Ranger’s Wildflower (EAGLE RIVER RANGER’S #5)

Chapter 1

Ace

The old porch board creaked beneath my boot as I shifted against the post outside The Last Stand Tavern.

Morning sunlight stretched across Main Street, catching dust in the air and glinting off the windows of the little shops lining the road. Across the street, the flower shop’s front curtains moved slightly.

Right on time.

I checked my watch anyway.

Not because I cared what time it was.

Because waiting looked less pathetic when you pretended to have somewhere else to be.

The bell above Bloom & Vine’s door chimed softly.

And there she was.

Tessa Bloom stepped out carrying an armful of wildflowers so bright they looked almost out of place against the quiet mountain town. Yellow, purple, deep orange. A mess of color spilling against her green shirt.

Her curls caught the sunlight like copper fire.

Damn.

I pushed off the post before I could think better of it.

“Morning, Tessa.”

She kept walking.

Not fast enough to miss hearing me.

Just determined enough to pretend she hadn’t.

A grin tugged at my mouth despite myself.

“Tough crowd today.”

That got me a pause.

She stopped near the edge of the porch steps and slowly turned her head.

Those blue-green eyes landed on me with the same wary look she always gave me lately—like she already knew I was trouble before I opened my mouth.

“Good morning, Ace.”

Polite.

Cool.

Not an ounce of invitation in it.

Still, hearing my name in her voice did stupid things to my chest.

I stepped off the porch and moved into her path carefully, giving her room to walk around me if she wanted.

“You know,” I said, “most people smile when they see me.”

“One of us should probably be concerned about that.”

I barked out a laugh before I could stop it.

There it was.

That tiny flicker at the corner of her mouth.

Gone so fast I almost missed it.

But I saw it.

Tessa adjusted the flowers in her arms, fingers tightening slightly around the stems. “Some of us actually have work to do.”

“I’m working.”

Her gaze slid over me slowly. Boots. Jeans. T-shirt. Empty hands.

“Really.”

“Absolutely.”

“And what exactly is your job this morning?”

I looked straight at her.

“You.”

A breeze swept down the street, stirring loose strands of red curls around her face.

For half a second, she forgot to hide her reaction.

Then the wall slammed back into place.

“Tried that line on all the women in town?”

“Just you.”

This time the silence lasted a little longer.

I stepped closer, close enough to catch the scent of lavender drifting off her skin beneath the flowers.

Close enough to notice the faint shadows beneath her eyes like she hadn’t been sleeping well.

“You ever gonna give me a real shot, Tessa?”

The teasing left her expression completely.

Her shoulders stiffened.

Not dramatic.

Not obvious.

But enough.

Her eyes flicked toward the Ranger emblem carved into the tavern wall behind me before settling back on my face.

“No.”

The answer landed clean and sharp.

I swallowed around the strange tightness in my chest. “That a hard no?”

“That’s a smart no.”

There was no heat in it.

That somehow made it worse.

“Tessa—”

“Every time trouble hits this town,” she said quietly, “you Rangers are standing in the middle of it.”

I opened my mouth.

Closed it again.

Because she wasn’t wrong.

Her grip shifted on the flowers again, knuckles paling slightly beneath the stems.

“I built a quiet life here,” she continued. “I’d like to keep it that way.”

Something low and protective twisted hard in my chest.

“I’d never let anything happen to you.”

The words came out rougher than I intended.

Too honest.

Tessa’s eyes searched mine for one long second.

And for the first time since I’d met her…

she looked tempted to believe me.

That scared her.

I saw it happen.

Saw the exact moment she pulled back emotionally.

Like someone shutting a door.

“I’m sure you mean that,” she said softly. “But sometimes meaning it isn’t enough.”

Then she stepped around me.

The flowers brushed lightly against my arm as she passed.

I turned and watched her walk away, sunlight catching in her curls while the bell above her shop door chimed softly again.

Not afraid of me.

That was the problem.

Tessa Bloom was afraid of wanting me anyway.