Chapter 2
There’s a skip to my step the whole way back to the station.
I can’t get the thought of dating Jade out of my head.
I could tell by her wide eyes and red cheeks that she didn’t mean to bate me the way she did, but fuck, am I glad she did.
I was tempted to ask her out right then and there, damn phone.
I don’t know what it is about the mysterious baker, but something just calls to me.
I didn’t believe in love at first sight until her.
But I swear, that very first day I walked into that bakery, I knew.
She was the girl of my dreams. I’ve tried flirting every day since, but she’s always been a little shy.
I enter the building and greet our receptionist, handing her the coffee I bought, and make my way past Ian and Garrett, two of my deputies. As I head back towards my office, my brother steps out of the lunch room.
“Nice face, loser.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I scowl.
He waves his hand in a circular motion around my face. “You look like a love-sick puppy.”
“Fuck off.” I swat his hand, giving him an irritated look before continuing my way to my office.
With three younger brothers, someone is always bound to irritate me.
Cade follows, and when he eyes the bakery bag I just put on my desk, I watch as his lips curve into a knowing smirk.
“Ahh. Now I know the reason for that stupid love-sick face. You went to see your little baker crush.” He gives me a shit-eating grin, and I level him with a stare.
“Unless you have some files or cases to update me on, get lost.” I pick up a pen from my desk and chuck it at him as a trail of laughter follows him out the door.
Cade is one of my three brothers. He’s a single dad to two and also a detective here in Lavender Falls. Unfortunately for him, that means he works for me.
It’s not a secret amongst my brothers that I’m a little infatuated with Jade.
They’ve been watching me pine and make a fool out of myself for the past year and a half.
Honestly, I didn’t think I’d ever be interested in dating again after Lauren left.
We were twenty-four when we met, and I thought I was doing everything right.
It was a shock when she just up and left town one day five years ago, leaving nothing behind but a note explaining how she wasn’t happy here.
I can’t say I blame her, though. She came from a big city, and Lavender Falls is as far from big as you can get.
Not to mention, I had just been promoted as Sheriff and my brother had just lost his wife.
I wasn’t there for her the way I should have been.
Instead, I was too focused on becoming the best Sheriff I could and trying to be there for Cade.
I felt like eight years of my life had been wasted and haven’t really given a second's notice to another woman since.
And then one day I walked into the bakery and saw Jade. It was like time stopped moving. She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.
I don’t really know much about her other than she’s Sarah’s best friend and they opened the bakery together. From what I’ve heard, she was Sarah’s roommate in college and moved here about four years ago.
She’s stunning with her rich shoulder-length brown hair, beautiful green eyes with specs of gold, and the cutest freckles that dot her nose. She’s curvy in all the right places, and I’ve found myself daydreaming often about what it would be like to have her beneath me.
If she’s Sarah’s friend, she’s gotta be about ten years younger than me, but that hasn’t stopped me from wanting her.
She has such an air about her. She’s one of the kindest people I’ve ever met.
Her personality is so strikingly different from Sarah’s it’s hard to believe they are as close as they are.
I’ve known Sarah since she was six-years-old.
When she moved to Lavender Falls, my youngest brother Hayes took a liking to her, and since her grandpa used to help out on the farm, she was over all the time.
The two of them were always up to mischief, and you’d never see one without the other. This lasted well into high school.
A soft knock at my door gets my attention, and I look up and spot my best friend and deputy, Ian, standing in the doorway. Ian also grew up in Lavender Falls, and we joined the force around the same time. “Hey, Sheriff. I just wanted to update you on the Collins case.”
“Sure. Come on in. Tell me what you got.” I gesture to the chair on the other side of the room and take a bite of my square. Goddamn, this is good.
Ian pulls the chair up to my desk and slaps a folder down, flipping it open.
“We can officially mark it as closed. His ex-wife was tracked down all the way by the border of Alberta and Saskatchewan. She was arrested on scene, and the kids are back in Rick’s custody.”
“Thank God.” Two weeks ago, Rick’s ex-wife picked up his kids from school and took off. His ex was recently out of prison and not supposed to be in contact with the kids. It’s good to hear they’ve been located.
He flips the pages of the folder, stopping on a missing person report. It’s of a blonde who looks to be about twenty-seven, which I confirm by reading the provided information.
“She was abducted from a town near the BC-Alberta border. It’s believed they are traveling into BC. Direction unknown, so Cade figures it wouldn’t hurt to slap some photos up around town.”
“Sounds good. What else you got?” I nudge towards the folder as he begins to flip through, once again coming to a stop and pulling out a ticket.
“Ms. Johnson,” he grumbles, and a wicked smirk rises across my lips.
“Who was the lucky guy?” I lean back in my chair, brushing the crumbs off my shirt before resting my arms behind my head.
“That would unfortunately be me.” He groans. “I really tried to ignore her, but I kid you not, she followed me a damn good two blocks before she cornered me and grabbed my junk.”
A shudder runs through him, and that has me doubling over in laughter.
“It’s not funny, that lady is nuts. And how she’s so speedy for her age is beyond me. I was practically sprinting and she still caught up to me.” He shudders again, and my laugh deepens.
Ms. Johnson is a seventy-six-year-old resident of Lavender Falls, and while she may look like a sweet and innocent old lady with her poofs of dark-grey hair and reading glasses, she’s widely known around the station for groping police officers.
More often than not, it’s Ian who’s the unlucky bastard.
Just as Ian goes to flip another page of the folder, we’re interrupted by my youngest brother Hayes.
“Hey, think I can get a ride home? I’ve been in town all weekend without my truck.” He steps into the office, looking a little worse for wear with two black eyes and holding a bloody rag to his nose.
“Jesus Christ, what the hell happened to you?” I look him over, noting a rip in his shirt.
“You know the other night when I stayed behind at Buckles because of that smoking hot brunette?”
Of course I remember. It’s a regular occurrence for us.
Hayes will join us for a drink and then ditch us for the first buckle bunny that shows interest. Saturday night when my shift ended, my brothers and I got together for a couple drinks at the local bar, Buckles, and all night long some brunette in shorts so short I wouldn’t even consider them shorts was all over Hayes. He just eats that shit up.
“Yup.” I roll my eyes, waiting for him to get on with it.
“Well, I spent the rest of the weekend with her, and as it turns out, she’s married.” He lets that sink in for a bit before going on. “And I just got the pleasure of meeting her husband while I was balls deep inside her.”
My eyes shoot to my hairline, and I rub the spot between them to relieve the headache that’s already forming.
My youngest brother is Lavender Falls biggest playboy and has found himself in trouble a few times, but this definitely takes the cake.
As a million dollar Bronc rider, the women flock to him.
“While I’m not proud of it, I do feel like it’s a little funny because you’ll never guess who her husband is.”
A smile stretches his face, and all I wanna do is smack it off.
“Beck Maythorn.” He snickers, and my jaw drops.
“Jesus Christ, Hayes. Your rival’s wife? Really, man?”
“I didn’t know! But hey, at least I got something to throw him off his game in the pen.” He waggles his brows, and I glare at him in return.
Beckett Maythorn has been Hayes biggest rival since his early bronc days. The two often neck and neck at rodeos. I didn’t even know the guy was married, which is odd in a town so small. Everyone usually knows everything about everyone.
“You have issues. Now get out of my station.” I stand and shout for Cade.
“What’s up? Oh, hey, man. What the hell happened to you?” My brother scowls at Hayes.
“Slept with a dude's wife.” He shrugs, like it’s no big deal.
Cade’s mouth drops open. “What the fuck? What the hell were you thinking, man?”
“Does it make it better that it was Beck Maythorn’s wife?”
“Wait. As in that burly bronc rider that hates your guts?”
“That’s the one.” Hayes shoots finger guns at Cade, and we both shake our heads.
“Okay, I’ve got shit to do. Hayes, take your drama out of my station. Cade, drive him home.”
My middle brother sighs. “Come on, then. And don’t get blood anywhere in my truck.” He smacks the back of Hayes’s head as he walks past him, and I don’t blame him. I’d like to give him a little swat too.
Two hours later, I’m lost in paperwork when Cade knocks on my door.
“Ran into mom when I dropped Hayes off. Her and the tornadoes were out on the side-by-side. I was instructed to invite you out for dinner this evening. Wrenley will be there.”
“I thought she was staying in Hadley for the summer?”
“I guess she changed her mind. Ma said she’ll be staying in the guest cabin for a while.”
“Huh. Well, it’ll be good to have her back then.”
“Maysie is over the moon. She missed Wren.”