Protector

by Kate Stone

  Protector

  by

  Kate Stone

  Protector

  Copyright 2020, Kate Stone

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, transmitted, or distributed in any printed or electronic form by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of Kate Stone, except in the case of brief quotations embodied within reviews and other non-commercial uses allowed by copyright law.

  For permission requests, email KateStoneAuthor@gmail.com

  www.AuthorKateStone.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One – Lilly

  Chapter Two – Wade

  Chapter Three – Lilly

  Chapter Four – Wade

  Chapter Five – Lilly

  Chapter Six – Wade

  Chapter Seven – Lilly

  Chapter Eight – Wade

  Epilogue – Lilly

  Chapter One – Lilly

  The sweet air of the country always brought me back to summers at my grandma’s. I would spend days picking honeysuckle and blackberries from the bushes, and nights catching fireflies. Growing up a city dweller, my family and friends didn’t understand why I would want to retire to the small-town life. I couldn’t imagine building a life anywhere but in a town where people knew your name, you could count the stoplights on one hand, and the night air filled with the sound of crickets and cicadas instead of police sirens and raging parties. During a moment of crushing anxiety following my master’s graduation, I pulled up a map of the state, picked a quaint town named Newshire at a whim, and browsed for rental homes.

  And there I was, freshly twenty-five, moving into my very own house. It was a small, one-story brick house with black shutters and a weather-worn door, but I planned to paint bright it yellow. I planned to add flower boxes in each window every spring, and Christmas lights every winter. The landlord was cutting me a deal on the rent for my promise to make modern renovations. He was an older man who claimed he needed a woman’s touch on the property in case I decided to move instead of buy one day.

  The movers had left over an hour ago, and a hoard of boxes were waiting on me, begging to be unpacked and put in place… Yet there I was, wandering around the outside market in the center of town. It was a gorgeous Saturday at the very beginning of spring, the expansive sky without a single cloud to blemish it. While the market wasn’t packed like the ones in the city, a generous amount of people moseyed around, inspecting the fresh produce. Even though the fruits and vegetables were marvelously delectable, I was preoccupied with the people.

  As far back as I could remember, people watching was my guilty pleasure. The more unaware and at peace the person felt, the more entranced I became with watching them. People were always putting on some sort of performance while in public, even if it was as simple as squaring their shoulders and putting on a fake smile; so it was fascinating to see someone acting so natural. Like the little boy I spotted across the square. He couldn’t have been more than two-years-old and was holding a kiwi that seemed as big as a softball in his tiny hand. While he tittered back and forth, he ogled the fruit, delicately rubbing his fingertips against the fuzzy skin. Had I known his parents, I would have taken a picture for them, wishing so much that his mother who was talking to the vendor could see her son’s look of astonishment at touching a hairy fruit for perhaps the first time.

  “Ma’am, can you move? You’re blocking my view of the tomatoes,” a gravelly voice called from behind me.

  Without moving from my position leaning against a post, I turned my head to take in the sight of the man who called to me. Underneath a forest green canopy sat a dark-haired man, with a short and well-groomed beard, a silver nose ring, and eyes the color of a remote swimming hole in a tropical country I would never visit, enticing me to take a dip. His eyes were second in beauty only to the playful smirk glued to his lips.

  I wasn’t one to lose my composure; my mother had once taught me there wasn’t a man in the world worth losing your cool over. “Afraid they’ll ripen without you seeing?”

  “That’s the idea,” he nodded, running a ringed hand over his beard. “They have to be the perfect amount of sun-ripened to go in my Sunday gravy, and your cute little self is standing in the way of my live updates.”

  It was only then his accent dawned on me. While we were the south and everyone had a touch of twang to them, his was more pronounced in the best way possible. It was the drawl of a folk singer from the sixties. “A man who cooks? Must be a country thing. Don’t think I know a guy who knows how to do more than put in a delivery address on an app.”

  “Thought so,” he beamed, his smirk blooming into a smile. “You’re new here, huh?”

  “What tipped you off?” I teased, feeling as though I had just outright admitted it.

  “The fact I know every girl in this town—though I suppose I know just about everyone. Small towns are like that. Might wanna be careful out here. Some of these country folks bite, and they’ll eat you for dinner.”

  Taking a glance around and noticing nearly the entire population was families and senior citizens, I stifled a laugh. “I’ll be sure to watch my back. So what uh…” I glanced up at the canopy, my voice trailing off. Three Brothers Landscaping. “You’re a landscaper?” Nothing about this man said landscaper, but maybe I was stereotyping. There was nothing about his manbun and denim vest that screamed a career in mulch and tulip bulbs.

  “Appears that way,” he sighed before rising from his leaned-back position in a folding chair. He extended a hand and stared me in the eyes, “Wade McIntyre.”

  “Lilly Sweeney.”

  His expression shifted, but I couldn’t explain how. “Beautiful name,” he nearly purred.

  “Funny, I was about to say the same to you.”

  “Wade does have a sweet little ring to it, doesn’t it? I think it may just get lodged between your ears by the end of the day.”

  His confidence made me scoff. “What makes you say that?”

  “You’re standing here, talking to me when there’s a million things the new girl in town could be doing. So I know there’s gotta be a reason you’re still entertaining me. No way it’s just to be polite, all I did was ask you to move. You want to know the kicker?” He gestured for me to come closer as he leaned across the table, gesturing he was going share a secret. The feel of his breath on my neck caused a shiver to race up my spine. “I don’t even like tomatoes.”

  We shared a hearty laugh while a swarm of butterflies took ownership of my stomach. So he was flirting with me. “You lied to get my attention? Where’s the trust? Nothing can be built on a foundation of lies, Wade.”

  “So what you’re telling me is you’ve known me for all of five minutes and you already wanna build a relationship with me?” My cheeks were as red as the tomatoes he hated, wishing my smart mouth hadn’t gotten so ahead of me. “Tell you what, if you forgive me for my little… indiscretion, I’ll come by and give you a free quote on your yard.”

  “Oh, so this is an elaborate sales pitch? I have to say, this has to be the most charming sales attempt I’ve ever received.” I spoke quickly, doing my best to recover from my embarrassment.

  “You don’t know about my discounts yet… You’ll be amazed at how significant the New Cute Girl in Town discount is.”

  “How much is it?”

  He tilted his head side-to-side as
if considering it. “I guess I could go as low as a few beers and an hour of your time.”

  “My! That is quite the discount. How foolish would I have to be to turn that down?”

  “Very,” he stated firmly, his boyish smirk returning.

  “Guess I’ll have to take you up on that. What time are you off?”

  “I can be ready by the time you walk around this little market and pick me up some of the beer at Miss. Vickey’s stand down the way.”

  “Oh? Are you one of the three brothers?” I joked, a way to ask if he owned the business he was so willing to jump ship from to come spend the afternoon with me.

  “Not a brother, but one of nine grandkids,” he corrected with a wink. “Go enjoy yourself. I’ll be ready when you come back to me.”

  “Yes sir,” I said as I gave him a playful salute. Walking away with my head in the clouds, I tried to process what just happened. Wade was dreamy. There had always been a flirty side to me, but I had never clicked with someone so instantaneously. Lost in thought, there was no telling how long it took me to finish going through the market. When I reached the end of the booths and tents, I had purchased a reusable produce bag and filled it with the ingredients for dinner and carried in my free hand his six pack of local, unfiltered beer from Miss. Vickey.

  As I approached the landscaping canopy, giddy with anticipation for the evening to come, I noticed an auburn-haired man leaned against the post—also wearing a denim vest. Wade saw me approaching and grinned, “Lilly, this is Jericho. Jericho, Lilly. Anyways, let’s roll.”

  “Nice to meet you,” I called to the man as Wade led me away. “How polite of you.”

  “What was I supposed to do? Let you linger so he can smooth talk you with Spanglish? I think not.”

  “Think you have competition for my attention already?”

  “Darlin’, I got a whole town against me. Why do you think I’m trying to get you alone as fast as I can? I have to show you all my tricks and dazzle you so you’ll forget there’s even a town to meet.”

  As I started onto the sidewalk to head to my house, living just a few streets over, I noticed Wade wasn’t walking with me anymore. Turning around, I saw him getting onto a classic Harley Davidson motorcycle. “Why am I not surprised?” I tried to scoff but it was a giggle—an embarrassing schoolgirl giggle.

  He didn’t speak but just patted the seat behind him. Having to bite the inside of my cheeks to keep from smiling, I moved to sit behind him. The leather was hot from sitting in the sun, but not painfully so. Opening a deep pocketed side bag, Wade motioned for me to set the beer inside. Once it was secured, he revved the engine and I jumped a little, holding onto the seat cushion.

  “Where do you live?” he asked over the sound of the engine. I gave my address without thought; my city-dweller of a father would kick my ass to Kansas if he knew. Wade nodded. “No need for helmets then. Might wanna hang onto me so you don’t fall off.”

  I was glad his back was facing me so he couldn’t see the blend of blushing and grinning making up my expression. As I wrapped my arms around his torso, I noticed the back of his vest was embroidered with what I assumed was Cerberus, Hades’ three-headed dog, and the word Watchdogs. I wanted to ask, and almost did, but then we were taking off—the wind on my face and in my hair erasing any trace of curiosity.

  Chapter Two – Wade

  There wasn’t a damn thing wrong with Lilly’s yard. In fact, the moment I heard her address, I knew my guys had been over there just days before, cleaning the place up for the landlord. There was no way I was about to let her know that, though. After she had put away her groceries, I took her around the yard and listed off a bunch of things she could do with the space; wild, nonsensical things that would cost more than the house was worth. Hell, I would say anything to see a reaction from her. The more she smiled and laughed, the more I tried. When I was out of ideas, considering I didn’t do much landscaping myself, I pointed out the various plants in her yard and would give her the scientific name for each and a little background if I could fish it out of my memory of twelfth-grade environmental biology.

  Ultimately, we ran out of yard to explore and the sun was starting to set behind the tops of the trees. Lilly went inside to fetch us a couple beers before we retired onto her porch. We had easy going small talk; where we were born, what our parents did, how she hated living in the city, if we had seen any good movies lately—which neither of us had. “How do you like the beer?” I asked as I tilted my own to my lips.

  “The cloudy appearance isn’t very appealing,” she admitted, holding the bottle up and swirling it around to watch the particles dance around in the sunlight. “However, it tastes pretty good.”

  We sipped our beer in a comfortable silence before I thought of another question. “So you said you went away to college? What for?”

  “Social services. I got a job with the county for Child Protective Services.”

  “Oh?” That piqued my interest for a thousand reasons I couldn’t tell her. “What made you choose that field?”

  She brushed a long strand of brown hair behind her ear and got a distant look in her eye. “Well, I had this neighborhood friend as a kid. She was very sweet but quiet and nervous for a kid. We were close… We could only play for thirty minutes a day because of her dad. Sometimes she’d have bruises, but all kids did, you know…” There was a pause and she chugged a good portion of her beer while I swallowed the lump in my throat; it was a narrative I was far too familiar with. “Then one day she was gone and her dad was still in town… He claimed she was missing, but even at seven years old I knew better. I don’t think they ever found her. Something about it got to me and in a way that was more profound than a friend being gone. I don’t know… I took it on myself. I wish I could have saved her. I should have known something was wrong and should have let someone know. I decided I wanted to help little girls like that.” Lilly turned to me and turned her serious, solemn look into a playful grin in an instant. Already she was striking me as the type who wanted to be the ray of sunlight that broke through the storm. “I suppose I’ve always considered myself to be Batman.”

  There it was, a moment that would be scorched into my memory for the rest of my days. The sun peeking out between the trees bathed Lilly’s warm ivory skin in golden light, making her eyes sparkle like the emeralds they were, and highlighted the delicate bone structure of her slender face. Had I not been in such awe, I would have been brave enough to kiss her then and there. Then I saw a fleck in her eyes that made me think maybe she wanted me to. My heart skipped a beat and I started to sit up straight to get closer to her. I saw her gaze flicker to my lips and I knew I had one opportunity to make my move and make it feel right. Things might have been moving fast, but we were adults and both seemed to go wherever the wind carried us. I leaned toward her, placing a hand on her knee and…

  “Hey there, neighbor!”

  Lilly moved out from under my gentle touch and turned her head to the walkway. I cursed under my breath. I didn’t have to look up to know who it was, knowing the voice all too well. Some foolish part of me was hoping he wouldn’t make an appearance, even though I knew they were next door neighbors.

  When Lilly began to stand to greet him, I had the urge to pull her back down, but wouldn’t dare touch her like that. “Hi, I’m Lilly,” she said, extending a hand.

  “Pleasure to meet you, Lilly. I’m Tyler Kent. Live right next door, the little white one.” There was a pause; I could feel his eyes taking me in. “Well, hello Mr. McIntyre. Surprised you’re in this neighborhood.”

  I was roused enough by that to stand for nothing more but to tower over the tiny man whose ego was the size of the state. “Kent.”

  “I think you know best to address me as Officer Kent,” he warned with a foul scowl. Kent smiled at Lilly, doing his best to pretend he was a good man.

  “Whatever you say,” I sighed. I tossed an arm casually around Lilly’s shoulders. “You g
reeted her. Now go back over to your side of the hedge, officer.”

  I could feel Lilly’s gaze, but I didn’t dare break eye contact with Officer Kent. “It’s the lady’s property and she can say who is allowed on it.” He then tried to peer behind me onto the porch. “What’s going on here?”

  “Just welcoming her to town with a look over the yard and a couple of beers. Is that a crime?”

  “Of course not. Surprised you offered to look over the property since your company just landscaped here not but three days ago.”

  “Mind your business.”

  “I will once your business runs honestly.”

  “Your guys have checked our books twice this year already and it’s barely spring. You’re more than welcome to check them again, officer.” My temper was flaring, but I kept my cool. I wasn’t about to let a pinheaded policeman make me lose my composure in front of Lilly.

  Kent glanced over his shoulder, “Say, McIntyre, looks like your bike is too close to the fire hydrant. Mind moving that for me?”

  My teeth clenched. There were two paths I could take. One was to tell him to go fuck himself, get a ticket for parking and “harassing an officer”, and raise tensions between local law enforcement and The Watchdogs even further. Or, I could play it his way, leave for the time being, and come back when he wasn’t around. I needed time to think things over, anyway. What the hell was I doing getting involved with a sweet thing living next door to Officer Tyler Kent?

  Squeezing Lilly’s shoulder to get her attention, I melted as her emerald eyes peered up at me with confusion. I didn’t know what to say to her or how I would ever explain if I decided to get involved with her. “I’ll see you around, okay?”

  She nodded, her brows drawing together as her bewilderment increased. “Do you want to go with me to get some window boxes for flowers? You’re the expert, after all.”