Chapter 3
Three
Paisley’s dreams were plagued with furtive shadows that had her tossing most of the night.
She was uncharacteristically up with the sun, retreating to her office to try to work.
Deadlines waited for no stalker. But between anxiety over what she might find next and anticipation of seeing Ty, her focus was shot.
She hated this. Hated that this person had distracted her enough she couldn’t lose herself in the worlds she built. Hated that she was nervous in her own house. Hated that, in the wee hours of the night, she’d spent some time scrolling through real estate listings and considered moving.
She loved her little bungalow, damn it! It was hers.
She’d bought it outright with her royalties after divorce number two—a major point of pride and mark of her success.
The idea that someone had ruined her personal haven made her physically ill.
Maybe she was overreacting. Maybe this was all just some awkward but well-intentioned person inadvertently messing with her head.
But her gut said it wasn’t, and she always trusted her gut.
Giving up on achieving anything productive, she loaded the car with her weekend bag, her laptop, and all Duke’s considerable gear.
She’d head out early, opt for the scenic route.
If a tiny voice in the back of her mind said she was being paranoid by taking the long way around the city and doubling back several times before finally hitting I-40 East, she ignored it in favor of the latest Lucy Score audiobook she’d bought for the trip.
The stress began to fall away with every mile further from Nashville and every chapter of the grumpy, taciturn hero falling, despite his best intentions, for the sunshiny heroine.
Nobody did that trope like Lucy. And if the story left her hoping for a similar reaction from her own grumpy hero, well, she had four hours to get that romanticism under control.
Despite the circuitous route and multiple stops to let Duke stretch his legs, she still hit Eden’s Ridge a couple of hours before Ty was due to get off work.
She drove slowly through downtown. It was cute, comprised of a few streets of businesses, with cross streets leading to residential areas.
She spotted a diner, a two-screen movie theater, and an adorable selection of shops with whimsical names like Moonbeams and Sweet Dreams. For a moment, she considered stopping to take a walking tour with Duke, but something made her keep driving on out of town.
Ty had told her his place was a little hard to find.
Better to drive on out and find it while there was still daylight, then come back to Eden’s Ridge to take in whatever there was to see.
The world and most signs of civilization seemed to fall away as she followed the winding roads, navigating switchbacks and making her way up the mountain.
Yeah, definitely a good plan to find this place in the daylight.
In the backseat, Duke pressed his nose to the glass, panting with excitement as the trees rolled by.
When she spotted the right number on a mailbox at the top of a drive, she exhaled with relief. She’d turn around and find her way back to town. But as she pulled in, she saw Ty’s truck and a sheriff’s cruiser parked in front of the tidy little cabin. Was he home?
As if she’d summoned him with a thought, he stepped out onto the porch in well-worn jeans and an untucked, plaid flannel shirt.
His thick brown hair was rumpled, as if he’d been running his fingers through it.
Her heart gave a simultaneous lift and lurch at the sight of him.
Not because he looked good enough to eat, and not because of the impending orgasms. It wasn’t even because the big bad Ranger turned cop could protect her from the nebulous threat of her stalker.
No, her traitorous heart had only ever done this for this man.
The first love who’d miraculously fallen back into her life.
That wasn’t who they were to each other anymore.
Hadn’t been for half a lifetime. That kind of relationship was well outside the bounds of the fun, casual thing they’d agreed to.
The parameters she’d set rather than see him walk away again.
She’d take whatever he’d give her and be thankful.
But as she slid out of the car, she was grateful for needing to deal with Duke because she didn’t know the proper way to greet him.
A smile and a wave? A hug? A kiss? She wasn’t used to the uncertainty and didn’t much care for it.
“I’m early. I didn’t expect you to be home.”
“Took the afternoon off.”
To clean up his bachelor pad? Because he was excited to see her? Pitter patter went her foolish heart.
Don’t be an idiot.
Ty strode down the steps as she sprung Duke from his travel harness. With an ecstatic bark, the dog raced over to say hi before bounding away to pee and sniff.
“Will he stick close?”
Eyes on the dog instead of the man, Paisley scooped a hand through her hair. “Yeah.” Great. Had she forgotten how to even talk to him?
“Good.”
She barely had a chance to gasp as Ty slid both hands into her hair, tipping her face up and kissing her senseless.
After one hard jolt, she melted against him, hands curling around those muscular forearms as he laid siege to her mouth.
Every cell of her body pulled toward his and every thought emptied out of her head but the taste and feel of him and the answering clarion call of her own heart as every good intention to hold herself emotionally distant crumbled to absolute dust.
Paisley dimly registered a cheerful Don’t forget about me! bark before Duke barreled into their legs.
Ty grunted, pulling her close to stabilize them both, even as he used one hand to push down the dog. “Hi.”
“Hi,” she murmured.
He looked just as shell-shocked by the intensity of his greeting as she felt. At least it wasn’t just her.
He cleared his throat. “We should bring in your stuff.”
“Okay.” She popped the trunk and grabbed her suitcase and laptop bag. “Everything else is Duke’s.”
Ty went brows up. “Aren’t your kind supposed to travel like you won’t see home for a month?”
Rolling her eyes at the patently sexist statement, she shouldered the computer case.
“Not all women pack for the apocalypse. I don’t need much.
Duke, on the other hand, has a short attention span and does better when he’s got lots of toys.
I packed to keep him entertained while we entertain each other. ”
Those hazel eyes went dark. “Noted.”
Paisley followed him into the cabin. She wasn’t sure what she’d expected, but this wasn’t it.
It was small. Far smaller than she’d anticipated.
A set of steep, narrow stairs that were more like a ladder led up to an open loft, where she could just make out a bed beyond the half-wall.
The whole thing was one, big open room, except for what was probably a bathroom beneath the loft.
A vaulted ceiling saved the place from feeling cramped, as did the windows everywhere that let in the light and the trees.
Ty tossed Duke’s dog bed onto a spare swatch of floor near the wood stove and carried the bags of other stuff toward the kitchen occupying one corner.
“Bathroom’s through that door. Bedroom’s up there.
I’ll haul up your suitcase when you’re ready.
” Divesting himself of all Duke’s accoutrements, he shoved his hands into his back pockets, an old tell that said he was more nervous than he wanted to let on. Somehow that made her relax a little.
“It’s cozy.” And it was, even if it was rather Spartan.
She didn’t see a lot of Ty here. The place was ruthlessly neat.
Probably a holdover from his years in the Army.
Was the lack of stuff a sign he hadn’t gotten over the expectation that he had to be prepared to roll out for a mission at any moment?
That had been his life as a Ranger for years.
It was why he’d left her after high school, breaking her heart in one fell swoop rather than by degrees by trying to make it work.
They eyed each other from opposite sides of the couch. Maybe she should just lay one on him like she had at the wedding. If they got on to the naked portion of the weekend, they’d probably both be more comfortable. And she could relegate him back to the status of sexy boy toy. Maybe.
“Will Duke be okay on his own here for a couple hours?”
Paisley blinked away her visions of stripping Ty out of that shirt. “As long as I feed him first and hook him up with his toys. Why?”
“I thought we’d head into town for dinner. It’s early enough yet you can get a little tour of the place before we hit up the tavern. You still like pizza?”
“Is the sky blue?”
He cracked a smile that left her feeling flustered and out of sorts. That smile had always made her a little stupid.
She hadn’t expected to go out. In all honesty, she’d expected them to hole up and exhaust each other for the weekend.
Dinner in town was…date-like. It felt like the kind of thing you did in a relationship.
They’d both been very clear that wasn’t what they were doing.
But she was more than a little curious about what his normal life was like here, and she wasn’t about to turn down the chance to spend more time with him—in or out of bed.
“We can get dinner to go.”
Ty pulled his attention back to Paisley, holding in a wince. He was being a lousy date. “What? No, it’s fine.”
One dark brow winged up. “Are you sure? Because you seem about as jumpy as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.”
He hoped like hell that impression was more because she could read him than that he’d lost all ability to compartmentalize as a civilian. But she wasn’t wrong. His instincts had been jangling since they got to town.
“Sorry I’m so distracted. It’s just, we’re being followed.”