Chapter One
“Wanna dance?”
Chloe Dawson stiffened at the sound of that voice. Low, husky, thrumming along her nerve endings. His voice, his face, his tall, rangy body had haunted her dreams for years. Years. Like since she was too young to even think such wicked thoughts.
Breathing deeply, she turned, offering her most serene smile to the very man who’d ignored her for what felt like her entire life. “Sorry, I can’t.”
Cameron McKenzie frowned, which was still a good look for him. After all, it was hard to mar that face, what with his perfectly square jaw, intense green gaze, and lush, beautiful mouth. “Why not?”
“I promised this dance to my date.” Her smile felt pasted on, and the corners of her lips started to tremble. How easy it would be to give in and say yes. Give in to all those wishes and hopes and dreams she’d kept close to her chest and finally get a chance to be in his arms.
His frown turning into an intimidating scowl, Cameron crossed his arms in front of his solid wall of a chest. But he didn’t scare her. He never had. “Who the hell is your date?”
“Hey, bro.” Mac chose that exact moment to make his appearance at her side, his arm sneaking around her waist. She couldn’t have planned it better. “Ready for that dance you promised me, Chloe?”
She smiled at Cameron’s younger brother Mac, her voice soft. “You know it.”
Mac took her hand and led her onto the crowded dance floor, pulling her into his arms the moment they reached the edge. Chris and Jane’s wedding had turned into the kickoff summer event in Lone Pine Lake. It felt like every resident of the small mountain town was there tonight.
Including the man Chloe had crushed on since she was twelve. It was a rare occasion for him to be here. Cameron did his absolute best to avoid his hometown as much as he could. But the prodigal son had returned for his younger sister’s wedding.
Reluctantly, Chloe was sure.
“What was up with Cam?” Mac asked, twirling her around the floor so quickly, she huffed out a shocked laugh. “And don’t look so surprised. I have secret moves.”
“I don’t know what’s up with your brother,” she said breathlessly, laughing again when he dipped her over his arm. “Have you been taking lessons or what?”
Mac grimaced, then glanced around as if afraid someone might overhear him. “Jane made us take a few.” He shook his head and she stifled a grin. “Claimed she didn’t want her brothers making fools of themselves during her wedding reception. She says we’re all terrible dancers except Dad.”
Wow. Her best friend had actually kept a secret.
Of course, Jane had been so busy planning and preparing, Chloe hadn’t seen her much the last couple of months before the wedding, with the exception of the bridal shower and then the rehearsal dinner last night.
“I had no idea. Considering I’m a bridesmaid, I find that surprising. ”
“Patrick and I swore we would do something far worse to embarrass her if word got out.” Mac mock shuddered. “Jane dragged me to a dance class at the community college in Oakwood. Patrick took lessons with his wife where they live.”
“And what about Cam?” Her heart fluttered just mentioning his name. So stupid.
Infinitely stupid.
“Ha. He told Jane something like, ‘make me,’ and hung up on her.”
Sounded like Cameron. He could be so…stubborn.
“Jane knew he wouldn’t make an ass of himself out on the dance floor anyway,” Mac continued. “It’s not his thing.”
“He asked me to dance.”
Mac faltered a step. “He did?”
She nodded. “I told him I already promised you this one.”
“You turned him down?” The evil laugh that escaped her friend didn’t go unnoticed. More than a few people surrounding them eyed him oddly. “I’m sure that pissed him off. No one tells Cam no.”
“Well, I did.” Chloe lifted her chin, pride filling her. It felt good, denying Cameron. After all, how many years had he unknowingly denied her? Her snub felt like a sort of payback.
“Huh.” Mac twirled her in a circle, her diaphanous skirt flaring about her legs. The bridesmaid dresses they wore were a deep plum color, strapless, unlike anything she’d worn in her life. She felt like a fairy princess—and she wasn’t even the bride. “He’s watching us,” Mac added.
“He is not.” She couldn’t believe it. Cameron McKenzie watching her? Had hell frozen over?
But when she glanced over Mac’s shoulder, she saw Cam, still in the spot where they’d left him.
Still with his arms crossed in front of his chest. He’d discarded his tuxedo jacket earlier, the bowtie was long gone, too, and he’d rolled up his sleeves.
Revealing tanned, strong forearms covered in golden hair.
Arms she ached to feel wrapped around her.
Instead she danced with his brother, one of her dearest, oldest friends.
There’d never been anything remotely romantic between her and Mac, with the exception of that one night long, long ago.
She’d come home from college, gone out with a bunch of friends at the local Pine Tree Bar, and gotten horribly drunk.
Mac had been kind enough to drive her back home to her parents’ house.
Had leaned over with a goofy grin and tried to kiss her.
A rather ill attempt it had been, with lots of giggling and exclamations on her part, until they’d finally sprung away from each other, laughing nervously. There hadn’t been a single spark between them. Mac was like her own brother, if she’d had one.
Besides, she only had eyes for Cam, both back then and now.
So stupid.
“He is definitely watching us,” Mac confirmed. “He suddenly got the hots for you or what?”
“Please.” She kept her gaze carefully averted, staring at the tiny black buttons that ran down the middle of Mac’s tuxedo shirt. “You must be joking. I am not Cameron material.”
“I’ll say,” Mac muttered.
The little sigh that escaped her must’ve been his first clue he’d stepped in it. “You know what I mean.” He laughed nervously, squeezing her hand. “He likes them tall, blond, and dumb.”
“And I’m short, brunette, and smart. I totally get it.” The song ended and she withdrew from Mac’s arms. “Thanks for the dance.”
“Chloe, wait a minute. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings,” Mac started but she offered him a little wave, desperate to escape.
“See ya.” She fled the dance floor without looking back, pushing through the crowds of people who mingled, trying her best to ignore anyone who called to her as she passed.
But it was so hard, considering how many of them knew her name, who waved at her, trying to get her to come over and chat.
She’d lived her entire life in this town.
Only left for Sacramento to go to college, and even then she’d come home every chance she got until she graduated.
Luck had been on her side when she got the teaching job at the local elementary school.
The very school she attended from kindergarten through eighth grade.
Her mother had been thrilled to keep her in town, since her two older sisters had left as soon as they could. Both of them lived clear across the country and visited sporadically, whenever it suited them.
Chloe’s mom needed her around. Her dad had died a year after she graduated college, having suffered with cancer for two years prior. She’d been there for her parents and was still there for her mom.
Even if she’d wanted to leave, like her sisters, she couldn’t have. Guilt would’ve wrapped too tightly around her heart.
Thankfully, Patrick, the oldest McKenzie brother, volunteered to take her mom home, since he had sleepy children on his hands and her mom’s house was on his way home. So she didn’t have to leave the reception just yet. She considered staying till the bitter end her duty as a bridesmaid.
Relieved, Chloe glanced around, catching sight of the open doors that led out to the terrace. She needed fresh air. Needed to collect her thoughts, chew on the fact that Cameron had watched her a little too closely, which she still didn’t understand. Yet she didn’t want to get her hopes up, either.
Maybe by the time she was finished pondering everything, they’d be serving dessert.
If she couldn’t have Cameron McKenzie, then she could at least have a giant slice of wedding cake.
***
He followed her. Kept track of her all night despite the warning bells going off in his head. Should’ve been relieved when his little brother had taken her onto the dance floor in place of him.
Relief hadn’t been the emotion flowing like lava through his veins, though. Jealousy, hot and deep, had penetrated him watching his brother dance with Chloe Dawson.
His feelings confused the hell out of him.
Cameron still didn’t know what had come over him, asking Chloe to dance. There was something different about her tonight. In the past, she’d always just…been there. His younger siblings’ friend, the skinny, flat-chested girl with braces and glasses. She’d been an awkward mess in her early teens.
And once he’d graduated high school, he’d fled this stifling town and never looked back.
He’d wandered at first, done more than a few risky things that would’ve flipped his parents out if they knew.
Somehow he’d ended up in New York with a camera slung around his neck, snapping photos wherever he could of whatever he could.
He had a good eye and was young and eager for any sort of job that would give him the experience to take him further. Some of the jobs he worked had been losers. But eventually, he’d caught the eye of a staff photographer at Newsweek magazine who’d taken him under his wing.
A few years later, he’d ended up on the front lines, a freelance war photographer.
He was damn good at it, too, his photos appearing in various national magazines and websites.
He’d even earned a Pulitzer nom, not that he’d won.
Until that last tour of Afghanistan, he’d always defied death, destruction, injury.