This Time Around

by Stacey Lynn

  “I don’t think that’s best,” I said. My heart leapt in my chest and dropped with a thud.

  “What?”

  I repeated what I said this morning. “Your life is there, Cooper. There’s no point in returning.”

  “There’s no point…” he mumbled it like he was speaking to himself, not to me. He cursed and then acted like he hadn’t heard me. “We’ll talk tomorrow. I’ll be there by dinnertime. I’ve got a meeting with Max and then I’ll be on a plane there.”

  Had he not heard me? He had because he’d even repeated it. Which meant he was ignoring me. “Cooper. Listen.”

  “Shit,” he said, his voice concerned. “Last night was too fast for you, wasn’t it?”

  God. This man. He was always so concerned about me. “No. It’s not about last night. I liked it.”

  I’d thought about little else today besides never seeing him again. And if I was willing to be honest, I still wanted more of it. I wanted more of him. It just wasn’t possible, or smart.

  “Yeah, I did too.” His thick, warm voice enflamed my cheeks and made my pulse race.

  In the distance, the echo of a gunshot sounded and I flung off the covers. “What the hell?” I asked, rushing to the window. It faced the back of my house and I peeled back the curtains.

  “What the hell what?” Cooper asked. “If you don’t think I—”

  “Gunshot,” I whispered, scanning the darkness. “It’s probably nothing.” It didn’t feel like nothing, though. Gunshots weren’t uncommon. Hell, I had six guns locked in a safe in the closet under the stairs. Joseph’s 9-millimeter was still in the nightstand on his side of the bed. We didn’t only use them for self-defense in case it was ever necessary, but to scare away the coyotes that’d get onto our property.

  “Becca—” Cooper’s voice hit my ears. I’d forgotten I was on the phone with him.

  “It’s nothing,” I repeated. “Just an odd time of night to hear one. Probably Whitman’s or something.”

  Another blast sounded and this one was closer. “Shit.” I jumped from the sound, louder that time, but still didn’t see any spark of a shot going off that told me it was close. And hell, with the echo it could be coming from anywhere.

  “I gotta go.”

  “Was that another one?”

  “Yeah, I gotta—”

  “Rebecca, don’t you dare hang up on me or go getting yourself into trouble.”

  I barely registered Cooper’s voice as I pulled the phone away from my ear and disconnected.

  Midnight was too damn late for anyone to be out shooting anything.

  As soon as I disconnected the phone, I dialed 9-1-1.

  “9-1-1 dispatch, what is your emergency?”

  “Yes, this is Rebecca Splendid and I’m hearing gunshots. It’s probably nothing, but it’s late, and I was concerned.”

  And that second one wasn’t all that far away. The dispatch operator asked for my information and as soon as we disconnected, I threw on some clothes and at the last minute, I grabbed Joseph’s gun.

  Just in case.

  * * *

  “Did you find anything?” I was running to the officers who had shown up within ten minutes of my call.

  After I hung up the phone, I’d hesitated to run outside and get in my truck, searching my land for anything that might tell me if what I suspected was correct, but I held off.

  Now, it was almost two o’clock in the morning and Ryan along with Beckett, another guy who graduated around the same year as me and was also a police officer, were strolling across my field toward the house, flashlights sweeping back and forth.

  “You have four cows down, unmoving.”

  “Shot?” My hand went to my chest. The sick feeling I had slithered down my arms. “Were they shot?”

  “Hard to tell in the dark. Saw some blood. One looked pretty torn up so it could have been coyotes.”

  “Or maybe the gunshots startled them and they got trampled,” I muttered. I needed to go check on the cattle, but no way would anyone let me out there now. “Have you talked to the Whitmans or Jeffersons to see if they heard anything?”

  Beckett scribbled something in a notebook. “We’ll look into it, Rebecca. I’ll send a couple men to talk to your neighbors. We just came back here to call in some brighter lights to do a search. If it was something more than coyotes, we’ll figure it out.”

  “Okay.” I nodded. They’d take care of it. They’d take care of me, and I trusted these guys.

  A rumble of a truck headed up the road and all of us stood still while Jordan’s Yukon charged down my dirt drive. “Did you call him?” I asked Ryan.

  “Nope. Didn’t even think.”

  My phone buzzed in my pocket where I’d shoved it earlier, reminding me of all the texts and phone calls I hadn’t answered.

  I’d texted him back that everything was fine when the first one came in, but apparently that wasn’t enough because he kept texting. Of course he’d call Jordan to come and check on me.

  “You didn’t need to come,” I said as he hopped out of his truck.

  “Cooper’s losing his mind. Said you heard gunshots when you were on the phone with him and hung up and aren’t calling back. Called me and sent me out here to check on you. What the hell happened?” As he asked, Jordan’s focus turned to Ryan. “And why didn’t you call me?”

  “Because I’m working, dumbass.” Ryan slapped him on the shoulder and gestured toward Beckett. “Come on. We’ll head back out, see if we can find anything, but when the men get here with the bigger lights, send them out carefully Rebecca, got it?”

  “Yeah. And thanks.”

  “My job, ma’am.” He tipped his head and gestured like he was wearing a cowboy hat, flicking his fingers outward.

  “I’m coming with,” Jordan said, but this time it was Beckett who stopped him.

  “No. You’re not. Stay here with your sister and let us work, Jordan. If there’s been any foul play out there we can find we can’t exactly have more footprints. It’s going to be hard enough as it is.”

  Jordan didn’t like it but arguing any more was pointless.

  Another hour later and Jordan and I were in my kitchen drinking coffee that tasted like tar, it was so thick, when Ryan and Beckett returned. I pushed off the chair, Jordan already moving ahead of me and we met them outside my back door.

  “We’ll need to come back in the morning,” Ryan said. He showed no sense of his usual good humor and my senses went on alert.

  “What’d you find?”

  Instead of answering me, he turned to Jordan. “Want you staying with her until we can come back during the day.”

  “Of course.” Jordan crossed his arms over his chest. “What’d you find?”

  “Shell casing,” Beckett said. He held up a clear bag and the brass color was hard to see in the dark, but even so, I leaned into Jordan. He caught me immediately. “Don’t know any more than that, but you have to promise us you won’t go out on the land until we can investigate further. Lights helped some but we need the daylight.”

  “I won’t.” I shook my head. “But what about the cows you saw?”

  “Shell was close to it, Rebecca.” Ryan’s tone had gone soft. The only time I’d ever heard him sound like that was the night he showed up after Jordan’s accident. “Other than that, it was still ripped open. We won’t know anything until we can run ballistics on the casing. But we’re not kidding, you stay off your land until we’re done out there. We’ll be back once the sun comes up.” His gaze swung to Jordan. “You staying with her?”

  “Yup.”

  “Okay then, like I said, get some rest you two.”

  Like I could sleep. I’d drank enough coffee to keep me awake until Christmas, plus adrenaline was flooding my veins. Jordan stood next to me while the men slid into their vehicles.

  “Come on. Let’s get you to bed.” He turned me and shoved me toward the house.

  “Not possible,” I muttered, but my head was on my brother�
��s shoulder and I was stifling a yawn. Shit, I was damn tired and my eyes already felt like I’d scrubbed them with sandpaper. “Who would do this? Shoot my cows?”

  “You don’t know that’s what happened.”

  “Yeah, well my money’s on the Jeffersons. Those assholes have been after me to buy the land since Mom and Dad died. Samuel has said more than once to me a woman can’t handle the work alone.”

  “Those assholes are still bitter you’d never date Gavin, but that doesn’t mean anything. Could have been idiot high school kids, or like they said, even the Whitmans shooting a coyote.”

  “They would have called.”

  “Yeah. Probably.” He opened the door to the house and pressed me through, his hand on my lower back. “Go on up to bed. I’ll close up down here and I’ll take my old room.”

  I was too tired to argue. Not that I would. The last thing I wanted was to be here alone.

  “Thanks for coming, Jordan,” I said, my hand on the railing and pulling my leaden feet up the stairs. Every step felt like it was harder than the one before and in the last few minutes, my legs had gone heavy. Damn, maybe I would be able to sleep.

  “Always.”

  I went to my room and stripped off my jeans, the thunk of my phone hitting the floor snagged my attention. I should at least charge it.

  I bent down, grabbed it, and when it fell it must have turned my home screen on.

  I scrubbed my eyes, hoping like hell I didn’t see what I thought, but yup.

  You’re not calling and I’m fucking worried.

  Call me, damn it.

  Hopping on the redeye.

  Be there in the morning.

  Crap. He’d sent the last two texts at two o’clock my time which meant he’d be showing up right around the same time as the officers returned.

  “Whatever,” I grumbled and slid into bed. I plugged my phone in, turned off the ringer, and I was asleep moments after my head hit the pillow.

  Twenty-Nine

  Cooper

  I rumbled down Rebecca’s drive, the text I received as soon as I got off the plane from Jordan telling me everything was fine and Rebecca was safe was the only thing keeping me from going absolutely insane.

  I still felt her fear throttling me through the phone line before she hung up on me, and screw the rest of what she’d said earlier.

  Nothing had ever terrified me as much as being completely helpless when it came to Rebecca last night.

  The plane ride was hell, and I hadn’t bothered to disguise myself through the airport I was in such a damn hurry to get out of L.A. Cameras had been turned in my direction, and I was pretty certain that had to do with the fact I was practically barreling through weary travelers in my hurry to make the flight, scoring a first-class seat. I would have flown in the cargo hold if it had gotten me there.

  I’d planned this morning to meet with Max, talk about the filming I was supposed to start in September, but that all went to shit when I hurried out of the hotel I was staying in since my homes were no longer mine.

  At least I’d dropped off my divorce papers at Paul’s house last night before heading to the hotel and calling Rebecca.

  All of that played second fiddle to my desperate need to get to Rebecca, to see with my own eyes she was doing just fine. Then, we’d have a long, serious conversation about the other shit she spewed at me last night.

  It was barely after six o’clock in the morning and the sun was already lighting up the sky casting an orange glow over the recently mowed hayfields.

  I pulled the truck into the garage, taking in the black Explorer parked in front of her house along with a cherry red Tahoe next to it. Neither looked familiar, but Jordan’s Yukon was parked alongside both so at least I knew he was there.

  I was halfway to the front of the house, the owners of unknown cars nowhere around when the front screen door opened.

  Jordan stood in the doorway, holding it open for me.

  “Come on in,” he said, waving me in. “Rebecca’s still sleeping. Neither of us got to bed until almost three in the morning.”

  “And you’re already awake?”

  At least I’d gotten a little bit of sleep on the plane, aided by noise-canceling headphones and a glass of whiskey.

  “You’re assuming I slept at all. Does she know you’re coming?”

  In my string of texts to him last night I’d told him she wasn’t returning anything of mine, and once I’d let them both know I was hitting the redeye, I hadn’t bothered texting him back.

  “I texted her. She didn’t respond.” My jaw ached from gritting my teeth together and I forced it to relax. “She okay?”

  “Physically yeah, but she’s concerned and she’s basically blaming the Jeffersons. We won’t know more until later though. A guy on the force, Beckett is out in the fields right now with a detective, Shawn Blakely. Beckett responded to the call last night with Ryan and for what it’s worth, I don’t think he’s slept either. Been waiting for them to come back, and fill them with some caffeine, so I’ve got coffee if you need any.”

  I was jittery enough with what felt like the gallon I grabbed leaving the airport and another when I stopped to fill up on gas on the way. “I’m good. You mind if I head up?”

  Jordan smirked. “Not heading to your bed in the guesthouse?”

  I must have given him a look that showed my cards because he slapped my shoulder and grinned. “Don’t fucking hurt her, that’s all I ask. But let her sleep. She needs it.”

  “Wouldn’t hurt her for anything,” I stated, serious as I could. If it were up to me, I’d throw my entire hand in to let Jordan know how much I meant that, but since I needed to talk to Rebecca first, see if she was anywhere near where I wanted us to go, I held back.

  “Yeah?” he asked, his head cocked to the side. I could see him thinking, knew exactly what he was thinking because it was probably the same thing Rebecca had said. This was temporary. We were temporary.

  The hell if we were.

  I’d prove them both wrong, but I’d also take my time doing it.

  “Yup.”

  I kicked off my shoes and headed up the stairs. The door to her room was open a sliver so I settled my hand on it and opened it slowly. The hinges didn’t squeak and she didn’t move an inch while I set down my bag and stripped off my clothes.

  Carefully, I slid into the bed next to her, wanting nothing more than to pull her into my arms, but fought the urge.

  She needed sleep, and I needed some damn rest. Just seeing her sleeping in her bed not only made me hard, but for the first time since we were on the phone, it felt like I could breathe again.

  I settled one hand behind my head, laid on my back and placed my other hand on the curve of her hip.

  Nothing woke her, so I closed my eyes and pushed all my fears of worst case scenarios I’d been able to concoct out of my brain.

  I was here.

  She was fine.

  And I was never leaving her again. Somehow, I’d fallen in love with this woman lying next to me. Now, I had to prove myself a man worthy of winning her love in return.

  * * *

  I didn’t know how much time passed, but I’d been laying next to Rebecca’s sleepy body for so long, drifting in and out of a light sleep every time I caught a noise from Jordan moving around downstairs, my hand on Rebecca’s hip was starting to cramp.

  I moved it, flexed and relaxed my hand. A quick check of my phone told me it was now almost eight o’clock. The scent of bacon had wafted upstairs a while ago, which meant Jordan had done some cooking, at least for himself, and I’d heard him coming in and out of the house.

  Hopefully, he took care of the animals while he was letting Rebecca sleep, but I needed to get out of bed and do my part. The man hadn’t slept at all and was probably running on empty.

  I also had higher priorities.

  Rolling to my side, I rested my hand on Rebecca’s shoulder before sliding it down her side to the curve of her waist, the span of
her hips and back up. When I slept next to her, she’d curled on her side and rested her head on my shoulder. I thought maybe she slept that way because she was with me, but she’d been in the same position, curled on her side, facing the side of the bed I was on, since I snuck into her room. Her lips were parted slightly, tiny little puffs of air occasionally escaping. Her hair was pulled back, messed at the top of her head with only a few wisps brushing against her cheek and across her forehead.

  I could lay there for hours and do nothing but stare at her and still feel like I’d accomplished something important.

  Unable to resist, I leaned forward and pressed my lips against hers. It was a mere whisper of a kiss, but she stirred. A slight sound escaped her and she licked her lips. A stronger man might have been able to resist that sweet call, but not me.

  I settled my hand on her hip again and squeezed, just enough to see if she’d wake. She hummed another sound and tipped her chin up, closer to me.

  She might have been dreaming. She might have had no idea what she was doing. Or maybe, even in her sleep her body responded to me when I was near. Either way, it was time to get her up and moving around.

  “Morning,” I whispered, brushing my lips over hers again. “Time to wake up, Rebecca.”

  I settled my lips against hers, tiny little flicks of my tongue against her bottom one to tease her awake. The last thing I needed was to scare her and end up with a knee to the junk if she didn’t know who was in bed with her.

  Her hands that had been settled beneath her chin, pressed together lightly like she’d fallen asleep praying, moved, and one of them slid to my neck, ran down to my shoulder.

  Her lips parted and I took the invitation, shifting closer to her, sliding my tongue inside her mouth.

  “Oh,” she breathed, taking my kiss. Giving back. All that worry that’d been twisted inside of me, that had relaxed when I saw she was really okay, balled into a different kind of need as she rolled her hips and pressed herself against the length of my body.