Page 3 of Easton’s Claim

Over in the family room section, framed family pictures graced the white mantel. His mom had died when he was just a kid, and while he didn’t have as many vivid memories of her as his brothers did, he could still see her presence in the house everywhere he looked. The comforting, familiar smells and sights of home surrounded him, but this homecoming was different.

His entire life was about to change, depending on what happened with Piper. It seemed like everything had been leading up to this moment, and now that he was standing on the cusp of it, raw exhilaration coursed through him, the biggest rush he’d ever experienced.

“Got some venison sausage in here. Want that with some eggs?” his dad called out, his head and shoulders hidden by the fridge door.

“Sounds good, but I’ll do it.”

“I can still cook,” his dad said, pulling out of the fridge to aim a scowl at him. He hated it when anyone tried to coddle him. “How do you think I feed myself every day?”

Ignoring his father’s grumbling protests, Easton made him sit down at the table, then took over in the kitchen. While he had the sausage cut up and frying in a pan, he beat the eggs in a bowl. “So,” he asked, trying to sound casual. “You seen Piper lately?”

“Yeah, she was over last week. She likes to bring me a treat every now and then,” he said with a smile, patting his belly.

The woman could bake like nobody’s business. “And? She’s doing well?”

“Well enough, I guess, all things considered. She’s got her house up for sale.”

“Oh.” That surprised him, because she hadn’t told him she was planning to sell. “Does she want to move closer to town or something?”

“No, back to Minnesota.”

Easton whipped around to face his father as shock blasted through him. “What? When?”

His dad’s graying eyebrows knitted together. “Whenever her place sells, I’d imagine.”

Jesus Christ. This couldn’t be happening. Not now. His pulse accelerated, his stomach knotting. “Why would she go back there?”

“Not sure, but she said something about a job offer, and I’m guessing to be with her father’s people. Now that she’s divorced and all alone, seems logical that she’d want family around her.”

“We’reher family.” They had been from the time she’d moved here.

“Not the same as blood, I guess.”

Bullshit. Her blood relatives could go fuck themselves for all the help they’d given her since her father died. Not one of them had reached out to her or come to visit since the day of the funeral five years ago. Not one of them cared enough about her to maintain contact. To Easton, his siblings and his father, she was family in every way that mattered.

Anxiety twisted inside him. They’d gotten closer through the e-mails and calls over the past four months, but they were still clearly in the friend zone. He hadn’t wanted to tell her his true feelings any other way but face-to-face. Had he waited too long? Had he missed his shot with her?

He dumped the beaten eggs into the hot pan and quickly scrambled them, his mind spinning. God, what was he going to do? She couldn’t move away, it would crush him. The instant the eggs were done he shut off both burners, scooped them and some sausage onto a plate and shoved it at his dad. “Here. I gotta go.”

“Go where?” he asked, forehead puckered in confusion.

“To see Piper.” And convince her not to leave. He couldn’t let her go now, not when she was single and he finally had a chance to make her his.

Easton’s heart raced as he headed for the front door. This couldn’t wait until morning and he wasn’t going to bother trying to talk to her about this over the phone. He jumped in his truck and tore down the driveway, headed for her house.

Chapter Two

Piper tried and failed to ignore the way her traitorous heart skipped a beat when she pulled open the door and found Easton standing on her welcome mat. “Wow, hi! This is a pleasant surprise.” The last e-mail from him four days ago had said he was still overseas and wasn’t sure when he’d be back stateside.

He looked tired but good, his chocolate-brown hair cut short and a trimmed beard giving him a rugged, masculine appeal she’d have to be dead not to appreciate, even if she considered him to be like a little brother.

Or at least she had, until that day four months ago.

Ignoring that disturbing thought, she stepped back and let him into her entryway, foregoing the hug she normally would have offered because the idea of touching him that intimately made her jittery. “You just get into town?” Since joining the DEA’s FAST squad a couple years ago, he only came home to Sugar Hollow a few times a year so she didn’t get to see him much.

“About an hour ago.” He didn’t try to hug her either, which wasn’t like him, just took off his boots and followed her into the kitchen. “Smells good in here. Whatcha making?”

“A batch of toffee chocolate chip cookies for the office. But I’ll let you steal a few.” She shot him a teasing grin and stopped on the other side of the swirled-marble island, where some cookies were cooling on a rack. “So, how are you?”

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