Her Holiday Fling

by Jennifer Snow

  “Hayley. Hi...” He shifted uncomfortably next to her car.

  Good, be uncomfortable, you no-good, slimy... She glared at him. “Is there a problem, Officer?”

  He cleared his throat. “Um... Do you know how fast you were going?”

  Seventy. “No. Do you know what a piece of shit you are?” she asked, unable to prevent the words from escaping her lips. Uniform or not, to her, he was simply the jerk who’d hurt Kate, and Chase. But she’d hurt them, too.

  His was worse.

  He ignored the question but his skin flushed at the collar of his shirt. “Seventy-four,” he said. “In a sixty zone.”

  “So, give me a ticket and I’ll be on my way.” She stared straight ahead.

  “I’ll need your driver’s license and registration.”

  “Look, can we skip this? Give me a warning this time. I’m on my way to see Chase in the hospital. He was shot yesterday.”

  “I heard.” His voice was void of emotion. “I still need to give you a ticket. License and registration.”

  He’d heard? That’s it? He’d been about to marry Chase’s sister. Un-freaking-believable.

  She handed them to him, but before he could walk away, she had to ask. “What the hell happened, Cooper?”

  “I’ll have the ticket for you in a minute.” His voice took on an edge as he started to walk away.

  He didn’t owe her an explanation. He owed one to Kate and Chase and their family, but not to her, yet she needed to hear one.

  But he ignored her.

  Against her better judgment, she opened the car door and got out.

  “Hayley, stay in your vehicle.”

  “I just want to know what made you bail on such a fantastic woman. On the day of your wedding.” The more she talked, the angrier she grew. “She trusted you. She put herself out there and you threw it all away. You hurt her.” Kate had taken such a chance...

  “Get back in your car.”

  “I mean, you two were so in love. I don’t get it, Cooper...” She didn’t understand it at all.

  “It’s Officer Jennings and I won’t tell you again, Miss Hanna. Another warning and you’ll be under arrest.”

  “Under arrest? For what?”

  “Aggravating a police officer.” He stopped near his squad car and reached through the window for his speaker.

  Well, if she was about to get arrested anyway... Grabbing his shoulder, she raised her knee hard, making contact with his groin, just as the sound of another siren wailed.

  Cooper dropped the speaker and his eyes widened as he bent at the waist.

  “Now you can arrest me,” Hayley said with a smile, holding her arms out in front of her. “Once you catch your breath, of course.”

  “I’ve got it from here, Jennings,” a tight voice said behind them.

  Her heart stopped. Chase. Slowly she turned and her breath caught in her chest as he approached, a deep frown on his face and dark sunglasses hiding his eyes. His right arm in a sling, but still wearing his police uniform.

  Hot as hell, but looking seriously pissed. What was the fine for assaulting a police officer anyway? Was there a fine? Or was it jail time? Her lungs fought for air and anxiety crept into her chest. She’d been angry. Cooper had deserved it. But oh, my God, she couldn’t go to jail. Her frantic mind came to a halt.

  What was Chase doing there? He was supposed to be in the hospital.

  Cooper straightened. “I’m arresting her, Chase. Assaulting a police officer is a serious offense,” he said, still gasping slightly for breath.

  She swallowed hard as Chase stopped in front of her. “I agree she needs to be brought in, but I’ll take care of it.”

  “Chase...”

  “Get in the car, Cooper, before you have to charge both of us with assault,” Chase said, shooting the young cop a look that suggested it was best not to argue.

  Hayley’s shoulders relaxed slightly as Cooper mumbled several profanities under his breath and got back into the car. “What are you doing here?”

  “I was on my way to your office. Hands in front of you, please,” he said.

  Her head shot up. “What?” He couldn’t be serious about arresting her.

  “Hands out,” he said, reaching for his cuffs.

  “Chase...you can’t really be arresting me. The guy totally deserved the knee to the groin.”

  He took her wrist and secured the cuffs. “I agree and I’m a little pissed that you were the one to get the pleasure of doing it, but it doesn’t change the fact that assaulting a police officer is a crime, Ms. Hanna.”

  Oh, God. He was really taking her to the station. “You stood me up on my birthday,” she said, as though that should make it even.

  “I was shot.”

  “I know... I was actually just on my way to see you,” she whispered, glancing at his arm. “What happened?”

  “I was distracted by a beautiful woman.”

  Her eyes narrowed.

  “You, Hayley.”

  Realization dawned. Her phone call. “Oh, no, it was my fault?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said with a grin. “Now, come with me, please.” He took her by the shoulder and led her to the car. Opening the back door, he held her head as she lowered herself into it.

  “Chase, this is crazy...” The door shut on her words, and he climbed into the driver’s seat.

  “No, what’s crazy is how much I love you.”

  Her heart all but stopped. Her mouth went dry and her palms felt damp. “You do?” she whispered. Terri-Lynn had said as much, but hearing it from him made every muscle in her body relax.

  “Yes, I do. I am so in love with you that I may have to kiss a felon... Something I’ve never had the urge to do before.” He removed his sunglasses then and the look in his eyes brought tears to hers. The love, affection and desire in them were perfectly clear as he moved toward her, leaning over the seat.

  He cupped her face with his hand as he lowered his lips to hers, softly at first, then eagerly, hungrily. She returned the kiss, sinking toward him, lifting her joined hands to touch him. The tug of the cuffs prevented her from opening her arms to embrace him and she broke away in mild frustration. “Can you remove these, please?”

  He grinned and the smile that had first made her heart believe in love made her pulse race. “Nope.”

  Her eyes widened. “What do you mean ‘nope’?”

  He kissed her forehead quickly before turning in his seat. Sliding his sunglasses back over his eyes, he pulled the police car back out into traffic.

  “Where are we going?”

  “I told you—I have to take you in.”

  “Quit messing with me, Chase,” she said, leaning forward over the seat.

  “Never.” He stopped the car at a red light and turned to kiss her once more. “Don’t worry, I’ll let you off easy for good behavior—community service ought to do it.”

  She groaned. He was really charging her with assault. If she didn’t love him so much, she’d hate him right now.

  “Look on the bright side, pretty girl. At least now our story of how we fell in love is true.” He smiled, brushing her blond hair away from her face. “And I’m sure my sister will post your bail in a heartbeat.”

  She smiled despite being handcuffed in the back of a squad car. “So, she’s forgiven me?” she asked softly.

  He nodded slowly. “For deceiving her, yes... But you may still be in trouble for ge
tting me shot.”

  “You didn’t have to answer your phone,” she teased.

  “Oh, yes, I did.”

  “I love you, Chase.”

  He touched her cheek gently and hesitated. “Still no interest in marriage?”

  “Definitely not,” she said firmly but the twisting in her stomach surprised her. “Although, if I were ever going to get married to someone—it would be you.”

  His smile widened as he ignored the green light ahead of him and gently touched her cheek. “Hayley Hanna Hartley—could you really live with that?”

  She swallowed hard as she nodded. The love reflecting in his eyes erasing all of her fear and doubt. Hayley Hanna Hartley. “Yes, I think I really could.” For a very long time. Maybe even for always.

  * * * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt from A COWBOY IN PARADISE by Shana Gray.

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  A Cowboy in Paradise

  by Shana Gray

  1

  JIMI CALLOWAY COULDN’T comprehend a destination wedding in Hawaii that wasn’t on a beach. The wedding was inland. On a ranch! No beach in sight. Her words echoed in her ears. Please just take care of the arrangements. Tell me when I have to be at the airport, she’d told Jose, her assistant, when the invitation had arrived a couple of months ago. Now she wished she’d not been so damn preoccupied with the finishing touches to her first commissioned gown for the Oscars and paid more attention to the finer details of this event.

  Jimi sweated under the hot Hawaiian sun. Raising her face to the sky, she closed her eyes and absorbed the sun’s energy. It was a whole lot better than dreary, gray and cold New York City. She got bumped from behind and nearly toppled off her Christian Louboutins.

  “Oh, pardon me,” Jimi said, and scampered not to sprawl into the dirt.

  “My apologies.” A heavyset man in a straw hat and tropical flowered shirt steadied her by grabbing hold of her elbow.

  Jimi gently pulled from his grasp. “It’s okay. No problem,” she said, smiling at him.

  She glanced down at her Chanel dress. It had held up pretty well until now, after the twelve-hour flight and the bus ride from the airport to this Hawaiian ranch. She swept her hand over the fabric—covered in dust and travel wrinkled—finally giving up when her sweaty palms smudged the dirt. Shit, her hair would be 1980s huge in this humidity. Trying to blow the damp tendrils out of her eyes, she watched the luxury coach drive away, stranding her in the boonies of the Big Island. She’d had enough of the farm life growing up on a commune. Jimi shivered—a time she didn’t particularly want to remember.

  And to top it all off, her suitcase was lost. Panic began to set in. How would she face the day without the suitcase that housed her full armor of makeup, clothing and essentials? A habit she’d started years ago, she couldn’t recall the last time she’d gone without makeup. Why hadn’t Diana chosen the Four Seasons to have her wedding instead of here? Jimi swung her gaze back to the lady ranch hand who had delivered the upsetting news about her suitcase. Out of habit, she eyed the young woman all decked out in cowgirl clothes. The cowgirl looked at Jimi with clear gray eyes and confidence. Jimi bet she didn’t have a worry in the world. She seemed so amazingly comfortable that Jimi almost envied her. The woman shifted her feet and spurs jangled in the dust. Jimi glanced down at the impressively tooled creations.

  “Wow, I love your cowboy boots.”

  “Thank you.”

  They were great boots, with turquoise leather inlay and stitching. Jimi looked up and met the young woman’s eyes, doing her best to not let aggravation over her lost bag ruin the day.

  “I’m really sorry about your suitcase.”

  “It’s not your fault. I’m just thrown a little off-kilter by all this,” Jimi admitted.

  “I understand, but I’m sure it will arrive soon. My name is Larson and I’ll definitely keep an eye out for your bag.”

  Jimi nodded, trying not to let her disappointment show. She’d been looking forward to unwinding in Hawaii after the wedding. It was a treasured bit of time between moments of chaos. She so needed to decompress. Vacation time that had been almost impossible to carve out of her busy schedule, but she managed and had lived for these precious weeks in Hawaii. Twenty-one days of sleeping in, relaxing in a cabana by the pool or beach, spa treatments and hopefully a bit of man time.

  She’d been without a man’s touch for far too long and desperately needed some attention from the male species. She’d been so busy and the promise to design Diana’s dress was fit it in between the other orders. It was a beautiful creation.

  Diana’s dress! It was lost over the Pacific. In her suitcase. How would she ever explain this to her friend?

  “Aloha, folks! Welcome to Broken Creek Guest Ranch!”

  Jimi spun around, startled by the loud voice, which resonated in her chest like a loud bass drum. Deep, masculine and surprisingly seductive, it held a mild twang that completely caught her attention. Lost bags, Diana’s dress and wrong destination momentarily forgotten, Jimi sucked in a breath as she pinned her eyes on the owner of said voice. Struck dumb, she hadn’t expected to see such a hot cowboy. But of course there would be cowboys, right alongside cows, horses, flies and shit—a crazy mix next to the tropical foliage, beautiful blue skies and gorgeous flowers.

  Hello, Hawaiian Hottie!

  Jimi couldn’t stop staring at the man standing on the front porch of the rustic-looking building. His head almost brushed the overhang he was so tall. She’d never been so drawn at first glance to a man before; he oozed a dangerous sexuality that reached across the dusty ground and lit her like a sparkler. He. Was. Gorgeous. It was like he snagged her with a lasso and yanked it tight. Jimi caught her breath and placed her hand over her heart as it tripped into double time.

  This Hawaiian cowboy was large, muscled and tanned. He had it all going on. She smiled when she noticed the collar of his Western-style shirt. The pattern on the fabric was a ring of deep red hibiscus flowers. Only here could he get away with that. Her mind tumbled over itself as she considered ways she might be able to get this devilishly sexy cowboy on his own. Had a silver lining just appeared on the clouds of doom?

  Jimi crossed her arms and hugged herself to keep from trembling, unable to drag her gaze away from him. She wasn’t opposed to a holiday fling—preferably at a five-star hotel with butlers, v
intage wine and gourmet dining and not on a ranch. Finally being able to afford the finer things, she’d become accustomed to them. Something told her this smoking-hot cowboy would transplant well and be a sweet distraction. As long as he showered.

  She nodded to herself. She’d be able to make do for a short time without her bag. Seeing this delectable male specimen made her realize how travel weary she must look. The urge to step behind the cowgirl to hide herself made her shuffle backward without looking away from him.

  His gaze swung through the crowd as he continued with his welcome. Then his attention fell on her. Jimi’s feet froze and she was rooted to the spot—as if the dirt reached up and grabbed her ankles. Good Lord, he was too gorgeous for words. All Jimi’s thoughts fled when a big, wide smile curved on his tanned face. He was clean shaven, but his dark hair was long, ruffling over his shoulders. Her belly fluttered—something she’d not experienced in...oh, ever. Unable to see his eyes, shadowed by the brim of his hat, made him all that much more enigmatic. She wanted him. Bad.

  Her blood rushed and her arousal for him nearly made her swoon. She held her breath, enjoying the rare sensation as desire swept through her. The sun came out from behind a cloud, and Jimi raised her hand to shield her eyes from the glare so she could see him.

  He seemed to be looking directly at her and she smiled. Did he smile at her? His gaze lingered a little bit and then moved on. The break in their connection was surprisingly disappointing.

  “There’s some grub waiting for you in the dining room, and once y’all fill your bellies the luggage will be in the change rooms.”

  He pointed and she turned to the beautiful log building with paned windows and a wide front porch. Rocking chairs sat at the ready and there were even hitching posts and water troughs. Just like in classic Western movies. “There you can get on your riding gear while your horses are saddled and then we’ll make our way—”

  “Um, excuse me.” Jimi raised her hand and waggled her fingers. “Did you say horses?” she blurted.