by Molly McLain
Can't Walk Away (River Bend, #3)
Molly McLain
Published by Molly McLain, 2015.
CAN’T WALK AWAY (River Bend, #3) by Molly McLain
Editor: Dana Waganer | Cover Design: Sommer Stein, Perfect Pear Creative Covers
Copyright © 2015 by Molly McLain Books, LLC
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a media retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) with the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the publisher of this book, excepting brief quotations used in reviews. Purchase only authorized editions.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, etc. are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarities to real people, locations, events, etc. is entirely coincidental.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
OTHER WORKS BY | MOLLY McLAIN
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Epilogue
Note from the Author
Acknowledgments
About the Author
To my husband. You know why, babe.
OTHER WORKS BY
MOLLY McLAIN
***
CAN’T SHAKE YOU (River Bend, #1)
CAN’T HOLD BACK (River Bend, #1.5)
CAN’T GET ENOUGH (River Bend, #2)
A convenient, casual, and completely orgasmic fling. What more could a girl want?
For the past year, barista Ally Barrett has been content to spend her weekends distracting River Bend’s hottest commodity—the sexy, too-serious sheriff. Their casual arrangement suits her independent nature just fine...until it doesn’t.
Sheriff and Army Guardsman Mark Dunn lives to serve the people of his community and his country. Ally is the only woman who’s never asked for more than his nights—and the only one he’s ever considered giving his days, as well. Too bad duty says otherwise.
When an unexpected pregnancy flips their no-strings understanding on its head—and tarnishes both of their reputations—Mark has a tough time proving he wants a real relationship and not just reelection. But if this sheriff knows anything, it's how to fight for what he believes in—Ally’s heart.
Warning: This book contains a hero who’s all business and no play...unless there’s a dress and a hot redhead involved.
Chapter One
Mid-October...
Ally Barrett wasn’t a slut. She’d slept with four guys in all of her twenty-eight years—her high school sweetheart, two casual guys in college before she’d dropped out, and one more-on-than-off fling that ended four weeks ago.
That man—that totally infuriating, totally sexy man—currently stood across McCauley’s Pub with a carefree smile on his face. He watched his buddies play pool, and he laughed and tipped back his drink like it didn’t matter at all that she was in the same room.
Standing twenty feet away with her heart crumbling in her hands.
She hadn’t meant to fall in love with Mark Dunn. God, it had been the very last thing she’d wanted to do, because, growing up in the same small town as him, she couldn’t have overlooked his untouchable reputation even if she’d tried.
He was all play and good times whenever it served him, but by day he lived a much more serious, structured life. He had to. As the Cameron County sheriff, he had big responsibilities to attend to. People to protect. A community to serve. Of course, he wouldn’t want to commit to anything intense in his downtime. It was the only part of his life that was truly his anymore.
And she’d still fallen for him. Head-over-heels, ass-over-teakettle. Like a fool, she’d almost told him as much a few weeks back. Right before he’d stopped calling. Thank God she hadn’t, because it was the only thread of pride she had left. He’d gone and put a huge chunk of intentional distance between them and, tonight, he’d done a bang up job of driving that point home.
Well, she had a point to make, too, dammit. Ally Barrett waited for no man. Even if he did have access to an unlimited supply of handcuffs.
Dragging her friend Nicole across the bar, she sashayed up to a couple of local guys who made small talk with the bartender. Jason, the one who’d been eye-screwing her for the past hour, was close to five years younger than her and, on principle, she wasn’t into college boys. But when the opportunity presented itself, an idea struck: Time to throw Mark’s bullshit back at him.
Maybe he’d care, maybe he wouldn’t. But, either way, she’d have a good time.
“Hey, Jase,” she purred as she pushed between the younger man and his friend Tyler, who worked in her brother Luke’s auto repair shop. “You home from school for the weekend?”
“Nah, I graduated last May. Didn’t you get the invitation to my party, gorgeous?” He only held her gaze for a second before his eyes drifted down to her chest, shown off more than usual in her low-cut, floral print dress.
She laughed as a sexy country song came over the bar’s speakers. At least he wasn’t a coed anymore. That was something. “No,” she fake pouted. “I didn’t.”
“That’s a shame. You could’ve helped me celebrate.” He tangled their fingers and twirled her around, giving her a thorough inspection. Her dress whirled around her thighs and her hair shifted around shoulders, and she didn’t bother telling him that would never have happened, because, while she and Mark had only been casual, they’d been monogamous. “Damn, girl, you’re looking better than ever tonight.”
At least someone thought so. She smiled and put her hand on his chest. “You wanna dance with me? I like this song.”
He tossed back the rest of his beer and hauled her onto the makeshift dance floor. A half hour later, her feet hurt like hell and there wasn’t an inch of her ass that hadn’t been properly squeezed.
Jason wrapped an arm around her shoulders and ordered them a round of drinks—their second—as well as a line-up of shots. She’d already had her three drink max, but the dancing had helped clear her head, so maybe she could sip this one. No shots though. The last thing she needed was to get pulled over, stuffed into the back of a squad car, and brought into his territory.
She shook her head when Jason offered her the tequila. “No, thanks. But you go ahead. Have mine for me.”
He flashed a grin and picked up a wedge of lime, his eyes locked on her lips. “Only if you hold this for me.”
Oh, God. She cast a subtle glance to the other side of the bar and low and behold, Mark glanced back. He had his cop face on though. An unreadable mask of nothingness that irked the hell out of her, because it gave her absolutely no clue about what he might be thinking. If he was thinking anything at all.
So she took the damn lime, put it between her lips, and let Jason suck it out. In a second, the lime was gone, replaced by his mouth and his tongue. His hands wandered up her back and then down to her ass, pulling her against him as he left no speck of her mouth untasted.
He was a horrible kisser and his fingers crept beneath the hem of her dress and—
Crash!
The sound of shattering
glass echoed in her ears and the bar went unusually quiet. Jason jerked back and she furiously swiped his spit off of her face, grateful for the reprieve and hating herself for thinking any part of this had been a good idea.
She followed the eyes of those around her and, when her gaze fell on Mark, all the breath in her body rushed out like a pin-pricked balloon.
The stoic police officer was gone, replaced by a seething man whose neck bulged and pulsed with tension. His arms bunched at his sides and his blue eyes crystallized into ice. Cold, cut off, and dangerous.
He paced toward the pub’s front door, the patrons in front of him parting like he was some sort of freakin’ god.
Whatever, asshole. Get pissed off. See if I care!
But she did care. If seeing her with someone else bothered him, why wouldn’t he just talk to her? For a fleeting moment, she considered chasing after him, but she couldn’t give him that satisfaction. Not after he’d made her sit by the phone and wait for the past four weeks.
She did grab her purse though. And she did rush out the back door of the bar, because she was seconds away from losing it.
Just like she’d lost him.
***
What in the ever-loving fuck was that?
The next time Mark passed Jason Kelly on the road, the little fucker was getting a ticket. He didn’t give a damn if the kid deserved it or not.
And Ally... Jesus Christ. Eleven months together and tonguing another dude was how she chose to tell him she was over him?
Fuuuck.
Mark slammed the door of his truck, cranked over the engine, and backed out of the pub’s lot, gravel flying. He didn’t give a shit if there were laws to abide by or that the rocks might chink the paint job on his new baby.
His woman—or the one he wanted anyway—wanted someone else. And not just any someone either, but a punk almost ten years Mark’s junior. He probably didn’t even have chest hair yet. Or, if he did, the prissy bitch probably had it waxed off every month.
Ally wanted that shit? He couldn’t even wrap his head around the concept without wanting to smash something. Again.
He drummed his fingers against the steering wheel, blood whooshing loud in his ears. He had to calm down. It was early yet—only ten o’clock—and there was still plenty of traffic on the roads. He couldn’t have people seeing him drive like a lunatic and he sure as hell didn’t want to cause an accident.
He pulled into the grocery store lot, parked, and dropped his head back against the seat.
He’d given Ally space because he hoped it’d make her realize she wanted more than what they’d been doing. They’d gotten close—really close—over the past year. All their friends considered them a couple, though they’d never actually put a label on their relationship. Didn’t seem necessary. They’d spent every weekend together. They’d met for lunch sometimes, too, and every now and then Ally would show up with dinner. They’d even stopped using condoms two months into seeing each other. They were a couple in every way that mattered. At least to him.
Then Ally started to pull back. They’d gone to Lincoln for a Huskers’ football game and had a phenomenal time. They’d toured the university campus and Ally had shown him all the places she remembered from the couple of years she’d spent going to school there. They’d gone to bed early that night, and slept in late the next morning. Almost missed their check-out time at the hotel, too, because Ally had wanted to make love one more time in the three-sixty glass shower.
Shit, he’d even thought about hiring Hudson Contracting to renovate his bathroom so he could bring a little piece of that trip home with them. But Ally wouldn’t even keep any of her things at his place, let alone move in with him. He’d asked once and she’d laughed about it. He still didn’t know what that had been about and, from time to time, he let it dig in, festering beneath the surface of his ego.
Ally didn’t take him or the way he felt about her seriously, so he decided to take matters into his own hands. He’d pulled back too, just to see if he meant as much to her as she did to him. And the whole damn thing backfired in his face.
He opened his eyes and blinked until they adjusted to the darkness. What the hell did he do now? He knew what he wanted to do and that was kick Jason Kelly’s ass. But that wouldn’t fix what was broken between him and Ally.
With a sigh, he put the truck into gear and started back toward the road. And to rub salt in his wounded pride, Ally’s little silver Malibu drove by in front of him.
He ground his jaw, thinking about it for only a second before he pulled out behind her.
If she didn’t want him anymore, fine. But he was gonna find out tonight before he wasted any more time wanting a woman who didn’t want him.
***
“Rob, this is Ally. I think I have a problem.” Don’t look in the mirror, don’t look in the mirror...
“If it involves my boss, I really don’t wanna know.” On the other end of the line, the police dispatcher, also an old high school friend, laughed.
“Look, I’m serious. I left McCauley’s a few minutes ago and I think I’m being followed. The vehicle is too far away to get a good look at, but I think it’s a truck.”
Rob cleared his throat. “Want me to call the sheriff?”
“No!” Clearly her friend wasn’t up to speed on the local gossip. “Just...crap. I already turned onto my road and my parents aren’t home tonight.” In essence, she was in the middle of nowhere with a potential lunatic behind her. This was River Bend, so she was probably overreacting, but the anger and adrenaline following Mark’s ridiculous outburst still pulsed through her body, putting her seriously on edge.
“I know this sounds crazy, but can you slow down?” Rob asked. “If someone really is following you, they might slow down, too. That’ll give me enough time to get someone out to the farm.”
Yes, it did sound crazy, but what else could she do? She licked her lips and glanced at the side mirror. The lights were still behind her, but of course they would be—the only place to turn around on this road was her driveway two miles ahead. “Okay. Can you stay on the phone with me?”
“Will do. Hold on while I put the call out.”
Though muffled, she heard Rob dispatching a deputy to the Barrett farm. Her heart hadn’t given up its frantic hammering and her hands had turned ice cold from her death grip on the steering wheel.
Dammit, Mark, this is all your fault! If he hadn’t dropped off the face of the earth, she’d be in his bed tonight. Or maybe still at the bar. No matter the place, they’d be together and she wouldn’t be seconds away from hyperventilating.
“Okay, Al, the call’s gone out. Deputy should be there soon.” Rob broke into her paranoia. “So what was shakin’ at the pub tonight?”
“Other than your boss smashing a glass on the bar, not much.” Why had she let Jason kiss her anyway? The only lips she wanted anywhere near hers belonged to a man who at the moment was acting like an entitled ass. Sorry, mister, but if you can’t be bothered to explain your silence, then you don’t get a say in who I kiss.
“No shit? Who pissed him off?”
She almost gave in and confessed. “No way, Rob. I know these calls are recorded.”
The dispatcher chuckled. “Smart woman.”
The screeners were sure to get kick out of knowing what a moron the sheriff had turned into, but she wasn’t willing to sacrifice her own pride in the process. “Okay, I’m pulling into my driveway. What should I do now? I can’t go any slower.”
“Just stay in the car and keep the doors locked. Let me know what the other vehicle does.”
“It’s pulling up behind me, and it’s definitely a truck. I don’t recognize it at all. It’s a darker color. Maybe new. Shit! Someone’s getting out! What if it’s some psycho with a gun?”
Rob chuckled again. “Oh, he’s got a gun all right. I doubt he’ll use it on you though.”
“What? This isn’t funny! Oh, my God, I’m going to die with wet pants!”
“I take it you didn’t know Mark got a new truck last week, did you?”
Ally froze. He what?
Knuckles rapped on the driver’s side window only a few inches away from her ear and she jumped in her seat.
That son of a bitch. She was going to kill him! After she died of embarrassment, because if Rob knew Mark was the one behind her, Mark also knew she’d called the cops. “I hate you right now, Rob. Seriously freakin’ hate you.”
“G’night, Al. Feel free to call me back if he does shoot you, huh?”
“Asshole.” She thumbed off the phone, tossed it into her purse, and shoved the door open, her face burning. “Are you out of your mind?” she hollered at the man who’d made the last month of her life a living hell.
“Me? Are you fucking serious?” Mark took a step back to avoid her wrath, but threw his hands in the air with his own frustration. Somewhere in the last fifteen minutes, he’d shed the button-down he wore at McCauley’s, so when his arms lifted, the hem of his snug t-shirt did, too. Damn her traitorous eyes for shifting to his lean waist and then skimming up his thick chest and arms that stretched the cotton of his shirt to sexy, masculine perfection. “What the hell was that shit with Jason? Jason, Ally! He just graduated from college, for God’s sake!”
“So?” She leaned forward and enunciated her words. “At least he talked to me.”
Mark grunted. “Is that what this is about? You’re pissed that I haven’t called?”
Were men really that clueless? She’d given him almost a year of her life and he’d dropped her like she meant nothing at all.
She sucked in a careful breath and pushed a hand back into her hair. “Look, I don’t know why you followed me home, but you can leave now. I don’t owe you an explanation and obviously you don’t feel as though you owe me one, so...” She let her hair go and raised her palm into the air before letting it slap against her thigh. “Just go, Mark. Please.”
But he didn’t. Hell, he didn’t even move.
Her eyes had adjusted enough that she could see the tight expression on his face and the way he held his jaw in place, his gaze locked on hers. In all the years they’d been friends—and when they’d been more—Mark had looked at her in all sorts of ways. But she wasn’t sure there had ever been this much intensity rolling off of him. Not even in bed.
