Come Back Home Again (Hope Valley Book 2)

by Jessica Prince

  “It’s okay, honey,” I said, tilting my head back and looking up into those deep, dark pools. “It really is, I promise. It’s the first one I’ve had in weeks, and I didn’t wake up sweating and crying or even screaming. That’s a big deal, Hayes. And it’s because of you. Because I have you with me, and you keep me safe.” My fingers spanned his jaw, and I lifted up on my tip-toes, my lips brushing against his as I spoke again, “You’re only just finding out about them, so you don’t like it, but I swear, this is great. You’re taking them away, baby.”

  He kissed me hard before pulling back just enough to rest his forehead against mine. “Fuck, but I love you.”

  “I love you too,” I said on a big, beaming smile. “I love that you make me safe even in my sleep. And I love waking up knowing you’re here in my house”

  “I love waking up in this house too. You can watch the sun come up over the mountains from the back porch.”

  “Then you should stay.” The words poured out unexpectedly, but now that I had the chance to think about it for one-point-five seconds, I was totally in love with the idea.

  Hayes’s eyes grew round. “What?”

  “You should stay,” I repeated. “You love this house, and no offense, but your apartment sucks.” My body shook with the force of his chuckle as he pulled me even closer. “I used to dream about getting married here and raising my family in this house. All little girls picture their dream home, and I got lucky, because my dream home was real.” I shifted in his hold, turning around so I could look directly in his eyes as I finished. “If it’s still too soon for you, I totally understand. It doesn’t have to be now. But I love you, and that’s never gonna change for me. I have all this beauty surrounding me every single day, and I want to share that with you, honey.”

  His brows dipped into a V. “Why didn’t you ever have kids, angel?”

  My heart dropped to my stomach as I pulled back and asked, “Why didn’t you?”

  Sadness filled his eyes. I recognized it easily since that very same sadness had lived in me for my entire adult life. “You know the answer to that, Tempie.”

  “I do.” I nodded. “And it’s the same for me. Like I said, I never stopped loving you, so how could I possibly imagine starting a family with someone who wasn’t you?” What I left unsaid was that my dream for a family had been extinguished when I lost our baby because I’d known the end of us was just around the corner.

  His forehead came down on mine again, and he let out a pained “Fuck.”

  “It’s okay,” I whispered, trying to soothe both of us at the same time. “We have each other now, and that’s all I need. I don’t want to keep living in the past. I want to be right here, right now, with you.”

  “There’s not a goddamn thing in this world I won’t bend over backward to give you if you want it,” he said firmly, as if he were making a vow. “So you just say the words, baby. You still want a family, I’ll give you one.”

  “I—” My jaw dropped at his vehement declaration. “Hayes, that’s not possible. I’m almost forty, for god’s sake.”

  He gave me a small grin. “It may be a little harder, but you’re healthy and strong. It’s not impossible, angel. You know that.”

  He wasn’t necessarily wrong, but I was still struggling to wrap my brain around what was going on. I’d made myself stop hoping for all these things so long ago that the conversation almost didn’t feel real.

  “But—” I gave my head a quick shake. “What about you?”

  His chin jerked back as he asked, “What about me?”

  “Is this something you’d really want?”

  He stopped to give that question some thought before answering, “I mean, it wouldn’t be ideal, bein’ nearly sixty when our kid graduates high school, but I don’t give a shit. If you want a family, I want one with you.”

  My god. Just when I thought it wasn’t possible to love this man more than I already did, he went and did something to prove me wrong. I let everything that had been said in the past five minutes sink in. I wanted to consider it all and think of how I imagined my life in the years to come. And there was only one thing that really mattered to me. “And if I say I’m happy with it just being the two of us?”

  His lips stretched wide, flashing those perfectly straight white teeth. “Then I’m good with that too. I’ve got everything I could ever need right here.” He squeezed me again. “Everything else would just be icing on the cake.”

  My head fell forward, crashing into his solid chest while I wrapped my arms around his middle. “I love you,” I whispered. “This is all I need, Hayes. Right here.” Then something crossed my mind, and I jerked my head up as I added, “Oh, and maybe another dog.”

  “What?” he asked on a bewildered laugh.

  “Another dog. I never got another dog after Buddy, and I think that maybe it’s time now.”

  He shook his head, looking at me like I was equal parts cute and ridiculous and he wasn’t sure which one he enjoyed more. “You want a dog, I’ll get you a dog.”

  I threw my arms up in the air and let out a high-pitched “Yay!” that made Hayes drop his head back in a roar of laughter.

  As I watched him, I knew I’d made the right decision. This, right here in this very moment, was most definitely all I needed.

  Hayes

  Walking into the kitchen, I slung my suit jacket over the back of the barstool and turned my attention to Tempie at the same time I was hit with a sense of déjà vu that wrapped around me like the warmest, softest blanket.

  She stood at the kitchen sink, the sunlight filtering in as she hummed to a tune playing in her head and danced while washing the dishes from breakfast.

  My angel, always in motion. Christ, I’d missed watching her dance. I could’ve stood there and watched her all goddamn day. As if sensing my presence, she glanced over her shoulder and shot me a smile that lit her entire face. “What are you staring at?”

  “Love watchin’ you dance, baby,” I replied, rounding the island and coming up behind her to rest my hands on her hips and my chin on her shoulder. “Always dancin’.”

  “My mom did that,” she said in a wistful tone. “She could never stand still.”

  “You get that from her,” I murmured against her skin. “Even when you’re doin’ nothing, you’re movin’.”

  “I like that I got that from her,” she shared, her voice still soft. “I remember I used to come home and find Mom and Dad slow dancing to nothing. Dad said he’d walk into a room, see her dancing, and just couldn’t help but join in.”

  “Your father was a very smart man,” I rumbled. “And I like that you got that from her too.”

  She turned her head, looking back at me and smiling again. Her hand came out of the soapy water and lifted up to toy with the ends of my shower-damp hair. “You ready for work?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You comin’ back here after?”

  My mouth tugged into a grin. “Yeah.”

  “How’s fried chicken sound for dinner?”

  An appreciative groan vibrated up from my chest. “Sounds perfect. But I may be a little late. My schedule can be erratic. That gonna be a problem?”

  It wasn’t unusual for my phone to ring in the middle of the night, pulling me out of bed. There were some nights, if a case we caught was heating up, that I wouldn’t even roll in until the early hours of the morning. It was part of the job, but I knew from some of the married men on the force that hours like ours could put a strain on personal relationships. Case and point, Trick’s wife was currently using that as one of her excuses—one of many—to keep him out of their family home.

  Her eyebrows dipped and her mouth pulled into a frown as she turned to face me full on. “Why would that be a problem?”

  “I just know hours like mine can be a pain sometimes. You’d be surprised how many women can’t handle their man’s schedule.”

  The frown marring Tempie’s face deepened, and her eyes filled with disapproval
as she stated plainly, “Then those women are idiots. It’s not like you’re staying out all night drinking or partying. You’re keeping the people of this town safe.”

  “Yeah, but sometimes that comes at a cost,” I returned, stressing my point.

  “Well, it shouldn’t cost that,” she rebutted angrily. “And if that’s something you’re worried about, rest assured, it’s not an issue for me. If you miss dinner because you’re chasing after a bad guy, I’ll keep it warm for you. If you get called out in the middle of the night, I’ll be here to greet you when you get home. That’s my job. You keep us safe out there, and it’s up to me to give you something safe in here. Besides, I know all about crazy schedules, honey. I was a nurse for years. It wasn’t exactly a nine-to-five.”

  In that moment, all I wanted to do was throw her over my shoulder, carry her back upstairs to bed, and show exactly how much I appreciated her by getting her off as many times as I possibly could. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option.

  “I love you, angel. You know that?”

  “I do,” she replied, grinning up at me. “And I love you too.”

  “I’m gonna be home even later than expected.”

  Her head jerked back in surprise. “Why?”

  Her offer from earlier that morning came back to me, and I found myself making a split-second decision. “’Cause I’m gonna stop off at the apartment and pack up my shit. I’ll bring the furniture and stuff later, but as of tonight, I’ll officially be moving into the farmhouse. You okay with that?”

  Her eyes lit so bright it was nearly blinding. “I’ll totally keep dinner warm for you.”

  I leaned in and pressed a kiss to her lips, wanting to do so much more but unable to since I was due at the station.

  Her cell phone rang just then, cutting into the moment. “Will you grab that for me? My hands are all soapy.”

  Letting her go, I moved to the island and grabbed the phone. The screen read unknown as I swiped across it and lifted it to my ear. “Hello?” I could hear breathing on the other end of the line, but no one spoke. “Hello? Who is this?”

  Still nothing, so I disconnected. I started to put the phone back down when it rang again with the same unknown number. I answered halfway through the first ring. “Hello?”

  “Who is this?”

  My back went stiff at the man’s voice. “I could ask you the same question. You’re the one callin’ my woman’s phone, man.”

  The line went dead, and every instinct in me called out in warning.

  “Who was it?” Tempie asked, turning to me and wiping her hands on a dish towel.

  “He wouldn’t say his name.”

  She paused for a moment. “That’s weird. Did you recognize the number?”

  “There was no number,” I grunted, unease gripping at my chest.

  “I’m sure it was just a wrong number or something.”

  “Maybe,” I replied. But my gut was telling me it wasn’t that, and it hadn’t led me wrong in forty years.

  And with everything I’d discovered about mine and Tempie’s past, I wasn’t about to start ignoring it now.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Hayes

  I hadn’t planned on telling Trick about my decision to move into the farmhouse with Tempie. I didn’t want to rub salt in my brother’s wounds, but he knowing me like he did, he immediately honed in on the unusual spring in my step and started asking questions.

  “About time you got outta that shithole you’ve been livin’ in,” Trick stated after I finished telling him about my morning.

  “Whatever.” I chuckled. “It worked just fine for me, but now it’s time to move on.”

  “True enough. So this is really it, huh? You guys are jumpin’ in with both feet.”

  I could hear the concern laced through his words, and I understood it, but at the same time, Trick didn’t know what Tempie and I had been before.

  “Don’t dance around it,” I ordered. “Say what you really mean.”

  My partner hesitated for a moment before speaking bluntly. “You don’t think this is goin’ a little fast? I mean, I’m happy for you, man. You know that. But it’s only been a couple weeks.”

  “It’s been more than twenty years,” I shot back. “I fell for her when I was fifteen, and that hasn’t changed one goddamn bit in all the years that have passed. The only difference between what I felt then and now is that it’s even stronger.”

  “You know what I mean,” he countered.

  I did. And I got that the current circumstances of his personal life would easily make him question what I was doing. But Tempie wasn’t his wife.

  Resting my elbows on my desk, I replied, “Yeah. But you know me, brother. The last thing I am is impulsive.”

  His eyes traveled up and over my shoulder, a smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth. “No, I don’t suppose you are.”

  I turned to see what caught his attention and found Tempie taking the last step up into the bullpen.

  Just one glimpse of her and I had to struggle against going hard right there in the middle of the goddamn police department. Her jeans hugged her from hip to ankle, showing off her delectable curves. Her pale pink sweater was loose at her waist but fitted to her incredible tits and hung off her left shoulder, hinting at all the wonder that lay beneath. Her feet were in a pair of sexy-as-fuck short boots with a tall, thin heel that did miraculous things to her figure as she pranced past the desks with a grace she was born to. I might have been jealous that every man with a functioning dick took notice—it was impossible not to—but she only had eyes for me.

  Her gaze landed on me instantly and grew light with excitement like she hadn’t seen me in days, not the few hours that had passed since that morning.

  “Hey,” she said, her voice like honey as she reached my desk and bent at the waist to press a kiss against my lips. She inched back, her cheeks flushing, as if suddenly embarrassed as she lowered her voice. “Sorry. Am I allowed to kiss you here, or is that against some macho, badass cop rule?”

  I chuckled, reaching up to grab her by the back of her neck and pulling her back down for a harder, longer kiss before releasing her and teasing, “Macho, badass cop rule?”

  She stood tall and shrugged while clearing her throat and looking across my desk to greet my partner. “Hi, Trick.”

  “Hey, darlin’. You doin’ okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m doing great,” she replied, her voice practically radiating with happiness. “Thanks for asking.”

  “Not that I don’t mind the surprise visit, but what brings you by?” I asked, drawing her focus back to me.

  Turning on her heels, she propped her round ass on the edge of my desk. “I thought I might drop by the hospital today, see about getting a job there. What do you think?”

  I fucking loved the fact that she was solidifying Hope Valley as her new home even further. “I think that’s great, angel. But I thought you were happy at the diner.”

  She chewed on her lip for a second, giving that some thought. “I am, but that was only supposed to be a way to fill my time before I went back to Chicago. Now that I’m staying here, I want to go back to helping people. You have your way of doing it, and I have mine.” Her shoulder lifted in a shrug. “I miss it.”

  “Then I think it’s a great idea.” Her chest rose on a heavy inhale, as if my approval was all she’d been looking for. “But just so you know, I’d support you in anything you wanted to do.”

  “I also got you a present.” Tempie rifled through her purse and held up a tiny box with a little gold bow on top. “I stopped at Makin Hardware and had this made for you.” Her eyes went so warm that I could feel the heat against my skin as she handed the box to me. I pulled the lid off and lifted the silver key from inside. “It’s to the farmhouse,” she said, her voice brimming with happiness when I looked up at her with curiosity. “Our farmhouse.”

  Rising to my feet, I stepped in front of her, holding the key in one hand and sliding the other beneath
the heavy fall of her hair, wrapping my fingers around the back of her neck. “Thank you, angel,” I said softly. “Best present I’ve ever gotten.”

  Lifting on her toes, she pressed her lips against mine again and muttered, “Welcome home, honey.”

  Christ, I loved her something fierce. I was completely overcome with my need for her right then, and I had to take a step back before I did something that would have gotten me not only fired, but also arrested.

  My fingers clenched one last time before I released her neck and took a necessary step back. “Go on, now. You’ve got things to do, and I’ve got bad guys to catch.”

  Tempie threw her head back on a laugh and pressed her palms into my chest. “All right. I’ll see you at home later.”

  “That you will, angel.”

  I watched as she headed through the bullpen and disappeared down the steps. When I turned back to Trick, he was staring at me with a shit-eating grin. “All right, bud. I take it all back.”

  “Take what back?”

  “Thinkin’ that maybe you guys were moving too fast. You better put a ring on that woman’s finger and damn fast, ’cause you’re never gonna find anything better than that.”

  He had no idea how right he was.

  Temperance

  I walked through the hospital parking lot on cloud nine after my meeting. I’d spoken with the administrator and the director of nursing, hitting it off with both women like we’d been lifelong friends, and left there with a really good feeling.

  My cell phone rang halfway to my car, and I paused long enough to fish it out and grin at the screen before answering. “Hey, Carl. How’s it going?”

  “Pretty good, darlin’,” he returned. “Just wanted to call and see if you were available to meet up for lunch.”

  “Actually, yeah, that’s perfect. I’m leaving a meeting now, so I can meet you in fifteen if that works for you.”

  He started talking, but a weird sensation crawled across my skin, taking my attention from the conversation. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for as I slowly turned in a circle, scanning the lot, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching me. My gaze darted all around, but there was nothing out of the ordinary.