by Jaci Burton
“It means you’re blinded by your own goals and needs and what you think is right. You know I love you, Emma. You’re brilliant and well educated, and after that mess you went through, I’ve never known a stronger, more dedicated young woman. But you’re not always right. In this case, I think what you’re doing is wrong.”
Leave it to her mother to be bluntly honest.
“Luke is a fine young man, and he’d be a welcome addition to our family. Sometimes it’s okay to give in, just a little, and let someone take care of you. It doesn’t mean you aren’t capable of taking care of yourself.”
Emma didn’t know what to think anymore.
“Emma, you know me. I’ve always been goal-oriented and have gone after whatever I wanted. I have two degrees—one in marketing and one in business, and I’ve been a successful businesswoman my entire life.”
“I know, Mom. I’ve always admired you.”
“And I certainly have never ‘needed’ your father. But I couldn’t manage a day without him, because I love him. So in that way, yes, I desperately need him in my life. If you look at the love you feel for Luke in that way, maybe you can learn to give a little.”
“Okay, when you put it that way, it starts to make sense.”
Her mother’s lips curved in a smile. “You mean you might actually agree with me?”
Emma laughed. She leaned over and threw her arms around her mother. “Yes, it means I agree with you. Thanks, Mom.”
“Anytime.”
After having dinner with her parents, and, more important, talking with them, Emma had a lot to think about.
She’d been awful to Luke, pushing him away when he’d been there for her.
Fear had made her do stupid things. She and Luke had settled in to what had become a perfect relationship. Until Vaughn had shown up and ruined everything.
No. That wasn’t right. She couldn’t even blame Vaughn for what had happened. She was the one who had ruined everything. She and her own stupid fears. Now she had to figure out how to fix it.
She opened her front door, and the dogs ran inside. Daisy started fiercely barking, followed by Annie. The hairs on the back of Emma’s neck stood on end. It wasn’t like the dogs to bark like that inside the house, which could mean only one thing.
Someone was in her house.
So here was her independence. Should she take out her gun and go check it out herself?
Hell, no. She was independent. Not stupid. She needed to get out of the house now.
“Oh, all right, enough with the crazy barking,” she said, trying to make it sound like that was normal for her dogs. “Come on, girls. Let’s go for a walk before bed.”
Fortunately, they both came running and she shut the front door. She tried to act natural and headed down the block. As soon as she was out of sight of the house, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and called Luke, hoping he wasn’t so angry with her that he wouldn’t pick up.
“Emma, what’s up?”
“I think someone’s inside my house.”
“Where are you?”
“I stepped outside with the dogs. We’re at the corner.”
“I’ll be right there. And I’ll have a cruiser head that way.”
“Thanks.”
“I’ll call you right back.”
He hung up and she waited, staring at the street, then at her phone. When it rang, she hit the button.
“I’m still here on the corner.”
“No movement?”
“No.”
“Don’t move from your location. Do you have your gun on you?”
“In my purse.”
She heard wind sounds, knew he was driving.
“I’m staying on the phone with you. If he comes out, take the damn gun out and point it at him and tell him you’ve already called the police.”
“You know it’s Vaughn,” she said, surprised by how calm she was.
“Yeah. I know it’s Vaughn.”
She looked down the street, toward the house. No one was coming toward her. “I knew he wouldn’t stay away.”
“I’m only a few minutes from there, Emma. Stay calm, breathe, and focus on your surroundings.”
She made sure to turn around and look down the other street, just in case he had sneaked out the back door and climbed the fence to head the other way.
When she saw Luke’s truck coming up her street, she exhaled and hurried down the block toward her house.
He climbed out of the truck, Boomer with him. At the same time, the police car pulled up.
“You and the dogs get in my truck. Lock the doors. We’ll check inside.”
She nodded and put the dogs inside the truck and locked the doors while Luke and the other officer went inside.
It didn’t take more than five minutes for them to come out with Vaughn, handcuffed. The officer put him in the police car, along with a black bag. Luke spoke to the officer for a few minutes, then came over to Emma, who unlocked the truck and slid out.
“He had a bag with him, Emma, with a gun and duct tape. I think his intent was clear.”
“Oh, God.” She started trembling and Luke pulled her into his arms, holding her tight. He stroked her hair.
“He’s done for. I’m sure his bail will be revoked, and he won’t get it again. He’s not getting out this time. You’re going to be safe.”
She clutched Luke’s shirt, not sure she’d ever feel safe again.
“Thank you,” she mumbled against his chest. “Thank you for coming.”
“I’ll always be here for you, Emma.”
She closed her eyes and held on to that.
“You need to come in with me and make a statement so we can do a report. Are you up for that?”
She nodded. “That’s fine. Let me put the dogs up.”
He took her hand and they walked inside. Nothing looked disturbed, but she still shuddered.
“I hate that he was in my house, touching my things, walking on my floors.” She looked at Luke. “Where did you find him?”
“In your bedroom closet.”
She shuddered again. “I should have just gone in and shot him. Then I’d be rid of him forever.”
“You are rid of him forever, Emma. Do you know how many laws he broke tonight? Not only violation of the terms of his bail plus the restraining order, but breaking and entering, attempted kidnapping. He’s going away for a long time, and he’s not getting bail this time.”
She still didn’t feel safe. But she went down to the police station and made her statement, as did Luke. She had a cup of coffee—decaf this time. Her nerves were already on edge, and she didn’t think she’d need any caffeine. Her parents came down and sat with her while she finished up. Luke said he’d be a while, so her parents drove her home and stayed with her until Luke showed up. When he did, they both hugged and kissed her and left because Luke promised them he wasn’t leaving her alone that night.
She took a shower and they sat on the sofa, her back to his chest. She stared at the wall in front of her, thoughts of the past coming forward to assault her.
“For so long, he controlled everything about me. How I dressed, what I ate, how I was supposed to behave. In the beginning, I confused that with love. I was young and he was older, more worldly. I thought him paying that much attention to me was love. After a while, I was just too weak to fight it. Then, at the end, I plotted ways that I would escape from him. I’d lie awake at night and think of how I could get away from him. I guess I had never really escaped. I was never really free of him.”
Luke stroked her hair. “You were free the moment you walked out of his house and never looked back. Vaughn’s problem was that he couldn’t let you go. That was his problem, Emma, not yours. He’s the one that’s sick and twisted. There’s nothing wrong with you.”
What Luke said made sense. “I guess you’re right. Sometimes it’s just so hard to let go of the mistakes you’ve made, especially when they keep coming back to haunt you over and over
again.”
“I think we’re all haunted by our pasts to some extent, until we let them go.”
She turned to face him. “Are you still holding on to your past?”
He picked up her legs and wrapped them around him. “I was. I was so dejected and humiliated when Becca walked out on me and divorced me, and I was determined to show the entire town that I didn’t give a shit. I convinced myself that I’d never fall in love again, that no woman would ever matter to me again. It was so easy to go through one woman after another, disregarding their feelings. In fact, it felt kind of good. Like payback, you know?”
“I’m sure it did.”
“Until I met you. You were the wrong kind of woman for me, a woman who I knew was the relationship type. I knew you weren’t a one-night-stand kind of girl, yet I was drawn to you anyway. It was like I couldn’t help myself.”
Her lips curved. “I know the feeling.”
“So I threw myself heart first into this fling with you, and this fling turned into a relationship, and this relationship turned into love.”
Emma’s heart squeezed. “It did?”
“Yeah, it did. So here I sit with you, Emma Burnett, on your sofa, in love with you, when I didn’t set out for this to happen. But it did. And I know you didn’t want it, either, especially now when you just had the worst night of your life. But love isn’t always convenient, and I felt it needed to be said.
“I’m laying my heart out for you, and you get to decide what happens next.”
Emma’s chest tightened. This was exactly what she hadn’t wanted to happen. And now it had. She had not expected that declaration of love from Luke. Not after the night she’d just had.
So what was she going to do now?
She looked up at him, at the honest expression of love on his face. He’d never hidden anything from her, had never been anything other than who he was. And he had never held any expectations of her, hadn’t tried to control her or tell her how she was supposed to feel. He’d laid his heart out to her, and put the ball in her court.
Night-and-day different from her past. There was no comparison.
It was time to leave the past where it belonged, and embrace her future.
She cupped the side of his face and dragged her palm over the rough stubble of beard that always intrigued her and turned her on. Her skin tingled as it always did when she touched him.
“The one thing I’ve learned throughout all this is that there’s a bad kind of love and a good kind of love. When someone loves you in a bad way, they take away everything that’s good in your life, strip you of your family and friends, and want you only to themselves. Because they’re afraid to share you, afraid to share the love they have for you with anyone else. That’s a love they don’t trust, a love that couldn’t possibly last because it’s tainted with darkness.
“The good kind of love—the kind of love I feel for you, and the kind of love you feel for me, is an open and trusting kind. I sent you away because I was afraid, and yet you were still there for me when I needed you. You shared me with your family, and allowed me to share my family with you. Our kind of love is an all-encompassing kind, filled with kindness and compassion, with friendship, laughter, warmth, passion, and forgiveness. It’s an endless kind of love, a kind of love I’ve never had before.”
Luke swept the tear away that had slid down her cheek.
“I love you, Luke. I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you.”
He pulled her onto his lap and threaded his fingers through her hair, then just looked at her.
“I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you, Emma.” Then he kissed her, oh so thoroughly kissed her, until everything that had happened earlier in the night was utterly forgotten, and all she could think about was the way it felt to be in this man’s arms, to know that he loved her and cherished her, and would protect her in the way a woman would want to be protected, and she in turn would protect him, too.
Clothes were shed in a hurry, and when he was inside her, the two of them locked together, staring at each other as he moved within her, Emma could only marvel that this hot, sexy, oh-so-honorable man was in love with her. And when he touched her and brought her right to the brink, then over, she clutched his shoulders and took him with her, both of them crying out as they climaxed together.
She laid her head on his shoulder, and he stroked her back.
“Do you think you and Boomer would like to move in here?”
He lifted his head, studied her, then smiled. “Yeah. Boomer and I would like that.”
Contented, she kissed him. “Good. Daisy, Annie, and I would like that, too.”
They were going to be a family. Or at least the beginning of one.
One step at a time. One day at a time. And this was a great start, with a man she loved, dogs she loved, in a home she loved.
In the town she’d always called home.
KEEP READING FOR A PREVIEW OF
JACI BURTON’S NEXT HOPE NOVEL
Hope Ignites
COMING SOON FROM HEADLINE ETERNAL
LOGAN McCORMACK HAD to have been drunk or out of his goddamned mind to have agreed to let a movie crew film on his ranch.
Why he thought it had been a good idea was beyond him. But Martha, the ranch cook and house manager, was star-struck, and when she’d heard who the lead actress was—some name Logan had already forgotten, alongside some freakin’ heartthrob-of-the-month as her costar, Martha had gone all melty and told him it would be good for business.
Plus, the production company had offered a buttload of cash, and he wasn’t the type to turn down extra money. Since they’d be filming on the east side of the property, which was mostly hills and grassland and nowhere near their cattle operation, they’d be out of the way. At the time it had seemed like a good idea.
They’d come in a week ago, a convoy of semis and trailers and black SUVs. Logan had been working the fence property and had seen them driving in. Hell, it had looked like some Hollywood parade. The whole town had shown up at the gates to the ranch to witness it. He’d gotten all the gossip when Martha had served up dinner. She’d talked it up nonstop, her voice more animated than he’d heard in a long time.
“I’m pretty sure Desiree Jenkins and Colt Stevens are on our property as we speak,” Martha had said as she’d put the salad on the table. “Are you going to go check it out, Logan?”
“Why would I want to do that?” he’d asked, way more interested in eating than he was in the goings-on at the east property.
“You rented them the land. It’s your responsibility to make sure they’re settled in.”
He’d said no, and Martha had argued. And when Martha argued about something, it was best you just do whatever she wanted, because she wasn’t the type to let a topic die.
“I’ll go see about it in a few days.” That few days had turned into a week, and Martha had been nearly apoplectic that he hadn’t checked it out yet. Which could affect his dinner, since Martha in a snit meant she could take to her room with some kind of mystery ailment and he’d end up eating baloney sandwiches instead of a hot meal.
So after he was done with his work the next day, he climbed into his truck and drove over to the site. Crews had already finished building the set for . . . whatever movie it was they were filming. Some post-apocalyptic futuristic something or another, supposedly set on another planet. The sparse vegetation, scrub, and hills of the east property would work just fine for it, he supposed. He’d signed the contracts and deposited the check, but hadn’t bothered to pay attention to the name of the film. He wasn’t much of a moviegoer. To go to the movies meant heading into town, and he’d rather sit on the porch and have a beer at night. He liked the quiet. If he wanted to see a movie, he had a television and one of those subscription accounts. That was good enough for him.
Martha was right. It already looked like they’d built a small town on some of the flat lands out there. He parked his truck on the rise, popped open the beer he’d sh
oved in his cooler, and leaned against the hood of his truck to watch the hustle of people moving back and forth. Trailers had been set up as living areas, though these trailers looked way more expensive than anything Logan could afford. They were more like big houses on wheels. Probably what the stars lived in while they shot the movie.
An SUV came up the road, dust flying behind it. A couple of burly guys wearing all black and sporting dark sunglasses rolled out of the vehicle.
“This is a closed set.”
Unruffled, Logan stared at them. “Okay.”
“You aren’t supposed to be on this property.”
“I own this property.”
One of the guys in black frowned at him. “You’re the property owner?”
“Yeah.”
“Got I.D.?”
Logan let out a short laugh. “I’m not about to show you my I.D. Like I said, I own this land and you’re renting it.”
“We’ll still need to see an I.D.,” burly guy number two said.
Logan folded his arms. “Yeah? You can kiss my ass.”
His attention turned to a slight woman—a girl, really, running up the hill. She wore jogging clothes. Tight pants that just went past her knees, and a sleeveless top that hugged her slender body. She had dark hair pulled back in a braid. The guys suddenly stepped in front of Logan as if he was going to pull a gun on the woman.
When she reached them, she stopped, drawing in several deep breaths.
“What’s up, Carl?”
“Saw this guy parked up here and came to check it out. He says he’s the property owner but he won’t show I.D. to prove it.”
She finally straightened and stretched her back. “Is that right? And are you the property owner?”
“So it says on the ranch deed.”
She walked over and held out her hand. “I’m Des.”
Logan shook her hand. “Logan McCormack.”
“Nice ranch, Logan.”
“Thanks.”
“Have you been down to watch filming yet?”