Rule Breaker By Accident Read online

  I let out a low whistle, my head shaking as I processed the news. “That was really him, huh? I heard about the robberies and then heard on the news that he had gotten arrested, but I was hoping I’d heard wrong. I thought maybe they’d arrested him because he has a record and was in the vicinity when it happened, but I was really hoping they were wrong.”

  Rolling his shoulders back, he pursed his lips and gave his head a jerk to indicate the negative. “Nope, they were right. Rayce got into it big time, couldn’t walk away. Rumor has it he made off with millions before he was caught.”

  “I thought all the money was returned to the last bank that was robbed?” I searched my memories, trying to remember what the timeline had been. “Yeah, that’s right. All the robberies happened and then after the arrests were made, the money was returned.”

  Drew nodded. “Lord knows who did it or how, but Rayce was definitely involved in the robbery.”

  I felt a little pang in my heart. I’d really hoped he was innocent somehow. Will and Rayce were both good guys. They were a pair I’d have tried to help if they’d ever come to me, and they knew it, but they’d never asked, and I’d distanced myself enough that I hadn’t thought about going back and offering.

  “That’s too bad.” My lips formed a thin line as I pressed them together. “I honestly thought Rayce was going to get out eventually.”

  Drew shrugged. “Those are the breaks. He’s not the only one who’s in for some serious time.”

  He spent the next ten minutes filling me on all the other guys who used to be part of our motley crew of troublemakers. With each name mentioned, I was nearly overwhelmed by sadness.

  I didn’t feel guilty or anything for getting out when they hadn’t, or for not going back for anyone. I’d fought tooth and nail to get to where I was and I’d done it all on my own, but that didn’t make it any less sad that so many of my former friends were now imprisoned.

  Fuck. I raised my beer to my lips and drank until there was no more liquid left in the bottle before lowering it again. The drink was warm and less fizzy now, making it easier to drain what had been left in the bottle.

  “What about you? What was it you said you were doing now?” Drew asked after taking several sips of his own toxic-smelling drink. His speech was getting more slurred with each sip, but I had a feeling his increasing intoxication wouldn’t change how awkward things were going to become between us when I answered his questions.

  I cleared my throat, trying to think of a way to make it sound better, but there was really only one way to do it unless I lied to him. “I’m a heart surgeon.”

  Drew’s brown eyes flew wide open in surprise, his pupils blown even in the dim light from the fires around us. “What?”

  I nodded. “Yep.”

  “You’re serious?” His eyebrows climbed up his forehead, his chin lowering. “Like, you’re not shitting me right now?”

  “I’m not shitting you. I went to school for it and everything. Last couple of years, I’ve been working in a hospital in the city.”

  “Wow.” Drew didn’t say anything else. He just stood there and stared at me with a weird twist on his lips.

  Realizing that the conversation had gotten as awkward as I’d thought it might, I lifted my empty beer bottle. “I need to get another drink. Excuse me. I’ll see you around, Drew.”

  He nodded absently, turning to go back to his seat without saying another word. I released a heavy sigh, looking around to see if there was another bar table set up nearer to this side of the beach.

  I spotted one closer to the path leading onto this side of the beach and made my way over to it. After grabbing another beer, I was about to go back to find Edgar when my eyes caught on another familiar face. Unlike when I’d seen Drew earlier, there was no dread in seeing this particular face.

  It was the girl from the hospital who had been sitting there with Will a couple of weeks ago. I hadn’t seen her since, but I hadn’t been able to forget her either.

  She was walking onto the beach with a redheaded girl, their arms linked as they laughed and went to get a drink.

  Well, this night is taking a turn for the better. I smiled, taking a sip of my beer and watching them pluck a bottle each out of the ice. This girl had been on my mind since I’d seen her that first time, and now here she was attending the same party that I was. I wasn’t a big believer in those kinds of things, but it felt a little like fate to me.

  Pulling back my shoulders, I decided to go introduce myself. By nature, I wasn’t a shy guy, especially not when it came to girls. I’d figured out early on that I wasn’t the worst looking, and that I had a pretty decent sense of humor and at least half a brain.

  The knowledge had always made it relatively easy for me to meet women, which was why it was weird that nerves suddenly slammed my heart rate into a higher gear and made my stomach feel queasy.

  I tightened my grip on my beer and tried to push through, but in the end, I couldn’t do it. I didn’t know what the fuck was going on with me, but there was no way I was introducing myself to her in the state I was in.

  Stopping midstride, I decided to go back to plan A. I had to find Edgar, and then I had to tell him I was going home.

  Chapter 6

  Olive

  It was only after blinking twice, then looking down at the full beer in my hand to confirm that it was, in fact, still full, I realized my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me and I wasn’t tipsy. I wasn’t imagining the hot doctor only a couple of yards away. Unless I was very much mistaken, I also wasn’t wrong about the fact that it sure as hell looked like he was about to come up to us.

  Butterflies started up in my stomach, fluttering their wings happily as they stretched them out for a first time in a long time. I wet my lips with the tip of my tongue, willing myself not to do or say anything too idiotic when I finally met him officially.

  Watching his approach, I convinced myself that I was ready. I had reminded myself of my name—twice, just in case—and was in the process of lifting my lips into what I had been told was my prettiest smile when he suddenly stopped walking.

  Just like that, he stopped and turned, marching away without so much as a backward glance. My attempt at a smile froze halfway through and the butterflies threw themselves at the side of my stomach lining … Kamikaze style.

  For a fraction of a second, my heart sank to my knees and my tendency to doubt myself and put myself down reared its annoying head. It wasn’t the first time this had happened to me, but the last time it did, I had been flanked by Valerie and Heidi.

  It hadn’t taken a single word exchanged between the two of them to realize what was happening and for their pep talk to start. Within a minute, they’d boosted my confidence and had been shoving me in the direction of the guy I wanted to talk to but hadn’t had the balls to approach.

  The night hadn’t ended quite the way I’d wanted it to, but I had introduced myself to the guy and we’d even gone on a few dates after. If his voice hadn’t sounded like someone stepping on a squeaky toy and he hadn’t been a total dick, things might have gone somewhere with us.

  I only knew that because I’d found the courage to go up to him. Otherwise I would always have been stuck with what-ifs. I would always have wondered what might have happened if I’d worked up the nerve to talk to him and my self-esteem would probably still have been suffering as a result.

  The situation I was in with the hot doctor was very similar to the one I’d been in that night. Except of course for the fact that the guy from that night hadn’t been approaching me and seemed to have changed his mind. Also, Heidi and Valerie weren’t with me now.

  Jenna was, but I didn’t think she’d seen him approach. She was talking animatedly to a girl who had come up to the table shortly after we had. It sounded like they were catching up, which suited me just fine because I had an introduction to make.

  After so many years of having Heidi and Valerie by my side, I didn’t need them there physically in order to
know what they would have been saying and doing if they had been there. I could practically hear their voices in my head, encouraging me to go after what I wanted.

  Taking a deep breath, I mustered my prettiest smile again and went after him when he tried to walk away. Whether he heard or felt me behind him, he stopped again, and just as I was about to reach for his arm, he turned to face me.

  Surprise crossed his features before his lips lifted into the sexiest, yet cutest little smile. “Hey.”

  “Hi. Uh. I’m Olive.” I thrust my hand out between us, praying he wasn’t going to leave me hanging. “I recognized you from the hospital. I just wanted to say hi, so. Uh. Hi.”

  Okay, so not the smoothest introduction. Hot Doctor didn’t mention my less-than-suave greeting, instead he took my hand in his and gave it a firm, but gentle squeeze.

  My skin tingled where he touched it, sending sparks of awareness through my entire body. I’d heard of having instant, physical chemistry with someone, but I’d never experienced it for myself before.

  His eyes darted down to our joined hands for a single glance so quick that if I hadn’t been borderline staring at him, I would have missed it. When he lifted them again, they were strangely warm on mine.

  “Rylen. It’s nice to meet you. I recognized you, too, but it looked like you were busy with your friend.”

  I looked at Jenna over my shoulder, seeing her still absorbed in conversation with the girl at the bar. “Nah, we’re good. She’s busy catching up with someone I don’t know. Actually, I don’t know anyone else here.”

  Rylen laughed. It was a deep, easy sound that was music to my ears and brought a smile to my own lips. “I know a grand total of two other people here, so I’m not very far ahead of you.”

  For some reason, that sentence made my smile so much wider. “Is one of those people your girlfriend?”

  He cocked a brow, amusement suddenly glittering in his eyes. “Is that your way of asking if I have one?”

  “No.” I felt heat rising to my cheeks. Damn it. Maybe I hadn’t been quite as ready for doing this without Heidi and Valerie by my side as I’d thought I was. “Sorry. I’m not usually in the habit of blurting out random, personal questions.”

  His eyes softened and surprisingly, he didn’t become cocky or arrogant. There was no smirk or stupid comment, just a genuine smile and words spoken in an even tone. “I’m not usually in the habit of answering them, but since you’ve already broken your habit, I will too. I don’t have a girlfriend, so you don’t have to worry about anyone tackling you into the sand.”

  I wiped imaginary sweat off my brow. “Whew. Thank heavens for that. I’d have hated to be tackled out of nowhere for simply introducing myself to someone.”

  “Is that all you’re doing?” He pouted, but there was a glint in his eyes and a small crinkle around them that made me think he was faking it. “Damn, I was hoping you were planning on hitting on me.”

  The sound of my laughter surprised me. I hadn’t been expecting that he would be funny or frankly, so direct. “Sorry to disappoint, but no. I remembered seeing you at the hospital and I wanted to say hi.”

  “You remembered seeing one person in a hospital full of people?” He gave me a pointed look, lips climbing up at the corners.

  I tilted my head, unable to keep a small smile from forming. “It was a big day for me. I remember pretty much every minute of it. Anyway, didn’t you say that you recognized me from there too?”

  Rylen chuckled, snapping his fingers. “Crap. I forgot I’d already admitted that. I did, though. I totally recognized you too.”

  I waited for the line about how he could never forget a face like mine or whatever other crap guys usually spewed, but it didn’t come. “Why was it such a big day for you that you remember everything?”

  “My friend had a baby.” I felt a warm feeling in my heart when I mentioned Adam and thought back to the day that he joined us out in the world. “We’re really close, so it was almost as big of a day for me as it was for her. I’m one of his godmothers, even.”

  “One of his godmothers?” A line between his eyebrows. “Doesn’t a child usually only have one godmother? Or are you, like, in a relationship with the other godmother? I was going to ask if you had a boyfriend, but perhaps I should ask you the same thing you asked me.”

  “Would it be a problem for you if I were in a relationship with the other godmother?” I couldn’t resist the question, but when I saw Rylen shaking his head and looking like he was about to apologize for something, I remembered he hadn’t given me any shit earlier. “But no, we’re not in relationship. Not in a romantic relationship, anyway. The mother and the other godmother are my best friends.”

  “I see. For the record, I wouldn’t have had a problem with it if you were in a romantic relationship with her. I’d just have had to find her to apologize for some of the thoughts I’ve had about her girlfriend.”

  The tips of my ears and my neck heated. “Excuse me?”

  Rylen shrugged, a sheepish grin playing on his lips. “What? I thought you were beautiful when I saw you, is all. I wouldn’t want people looking at my girl like that, so I’d have apologized.”

  “You wouldn’t want people to think your girl is beautiful?” I asked, my tone light and teasing to detract from the shock I was really feeling inside.

  The man was an Adonis, more gorgeous bathed in the pale moonlight and the glow from the fires than I remembered him being at the hospital. His light-brown hair shone with golden hues, hazel eyes smart and bright.

  Back when I’d seen him the first time, I’d thought he was built pretty well but the coat had been hiding what his T-shirt and jeans weren’t, which was a leanly muscled man with bulges in all the right places and cut lines on his strong forearms.

  He towered over me, but he didn’t intimidate me. Instead I found standing in his shadow to be strangely comforting, like my body recognized his as one that could protect me and keep me safe.

  I was confident enough to know that I was a pretty girl. Girl-next-door kind of cute, even. He hadn’t called me pretty or cute, though. Rylen had called me beautiful, and he’d sounded sincere when he said it. In the past, I’d only heard that word and my name used in the same sentence when someone was leering, using tried-and-tested pickup lines.

  For whatever reason, whether it was purely that a man who looked like him thought I was beautiful, or because of the tone he’d said it in, this felt different.

  “Thank you.” I smiled, suddenly unsure what to do with my eyes. Maintaining eye contact seemed hard but looking away seemed impossible. I settled for focusing on a spot between his eyes, but where I could still see them from the corner of mine. “You don’t have to apologize to anyone, though. Just in case that was your way of asking whether I had either a girlfriend or a boyfriend.”

  Rylen inclined his head. “Good to know. No girlfriend or boyfriend. How about a baby?”

  “Are you offering or asking?” Damn it. What is wrong with my freaking mouth?

  His jaw loosened and he blinked a few times, then he started laughing. Hard. “I was asking if you had one. Why? Are you looking for someone to offer to give you one?”

  Cheeks turning bright red, I was suddenly grateful for the cover of relative darkness. Unfortunately, a condescending laugh came out of my mouth at the same time that my cheeks were doing their best impression of the nearby flames.

  A baby? How could I have a baby? Sex was kind of a prerequisite for one of those, and I hadn’t even had that yet. Rylen, of course, didn’t know that. He also didn’t need to know. “Nope, I don’t have one and I’m not accepting any applications for a baby daddy at this time.”

  “Excellent. I’m not applying to be a baby daddy at this time, so that works out well.” His eyes drifted back to the table where I’d left Jenna. “Okay, so you mentioned you had two best friends and that one just had a baby. I’m assuming, though I know that’s a dangerous thing to do, that the new mommy isn’t here. Is that the
other best friend? The co-godmother?”

  I shook my head. “No, she’s a new friend actually. The other two have sadly both abandoned me for their men. They dragged me all the way out here and then promptly fell in love and ditched me.”

  Sighing dramatically, I winked to let him know I was only teasing. Rylen frowned, but I could see humor in his eyes. “I can’t tell if you’re being serious or if you’re yanking my chain. Did your two best friends really drag you here and leave you behind?”

  “They didn’t really leave me behind, but they did leave the house we were all sharing. They fell in love and the rest, as they say, is history.”

  “Dragged you here from where?” He was sipping his beer while we talked, casually learning my backstory before I’d learned anything about him other than his name.

  “New York.” I decided to turn the table a bit. “How about you, where are you from?”

  “Right here.” He stretched both of his arms open wide to indicate the beach before his brow wrinkled and his arms dropped. “Well maybe not right here. I wasn’t born on this beach, but I am from Tampa.”

  “Okay, Rylen from Tampa, I told you about my friends leaving me for men. Tell me something about your friends.”

  He twisted at his waist, turning enough to motion to a group near the water who were laughing so hard I could hear them all the way from here. Next to the bonfire they were sitting around, a dark-haired guy was holding court and making animated gestures with his hands.

  “See that guy.” He pointed at the man standing next to the bonfire. “That’s Edgar. He’s the friend I came here with tonight. I hadn’t actually been to a beach party in forever, but he convinced me to come out.”

  “Looks like a popular guy,” I commented, noticing how everybody around the fire was leaning in and hanging on to Edgar’s every word. “They seem intrigued by whatever he’s saying.”