by Lacey Baker
“It’s in the past, Drew. Time to move on,” he stated blandly. “You ran from one small town to another, hiding from life, using me as your excuse. When really it’s your fault for not moving on.”
She wanted to hit him. Or she wanted to scream her frustration. Then she thought better of doing both.
“You are scum. You may make a lot of money and have millions of women falling all over you, but you’re still scum. And when you go to bed at night, you know what I’m saying is absolutely true. I don’t need to live in a big city to know that.” She spoke with calmness and a sense of relief she’d never felt before. If a person was an addict, he wouldn’t seek help until he admitted his addiction, no matter how many interventions were staged. Drunks stayed drunk until they wanted to get sober. Scumbag bullies like Jared would stay scumbag bullies until they wanted to change. But she did not have to remain on his level.
“I want you out of my shop and out of my life for good, Jared. If you so much as think of coming near me again, I will press charges for stalking, harassment, any charge they have on the books that will stick, I’ll bring them. And this time I won’t back down. I’ll continue until you are buried in a jail, gossip and your major league contract be damned.”
He was quick when he moved, his front slamming against the counter about two seconds before Drew moved to the side. She was about to reach for something to serve as a weapon when she heard barking. Then yelling, as Jared reared back and almost fell against her geranium display.
“Oh, Rufus!” she yelled, watching the little black dog grab hold of Jared’s pant leg, tugging with all his strength.
Jared kicked at him, and Drew picked up the yardstick she used to measure ribbon and slapped Jared over the back of his head.
“Down, Rufus! Down!” she yelled while she kept whacking at Jared, who was doing some weird rendition of a line dance across the front of the shop.
Rufus finally let Jared’s pant leg go, moving to put his snarling body in front of Drew.
“Now I’m going to press charges against you and your unruly dog!” Jared yelled, pointing a finger at Drew.
“Can’t do that,” Carl Farraway said as he walked through the front door with Parker right behind him.
“What? Why the hell not?” Jared demanded. “That stupid dog attacked me just like that idiot over there did and you’re telling me I can’t press charges! That’s a lot of bull!”
Carl simply shook his head. “Ms. Sidney reported you and Ms. McCann as trespassers in her place of business a couple of days ago. As long as that report is active, you have no right being on this property.”
“She called me here!” Jared insisted.
“And you attempted to harm her,” Carl stated. “I saw it myself from across the street through the window. You jumped and the dog came to the rescue. Now, if Ms. Sidney wants to press charges against you, I’d be happy to take that report.”
“This is bullshit! This whole town is ridiculous, with your crazy animals and dangerous innkeepers and cops that see through windows! I’ll have my lawyers in here so fast all your country-time heads’ll spin.”
Parker shook his head. “You really don’t want to do that. You see, my brother’s a lawyer. A really good lawyer that will most likely eat your lawyer for breakfast and spit him out in your face. Now, I warned you about bothering Drew before.”
Carl stood between Jared and Parker, facing Jared. “It’d be real smart if you just left town, Mr. Mansfield. This situation doesn’t look like it’s going to end in your favor.”
“She called me here! I was minding my own business and she called me. You stupid—” Jared’s words were cut off as he turned to lunge for Drew once more.
This time Parker moved faster. He pushed past Carl, grabbing Jared by his shirt collar and clipping him at the ankles, bringing the taller man to his knees while pulling an arm back so far that Jared yelled once more. By this time, Carl had drawn his weapon.
“Jared Mansfield, you are under arrest,” Carl began, reading Jared his rights.
Once he was cuffed and Carl was pushing him into the police cruiser out front, Drew breathed a sigh of relief that had been a long time coming. How many times had she dreamed of seeing Jared Mansfield in handcuffs, being punished for the things he’d done to her? Now, of course, he might not actually be brought up on the sexual assault charges—she’d have to talk to Preston about that—but she would definitely press charges for the attempted assault and intimidation and anything else they said she could, just as she’d warned Jared she would.
“I told you not to meet with him,” was the first thing Parker said to her. “Now sit down before you pass out,” was the next.
When she sat Rufus jumped up into her lap and she took comfort in knowing he was there, that he’d been there just in time. For the moment, that meant she would ignore the strong tone Parker had used with her, considering he’d probably been right in the first place.
Chapter 19
“I’m not going to be bullied by you, Parker Cantrell, or anybody else, anymore,” Drew stated adamantly. “I do not need to stay at your place when there’s nothing wrong with my apartment.”
“Did you already forget about the shooting incident? Or no, maybe you’ve forgotten about the crazy stalker that just tried to assault you again, this time in front of witnesses!” Parker yelled.
“Well, that certainly wasn’t going to happen with big bad Parker Cantrell in the building.” He jerked as though she’d slapped him with her words, and Drew sighed. She was angry and she was agitated. Her back had begun hurting when she’d hurried to get away from Jared. And this scene with Parker was giving her a headache. But none of that was any reason for her to be mean.
“Look, I know you mean well. I know you think you’re trying to protect me, and yes, maybe a part of me understands the logic behind staying with you at the B and B again tonight. But I can’t.”
They were in her apartment. She sat down heavily on the futon because she felt that if she didn’t get off her feet soon, she’d collapse. Then Parker would simply scoop her up and carry her to the B&B. She dropped her head into her hands, then looked up at him, determined not to crumble.
“I want to be alone, Parker. I’ve endured a lot of memories today, a lot of emotional turmoil, and I just want to be alone with my thoughts,” she told him calmly.
He ran a hand down his face. “And I want you to be safe. So if it makes you feel any better, I can call Michelle and see if one of the rooms are available. You don’t have to stay in the room with me, but at least you’ll be close enough for me to protect you if necessary.”
So he was trying to compromise as well. Didn’t they make a perfect pair?
Drew simply shook her head. “Jonah said he’d drive by my house repeatedly throughout the night. I don’t know why Sheriff Farraway won’t let Carl do it, but remind me to thank him profusely in the morning. Jared’s in jail and you said yourself that gunman was after you, not me. So I’ll be just fine.”
“I want—”
Drew held up a hand to stop his words. “Parker, please. I cannot take another man telling me what he ‘wants’ from me right now. I know you’re not Jared, but right now you’re pushing just as hard as he did.”
Again Parker looked as if she’d struck him. He clenched his teeth until a muscle twitched in his jaw.
“I won’t even bother to ask if I can stay here with you,” he said, and held his hand up to keep her from commenting this time. “Rufus stays with you, and I’m going to talk to Jonah about the frequency of his drive-bys. And keep your cell phone on and close.”
He was giving her more orders, even if they were orders for her safety. Drew didn’t have the strength to argue. Instead she simply nodded.
“And understand this, Drew,” he told her, coming close and kneeling so that they were face-to-face. “I’m not trying to bully you at all. I’m just trying to keep you and our little one safe. If I’m wrong for that, if that makes me big and bad
or even an ass in your book, then so be it. As long as there’s danger out there, I won’t stop doing any of the above.”
Drew felt like an idiot, a very tired and overwhelmed idiot at the moment, but one just the same. “I understand and I appreciate you giving me some room to breathe. I also appreciate you leaving Rufus. He was so fierce today.”
“Yeah, out of character for his breed. Then again, running away and coming to the same location is out of character for his breed as well. I think I might be able to write a book on the ins and outs of a twenty-first-century Labrador.”
They both chuckled lightly at that comment. Then Parker took her hands and brought them both up to his lips to kiss. “I want you to lock the doors and the windows. Keep that phone and Rufus close. And if anything, I mean anything, seems out of the ordinary to you, call me.”
Drew nodded. “I’ll do exactly that.”
He leaned in then and she followed suit. He kissed her softly at first, then pressed a little for more. She welcomed it and him, letting herself fall into the kiss as if she knew she’d fallen in love with him. That was the biggest reason Drew felt she needed space. She’d fallen in love with Parker and had realized it the moment Jared Mansfield walked into her shop.
At one point he’d been the man she’d thought she might spend the rest of her life with. Jared had been the man to take her away from the small town and show her the world. He’d turned out to be the man who would take from her the ability to let go and love someone else. Only he hadn’t taken that completely away from her.
She was in love with Parker Cantrell. As surely as she’d just moaned at the touch of his tongue on hers, she knew that she loved him and the baby they’d made together. What she was going to do with that knowledge, Drew had no idea. All she knew for sure was that she wanted to take her time, to not jump before walking—even though it seemed they’d already done that with the pregnancy. She wanted to know Parker and to know that he loved her, too, not just because she was carrying his child, but because he really wanted to be with her.
She needed time and space to figure out how she was going to accomplish that great feat. So with great reluctance, she lifted her hands and pushed lightly at his shoulders until the kiss was broken.
“I’ll come by early to bring you and Rufus breakfast,” he said softly, his forehead resting against hers.
“Okay,” was her reply.
She walked Parker to the door, assuring him that she would lock it immediately behind him. But before he would leave Parker turned to her again, whispering her name.
“I just, I just don’t know how this happened,” he continued as he pulled her into his arms, hugging her tightly. “But I’ll fix it. I promise you, I’ll fix it.”
Drew hugged him tight, closing her eyes to the pain that seemed to emanate from him. “Everything is going to work out just fine, Parker. I promise you it will.”
He seemed to take her word for it and walked out the door, turning before he’d cleared the steps only to have her say, “I know, lock the door.”
He only nodded, then waited until she’d closed the door and clicked the locks into place before climbing on his motorcycle and pulling off. Drew walked up the steps, feeling perfectly safe and completely in love.
* * *
Just off Elm Road, all the way down to where the street came to a dead end that consisted of a light line of trees and a four-foot drop to the water, sat a little blue house nestled in brightly colored flowers and a white picket fence. During a sunny day, the pale blue sky and golden sunlight framed the house like a Hallmark card. A more perfect sight one would never see.
As it was just a little after seven in the evening and the sun had just set, the house looked even more homely, more perfect, especially when Parker opened the pristine white fence and Coco, with her Hershey Bar brown fur, poked her head between two bushes to greet him.
“Hey, girl, how ya doing over there?” Parker spoke to the beautiful dog, who immediately came forward to greet him.
Coco walked him up onto the porch, but she didn’t go in, simply moved a few feet to the side over to a huge pink-and-brown polka-dotted pillow. Laying herself down on the pillow, Coco gave him a look that said, Enter at your own risk. Parker only smiled at the dog and lifted his hand to knock.
Heaven had bought this house a few months ago, and soon after that Preston had moved in. Now the two of them lived here happily—he supposed—with Heaven doing her research work from the back room she’d turned into an office and Preston handling the remainder of his old cases from the city and the new ones he’d acquired here in Sweetland, using what would have been a guest bedroom. Preston was resisting the logical urge to turn that room into his home office.
“Well, hello there. What brings you down this way?” Heaven asked when she’d opened the door, leaning forward to give Parker a hug.
Heaven Montgomery had been like a gentle breeze blowing into Sweetland, looking to adopt a puppy and then settling like a ray of sunshine over the uptight and tense Preston. Parker noted how much more his brother smiled now that Heaven was in his life, how relaxed and content he looked, how absolutely fantastic the proverbial “happily ever after” looked on this particular Cantrell brother. And envy reared its ugly head.
Giving Heaven an extra-tight hug, Parker cleared his throat. “I actually came to see Preston. Is he here?”
Pulling back, she looked up into his face. “Yes. He’s in his office acting like he’s working when really he’s just brooding.”
Heaven closed the door behind them and Parker stopped just inside the small living room. They’d added more furniture since he’d been here last, which was only about a week or two ago. But now there were thin curtains at the front window, draped in a fashion that reminded him of homes he’d seen in a magazine. The sofa and two armchairs were a soft gray color and looked beyond comfortable with the oversize charcoal pillows. The walls had been painted some color that was a mixture of gray and blue. Pictures adorned the walls, pictures taken here in Sweetland at the Bay Day celebration and the Labor Day Festival, some of Coco by the water and some of a serious-faced Preston with a smiling Heaven by his side.
“You hire someone to take those pictures?” Parker asked, pointing to the ones of Preston and Heaven.
Heaven nodded. “Yes, you know Kraig Bellini, the vet? He has a sister named Alana and she was here for a visit a couple weeks ago. I was talking about wedding plans when I took Coco in to see the doctor and he mentioned his sister was a wedding photographer. These were her sample shots and our official engagement shot for the newspapers. My father requested one and my mother shouted for about twenty minutes when we sent the beach photo with Coco included. Alana did a great job, so we’ve already hired her for the wedding,” she told him.
“Alana lives in Baltimore, doesn’t she?” Parker vaguely remembered the pretty, exotic-looking female.
“Right, with her daughter. But Kraig’s trying to get her to come back here.”
“What is it about Sweetland that people either never leave or they always come back?” he asked as they walked through the living room to the hallway that led to the windows. If they’d gone in the other direction, there was a dining room and kitchen, then the enclosed back porch that looked right onto the Miles River.
Heaven stopped and turned to him. Her smile was genuine and gorgeous, and each time Parker saw it he knew precisely why Preston had given up the law practice he’d built in Baltimore.
“Love brings you back, Parker. No matter how far you run or try to hide, it will always bring you back.”
Parker smiled at the nostalgic sound in Heaven’s voice because she hadn’t been born here, but damn if she hadn’t adopted the town along with Coco and the rest of the Cantrell family when she’d arrived.
“Go on in and talk to him, he’s still pretty upset,” she told him once they were standing in front of the door to the room where Preston was in hideout mode.
“Right. I’ve got a lot of ap
ologizing to do.”
Heaven shook her head. “Not necessarily. Just explaining. He feels like the two of you have lost touch, and he blames himself a little for that.”
Parker frowned, shaking his head. “That’s nonsense. He’s always been there for me. Always. No matter if he wasn’t physically there, I knew I could turn to him for anything.”
She touched a hand to his shoulder. “But not this time, huh?”
He sighed. “Yeah, not this time.”
After another hug from his future sister-in-law, Parker knocked quickly and waited for his brother’s voice to allow him to enter. Preston was sitting at a light oak desk, his high-backed leather office chair looking only slightly out of place in the contemporary-decorated cottage. His back was to the door as he stared out the window, all pretense of work given up.
“What’s up?” Parker said, trying for lightness as he closed the door behind him.
Preston turned in the chair, the frown slow to build on his face. It was times like this that the two looked most alike; even Parker knew that without looking in a mirror. Their key differences had always been their personalities—Preston the more serious, Parker the more laid-back. But as they’d grown into manhood, the differences had grown with them. Preston was extremely focused, steady as a rock, and dependable as air. Parker loved the adrenaline rush, the spontaneous lifestyle of a cop, and he lived his personal life in the same way. Yet today, at this moment they were both serious, both concerned, and both hurting on some level.
“What are you doing here?” Preston asked, leaning his elbows on the desk and looking at Parker with a slight frown.
His thick eyebrows furrowed, and Parker felt his own doing the same in response.
“I owe you an apology,” Parker started. “I should have told you about the Vezina situation when it first happened.”
“Why didn’t you?” Preston asked immediately, clearly not willing to cut Parker any slack.
Parker rubbed his hands down his face. “It all happened so fast. Before I knew what was going on, Mertz had me in his office warning me to stay off this case. I couldn’t figure out why. It was a cop killing. You know how seriously we take that.”
