Prologue
CHANCE
* * *
Love.
I only loved one woman in my life, and that was nearly fifteen years ago.
Sure, I have my fun. I pick up a lady at The Dusty Rose now and again, maybe even take her out a time or two.
But that’s it. I’ve only felt that spark once, and I’ve never found it since.
So I stopped thinking about love. Bachelorhood isn’t so bad. I love the land, the animals, the work around the ranch. Hell, I even love my new brothers.
Damn it, though, the two of them brought romantic love into the house. Within weeks. They had no trouble finding it right here in Bayfield, my hometown. To be fair, they didn’t actually find love. Love seemed to find them. But love never found me, not in fifteen years.
Granted, I haven’t exactly been looking, and life has been a fucking tornado since my father’s death. I’m still a person of interest in the death of Joey Hopkins. I’m innocent, and I’m pretty sure the information Sadie uncovered will go a long way in proving it, but still…
It all gets to a guy after a while.
“I need to ride like the wind, boy,” I say to Raphael, my midnight-black quarter horse, as I groom his flank with the curry comb.
I’m on my own at the ranch today. Miles is taking care of Sadie, who needs some serious time off. After what she’s been through, fuck. I haven’t seen them and don’t plan to. They haven’t left his bedroom as far as I know. Austin has gone with Carly to her therapy session in Billings.
So I’m taking the morning off too. Just Raphael and me and the sunshine.
I need an escape.
Ivory, a gorgeous cremello mare, snorts in the next stall. She’s the horse Carly was grooming when Austin first laid eyes on her. He’s told me the story a hundred times if he’s told me once—how he was a goner the first time he saw her.
Miles says the same thing about Sadie. As soon as she sauntered up to him in that bar and asked him to take her panties, he was all in. Doesn’t sound much like a love story, but the look in Miles’s eyes when he tells it removes all doubt.
Maybe I should go over to that bar sometime.
“What do you think, buddy?” I brush a tangle out of Raphael’s mane. “You think there’s a woman out there for me?”
“I’d like to think there is.”
That voice—melodic with just a touch of sexy rasp.
I drop the curry comb, and it lands on the hay-covered dirt with a thud.
I turn.
Standing in the door to the stable is a mirage.
A mirage from fifteen years ago.
It can’t be. It just can’t.
“Avery? Avery Marsh?”
“Hello, Chance.”
God damn.
She was just in my thoughts.
One woman. I’ve loved only one woman in my life. People called it puppy love because we were seniors in high school, but I knew the truth. I knew what I felt was special.
My heart shattered when she left. She and her mother moved away a few months before our high school graduation, and I never heard from her again.
Not once.
But here she stands.
I know the stable stinks of hay and horse manure, but I swear to God, all I smell is the sweet citrus floral of Avery’s perfume. She always smelled so good.
“I can’t believe it’s you.” I blink to confirm it’s really her.
“I’m actually here on…” She looks down at her feet.
Her blond hair is pulled up into a loose bun, and she’s wearing black pants, a white silky blouse, and a dark red blazer.
But I see her in cut-off shorts and a violet tank top, her silky wheat-colored waves tumbling over her shoulders.
That’s what she was wearing the last time we saw each other.
Those were the clothes she put back on after we made love in that spring on the edge of the ranch. We took each other’s virginity that day, and the next day she left.
“Here on what?” I ask.
“On business, Chance.” She draws in a breath as she flips open a small black case to reveal a badge. “I’m a special agent with the FBI.”
What? I never imagined her going into law enforcement, or her being back.
My eyes widen. “What? The EPA—”
“The EPA is doing its own investigation. I’m here about the death of Joseph Hopkins.”
I shake my head. “I don’t understand. We’ve been working with the local sheriff’s office.”
“Not anymore.” She closes her badge holder. “As of now, the Feds are taking over this investigation. That means I’m here on Bridger Ranch until further notice.”
1
AVERY
* * *
My heart is racing, and my flesh is on fire.
Chance.
Chance Bridger.
I’m standing in front of Chance Bridger—the man who broke my heart fifteen years ago.
You think there’s a woman out there for me?
I’d like to think there is.
What was I thinking, answering him like that?
I knew he was single. That he’d never left the ranch. I’m in the FBI and have access to all the intel I want on him. Except I hadn’t looked into him until my supervisor put me on the case. To do so would have been too painful.
McGuinness knew the case was in my hometown. What he didn’t know was that I’d been in a relationship with the suspect…and more.
One look at Chance and I’m that eighteen-year-old girl again, believing his professions of love and devotion, giving him the gift I could only give once. Trusting him. Loving him.
God, after all these years, the wound still hasn’t healed. I didn’t want to come back, but this is my job, and my hometown. I’m the best person for the case.
I’m a trained special agent for the FBI, so I know how to keep my emotions in check. No way can he have any idea how much I’m quaking inside at this moment, how my legs are jelly and I’m forcing them to stand.
How amazing he looks. Older. Bigger. He was big at eighteen, but now? Broad shoulders, barrel chest, the same chiseled jaw, and piercing eyes. He’s even more handsome now than he was back then, which I didn’t think was possible.
“You?” Chance shakes his head, his blue eyes boring into me. “Avery. I can’t fucking believe it.”
I solidify my stance. “Believe it. I just got back from Detective Peterson’s office. He wasn’t happy that we’re taking the reins, but he’ll deal.”
“He’s a dick,” Chance mutters. He runs a hand over the back of his neck.
So are you.
I want to say the words so badly. I want to cry and scream and shout about how he shattered my heart all those years ago. I want answers, damn it. I deserve answers. He left me broken. So broken. And alone when I needed him the most.
But I maintain my professional countenance like a heavy winter coat because I don’t have a choice. He hurt me once. I’ll work this case and nothing more. I’ll move on, just like I did before. But I have my eyes wide open now. I know what Chance is really like and I will protect my heart.
I shrug, playing nonchalant. “Locals are never happy when the Feds take over. We’re used to it.”