THE STARLIGHT HILL COMPLETE COLLECTION: 1-8

by Bell, Heatherly

  Not that her plans always worked out smoothly, with no kinks along the way. As in her original plan to keep it professional with Billy, which had died a thousand deaths last night. They were now so professional that she was acquainted with his scar, and the way every muscle in his body tensed when she licked his earlobe.

  Very professional.

  Twisting away from the front door, Brooke worked on her computer, firing off a few emails, personal and otherwise. Mom wanted to know about Thanksgiving, which was coming up. Brooke fired off a quick reply that sure, she’d be spending it with Mom at the farm.

  She checked in on Stephan’s blog. Quite a few comments, none of which she took seriously. Several women claimed to be the woman in the photo. One of them calling herself “HollerGurl” claimed that the boots belonged to none other than Billy’s ex, Fallon. One commenter wanted to know why anyone should care, while another one insisted he had the scoop if Stephan cared to raise the price to $1,000.

  For the love of Pete, they really needed to get a movie theater in town.

  The social media campaign was gaining followers every day, and their mailing list had grown to two hundred subscribers. Before long it was lunch time and Brooke’s stomach growled. Gratified, she realized she hadn’t thought of Billy in about two hours. Brooke got up to stretch and turned to see Gigi standing just inside the door frame.

  She startled and fell back in her chair. “Make a sound next time! You almost gave me a heart attack.”

  “Sorry about that. I thought you heard me come in.” Gigi closed the door to the office.

  Uh-oh. Why did she suddenly feel like a caged lion? “So. How are you?”

  “Good, good. I would ask you that question, but I already know the answer.”

  “Now wait a minute—”

  Gigi held up her hand. “Save it. I’ve already heard it all from Billy. You two are together now, and I’m to sit back and accept it. Even if you both denied it a few feet from here, not two months ago.”

  “But—”

  Gigi sighed deeply. “Honestly, I get so tired being right all the time. Is it wrong to want to be surprised every now and then?”

  That pissed Brooke off and she reached across her desk and pointed. “You aren’t always right.”

  “Really.” She folded her arms across her chest.

  “I meant what I said then. I wasn’t interested in Billy.”

  “But things have changed.”

  “Well, yes.” She squirmed in her seat, not used to being interrogated about the men she dated. But this was Billy Turlock, and she tried with every ounce in her being to give Gigi the benefit of the doubt. She’d heard the stories. Understood protection mode all too well.

  “Why now? Did you suddenly realize how much he’s worth?”

  It seemed as though the top of Brooke’s head would fly open with steam, cartoon-like, and rip right through the ceiling. “What did you say to me?”

  “I know you wanted this vineyard. I know you’d approached the bank about buying it. Maybe this place is what you really want. Is it true?”

  “Why is it so unbelievable to you that someone would want Billy just for who he is? Have you ever taken a good look at him?”

  “Because I know you, Brooke, and women like you. Beautiful women who take what they want, and always have a hidden agenda. Always. The guy is never enough. They want more. Stability. A future. Money. You’re no different. There’s a reason, I know it, and I’ll get to the bottom of it before all is said and done.”

  “You’re not just insulting me, you know. You’re insulting Billy. Acting like he alone isn’t enough.”

  “Of course he is. He’s a family man, grounded and down to earth. He’s perfect for the right woman, but I think you and I both know that’s not you.”

  Brooke sucked in a hard breath as the words kicked her in the gut. She would have argued, except that Gigi was probably right. Brooke wasn’t the marrying kind and she wasn’t going to spit out a bunch of kids. If that’s what Billy wanted, she wasn’t it.

  But she couldn’t give Gigi the satisfaction of knowing she’d hit the Bull’s Eye. This was all a passing fancy on his part, because in the end they weren’t right for each other. Sooner or later, Billy would figure that out.

  “Listen. Billy misses baseball, no matter what he says about being with family again and back in his hometown. The vineyard is never going to satisfy him, and neither is this little town. The best thing for him to do is audition for the sportscaster job at Fox Sports next week,” Gigi said.

  “Next week?” There was still so much to do before their Grand Opening. Besides, wasn’t he getting enough baseball hanging out with the local team?

  “I’m sure he’ll take care of his obligations here, but after that he needs to re-think everything. I encouraged this little sideline diversion of his, but I knew he wasn’t done with baseball and the next logical step is broadcasting. This is what his agent wants him to do, and I said I’d help.”

  She couldn’t see Billy sitting behind a desk. Brooke’s mouth grew dry. “Is that what he wants?”

  Gig scowled. “He doesn’t know what he wants, like most men. He needs to be told, and led in such a way as to think it was his idea in the first place. I have four sons. I know whereof I speak.”

  Really. And Brooke thought women like Gigi ate their young. “Well, I think Billy knows what he wants, and he’ll let you know once he figures it out.”

  “Okay, we’ll play it your way. Maybe he’ll stay in this little town and be miserable. Is that what you want for him? You don’t even know what you want. First you’re not interested in him, and now you are.”

  Enough already. Brooke stood up and came out from behind her desk. “You want to know why I changed my mind? Fine, I’ll tell you even if it’s none of your business. He had a membership card!”

  The puzzled expression on Gigi’s face would have been comical had Brooke not felt like a homicidal maniac. With one swift move, Brooke turned Gigi around in her tracks and shoved her out the door.

  * * *

  Brooke would dress in her sexiest undergarments just in case. The silky black thong and matching demi bra would be perfect for tonight. In case Billy was thinking along the same lines she was. They’d been unfairly interrupted this morning by a woman who wouldn’t be getting a Christmas card from Brooke this year. Or any other year. Ever. The woman was so obviously trying to get between Brooke and Billy by intimidating her. Feeding her with vicious lies about sports casting jobs Billy wouldn’t be interested in if hell froze over.

  He was here to stay in Starlight Hill. Kisses like that couldn’t lie.

  Brooke found her come-and-get-it-big-boy bra in no time, but not only could she not find the matching thong, there was no clean underwear in the entire house. Her kingdom for a pair of panties! This is what happened when she worked too hard and neglected to do laundry. Well, no time to do it now. She’d just go commando.

  She pulled on her low slung jeans, praying she wouldn’t chafe in her special places.

  A few minutes later she knocked on his back door, and when he opened it in jeans and a long sleeved Hensley that strained against his pecs, Brooke sucked in a breath. His hotness factor had grown by leaps and bounds since this morning.

  He pulled her inside the door and straight into his arms. “Should we take up where we left off now, or are you hungry?”

  Nice the way their thoughts ran so parallel to each other for a change. Then he kissed her, so deep and long and hard that she lost her footing when they came up for air. It also rendered her temporarily incapable of a reply.

  “Let’s eat.” He smiled and nodded, as if kissing her the way he had was a daily occurrence.

  Meanwhile she felt pinned to the spot, practically incoherent. “Um, yeah. It smells good in here.”

  “Steaks.” He walked towards the kitchen and she followed him.

  “Who taught you how to cook?” Hopefully Eileen had. Brooke didn’t want to hear about an
old girlfriend, and she realized too late she’d taken a risk asking. Maybe his ex-fiancé had taught him how to cook. If so, she didn’t want to hear about it.

  “I did one of those local news spots a few years ago which was a cooking demo. The cook went on to get her own show. Me? I just begged her to show me how to cook a good steak.”

  “Which I’ll bet she was more than willing to do.” Brooke took a seat at the small two person round table in the kitchen nook. Her lips still felt bruised from that kiss, and she ignored the pinch in her heart that made her miss him when he was only four feet away.

  “Lucky for me, her fiancé was a fan.” Billy smiled and flipped the steaks.

  Brooke’s heart flipped right along with them. It happened every time he smiled. What was wrong with her?

  “But don’t get too excited. It’s the only thing I know how to cook. That, and scrambled eggs. I hope you can live on that.”

  “Fortunately, you have many other skills.”

  Oh wow, panty-melting look again, which was of course, unnecessary seeing as she wasn’t wearing any.

  She fidgeted in her seat, her special places indeed chaffing. “Gigi came by to see me earlier today, and it wasn’t social hour. She hates me.”

  “Ignore her. What did she say now?”

  Brooke left out the part about how she wasn’t the right woman for Billy. Not for a grounded family man. “She told me you’re going to audition for a sport casting job at Fox.”

  Brooke wasn’t imagining the fact that Billy froze for a second as he pulled a plate from the cupboard. She thought she could see the muscles bunching in his back.

  Brooke stood up, and regretted it. More chaffing. “It’s true, isn’t it?”

  He turned to her. “I was going to tell you.”

  “So I was right all along. This vineyard isn’t your dream. I just never thought it would be sitting behind a desk on TV.” She couldn’t help it, but the thought of him leaving now after being gone for so long tore off a little piece of her heart.

  “It isn’t my dream. Look, I owe it to my agent. She went out of her way to get me this audition.” He shut off the stove.

  “Is this what you want?” Her breaths were coming short and shallow. Get a grip, Brooke.

  He’s not yours, and he never was. Time to let him go. Again. They both traveled in different circles, and all that. She’d known it all along, just allowed herself to believe for one moment it could be different now.

  Billy crossed the distance between them in one short stride and pulled her close. “I miss baseball, it’s true. But I’m not convinced sports casting is for me. I’m doing it to appease them both.”

  Her hands went up against his strong pecs. “Won’t they make you cut your hair?”

  “I thought you hated my long hair.”

  “It’s growing on me.”

  Billy laughed. “It took ten years, but good to know. Look, if it comes to a job offer, I’m not going to make any decisions without talking to you first.”

  Her heart seemed to stutter. “You won’t?”

  “Yeah. This thing between us? I’m not playing. And you—” One hand skillfully slid up her back and caressed her, making her shiver down to her toenails. “Are what I want.”

  She wanted to say that he shouldn’t make promises he couldn’t keep. That he shouldn’t come waltzing back into town and make her feel like a virgin again. Like someone no man had ever touched before, because that’s what making love felt with him. New. Scary. Thrilling.

  Those green eyes were talking to her again. Maybe she hadn’t imagined the tenderness she’d seen in them. Or maybe she was imagining all of this— getting caught up in fantasies she’d had many years ago. But all she could do was thread her fingers through long dark hair and say only a little of what was in her heart. “Okay.”

  Billy kissed her again and again, slipping his hand down to the small of her back. She tensed a little as his finger slipped inside the back of her jeans, obviously searching for a string.

  He stopped kissing her and smiled against her mouth. “Not wearing any underwear?”

  “Um, no. It’s laundry day.”

  He pulled back and held her gaze for a long moment. “Sexy.”

  “I didn’t do it to be sexy. Honestly, these jeans are kind of uncomfortable with no panties on.” She squirmed under his touch.

  “Let’s see what we can do about that.” One hand on her stomach, he slowly backed her out of the kitchen and up to the family room couch.

  She fell back on the couch willingly, but tensed as he unzipped her jeans and slowly slid them off. Stripped half naked, she felt as vulnerable as a baby lamb.

  Both of his hands swept down her legs from the top of her thighs to her knees. “So soft. Is that better?”

  “Not really,” she said, reaching to pull off his shirt, and letting him know what she wanted. All of him. Her palms went up against his warm, hard chest, feeling the pulsing beat of his heart.

  “You’re right. You’re way ahead of me.” He smiled, stood up and didn’t tear his gaze away from her as he slowly unbuttoned his jeans.

  “Hurry.” She couldn’t stop staring, watching him undress for her, biting her bottom lip in anticipation.

  “Please never wear underwear again.”

  “I can’t promise that,” she said. “Because of the chaffing.”

  By the time they got around to eating dinner, the steaks were cold.

  13

  Whoever said some things were worth waiting for (Pop, more than likely) wasn’t exaggerating. Billy still couldn’t stop thinking of Brooke— the way she tasted, the sweet way she said his name as she came. His own rolling climax always left him feeling an unexpected pinch in his heart. He had one word running through his mind and it hadn’t been the one he’d expected. Not ‘more’, although that one was a no-brainer. The one word that hit him scared him as much as it surprised him. Mine.

  One day in Los Angeles, and he already couldn’t wait to get back to Starlight Hill, but now he sat across from Gigi in his least favorite LA Bistro, the one which made him feel like some kind of antique. This was a place to be seen, according to Gigi, but he didn’t care to be seen. Was it too much to ask for a burger, hold the fame?

  He’d already satisfied both Gigi and his agent with the audition. With no idea how he’d done, he decided to put the whole ordeal to the back of his mind. They couldn’t pay him enough to sit behind a desk and critique other players. To talk about their injuries, and try to forget that not long ago that had been him on the field, trying to play through the pain. Getting criticized for every failure.

  Speaking of injuries. “I’ve been working a little with the local high school team. There’s a new way to throw that can prevent injury, especially the Tommy Johns elbow. The trick is getting the kids to throw the new way.”

  “High school coaching?” Gigi asked.

  Billy grinned. “The Starlight Hill Panthers.”

  “And I’ll bet you’re their only claim to fame.”

  “Hey, they haven’t done too badly without me. State Division two years in a row.”

  “Really. State division. Well, that’s sweet.” Gigi took a sip of her iced tea.

  He didn’t much appreciate her tone. “Sweet? It’s where dreams start.”

  “Don’t tell me you’re considering coaching high school baseball. Billy, we can do much better than that. Just give this broadcasting thing a chance.”

  He stared at her. “I am. What do you think I’m doing here?”

  “I know it’s hard being on the other end of the game, and suddenly being the one to critique and comment from an armchair.”

  “Yeah.” He was fairly certain she didn’t know the half of it, but he let her continue.

  “But what you have to add to the game is still important. No one knows the way another pitcher feels but one who has already been there. You know the stress, the pressure. Most of all, you know the game.”

  He did know the game, wh
ich is why he could do some good out on the field with those kids. Teaching them early on how to avoid career ending injuries. Gigi wouldn’t understand.

  “Are you about ready to go?”

  “Let me just visit the Ladies’ room,” Gigi said as she got up.

  Billy pulled out his cell phone and checked for messages from Brooke. Nothing except her last text this morning, a simple: miss u.

  Brooke happened to be the single thing he missed most about Starlight Hill. He missed her smile, missed the way she hadn’t worn panties, hell he even missed arguing with her which was plain weird. Sure, he’d known the sex would be great between them but even he’d had no idea how mind-blowing.

  He quickly texted Brooke: Steak tomorrow night, clothing optional just as Gigi came back from the powder room with a tall brunette in tow.

  He stood as Gigi made the introductions. “Billy Turlock, meet Jonie Taylor. You won’t believe this, but she’s one of your biggest fans.”

  “Nice to meet you.” He was no idiot. If Jonie was a fan he was the Easter Bunny.

  She fondled his hand and licked her lips, tossing her hair back. “I can’t believe I’m meeting you. Have you thought about acting? You definitely have the looks for it.”

  He coughed. “Acting?” Although truthfully, it could be said he was doing a good job acting like he was interested in having this conversation.

  “I’m an actress and I need someone to help me run lines.”

  “I’m sure Gigi knows someone who could help. Good luck with that.” Billy took a seat and went back to his phone. Brooke hadn’t texted him back which meant she was working. He probably should let her do that.

  Jonie took her cue and said goodbye, while Gigi sat back down. “That was impressive, and borderline rude.”

  He looked up from his phone. “Was that some kind of a test? To see how vulnerable I am to a beautiful woman? Because it was a little too obvious.”

  Gigi pursed her lips. “It was a test, but not the way you thought. I didn’t see you check her out once.”