Page 18 of Easton’s Claim

Piper cringed inside. “Are you guys flying home then?” she asked to change the subject.

“Tom booked us a flight first thing in the morning. The police are going to update us with any new findings when we get home tomorrow night, but if you hear anything sooner, will you let me know right away?”

“Yes, of course. Safe flight home.”

“Thank you.”

She ended the call and sat there alone on the Colebrooks’ front porch swing for a long while, emotionally exhausted. Staring out across the huge expanse of lush green lawn that sloped away from the front of the house, she cleared her mind.

There was nothing more she could do for Greg at the moment, and nothing she could do to make her ex-in-laws feel any better. She had nothing to feel guilty about and again thought maybe it was a good idea to cut them out of her life entirely, because they were a reminder of Greg.

Pushing out a deep breath, she willed the lingering tension away. It was so peaceful out here, away from town. She’d spent so much time here at the house over the years. Thanksgivings, Christmases and Easters after her father died, and before she’d married Greg. This place felt more like home to her than anywhere else, yet some part of her still felt like an outsider, no matter how wonderful the Colebrooks had been to her.

Above her the night sky was a deep midnight blue, filled with thousands of twinkling stars. A cool breeze blew through the oak and cherry trees planted on either side of the house, rustling the changing leaves and rippling through the grass. A chorus of crickets and frogs hummed in the background, providing a soft lullaby that soothed her jangled nerves.

Inhaling the cool, clean fall air, she closed her eyes and tipped her head back to rest it on the top of the swing. It had been a bitch of a day.

After receiving that awful text, she’d spent hours talking with the detectives handling her case, then had cleaned and started repairs on the worst of the damage at her house. The insurance company had been great so far but she was glad Easton, Wyatt, Austen and Charlie had volunteered to help her because she was in a rush to get the house ready for showing and didn’t want to wait for all the paperwork to be processed.

The front door opened with a slight creak. She lifted her head as Easton stepped out onto the front porch.

Her heart beat faster at the sight of him. He’d been with her all day, had barely left her side through all the police stuff, and he’d worked tirelessly with her at the house afterward. He made it harder and harder for her to ignore her growing attraction toward him, and she was afraid he would notice somehow.

“How’d it go?” he asked, walking toward her. Even the way he moved was sexy. Strong and confident, smooth.

Wyatt’s little brother.

The reminder snapped her out of that line of thinking. “Bea’s devastated. She kept saying that Greg was a changed man, that this round of rehab had finally set him straight.” She shook her head.

“If wishes were horses,” he murmured.

“Exactly.”

He lowered his weight next to her on the swing. She tensed a little. He was so close she could smell the faint scent of his cologne, a sexy, evergreen scent, and had to resist the urge to edge away. “

You okay?” he asked, his warm brown eyes intent on her face as he laid an arm across the top of the swing’s back, the heat of it wrapping around her shoulders.

It was torture, being this close to him and having to pretend she felt nothing more than friendship while her hormones went crazy and her body craved his touch. “Yes.”

She refused to complain. Easton had busted his ass to get where he was in life. As a member of the world’s most elite counter-narcotics team he risked his life on a daily basis whenever he went on a mission, or even during training. He regularly did four-month-long rotations to Afghanistan, one of the most dangerous places on earth, hunting down terrorists and drug smugglers with the threat of being wounded or killed hanging over him and his team every single minute.

So no, she wasn’t going to whine about her current predicament.

“You sure you’re ready to go back to work tomorrow?” he asked.

“Yes. I had to cancel all my appointments today.”

She needed the money those house sales would earn her. When she left Sugar Hollow, she meant to do it debt free so she could relocate and begin anew. Her ex-in-laws had offered to pay it all off for her plenty of times, maybe out of guilt or obligation, she wasn’t sure. Every time she’d turned them down because she didn’t want to feel like she owed them anything. If she paid it all off herself, she could be free of the whole family once and for all.

“I’ll go with you to the showings.”

It came out a statement instead of an offer, but she didn’t mind. With this craziness going on, she would feel more secure with him looking out for her. “Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure.”

“Okay, then. Thanks.”

“What time’s the first one?”

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