Come Back Home Again (Hope Valley Book 2)

by Jessica Prince

  “As you can see, sir, I’m on a date, so I’d say it’s pretty damn inconvenient.”

  Oh shit. Mayor Madison turned his mean eyes to me. “Well, seeing as what I need to say involves both of you, I think now’s as good a time as any.”

  Oh shit!

  The air around me began to crackle as the vibe radiating off Hayes grew downright scary. Before I could say anything to try and lighten the tension sparking between them, Hayes turned his entire body to face Mayor Madison. “See, that’s where you’re wrong. You may think you have something you need to say, but I can assure you, you... do... not. What took place at the diner was a scene Harley herself instigated, and when it didn’t go according her her plan, she went cryin’ to you to fix it for her. Seeing as she’s a forty-year-old woman, the consequences of her actions are her own to bear. The fact that you feel the need to intervene on her behalf when you’ve clearly only heard one side of the story, and that side is undoubtedly full of lies and complete bullshit, doesn’t say good things about you or Harley.”

  “She’s my daughter,” he hissed, his cheeks growing ruddy as his anger simmered just beneath the surface.

  “And I’ll repeat, she’s also a grown woman. She is the way she is and does the shit she does because you’ve had your head up your ass and spoiled her rotten her whole goddamn life.”

  Mayor Madison gnashed his teeth, spittle flying from his mouth as he raged, “Need I remind you who you’re speaking to?”

  “Just more proof you’ve got your head up your ass,” Hayes rebutted. “See, I’m not an elected official.”

  “But your captain is.”

  How this man became the mayor of our town was beyond me, because with that one comment, I knew with absolute certainty that he was a raging moron.

  “You did not just say that,” I whispered, aghast and pissed right the hell off that this man had the nerve to threaten Hayes.

  “Angel—” Hayes tried, but I was too far gone.

  “Did you seriously just threaten my boyfriend with the loss of his job?”

  The anger bled from the old man’s eyes, replaced with concern as attention started turning our way.

  “Ms. Levine, I think you misunderstood—”

  “I didn’t misunderstand a thing,” I said, my voice rising as my indignation grew. “I read you loud and clear. You were unhappy with the fact that your adult daughter came into my place of work with the sole purpose of causing a scene, and that it blew up in her face when Hayes, as well as other residents of your town, came to my defense when she started being a nasty bitch.” I could hear a couple people around us snickering, but I couldn’t find it in me to care. This man had just stepped in it, and I was more than happy to let everyone know.

  “Then, when you rudely came over and interrupted a private dinner in order to continue digging that hole your daughter started on a few days ago, you have the nerve to threaten his very livelihood simply because he made it clear that he wasn’t happy with the interruption.”

  Mayor Madison’s chest puffed out, his chin went up, and all of a sudden I understood why his daughter was as loathsome as she was. “I’ll ask you to lower your voice.”

  “And I’ll ask you to kiss my ass!” I snapped.

  Hayes placed a firm hand on my thigh beneath the table in an attempt to calm me down, but there was no chance of that happening. “Tempie, baby—”

  “It’s bad enough that you’d threaten anyone, but Hayes is a police officer! His job is to protect the citizens of your town, a job that he takes extremely seriously and is damn good at. And you’d take that away from him, effectively making those same citizens less safe because an amazing cop was removed from the force, simply because you were butt hurt?” I finished on a loud yelp. “Please tell me how you were elected into your position, because I have to tell you, I do not get it!”

  “Me either!” someone shouted through the restaurant. “And after what I just heard, you can bet your ass I won’t be voting for him in the next election!”

  Hayes’s head fell forward and he let out a grunted “Fuck me.”

  “I didn’t vote for him the last time, and this is exactly why!” someone else called out.

  Madison’s face pinched just like his daughter’s had the other day and grew the same disturbing shade of purplish red. With his age and weight, I might have been a little concerned he was about to have a heart attack right then and there if the man wasn’t such a raging asshole.

  “Well, looks like you’ve said everything that needed to be said,” Hayes cut in. “And my woman’s said her piece as well. Now, if it’s not too inconvenient, I’ll ask you to leave our table so I can go back to givin’ her the great night I promised her.”

  The mayor let out a few sputters before turning with his tail tucked and hightailing it out of the restaurant.

  “God,” I seethed, my voice lower now that the object of my rage was gone. “That guy’s an asshole. No wonder his daughter’s such a terrible human being.”

  Hayes’s deep, velvety chuckle pulled my attention off the door Mayor Madison had just escaped through, and when I looked up at him, his eyes were that warm melted chocolate I’d always loved.

  “This isn’t funny,” I said, my face pulling into a frown. “What are you going to do, Hayes? What if he—”

  Leaning in, he pressed his lips against mine, silencing me with a bone-melting kiss. “He isn’t gonna do shit to me,” he said once he pulled back, leaving me kiss-drunk. “That was all for show. He knows Cap wouldn’t even consider firin’ me. Like he said, it’s an elected position, and our captain knows enough about politics to know that if he got rid of me or any of his other detectives, people would revolt.”

  “Jeez,” I grumbled, plopping back in the booth in annoyance. “What were the people of this town thinking, making that guy our mayor.”

  “Tonight wasn’t the best example, but he’s really not all bad. Madison’s got a head for politics, and he’s done a lot of good for the town. He’s just blind when it comes to his daughter.”

  The fact that he could defend that man after what just went down proved what an incredible and compassionate guy he was. I knew that about him back in the day, but it was even more prominent now. And it was right then in that very moment that I realized what I’d already suspected was completely and utterly true. I was still just as in love with him today as I’d been back then.

  “You’re an amazing man,” I whispered, my eyes meeting his as I reached up to cup his jaw. “I never stopped loving you, Hayes.” His body went so still that I thought I could knock him over with a feather. “Not for a single day in twenty-one years.”

  “Christ.” Squeezing his eyes closed, he leaned in, pressing his forehead against mine and reaching up to wrap his fingers around the side of my neck. “You’ve got no fuckin’ clue what that means to me, angel.”

  He didn’t say the words back, but that was okay. With how things were left between us twenty-one years ago, I couldn’t fault him, even if it stung not hearing those words in return. But I’d give him time. I knew what I felt down in my bones to be the truth, and I knew that feeling would never change. I needed him to know that too.

  So I’d wait until he was ready.

  “Just speaking the truth, honey.” My fingers at his jaw pressed in as I pulled my head back and smiled up at him. “Now, let’s pay the check and get out of here.”

  His cocked his head to the side and studied me closely. “What about dessert?”

  I dropped my voice low enough for only him to hear. “We’ll take it to go.” Then I smiled wickedly. “I’m sure we can come up with some inventive ways to eat it back at the farmhouse.”

  My back bowed as that pressure in my core twisted tighter and tighter. Slamming down on Hayes’s cock, I reached back and braced my hands on his large, muscular thighs as I ground down and circled my hips.

  He was sitting against the headboard, his heated eyes traveling all over my naked body as I rode him, driving mys
elf closer and closer to ecstasy. One of his hands left my hip and traveled around so he could play with my clit as I fucked him.

  “Oh god,” I whimpered while my eyes slammed closed and my head fell back.

  “Eyes on me, baby,” he ordered, but I was too far gone to listen.

  “Hayes,” I breathed, moving faster.

  “Tempie,” he grunted, his tone a warning. “Gimme your eyes, or I take over.”

  I managed to pull myself together enough to lift my head and smiled lazily. “Love your cock, baby.”

  A growl rumbled from his throat and he sat up straight, wrapping an arm around me. “You love more than that, don’t you?”

  I pulled in a stuttered breath and whispered, “Yes.”

  “Say it, angel,” he commanded, snapping his hips up and making me cry out. “I wanna hear you say those words again.”

  He began moving with me, thrusting up as I drove down, going so deep I thought I’d pass out from pleasure. “I love you,” I panted as we both began moving faster.

  His arm grew tighter, forcing me up and down even harder. “Say it again.”

  “I love you.”

  “Again.”

  “I love you!” I shouted, my pussy convulsing the strongest release I’d ever experienced moved through me.

  Hayes took over then, flipping me over to my back and slamming into me so hard I was shifted up the mattress. I wasn’t sure if I was experiencing the world’s longest orgasm or if one had bled into another, but the sensation was overwhelming, and I shouted Hayes’s name as every muscle in my body strung tight.

  “That’s it, Tempie,” he growled. “Let me hear you. Show me how much you love it when I fuck you.”

  “God, yes!” I dug my nails into his back. I could barely breathe, but I never wanted it to end. “Keep fucking me, Hayes. Don’t stop.”

  “I won’t, baby.” His cock plunged in and out, faster, faster, faster. “Christ, I could die a happy man buried inside you.”

  At his declaration, I exploded again like a fireworks display on the Fourth of July. He powered into me a few more times before coming how he always had, burying himself deep, shoving his face in my neck, and groaning out his release.

  I’d always loved the sounds he made whenever he came. It made me feel powerful knowing I could make him lose control like that. I held him against me as we worked to get our breathing under control, his chest expanding as he nuzzled my hair and inhaled, pulling the scent of my perfume into his lungs. He used to do that all the time too, like he wanted to keep as much of me with him before pulling out.

  A minute later, he pushed up on his forearms and looked down at me, his eyes half-mast and sated. He was never more beautiful than when he was like this, at his most relaxed and completely satisfied. There were no walls up after we’d made love, no barriers, no separation. At times like these, we were one with each other so completely that I sometimes swore I could read his thoughts, as he could mine.

  “You know I love you too, right?”

  I smiled, reaching up to caress his cheek. “I do.”

  “Every day for twenty-one years,” he said, echoing my statement. “I’ve only been half alive since the day you left Hope Valley, and it wasn’t until the other night that I become whole again.”

  The backs of my eyes began to burn, and his image became as blurry tears brimmed along my lower lids. “Don’t make me cry after you’ve made me come,” I bossed snidely to keep from breaking down into a blubbering mess.

  Hayes pulled out of me and promptly rolled to his back, taking me with him so I was lying on top of his chest as he burst into laughter.

  As the hilarity washed over him, all I could do was smile as I felt and saw his beauty multiply by a thousand while thinking, God, I’m so glad I came back home.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Temperance

  My body gave a little jolt as I was forced awake at the tail end of another nightmare. It wasn’t as brutal as the others I’d been having, but it was still enough to pull me out of sleep in a way that I knew I wasn’t going to be able to find it again.

  It had been more than two and a half weeks since my date with Hayes at The Groves, and since that night we hadn’t spent a single night apart. I hadn’t realized until this very moment that I hadn’t been plagued by a single nightmare in all that time. This was the first in more than two weeks, and it wasn’t anywhere near as traumatizing as the ones I’d had before. Most people might not understand, but for me, that was huge considering I averaged at least one nightmare every other night. At least.

  I’d been so wrapped up in Hayes, so blissfully happy and oblivious to everything else that I hadn’t even noticed that he’d managed to not only make me feel safe and happy while I was awake, but also in rest.

  I laid there for what felt like forever, staring at the shadows the moon cast along the walls through the blinds of my bedroom windows, trying my hardest to doze back off to no avail. I didn’t want to wake Hayes with my tossing and turning, but I knew the longer I stayed in that bed, the more likely that was to happen. I moved to slip from under Hayes’s arm only to have it clench tighter and pull me back the inch of space I’d managed to gain.

  “Everything okay?” he asked, his tone thick with sleep.

  “Yeah, sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

  “Felt you jolt a while ago. Could practically hear those wheels turnin’ in your brain this whole time you’ve been layin’ here. You wanna tell me what’s going on?”

  I pulled my lips between my teeth, not wanting to admit what had woken me. “It’s nothing, really. I just had a dream.”

  That arm grew tighter, and his breath whispered across the back of my neck. “A dream?”

  “A nightmare. Like I said, it’s fine, but I don’t think I’ll be able to get back to sleep. I can go downstairs so I don’t bother you.”

  Hayes moved, lifting up on a forearm and pulling me to my back so he was hovering over me. He shifted his hips, forcing my legs to spread so he could settle between then as he lowered his lips to mine. “Bet I could think of a couple ways to clear that busy mind of yours and exhaust you at the same time. What do you say we give it a try, yeah?”

  His idea sounded like the best idea I’d ever heard in all my life.

  I woke to the sun pouring through the windows of my bedroom, painting everything in a warm, cheerful glow. Stretching my arms over my head, I worked the stiffness from my muscles and relished the aches and twinges left behind by Hayes. Just as he’d promised hours and hours ago, he’d well and thoroughly exhausted me back to sleep, and now I felt nice and well rested.

  The first few mornings I’d gotten up with him when his internal alarm clock pulled him out of bed just after five. He’d go for a run, or to the gym for a short workout that explained all those amazing muscles, and I’d get breakfast ready. It was an ungodly hour, but I was used to an erratic schedule; years of working in a hospital would do that to a person. But Hayes saw that it took me longer than usual to perk up and, on the fourth morning, instead of climbing out of the bed, he rolled into me, kissed me until I couldn’t breathe, and ordered, “Stay in bed, angel. I can make my own breakfast.”

  I tried to argue, but he kissed me again, and that kiss turned into so much more. By the time we finished, I’d come twice and couldn’t move. He left me completely satisfied, and I promptly fell back asleep. It was a brilliant way to start a morning.

  Rolling to the side of the bed, I threw my feet over and climbed out, heading for the bathroom to get ready for my day. With Hayes spending more time at my place than his, he’d begun pitching in on the housework whenever he had the time. Every room was scrubbed until it gleamed, and Hayes had done such things as replacing rotted baseboard moldings and repairing leaky faucets, things he referred to as “man’s work” since they required power tools. With his help, the beautiful old house was almost restored back to her former glory.

  I was freshly showered and standing at the bathroom mirror
in nothing but my bra and panties as I applied my makeup when Hayes came in. My eyes met his in the mirror, and I couldn’t help but smile. He looked so damn good walking around my house, his hair damp with sweat from his workout and nothing but a pair of track pants hanging from his lean hips.

  “Mornin’, sweetheart,” he murmured, coming up behind me and pressing his chest to my back before leaning down to kiss my neck. One arm moved around me, and a steaming mug of coffee made just how I liked it was placed on the vanity in front of me. “How you feelin’?”

  “I’m great. You sleep okay?”

  “Slept like a rock every night you’ve been beside me.” He lifted his gaze to the mirror to meet mine. “Wasn’t a big fan of a nightmare rippin’ you from sleep, though.” His gaze in the mirror held mine captive. “What’d you dream about that you thought it’d keep you up all night, angel?” I opened my mouth, but before I could issue a lie, he continued, “And don’t lie to me. You know I was always able to tell whenever you lied.”

  Well, damn. “It was... about that night,” I finally admitted.

  His dark eyes grew intense in the mirror. “The night?”

  “Yeah,” I said quietly, casting my gaze down to the basin. “The night my parents were killed.”

  His whole frame strung tight. That arm around me squeezing so tight the air expelled from my lungs just before he let me go and spun me around, pinning me to the vanity. “You dream about your folks, angel?”

  “Yeah.”

  “A lot?”

  My gaze locked on his clavicle, then his throat, anything but his eyes as I spoke, “Sometimes I’m in the woods. Sometimes I’m alone in the house in the middle of the night when a faceless man breaks in. That was the one I had last night. It was definitely one of the more mild ones.”

  “Fuckin’ shit,” he hissed, his jaw ticking violently as he pulled me close and held me against him.