Chapter 1
Chapter 1
R anger Sully Langford did one final patrol of the town before calling it a night. He didn’t have to; he wasn’t on duty. In fact he had spent the better part of the evening at a wedding, but it was his habit to do one final check before ending his day. He was a few months shy of thirty, and he could feel himself settling into habits and routines that would soon become entrenched. Someday he would be one of those old codgers who had a regular table at the diner, along with a standard meal order. Who was he kidding? He was already that guy.
His mother had been not so subtly hinting that it was time to settle down and get married. Sully didn’t disagree, and tonight’s wedding between two of his friends, Calhoun Ridge and Bailey Dunbar, had done nothing to lessen his desire. The problem was that he could never find a woman who stuck. Every time he thought he might have found the one, his feelings for her soon faded into the realm of friendship. He had a lot of female friends now. Some men he knew were afraid of commitment. Not so Sully. He was ready and willing to spend his life with one person. But he also wanted a bit of enchantment, perhaps some kind of sign from heaven telling him he’d found the one. So far that hadn’t happened, and his prospects were looking dim. He would soon reach the point where he had to decide if he was willing to settle for some nice, ordinary girl or continue to hold out for some as yet unknown spark of wonder.
He didn’t expect to see much going on in town. It was a sleepy burg, far away from the big city. Occasionally they had some drunken fighting, a few domestics, and always drugs to contend with. But not much in the way of hard, violent crime, and that was how Sully liked it. Even though it was probably thanks more to the strong morality of people in the town, Sully liked to believe it was because of him, because he was doing such a stellar job no one wanted to commit crime in his territory, and certainly not his tiny hometown.
He was about to call it a night when he saw someone sitting in the gazebo. No one actually used the gazebo, save for the occasional teenage couple looking for a quiet spot to push the limits of the town’s aforementioned morality. By all rights, more than a few babies should be named “Gazebo” in honor of their conception. To make sure it wasn’t one of their local addicts shooting up, Sully parked his car and headed to check.
What he found instead was a girl, one he recognized as one of Bailey’s younger sisters. Which one, he had no idea. She had two, and somehow he had gone the whole evening without meeting either one. He felt a bit bad about that. It hadn’t been a large wedding, and his avoidance of them had been halfway intentional. It was just that, as a Texas Ranger, he was sometimes mythical in women’s minds, and they tended to react to him a certain way. He hadn’t wanted to spend the night fighting off advances, especially not those of his friend’s younger siblings. One of them had a serious boyfriend. He hoped it was the one now sitting before him.
“Evening,” he said, tipping his hat to her.
“Evening,” she replied, smiling at him in an amused sort of way, two dimples so deep he could see them even in the dim moonlight. She was a cute kid, adorable really, but a kid nonetheless. She looked like the quintessential little sister—fun, ornery, and loveable. He relaxed slightly and sat on the step beside her. She was too young for him, much, much too young, and therefore safe.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“Out for an evening stroll,” she said.
“It’s kind of late,” he replied.
“I’m on New York time,” she informed him.
He checked his watch. “It’s two in the morning in New York.”
“And just getting started,” she said. She leaned back on her hands, staring out at the muggy, starless night. “Is it ever not hot here?”
“We have about two weeks in winter where it settles down to about sixty degrees or so.”
“Brr,” she said, feigning a chill.
“Hypothermia’s a real danger for our older folk,” he added, and she laughed. She had a nice laugh, infectious and sparkling. “Which sister are you?”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Are you the anthropologist or the baker?” Sully asked.
She huffed a little sigh of displeasure. “Leave it to Bailey to describe us that way.”
“Not accurate?” Sully surmised.
“Not comprehensive. I’m passionate about dance and music and art. I live and work in one of the largest most vital cities in the world. I’m a friend, a daughter, a student of life.”
He waited her out, staring blankly through her impassioned speech.
She tilted toward him, leaning on one arm. “I’m the baker. And who might you be?”
“I’m a Texas Ranger,” he replied, also tilting toward her. He was flirting with her, but what was the harm? She was a pretty kid.
“You play baseball?” she asked, sounding impressed.
At first he thought she was joking, and then he realized she wasn’t. “No, I’m a Ranger.”
“Like a park ranger?” she clarified. “Which park?”
He let out a breath. “Are you joking?”
She shook her head. “I feel I’ve somehow offended you, but I’m not sure how.”
“Texas Rangers are…we’re iconic.”
She sputtered a little laugh and quickly pressed her hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I’ve never heard a man describe himself as iconic before.” Another little giggle escaped and she fought hard to push it back in.
“Your sister knew what a Ranger was without being told,” he said.
“Of course she did. My sisters know everything. Between them they have all the combined knowledge of the entire world. They’re also skinny with freakishly high metabolism. I mean, not Bailey. She probably has normal metabolism but has trained it to do her bidding by sheer force of will. But Jane, that girl can eat and eat and never seems to gain weight. In fact I’m beginning to think every time she eats, I’m the one who somehow gains the weight.” She drew her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.
“Or, and I’m just spitballing here, it could have something to do with the fact that you’re a baker.”
She turned and grinned at him. “Well, there is that. You have to know those people who say being skinny tastes better than anything have never tried a warm brownie with ice cream and hot fudge.”
“Stop it, you’re making me hungry.”
“I make a mean brownie, Mr. Park Ranger,” she replied.
“I’m not a…never mind,” he said, sighing. “You should probably get wherever you’re going.”
She giggled.
“What now?” he asked.
“You said ‘git.’”
“I did not.”
“You most assuredly did. You said I should probably ‘git’ wherever I’m goin’.”
“And so you should. We don’t have a lot of crime here, but it’s best not to tempt fate,” he said.
“You’re awfully concerned with crime, for a park ranger,” she noted.
“Child, for the last time, I am not a park ranger.”
“Oh, that’s right. You’re iconic, ” she said the last word with forced breathlessness, and he laughed.
“I get the feeling you could drive a sober man to drink,” he said.
“I drive men to do lots of things, namely run away screaming,” she said, resting her chin on her knees.
“I highly doubt that.”
“No, it’s true. I’m what’s known in park ranger vernacular as a natural disaster,” she said, sighing.
“Why would you say such a thing?” he asked.
“How well do you know Bailey?” she asked.
“Well,” he replied.
She tilted her head at him. “Are you in love with her?”
His face scrunched. “Ew, no. She’s married to my good friend. And she’s my good friend. She’s like a sister to me.”
“Easy there, just asking. Coincidentally she’s like a sister to me, too, but men tend to fall for Bailey, and fall hard. Not that she’s ever paid them any notice, save for one Calhoun Ridge. Anyway, if you know Bailey, then you’ll understand what I mean when I say I’m her opposite in every possible way. My life is a train wreck of poor decision making and impulsive behavior.”
“How old are you?” he asked.
“Twenty four.”
She was older than he thought. He would have guessed eighteen. Apparently he was now getting to that age where everyone younger looked pubescent. “Darlin’, when I was twenty four, I was the same. Absolutely no one has their life together when they’re twenty four.”
“Both my sisters did. Bailey was already an officer in the marines. Jane already had her doctorate and got a job at the Smithsonian.”
“You can’t compare yourself to your sisters,” he noted.
“Why not? Everyone else does. And who else am I supposed to compare myself to? There are a lot of junkies in New York, and I’m doing better than they are, but I don’t think that counts.”
“You should only compare yourself to yourself. You should be the yardstick against which you judge your growth as a person,” he said.
“Either way, I’m still failing,” she said, sighing. They sat in silence for a minute. “How old are you, Yoda?”
“Twenty nine.”
“And how is your life progressing?” she asked with a shocking amount of sincerity. She tipped her face toward him, actually awaiting an answer.
“Can’t complain,” he said.
“Sure you can, I’ll teach you,” she said.
He laughed and shook his head. “I have the dream job I always wanted.”
“You always wanted to be a park ranger? You must really love nature.”
“I’m not a…never mind.” He sighed, exasperated.
“What about a girl?” she asked.
“What about one?” he countered.
“Do you have one?” she asked.
“No, ma’am, I do not,” he said.
She smiled. “How does a boy who looks like you, who talks like you, who dances like you, arrive at the ripe age of twenty nine still unattached?”
“I guess I haven’t found what I’m looking for,” he said.
“And what are you looking for?” she asked.
He faced her, took in her pretty smile and sparkling, amused eyes. “Magic.”
“Uh-oh,” she said, the smile slipping.
“Uh-oh what?” he asked.
“My heart’s doing the thing,” she said.
He sat up, slightly alarmed. “What thing?” Did she have a heart problem? If so, he had an AED in his truck.
“The thing where it stops listening to reason and begins running instead on impulse,” she said.
He blinked at her, processing. So she wasn’t dying then. “I’m not sure I understand.”
“I think, park ranger, you are about to become another bad decision,” she warned.
“What…” he began but stopped talking when she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his, kissing him. Sully was so shocked he sat stock still and let it happen, not responding, not doing anything but staring at her with wide open eyes as she kissed him.
She broke off the kiss and leaned back. “Sorry. But at least I got it out of my system. Maybe I should take your advice and…”
Now it was her turn to stop talking because he reached for her and kissed her. Unlike him, she responded, easing her fingers into his hair as his slid onto her waist and cinched her against him. The kiss took off, skyrocketing to unearthly levels before Sully broke away, practically gasping for air and sanity.
“Sorry,” he wheezed. “I don’t…I don’t usually do…” he blew out a breath.
They sat in heavy silence a moment, each of them trying to reorient their brains and grasp for some shred of self-control. “I should go,” she said. “But can I say one thing first?”
He gave her a questioning glance.
“I’m a stranger, and after this night we will likely never see each other again.”
Sully had no idea why that was the catalyst that made him reach for her again, to turn off his brain completely, but it was. And when she walked away and finally went inside for the night, he realized he still didn’t know her name.