of being best