by Sara Daniel
Also by Sara Daniel
Construction Beauty Queen
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2013 by Sara Daniel. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.
Entangled Publishing, LLC
2614 South Timberline Road
Suite 109
Fort Collins, CO 80525
Visit our website at www.entangledpublishing.com.
Bliss is an imprint of Entangled Publishing, LLC. For more information on our titles, visit www.entangledpublishing.com.
Edited by Wendy Chen & Stacy Abrams
Cover design by Jessica Cantor
Ebook ISBN 978-1-62266-193-0
Manufactured in the United States of America
First Edition July 2013
The author acknowledges the copyrighted or trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction: Styrofoam, Blazer, Jell-O, Google, The Travel Channel, Rambo, Laz-E-Boy, iPod, Spandex, WD40, Facebook, Skype, Laundromat.
To Aunt Mary Jane and for all my P.C. friends who grew up and settled down in the same small-town community.
Chapter One
Becca Sanders had spent two years studiously ignoring Connor O’Malley’s return to Kortville, Illinois. No small feat considering he was the police chief of their town of two thousand and she had to ring him through the grocery lane twice a week. Too furious to disregard him any longer, she tightened her no-nonsense ponytail and marched across the street and six houses down the block, rapping on his front door hard enough to make her knuckles sting.
He didn’t answer immediately, but the squad car parked in the driveway assured her of his presence.
Finally the door opened. He stood before her, shirtless, with wet hair, as if he were in the middle of shooting a testosterone commercial. “Is this an emergency?”
“Not a police emergency.” Dang, just looking at him could give a woman a hormonal emergency.
“Then it can wait until I’m dressed.” He tried to close the door on her.
Having deflected her obstinate brother Toby’s similar attempts many times over the years, Becca slapped her palm on the door and wedged her foot by the door jamb. “What I have to say can’t wait, not as long as you’re interfering with my family and my brother’s future.”
“Excuse me?” Connor looked so confused she briefly wondered if Toby had told her the wrong name.
No, she knew Connor had been mentoring Toby since the high school’s at-risk program began four months ago. She could name every single other townsperson who’d chosen to volunteer and correctly match them with each kid who was enrolled. The grocery store checkout line had no regard for privacy. People who wanted a confidential life lived somewhere else, not in Kortville. “You’ve been mentoring my brother.”
“Yes.” His expression relaxed, dissolving the tick in his jaw as he almost cracked a smile. “Toby’s been really receptive. Seeing these kids make better choices is encouraging.”
Becca had been doing everything she could to help her brother. She checked in with the school every morning to make sure he’d arrived, instead of skipping like he’d tried last year. She fixed meals for the two of them to eat together each night and stressed the importance of good grades to get into a good college.
Only to have the highest authority figure in the town—an adult male he looked up to—undermine her.
“So, did you tell my brother staying in town after graduation was a better choice than going away to college?”
Connor scratched his head, as if trying to remember. The gesture tousled his uncombed hair even more and sent a shower of water onto the thin red scar across his shoulder, then cascaded into the small circular indentation on his bicep. Interestingly, the town gossip had never mentioned whether he’d acquired the scars in the military or on the Chicago police force.
“Well, yeah, I guess,” he finally answered. “Toby said something about wanting to stay in town and work, and I thought it sounded like a good idea.”
“A good idea not to get a higher education? Are you insane?” She would not let some lousy ex-boyfriend of hers mess up Toby’s life.
“He never mentioned college to me. I didn’t get the impression he was considering it.”
“Of course he’s considering it. What’s the alternative?” Her throat swelled around a sudden lump. She knew the alternative. She was living it. Toby deserved to have better options for his future.
“He likes his job working for Matt.” A single water droplet slid from the center of Connor’s chest down his rock hard abs as he spoke.
Mesmerized, she leaned forward. No! Focus, Becca. As a fitness enthusiast, she ought to be able to objectively appreciate a well-toned physique, instead of lusting over one like a schoolgirl.
“That’s an after-school job,” she explained, keeping her gaze on his clean-shaven face. “He needs to consider choices that are stepping stones to launching a successful career. He’s met the conditional admission to a state school. He needs to pull up his grades to continue to meet their requirements.”
At one time—more than a decade ago—she thought she’d known Connor better than anyone. She hadn’t, of course, not well enough to get through to him when it mattered, but she should still be able to connect well enough for him to see her point of view.
“So I’m supposed to advise him to go to a college he’d likely flunk out of because he doesn’t want to be there in the first place?” Connor’s eyebrows rose incredulously. “I’m not going to tell him something I don’t agree with.”
She blew out a frustrated breath. “After all these years, you still won’t listen to reason.”
“Reason?” he echoed. “You know, Becca, if your advice worked so well, I expect Toby wouldn’t have been placed in the at-risk program to begin with.”
She didn’t want there to be an ounce of truth to his words. She’d busted her butt and cried countless tears trying to figure out how to do everything right for Toby. But even though she’d put her future on hold to take care of him, she’d still failed. She turned away fast enough her ponytail slapped across her cheek before Connor could see more tears gathering in her eyes.
“Just because his future goals are different from yours doesn’t make them wrong,” he called after her. “Not everyone counts success by how far away from town they can get.”
Cured of any hormonal interest in the insufferable man, she marched down the front walk without looking back. Risking the revival of humiliating gossip by storming down the street in plain view of every single nosy neighbor had been a mistake.
What was so wrong about wanting to be more than a grocery store cashier? She dreamed of seeing the world—or at least the world beyond her view of Main Street’s single stop sign, seen through a store window that was taped over with ads for ground chuck and soda pop.
Nothing ever changed here. Twelve years after their high school breakup, Connor still jumped on the first opportunity to believe the worst about her.
…
Connor backed his squad car into the parking space at the corner of Pauline’s crowded, well-lit diner, radioing dispatch with his dinner break location. Matt and Veronica Shaw, Wilbur and Agatha Hollister, and Mrs. Parker already sat at the long table in the middle of the room, ready to welcome him.
He needed their relaxing conversation to take the edge off the restlessness and frustration from Becca pounding
on his front door this afternoon. Considering he’d been wearing only a towel, she’d put him at a distinct disadvantage. His half-naked appearance hadn’t even given him the satisfaction of flustering her.
He opened the cruiser door just as Becca herself sauntered around the other side of the building, her shiny brown ponytail swaying as she entered the diner and headed straight for the middle table. Darn. With their unspoken rule of pretending the other didn’t exist, he’d normally pick up carryout at the counter and eat it in his car.
Not this time. Not after she’d stormed over to his house, breaking the two-year façade he’d maintained because she’d preferred it to hashing out the past. A group setting would be the perfect place to begin a rational discussion, where he could admit she’d caught him off-balance earlier and he didn’t really blame her for Toby’s at-risk tendencies.
He marched across the parking lot and pushed open the door as Becca seated herself at the table with their mutual friends.
“Toby apparently had better plans for his Friday night than having dinner with his sister,” she announced to the group with a sigh.
“Don’t feel bad,” Matt, the owner of the town construction company, replied. “Jenny had better things to do than hang out with Veronica and me, too, and she’s only nine.”
Everyone laughed, but Becca’s smile died on her lips as she locked eyes with him.
Connor strode toward the table, despite her less-than-welcoming expression. He wouldn’t let her make him feel awkward and out-of-place in his own town, a community she didn’t even want to be a part of.
“O’Malley, I trust everything is safe out there,” Wilbur called. The elderly mayor wore a headache-inducing orange and green striped shirt that would have been outlawed in any other town.
“Shaping up to be a quiet night,” Connor assured him, pulling out the final empty seat, which happened to be across from Becca.
She immediately turned to Veronica, seated on her right. “So, where is Jenny?”
“She’s spending the night at a friend’s house,” Veronica said of Matt’s niece, whom they were raising together.
“Hot date night for the Shaws,” Connor teased Veronica. He grinned as Becca’s fist clenched. Yep, his days of fading unobtrusively away to appease her were over.
“You bet. No place we’d rather be.” Veronica winked at Matt on her other side. She’d arrived in town a year ago, giving up her ritzy city life for construction work, winning over the town while taking down Matt and his preconceived notions about rich girls.
Becca scowled at Connor. The expression scrunched up her small, straight nose and furrowed her high forehead, normally smooth and flawless with her brown hair pulled back from her face in an ever-present ponytail. Connor never realized how endearing frustration could be.
“Okay, everyone, before we get into today’s special, I assume you saw the poster outside the front door.” Pauline stopped in front of their table, order pad tucked away in her apron.
“Poster?” Matt asked.
“How could you miss the giant hot cocoa mug?” Veronica teased.
“I was mesmerized by you, dear.” He bestowed a smacking kiss on her lips.
Connor glanced away from them at the same time Becca did, and their gazes collided. Although they’d never achieved such easy familiar affection, as a teen, he’d treasured every moment he’d held her in his arms and touched his mouth to hers.
Her lips had been soft and supple. Now they shone with a light gloss, parted slightly. Her tongue darted out to touch them, and he wrenched his eyes away. If she even guessed he envisioned kissing her now, she would slap him so hard his face would sting for days.
“I’m discontinuing the espresso taste tests because I’m looking into using them in a new business venture. So, I’m teaming up with the grocery store to create a unique hot cocoa drink in their place,” Pauline enthused. “Only instead of me making up the flavor, anyone can vie for the honor through a four-week competition. The winner will have his or her cocoa flavor become a permanent item on the diner’s menu. What do you think of my new marketing plan?”
“Uh—” Matt began, only to be cut off as Veronica nudged her elbow in his ribs.
“Absolutely. Sign us up,” she said.
Connor had to bite his cheek to keep from laughing at the look of horror on Matt’s face. Thankfully, he didn’t have to worry about a woman sweet-talking or strong-arming him into anything he didn’t want to do.
“Excellent. I knew I could count on my financial adviser,” Pauline said. “Wilbur and Agatha, what do you say?”
“Of course. We wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Wilbur said without missing a beat.
“Sounds like the most fun this town has had since the grand opening of the community center,” Agatha added, as Pauline beamed at them.
“I don’t think you can beat the community center opening,” Becca murmured. “Matt gave Veronica the best marriage proposal of all time.”
The door to the diner opened with another loud jingle before anyone could reply, and the collective attention shifted to the man and woman in the doorway.
“Larry.” Wilbur’s shocked gasp reflected Connor’s internal one. The former police chief and his wife had retired two years ago to Florida, prompting Connor to leave the city force in order to take over his job. Now they’d returned, apparently without a word to anyone.
“Harriet!” both Agatha and Mrs. Parker chorused, jumping to their feet in surprisingly spry movements, considering their advanced age and normal tottering walks.
“Mayor.” Larry walked toward them, shaking Wilbur’s hand, long and steady.
Connor stood slowly and shook hands in respect for the chief who’d preceded him. Chaos reigned for a couple of minutes as introductions were made to Veronica, another table was pushed over to accommodate the newcomers, and people settled into their seats.
“Retirement bored me stiff,” Larry announced to the group. “We missed Kortville like you wouldn’t believe. Man, all I could think, Wilbur, was you told me if I ever changed my mind and returned home, the job would be mine again.”
“So, you’re staying.” Pauline beamed at the new set of easy victims, explaining her cocoa contest all over again.
Connor sank into his seat, then lifted his eyes and found Becca watching him. He turned away from her sympathetic expression. His job wasn’t in jeopardy. Since he’d taken over, he’d made his name synonymous with law and order. He took care of this community now. He kept the residents safe and ensured the town stayed a sanctuary from the evils of the outside world. And he would keep doing it.
He wasn’t going anywhere. Ever.
…
Becca averted her gaze, wishing she hadn’t made eye contact, wishing she hadn’t come to the diner at all this evening after Toby had blown off her attempt at a family meal. Despite her anger over Connor’s advice to her brother, she understood having big dreams for her life and then suddenly finding them ripped from under her. She didn’t wish that on anyone.
The bell over the diner entrance jingled once again, and Jake Barney, owner of the convenience store, stumbled in, breathing heavily. “Officer.” He heaved himself over to their table and leaned on the end of it to catch his breath. The surface tipped toward him.
Connor grasped the table to steady it while Becca touched the stuttering pulse on the big man’s wrist. “Jake, what’s wrong?”
“Fetch,” he gasped, breathing too hard to choke out more words.
“Your dog? Is he sick? Hurt?”
“Got loose. Ran off. Tried to catch him. But. Can’t. Run.” The table quivered under Jake’s pressure.
“Sit here.” Becca stood and nudged him toward her chair, genuinely concerned for the man’s health but also relieved for the distraction.
“Which direction did he go? I’ll track him down.” Connor rose to his feet, bringing him shoulder-to-shoulder with her.
She resisted the instinct to step back and let him nudge her
out of the conversation. If being this close didn’t bother him, she sure wouldn’t let on that her heart thundered like she’d gone through a double DVD of strength and cardio with a kettle ball.
“Toward the corn field on the edge of town. But you know how he likes to run down the middle of the road and play chicken with the cars.” Even gasping, Jake sounded stricken. “I’ll come with you.”
“You rest,” Connor said firmly. “I’ll look for him, and everyone in here will spread the word, so people driving on the road will have their eye out, too. We’ll find him.”
Jake shook his head in refusal, clearly wanting to join the search.
“Tell you what,” Becca said. “Connor will go ahead and start looking. You and I will sit here and order a carryout of the meatloaf special. Then we’ll follow in my car. If Connor hasn’t corralled him by then, the food will coax him to return.”
Jake nodded.
Connor’s arm brushed her shoulder as he shifted his stance. “Thanks, Becca.”
She met his gaze, and something familiar called to her, something she hadn’t seen since high school. She focused on taking Jake’s pulse again. She’d concocted the plan for him, not Connor.
Ten minutes later, Jake had his breath back and their food order, and they set out for her car. As he sank into the passenger seat, a loud ripping sound filled the air. “Oh no.” He reached his hand back, and his pudgy face flushed with embarrassment. “I just ripped my pants wide open.”
“At least it’s dark out,” Becca said, trying to play it off cheerfully so as not to humiliate him further. He’d been working hard to change what he considered a loser image, and with her reinforcement over the past few months had convinced everyone to call him by his first name instead of the last name of “Barney,” as he’d been known for years. “No one will notice.”
He shook his head. “I’m too damn fat. I got so tired of needing to buy another size up I stopped buying clothes. What am I thinking? My pants aren’t to blame for how big I’ve gotten.”
She opened her mouth to deny his weight problem, but by anyone’s standards she’d be lying. She considered Jake a friend, and she didn’t sugarcoat the truth for her friends. “So, are you going to order the bigger size you need, or are you going to exercise and improve your diet so you can fit into the sizes you’ve outgrown?” she asked as she began driving.