The Stolen Heart (Contemporary Romance)

by Emily Walters

  The Stolen Heart

  Published by Emily Walters

  Copyright © 2015 by Emily Walters

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems – except in the case of brief quotations in articles or reviews – without the permission in writing from its publisher, Emily Walters.

  www.EmilyWaltersBooks.com

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  About Emily Walters

  Chapter 1

  “Your cupcakes are just as sweet as you,” Henry Thomas said as he picked up his half a dozen vanilla cupcakes.

  “Well, I am glad you enjoy them, Henry.” Ashley smiled and handed him his change.

  “One of these days you are going to let me take you out on a date,” Henry teased as he left her counter and walked to the door of Ashley’s small shop.

  “Is that so?” She raised her eyebrow at her old friend.

  “Stranger things have happened.” Henry stopped at the doorway and turned back to face her.

  “Get out of here.” Ashley playfully motioned for him to go.

  Henry winked and left her shop. It wasn’t abnormal for him to ask her out, he had done so since high school, but Ashley just never felt that way about her friend. He was handsome and nice, but there wasn’t any spark. She wiped her counter one last time and grabbed her purse. The bank was only open for another twenty minutes and she needed to get there before it closed.

  Before Ashley left, she checked herself in the mirror in the back of the shop. She wiped her face. Her long auburn hair was pulled back into a ponytail so she let it down. Her hazel eyes were dark and her lips full. Her body was pleasantly curvy and as she looked over her reflection in the mirror she dusted off all the flour from baking for hours. The bank wasn’t far from her bakery shop and she could just walk there. The summer air was warm but a touch of cool wind brushed across her face, reminding her that fall was sneaking up fast. September had only just begun and she was enjoying the leaves changing colors every day.

  Ashley arrived at the bank and pulled the glass door open. Everyone that worked there was a familiar face. It was like that at most places in town. Most people knew each other and looked out for one another.

  “Hello,” the teller named Sandy greeted her. She was an older woman that Ashley had seen at the bank her whole life, ever since her grandmother had started bringing Ashley in with her. The teller used to give her lollipops and a friendly smile.

  “Hi. I need to make a deposit.” Ashley slid her money across the counter along with her deposit sheet.

  “Sure thing.” Sandy began working on her deposit.

  Ashley played with the pen attached to the counter by a silver chain. It was the same thing she used to do as a child while her grandmother interacted with the tellers. The memory stung a little as it always did when she thought of her recently passed grandma. She missed her every day, but the pain was beginning to hurt a little less each day.

  Shaking the image of her grandmother out of her head, Ashley turned to the side and tried to think about something else. A man stood at the counter next to her. He was more handsome than any man she had ever seen in this town. He was tall and built like someone from a fitness magazine. His tight white T-shirt made it easy to see the muscles that seductively hid underneath it. She looked over his body and up to his face. His blue eyes caught her stare and she quickly turned away and pretended to be playing with the pen.

  A sudden loud noise startled her, causing her to drop the pen and jump. It sounded as though someone had slammed their fist against a wall but when she turned around she saw a man dressed in all black and a ski mask. He had swung the bank door open so hard that it put a hole in the wall behind it.

  “This is a robbery!” she heard him scream. “Nobody move and no one will get hurt. Do not even think about making any dumb moves or pushing any panic buttons,” he said as another man in black rushed toward the counter.

  Ashley froze, unable to think let alone move. Four men hurried through the bank, demanding the tellers put money in their cloth bags. One male customer pulled out his cellphone and was quickly caught.

  “Do you think we are stupid?” One of the robbers threw him to the ground and punched him in the face. The cruel thief stomped on his cellphone and shattered it into pieces before kicking it aside.

  “Do not make that mistake again!” The robber pointed his gun in the man’s face. “And that goes for the rest of you too! Don’t make the same mistake this idiot did.”

  The men hurried through the bank, terrorizing every customer and teller as they stalked the place like wild lions on the hunt, greedy with a hunger that might cost someone their life. One woman began crying loudly as she handed over cash to the criminals. Ashley would have been crying too if the shock inside of her had not frozen all emotions in her body. She just could not believe what was happening all around. It was like being in the middle of someone else’s dream and she was just there witnessing it all unfold – until she was approached by an avaricious predator.

  “Give me your money.” One of the robbers was inches away from Ashley and commanded her to follow his orders. She was frozen in fear and didn’t move. “Are you deaf? Give me your damn money!”

  His loud scream broke her from the shock that had taken over her body. In the moment she dropped her purse to the floor.

  “Okay.” She bent to the floor slowly and began picking up her items that had fallen from her spilled purse. It was then that she snapped back to reality and remembered what was in her purse.

  “Geez, lady, come on.” The intimidating criminal bent down and started grabbing money from her purse.

  “Hey!” One of the robbers yelled across the bank. “Stop messing with that small cash and get over here.”

  Ashley was not sure why, but she felt like she had to do something brave. She reached in her purse and pulled out her Mace. Aiming it right at the robber, she sprayed it directly into his eyes. He screamed and smacked the Mace out of her grip. Bringing his hands to his face, he lifted his mask in an attempt to clear the painful Mace from his eyes, exposing his face to Ashley. She stared up and saw him perfectly; the peculiar shape of his face, his dark brown eyes, and thin mouth.

  “Put your mask back on, idiot!” Another man in black ran over to them.

  “The bitch sprayed me. She saw my face!” He pulled his mask back down but still held his head in his hands. “I can’t see shit!”

  “Damn it. No loose ends. That is our rule. No loose ends.” The second robber lifted his gun and aimed it right at her face. Ashley felt fear rush through her like a heavy hurricane. The danger and disaster twisted inside of her, flooding her mind and terrifying her pounding heart. This was not the way she wanted to go, this was not her ending, yet she was cowering on the floor waiting for a bullet to steal her goodbye.

  Just as she was sure her life was over, someone tackled the armed robber in front of her. It was the blue-eyed stranger that she had been checking out minutes before. Now they were fighting a few feet from her. The robber who had aimed the gun at her had dropped his gun as the two men wrestled and he was struggling to defeat his opponent. The blue-eyed hero gained the upper hand and punched the robber in the face as he towered over him like a real-life superhero dressed in jeans without a ca
pe.

  Police sirens echoed through the town and disturbed the thieves.

  “Get the hell off him, you son of a bitch!” The maced robber had gotten control of his sight and his gun, and was now pointing it at Ashley’s savior.

  The man who had tackled the robber stopped fighting and rolled away from the criminal. The two other robbers had now finished collecting money from the tellers. All four robbers were now surrounding Ashley and the blue-eyed stranger.

  “What the hell?” one of them said as he looked closer at the men on the floor.

  “We need to go!” another crook yelled as they heard the police getting closer. “Now.”

  “This isn’t over!” the robber said to the blue-eyed man who had tackled him moments before. “You are lucky I don’t shoot you in the head right here.”

  “Now!” the other robber, who seemed to be in charge, demanded. “We need to go now!”

  All of the robbers headed out the door with their bags of money. Before rushing out the door the robber who had been tackled looked back once more before whispering to his partners in crime. Ashley couldn’t tell exactly what it was that he had said but it sounded like a name. They looked quickly at the man who had saved her and then turned to go. Seconds later the dangerous men were gone, leaving behind terrified and confused witnesses. The bank was silent for a minute as no one dared move. Finally people began to stand up and gain their composure.

  “Are you alright?” the blue-eyed man asked Ashley.

  “Yes, are you?” She looked him over for signs that he might be hurt.

  “I am fine.” He smiled and his lips were a surprising comfort to her.

  The police barged into the bank, interrupting her conversation with the intriguing man. After that everything got blurry and went fast. There were questions to be answered and evidence to collect. Ashley had to tell the story ten times to three different officers and then had to write down the details of the encounter on a report. The police asked her if she could come down to the police station and work with a sketch artist to come up with a drawing of the robber’s face she had seen. She agreed, but hoped that she wasn’t in too deep with the investigation. The sound of the gun cocking inches away from her face was still echoing in her ears.

  “Would you like a ride to the police station?” Sheriff Johnson asked her.

  “No, thank you. I am fine. I can drive my car down there,” Ashley told him.

  Jack Johnson had been the sheriff of Alexburg since she was a child and he worked hard to keep crime to a minimum in the small town. He was always friendly, but he had a stern look in his eyes that told her he could have a mean streak. She nodded and walked out of the bank. Outside she saw the man with the intriguing blue eyes leaning against the wall of the brick bank.

  “Hey.” She approached him. “I forgot to tell you thanks.”

  “For what?” He grinned and she found herself studying his lips again.

  “For saving my life.” She took her gaze from his compelling mouth and looked up to his eyes. They were just as enchanting with arctic shades of blue and icy swirls of gray. They were mesmerizing.

  “You don’t have to thank me for that.” He reached his hands into the pockets of his jeans as though he was uneasy.

  “I do have to thank you. What you did was amazing.” Ashley reached her hand out to him. “My name is Ashley Sheffield.”

  “I’m Hunter Stuart.” His hand met hers, the warmth like embers under skin.

  “Well, Hunter, thank you for being my hero.”

  Her hand stayed in his for a long moment as they looked into each other’s eyes. Ashley pulled her hand away and bit her lip as she felt a flush of heat from a place inside that she had never known.

  “Are you going to be in town for a while?” she broke the silence.

  “Yeah, I plan on it,” he said.

  “Good. Come into my shop tomorrow. It is the bakery down the street, Sweet Dreams. The least I could do is give you some free cupcakes.” She hoped he would agree so she could see him again because he made her feel something new, even if she didn’t know what that meant just yet. She couldn’t deny that her body warmed up from the attraction when she looked at him, even if it was an odd way for her to feel about a stranger.

  “You don’t owe me anything,” he politely said. “But I will stop in to see you. I have a sweet tooth and a thing for icing.”

  “Awesome. Great.” Ashley smiled as she began to step away. “See you then.”

  “You will,” he promised.

  “Ashley!” Henry ran towards her. Henry was not only her good friend, but also a police officer in town. He was off duty now and out of uniform but his badge hung from a string around his neck. “Are you alright? I got a call from the sheriff and came right away.”

  “I am fine, Henry,” she assured him. He looked at Hunter standing next to her. “This is Hunter. Hunter, this is Deputy Thomas.”

  Hunter shook Henry’s hand but neither man looked comfortable as they were introduced.

  “Come on, Ashley,” Henry said. “I will give you a safe ride to the station.”

  “I am perfectly fine with driving myself but since I know you won’t take no for an answer, I will just save myself an argument and accept,” Ashley agreed. “Goodbye, Hunter.”

  Ashley had just had the craziest day with bank robbers, guns, and police. But as she walked away all she could do was smile and think about Hunter’s eyes. The man was a stranger and she knew nothing but his name and the image of his impressive body, yet she felt more when she looked in his eyes than any man had ever made her feel. Maybe it was the thrill and excitement of the day, but Ashley was captivated by the new man who happened to be in the right place at the right time. Tomorrow she would have a chance to see her hero again, and she couldn’t wait.

  Chapter 2

  “His eyes were wider than that,” Ashley said. “And his jaw was really big.”

  The sketch artist began working on the portrait of the robber again as Ashley described the face she witnessed. They had been at it for hours. She would tell him every size, shape, and detail that she could remember. He would then show her his result from her description. The sketch would resemble that man she saw but something would be off; the size of his nose, the distance between the eyes, the shape of his face. It was mentally exhausting and her body was beginning to wear out as well. She had been on her feet working at her shop since early morning and she hadn’t slept well the night before. It was all starting to catch up to her as she leaned back in her chair at the police station.

  “How about this?” the sketch artist asked. “Does this look like the man you saw robbing the bank?”

  He held up the sketch and it was so perfect it was eerie. Her stomach felt sick as she looked into that face. The same fear flashed through her body for a moment until she felt Henry’s hand on her back.

  “Ashley, does that look like the man from the bank?” Henry’s friendly touch snapped her out of her trance.

  “Yeah, yes. That is him. The sketch looks exactly like him,” Ashley confirmed.

  “Good. You did a great job, Ashley.” Henry nodded to the sketch artist. “Now let’s get you home. You have had a long day.”

  Henry had always been a good friend. He had been the town deputy for three years, but to her he would always be the kid next door who camped out in the tree house with her and took her to prom when her boyfriend dumped her two days before. She found comfort in him, and his touch on her back helped her realize she was safe now.

  “I am so ready to go home,” she told Henry. “Can you drop me off at my car?”

  “I would feel better driving you home myself but since I know how stubborn you are I will drop you off at your car and then follow you home to make sure that you make it there safe.” Henry motioned for her to leave the private room they were in.

  The police station was not very big and it was filled with busy officers and staff, all rushing to figure out who had just tarnished their norm
ally safe town. Of course there had always been petty crimes, just like any other small American town, but stolen bikes, toilet-papered houses, or an occasional bar fight were nothing like the robbery that had just taken place. Four armed men had just pointed guns at citizens of their town, and the police station was in a panic to find the dangerous criminals.

  Henry took Ashley by the arm and led her through the chaotic station. As she got closer to the front door she noticed someone being fingerprinted at a nearby counter by the sheriff. It was Hunter, the gorgeous man who had saved her life at the bank. He looked up and their eyes met before he turned away quickly. Henry opened the door and Ashley went through, leaving Hunter behind. It was strange to see him like that. No one had fingerprinted her, why was he being treated like someone of interest? Of course, she had known the sheriff her whole life so maybe that was why she was treated differently, but something about the scene at the station didn’t sit right with her.