Page 7 of After All

“Okay.” She stared into his deep green eyes, swirling with emotions.

Damn, this guy. He was something. When she was trying to have a good time, he was a real pain. But when she was alone at night, or feeling unwanted or unsure, she thought of Scott and how much he seemed to like her in spite of all the shit she’d done. The hard time she’d given him. The stupid decisions she’d made. Her pathetic attempts to get her dad’s attention with her stunts.

Scott still claimed to want her—not for sex, but for more. Whatever that entailed.

“And just—” His voice was low and gruff. “—don’t forget this either.”

He cupped the back of her head and pulled her in for a kiss. Akiss. The kind she’d been craving since St. Patrick’s Day.

He kissed her, lips only, like he was drinking her in. Then he deepened it, his tongue stroking hot and bold against hers. Then he pulled her fully up against his body, his fingers tightening in her hair, the kiss taking on an urgency.

Finally he pulled back, his eyes dark.

Her entire body hummed with want and an aching need that she knew could only be relieved by this man. The one who wouldn’t touch her breast if shebeggedhim. Unless she went to the movies with him and let him tell everyone she was his girlfriend.

Peyton covered her face with her hands and gave a loud, “Argh!”

“And slow the hell down the rest of the way to Omaha,” he said, stepping back, seemingly unaffected by her frustration.

She took a deep breath and held out her hand. He put her phone in it and she tucked it into her back pocket. Then she turned and headed for her truck.

“I want to know when you get there,” he called after her.

She lifted a hand in acknowledgement but didn’t look back. Because then he’d see that she was still feeling that kiss.

“I mean it, Peyton.”

She waved again.

“And no jail cells this trip, okay?” He paused. “Andnohandcuffs.”

She almost laughed at that. Scott knew she had a thing about his handcuffs. So Seth being a cop was getting to him.

Good.

Chapter Two

It wasn’tas if he wasn’t often grateful to be the cop in a quiet little town where not much exciting happened, but on the day that Peyton decided to fly off to Baltimore with Heather for an impromptu girls’ weekend/blind date, he would have been happy to have little more to do than cruise the streets, stop in at the businesses, and do paperwork.

He was finally winding up his shift, looking forward to stopping in at the Come Again with Kyle and Derek for an hour or so, and wondering why in the fuck Peyton hadn’t texted to tell him she was safely on the ground in Baltimore. He was also going through all of the things he was going to do if he didn’t hear from her in the next thirty minutes, including calling the Baltimore PD and getting on a plane himself. He turned the corner at Main and First, headed for the bar, but noticed Hope Bennett’s car at the pump at the gas station. He pulled in.

“Hey, Hope.” Scott took the gas nozzle from her and inserted it into her gas tank.

“Hi, Scott.” She grinned up at him. Her blonde hair was so light that the pink tips she put in showed up vividly under the fluorescent lights overhead. “Thanks.”

“Where’s your big, strapping husband? Shouldn’t he be filling your car?”

“He’s in the field,” she said. “And I’ve been putting gas in my own car for a long time now.” But her smile assured him she knew he was kidding.

TJ Bennett was not only Sapphire Fall’s mayor, but he was also a local farmer with several hundred acres who worked his ass off. As did all of the farmers here. Scott had grown up here in farm country, but he hadn’t really appreciated the hours and the work it took until he’d gotten older. He knew that was one of the reasons he loved it here—hard-working, honest people who did the right thing and helped each other out deserved to have their peaceful, friendly way of life protected. Hell, the rest of the world could take some love-your-neighbor-as-yourself lessons from Sapphire Falls.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Big as a barn and excited and terrified,” Hope said with a light laugh.

Scott smiled back and was hit by a streak of jealousy for TJ. Not because Scott wanted Hope, but because Scott wanted what Hope had given TJ—and vice versa. Hope had come to town, essentially a gypsy. She’d been intent on seeing the country from the seat of a tiny yellow Fiat, pulling a tiny one-person camper behind. She’d lost her mother and had decided to live one summer the way her mother had—with her whole heart, open to new experiences and people, with no rules.

She’d ended up in Sapphire Falls—one of her mother’s old haunts and favorite places—met TJ Bennett her first day, and the rest was history. And a really great love story.

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