Herd That ARC

by Vale, Lani Lynn

  As if she understood my urgency, she lowered her head and touched her nose to my stomach.

  Grinning, I saddled her up, loving that she stayed still instead of making me work for it like she did when I’d first gotten to town.

  Poppy had become a great horse. Even more so, she was an even greater friend.

  She went everywhere with me, and I loved her almost as much as Ace loved his new dog, Boots.

  Speaking of Boots, he was right on our trail, following us around like always.

  Ace wouldn’t allow him to come, but he knew I was a sucker for his cute face, and didn’t bother to sneak up behind us. He just trotted alongside us as we made our way deeper and deeper into the land.

  My eyes took in the rolling hills, and I grinned widely when I saw the blanket of bluebonnets that were just starting to bloom on the top of one hill.

  Last year, I’d begged Ace to plant them, and he’d gone out of his way to do that for me in the middle of winter.

  Now, months later, they were finally coming up.

  I. Loved. Them.

  I couldn’t wait to come back with my camera and my kid to capture the memory forever.

  We finally made it over the last rise where I thought Ace might be—which happened to be the most awful dead zone our property had—and there he was.

  He was swinging an ax, chopping up a tree, while his brother worked away at the opposite end of the tree—him with an actual chainsaw.

  I paused to look my fill, but the urgency once again hit me, and I clicked my heels lightly against Poppy’s side and urged her forward once again.

  Ace, of course, sensed that we were there before we’d even made it within a hundred yards of him.

  He saw me and scowled.

  I bit my lip, knowing that he was going to be pissed.

  He’d also give me a lecture.

  Then I’d kiss him and make him forget that he was mad.

  At least, for a little bit.

  Until I told him my news, anyway.

  Then he’d spank my ass.

  After dropping the ax off to the side of the tree, he started my way, and I once again admired his sweaty body.

  God, my man was hot.

  Hot, hot, hot.

  So hot, in fact, that even in my delicate condition, I would still totally jump his bones.

  He was wearing a pair of dirty, tight Wrangler jeans, his black cowboy hat, and a pair of work boots.

  He had a toothpick hanging out of one side of his mouth, and his hat was so low on his brow that I couldn’t make out the look in his eyes.

  The scowl on his mouth, however, was enough of an indication that he was pissed.

  I didn’t need to see his eyes to know the emotions that he was experiencing.

  “Please tell me you’re not riding that horse when you’re nine months pregnant and due to pop my kid out any day,” he pleaded when I got closer.

  I shrugged, and he sighed, walking up to my side and holding his hands up for me.

  I willingly went into his arms, then grinned up at him when he placed me delicately on my feet.

  “I tried to call,” I hedged.

  His eyes narrowed. “You could’ve waited until we got home. We were only going to be about another hour or so.”

  I bit my lip.

  “What is it?” he asked, worried now.

  He could read me like the back of his hand, this man of mine.

  “Well…” I drawled.

  “Codie,” he growled.

  “Ummm…” I continued, not sure how to say what I had to say.

  “Codie Valentine, I will seriously lose my shit if you don’t spit it out,” he growled, pulling me closer.

  I was so close, in fact, that when my water broke, it soaked his boots.

  We both looked down at the soft splashing sound.

  When our eyes met again, he was pissed.

  “Seriously. I’m going to lose my shit.”

  ***

  “I can’t believe you thought it would be a good idea to ride a horse for half an hour when you’ve been having contractions all day. Contractions while you were working. You could’ve just stayed in town, for Christ’s sake!” Ace whispered.

  I grinned and closed my eyes, thoroughly exhausted after the day that I’d put in.

  It was four hours after my water broke, and twenty hours since I’d woken for the day, and I was well and truly on my last leg.

  After getting to the hospital an hour after my water broke, it was just in time to get my ass in a room and push our kid out.

  Luckily on the maternity floor, with a doctor’s help.

  If we hadn’t made it, I would’ve never heard the end of it from my husband.

  “How was work?” he asked when I didn’t respond.

  I opened them again and looked at him holding our newborn baby girl, and our son. Our son was passed out in one arm, his face buried into Ace’s neck. On the other side, our newborn baby girl was positioned with her little hiney resting against Ace’s other forearm, her face tucked into the other side of his neck.

  He had a wide smile on his face, and he was staring at me like I’d just given him the world.

  “We found some DNA,” I murmured. “Not that I’m supposed to tell you that. But yeah, the guy who did the deed was in the system. They went to arrest him by the time I made it home.”

  His eyes turned thankful.

  “That’s good, baby,” he said. “Really, really good.”

  I agreed.

  Murder was bad business, but I was glad that I got to make a difference. Got to play a part in making things just a little bit better, and helping catch the bad guy.

  “Now I have six weeks off,” I teased. “What am I going to do with all that time?”

  He winked. “Oh, I’m sure you’re going to be real busy here in a minute.”

  Right about that time, our baby girl woke up and started to fuss.

  Right. On. Time.

  “Jinxed myself, didn’t I?” I asked as I reached out and took our daughter from his arms.

  He watched me situate her at my breast, then his eyes went hooded.

  “I could totally do you right now,” he teased.

  I stuck my tongue out at him.

  “That’s what got us into this predicament in the first place, Ace Valentine.”

  He stood up and laid our son on the bed beside my leg, tucked the covers over him, and then moved until his fists were on either side of my head.

  “You gave me a gift today, baby.”

  My eyes warmed as I tipped my face up.

  He dropped his mouth down on mine, then pulled back and said, “Thank you.”

  I wrapped one arm around him and tucked my face into his neck.

  “You shouldn’t be thanking me when you were the one to give me everything I ever asked for,” I told him breathlessly.

  He turned his face until he could press his lips to my forehead, then said, “I love you, Codie.”

  I looked up to meet his eyes. “I love you back, Ace.”

  What’s Next?

  Fries Before Guys

  2-11-2020

  Prologue

  I really don’t mind getting older. But my body is taking it badly.

  -Coffee Cup

  Derek

  I don’t want to do a fucking picture for a calendar, Dad.

  Those had been the words that I’d said to my father, the chief of police, two weeks ago.

  Yet here I found myself, getting myself photographed, in a motherfuckin’ bed.

  Or, at least, there was a fucking bed in the room.

  “I am not getting in that bed,” I said to no one in particular.

  Dax, who was coming out of the room as I was going in it, rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry. I got in the bed. I’m sure she’ll make you do something else… like get naked in the shower.”

  I snorted. “I’m not doing th
at, either.”

  “Don’t get too excited,” a soft, feminine voice said from somewhere in the room. “I’d planned on a totally different look for Mr. February.”

  Dax slapped me on the shoulder and shut the door behind him as he left, leaving me giddy to see the owner of that voice.

  Except, when I finally got a good look at the lone figure sitting on the bed, her back to me, my excitement deflated.

  Because on the bed was Avery Flynn.

  A teenager.

  The nineteen-year-old photographer who was doing this photoshoot today for free.

  That wasn’t to say that she wasn’t very talented. She was.

  But she was also in high school and dressed—as well as acted—like a nerd.

  Avery Flynn was well known to the officers of Kilgore Police Department. But not because she was bad or anything—at least not to my knowledge.

  The reason for her notoriety was that Avery Flynn was a cop’s kid.

  A cop’s kid times two.

  Her mother, Rhonda Flynn, had been killed while heading home from a shift by a drunk driver. She’d died after two harrowing days on life support.

  She would’ve died the first day, but Rhonda had always been a helper. A person of quality and life. And Avery had decided that Rhonda’s viable organs needed to be donated.

  It’d taken her twenty-four hours to convince Rader, her father, to donate.

  Rhonda had saved eight lives in the following days. Her heart, kidneys, lungs, liver, small bowel, and pancreas had all been donated to seven different people. The heart even to a young man right here in Kilgore, Texas.

  A young man who had been the boyfriend of a town mean girl who didn’t like the attention that Avery got from the young man after his surgery. The young girl had then set out to make Avery’s life a living hell before she’d filed a restraining order against her, forcing the girl to stay five hundred feet away from Avery at all times.

  Which was tough seeing as they both went to the same high school.

  Avery’s father hadn’t been around for the bullying. But it hadn’t mattered.

  When Kilgore had lost one of its own, the town had rallied around his only child, making sure that the case was taken on pro bono by the lawyers. Then going even further to attend each and every trial day. Sometimes the judge would look into his courtroom and see more than half of the seats occupied by an officer.

  So yes, to say Avery Flynn was loved by the cops of this city would be an understatement.

  Which was why I looked at her and immediately dismissed her.

  She was a cute girl, but cuteness only got you so far.

  And she was still in high school.

  So yeah, I was staying very far away from that.

  I was so caught up in what I was thinking—Avery to be specific—that I didn’t pay attention to the girl who was no longer sitting on the bed.

  “Ready?”

  I blinked, looking down at the woman—no, teenager—who was staring at me.

  She reminded me of one of those nerdy anime chicks. The ones that were fabricated and staged.

  She had on a pair of black leggings that fit her shapely legs like a glove. They came to a stop right below her calves, exposing about four inches of milky white skin before her black Chucks with red skulls printed on them came into view.

  I had to admit, the skulls were pretty cute. Even if a bit childish.

  And why the hell was I having a problem looking away from her ankle bones? Ankle bones weren’t sexy… at least they hadn’t been before Avery.

  “I’m thinking we’ll go outside to the cruiser for your shoot,” she said, startling me out of the contemplation of her ankle bones.

  I reluctantly slipped my way back up her body, pausing slightly on her t-shirt.

  It was black like her leggings but had bold white lettering that said ‘Klingon Captain’ on it.

  The shirt was so fucking baggy that I couldn’t make out a single thing.

  Not the shape of her waist, or the curve of her breasts. Hell, I could almost make out her collarbone, though. Her shirt was very nearly hanging off of one shoulder. But her long, thick black hair was blocking it from my view.

  Long black hair that was falling in waves around a beautiful face. Perfect, kissable lips.

  “Is that okay, Mr. Roberts?” Avery asked.

  My eyes finally met hers. Eyes that I’d been avoiding since I knew they were so fucking pretty.

  This was the real reference to anime, in my opinion.

  Avery’s eyes were so fucking blue—an intense blue that just rocked you when you looked into them—that they reminded me of those girls on anime. Where their single most defining features were their eyes.

  Eyes that were slightly covered up by large, black-framed glasses that looked as if they took up her entire face.

  And then there was the dusting of freckles right underneath those big, beautiful blue eyes.

  “Derek?” she pushed. “Are you okay?”

  I blinked, snapping out of my thoughts.

  “Yeah, outside is fine,” I finally settled on, trying to get my shit straight.

  I couldn’t be having these kinds of thoughts about a woman this young.

  I certainly couldn’t be having these thoughts about a woman that was still in high school. I know there weren’t that many years between us, but just the idea that she was only a senior made me feel old.

  “Where do you want me?” I asked curiously.

  “Do you have a police cruiser?” She finally looked up.

  My breath caught once again as I caught sight of her eyes.

  “I do,” I said, surprised that my voice had come out sounding so even.

  “Then that’s what we’re going to take your photo in,” she said, going back to her camera. “I just have to switch out the lens.”

  I nodded but didn’t reply, too busy berating my body for doing things that it shouldn’t be doing for a nineteen-year-old.

  “How’s your dad?” she asked conversationally.

  And that was a very good way to get my mind out of the gutter and back to the matter at hand.

  “My dad’s good,” I said. “Going on a cruise in a few months. So I’d say he’s stressed seeing as he’s trying to figure out how to delegate tasks while he’s gone. But what he does is too much for one person to do, so he’s struggling with it.”

  Avery snorted. “Your dad works too much. And he should already be delegating a lot of those things without having to take a vacation.”

  My sentiments exactly.

  “I agree.” I crossed my arms over my chest.

  Avery got her lens switched out and gestured for the door.

  I followed her, then had to take over because she stopped and looked confused.

  “This way,” I said, leading her out the back door.

  I nodded at the two men that were at the back door smoking.

  Avery, on the other hand, started to cough.

  “Oh, God.” She coughed again, waving her hand in front of her face. “That’s awful.”

  Both officers froze as they saw her.

  “Officer Morre.” She tilted her head, looking at the officer on the left. “I didn’t realize you started smoking again. Didn’t your wife say you quit?”

  Officer Morre winced. “I only do it upon occasion.”

  Avery raised a brow at Morre. “Is that right?”

  Morre immediately dumped his cigarette onto the ground and stomped it out with his boot.

  Officer Tuscon, the man on Avery’s right, snickered.

  “And you,” she said. “Tuscon, is it?”

  Tuscon nodded, his smile slipping away.

  “Don’t you have a pregnant wife at home?”

  Tuscon nodded. “Four months.”

  “Hmm,” Avery said. “Did you hear about that little baby, she was three years old, that got lung cancer? From secondhand smoke?”
<
br />   Tuscon froze.

  “It’s not just you anymore, my man.” Avery patted him on the shoulder. “Gotta think about that.”

  Avery followed me down the steps and to the front of my cruiser, and I couldn’t help it. I had to ask.

  What else is next?

  Crazy Heifer

  2-25-2020

  Chapter 1

  Why does chocolate have to make you fat? Why can’t celery make you fat?

  -Desi’s secret thoughts

  Desidara

  Divorces sucked.

  What sucked even more was seeing your ex-husband out with the woman that he cheated on you with, but there it was. Or, more accurately, there he was.

  Though he hadn’t seen me, thank God.

  I looked down at my lap, hoping beyond hope that by not maintaining eye-contact, it would mean he wouldn’t stop… but I should’ve known better.

  Mal Gerard and Marjorie Christmas were assholes.

  If they could find a way to make my life harder than it needed to be, they’d do it.

  Even worse, they’d embarrass the crap out of me if they could.

  Meaning, when they walked up, they tortured me relentlessly.

  “Well, hello there, Desi-Dough,” I heard my recently divorced from me ex-husband practically jeer.

  Desi-Dough.

  God, if there was a way to delete a word from the human language, it would be the word ‘dough.’

  About a year and a half into our marriage, when I started putting on weight, Mal had started using creative and inventive words to remind me that I was no longer a size six.

  Even worse, he shared those words with his now-girlfriend, who also became delighted each time she got to use the word and I’d flinch.

  I slowly looked up, knowing what I’d find when I did.

  Mal’s cruel gaze centered solely on me.

  “Hi, Mal,” I said softly. “What can I help you with?”

  His lips tipped up in a sneer. “You can help me by telling my father that you no longer need money.”

  My brows rose.

  “I can’t,” I said. “If I don’t have money from you, I can’t make the house payment, and you know that.”

  A house payment that he’d forced me to acquire.

  A house payment that, if I could, I’d give up in a heartbeat.

  The only problem was that nobody in their right goddamn mind wanted to buy two thousand acres and a ten-thousand-square-foot house.