Prologue
He stared at me from where he stood two feet away. I could almost see the intensity he’d watched me with since the first time we’d met break free and become something palpable.
Become something alive and real.
How, when we were little more than strangers? I fought for the walls that I’d kept like a fortress for my entire life.
“Why, Ezra? Why? You don’t know me or owe me or care for me—”
“Bullshit.” He moved so fast that I didn’t even realize what had happened before he had my back pressed to the counter and his hand in my hair.
“Bullshit.” He whispered it that time, so quiet, but it still boomed between us.
“I might not know all the details about you, but there’s something about you that I recognize here.” He gathered up my hand and pressed my palm flat to the ravaging at his chest. “Something I feel. Something I know. And the problem is, I care too fucking much.”
My chin quivered as I gazed up at his rugged, masculine face, the atmosphere shifting, greed infiltrating the space.
He grasped me by the back of the neck.
My lips parted and the air trembled around us.
His attention dipped to my mouth before it flicked back up. The honey of his eyes had turned molten.
“Tell me not to kiss you.” His words were a gnarl of desperation. Issued in a bid of restraint neither of us seemed able to possess.
My fingers curled into his shirt.
I wavered.
A second.
An eternity.
I knew better than giving in. Knew better than trusting anyone when trusting had only caused me a lifetime of pain.
Still, I whispered, “I don’t want to.”
Knowing I was the fool who would only bring danger to his door…
Chapter One
Ezra
It was the pitch of night as I slowly eased my SUV up the path carved out by tires that cut through the field. High grasses rose on each side, scratching against the metal as I passed over the bumpy terrain. I peered out my windshield through the spray of headlights as I eased deeper into the field, searching for anything that might be amiss.
Mr. Landers had called into the station two nights ago saying he kept seeing lights coming on up this way on his property at all times of the night, but considering the old buzzard was continually paranoid someone was trying to steal from him, sending my deputies on constant goose chases that led to absolutely nothing, I hadn’t given it much thought.
He’d called in again an hour ago, though, and since I was patrolling out this direction, I figured I’d swing by to give it a look. The least I could do was offer the man some peace of mind, though I doubted he’d ever find much of that.
My Tahoe bounced over the uneven ground as I followed the path that led to a small copse of soaring trees that surrounded a small pond on the Landers’ property. The only reason I knew it was there was because we used to sneak out here as teens and use it as party grounds, which I was pretty sure was where the poor guy had gotten his phobia from.
I came up around a bend, and my headlights caught on something up ahead—a flare of light against metal and chrome.
Well shit, there was something out here after all.
A car that sat with the front facing out where it was backed into the cover of the bushes and trees.
My nerves ticked a fraction, and I reached for my radio and pressed the button to speak to my dispatcher. “Hey, Pamela, it looks like we might have an actual trespasser out here on Landers’ land near the pond. Newer model Ford sedan. Red. I’m going to check it out.”
“You mean he wasn’t calling in another false alarm?” Her voice was a tease.
“There is a first for everything,” I told her with a chuckle, though I didn’t let my attention wander from the vehicle in front of me for a second.
Vigilant.
You could never be too sure about what you were coming up against in this line of work, even though in all likelihood, I was about to get myself an eyeful of two people sneaking off so they could go at it, thinking they were hidden away and wouldn’t be discovered.
It would be the most action I’d had in years.
I would have laughed if it wasn’t so goddamned painful.
Before Pamela could respond, Samson’s voice broke through the shared line. “Do you need backup, boss? Things are quiet on Manchester. Bored as all hell over here, man.”
Samson was my only other deputy on tonight, and he was patrolling downtown Time River. I didn’t usually work nights, but I was covering for another deputy who’d had a family event she’d wanted to attend.
“What, you think you’re on the job for your entertainment?” I let the razzing wind into the question.
“Nah, man, I just don’t want your old ass to come up on more than you can handle.” He tossed the razzing right back.
Samson was cool as shit. My whole staff was. I felt lucky to have a team as driven, hardworking, and compassionate as the one I did. Ensuring our streets and homes were safe from the depravities people could be so inclined to commit. To the immoralities and sins that ran rampant.
Just because Time River was a small town didn’t mean we were immune to those threats.
None of us were.
My chest tightened as thoughts of how those depravities had made their way into my life. Visions of the tragedy warped my mind in a snarl of affliction.
God, the lengths I would go to finally find the monsters who’d spilled innocent blood.
I scrubbed a palm over my face to break up the thoughts. Right then was not the time to be contemplating retribution, not when I needed to focus on the job that was right in front of me.
“Think this old man has it handled.” I forced easiness into my voice.
“Let me know, and I’ll be there.” A true kind of care dripped into his tone.
“I know you’ve always got my back, but I’m sure it’s nothing.”
“All right then. Just be safe out there, brother.”
“Always.”
I scanned out the windshield at the car, searching for any movement.
When I found no indication of anyone around, I unlatched my door and slipped out with the engine still running and the headlights cutting through the darkness. I kept my hand on the handle of my gun as I slowly crept forward, and I pulled out my flashlight with the other as I tromped over exposed roots and pitted ground.
I lifted the flashlight and pointed it toward the car, squinting as I crept below the endless web of stars that spun through the heavens, the moon missing tonight and making them all the brighter.
Unable to make out anything through the windshield, I eased along the side.
My blood pounded an extra beat as I felt a small shift in the air. A sense of awareness that the car hadn’t been abandoned.
Shining my light against the glass, I peered through the driver’s side window. It took me a second to realize the seat was laid all the way back and someone was buried underneath a thick white blanket, completely gone to the world as they slept.
I tapped the glass with the end of my flashlight.
That was all it took to send a commotion of flailing arms and long blonde hair bolting upright, right about the same time as a scream pierced the night. The woman inside scrambled backward even though there was nowhere to go.
Shit.
I’d scared the hell out of her.
I realized she wouldn’t be able to make me out at all, and she had no idea who was outside her window in the middle of nowhere, even though I wasn’t sure that her finding a 6’5” man who was just about as wide as he was tall lurking on the other side any more comforting.
The fact I had a big SHERIFF stamped across my vest was a toss-up, too.
I took a step back from the door and shined the light on myself, my other hand held up in surrender.
Nah, not protocol, but I couldn’t handle the way she kept screaming inside, like she was pretty sure she was about to get chopped to pieces and tossed into the pond.
My movement was enough to clamp off her screams and for the wild clamor on the inside to cease. But her breaths were still so heavy and ragged I thought I could actually hear them through the glass and metal, her fear so profound I could feel it ricocheting across my flesh.
I gave her a whole minute to adjust before I reached out and softly knocked my knuckles against the window. An eternity passed before she finally pushed the button on the locks and popped open the door, so slowly that I had to wonder if she hadn’t been contemplating starting her engine and trying to make a getaway.
It lit the cab, but the light was so dim that I couldn’t make much of her out.
“Are you okay in there?” I asked, keeping my voice as soft as I could.
She inhaled a jagged breath. “Am I okay? You scared the crap out of me. I bet you love it, don’t you? Sneaking up on unsuspecting women? I thought I was going to have to stab you.”
A disbelieving chuckle escaped, unable to believe the little trespasser had just tossed that out there.
“Stab me, huh?” I inclined my head.
She seemed to war before she said, “Um, yeah, I have a knife. I’m supposed to like…disclose that, right? That I have a weapon?”
She lifted her chin like she was warning me she’d use it if I were to make the wrong move.
She seemed to be calming down enough that I took a step forward, and I leaned down and shined the flashlight into the cab.
Nearly got knocked onto my ass with the sight of the big blue eyes that stared back. So fucking startling she might as well have gone ahead and stabbed me with that knife right in the chest.
My breath gone.
Punctured.
Wiped away by a flood of aqua that slammed me from out of nowhere.
My stomach was suddenly in a fist as I took in her face.
Defined cheeks and sharp nose, brows and lashes thick, lips so goddamn full I had the urge to reach out and trace them to find out if they were as soft as they looked.
The attraction was as dense and lush as her lips.
Fuck.
What was wrong with me?
That was the type of compulsion that was dangerous.
I sucked it down and focused on doing my job, and I did my best to keep the roughness out of my voice. “Mind if I take a look at that knife?”
Aqua eyes narrowed in speculation. A lithe panther ready to pounce. “I might mind. I haven’t decided if I’m going to have to use it or not.”
She was a fiery thing.
My brow arched, and I bit back the chuckle that wanted to break free, liking the way she dared to talk to me a little too much. “I’m also the Sheriff around here, and I think it’d be in your best interest if you cooperated.”
“Fine,” she huffed like I was the one who’d broken the law, and she dug around in her console and produced the tiniest switchblade I’d ever seen.
A swell of protectiveness rushed me. Did she think she was going to protect herself with that pitiful blade? She wouldn’t have even broken skin.
Tuning out the unwanted reaction, I tucked the knife into my pocket and studied her where she itched in the seat. “Do you want to tell me what you’re doing out here?” I asked.
Uncertainty brimmed in her eyes, and she looked around, hunting for the best lie. “Um…camping.”
It fully came out like she was the one asking me.
“Camping?” I challenged.
“That’s right. There’s a really beautiful pond right over there.” She pointed toward the blackened pool that rippled with the bare breeze before she turned back and sent me the fakest smile I’d ever seen.
A gorgeous fucking smile, but still fake.
A vise grip of worry clamped down on my heart, and that feeling surged back, bigger than before, sure this woman was in some kind of trouble. Still, I pressed, “A pond that belongs to a Mr. Landers. Did you not see the Keep Out signs? You’re trespassing.”
“Oh my gosh, really? I totally didn’t see them.” She feigned innocence.
I lifted my brow, and she sighed. “Fine. I saw them, but I didn’t mean to cause any problems. I was only…” She paused, agitation running through her as she turned her attention out the passenger-side window. Her tongue swiped across her lips before she said, “…Looking for a private place to sleep where nobody would find me.”
“But I found you.” I didn’t know why it came out like it meant something.
Her brow knitted in frustration. “Uh, yeah, because you’re like some kind of bloodhound. I’m in the middle of nowhere and there’s not really even a road.”
“Not sure that you’re as sneaky as you might think you are.”
I couldn’t tell if it was annoyance or dread that cut into her expression, and she dragged her hand through the matted locks of her blonde hair. “I guess I’m not, am I?”
I was pretty sure she was speaking to herself. Then she sent another one of those smiles my way. “I’ll just be going on my way, then, if you’d kindly move your SUV so I can get by.”
She waved a hand in the direction of my headlights.
All kinds of daring and confident.
“You’re getting a little ahead of yourself, don’t you think?”
She bit down on her bottom lip. “Am I in trouble?”
I didn’t know what it was that made me stall. Normally, I’d give a warning and send the trespasser on their way. No harm, no foul. But there was something about her that told me I needed to look closer.
Unable to shake that feeling that maybe she was in trouble, but not in the way she was implying.
“How about we take a little ride down to the station and then we can decide.”
Then I widened her door because I wasn’t offering it as a suggestion.
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