“Hello?”
I’m almost positive it’s one of the old biddies that stick their nose in everything, calling to see who’s at the house, since they don’t recognize my car. Frankly, it’s not even mine. It’s Brad’s. The bastard. He may eventually get it back, but he’ll have to come fetch it.
“Yes, Esther, I know there’s a strange car in my driveway. It’s Eva.”
I roll my eyes—called it—and kick off my shoes and socks. It’s the sheriff’s wife, the biggest gossip of them all.
“I don’t know how long she’s staying. Alright, you have a good night. Tell Burt I said hello.”
With a sigh, she hangs up the phone and starts a fresh pot of coffee. It’s what you do in a small town when there’s heartbreak. You make coffee and eat something. It doesn’t matter what time of the day it is, there’s always coffee.
I look around my childhood home and find that nothing has changed. Not the paint on the walls, the way the furniture is arranged, or the pictures on the bookshelves. I’m sure my room is exactly how I left it too.
Momma brings two steaming cups of coffee into the living room and hands one to me. My fingers are cold, and the hot mug burns my skin, but I don’t let go. I need to feel something other than betrayal.
“It’s been a while,” Momma starts, sipping the steaming liquid.
“Yes, it has.” My shoulders slump and I place my cup on the coffee table, staring at the light mocha color. “I’m sorry.”
“Oh, Eva,” she sighs. “You always had wanderlust. A thirst for adventure and the unknown. I knew you would leave one day.”
“It was still a shitty way to go. I should have told you beforehand and kept in touch.”
Guilt eats at me. What if something had happened to her? Would anyone have been able to find me?
“Where have you been?”
“Samson.”
When she doesn’t say anything, I look up at her. She’s staring at me with a hurt so thick it suffocates me.
“I’m sorry.”
“I see,” she says, putting her cup down and standing. “It’s late and I’m helping Melanie with a delivery tomorrow, so I have to be up early. I’m sure she would be happy to see you.”
Melanie is the matriarch of Rojas Ranch. She’s an amazingly kind woman, but I wouldn’t want to fight her in a dark alley. She raised two boys while working that ranch, while her husband spent his days in the fields or with the horses.
Momma heads to her bedroom, and the door shuts with a soft click. As I lean back on the couch, my head falls back, and I stare at the ceiling.
This was a mistake. I should have stayed gone.
The storm that was chasing me cracks overhead, the rolling thunder shaking the house. I can feel the power of the earth in my bones during the storms around here. Something about the way the town lies between the mountains makes the storms here better than they were in Samson. Standing, I head out to the porch and wait for the rain. After the thunder and lightning, there’s always rain. The power is displayed like a warning of her wrath, and then the rain comes and washes the sins away. I have a lot of sins I need cleansed from me.
This street is pretty quiet; only a few families live out this way, so when the fat drops of rain start, I run into the road. My lavender hair whips around my face in the wind while my heart is rinsed clean. The scent of rain fills my nostrils and I open my arms wide, catching as much of the water as I can. My head falls back on my shoulders and I spin in a slow circle.
This is what I needed. Just this.
It’s cold, and I’m quickly drenched, but my soul is clean. My bare feet are soaking up all the energy the lightening has forced upon the earth. I’m high on energy and a clean heart.
When I left this town and everyone behind, I was scared. Terrified. Things were being demanded of me that I wasn’t ready for. I was petrified of being stuck here forever, having not experienced life on my own.
Looking back, I’m sorry I left the way I did. Ian and Momma deserved more from me. I have a lot to make up for.
Chapter Three
IAN
My office phones have rung no less than six times in the last fifteen minutes. You would think the town was burning to the damn ground with the way these people are reacting to a strange car parked in front of Miss Trent’s house and a purple-haired girl standing in the street. No one seems to know anything else.
“Stacy!” I holler as my phone rings again.
“Yes, Ian?” the flirty blonde that’s about ten years younger than me asks, leaning against the door to my office.
I’ve known her since she was in diapers and she’s the daughter of the last sheriff. If I want to keep my head where it’s currently located, I’ll keep my distance from her. Her daddy is a damn good shot.
“I’m going out to Miss Trent’s place to see what’s going on. Field these damn calls.”
I’m out of my chair with my sheriff’s cap on and my gun at my hip, stalking toward the green SUV parked out front. Around here, we need vehicles with 4-wheel drive during the winter so SUVs and trucks rule supreme.
Hopping inside, I grip the wheel and take a deep breath. Miss Trent doesn’t have visitors besides my family. Eva disappeared years ago, and no one has seen hide nor hair of her since. From what I understand, she doesn’t even call to check in.
In a town this size, news travels fast, and we don’t get many people just driving through. We’re pretty secluded out here, and it’s the way we like it. Most of the folks are ranchers and like to be left alone.
It’s a few streets over and past my family’s ranch to get to the house I’m looking for. There, in the middle of the street, is a drenched woman, standing with her arms out and her head back, looking completely at peace with her surroundings as she spins in a circle.
Pulling to a stop at the end of the driveway, I grab my jacket and step out.
“Excuse me, ma’am?” I call out, heading directly toward her.
Her head comes up and she stops spinning when she’s facing me. Bright green eyes stop me in my tracks. I know those eyes.
They haunt my dreams.
Every woman I’ve dated has been compared to her and found wanting.
My wildflower.
Eva Trent.
With long strides eating up the distance between us, I reach for her nape and crash my lips to hers. Surprise, anger, frustration, every emotion I’ve had since she left is poured into this kiss. She doesn’t stand there and take my wrath but pushes back with her own.
I demand entrance to her mouth, pushing against her lips. She makes me wait a second but gives in. Coffee and Eva explode over my tongue like a liquor I can’t get enough of. My heart stutters in my chest, skipping a beat at being this damn close to her. She was my everything.
Wrapping her drenched hair around my hand, I control the kiss and limit her movement, diving deeper into her.
Her hands grip my jacket, pulling me against her from chest to hip. Shivers wrack her body and I lift her into my arms, as her legs wrap around my waist. My cock is hard and aching between us. It’s been too long since I got laid, and even longer since I had her. Ten long damn years.
She clings to me, just as desperate for me as I am for her. Every daydream I’ve ever had about how I would react to seeing her again have flown out the window. This girl has been mine since I was five years old. Even when I thought girls were gross, she didn’t count. Eva was mine.