by J. H. Croix
Steal My Heart
Swoon Series
J.H. Croix
Contents
Steal My Heart
1. Ash (Ashley)
2. Mack
3. Ash
4. Mack
5. Ash
6. Ash
7. Mack
8. Mack
9. Ash
10. Mack
11. Mack
12. Ash
13. Mack
14. Mack
15. Ash
16. Mack
17. Mack
18. Ash
19. Mack
20. Ash
21. Mack
22. Ash
23. Mack
24. Ash
25. Mack
26. Ash
27. Mack
28. Ash
29. Mack
30. Ash
31. Mack
32. Ash
33. Mack
Epilogue
Excerpt: Crash Into You
Find My Books
Acknowledgments
About the Author
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2020 J.H. Croix
All rights reserved.
Cover design by Najla Qamber Designs
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Created with Vellum
Steal My Heart
A road trip with some serious complications.
All bets are off when Mack unexpectedly crosses paths with his best friend’s little sister.
Ash is off limits. Totally. They’re just friends, so no problem, right? Soooo wrong.
Mack can’t stop thinking about her.
Ash wants nothing to do with men, most certainly not grumpy Mack. Except there’s one problem. He has a new ability to set her on fire.
This friends to lovers, forbidden romance is hot, intense & swoon-worthy!
“If light is in your heart, you will find your way home.” ~Rumi
Sign up for my newsletter for information on new releases & get a FREE copy of one of my books!
http://jhcroixauthor.com/subscribe/
Follow me!
[email protected]
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/j-h-croix
https://www.facebook.com/jhcroix
https://www.instagram.com/jhcroix/
Chapter One
Ash (Ashley)
I swung my guitar over my shoulder and stepped onto the wooden stage, casting a quick smile at the smattering of applause and whistles. “Hey y’all, I’m only here for an hour, so let’s not wait.”
I never waited. I launched into my first song and got lost in the music. An hour later, I walked off the stage with the cheers from the audience reverberating through me. For that hour, I’d dropped into the one place where I could forget the mess of my life.
“Great set,” a voice called, just as someone else’s hand slapped my ass, much harder than I preferred from anyone, much less a stranger. I cast a sharp glare over my shoulder and kept on walking. I hoped I had enough tips from filling in at the bar earlier to pad the measly paycheck I would get for playing that set.
“Ash,” a voice said, slicing through the din of noise and bodies crowding around me as I tried to get to the back of the bar.
I knew that voice, but for the life of me, I couldn’t place it. I did a quick scan around me. The crowd parted as a tall form became visible. The man practically swatted people out of his way as if they were nothing more than flies.
Mack Blair, all six feet and five inches of him, came into my line of sight. My body did a startling thing with my belly flipping quickly and my pulse doing a little hop, skip, and jump.
Okay, that was weird. Giving myself a mental shake, I smiled up at Mack when he stopped in front of me. “Well, hey there, Mack. What are you doing here?”
Mack’s dark blue eyes swept up and down my body before searching my face. “I could ask you the same. Let’s—”
I was cut off when someone bumped into me from behind, sending me colliding against Mack. Mack, with his bear-like presence, swiftly slid his arm around my back, shielding me from everyone jostling around us. “Fuck, this place is busy,” he muttered.
I’d known Mack for pretty much forever. Since elementary school, at least. I was startled at the little shiver that chased over my skin at the sound of his gruff words in my ear.
“It is,” I murmured in reply. “Come on, my stuff is in the back.”
Mack kept his arm around my waist, basically clearing a path for us until we reached the door where I pointed. Once we pushed through the door and it swung shut behind us, his arm fell away, and I sagged against the wall.
“Wow, it went from kind of busy to a little nuts while I was playing.”
I’d hugged my guitar to my chest while we walked through the crowd, so I lowered it now, holding it loosely in one hand.
Mack gave me a long look. “Good to see you, Ash.”
One side of his mouth kicked up into a familiar grin, and my belly did another flip. I wondered just what in the world was going on with this reaction to Mack. I’d never responded to him like this.
“You too. I’d say let’s grab a drink here, but it’s pretty crowded.”
“I drove past a diner down the road. Grab your stuff, and let’s go get coffee or food or whatever,” Mack commented.
“Sounds good. I’m actually starving,” I replied as I pushed off the wall. “Follow me.”
Mack and I had grown up in Stolen Hearts Valley, North Carolina, and he was one of my brother’s best friends. Awareness prickled down my spine as he followed me down the hallway. I chose to ignore it, convinced my body’s weird reaction to him was probably just because I was so startled to see him.
Stepping into the room where the bar owner had told me I could leave my stuff, I grabbed my purse and my bag before I looked up at him. “Jesus. I forgot how tall you were.”
Mack arched a brow. “I’ve been this tall since my senior year in high school. Speaking of forgetting, I forgot how good you were.”
“At what?” I countered as I looked at the envelope sitting on top of my purse. I ripped it open to see the check for tonight, a whopping one hundred and fifty bucks, and the cash from my tips.
“Singing and playing,” Mack replied.
I held his eyes for a few beats, feeling heat on my cheeks. “Thanks,” I finally managed.
I quickly counted out the tips, relieved to discover an additional one hundred bucks.
“You ready?” he asked as I stuffed the envelope in my purse.
“Yup. Let’s roll.”
Moments later when we stepped out into the parking lot, his gaze slid to mine as he stopped outside the door. “Do you want to follow me to the diner?”
Aaannnnd, here came the first awkward moment. “If you don’t mind, I’ll hitch a ride with you.”
I saw the questions swirling in his eyes and held my breath. “Of course. Come on.” Mack gestured with his chin in a general direction.
Relieved he didn’t ask anything else yet, I walked beside him as we crossed the parking lot to where he’d parked an all-black truck in the far corner.
Because he was Mack and a gentleman, even if a bit rough around the edges, he insisted on taking my guitar
and bag from me and setting it carefully in the back. He even made sure my guitar case was properly situated so it wouldn’t bounce around too much. He also insisted on getting the door for me and wouldn’t even close it until I buckled my seat belt.
“I forgot how stubborn you were,” I said when he climbed into the driver’s seat beside me.
“Ditto. Why the hell don’t you have a car, Ash?”
Oh, fuck.
I silently groaned. So much for no questions.
“Can we go to the diner first? I’d like to get some food in me before we get into all that.”
“Absolutely.”
It might’ve been a few years since I’d actually seen Mack, but I was relieved he had the same steady, easygoing manner. Not much got to Mack, and he wasn’t particularly nosy either. That said, I knew I couldn’t keep the truth from him.
“No. You’re coming with me, Ash,” Mack said firmly as if he expected me to simply do what he said.
Actually, there was no as if here. He fully expected me to do what he said. God, I just freaking loved getting bossed around by a man. Not.
I felt myself beginning to clench my teeth and consciously relaxed them as I glared right back at him. “You don’t get to tell me what to do.”
Mack took a sip of his coffee, never once breaking his gaze from mine. He was used to people doing what he said. For one, he was usually bigger than anyone else, including most men. The other was he carried himself with this authoritative manner, and people generally did his bidding. He also had this whole rescue complex vibe and never did have enough sense to leave well enough alone.
“Mack, I’m not somebody you need to rescue. I’m fine, and I’ll figure it out.”
“You’re not fine. You’re broke, and you don’t have a car. Apparently, you’re planning to try to get back to Stolen Hearts Valley by hitchhiking with your freaking beloved guitar. Have you lost your goddamn mind?”
A flush raced up my neck and into my cheeks. I tried to beat back the defensiveness choking me. “I made it all the way from Colorado to Wyoming with no trouble.”
“In case you haven’t looked at a map lately, sugar, Wyoming is north of Colorado, so now you’re farther away. Stolen Hearts is east of Colorado, not north. Does Jackson know about this grand plan?”
The moment he said my older brother’s name out loud, I thought the top of my head might fly off.
Chapter Two
Mack
Ash Stone stared at me from across the table. She was pissed. Her cheeks were pink, and her blue eyes were flashing. Damn, she was gorgeous when she was mad.
“Ash, I’m not joking. It’s not safe for you.”
“And why’s that? Because I’m a woman?” she retorted, lifting a napkin from the table and spinning it between her fingers until she twisted it into a knot. “I can take care of myself.”
“Ash, please be sensible. Ride with me. Consider that your adventure if that’s what you’re after.”
Ash’s eyes looked like the sky on a stormy day just before thunder rumbled and lightning split the sky wide open. After a moment, her gaze fell from mine, and I didn’t miss the way her shoulders curled inward. I’d known Ash for as long as I could remember. I knew she was tired, and worry was emanating from her in waves. I didn’t know exactly what the hell happened for her to be without a car and hitchhiking home on her own, but I wasn’t leaving her here.
When her gorgeous eyes lifted again and her gaze met mine, a prickle of awareness sizzled down my spine. Okay, that was strange. If you’d asked me before how I felt about Ash, I’d have said she was like a sister. Except nothing about the way my body was reacting to her felt sisterly now. Not even a little. Her brother was one of my closest friends. Growing up, my younger sisters hung out with Ash all the time. On any given week, we were bouncing between houses, close enough that she felt like family.
When I’d looked up and seen her on that stage earlier, she’d taken my breath away as she belted out song after country song. Once the initial shock of seeing her passed, I expected my body’s hyper-awareness to fade, but it wasn’t fading. Not at all.
“Do you want to tell me what the hell happened, Ash?” I pressed.
She dropped the twisted napkin on the table and picked up another one to torture. “You know I was kind of seeing Kyle, right?”
“I’m not up on the gossip, Ash. I haven’t been back to Stolen Hearts Valley since last Christmas. I didn’t hear much other than you were traveling, playing gigs, and doing veterinarian work for the rodeo circuit. If I recall, you met some guy who brought you along to start with.”
Ash nodded. “That’s basically it. Anyway…” Ash licked her lips, and her lashes swept against her cheeks when she closed her eyes. Opening them again, she brushed her long brown hair off her shoulders and shrugged before her cheeks went a little pink again. “It’s kind of embarrassing. It’s not like I ever thought Kyle took me seriously, and I didn’t want anything serious. But I got sick of him making me look like a fool. I woke up one day, and he was gone. Again. I just decided I was done with it. I sold my car about six months ago to front him a little cash. We were traveling together, so it didn’t seem like a big deal. Anyway, I’m done with that, and I’m going home.”
“Why didn’t you call Jackson for help? You know he’d do anything for you.”
“I know,” she began slowly, lifting a shoulder in a small shrug, “but Jackson told me more than once that he thought Kyle was taking advantage of me. It’s not like I pinned my hopes on Kyle. I didn’t. After my wedding blew up with Brian, well, I was done with romance. And now I’m also done with looking like a fool.”
I watched Ash for a moment as she kept fiddling with the napkin before finally dropping it and draining her coffee. At that moment, the waitress paused at our table with a pot of coffee and a bright smile. “How are you two doing?”
“I could use some more coffee,” Ash replied.
“Same,” I added.
The waitress filled our drinks and continued on to check on another table.
Ash lifted her head, weariness in her features. “I’ll hitch a ride with you. No sense in arguing about it. The thing is, I don’t have much to put toward hotels. The money I earned tonight is all I have. There’s one thing, though.”
“What’s that?”
“Since I needed some cash, I booked some gigs to float me on the trip. It’s not exactly a straight line back to Stolen Hearts.”
I had so many questions, but I held every single one of them inside. I could see in the set of Ash’s shoulders and the subtle shadows in her eyes that she was embarrassed and most definitely didn’t want to explain further.
“Okay. I’m not on a tight timeframe. I was already taking care of my hotels, so that’s no biggie,” I said, keeping my tone light. “Where do we need to go on the way back?”
Ash stared at me for a long moment. “If we take I-90 up north and then head south after we get to Niagara Falls, that’ll take me everywhere I need to go.”
“That’ll work. Heard that’s a pretty drive.”
Ash nodded, and I could practically see the wheels spinning in her brain. Finally, she said, “I’ll pay you back. I just need to get back to Stolen Hearts Valley and get back to work at the vet clinic.”
She and her brother were veterinarians. They’d started a clinic together on their family’s old farm, which had been renovated into an outdoor adventure place for tourists looking to escape to the wilderness in comfort. In addition to that, they ran a rescue program for animals, so the vet clinic was a good fit.
Ash closed her eyes before leaning back in the booth, her brown hair a contrast to the bright red vinyl seats. Opening her eyes again, she looked over at me. “How did you end up in Wyoming?”
“Just passing through on my way home. You know I’ve been working with hotshot crews out in Colorado, right?”
Ash nodded. “Yeah, you stayed out West after college in Colorado. Have you been there the whole time?”
“Nah. I was there for a bit and also did a stint in Montana. Most recently, I was in Idaho. First responder work for those crews tends to be seasonal, so I followed the jobs. When Jackson let me know a position opened up in Stolen Hearts, I decided it was time to go home. How did you end up out here?” I asked, putting the focus back on her. I didn’t really like thinking about why I’d stayed away from home for so long.
“You know, all this started because I was doing that vet work for the horses for that rodeo program. Remind me what an idiot I am next time you see me even thinking about dating.”
I wasn’t touching that comment with a ten-foot pole, so I took a long swallow of my coffee. As if conjured by my need for a distraction, so I didn’t have to look too rude for ignoring Ash’s comment, our waitress magically appeared with her ever-ready coffeepot to fill my almost empty cup again.
“Anything else?” she asked, her tone almost too chipper, considering it was going on midnight.
“Nah. Can you bring the bill when you get a chance?” I asked.
“Of course, hon.”
“Do you already have a hotel for tonight?” I asked after the waitress departed.
Ash shook her head. “Nope. You?”
At my nod, Ash’s lips twisted sideways, but she didn’t say anything else.
