Chapter 1
CHAPTER ONE
“Hey!” Carolina Lawrence yelled at the mailman’s retreating back. “Wait! I have something for you!”
With one foot on the truck, the man paused and glanced over his shoulder.
His sunglass-clad gaze met hers at the same moment her bare foot landed on a sharp pebble.
“Fudge! Owie!” she screamed and lowered to the ground.
“Aw hockey sticks,” she muttered as she pulled out the offending pebble and watched a drop of blood trickle from the puncture.
“Are you okay?” he asked, kneeling at her side.
The wound forgotten, she looked up at the unfamiliar deep timbre, and time stood still.
He was handsome, with dark hair in need of a haircut and a neatly trimmed beard.
He lifted his sunglasses to the top of his head, and his gorgeous hazel eyes drew her in.
A niggling voice in the back of her mind screamed of familiarity.
He pulled a tissue from a small pack in his shirt pocket and dabbed at the tender spot.
“Doesn’t look too bad, but I suppose it will hurt like a bitch for the next couple of days,” he said, studying her wound.
“Language!” she blurted, and heat crawled up her neck at the knee-jerk reaction.
One of his thick brows raised, and his eyes crinkled with amusement. “I’m so—wait, did you say fudge and hockey sticks?”
She smiled sheepishly. “Occupational hazard.”
He cocked his head to the side, his gaze narrowing as he gave her all his attention. “Lena? Lena Butt?”
She groaned at the name and nodded as her mind caught up to why he looked familiar. “Hi, Kaleb… I had no idea you were my mailman. Wait, when did you move back to St. Fleur?” she asked, her heart racing at the mere sight of the first boy she’d ever loved. The only boy, really.
“Been here a couple of months now. The package said Carolina Lawrence. I never expected to find you still living here. I thought you’d be out traveling the world. Who was the lucky guy?” he asked, his gaze flitting behind her toward the cozy house she called home.
She shook her head. “Lawrence is Mom’s maiden name. Butt was an awful surname and even worse for a grade school teacher.”
“Teacher? Well, that makes more sense now.” He chuckled. “Do you think you can stand yet?” he asked, offering a hand.
Placing her hand in his, the hairs on her arms stood on end. “Thank you,” she muttered breathlessly. Dropping her gaze to the ground, she tested her weight on the tender spot as the smell of his cologne and sweat wafted to her nose.
As she breathed in deeply once more, her lids lowered. Her belly rolled, and her sex clenched with arousal.
Kaleb cleared his throat. “I guess I should get back to my deliveries. It was really great seeing you, Lena,” he said, his voice huskier than a moment before.
“Yeah, you too,” she said and cringed.
Biting down on her lower lip, she watched him step on the truck and give her a wave. Dimples she vividly remembered flashed in her direction, and she could have sworn her ovaries exploded at the sight.
Kaleb Perez.
The boy who’d been her first boyfriend. Not that it truly counted, as the most they’d ever done was hold hands.
His sweet and kind ways had been burned into her memory.
Without her permission, her heart had always compared every boy and man who entered her life to Kaleb.
He’d given her hope that a good man existed, even if the ones she had picked cheated or treated her unkindly.
Hope was dangerous.
Turning at the sound of his truck driving away, she spotted the package she’d been trying to hand him. Kaleb had returned to her life for less than five minutes and already turned it on its axis.
He’d grown into a sexy-as-sin man. His scent alone had short-circuited her senses.
There was no telling what all the years had done to the boy she’d once loved.
The idea of shattering the perfect image in her mind was unimaginable.
She understood that who she remembered wasn’t the same man she’d just seen, but her heart couldn’t bear the possibility that he would have turned into an ugly adult.
The cell phone in her back pocket vibrated, drawing her back to the present. With one last glance in the direction he’d gone, she limped inside.
Carolina peered at the package in her hand. She could drop it off after her early dinner date. “Or I can try again tomorrow…” She shook her head and sighed. Five minutes and she was making possibly stupid decisions in order to see Kaleb’s handsome face once more.
“He’s probably married,” she muttered as she grabbed her purse and car keys.
Carolina spent the short drive into town examining the differences between her memories of Kaleb at eleven and at thirty-two years old. He’d shed the baby face, and sharp lines had formed along his jaw. He was no longer shorter than her, and lean muscles had peaked under his uniform.
Turning onto Main Street, she shelved her thoughts as a parking spot became available. In the last couple of years, it had become harder to park along the road as their small town gained more residents. Not that she was complaining. It had given her hometown the burst of renewed energy it deserved.
Looking both ways, she jogged across the street as she pressed the lock button on her key fob. She noted one police cruiser parked in front of the newly renovated sheriff’s office.
Hurrying down the sidewalk toward Whiskey’s Pub, the local hangout spot, Carolina waved at a few familiar faces.
Nearing the big wooden door, she was thankful to not have run into any of her student’s families.
Not because she avoided them, which was impossible in a town its size, but because she hated making JJ, her friend and one of the town’s deputies, wait any longer.
With JJ’s busy schedule, it had been months since the last time they’d been able to meet up for a meal.
She welcomed the blast of cool air and smiled at Jesse as his dark eyes met hers from behind the bar. The handsome, dark-skinned man grinned and nodded toward JJ, who was sitting in a booth along the wall.
“Thanks, Jesse.”
He winked in reply and moved toward a customer who’d called his name.
Carolina walked between the full tables, offering smiles and hellos as she passed more familiar faces. When she reached the booth, she slid across the vinyl across from JJ. “I hope I’m not too late!”
JJ narrowed her blue eyes. “Everything okay?”
Heat crawled up her chest and settled into her cheeks. “Yeah?”
One of JJ’s perfectly plucked eyebrows rose. She didn’t say or ask more. She merely studied Carolina until she squirmed in her seat.
“What?” Carolina blurted before swallowing thickly. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
JJ sat forward and casually set her forearms along the edge of the table. “How am I looking at you, Carolina?”
Carolina groaned. “You never call me Carolina, and you’re looking at me like you’re expecting me to confess to a crime. Stop it!”
Her friend’s lips twitched with amusement as she shrugged. “Did you commit a crime?”
“No!” Carolina’s eyes rounded as dozens of pairs of eyes turned in their direction. Sorry, she mouthed with an apologetic smile.
Carolina dropped her head on the table and JJ’s hand came to rest on top of her hand. She sucked in a deep breath, then two more before sitting back up. Concern etched around her friend’s eyes, but she didn’t push Carolina for more.
The two had been friends since middle school, but it wasn’t until after JJ returned to St. Fleur years ago that their friendship became solid.
JJ was quiet, helpful, and all too observing, while Carolina was the loud and social one of the two.
They didn’t need to talk on the regular, but they both knew the other would be there if they needed it.
“Do you remember Kaleb Perez?” Carolina whispered, aware their town was filled with busybodies.
JJ nodded. “Yeah.”
“He’s back,” Carolina said.
Once again, her friend nodded. “Yeah, I helped with his fingerprints at the station. He’s been back a few months now, if I remember correctly. What does he have to do with—” JJ waved a hand in her direction.
Her brows pinched. “You didn’t tell me.”
“No, why would I?”
Carolina blew out a breath, the wisps of hair stuck to the sides of her face releasing and flowing up.
“Hi, Ms. Lawrence!” Joanna, their waitress and one of her old students, said. She took both of their drink and food orders and moved along to the next table.
“So, Kaleb?” JJ asked.
Carolina told her about their brief exchange earlier that day. “Look, it doesn’t matter. It just surprised me to see him, and he’s probably happily married.”
“It does matter if it’s messing with your head. And for the record, he’s not married. Did you two date or something? I don’t really remember him,” JJ said.
Carolina’s heart did a little happy dance at the announcement that Kaleb wasn’t married. “Kind of? I mean, as much as two eleven-year-olds can date. His family moved away before you and I became friends.”
“Oh! That’s who Kaleb is? Didn’t you always compare other boys to him?”
A groan slipped from her lips as she covered her face and nodded. “Now I wish I never mentioned it.”
JJ waved a hand. “Oh, stop it. Do you think he was interested?”
Carolina shrugged. “It was a two-minute interaction, five tops. I’m surprised he even remembered me, to be honest. I almost didn’t recognize him. He’s all grown up…”
“He’s good looking; that’s for sure.”
“JJ!” Carolina chuckled.
“What? Just because Rocco and I are stupid in love doesn’t mean I can’t acknowledge an attractive person.”
Carolina grinned. “How are things going?”
The two friends talked, teased, and listened to one another for the remainder of their meal.
It didn’t matter that the two rarely had this quality time together.
Whenever time did allow, they soaked it up.
Each visit was a continuation of the previous—neither woman upset with the other because their lives were busy.
Outside the pub, the two friends hugged before going their separate ways. Carolina crossed the road and passed her parked car before making her way to the Belles Supermarket. The automatic doors swooshed open, and Suzanne, owner of the market, lowered the paperback in her hand.
“Hi, Lena!”
“Hi!”
“Make sure you look in the special’s cooler. Matt ordered some spicy cheese you may like.”
“You guys are too good to me,” she said and pointed the cart in the direction of said cooler. On the way she stopped to grab some fruits and veggies, her mind formulating a couple meals she could make for the coming week.
“Please, Papi!” a little voice said, making her smile.
Carolina turned to see who the voice belonged to.
“Not this time.”
Startled by the familiar voice, she rammed the cart into a display of lemons. “Son of a biscuit!”
“Lena? Here, let me help,” Kaleb said, kneeling to stop a few strays that attempted to roll away. “Are you okay?”
Carolina looked from Kaleb’s face to his spitting image, minus the fact the little boy’s eyes were green, not hazel.
“Here you go,” the little boy said, his chubby fingers wrapped around a lemon.
Smiling at his sweet face she said, “Thank you.”
“Milo, Ms. Lena and I used to go to school together. Lena—or is it Carolina now?”
“Lena is fine.” The words sounded breathy to her ears.
“Lena, this is my son, Milo.”
Carolina accepted the lemon and offered her hand. “Nice to meet you, Milo. Let me take a guess. You’re four years old?”
The little boy’s chest puffed out. “Almost five.”
Carolina laughed. “My apologies. Five, that means you’re a big boy and about to start school?”
His little head nodded so quickly, it was a wonder it didn’t fall off. “Papi says I start in August!”
“Oh, I bet you’re so excited!”
“Yes! I’ll make friends!” he nearly yelled.
“Shh, buddy. Let’s remember to use our indoor voice.”
“Sorry, Papi.”
Once the lemons had been gathered, they pushed to their feet.
Kaleb wore a white undershirt and gray shorts, and it did things inside her belly.
Her gaze moved down his body, committing to memory details she had missed the first time—like the coarse dark hair on his tanned legs, a tattoo which peeked out from under his sleeve, and strong forearms that created images of him lifting her onto a countertop.
Goose bumps formed along her skin, and her cheeks flushed at the panty-soaking imagery.
“Lena?” Kaleb said, concern etched around his eyes.
“Sorry.”
“Are you okay?” he asked, dipping his head to study her.
Flustered, she laughed. “When did you grow?”
Kaleb chuckled. “I finally got the growth spurt I’d been dying for the summer after sophomore year. I forgot you’d remember puny me.”
“Puny? I’d have never described you as puny.”
“What would you have described me as?” he asked, his voice going husky.
For a moment she wondered what they were even talking about. She didn’t really care as long as he used that voice again.
“Well, puny is not a very nice adjective,” she said with her classroom voice.
His eyes darkened, but before he could reply, Milo said, “Mamá says we shouldn’t name call.”
Carolina tipped her head. “Mamá?”
“My mom. Milo gets to hang out with my parents while I’m at work.”
Carolina lowered to Milo’s level. “How lucky are you! Not a lot of people get to hang out with their grandparents. What sort of fun things do you do?”
Milo’s face scrunched up. “Sometimes I help her pull weeds.”
Carolina chuckled. “You don’t like to pull weeds?”
His little shoulders shrugged. “It’s okay, but she won’t let me play with any worms I find.”
Her head fell back with laughter at his words. When she calmed, she found a few townsfolk watching them closely. “Oops, I guess it was my turn to be too loud,” she whispered to Milo.
Raising her gaze, she found a storm of emotions clouding Kaleb’s eyes. “You okay?” she asked.
He gave her a firm nod, and his Adam’s apple bobbed with a swallow. “We better not take up any more of your time. It was great seeing you, Lena.”
She nervously licked her lips at the sound of her name from his mouth. The longer she was in his presence, the more he seemed to affect her, waking parts of her she’d long neglected with the small pool of available men in St. Fleur. “It was a pleasant surprise, to say the least.”