by Lexi Blake
The sight of the sheriff’s station up the street turned his stomach.
He hadn’t been a big man then. No. He hadn’t been much of a man at all.
“Holy fucking shit.” A deep voice pulled him from those thoughts. “Am I seeing things?”
He glanced over and there was Jamie in the parking lot of Stella’s. James Glen. He was standing with Noah, his brother. Hell, half his childhood had been spent knocking around the county with those two, and he’d skipped their wedding party, too.
It was right there—the urge to punch the gas and get out of town. He didn’t have to deal with any of this. But then he caught the smile on Jamie’s face dimming as though he realized what Logan was thinking. Fuck.
Logan pulled in and plastered a smile on his face as he shut off the truck. Before he got out, his hand went to his left pec, rubbing there. He did it almost unconsciously now, as though she was there in the lines and flowers of the G. Somehow, if she was with him, he could get through the bad parts.
He slid out of the driver’s seat, and Jamie was on him in a heartbeat. “Logan! Oh, man, you have no idea how good it is to see you.”
He let himself get pulled into a manly hug and managed to slap his old friend on the back. “Hey, Jamie. Noah.”
Noah stood back as though unsure of his welcome. He’d only been home for a few months, but Logan hadn’t seen him at all. God, Noah had come home and managed to get married and set up his veterinary practice, and Logan hadn’t even called him.
He was a shit.
“Noah, my man.” He pulled away from Jamie and held a hand out to Noah, but he couldn’t help giving him hell. He’d heard some from Wolf about what had transpired, but giving his friend shit was something Logan lived for. “Heard NYC wasn’t so great for you, buddy. So the whole ‘marrying a complete ho-bag’ didn’t work out?”
Noah flashed Logan his happy middle finger and then shook his hand, pulling him in for a manly hug, the tension dissolving. “Yeah, well, I did better the second time around. What the fuck happened to you? When did you go all Incredible Hulk? You’re huge.”
A whole fuck-ton of weight training had transformed him from a lanky, six-foot-three, one-hundred-and-sixty-pound kid, into a man with two hundred and twenty-two pounds of pure muscle. He’d kept up the workouts in Dallas, never missing a day. Fuck. Where was he going to work out here? All of his equipment was back in his old room, and he couldn’t stay there.
“Logan!”
A brunette ball of pure energy raced his way, and he braced for impact, a genuine smile hitting his face for the first time in forever. Hope. She threw her arms around him and expected him to catch her.
Which he would. Always. Because Hope had saved him that night.
“Hey, sweetheart.” He hugged her close, deeply aware that he’d failed her, too. He should have been here, should have taken care of her. He owed her so fucking much. “I’m sorry I missed your wedding reception.”
She squeezed him tight. “It’s okay. I’m just glad you’re back.”
“Dude, if you don’t let my wife go soon, I’m going to throw down with you,” Noah said, his words hard.
Logan let go of Hope, allowing her feet to hit the gravel of the parking lot.
Hope turned back to her husband. “What is wrong with you?”
“It’s cool.” He understood the whole territorial-male thing. He wouldn’t have BG. Before Georgia. God, he kind of measured his life in “befores” and “afters.” There was all that time before The Incident. And there was a time Before Georgia and After Georgia. After Georgia, he totally understood Noah wouldn’t want his wife held in the arms of another male, even if the other man thought of her as a sister.
Noah turned to his brother. “Dude, you got no problem with that? She wrapped her legs around his waist.”
Jamie threw an arm over his wife’s shoulder. “Naw. See, I know what Hope looks like when she’s seriously wrapping herself around a man. I had an up close and personal experience with it about ten minutes back.”
Hope flushed a furious shade of red. “James Glen. I can’t believe you said that.”
Noah huffed. “I knew you weren’t going to wash your hands. You followed her into the bathroom for a quickie. Damn it. I wanted to do that but I was afraid Stella would come looking for us.”
“You snooze, you lose, brother.” Jamie had the smile of a perfectly satisfied man.
The Glen-Bennett family started arguing loudly amongst themselves over protocol when it came to bathroom quickies, but Logan got distracted. The door to the diner opened and he caught sight of honey-blonde hair and nice tits. Not as big as he remembered. She’d lost weight. Damn it. She was always trying to lose weight, and she didn’t need to. She was perfect. He was going to make her march right back into that diner and he would pick out the biggest piece of chocolate pie he could and feed it to her by hand. She loved sweets. He hadn’t missed the way she licked her lips when a fine piece of chocolate was put in front of her, but seventy-five percent of the time she pushed it away and claimed she was full when he knew damn well she wasn’t. He would take her to the bathroom and spank her ass and then feed her that delicious chocolate pie. He would get it on his fingers and have her lick it off.
What the fuck was his Georgia doing with some scruffy asshole? The pretty blonde was joined by a guy in jeans and a T-shirt who immediately pulled her close. He was all over her. A wild, violent urge flared up.
“Dude, are you about to go all green and shit?” Noah asked. Hope and Jamie were still arguing over whether or not he should announce their forays into public sex, but Noah had moved closer, his voice going low. “That’s Gemma. She’s engaged to the man she’s kissing. His name is Jesse. And there’s Cade. They’re new here but keeping up with our long tradition of sharing.”
Not Georgia. God, he had it so fucking bad. As the pretty blonde turned her face up to the tall, dark-haired man, he could see plainly that she wasn’t his Georgia. Not his. He had to fucking stop that.
He attempted to shrug it all off. The last thing he needed was to explain he was getting jealous over a woman he’d pushed out of his life. “Hey, nice to know the new kids are keeping up traditions.”
Noah stared at him thoughtfully. “Is everything okay?”
“It’s all good.” He held his hand out and shook Noah’s again. “I’ll see you guys around. I’m going to go and talk to Stella real fast and then I have to check in with Nate. I’m taking over for Cam while he’s on leave. Hope, will I see you tomorrow?”
Hope was the heart of the station house. She was the office manager. Knowing that he would get to hang with Hope had made the whole thing easier to take. Hope could keep him calm.
Hope’s eyes widened. “No one told you? I quit. Gemma’s the new office manager.”
Excellent. The blonde with blue eyes who reminded him of Georgia was going to be around all the time. Awesome. Maybe she was mean. Yeah. That would be good. Except his G had been a little mean, too. Fuck.
Why was he here again?
To find a place to stay, and it wouldn’t be the Circle G. The quicker he found a place to hang his hat, the better. The faster he could be alone for a while.
He waved good-bye and walked into the café only to be assaulted by the past. God, he’d loved this place. The smell of fries and baking pies lit up his system. This smelled like home. Tears pricked at his eyes, threatening to unman him, but he took a long breath and forced them back.
It was almost three in the afternoon. The lunch crowd was gone and the dinner crowd wouldn’t be around for another couple of hours. Stella’s was nice and quiet, just like he’d hoped.
Stella strode out of the kitchen, her boots ringing against the tile floor. She was dressed to kill in a red and white Western shirt, jeans, and boots that had been blinged out to an inch of their damn life. Stella was a flamboyant woman with a helmet of teased blonde hair that he was pretty certain he could bounce a quarter off of. He felt another smile cross
his face, warmth flooding his chest. Stella was one of the good ones.
Her eyes widened. “Logan?”
Was he coming back from the dead? People seemed to look at him like they’d seen a ghost. “Hey, Miss Stella.”
She sighed and rushed to him, throwing her arms around his neck. “Thank god.”
She held on to him, and he hugged her back.
“Do Teeny and Marie know you’re home?” Stella asked, pulling him to a booth.
He shook his head. “No. I wanted to find a place to stay first. I know everyone thinks I should move home, but…”
She patted his hand. “You’re a man now. You need your space. Of course. I can help you with that. Wow. What a coincidence. I got a call today from a broker looking for someone to watch over this cabin some rich guy built outside the valley. You know the land right next to Nell and Henry’s place?”
He nodded. There was a big tract right next to the river. Prime property. He’d always wanted to buy that land for himself and build a cabin there. It had been his dream property. “Yeah. It sold?”
Not that he could have afforded it.
Stella nodded. “About four months ago. It seems like someone was slowly picking up all the land from Nell and Henry’s almost into town. The whole town’s been trying to figure out who it is. Everyone thinks it’s some kind of movie star or something because that cabin went up fast, and it’s a cabin in name only. That thing is ridiculous. I snuck inside and it’s gorgeous. I swear, Stef is going crazy trying to figure out who it is. He’s talking about redoing our whole house now. I think he’s trying to keep up with that cabin. That boy likes being the richest man in town, I tell you. He likes it too much.”
He held a hand up to stop her because Stella could gossip for hours, and he didn’t have that kind of time. He had to be at work tomorrow and that meant finding a place to stay and getting some sleep. “I don’t need some mansion. Can I take the apartment upstairs?”
Stella’s had a small apartment over the diner that had been used by Stella for a while, and then several of the waitresses, and finally Hope. But Hope was at the G now. G. Georgia. His hand went right back to his pec like there was a magnet there. When was he going to forget her?
He would call Seth and lay into him and then ask him to find out what was happening with her. He couldn’t truly rest until he knew she was safe.
“Hey. You’re new.” A dark-haired woman with outrageous curves stared down at him, a sparkle in her green eyes. “Aunt Stella, you didn’t tell me about this one. Do you come with a hot friend? Because that happens a lot around here, I’ve been told.”
“Down, Shannon.” Stella sent the black-haired woman an affectionate stare. “Could you not jump on the man before you take his order?”
She unashamedly shrugged. “He’s hot. I swear if you had told me about how hot the guys are out here, I would have come sooner.”
She was gorgeous, but she wasn’t Georgia, and he couldn’t date anyone yet. Fuck. He might never be able to. He shook his head. “I’m not interested in food. I just came in to talk to Stella about the apartment upstairs.”
Her eyes widened and a grin came over her face. “I’ve got room for you. I’ve been looking for a roomie, if you know what I mean.”
“Go and refill the sugar shakers,” Stella said in a firm voice.
Shannon frowned and winked as she walked off.
“So she’s got the apartment.” Logan groaned. He’d been counting on that tiny space. Now he might have to head out to the Movie Motel.
“Yeah. I had to bring Shannon in after that rat-fink bastard Nate stole my last waitress. I offered to trade Shannon for Gemma, but Nate said Shannon would just as likely flirt with his prisoners as keep them in jail. He’s probably right. That girl is on the prowl. Her ex-husband was a low-life bastard who ran off with her best friend when she was…that’s neither here nor there, but the long and short of it is the apartment isn’t available, and before you think you can actually be Shannon’s roommate, let me explain that she’s all bark and no bite. She’s a good girl under all that paint and pain.”
“No. I’m not going to hit on her. I’m a reformed manwhore.” He only wanted one woman, and he couldn’t have her. “So what’s up with this cabin thing?”
If he did go out to the Movie Motel, the first thing the owner would do was likely call his moms to make sure they were okay with him renting a room on his own. It wouldn’t matter to Gene that he was an adult.
Then there was the fact that he’d almost died in the parking lot.
The fact that he had multiple places where he’d nearly died and been either beaten or shot was a good reason to not stay here for long.
“The broker says she wants someone to watch over the place, but that the owner could be there anytime, so you would have to be ready for that. You would have full use of the cabin and all the amenities. It’s stocked with food and furniture and anything you could need. The broker goes out and makes sure it’s always ready for the owner. That would be your job, but there’s a household budget and everything.”
“Why did she call you?” His mom had a real estate license. She usually handled all the deals in Bliss.
Stella waved it off. “She called Sebastian. He’s got all the contacts in the world. He still couldn’t get a name out of her. He wanted to see if that Michael fellow needed a new place. You know, the crazy guy who took up residence in that hunting cabin up on the mountain? I told Sebastian that I wasn’t going to turn over that gorgeous place to a man who has been satisfied living with an outhouse for over a year. No way. He’s crazy, and he’s got way too many firearms.”
God. Michael McMahon. Logan had been shot by his crazy-ass girlfriend, who’d then been killed by Holly, of all people. He was still hanging around? Did anyone ever leave Bliss?
He had a couple of options. Jamie would take him in, but watching all the happy threesomes out at the Georgia would make him crazy. And there was the fact that he’d called his friend’s ranch the Georgia. Nope. He was passing. He could head home and get assaulted with everything he’d lost and have his moms all over him twenty-four seven. He loved them and he couldn’t handle it. There was a reason kids moved away. Nell and Henry had a guest room, but that came with tofu and lectures on global warming and shit.
Damn.
“I’ll take it.”
Stella smiled. “Excellent. I’ll get you the key. I’m happy you’re back.”
He nodded and hoped this wasn’t the biggest mistake of his life. As Stella went to grab the paperwork, he pulled out his phone. He had to call his moms and let them know where he was.
And then he was going to call Seth and have this shit out. He was going to get a detailed accounting of exactly what he owed Seth.
And he was going to figure out who had their damn hooks in his Georgia and whether or not he needed to kill someone.
* * * *
The Bond Aeronautics jet came to a stop on the private airway Seth had commissioned when he’d bought his wretchedly large tract of land in Bliss. He’d had to wait, buying up piece after piece of land as it hit the market.
He’d bought his first few acres before his company had hit the big time. He’d had to scrimp and save, but it had all been worth it because now it was his.
Georgia came awake, her eyes opening, and she hid a yawn behind her hand. She smiled at him, her lips still a perfect red even after her nap. Fuck, but he wanted to see those lips wrapped around his cock. Eight months. Eight months with no sex because the minute he’d laid eyes on her he’d known he wouldn’t let another woman touch him. Not for the rest of his life. If she died tomorrow, he would be celibate, a fucking monk worshiping her for the next eighty years or so until he could join her again.
“Hey, we’re here.” He bit back tears. Damn it. This place and this woman brought it out in him. He was a fucking emotional mess when it came to them.
She smiled, her eyes lighting up. “That was quick. You know I’ve been here
once before, but I didn’t see much. Who are we meeting?”
“We’re going to a friend’s anniversary party and meeting a business contact. And taking a couple of days off. I thought I’d do some fishing.”
John Bishop wasn’t technically a business contact. He was Nell’s husband, although she didn’t know his real name. Seth wasn’t sure he knew the man’s real name. The man he’d formerly known as John Bishop had been a CIA operative, and they knew how to bury an identity. So did Seth. When Bishop had fallen in love with Nell, Seth had buried him so far and so deep that no one should have been able to find him.
Except someone had. Someone had figured out that the man now known as Henry Flanders had once been John Bishop.
Henry was going to kick his ass.
Georgia’s blue eyes flared and that bee-stung mouth of hers lifted into a smile that had his heart flipping. “It’s going to be interesting to see how long you can fish before your cell phone goes off. I have to say, I’m not so interested in fishing, but you know I love a good party. What’s the anniversary they’re celebrating?”
“Twenty-five.” Teeny and Marie were one of his inspirational couples. Never wavering. They had known they would be together when they’d met, and they’d stood the test of time.
“That’s nice. I don’t know anyone who’s been together for that long.” Georgia sighed and her chest came up as she stretched, her breasts moving. “I hope Nat and Chase and Ben stay together for that long.”
He nearly reached up and ran his finger across that cheek of hers. When the time was right, he would reach out and haul her into his lap and kiss the hell out of her whenever he wanted to. “I’m sure they will.”
She turned away, looking out the window. “Wow. It’s dark here. And your phone is buzzing. Do you want me to listen in?”
He clicked the button on his phone and answered silently “no.” Nope. Never. He shook his head as he clicked the voice mail button. “Naw. It’s okay. I can take care of this.”
