No Rings Attached (The Kingsleys of Ruby River #1)

Chapter One

DREW

Asingle bead of sweat traced a path down my neck.

This old truck’s broken AC had me muttering expletives for the umpteenth time today.

I wiped away the moisture with the back of my wrist, cursing this random hot spell the first week of November.

Today’s unexpected detour, courtesy of my darling Glamma, had come at the worst time.

I sped up, and the last light of the pinkish-purple skyline appeared in my rearview mirror. A faint breeze blew through the open window, ruffling my hair, but doing little to cool me off.

Rhode Island’s fall weather was something else. One day was perfect and the next felt like the fiery pits of hell. And when it wasn’t either of those, it was raining.

It wasn’t the first time today I suspected this errand was a ruse to get me out of the office.

Lately, I’d noticed a pattern. Glamma would ask me for an ‘important’ favor after I worked a series of twelve-to-fifteen-hour days.

I tapped along to the song on the ancient AM/FM radio while mentally listing all the things I needed to do at the office tomorrow.

We were on the verge of a multi-million-dollar deal to grow our family’s high-end jewelry store.

A century after opening, we were finally expanding across the U.S.

with new branches. The production of our luxury costume jewelry would continue to be made in-house, but I also had thoughts about how we could improve that side of the business, too.

Next time I’d tell Glamma no.

The running internal dialogue at the back of my mind snickered, knowing full well I’d never follow through. I knew better.

We all did.

My cell phone rang, pulling my attention briefly away from the road to the flashing screen on the seat beside me. An involuntary sigh escaped my lips.

Glamma.

I wouldn’t get any peace until I answered. Reluctantly, I activated its speakerphone. Not for the first time I wished I’d been driving my Mercedes, not this barely running hunk of metal. At least then I could hear her through the vehicle’s speakers.

“Hello, Grandmother,” I answered. My lips twisted into a smirk knowing it would irk her the tiniest bit that I didn’t call her by her preferred moniker.

She snort-laughed into the phone. “Hello, grandson.” Even though I was mostly teasing her with the formal title, she knew I wasn’t happy about being pulled away from work. “Are you almost home?”

I rolled my eyes. It didn’t matter that she couldn’t see me. “I just passed the sign entering Ruby River.” My ancestors had been the first to settle our picturesque small town. The name was based on an old legend about the river that ran straight through the center of it.

“Good. That table was a favorite of your grandfather’s and I know the perfect place for it.”

A rumble of frustration escaped me. “Interesting. I thought the set of lamps you sent me to get two weeks ago had been his favorite.” We had a storage facility a few towns over that kept any family heirlooms we couldn’t use in my grandmother’s house.

This time, though, I’d had to travel to the southernmost part of the state to my uncle’s house.

Not one to miss a beat, my grandmother responded. “They both are.”

“An old battered coffee table that Uncle Phil had in his attic was important to Grandad?” I didn’t bother to hide my skepticism.

“It’s an heirloom. I’m getting it restored.” As matriarch of the Kingsley family, Glamma got what she wanted. Always. Her fierce, unwavering personality and the wealth she gained after marrying my grandfather in her early twenties helped push whatever agenda she had.

She was also the type of person to never let money define her.

And over the years, she and her friends had taken on shaping this town and managing its residents.

Glamma thought she had a ‘knowing’ about things.

She fancied herself a love guru and played into the town’s lore about the magic of the river.

“And you needed it today?” Glamma was consistently two steps ahead of most of us. Her long-range plans were divulged to her friends. If she wanted me to know more about why I needed to be on this errand, she’d have told me.

“Gladys had an immediate opening at the shop for a restoration project.” Her quick, overly cheerful response, while plausible, led me to believe she wasn’t being entirely truthful.

“And Gladys couldn’t pick it up in her truck?” Gladys, one of Glamma’s friends, owned the town’s antique shop just off Main Street and wasn’t as busy as my grandmother was making it out to be.

“Were you planning on dropping it off tonight? Tomorrow’s my day at Curl Up and Dye.” Her clear avoidance of my question was all the confirmation I needed.

Glamma’s marriage into the Kingsley family didn’t stop her from running her salon.

I’d always wondered if it was a way to keep her independence.

Or so she could get her fill of town gossip.

Her favorite pastime had always been sticking her nose in everyone else’s business while insisting it was for the good of the town and its’ residents.

“If you want—Holy shit!” I slammed my foot down on the brake and swerved.

“Drew!” My grandmother’s shrill voice barely registered.

“Fuck, don’t lock up,” I muttered as the brakes engaged and the old hunk of junk I was driving rocked to a sudden stop. I cringed as the table I’d secured in the truck’s bed rammed into the back window.

“Drew!” my grandmother yelled again, the worry in her voice cutting through the buzz of anger ripping through me.

What in the actual fuck!

Who stops in the middle of the damn road? And without their fucking hazards on. I’d barely seen the older model Toyota as the road curved. There were no street lights out this way and the dark blue of the vehicle blended into the darkening sky.

“I’m okay.” I couldn’t say the same for the table. “There’s a car stopped in the middle of the road.”

“Should I send Adam?” My cousin owned the mechanic shop in town.

I ran a hand over my neck, my fingers hitting the back of the ball cap I’d thrown on this morning. My heart pounded an unsteady rhythm as the initial adrenaline calmed down.

That had been fucking close.

“I’m at the edge of town. I’ll send a text if I need him.”

“Be careful.” She drew in a breath. “Maybe you should stay on the phone with me just in case. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

I chuckled. My grandmother, who was over a foot shorter than me at five foot two, was a force to be reckoned with in person, but over the phone, I doubted she could help. “I’m going to see what’s going on. I’ll call when I’ve gotten everything straightened out.”

“Okay. Love you. Be careful.”

“I will. Love you too.” I hung up, opened the door to my cab, and slid my phone into the pocket of my jeans as I climbed out.

Before I took another step, a person ran into the overgrown mess on the side of the road leading into the woods.

A pale streak of blue that didn’t give me any clue as to who it was, except that it was a woman.

A faint rustle in the tall grass had me shaking my head. Had the idiot decided to get out and take a piss while leaving her damn car in the middle of the road? My headlights blazed against the parked car, leaving the edges of the road less visible in the growing darkness.

“Hello?” I called out. “Everything okay?” Even though the car didn’t look like it had been in an accident, maybe there was damage I couldn’t see in the fading light.

“Yup. All good.” The quick reply was definitely female.

The rustling grew more frantic as I neared. All good?

“Do you need help?” I asked. “You’re parked in the middle of the road,” I didn’t want to scare her, but I had to make sure she was safe.

“Everything’s fine. I just needed to stretch my legs.”

“Stretch your legs?” She had to be kidding me!

What if I’d slammed into her car? Or a family had come along and didn’t notice her until it was too late?

“What the hell are you trying to do? Get someone killed?” I snapped, narrowing my eyes to try to get a glimpse of the driver.

I didn’t recognize the car, so it was likely someone from out of town. She needed to be more careful.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I wanted to do.” A bite of sarcasm laced her words. From within the overgrown foliage, her voice held a low seductive note that I didn’t fail to notice as she continued, “I purposely left my car in the middle of the road to cause an accident.”

I kind of liked the hint in her tone that suggested I was the one being an idiot. Why that was a fucking turn-on I had no idea. I tugged at the brim of my hat in frustration.

“Then things clearly aren’t all good if you didn’t just leave it there on purpose.” I crossed my arms over my chest and planted my feet firmly a safe distance from the voice.

A muttered, “Oh shit,” floated out from behind the tall fronds that waved wildly followed by a dull thud.

“Ma’am? You okay?”

“Don’t come any closer! I have a weapon!”

Something white shifted near the ground. Had she fallen? Damn it. Maybe she did need me. If I left a woman on her own, in the dark and didn’t do anything, half the town would have my ass. We took care of each other in Ruby River. Stranger or not.

I reached out and gently parted the long grass and stumbled when a sharp screech pierced my eardrums. “I told you to stay away!”

There was no way to miss the woman in front of me.

She was bent over at the waist, showcasing the soft, pale skin of the upper half of her body.

It glowed in the moonlight and her denim-covered ass wiggled as she struggled with her shirt half on and half off.

Part of the fabric clung to the brambles around her.

It took my brain a second to catch up to what I was seeing, and being the asshole that I was, my first thought went to how perfect her skin was—and how much I wanted to touch it.