by Jill Sanders
He shrugged. “I like your family.”
She smiled. “I like them, too.”
“I wish I could find Ryan,” he blurted out and cringed a little.
“Well, have you looked?” She stopped to pull out her keys.
“Yeah, right after he left and again when dad died.”
“And?” She opened the door.
“Nothing.” He shook his head. “I looked everywhere we’d talked about as children. All the places we’d dreamed of going.” He walked in behind her.
“You could hire someone.” She laid her purse down and turned towards him.
“Yeah, I suppose. I’d just hoped…” He stopped, not sure what he’d hoped.
“What? That he’d come back?” she asked.
He nodded and realized that the hurt ran deep. “I’m sorry.”
She smiled and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “Don’t be. I think I remember meeting you and Ryan once when you guys were staying out at the ranch for a week during summer.”
He nodded. “Yeah, I remember.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “You remember meeting me?”
He felt his face flush. “Sure.” He pulled her closer by using his hands on her hips. “You were going on a ride with Haley. You had on a pink tank-top and faded shorts.” He smiled. “They were very short and Ryan and I fought over who was going to ask you out first.”
“Why didn’t you?” She smiled.
He shrugged. “Dad came and picked us up while you were on your ride.”
“That’s too bad.” She leaned up and whispered against his lips. “I would have picked you.” He felt his heart skip as he leaned up and kissed him. She must have felt the urgency in his lips, because she moved closer and pushed him back until his shoulders came up against the front door.
He liked letting her take the reins and tried to relax as she rushed to pull and push his dress clothes from him as they stumbled their way back towards the bedroom. When he stood in front of her completely naked, he hiked her dress up with his hands and played with the silky material that covered her. When she moaned and leaned her head against his chest, he walked her towards the bed, falling with her onto the soft mattress, hiking the dress up more.
She was softer than anything he’d ever felt before and smelled and tasted better than anything he’d ever experienced. He wished that the moment could continue forever.
“Reece, please,” she begged him. Her head rolled from side to side as she kept her eyes closed tight.
“What Missy?” he asked, knowing full well her answer but wanting to hear her ask him in her sexy voice.
“I need you. I can’t stop wanting you.” Her eyes opened and she looked deep into his. “I think about you day and night. About this. About you.” She pulled him back to her lips as he plunged into her, holding her tight.
She was more than he’d ever imagined. The feel of her was intoxicating, the way she consumed his mind, his heart. She made him feel like he belonged. Like he was loved. He stilled when he realized that for the first time in his life, he loved someone completely.
“Reece, please,” she called out again, causing him to move. Her nails dug into his hips, forcing his hips to thrust against her. Then his mind shut off as she kissed him, and he let his body take over every movement. His heart rate spiked, his eyesight went dark, even his hearing left him, replaced by a heightened sense of taste, smell, and touch.
The buildup was nothing compared to being with her, inside her. His fingers dug into her soft skin, his lips yearned for hers. Even when he was enjoying her, he wanted more.
He felt her tighten around him just as his body exploded inside hers and he died the sweetest death he’d ever experienced.
Melissa was questioning her sanity. Her breathing had yet to return to normal and her ears were still ringing. But when she played it over in her mind, she could have sworn she’d heard Reece say that he loved her.
He was resting his head on her chest so she didn’t know if his eyes were open or closed. When she heard his heart slow, she thought he was asleep until he leaned up and looked down at her.
“I can hear you thinking,” he said, frowning slightly at her.
“Did you mean it?” She scooted back until she leaned against her soft headboard and pulled her skirt back into place. He was completely and gloriously naked and looked very comfortable.
“What?” He moved next to her.
“What you said.”
He frowned. “Yeah, but…” She didn’t let him get any further as she straddled his hips. She could see the fear in his green eyes and wanted nothing more than to soothe and comfort him.
“I love you, too,” she said and watched desire replace the fear. Holding onto him, she gave him a kiss that showed him everything she’d been feeling since he’d first opened those green eyes of his.
When she finally pulled back, she was breathless again and couldn’t stop smiling at him.
“What do we do from here?” he asked, rubbing his calloused hands over her skin. She loved the feel of them on her.
“How about a shower?” she asked, causing him to laugh.
That night as they lay tangled together, her mind refused to shut down. She had joked when he asked because she hadn’t known the answer to his question. Where did they go from there?
She’d never said those words to a man before. There had been other men in her life, but no other relationship had ever gone this far. They’d eaten dinner at her parents’ house, and her parents had pretty much given their blessings.
Of course, in their eyes, no West could ever be bad. But she knew the hell he’d been raised through and her parents didn’t. Still, as she watched him sleep next to her, she doubted he had a mean streak in him. He was not like his father, that was apparent.
She’d seen the tears in his eyes tonight as he talked about finding his brother. She was just drifting off when a memory flashed in her mind. She bolted up and started shaking Reece.
“Reece, wake up.”
“What?” He bolted up, switched on a light, and looked around. “What’s going on?”
“I…I think I know where your brother is.”
“What?” he asked, rubbing his hands over his eyes.
“I think I know where Ryan is.”
“How?” He frowned, looking at her as he leaned back against the headboard.
“Well, at least I know where he was two years ago.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Two years ago I was still interning at the hospital in Houston. That was just after I switched over from Children’s. Anyway, one night I was working ER and a man walked in with two bullet wounds to his stomach. He just walked in all by himself. It was amazing he was able to do that. When I reached him to help him to a gurney, he looked up at me and then passed out before I could get his name or what had happened to him. He stayed unconscious while we removed the bullets that were lodged in him. The next day I went to check on him but he’d been moved to his own room and he was gone. All of us were concerned since we didn’t know what had happened to him.”
“What has this got to do with my brother?” he asked.
“Well, before he passed out, I remember looking into green eyes.” She paused and looked at him. “Your eyes.”
“Are you saying my brother is in Houston? And that he was shot two years ago?”
She nodded. “I’m almost certain of it.” She thought about it. “I can make a few calls this week and find out if that man ever gave his name or insurance information.”
He nodded. “We never talked about going to Houston. There are too many people there. Ryan and I liked country living.” He frowned. “Then again, we talked about leaving together.”
She moved closer to him and wrapped her arms around him. “It’s a lead. Maybe he was just passing through and got mugged?”
She felt him nod. “Did he make it through surgery okay? That man?”
“Yes. The doctors said that he had woken up halfway
through it and demanded they leave him alone.”
“Leave him alone?” he asked.
“If I remember it correctly, the doctor said that he yelled for them not to touch him.” She looked up at him and watched as he paled a little. “Obviously he was well enough to get out of there on his own.”
He nodded. “What made you remember this?”
She shrugged. “I’m not sure.” Then she remembered the look of fear Reece had in his eyes before she told him she loved him. “I saw something in your eyes tonight that I had seen in his. Identical expressions.”
He looked at her, waiting.
“Fear.”
Chapter Twelve
The following days were full of paperwork and signing his name. Reece had never bought a house before, but he was sure there wasn’t this much paperwork when he’d sold his father’s property.
The final inspection and appraisal had been completed and as he sat next to Grant Holton and across from the Jones's, he realized he’d never felt more nervous in his life. How could buying a lot of dirt and a stick of house tie his stomach in knots?
Grant stood up and shook Mr. Jones’s hand. “Looks like we have everything finished.” Then he turned to Reece and handed him a silver key chain. “The place is all yours.”
He took the keys and shook everyone’s hands. When he left Grant’s office, he wasn’t sure what to do next. He’d never owned a place before. Stopping in the middle of the sidewalk, he realized he didn’t even have a bed of his own and hadn’t owned anything short of a suitcase full of clothes since he’d sold everything after his father had died.
Looking around, he noticed the old antique store that sat across from the clinic. He’d never been in the place and decided it would be a good start. Worse case, he’d buy a used mattress and sleep on it until he could get into Tyler to a furniture store.
Glancing down at his phone, he realized it was just about time for Missy’s shift to end. So instead of walking into the antique store, he walked into the clinic instead.
The waiting room was quiet. Only two people sat in the chairs waiting, a mother and a small girl whose ponytails looked cute enough to tug on. He smiled at them when they looked up at him.
He walked up to the front counter and tapped on the glass. It took almost a minute for the glass door to slide open.
“Yes?” It was a rather large nurse who looked back at him.
“I’m looking for Missy.”
“Missy?”
“Melissa Holton.”
“Oh.” She smiled. “You must be Reece.”
Instantly he felt his face flush. So her coworkers knew about them. He wondered how much she’d told them and all of a sudden, he felt nervous.
“Yes, I thought I’d walk her home after her shift.”
“I’ll just run back and get her for you. Take a seat.” She nodded towards the row of chairs.
When he sat down, he smiled again at the little girl, who had decided not to read the book in her lap, but chose instead to watch him. This was one on the main reasons he liked this town—its people. He’d only ever heard of one problem that had bothered the people of Fairplay— and it had involved his family. But good had prevailed and life had picked up after the incident with the previous mayor’s wife.
Sure, the town had gone through its ups and downs. There had been not one, but two tornadoes that had ripped through the area in the last fifty years. The first had taken his aunt, a woman he could only remember through pictures and through her daughters’ eyes. The second storm had almost taken his cousin Haley in the same way. He shivered when he remembered how close it had come. Then his thoughts turned to Missy. She hadn’t been in town for that storm since she’d been away at college, but that didn’t stop his mind from twisting and wondering what he would have done had it been her instead.
“Hi,” Missy said, standing right in front of him, and he realized he must have gotten lost in his thoughts. “Daydreaming?” She smiled.
He smiled and took her into his arms. “Hi.” He brushed his lips over hers. “Are you about done for the day?”
She nodded. “Want to do dinner?”
He smiled. “Maybe after some shopping. I closed today.”
“What?” She leaned back and looked at him. “I thought you were closing on Wednesday?”
He laughed. “It is Wednesday.”
She stopped and pulled out her phone from her back pocket and frowned down at it. “How did I miss a whole day?” She shook her head and smiled up at him. “Congratulations, home owner.” He enjoyed the kiss and hug she gave him right there in the waiting room.
“Thanks. I was hoping you’d help me out. I need some items and was going to swing through the antique store across the way.”
“Oh, I’d love to. I’m always making excuses to go in there. I just love looking at all the stuff they have. Let me get my stuff and clock out.” She kissed him again quickly and rushed towards the back.
He turned and saw the mother and girl smiling up at him.
“Congratulations,” the mother said. “I remember when we closed on our place five years ago.”
He nodded and sat back down.
“Where did you buy?” she asked after a moment.
“The old Jones place out on Old Airport Road, about five miles out of town.”
The woman looked at him and he could see something cross her eyes. “Good luck,” she said, just as Haley walked out.
“What kind of items are you looking for?” Melissa asked as they walked across the street holding hands.
He laughed. “Everything.”
Two hours later, he sat in an old recliner and listened to his stomach growl. Looking down, he frowned. “I know buddy. Who would have thought that she was a shopaholic?” He laughed when Missy hit him playfully on the shoulder.
“I’m almost done. Besides, we’ve gotten you some really good pieces.” She sat next to him. “What do you say to a home-cooked meal after this?”
“Sounds great.” His stomach chose that moment to growl even louder. “When? Where?”
“Mama’s, after I finish negotiating for the desk.” She nodded towards the roll-top he’d been eying since walking into the place.
“Fine. Think you can talk him down to two-fifty?”
She smiled. “Just sit back and watch the pro.”
Less than half an hour later, they sat in a booth at Mama’s and ordered dinner. He’d gotten a great deal on a couch, a beautiful oak headboard, a matching dresser and nightstand, and the roll top desk he’d been wanting. They would be delivered later that week along with a few other smaller items they had bought.
It was meatloaf night at Mama’s and everyone in town knew that Willard the chef cooked the best barbeque meatloaf around. Some said it was a recipe handed down from his family, others claimed it was one he’d made up himself. Whatever the origins, people crowded in when they drove through town and smelled the spices in the breeze.
They’d been lucky to get one of the last booths along the back in the newest section. Shortly after the tornado had gone through town, Jamella had expanded the small diner into what it was today. Now, instead of just a dozen tables, there were over twenty tables and booths. The new tile floors shined. Gone was the old ceiling that occasionally leaked during a heavy rainstorm. There was even a new jukebox in the back that played everyone’s favorite music.
The kitchen had been totally remodeled as well, or so everyone had heard. Mama’s was the only place in town to get a home-cooked meal and usually you bumped into someone you knew.
Ten minutes after they’d sat down, Holly walked in. She stopped in the doorway and looked around, waving at a few people. Then she spotted Melissa and Reece and rushed over to their table.
“Well, hello. Mind if I join you?” She didn’t wait for an answer and instead pushed Melissa lightly until she moved over.
“Sure,” Missy said, moving over a little more. “I haven’t seen you in a few days.”
&nb
sp; “I received a shipment of new stock and have been buried in books.” She pulled out a book from her rather large bag, which she’d set next to her. “Speaking of which…” She handed it to Melissa.
“Oh! It came.” Melissa gripped the book and hugged it to her chest. Then she pulled it back and looked at it, stroked the cover, and smiled. “Look.” She turned it around and showed it to him.
All he could tell was that it was a new book. Its cover was bright and colorful.
“Nice,” he said, trying not to add too much sarcasm to his voice. Melissa heard it and smirked at him.
“It’s Holly’s book,” she said, looking down at it again.
“Holly?” He looked over at the small redhead, who looked like she was boiling over with joy.
Melissa nodded. “Yes, it’s the story of her father’s life.” She turned and he read the title, Serving Life.
“Congratulations,” he said, looking closer. “I’ve never met an author before.”
Holly blushed. “It was nothing really. I just took some of my father’s journals and an old box of poetry of his and put it all together.”
“Whatever,” Missy said, playfully pushing her friend. “I know how many hours you put into this. Well, I’m not giving this copy back, and you’re going to sign it for me.” She hugged it again.
“That’s fine. I have a box full of them.” She giggled. “I can’t believe it.”
Just then, the waitress walked over.
“Do you happen to have any champagne?” Reece asked her.
“No, but we do have some sweet white wine.” She looked at the three of them.
“We’re celebrating Holly’s book.” Melissa held it up.
“Oh,” the waitress said, reaching down and hugging Holly. “Congrats, honey.” Then she shocked Reece by putting her fingers to her mouth and whistling. “Listen up, everyone. Holly’s new book is here.” She took the copy Melissa held up for her and raised it above her head. “I’m sure you can all get your copies first thing in the morning when Holly opens up. She’ll probably sign them if you’re nice enough.” Several people laughed.
Holly stayed and ate dinner with them. Several people stopped off at the booth and congratulated her. Reece really enjoyed watching how she handled everyone and realized he’d yet to make a stop at her bookstore.
