by Jessie Evans
Elodie reached up, cupping his handsome face in her hand. “There are bullies everywhere, babe. I’m not going to let them scare me away. I want to stay here. With you. Your friends and family are here and we’re making memories that are making me love this town more every day.”
And love you more every day, she added silently. Every day, in a hundred different ways, she and Ross said I love you, but they both still shied away from the words. Elodie kept reminding herself that they’d only been a couple for a short time and it wasn’t really a big deal, but as they neared their second week of constant togetherness and Ross began to feel like a part of her flesh and bones, not just a person she loved having around, she was beginning to worry.
Her brave side insisted she should go ahead and say it first, but the part of her that was still the timid girl Ross had befriended years ago was afraid. What if he wasn’t quite there yet? What if she pushed too soon and scared him away?
And so she held her tongue and swallowed the words down, instead suggesting, “Why don’t you go schmooze? Everyone’s almost finished with dessert and I know they want to meet the chef. I’ll get cleaned up and be down in a little while.”
“Okay,” he said, leaning down to kiss her cheek. “Wish me luck.”
“You won’t need it. You’ve got talent and charisma,” she said with a wink, making him laugh as he headed toward the dining room.
She hurried upstairs, changing out of the blue dress she wore to waitress and into jeans and a soft white sweatshirt she didn’t mind getting dirty, wondering what sort of celebration Ross had in mind. She lingered in the bathroom for a little longer than usual, brushing mascara on her lashes and smoothing fresh Chap Stick onto her lips before re-braiding her two braids into one long French braid that trailed down between her shoulders.
These days she couldn’t stand to have hair tickling her neck, but back when she was a kid, she’d worn her hair in braids because she thought it helped hide the fact that she often went as much as a week or two without being able to wash it. When she was growing up, the water at the house was always getting turned off. The water or the electricity, so that even when they had water, it was often freezing cold. Elodie had very few golden memories of childhood or of her drug-addled parents, but she didn’t hold that against Lonesome Point itself.
She’d told Ross the truth—she was making wonderful new memories here every day.
But she was also making enemies, a fact that became abundantly clear when she stepped into the now empty restaurant and looked through the windows to see Ross facing down their childhood nemesis and his very big, very scary looking friend on the sidewalk outside.
CHAPTER NINE
Ross
“You seriously think you’re getting paid for what you did?” Ross shook his head, unable to hold in the laugh that rumbled in his chest, though the look on Spencer’s face made it clear he wasn’t in a laughing mood. “You’re even crazier than you look.”
“I made up the name for your stupid restaurant. I should get paid for it.” Spencer took a menacing step forward, but Ross refused to take a step back.
This had gone far enough. If Spencer and his friend had come to beat the shit out of him, then he’d take the beating. And then he’d go straight to the police afterward and file charges for assault. Spencer’s grandfather had been superintendent of the school and made sure none of his piece of shit grandsons paid for their sins growing up, and Spencer’s dad, the fire chief, had managed to keep his son from anything worse than occasional suspension from the fire department, but this was different. If Spencer let his infamous temper get the better of him tonight, he would be facing jail time, not suspension.
As Ross faced the other man down in the light of the street lamp glowing on the corner, he decided it would be worth a broken rib or two, to know Ross Spencer was locked away in a jail cell where animals like him belonged.
“I’m not paying you a dime,” Ross said with a smile. “But if you want to come around to the back door tomorrow, I’ll let you and your friend have the leftovers when the civilized people are done eating. I figure it’s the least I can do, considering it’s Valentine’s Day.”
Spencer lifted his fist, but Ross didn’t flinch. He was ready to take that punch. Hell, he was practically eager to feel Spencer’s fist in his face, to finally be able to make the bastard pay for being such a waste of human flesh.
But then he heard Elodie call out his name and his priorities quickly shifted.
“Go inside, El,” he said, turning to her. But he was too late. Bart, Spencer’s right-hand idiot, was already in front of the door, blocking Elodie’s way back in.
“Good to see you, Elodie,” Spencer said with a predatory smile. “Maybe you’ll be able to help us out. Your boyfriend doesn’t want to pay what he owes me for stealing the name I thought up for his stupid restaurant. I guess the loser doesn’t have any cash to spare, but I bet you do.”
“Fine.” Elodie’s eyes darted anxiously from Ross, to Spencer, to the man hovering behind her. “I’ll write you a check. As long as you promise to go away and leave us alone.”
“No, you won’t,” Ross said sternly. “I won’t let you be extorted, Elodie. Go back inside and if Bart tries to stop you, call the police.”
Spencer laughed. “No one’s calling the police. We’re having a friendly talk and I’m getting paid what I’m owed. That’s it. I know your girlfriend’s loaded, Ugly. She can afford to pay up. A couple grand is small scratch to a millionaire, right Stinky?”
Ross’s hands balled into fists at his sides. “Shut your mouth, Spencer. We’re not kids anymore. You don’t get to talk to her like that. Ever again.”
“And who’s going to stop me, Ugly?” Spencer asked, the cruel expression twisting his features making him look, for a moment, like the monster he was on the inside.
“Don’t, Ross,” Elodie said, sliding in between him and Spencer just as Ross was about to lunge for the other man. She looked up at him, meeting his eyes long enough for him to see the determination in hers. “It’s my turn. Because you’re worth it, too.”
By the time Ross realized what she meant, she’d spun and punched Spencer right between the legs, making him double over with a groan.
A second later, Elodie’s hand was in Ross’s, tugging him down the street.
“Come on!” she panted, dragging him along, displaying an impressive amount of strength for someone just a hair over five feet tall. “Run!”
Ross shook his head and pulled his hand away. “No. You go. Get somewhere safe, but I’m staying here. This ends tonight. I’m not running anymore.”
Ross turned, facing Spencer as he stood upright. Spencer’s face was pale, but there was murder in his eyes. Still, Ross didn’t rethink his decision to stay. He was sick of running from old shadows and keeping his mouth shut to keep from attracting the wrong kind of attention. Tonight he was going to face the past, and then turn and walk away from it once and for all.
Tonight, he was letting Spencer know that he might be the prettier Ross in this town, but in every way that counted, Ross Dyer was the better man.
“I’m going to make you bleed, Ugly,” Spencer said, but Ross only smiled.
“And I’m going to send you to prison, douchebag,” Ross said, feeling it was only fair to give the other man fair warning.
But even before Spencer’s fist connected with his gut and then his face and then his gut again, Ross knew it wouldn’t matter. Some people spend their lives running from shadows, but other people are too stupid to realize they’re carrying their own death sentence around on their backs until the day their bad karma comes around to bite them in the ass. But Spencer’s was about to come calling for its pound of flesh, Ross could feel it, and so he kept his arms at his sides, refusing to put a single mark on the other man or give him any excuse to claim that this had been a fair fight.
Even as Ross took a brutal punch to the side of the head, he didn’t regret his decision not to fight b
ack. The only thing he regretted was that Elodie had to witness his beating.
He heard her scream as he fell to the ground and realized she hadn’t run, but it was too late to get her to safety. It was too late to do anything but curl into a ball and try to protect as much of himself as he could while both Spencer and Bart set to kicking him black and blue.
CHAPTER TEN
One week later
Elodie
By the time Ross was out of the hospital and on his feet again, the restaurant was booked solid for three weeks, and Elodie had already reprinted the menus, upping the price on every entrée to make sure Ross was able to cash in on his success as the tourists came back to town along with the balmy spring weather. She welcomed him home early on a Friday afternoon with a lunch of macaroni and cheese and sliced vegetables—the only meal she could cook without burning it to cinders—and tried not to fuss over him too much.
He’d already been fussed half to death by his mother and his friends and all the other people who didn’t understand why he’d done what he’d done. The people who didn’t see that he was a hero, although a stupid one. Elodie had bit her tongue every time she’d visited Ross at the hospital, but as they sat down to their first meal together in a week, she found the words spilling out of her against her will.
“You should have run,” she said, voice shaking as she set her fork beside her bowl of mac ’n’ cheese, her appetite vanishing. “Or I could have paid him off and it would have ended right there.”
“No it wouldn’t have.” Ross met her gaze, that same quiet strength in his eyes that she’d always seen there, even when he was a kid. “You know better. If it wasn’t the name of the restaurant, it would have been something else. He’d decided we were targets again. The only way to make sure he left us alone was to put him away.” He plucked a carrot stick from his plate and held it up like he was making a toast. “And now he’s facing a minimum of ten years for aggravated assault. If we’re lucky, he’ll get fifteen and we won’t have to worry about Spencer again for a good long while.”
“But you could have died,” Elodie said, voice catching. “He could have done worse than bruise your kidneys, Ross. He could have beaten you to death.”
“But he didn’t, El,” Ross said, his smile fading. “And everything is going to be okay. I promise you.” He motioned to her plate. “Now eat up. I want to show you your surprise. It’s been waiting since the day before Valentine’s Day. I bet it’s getting lonely.”
Elodie took a deep breath and snagged a celery stick from her plate, fighting the tears heating the backs of her eyes. She hadn’t cried any of the times she’d visited Ross in the hospital and she wasn’t going to start now, even if the man she loved was still covered in bruises and had the remains of a black eye yellowing his cheekbone. He was home and he was healing and hopefully he was right and everything would be fine.
But Elodie knew one thing for certain—she was telling him the way she felt tonight. The only thing worse than being afraid she was going to lose him was fearing it was going to happen before she’d had a chance to tell him how much she loved him. She wanted to tell him that he was the only person in the world who could make her heart feel so full of hope, and that she couldn’t imagine living the rest of her life without him.
As soon as they were finished with lunch and buckled into Ross’s bug on the way to his surprise, she started looking for the perfect moment. It didn’t come as they were driving out to his parents’ house—she wanted to be able to look him in the eyes when she said the words for the first time—or as his dad led them out to the barn, where two saddled horses were already waiting. It didn’t come as they were riding out across the pasture in the warm afternoon with a light breeze blowing that promised an unusually warm spring or as Ross tied their horses to a tree near an old log cabin. But as soon as he reached up to help her out of her saddle, the words bubbled up inside her, desperate to be out of her heart and born into the world.
Before she could speak, Ross pulled her into his arms and silenced her with a kiss. It was a warm, sweet kiss, but it still took her breath away and made her thoughts fuzzy around the edges. By the time she recovered, he was leading her down the overgrown path toward the cabin.
“I didn’t know you were rich and famous when I set this up,” he said, smiling at her over his shoulder. “So you might have one of these already, but the minute I saw it, I knew it had to be yours.”
“I’m not famous,” Elodie said, not bothering to protest the rich part. She was rich, at least as far as she was concerned. She couldn’t imagine ever needing more money than she had now. And she couldn’t imagine any amount of money making her happier than getting to spend another day with this man.
“You’re famous enough.” Ross paused with his hand on the door to the cabin. “I did a little Googling while I was in the hospital and found out you did a show with this guy a few years ago. But this is one of his new pieces, so, anyhow…I hope you like it.”
He opened the door and there, in the middle of the dusty cabin was a tidy little table covered in a red tablecloth. On top was a stuffed armadillo with glorious pink wings dressed in a Cupid costume, holding a tiny bow and arrow.
Elodie recognized the artist immediately. “It’s a Kaplan,” she said, hand coming to cover her mouth as she floated toward the beautifully arranged creature. “Oh my God, it’s gorgeous!”
“So you don’t already have one?” Ross asked.
“No, I don’t,” she said, circling the piece, taking in the places where the artist had seamlessly added wings onto the armadillo. “I always stopped myself.” She glanced up at Ross, realizing how much this must have cost him. “You shouldn’t have done this. It’s too much.”
“It’s just enough, and like I said, I couldn’t resist,” he said with a smile, obviously thrilled to pieces simply because he’d made her happy. “It was too perfect. A cupid for Valentine’s Day, and an armadillo to remember the day we started falling in love again. Can’t get much better than that.”
Elodie smiled even as tears stung at her eyes. “You’re falling in love with me?”
“Fallen in love with you,” Ross said, crossing the room. “I’m completely crazy about you, El, and I plan to keep loving you for as many days as you’ll have me.”
“How about all of them?” Elodie said, tears slipping down her cheeks as she stepped into his arms, feeling so lucky when he hugged her tight. “I’m going to love you forever. Forever and ever until cockroaches rule the world and humans are a horror story they tell the little cockroaches to teach them to take good care of their planet.”
Ross chuckled as he kissed the top of her head. “That reminds me of the stories you used to tell in school. I always liked your scary stories the best.”
She tilted her head back. “They always felt like the truest stories, back then. But now I think I’d rather make up love stories, ones with sweet, brave heroes with lovely brown eyes.”
“And princesses who punch people in the nuts,” Ross said, his smile fading as he pulled her closer. “Or maybe you could just kiss me a love story. Because I swear I can hear you talking in my head every time we kiss.”
“Yes,” Elodie said, her words transforming to a happy sigh as Ross’s lips met hers.
Me too, she said with her kiss. With the next, she promised to keep him warm every night. And with the next, she promised to be his partner in every adventure. By the fifth and the sixth kisses, she was simply sending him waves of love as their clothes fell away and they came back together on the dusty floor, too eager to wait until they made it home.
And as they made love beneath the approving gaze of a stuffed armadillo, Elodie knew that all was as it should be and that from here on out every day would be sunny with a certainty of true love.
***
Keep reading for a sneak peek of book three in the Lonesome Point series,
DIAMONDS AND DUST, Tulsi and Pike’s story.
A Letter From the Author
Tell me your favorite part!
I hope you enjoyed SUNNY WITH A CHANCE OF TRUE LOVE and will take a moment to leave a review (even a sentence or two is great!) and tell me your favorite part of the story! I love reading your thoughts so much and reviews help other readers discover the series.
The Lonesome Point books mean so much to me, and I’m thrilled to share these stories of sexy Texas cowboys and the women tough enough to tame them with all of you. I treasure every email I receive and hope to have more to add to my collection in the coming months as the rest of the series releases.
If you’d like to chat about your reading experience please drop me a line at [email protected]. You can also catch me on Facebook (my favorite place to hang out with readers) https://www.facebook.com/JessieEvansRomance, or sign up for my newsletter so you’ll never miss out on a new release or giveaway again http://bit.ly/1swaXYv.
And on a much more serious note, if you or someone you love is suffering from the emotional side effects of bullying there are many places to turn to for help, including the following websites:
http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/
http://www.pacer.org/bullying/
Wishing you many good reads, and thank you for the chance to tell you stories,
Jessie Evans
More about the author:
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Jessie Evans, gave up a career as an international woman of mystery to write the sexy, contemporary romances she loves to read.
She's married to the man of her dreams, and together they're raising a few adorable, mischievous children in a cottage in the jungle. She grew up in rural Arkansas, spending summers running wild, being chewed by chiggers, and now appreciates her home in a chigger-free part of the world even more.
