THE STARLIGHT HILL COMPLETE COLLECTION: 1-8

by Bell, Heatherly

  “Your stash?”

  “My sugared cereal! My Lucky Charms! I’m thinking we need to stage an intervention.”

  “You still eat that shit?”

  “Yes, Mr. Health Nut, I realize it’s nothing but sugar but I like it. Okay? And I let Chloe have some once. Once. Now she’s never going to let me forget it.” She shivered underneath her flimsy towel and blanket, where she was still naked. Naked and a few feet away from Riley, a man who’d once told her his favorite outfit of hers was her birthday suit. Memories. They were both a terrible and a wonderful thing.

  “I’m about three minutes from getting you in there so start thinking of your lecture.”

  “Lecture?” She hadn’t thought that far ahead. One thing she did know. She’d take that cereal box away from Chloe as fast as humanly possible. If she’d managed to find it. If she hadn’t already eaten half of its contents. If she wasn’t lying on the floor in a pool of blood because she’d fallen off the counter trying to reach it and gashed her forehead on the way down …

  “Hurry, Riley!”

  Hershee was scratching and whining on the other side of the backdoor, but other than that, utter quiet inside the house. The empty sound petrified Sophia.

  The doorknob came off in Riley’s hands, and he reached for the latch and opened the door. Wisely, he stepped aside and let Sophia in first. She half-ran, half-slid into the kitchen, Hershee at her heels, where she found a pouting Chloe. But thank God, all in one piece, no blood anywhere on her. Every cabinet door was open except for the dangerous ones with the childproof locks and the one where Sophia kept her cereal stash.

  “What are you doing, young lady?” Sophia demanded.

  “I. Want. Ceweal!”

  It occurred to Sophia that she didn’t have the best air of authority standing naked under a towel and a blanket, only a few feet away from Riley, who had unfortunately followed her inside. She pointed her finger at Chloe. “We will talk about this in a minute.”

  She turned to her bedroom to find clothes and some dignity and caught Riley’s grin. “I’ll take a few minutes to put the doorknob back on for you.”

  “Thanks.”

  In her bedroom, Sophia toweled off a little better, both hair and body. Slowly beginning to thaw out, she pulled on panties and a bra, then reached for her jeans and a sweatshirt. She probably looked horrible, but she had bigger problems right now. And she wasn’t supposed to care what she looked like to her ex, anyway. Pulling her damp hair into a ponytail, she went to find Ms. Chloe and give her an all-out lecture.

  “No. Police chief,” she could hear Riley saying from the living room. “Say it slowly.”

  “Po-wi-ce chief,” Chloe said.

  Great. Now she’d regressed back to the time when she couldn’t say her L’s? Riley stood, arms folded across his chest, while both girls sat in front of him on the couch. He looked big, imposing, and had probably scared the girls to death. Their own father could be intimidating too, but to them he was probably about as harmless as a puppy.

  “Okay, then,” Sophia said, picking up Hershee and plopping her down on Chloe’s lap. He promptly licked her face and then settled in between the two girls for a nap. “Let’s thank the chief for helping us out today.”

  “Thank you, Mr. po-wi-ce chief,” Chloe said, green eyes wide.

  “Cheep, cheep!” Courtney said with a giggle, because she was awake now. Awake, and having never actually gone out the front door, quite safe.

  “Chloe, you and I need to talk about trust. And honesty,” Sophia said.

  Chloe stared up at her like Sophia had just spoken in Chinese. She then promptly stuck her thumb in her mouth. Courtney did the same.

  “I don’t think she understands that.” This was from Riley, still staring at the girls, arms folded.

  “Excuse me,” she directed to Riley, “But my nieces are very bright and I’ve never talked down to them.”

  “Maybe you’re right,” Riley said. “She did outsmart you.”

  Sophie blew out a breath. “Girls, the chief really needs to go now because he’s a very busy man with a lot of work to do. So let’s walk him to the front door.”

  “I don’t need to go.”

  “You don’t?” Sophia didn’t want to be wrong in front of the girls. He was trying to undermine her in front of them, and she wouldn’t let that happen! No sir! “I thought you said…”

  “Nope.” He then plopped down on the couch next to always-happy Courtney, who smiled at him like he was Santa Claus or something. Traitor.

  “Oh. Well, that’s good,” Sophia said and shook it off. Two could play this game. “Chloe, do you know what trust is?”

  “Twust?” Chloe asked around her thumb. “Yeah. I know. I’m a big girl.”

  “It’s what happens between two people when they’re honest with each other. You tell me the truth, and I tell you the truth, and after a while you know I’m going to tell you the truth every time. So that’s called trust.”

  “Uh-huh.” Chloe nodded.

  “Kid,” Riley said. “What your aunt is trying to say in psychobabble is that you told a lie. A lie is bad. You understand?”

  “Lies are bad,” Chloe said. “Mommy said.”

  “Don’t lie again,” Riley said, or more like ordered.

  “Okay.” Chloe climbed off the couch and hugged Sophia’s legs. “Sowwy, Auntie Fia.”

  Sophia’s heart softened to a squishy mess and she squatted down to Chloe’s eye level. “Oh, sweetie just don’t ever do that again. You scared me.”

  Riley didn’t say anything, but after a minute he finally stood up. “I should go.”

  “Good. I mean, girls, say goodbye to chief … to Mr. …”

  “Just call me Uncle Riley,” he said to the girls. Then he smiled and this time it reached his eyes.

  Sophia, on the other hand, had a small heart attack.

  “Bye, Uncle Riley,” Chloe said with a perfect R. This kid was going to drive her crazy.

  “Bye-bye,” Courtney waved.

  Sophia walked Riley to the front door. “What the hell was that all about?” She hissed.

  “The truth. Building trust. I’d hate to start off on the wrong foot with the kid. She reminds me of Scott. Don’t turn your back on that one.”

  “You shouldn’t confuse her. And we don’t believe in dragging the girls into grown-up issues.”

  A single brow quirked up. “We? You make it sound like you’re the one raising them.”

  She tilted her chin up. “I’m the head babysitter.”

  “Well, head babysitter, whether you like it or not we’re still married. That makes me Uncle Riley to them.”

  Whether I like it or not? Crap, she was having trouble taking in a breath. “W-we really should…do something about that. Now that you’re here.”

  Riley gave her the wounded look he always reserved for times when she’d disappointed him. Times when he perceived she’d been the one to hurt him, when it was clear that he’d been the one to give up on their marriage first. Not her. He’d made his choice. But she certainly didn’t want to go there right now. Or ever.

  “You’ll have to take care of that,” he finally said after a long and awkward moment of silence. “I’m too busy.”

  She was about to shut the door when he stopped it with a large hand. “Something else I meant to bring up. Lucy told me you went over to her house. I appreciate it, believe me, but don’t. I don’t want you going back there.”

  “You don’t—what did you say to me?”

  “Don’t go back there.”

  “See, that’s not any better. That’s actually worse. You can’t tell me what to do!”

  Riley dragged a hand through his hair. That was always his sign for ‘you’re starting to piss me off’ but at the moment she didn’t give a rat’s ass. “I can when it’s your safety.”

  “So you’re playing the chief of police card? Is that what you’re doing here? Are you ordering me around as my husband right now, or as th
e chief of police? I’m confused.”

  “Both. I’m trying to protect you. Lucy doesn’t hang with the best of characters and I don’t want you around them.”

  “Look, let me give it to you straight, chief. I’ll go over there anytime I want. And I will.”

  “You do and I catch you, I might just have to slap a pair of handcuffs on.”

  Sophia drew in a sharp breath at the physical reaction she had to Riley mentioning handcuffs. “Arrest me?”

  “Whatever it takes.”

  She stepped out and shut the front door so the girls wouldn’t hear. Annoyingly, Riley took a step closer so now they were toe to toe. Back against the closed door, she had no room to step back. A little prickle of hyper awareness shot through her. Standing this close, it had become difficult to ignore him.

  “If you’re going to arrest me I’ll give you a damn good reason. Tell me what to do again, and I might just have to kick your ass.” She pushed on his chest with one finger. It was a bit like pushing a wall.

  He stared at her finger until she took it back, then cocked his head. “You’ll have to kick my ass.”

  “That’s what I said. I would do it right now, but I’m a little busy.”

  “How much time do you think it would take you to kick my ass, because this I have got to see.”

  She let out a breath. “I don’t know. A few hours I guess.”

  He turned to go, a grin tugging at one corner of his mouth. “Good. Let me know when you have a few hours to kick my ass. I’m in.”

  Sophia stepped back inside, slammed the door shut and leaned her back against it.

  God, she was in such trouble.

  * * *

  Early the next morning before work, Riley found himself at the local gym for a punishing work-out. After yesterday, he needed to work his body out hard enough that he would stop thinking. Stop feeling. Too busy. That’s what he’d told Sophia. Something every woman would obviously love to hear: I’m too busy to take the time and divorce you.

  Good going, Marine.

  He ran a six-minute mile and went one round in the ring with Mack, one of the gym owners and an old friend.

  Mack put up his fists. “Holy shit, are you trying to kill me? It’s called boxing, not murdering.”

  That snapped Riley out of his Sophia-induced brain fog. He couldn’t afford to develop a reputation as a hothead, not when he had fences to mend as the new police chief. And Mack was the only friend he had left in town. Since he hadn’t grown up in Starlight Hill, he had few friends here. But like him, Mack had decided to put roots down thirty miles south of their hometown of Napa. It was fortunate he’d decided to become a partner at the local gym, otherwise they’d probably never see each other.

  “Sorry.” Riley hopped out of the ring.

  “We done?” Mack asked, still inside the ring.

  Riley didn’t answer, just kept moving towards the weight bench. He had to get his day started soon enough, and he planned to be the first person to arrive at the station every day. Aware that certain folks on the city council thought him to be too young and unqualified for the position, he had his work cut out for him.

  “I’m guessing it didn’t go well yesterday,” Mack said from the entrance to the locker rooms.

  “You guessed right.” He’d expected Sophia to be upset about his move right next door to her, but hadn’t expected to be the one blindsided yesterday.

  After all this time, she wanted a divorce. First, he’d been treated to her wet and naked body covered only by a towel. Seemed like he and Sophia had spent half of the short time they’d lived together in a shower, so it was no wonder that he’d become immediately horny at the sight. But he’d honestly tried to help, getting her in the house where she needed to be, and his reward for it was to have his wife mention the little matter they hadn’t taken care of in years.

  So why the hell now?

  Was Lucy right in that Sophia hadn’t tried to divorce him simply because he’d been out of the country? Or maybe he’d simply deluded himself into thinking that just because he wasn’t done with her, she wasn’t finished with him either. But hell, if she wanted a divorce from him, she would be the one to make the effort.

  “What did she do?” Mack asked now. “Try to run the new police chief out of town?”

  “Nah.” Riley pulled off his sweat-soaked shirt.

  “She should feel sorry for you if anything. Bert left you a mess of a department.”

  Unfortunately, that was true. Close to retirement, Bert saved a lot of work for his replacement, including working with a budget shortfall. It would be Riley’s job to run a department on a budget so tight it squeaked. Didn’t matter that Starlight Hill was a tiny bedroom community thirty minutes from Napa. Fact was every town, no matter how small, had drunks who took it out on their families. Every town had kids who were at risk. He would be busy, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t going to put some energy into getting Sophia back.

  His job was to make sure what she wanted from him was not a divorce but another shower together. He wondered which one of his goals would be harder. Convincing the residents he could take their police force into the twenty-first century, getting his sister clean, or talking his wife into letting him back in her bed.

  Something told him either way, he had a hell of a long hill to climb.

  “Need a spotter?” A woman he’d seen at the gym a lot lately greeted him near the bench.

  Though he didn’t doubt she’d do a good job, he’d also noticed her checking him out. Lingering a little too long. He didn’t need the aggravation. “No thanks.”

  “Let me know if you change your mind.”

  “Will do.”

  “I’m Leanne.”

  “Riley.”

  “You’re new around here, aren’t you?”

  “Yep, pretty much.”

  Leanne found a spot near him and started squatting with tiny baby weights. “What branch? Marines?”

  “Yeah.” Still showed, even when the tattoo was covered. Then again, once a Marine always a Marine.

  “Nice,” she said, squatting. “The only thing sexier is a Navy Seal.”

  He held back the snort and kept quiet. Every once in a while, he ran into a woman who was what he’d term a ‘military groupie.’ One of the many things he’d liked about Sophia when they’d first met, beyond the world-class ass and beautiful olive skin, was how unimpressed she’d been with him being a Marine. How clueless she’d been about military life. Seemed her brother Scott had even sheltered her from that, though to be fair he’d been out of the military when his mother and Sophia’s father started dating. But Sophia didn’t see Riley as a fierce Marine, though that was how the world saw him. Somehow she was the only one who’d ever seen beyond that, and yet she’d accepted the fact that if she loved him, she had to put up with a choice he’d made long before he’d ever laid eyes on her.

  Mack finally found his way over. “Hey, doll. You’re not flirting with the chief, are you?”

  “Of course I am,” she said, impressively bending one leg to her inner thigh and balancing there, yogi-style. “Check this out. I’m very bendy.”

  “He sees that,” Mack said with a laugh. “Did you know the chief is married?”

  “He is? Why didn’t you say something?” She directed this to Riley, as though it were his job to spill his guts and life story in the first three minutes of meeting someone.

  “To Sophia,” Mack continued, now spotting Riley as he bench-pressed two hundred pounds.

  “I thought Sophia was divorced,” Leanne said, sounding disgusted. She picked up her baby weights. “See you all later.”

  “Damn you. The bending wasn’t hurting anyone.”

  “Sucker. I’m going to systematically let every woman in town know you’re taken. Leaves more for me.”

  But he doubted it would be long before everyone in town realized. He wondered how Sophia would handle that, when it seemed that everyone already saw her as a divorcee. He rese
nted that a little, if he were being honest, not that he had any right to. He’d rushed everything with her. Except that ‘rush’ wasn’t a big enough word. One look at her and he’d stopped thinking. The blood had leaked from his brain and pooled in his groin. Then again, he’d been twenty-one years old.

  “So what are you going to do about this?’ Mack asked.

  “About what?”

  “Your wife, shithead.”

  “Nothing. I’m laying low for a while. She’s not exactly fond of me right now.”

  “And you’re going to be a pain in my ass until you get her back. So get going.”

  “Can’t rush it this time.”

  Besides, he realized something probably no one else did. Even if this entire town saw her as divorced, he’d bet that wasn’t the way Sophia saw herself. And he knew why. She’d been deliriously happy with him at one time. Those first weeks of marriage before he deployed had been the best time of his life. And even if she hadn’t told him over and over, he could see it in her eyes. She loved being his wife. Maybe that small part of her, the part that still saw herself as his wife, was the reason she hadn’t filed for divorce.

  Interesting that she hadn’t asked him why he’d never filed.

  “Hard to believe she never dated anyone while you were gone.”

  “Something about online dating,” Riley answered with a grunt.

  “The kind where you never meet? Sounds like commitment issues to me.”

  Not Sophia. She loved with her whole heart. The online guys had commitment issues. Or weren’t even dudes. God only knew.

  “She didn’t divorce you because she still has feelings for you.”

  “True. She feels hot lava coursing through her veins every time she looks at me.”

  “Ah, man. Maybe you two shouldn’t have been married so young.”

  “Yeah, thanks.” Not like he hadn’t heard that one before. A little late now, wasn’t it?

  Riley switched places with Mack. “Should I take some weight off for you?”

  “Forget it. I can match you.” Mack lifted once, struggling.