Scorched

by Lizzie Lynn Lee

  SCORCHED

  A BBW Paranormal Shifter Erotic Romance

  Lizzie Lynn Lee

  First Edition 2015

  ©Copyright Lizzie Lynn Lee 2015

  Cover Art by (Lizzie Lynn Lee) ©Copyright (May/2015)

  Edited by Chris Stout

  Line Edit by Mark Hooper

  This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author.

  This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogues in this book are of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.

  SCORCHED

  A BBW Paranormal Erotic Romance Novelette

  To escape from her controlling ex-boyfriend, Margaret “Molly” Foreman returns to Oak Hollow, only to be reunited with her childhood bully. Tristan Cadreinth is the son of a prominent dragon shifter family in town, and he used to love picking on her. When Molly has a problem, she hesitates to ask the police for help, because Tristan has become a detective Oak Hollow. It doesn’t matter that Tristan has grown into Mr. Tall, Dark and Delicious with a sexy body and killer smile. The day she asks for Tristan’s help will be the day pigs fly. Like never!

  Tristan Cadreinth has harbored a crush for Molly since kindergarten. As a boy, he didn’t know how to express his feelings. Now that his dream girl has returned home, he intends to make Molly his. Her lush figure and dangerous curves alone are enough to make the dragon inside him ravenous with desire. And Molly is the embodiment of the damsel-in-distress he desperately wants to protect.

  As much as she hates to admit it, Molly finds herself becoming drawn to Tristan. Despite the imminent danger that lurks around them, the attraction between them engulfs their old wounds in scorching flames. Burn, baby, burn…

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  Chapter One

  Once upon a time, there was an asshole named Tristan.

  He was the sole heir of Oak Hollow’s wealthiest family—the Cadreinth— who owned half the land and businesses in town. Molly went to school with him and, long story short, he’d made her life a living hell. At a very young age, Tristan had mastered the science of assholery, bullying her on a daily basis. Ten years had passed since Molly had left Oak Hollow for Hollywood the day after high school graduation. When she stepped into Oak Hollow’s police department, she didn’t expect to see that Tristan had become one of the detectives.

  He had been a good looking boy when they were growing up, but now Tristan was stunning. He was about 6’5” with a solid, muscular body. His dark suit molded to his sturdy frame like a pair of gloves. He wore a loose Ralph Lauren tie over his unbuttoned collar. He rolled up his sleeves, exposing muscular arms.

  There was a puzzled look on his face before recognition washed over him. His green eyes twinkled at the sight of her. “My, my, what a treat! Margaret Foreman in the flesh. I didn’t expect to see you again.” Tristan Cadreinth grinned.

  “The sentiment is mutual.” Molly craned her neck, scanning the surroundings. She had been seated in the waiting room for more than thirty minutes before she was called in by the cop who manned the front desk. “Is there any other detective besides you who can help me?” The Oak Hollow precinct looked like a graveyard. And this was a weekday.

  “Why are you so hostile? I’m not going to bite you.” Tristan pulled a chair across from her and sat down. His skin was darker than she remembered, and his copper brown hair was cut very short. His badge strapped on his belt, gleaming. “As you can see, we’re short-staffed, and I’m the only detective at the moment. Jack of all trades. I handle murder cases to bad checks.”

  Molly straightened her posture. “Yeah, I’m curious about that. Why are you here?”

  “I work here.”

  “Why do you work in this place? Isn’t your family loaded?”

  “Why? Just because my family’s wealthy, I’m not allowed to work as an officer of the law?”

  Molly watched him with great distrust. While he might have grown up to be a devastatingly hot guy with a come hither smile that could charm every woman within a ten-foot radius, she hadn’t forgotten the way Tristan had made her school days like going into the battlefield every day. She had been paranoid enough to always scout around to see if Tristan was nearby. She preferred to avoid him whenever she could.

  Tristan picked on her for everything. His hobby was to make her cry. Strangely, Tristan could act normal with anybody else. In fact, most people adored him.

  Why wouldn’t they? Tristan was very good looking, bright, athletic and easygoing. Moreover, he came from a full-blooded dragon shifter family. Oak Hollow was one of a few cities in the Midwest where the eldritch community had made a home. And for a quarter-blooded mutt like Molly, that status made her a lesser citizen in this town.

  Molly fidgeted in her seat. There was a uniformed sergeant in front at reception, a matronly-looking woman who seemed to be a dispatcher, and that was about it. Molly wouldn’t come here if she didn’t have to, but she was in trouble, and she feared for her life.

  “Tell you what, I’ll make you a cup of coffee, then you can tell me what brings you here,” said Tristan jovially. “How does that sound? To be honest, I’m surprised. I heard you live in L.A.”

  Well, she did. She’d had a dream of going to California ever since she was a child. She’d leave this backwater town and go to Hollywood to become a famous singer when she grew up.

  Only, like many others, her dream withered before it had a chance to bloom. She’d gotten involved with a dangerous man—a sociopath who swore that if he couldn’t have her, then nobody could. Following her hardships in Tinsel Town, she’d quietly returned to Oak Hollow in the hope of getting her life back. She hadn’t figured that her ex would track her to her hometown and threaten bodily harm if Molly refused to reconcile.

  In desperation, Molly had gone to the police department and found that Tristan had become a freaking detective.

  Tristan studied her then smiled. Power and sex oozed from his every pore. A man that charming had no business becoming a cop. “To think our dear Molly is a celebrity. I should get your autograph while you’re in town.”

  That’s it. I can’t stand this guy any longer. He could fool anyone else with his fake sympathy, but he couldn’t trick her. He was the Devil incarnate. Molly rose indignantly. “You know what? I’ll come back when you’re not on duty. Good day.”

  “Come on. Don’t be like that.” Tristan grabbed her arm. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I guess it’s hard to get rid of old habits. Listen, how about we move to the conference room for privacy and you can tell me your problem. I’m nothing but a humble public servant now. It’s my job to protect the good citizens of Oak Hollow.”

  Right. How could she trust him when he was the main source of her problems in the past? This guy pantsed her on regular basis when she was in kindergarten. In second grade, he deliberately shoved a caterpillar into her skirt, knowing she was terrified of insects. She ended up yanking down her skirt and running into the hallway in her underwear. The kids laughed at her because of the bunny-print panties she was wearing.

  In third grade, he put a frog in her lunchbox. He deliberately splashed water on her jeans to make it look like she’d peed her pants. He pretended to be her secret
admirer in eighth grade only to make her excited and trick her into waiting all afternoon and evening behind the gym. He tied her shoelaces together during class so she’d stumble when she got up. Not to mention the spitballs on her ponytails she’d had to endure in her elementary years.

  How could she trust him now? In her senior year, he’d asked her to be his date to the prom dance. Only she wasn’t going to fall for that. He was a popular boy in the school, and she was an outcast. Tristan Cadreinth had fooled her one time too many in her young life.

  Molly yanked her arm from Tristan’s grip. “No thanks. Coming here was a bad idea.”

  His handsome face fell. “I said I’m sorry.”

  She turned on her heels.

  “Foreman!”

  Molly flinched upon hearing him calling her name. Tristan used to call her “Foreskin,” and she’d become a laughingstock in school because of it. She looked over her shoulder and gave him the middle finger before she left.

  Once upon a time, there was an asshole named Tristan, and years later, he was still a dick.

  Chapter Two

  Tristan Cadreinth cursed his day already. If he had a “do-over” button he could push, he’d slam his fist on it a thousand times. First, he’d spilled coffee on his favorite shirt. He hastily changed and started his car; he had a flat tire. By the time he’d mounted the spare and lurched out of his driveway, he was running late. His morning appointment was cancelled. The first call he got was bad news. The FBI forensic lab in Quantico had processed the wrong sample on a closed arm robbery case that his predecessor had handled, which meant the convict’s lawyer would appeal for a new trial.

  Then, to top it off, someone from his past had walked in and promptly stormed out on him. Tristan couldn’t imagine how the day could get any worse. Out of the people he wanted to see the most, Molly was top of the list. After he’d returned from Afghanistan with an honorable discharge from the Army, he’d had this intense urge to atone for his wayward past. What he’d seen on the front lines and losing half the comrades in his unit had opened his eyes. If the God of Death decided to visit him tomorrow, Tristan wanted to go out without regrets. He owed a huge apology to the person he’d wronged the most in his jock days.

  He hadn’t expected to see her after high school graduation.

  And now he’d blown his chance before he could properly apologize to Molly.

  Tristan loosened his tie then took a gulp from his coffee mug, savoring the bitter dregs. He wiped his lips and wished dearly for that “do-over” button.

  Molly Foreman.

  Why had she returned to Oak Hollow? Moreover, why did she need police assistance?

  She’d changed a lot in the last ten years.

  Tristan had known her from kindergarten all the way through high school. Molly had been different from other kids. She was a cute little girl with dark hair and big eyes. She also wasn’t easily impressed. He was a big deal when he was growing up; his dad employed practically half the town, and everybody sucked up to him, including the kids he went to school with.

  But not Molly.

  She’d always been so independent and aloof, and it annoyed him. He guessed he was mean to her over the years because he wanted her attention.

  It didn’t work.

  Tristan was a stupid little boy and had done a lot of stupid little boy stuff. And now, the girl he’d had crush on since he was five hated him to the bones.

  Sighing heavily, he grabbed his car key and decided to stalk her one last time. Maybe his luck would change and she’d actually forgive him.

  His partner, Raffe Esposito, pushed in with a handcuffed suspect as Tristan headed out to the parking lot. The man in custody was a regular; his name was Jared and he was a half-blooded dragon with a chip on his shoulder as big as a small moon. Jared always picked a fight in a no-shift zone and freaked people out. Humans who weren’t aware that dragons existed were told that Jared was a mental patient with symptomatic acromegaly disorder, causing his appendages to spontaneously enlarge disproportionally. The whole thing was bullshit of course, but for startled tourists in Oak Hollow, the explanation was deemed logical. How else could a man suddenly grow a long scaly tail and sharp claws?

  “You again?” Tristan chided Jared with disdain. “What’s fucking wrong with you? You know illegal shifting earns you a month in a special drunk tank.”

  Jared snarled. “How am I supposed to defend myself? I have the right to defend myself, don’t I? It’s in the fucking Constitution!”

  Raffe wacked Jared’s head so hard the man momentarily lost his footing. “Then buy a gun, idiot! Don’t suddenly go Hulk on people. You’re nothing but a pain in the ass.”

  Tristan helped Jared to his feet. “Listen to what he said, pal. Raffe can make your life even more miserable.”

  “Yeah, go ahead and make my day, punk,” Esposito said, channeling his inner Clint Eastwood.

  “Fuck you!” Jared was still incensed. “Fuck both you!”

  “Need a hand?” Tristan asked his partner.

  “With him?” Raffe eyed his suspect derisively. “I’m good. Going out?”

  “Gonna locate a person.”

  “Good luck.”

  Oak Hollow PD had less than ten personnel. In a town of less than two thousand people, where ninety percent of the population was mix-blood, the crime rate was quite low. Tristan was attracted to the low workload in Oak Hollow when he’d requested a transfer to his hometown. He also had an ulterior motive in moving back to Oak Hollow. He’d done it to annoy his father, who he had a tumultuous relationship with.

  He started the car and lurched out onto the street, heading toward the edge of the town. The Foreman family had a house in a rundown neighborhood called Pine Creek Estate. Natalie Foreman—Molly’s mother—had been a single mother and worked as a seamstress. She’d fallen sick and succumbed to cancer, dying several years later, after Molly had run away to Hollywood. As far as Tristan knew, the house had been vacant ever since. He planned on checking on the house first to see if Molly was there. Then he was going to Sarah Dawn’s place. Sarah was Molly’s best friend in school. She was the only girl Molly had stuck with since grade school. He gambled that Sarah would know where Molly was staying in Oak Hollow.

  Twenty minutes later, he coasted up to the Foremans’ old house.. He’d looked for Molly after the graduation to patch things up, but to his dismay, her mom told him that Molly had left for California.

  The house was at the end of the block, and Tristan parked at the curb. The two houses next to it seemed to have been boarded up for a long time.

  He wondered how long Molly had been back in town. What had made her come back to Oak Hollow? Hadn’t her career in Hollywood panned out?

  He opened the crumbling white picket fence gate and proceeded to walk up to the front porch. The house looked as if it was ready to collapse. Rotten windowsill. Decaying gutters overflowing with years of debris. Peeling paint and an overgrown yard. Tristan cringed.

  She shouldn’t live in this kind of place, he thought. This house wasn’t habitable for dogs, let alone humans.

  Tristan rang the bell and called out to her. A car was parked in the driveway with a California license plate, so he assumed Molly was here. “Ms. Foreman, this is a welfare check courtesy of Oak Hollow PD! Are you home?”

  Nobody answered.

  He called and rang the bell again. “Ms. Foreman, I can see you’re home. Won’t you come out and talk to me so I know you’re all right?”

  Tristan could hear footsteps shuffling behind the door. The locks were opened, and the old door creaked on the rusty hinges.

  The house seemed dark inside; Molly hadn’t bothered to turn on the light.

  At first, Tristan thought she was going to get mad at him. But then he noticed she was trembling and on the verge of crying.

  Without thinking, Tristan rushed in and pulled her into his arms. “Jesus, Molly, what happened? Are you okay?”

  She didn’t answer. Small sobs
raked her curvaceous body. She didn’t try to push him away like Tristan had feared. She needed the comfort. Tristan deepened his embrace. He hated to see her like this; he couldn’t stand to see a woman crying.

  She had her black hair down her back. Even though messy, it was still soft to touch. Her pale skin had been tanned by the California sun. She used to be a skinny girl, but now her figure had filled out in all the right places. Out of nowhere, Tristan was aroused. He didn’t know why, but up close, her scent drove him insane. He wanted her more than ever.

  At that moment, Tristan realized he was still in love with her. In fact, the feeling was stronger than before, as if part of him had just realized that he’d just found his soul mate. There was no mistake that this woman was meant for him–to be his mate.

  He coaxed her to the sofa and had her sit. When he stared into those big, brown eyes of hers, Tristan almost couldn’t stop himself from kissing her. He recovered his senses at the last second. No, he didn’t want to ruin this opportunity to finally make up with her.

  “Molly, tell me what happened?”

  “I’m in trouble, Tristan.”

  “Yes, I can see that.”

  She wiped her tears with her hands.

  Tristan got up and strode to the kitchen to get a glass of water. He wondered what kind of trouble she was in. Is it debt? Mixed up with a dangerous crowd? Is she involved in drugs?

  Molly’s dad had been in and out of prison over the years for dealing drugs. Her mom had divorced him after he snapped and beat her badly, going to prison for the attack. When he got out, he occasionally fucked up the household and stirred up problems for her mom. Growing up, the Foreman family had been juicy gossip to talk about over dinner. Tristan’s mom wasn’t impervious to the temptation of a delicious rumor. He remembered how his father admonished his mom not to talk gossip during dinner, and his mom had always scowled at him afterward.

  He gave the water to Molly and sat next to her as she took only a sip. Her mascara had run over her cheeks from her tears. Tristan wiped it without thinking, but she didn’t seem to mind. For someone who hated him to the bone, she looked tame at the moment. Perhaps she was really rattled.