Break the Ice (Road Trip Romance Book 10)

by A. K. Evans

  “Well, you know how much I like getting out and riding,” I started. “Plus, the end of the season is approaching, and I thought it would be fun to come back once more before that happened.”

  “You did good, Mack,” Marley insisted as we reached the front of the chairlift. We waited for the next chair to pass before we moved out behind it to prepare for the one following it. Once we were seated and I had pulled down the safety bar, she added, “We should make this a tradition. I’d totally come back here with you every year for a snowboarding trip.”

  I had fully intended to make that happen already, so I was glad she was on board.

  While the truth was that the season’s end was approaching, I could have delayed this trip a little bit longer and still made sure we had good riding conditions. But I was the one who didn’t have any more time left to waste. I wanted things to be official between us more than they already were.

  I wanted to start giving Marley everything we should have had all along.

  A month ago, she’d said she was done living with their past at the forefront of her mind. I wanted to be able to do the same and start focusing on our future.

  So, it was time to put my plan into action.

  Since we had gotten to one of the lowest spots on the mountain, I knew we’d have a solid ten-minute ride on the lift. This is where I was going to make this happen.

  As I started to fuss with my left glove, I said, “It doesn’t have to be the only tradition we continue. We could come up with a few others. Damn, something isn’t right with my glove.”

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  I carefully slid the glove off and replied, “I don’t know. It feels like there’s something stuck inside.”

  “Snow? You didn’t even fall once, though,” she reasoned.

  Holding the glove out to her, keeping my fingers firmly wrapped around one of the glove’s fingers, I returned, “Your hands are smaller than mine. Can you slip your hand inside and see if you can figure out what it is? It’s not snow.”

  There was no hesitation as Marley immediately pulled her own glove off and moved to put mine on. I was still holding onto it, and the moment she slipped her hand inside and her ring finger went into place, her body tensed as her eyes flew to mine.

  “What is that?” she asked, something changing in the sound of her voice.

  Knowing that I had the ring firmly placed at the base of her finger, I pulled my glove off her hand and smiled at her. She looked down at her finger, saw the diamond sitting there, and tears instantly filled her eyes.

  I took her hand in mine and said, “From the very beginning, there’s been nobody who makes me feel the way you do. I’m so grateful we’ve had the chance to reconnect and find our way back to each other.”

  “Mack,” she rasped as I paused to pull myself together.

  “I’d like to make new traditions with you as my wife, Marley,” I began again. “I’ll spend every day doing what I can to make you happy. And I promise I’ll love you the way you deserve to be loved. Will you marry me?”

  “Yes,” she cried.

  I let go of her hand, reached up to the side of her neck, and curled my fingers around her there. Tugging her toward me, I kissed her mouth. “You make me so happy, baby. I love you.”

  “I love you, too,” she murmured as she sniffled and wiped away her tears.

  Although it was cold, I removed my other glove, linked my fingers with hers, and kissed the back of her hand. “We’ll get to where we’re supposed to be,” I promised.

  Her fingers tightened against mine. “I know.”

  Just like that, the last lingering bit of worry and regret I’d been feeling about Marley and me had vanished. We were finally back on the path we should have been on all along, and I no longer had any worries about us veering off track. We were too important to each other, and after all we’d been through, we’d learned just how precious time was.

  That’s why we didn’t wait.

  Six months after I proposed to Marley, we got married. We took some time together to enjoy just being the two of us, but nearly two years after we officially committed ourselves to each other, we welcomed our daughter, Rhea, into our lives.

  Preview of In Plain Sight

  Prologue

  Vance

  I needed sleep.

  But just a bit more than I needed that, I needed to eat.

  And since I wasn’t really up to the task myself, I decided my best option was to make a stop at my favorite spot to grab breakfast, the Sugar Maple Diner. The staff was friendly, the food was good, and the service was quick.

  Considering I’d just gotten back into town after spending the last week and a half chasing a skip, the Sugar Maple Diner offered exactly what I needed and wanted at the moment.

  While there was no question that things could get exciting from time to time, the truth was that the life of a bounty hunter wasn’t for the faint of heart.

  Sometimes, there were long hours at unsavory locations. Generally, doing anything that involved criminals wasn’t pleasant, so I often had to take extra precautions to make sure I kept myself safe while still being able to do my job.

  Capturing fugitives was the end goal, and there was definitely a thrill that went along with it. Since I was good at what I did, I often found that the benefits of doing the work that I did exceeded the risks and downsides.

  “How was everything for you this morning, Vance?”

  With my last piece of toast in my hand, I looked up at my waitress, Penny—which was short for Penelope—and answered, “It was great. Thanks.”

  “Want a refill on the coffee or a muffin to go?” she asked.

  I shook my head. “I’m good, Penny. Just the check whenever you have a second. No rush.”

  Penny had been working at the diner for the last few years. She was a young woman, easily in her early twenties, and she worked really hard. Not long after she’d started working here, I’d learned that she was working to put herself through school. Penny had always been pleasant to be around, and not once had an order ever come out wrong.

  “I’m just going to check on a few other tables, and then I’ll grab it for you,” she replied.

  “Sounds good.”

  With that, Penny took off in the opposite direction toward another one of her tables. It was early in the morning, just before nine o’clock, and the place was packed. Conversation mixed with the sound of forks or knives hitting the plates or the bell ringing from back in the kitchen filled the space. It was a busy atmosphere, which felt strange on some level.

  This was Red Clover, a small town in northern Vermont. For a place with such a small population, it was odd that any place would be so busy. But I guess that was the thing about small towns—people knew the best spots to go, and they frequented them regularly.

  Of course, being right next to a college town often meant that the students found themselves visiting Red Clover.

  As I popped the last bite of my toast from my breakfast in my mouth, I guessed that the guys sitting at the table Penny was currently checking in with were students at the local university. It was relatively apparent they were college kids, considering how young they looked and the fact that they were all wearing their school’s name on their shirts or hats.

  Penny laughed at something one of the guys said, and I couldn’t help but feel my lips twitch. It felt like it had been a lifetime since I was that age, doing anything I could to impress a girl.

  Now, being single at the age of thirty-four, I had to wonder if perhaps I needed to take a hint from these kids. I’d done the random hook-ups and dated sporadically over the last few years, but it was getting old. Or, maybe that wasn’t it. Maybe I realized that I was getting old.

  Before I could contemplate that for too long and start to feel a bit depressed about that aspect of my life, something changed in the air. Glancing around my immediate area, I could see that everyone else still seemed to be lost in their conversations. They were obl
ivious to the tension I suddenly felt in the dining area.

  With the exception of that feeling, nothing seemed out of place. I couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary, until, of course, I did.

  I looked toward the entrance to the diner and saw a young guy, wearing a murderous expression on his face, making his way across the space. Ignoring everyone around him, he marched forward, and it was clear he knew precisely where he wanted to go.

  He wasn’t coming in my direction, but he was heading to my side of the restaurant, just a little farther back from where I was sitting. I followed his eyes to where his gaze was pinned and instantly felt my body get tense. This guy seemed to have one target in mind, and that target was Penny.

  Not wanting to make assumptions, but refusing to not be prepared, I kept my focus on him and waited.

  It was a stupid mistake.

  Because barely a moment later, he walked up behind Penny and grabbed her by the arm to spin her around.

  “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he asked.

  Penny looked mortified. She also looked terrified. “Chase… I … what are you doing here?” she stammered.

  “Clearly, I need to keep an eye on you,” he pointed out. He jerked his head toward the college kids Penny had just been laughing with and added, “You’re standing here flirting with all these dudes. How long have you been cheating on me?”

  “Chase, please, I’m working right now,” Penny pleaded with him. “I’m not cheating on you. I never have. Can you just go home, and we’ll talk about this later?”

  At this point, I’d scanned the restaurant. Everyone was cowering in their seats. Well, everyone except one woman on the opposite side of where Penny and Chase were standing. She was slowly making her approach toward them, and at the sight of the gorgeous woman, I was suddenly not sure how I felt about this.

  Judging by everyone else’s reactions, nobody was going to get involved in what was happening here. The last thing I needed was two women being hurt, so I stood up. And at that very moment, Chase noted the woman approaching behind Penny.

  That’s when he reached for Penny, spun her around in his hold, and said, “Don’t come any closer.”

  “Let her go,” the woman said, continuing to take slow, deliberate steps toward the pair.

  I moved in closer, but I did it slowly. Having the element of surprise would only help in this situation.

  “Please, don’t do this, Chase,” Penny begged.

  “Shut up, bitch,” he ordered, tightening his hold on her. With his eyes pinned on the woman approaching, he demanded, “Stay out of this before you get yourself into trouble.”

  Completely unfazed by him or his threats, the woman returned calmly, “I’m sorry. I can’t do that.”

  I was only a few feet away, when Chase whirled around and saw me standing there. In an instant, he reached out to the table where the college kids were seated and lifted a steak knife from it. Then he pressed that knife against Penny’s throat.

  Gasps filled the air around the entire restaurant. Nobody but me and the gorgeous woman approaching from the opposite side was attempting to do anything to help. Of course, once the knife was involved, she and I had both stopped our approach, but neither of us retreated.

  “I swear, I’ll slit her throat if either of you comes any closer,” Chase shouted.

  “Man, listen, just calm down,” I started. “You need to think about what you’re doing here.”

  “I’m not the one who needs to think,” he retorted. “Penny’s clearly the one who’s stepping out on me.”

  I did not think for one second that Penny was the kind of girl who’d be unfaithful in a relationship. She was friendly and sweet, but she didn’t strike me as the type. That said, I guess I wouldn’t have blamed her for cheating on this guy, if that had been the case.

  I decided to try a different tactic. “I get it,” I told him. “But if she’s the one who’s done you wrong, why do you want to pay the price?”

  He seemed confused by my question.

  That was precisely what I wanted. Because while I didn’t want to take my eyes off of him and alert him to anything, I was acutely aware of the fact that the mystery woman was still approaching just as confidently and steadily as she had been before he picked up the knife.

  “Take a look around you,” I urged him in an attempt to clarify my position. “You’ve got a whole restaurant filled with witnesses here. I can’t say for sure, but it’s likely that someone has already called the police. If you hurt her, it’s only going to be worse for you.”

  The moment I got the words out of my mouth, the knife was gone from Penny’s throat. She was pushed forward toward me, and I caught her in my arms just before she fell. Once I’d gotten her steady on her feet, I was prepared to jump in and make sure the other woman wasn’t hurt.

  But I was nearly knocked on my ass at the sight before me. This woman I’d never seen before had gotten the knife out of Chase’s hand and had already taken him down to the ground.

  He was struggling against her, and while she was doing a hell of a job holding him down, he was still much bigger than she was. With his size and weight, I knew she needed some reinforcements, so I moved close and helped.

  “I’ve got him,” I told her.

  It was then that her eyes met mine, and I wondered if I’d made a mistake in assuming I could keep this man down on my own. I was lost in her beautiful eyes.

  “You sure?” she asked.

  That snapped me out of it. I put a tighter hold on Chase and confirmed, “Yeah. You’re good. Check on Penny.”

  With that, she stood and walked away.

  Minutes later, the police came in. While Chase was handcuffed, other officers started asking questions. Given my line of work, I knew most of the members of the department already. I gave them my account of what happened, noting that I saw a couple of them talking with the only other person who’d been brave enough to step in.

  When I’d finished up with them, Penny approached me.

  “Hey, sweetheart, are you okay?” I asked her.

  “Thank you, Vance, for helping. I don’t… I don’t know what came over Chase today,” she murmured.

  I placed my hand on her shoulder. I had a feeling this wasn’t the first time she’d seen him lose his cool. The notion that he’d been abusive with this young woman before didn’t sit well with me, but I wasn’t going to dump more on her right now.

  “I’m just relieved you weren’t hurt,” I insisted.

  “If it weren’t for you and Bellamy, I don’t know what he would have done,” she replied.

  “Who?”

  “Bellamy,” she repeated. “She was the woman who told Chase to let me go and then took him down.”

  Bellamy.

  Grateful to now know her name, I said, “Right. Well, luckily, nobody was hurt. I don’t think he’ll be out running around Red Clover anytime soon, but do you have a safe place to stay tonight?”

  She nodded. “Jessica, one of the other waitresses, is going to let me stay with her tonight.”

  I dipped my chin. “Good. If you need anything, just let me know.”

  “Thank you.”

  At that, Penny walked away.

  I scanned the restaurant looking for Bellamy. I wanted to talk to her, but before I had a chance to do that, I glanced out the window and saw her driving out of the parking lot.

  If I thought I was intrigued by her before, she had just taken that fascination up a notch. I was a bounty hunter. Finding people is what I did. And I had every intention of finding Bellamy.

  Get In Plain Sight here.

  Also by A.K. Evans

  The Everything Series

  Everything I Need

  Everything I Have

  Everything I Want

  Everything I Love

  Everything I Give

  Cunningham Security Series

  Obsessed

  Overcome

  Desperate

  Solitude


  Burned

  Unworthy

  Surrender

  Betrayed

  Revived

  Hearts & Horsepower

  Control the Burn

  Behind the Wheel

  Far Beyond Repair

  How to Rebuild

  Out of Alignment

  Archer Tactical

  Line of Fire

  Collateral Damage

  Silent Target

  Rock Stars & Romance

  Fragile

  Wish

  Closer

  Underneath It All

  Terrible Lie

  Complication

  Harper Security Ops

  Broken

  Tempted

  Road Trip Romance

  Tip the Scales

  Play the Part

  One Wrong Turn

  Just a Fling

  Meant to Be

  Take the Plunge

  Miss the Shot

  In the Cards

  Only in Dreams

  Break the Ice

  In Plain Sight

  About the Author

  A.K. Evans is a contemporary romance author of over thirty published novels. While she enjoys writing a good romantic suspense novel, Andrea’s favorite books to write have been her extreme sports romances. That might have something to do with the fact that she, along with her husband and two sons, can’t get enough of extreme sports.

  Before becoming a writer, Andrea did a brief stint in the insurance and financial services industry and managed her husband’s performance automotive business. That love of extreme sports? She used to drive race cars!

  When Andrea isn’t writing, she can be found homeschooling her two sons, doing yoga, snowboarding, reading, or traveling with her family. She and her husband are currently taking road trips throughout the country to visit all 50 states with their boys.