Chapter 1 #2
She dug her fingernails into her palms, welcoming the bite of pain. It didn’t matter what she’d thought. He’d left. He’d told her she was special, that he wanted to keep seeing her because he felt something for her, but it’d been a lie.
When his orders came down, he’d sent Trey to tell her he’d had fun but it had to be over. Trey, who’d been so kind and sympathetic. Who’d systematically wormed his way into her life and promised to love her forever.
She’d been stupid enough to believe him once it was clear Ethan was never coming back.
Paisley lifted her chin a fraction, watching Ethan in her peripheral vision. He still watched her in shocked silence.
She didn’t know what to say, but she knew she couldn’t acknowledge him. Not here. Not like this. He’d left her behind, abandoned her after all his talk of wanting to see where the future took them, and her life had changed for the worse.
She wanted to hate him, but her heart refused.
Ethan scraped to his feet, the chair scratching across the wood floor, the sound jarring deep in her soul.
He dropped money on the table. “Gotta get going, guys. I’ve got a couple of things I need to get done. See you tomorrow.”
He strode toward the back of the building, disappearing into the darkened hallway that led to the bathrooms and the back door. She wanted to follow him, to ask him why she hadn’t been enough. Why he’d lied.
But she was frozen in place, aching inside, willing him to return and apologize for everything.
He didn’t, though. He stayed gone.
Just like before.
Ethan didn’t know where he was going when he peeled out of the parking lot.
All he knew was that he needed to escape.
It’d taken him a second longer to recognize her than it should have because her hair was chopped off, but when she’d finally lifted her head to look at everyone, he’d known that what he’d felt in his gut wasn’t wrong.
Paisley Allen was there in the Dawg with Daphne, Callie, Emma, and Rory, waving shyly.
Flashing the heart tattoo on her wrist. He wore its twin under his left pec.
Nobody really noticed it these days because of all the other ink he wore, but he knew it was there.
He reached up to rub the spot, but the ache didn’t go away.
He knew from hard experience that it wouldn’t.
Emma said she was the new librarian, but all Ethan had felt was the rushing in his ears as he stared at the woman in the black dress with the freakishly short hair.
Not that she didn’t look amazing with short hair. If anything, she looked even more beautiful than she had five years ago.
He’d needed to escape. Needed to get out of there before he made an ass of himself by demanding to know what the actual fuck?
He rolled down the driver’s window, let the night air fill the truck’s cabin as he drove without a destination.
He left Sutton’s Creek behind, headed down dark roads with thousands of lightning bugs glowing in the trees and fields.
It was a sight that never ceased to amaze, and yet his soul remained troubled.
Paisley Rose Allen. The last time he’d seen her, she’d had long hair and the kind of smile that made people stop and look. He’d been on temporary assignment to the Special Forces Group A at Eglin Air Force Base, training with Army Green Berets for guerrilla operations in Afghanistan.
He could remember Paisley walking into the beach bar in Destin where he’d been kicking back with some of his guys, remember the way they’d all stopped talking to watch her.
He’d fantasized about her ass, about her legs wrapping around his waist, and then she’d gone behind the bar, put an apron over her shorts, grabbed a tray, and headed their way.
That was the beginning.
For a solid week, he’d gone to that bar to talk to her. Yeah, he’d wanted to fuck her, but he’d wanted to know her even more. There’d been something that drew him to her even more than her spectacular ass and gorgeous eyes.
He’d learned she was from Fairhope, Alabama, that she was twenty-six and working to pay her college loans. She also worked in a library part-time and hoped to get a full-time librarian job someday.
She was shy, sweet, and she made all his protective instincts flare in ways that surprised him.
She was special, and he’d wanted more of her company.
More of her. He’d asked her out. She’d said yes.
He’d taken her to the beach, to restaurants, to coffee shops, to places where they sat and talked the hours away when they could.
He hadn’t been in a hurry to get her into his bed.
He’d sensed she wasn’t the kind of girl to be rushed.
Over the course of a month, he’d fallen for her. And then came the weekend they finally got naked together.
One hot, sexy, amazing weekend where he’d mapped her body’s pleasure zones and made her come again and again.
He’d been obsessed with her happiness, with having her wrapped around him, moaning her pleasure, begging for more, screaming his name.
He’d loved every moment, and he’d known he wanted to be with her forever.
He’d never felt that way about anyone. Ever.
They’d gotten the damned tattoos in a little studio by the beach. He’d wanted something bigger, but she’d loved the heart she picked out and wanted him to have one just like it. So he’d complied, holding her hand and gazing in her eyes while the artist worked.
Like a lovesick fucking fool.
The next week, he was unexpectedly called back to HOT HQ and a mission overseas.
It happened so fast he’d had no time to make contact with her, to explain.
Instead, he’d asked a work buddy to tell her he had to leave and he’d be in touch as soon as he could.
He’d gotten on the plane with an ache in his heart that he hadn’t told her he’d fallen in love with her, but that wasn’t the kind of thing you had a buddy say for you.
By the time he’d been able to call her a month later, it went to voicemail over and over again. Finally, she’d replied with a text that was still seared into his brain.
I like you, Ethan, but I’ve met somebody else. Please don’t contact me again.
Yeah, that’d fucking hurt. No, it’d shattered him.
He’d never felt the things for a woman he’d felt for her, but clearly he’d been the only one.
And now she was here, in his space, in this little Southern town far from the coast.
Fucking hell.
Not that he cared about her anymore. It’d taken time and a lot of painful reflection, but he’d moved on.
Didn’t give two shits about her now. He’d simply been stunned to see her.
Rather than say a bunch of shit nobody needed to hear, he’d chosen to remove himself from the situation. Get his thoughts under control.
Which he had. Paisley Allen wouldn’t get under his skin ever again. He was fucking immune.
With that shit sorted, he turned toward home. She lived in Sutton’s Creek, and she’d be at the library. Knowing his team’s women the way he did, they were going to pull her into the circle because she was new to town and didn’t know anyone.
Though maybe she had a husband at home waiting for her. The somebody else she’d found.
Ethan’s gut twisted hard. He forced the feeling away.
Nah, he didn’t fucking care. Whether or not the women brought her into the circle didn’t matter. He’d be the politest asshole anybody’d ever seen. And if she didn’t bring up the past, he damn sure wasn’t going to.
Paisley was nothing to him. Not anymore.