Sam.
He was sitting at the table closest to the entrance overlooking the lobby. His dark hair was a little ruffled from the wind and his jaw needed a shave but she’d never seen him look better. Her heart hurt with the flood of love that ran through her and a sob caught in her throat.
Somehow she managed to walk the two steps to his table but he’d already stood and put his arm around her.
“What are you doing here?” She was surprised her voice worked.
“Waiting for you. You’d told me where you were staying but they wouldn’t give me your room number at the front desk. I came here straight from the airport and parked myself in the lobby waiting for you to come down.”
“You did that for me?”
“I’d do anything for you. Let’s go to your room. I’ll explain everything there.”
Her body quivering with excitement, she let him lead her to the bank of elevators, pressing the call button.
“Are you really here?” she asked. She still couldn’t quite believe he was really standing here with her. Perhaps she’d finally snapped and he was a figment of her overactive imagination.
Sam smiled and brushed a strand of hair from her face, brushing her cheek with his calloused fingers. The sheer joy of being touched by the man she loved filled her and she didn’t care if it was real or not. She was happy for the first time in days.
“I’ll tell you everything when we have some privacy.”
It only took them a few minutes to get to her room and she quickly closed the connecting door and locked it behind her. Tabby would want Sam and Serena to meet eventually but right now she wanted him for herself. Placing both coffees on the dresser, she threw herself into his waiting arms, a few tears trailing down her face.
They kissed as if it had been years since they’d seen each other, their hands roaming over any bare skin they could find. Somehow they ended up on the bed and finally Sam rolled away. His dark eyes were full of love or at least something close to it.
“We need to talk, honey. I came here to tell you something.”
“I want to tell you something too,” she said eagerly. “I love you, Sam.”
“I was kind of hoping that. I love you too, Tabby.” He gave her a crooked grin and stroked her hair. “I’m sorry I didn’t say it before you left.”
Tabby sat up, resting on her elbow and placing her other hand on his chest so she could feel the solid thump of his heart. “I’ve been doing some thinking.”
“Me too. But that’s probably obvious since I’m here. I’ve come to stay, Tabby. If you’ll have me. I want to give this – us – a chance.”
“Stay?” Tabby blinked. She couldn’t have heard him right. “You mean you’ve left Springwood? What about your job?”
“I talked to Tanner and I’ve taken a leave of absence. I was thinking I could travel around with you.” His tone was hopeful and she was almost breathless at the turn of events. Sam really loved her. Not just a lustful, selfish love. But the kind that made sacrifices. It made her feel humble and lucky. Very lucky.
“I won’t be traveling around much.” She couldn’t stop the smile that bloomed on her face. “I talked to my sister and my mom and dad. I’m retiring from location scouting at the end of this season. I’m going to take over the book department of the family business. The television show is going to be overhauled anyway. They’re going to concentrate on telling about locations with historical ghost stories instead of actually investigating to find the ghosts.”
“You’re quitting? You’re going to write a book?” Sam looked dumbfounded. He’d come all this way to see her and she’d apparently stole his thunder. She’d never forget what he’d been willing to give up for her though.
“We have a line of paranormal fiction books that have been ignored due to lack of time and interest. I’m planning to revive the imprint. Write a few of my own and maybe recruit a few other authors. Finally put my English degree to use.” Tabby leaned forward and pressed her lips to his briefly. “And I can do that from anywhere. I’d only have to travel if I needed to do some research that couldn’t be done any other way.”
Sam cupped her face with his large hands and a shiver went up her spine. “By anywhere do you happen to mean Springwood?”
He actually looked nervous about her answer. She nodded, more tears welling up in her eyes and her throat growing tight. He seemed as emotional as she was and he pulled her close, not speaking for the longest time.
“I want you to come back to Springwood with me, Tabby. I love you and I want to make a life with you. I know we haven’t known each other very long but I’ve never felt anything like this before. I know that I can’t turn my back on it. On you.”
She could feel his words as well as hear them, the urgency of his tone strong. “I know there aren’t any guarantees. We could crash and burn but I can’t stop thinking about you. I love you and I need to be with you.”
He tipped her chin up and their gazes locked. “You don’t have to do this. Change your life, I mean. I’d never ask you to make all the compromises, Tabby.”
That’s what made Sam different than any other man she’d ever known.
“I know and thank you for that. But I was ready to make a change. The show was ready for a change. It’s worked out better for everyone, really. I promise you this is what I want.”
“You’re what I want.” His arms tightened around her. “Anything else is negotiable.”
Tabby gave him a mischievous smile. “I want you too, Deputy Sam Taylor.” She popped open the first button on his shirt. “Check out time isn’t until noon. Got any ideas of how to pass the time?”
Grinning wickedly, Sam rolled her onto her back, his hot, hard body pressing her into the mattress and making her think of wicked, naughty things they could do on this bed.
“I’ve got several ideas actually. Been thinking about them all week.”
Sam spent the next few hours showing her how much he’d missed her and how good it was going to be together. Lost in the magic of their brand new love, they didn’t hear Serena banging on the connecting door asking about her coffee. Tabby would find out about that later when she introduced her sister to Sam.
At this moment, they were the only two people in the world.
The End
<<<<>>>>
Part Three
Deputy Drake James – Corville, Montana
Chapter One
Nervous as hell and praying it didn’t show, Victoria Saunders rubbed her sweaty palms on the denim of her best pair of jeans. She looked out the big front picture window of the local diner for the thousandth time and tried to stay calm. It had been two years since she’d laid eyes on Deputy Drake James and that streak was about to be broken. Tori and her best friend, Kasi Martin, were eating lunch and Drake was due any moment to join Sheriff Logan Wright, just two tables away.
Finally home to stay after finishing her degree in culinary arts in New York and working in a prestigious five star hotel under a famous pastry chef, Tori planned to open a bakery here in Corville and settle down. The Big Apple had been fun and yes, exciting, but it wasn’t what she wanted long term. She was a country girl at heart.
Not that she owned her own heart. It had belonged to Drake since Kasi’s thirteenth birthday party. That sunny afternoon amid the pink and white birthday cake and Pin the Tail on the Donkey, Victoria and Drake had been shut into Kasi’s parents’ walk-in closet for a game of “Seven Minutes in Heaven.”
It certainly had been. Tori would never forget the feel of Drake’s lips on hers that first time or the way his hands had roamed over her budding curves. At that moment she’d known she loved Drake with all her heart.
Drake, however, hadn’t received the memo. After awakening the woman inside the adolescent, he’d proceeded to ignore her and date Lisa Webber for the next two years. After that there had been a long line of blondes each with varying levels of intelligence. Drake liked them big bosomed and not too bright.
&nbs
p; “He’ll be here,” Kasi assured her. “Just relax. You look like you’re waiting to see him. You don’t want him to know that. We’re just having lunch, remember? A casual, friendly lunch to welcome you back to town.”
Tori owed Kasi big for this. She had been keeping an eye on Drake for the last two years, reporting on his romantic life. The public parts of Drake’s life anyway. If he had been close to becoming serious about anyone, Tori would have hightailed it back home. Extreme measures hadn’t been needed, however. In fact, it hadn’t been Drake who had fallen in love and gotten married but the womanizing Logan Wright. Everyone in town was talking about how the former man-whore was completely and totally in love with his wife, Ava. He followed her around as if she hung the moon.
“I’m terrified,” Tori confessed. She took a drink of her iced tea and tried to relax. “I’ve been in love with him for years. According to you he’s not seeing anyone these days. This is my chance.”
The naive, plump girl who had left Corville for the big city was all grown up. Now she was the older, wiser, still slightly plump woman who intended to show Drake what he’d been missing out on.
“Just play it cool. And for God’s sake don’t act like you know anything about his life. I’m not proud of the fact that I’ve helped you stalk him for the past few years.”
“It wasn’t stalking. You just kept me informed, that’s all.” Tori rolled her eyes. “It’s not like I’ve been following him around and taking his picture. That would be creepy.”
“Making me tell you about his girlfriends was kind of creepy,” Kasi retorted.
Tori slumped in the booth. “He’s my dream man. I just want a chance with him. He’s so perfect.”
“I doubt that,” Kasi said dryly. “Few men are. I’ve dated some real frogs and they sure as hell didn’t turn into princes when I kissed them. If anything they became more toady than ever.”
Kasi was coming off a break up with a local attorney and was pretty bitter about the relationship. He’d been cheating on her the entire time. With a wife Kasi hadn’t known anything about.
Tori sat up straight and sucked in her breath as Drake appeared at the door of the diner looking like sin personified in well-fitting jeans and the beige uniform shirt that stretched across his massive chest and arms. He had always been a large man but Tori must have forgotten just how big he really was. At six-foot-three and over two hundred pounds of pure muscle he made an impression when he walked into a room.
Drake didn’t even spare a glance their way and made a beeline for Logan. Sliding into the booth, he said something they couldn’t hear and then perused the card with the daily specials. Tori blew out her breath slowly, feeling distinctly let down. When she’d pictured this it had gone much differently.
“That was a bust,” she muttered, already trying to think of a new way to talk to him without it feeling forced. “All dressed up and nowhere to go, so to speak.”
“He is on duty,” Kasi reminded her. “Maybe we should try another time.”
“No.” Tori shook her head. “I’ve been imagining this moment for two years. I can’t chicken out now.”
“Sure you can,” cajoled Kasi. “Maybe it’s time you put this schoolgirl crush aside and look at Drake James for who he really is.”
“Who is that, all knowing wise one?”
“A small town guy in a dangerous job who spends his days writing speeding tickets and breaking up fights and his nights with women of questionable morals and even more questionable brains. On his nights off from dating bimbos? He hangs out with his buddies drinking beer, watching sports, and smoking stinky cigars.” The sarcasm in Kasi’s tone was crystal clear and it made Tori wince.
“When you put it like that…” Tori shook her head but wouldn’t be deterred from her goal. “You’ve just described practically every man I’ve ever known. If what you say is true, there would never be any marriages or children. Look at Logan Wright, Kasi. He’s a prime example of a reformed rake.”
“He’s the only example,” Kasi sighed. “Honestly, every woman in this town is all excited because one man—let me repeat—one man, straightened up. That doesn’t mean they all will. Miracles do happen. Even in Corville.”
“You should get a cat,” Tori replied. “Get started on being a lonely, bitter old woman who only talks to her furry feline friends.”
Kasi burst into laughter at Tori’s caustic tone. “I already have a cat, as you well know, and one is plenty, thank you very much.”
The women ate their lunch and caught up on all the news that a small town in southern Montana might have. They were already on to making plans for Tori’s bakery when a shadow fell across their table. Tori looked up and her heart almost stopped in her chest. It was Drake and Logan, and they were standing right there not six inches from her.
“Good afternoon, ladies.” Logan tipped his hat. “I wanted to stop by and say welcome back to Victoria. It’s been a long time since you were in Corville. I heard you’re here to stay now.”
Tori dragged her gaze from Drake’s handsome face. She could get lost in those blue eyes. Lord help her she still remembered how silky his dark golden brown hair had felt between her fingers all these years later.
“I am.” Tori managed to get the words out. “I’m opening a bakery on the corner of Maple and Main.”
Drake’s brows drew down and he finally spoke. “That’s the old video store location. It’s been empty for a long time.”
“That’s why I got a good deal on it. I’m excited to have so much room for the price. I’d never get anything near this in New York.”
“That place is pretty run down.” Drake shook his head and stroked his chin. “It will need to be completely gutted before you can do anything to it.”
He had a talent for understatement. It was going to take an act of Congress to get the place cleaned up and ready. Tori’s brother had promised to help along with a few of his buddies. Plus she was planning to bring in professionals to do the big stuff.
But pulling out the old nasty carpet and scrubbing and painting the walls? That was her job.
“And it starts tomorrow morning, bright and early.” Tori smiled and tried to make light of the mountain of work on her plate.
Logan nodded. “We’ll spread the word.”
“That’s very sweet of you. I’m hoping to get the bakery open by the first of the month. It would be wonderful if you could help get the word out that I’m planning a big party for the grand opening. Everyone will be invited,” she enthused, already picturing the store full of mouthwatering treats and a booming clientele. Owning her own business had always been her dream, right along with Drake.
Logan and Drake bid them goodbye and headed out into the warm day. Tori felt strangely deflated at their first meeting after so long.
“Well, that didn’t go as planned.”
“What were you expecting? Drake James to take one look at you and vow eternal love and fidelity?” Kasi blew a raspberry that made several other patrons turn and look.
“I wouldn’t complain, but I can see this is going to be harder than I thought. Next time he sees me I just have to look more like his type, that’s all. I’ll wear something low cut and tight. I’ve always suspected he was a boob man.”
“The whole town suspects that,” Kasi said flatly. “Are you planning to change your hair too?”
Tori’s hand automatically went to her cap of dark brown curls, cut just above her chin so that her hair stayed out of her face when she was working.
“No, I’d look silly with bleached hair. I’m going to have to hope that my rack is enough to get his attention. Then I’ll keep it by being smart and entertaining.”
Kasi’s gaze fell to Tori’s generous curves then back up to her face. “You’ve got the body but I’m not sure Drake is looking for smart. Or entertaining. From what I’ve seen, he’s looking for easy. Are you planning to be that as well?”
That was an excellent question. Tori was sure when it came ri
ght down to it she wouldn’t be able to say no to an amorous Drake. Whatever he wanted, he was likely to get.
Chapter Two
Drake shrugged his shoulders and tried to work the kinks out of his neck. It was a hot day in the middle of summer and sweat was trickling down his back. He, Logan, and several other people from Corville had shown up early at the site of Tori Saunders’ new bakery to help her clean out the store. How she ever would have done this by herself he had no idea. They’d been pulling up ratty old carpet and scrubbing every surface with bleach since sun up.
Tori had been flabbergasted when they’d all showed up this morning ready to work. Apparently she’d misunderstood Logan’s promise to “pass the word”, thinking he would mention it to townsfolk who might want to stop by once she’d opened.
Logan had meant something quite different. He’d let everyone know that one of their own needed a few strong backs. When it came time for her to open her bakery, Corville would be there for her again. That’s what it was like in their small town.
“Thirsty?” Tori was pulling a cooler full of water bottles behind her, stopping to offer some to each person as they toiled in the heat. Stanley, the heating and air guy, was outside replacing the ancient unit but until it was done they were all being slowly boiled alive in the building. She would have to open her store in the middle of a rare heat wave.
“That sounds good. Thank you.” Tori handed him the dripping bottle and their fingers brushed sending a shot of electricity straight through him. He’d been uncomfortably aware of her all morning and it made talking difficult.
His blood pressure had shot up when he’d seen her in a pair of skimpy cutoff shorts and a figure hugging bright red tank top. The color brought out the natural golden color of her skin and made her dark hair seem even more glossy. That hair was currently screwed into a mass of tight curls all around her face and it was all he could do not to reach for one, wrapping it around his finger.
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