He had walked me to my aunt’s trailer that day and flashed me a smile that made the butterflies in my stomach go crazy. My aunt had already left for work, and it felt as if luck was on my side. But then the ambulance and cop cars surrounded his trailer. Neighbors came outside to watch, and I stood there, looking out the kitchen window, terrified yet hoping that Rio would come tell me what was happening. He’d never come.

  “I worried about you for the longest time. Wished I had a number I could call. Anything to make sure you were okay,” he told me.

  “Really?” I asked, turning in his arms to look at him.

  He smirked. “Yeah. I was pretty damn sure I was in love with you back then.”

  “Oh,” I replied.

  Did I tell him I had been in love with him then and I was now? He cared about me. I was sure of that. Today had shown me that. I was always expecting the happy to be taken away from me. If I admitted I loved him, then life might take that from me too.

  “I didn’t know anything about love back then,” he said.

  I started to turn my back to him again. I didn’t want him reading my expressions. He stopped me before I could and took my chin between his two fingers so that I had to meet his gaze. He was smiling just enough for his dimple to show. I wanted to reach up and touch it. He had to be the most beautiful man alive.

  “I was a stupid kid, fascinated with a gorgeous girl who wore clothes three sizes too big and had the sweetest smile in the world. But it wasn’t love,” he said.

  His description of me back then was nice. I hadn’t seen myself that way.

  “I’m still stupid at times, but I’m not a kid anymore,” he said, then pressed a soft kiss to my lips. “I’m addicted to you, intoxicated, obsessed, and in love. I know how that feels now.”

  I stared up at him, my heart thudding in my chest.

  “You love me?” I asked.

  “The crazy kind, yes.” He smirked.

  I sat up and covered my cheeks with my hands. They felt hot. I turned and looked down at him, still lying there, watching me.

  “We made love! That was why it was different,” I said more to myself than to him.

  Rio chuckled. “Baby, we’ve been making love for a while now. Just because I’m talking dirty and spanking your ass doesn’t mean it’s not making love.”

  I shook my head. “No, I mean, you were sweet and gentle. I felt special.”

  Rio frowned then and reached up to grab my arm, then pulled me down onto his chest. “You’ve always been special.”

  I held his face in my hands. “I love you,” I told him, realizing I hadn’t said the words back.

  He turned his head just enough to kiss my palm. “Yeah, I thought you might, but today, after the little fit you threw over Vicky, I was sure then.”

  I pressed my lips together and tried to scowl, but I was too happy. I couldn’t fully do it.

  “If you ever think I’ve done something wrong, don’t leave me. Talk to me first. Don’t get me wrong; you can throw a jealous tantrum anytime you want. It makes me horny as fuck. You are adorable, doing it. But don’t leave me. Because I swear to you, there is no way I’d mess this up.”

  I started to lie back down beside him when I realized I had to admit something to him. I’d come close many times and not been able to say it, but he needed to know. I had to get it off my chest.

  “I need to tell you something,” I said, not able to look at him. I was afraid if I did, I wouldn’t be able to get it out.

  “Okay, I’m listening,” he replied.

  I closed my eyes tightly and took a deep breath. There shouldn’t be secrets between us, I reminded myself. “I moved us to The Shores because I knew you lived here,” I blurted out.

  Rio chuckled, and I opened my eyes, then turned to look at him. I hadn’t expected him to laugh.

  “I figured that out a while back,” he told me, then reached for my arm and pulled me to his chest.

  “You don’t think that’s stalkerish or crazy?” I asked him.

  He played with my hair. “I think it makes me the luckiest damn guy I know.”

  I sighed, relieved by his response and that I no longer had any secrets. This was joy. I wasn’t sure I had experienced it before. Deep down, I was afraid of what fate would do to me. I hoped that life, just this one time, would give me a break and let me have this.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Rio

  The summer was coming to an end. For the past few days, Bryn had been planning Cullen’s birthday next week. Now that he was at a kids camp during the day while we worked at the farmers market, he had some friends to invite, and I thought she was more excited about it than he was. Cullen was more excited about the fact that he would start kindergarten soon. He had his Spider-Man backpack already by his bed with his school supplies.

  I rarely stayed at my place anymore. I wanted to talk to Bryn about moving in and taking up the rent payment. She hadn’t mentioned us making our living arrangements permanent yet, but I thought she might. I was giving her time.

  “Is Bryn in the office?” Hazel asked, breaking into my thoughts as I did inventory in the stockroom.

  “Yeah. Why?”

  Hazel pressed her lips together nervously. “Uh, well, there is someone asking for her.”

  “Who?” And why did Hazel look so uncomfortable? I put my smart tablet down on a shelf, ready to go see for myself.

  “A man,” she said softly.

  “Show me,” I replied.

  Hazel’s eyes shot toward the office door, then back to me. “He asked for Bryn,” she said.

  “Now, Hazel.”

  She rolled her eyes and turned around. “Fine.”

  I followed her out to the customer service desk, and a guy—about my age with long, dark hair pulled back in a ponytail, wearing a pearl-snap plaid shirt, jeans, and boots—stood, watching us approach. All he lacked was a damn cowboy hat.

  Who the fuck is he?

  “That’s him,” Hazel whispered.

  I stepped forward. “Can I help you?” I asked.

  “I’m looking for Bryn Wallace. I was told she works here,” he replied.

  “What do you need with Bryn?”

  He smirked. “That’s between me and her.”

  The fuck it was. I was a guy, but I also knew when another man was attractive. Cowboy Bill was the kind of guy females didn’t miss. He had already caught the attention of several. I could see two of my employees currently checking him out from across the fruit section.

  “You want to talk to Bryn? Then, you’ll need to give me a reason,” I told him.

  An amused grin touched his lips, and he tilted his head back and let out a hard laugh. “I’m gonna take it, Bryn just got prettier with age, and she’s got you pussy-whipped.”

  I didn’t remember getting from one side of the counter to the other, but rage blared hot in my chest when I grabbed his fucking pearl-snap shirt. “Get the fuck out of here,” I snarled as I shoved him backward.

  That damn smirk on his face didn’t leave, but he held up both hands as he moved back a few steps.

  I stalked forward, ready to plant my fist in his face when Bryn called my name. I swung my gaze to see her walking toward us.

  “Stop,” she pleaded.

  Fury pounded in my veins, but I lowered my fist and took a deep breath, hoping it would calm me down. She knew him. I didn’t like that.

  When she reached me, she touched my arm and looked up at me, then shifted her gaze to him. “What are you doing here, Decker?” she asked, her voice shaky, although she didn’t stammer.

  The appreciative gleam in his eyes as he took her in had my hand balling back into a fist.

  Who the hell was Decker? She’d never once said anything about him or any man.

  “You didn’t stutter,” he replied.

  “Why are you here?” she repeated.

  “Heard about Tory’s death and was able to track you here,” he replied.

  Bryn was tense beside me, and that only made me hate this man more. I put a hand on her back and was ready to walk her back to the offices to get away from him. She didn’t want to see him. Her body language said as much.

  “Why?” she asked. “You’ve no reason to come looking for me.”

  Decker ran his thumb over the stubble on his jaw and tilted his head in an obnoxious way. “That ain’t exactly true, sugar,” he replied.

  I took a step toward him, and Bryn pulled me back.

  “No,” she said to me.

  Her eyes were a mixture of anxiety and fear. I didn’t like seeing her upset.

  Why wouldn’t she let me punch this dickhead in the face? Send him away?

  “Go back to your rodeos,” she said. “There is no reason to come find me.”

  Of course he was a rodeo guy. I rolled my eyes.

  “I want to see my kid,” he told her.

  Bryn was the one to take a step toward him now. “He isn’t yours. Tory told you that when she was pregnant,” she said forcefully.

  “She lied because of you,” he said, his smile gone. “And I fucking let her because of you.”

  Bryn let out a laugh and shook her head. “No, Decker. You wanted my sister, and she wanted any man she thought could give her something. You were not the only guy she was sleeping with at the time.”

  Decker leaned his head down closer to her, and I moved in behind her, pulling her back from him and against my chest. He wasn’t touching her if he wanted to walk away from here alive. His eyes went to me, and he nodded as if he understood. However, he still looked amused.

  “I’ll be wanting a DNA test,” he said then.

  Bryn shook her head. “Why are you doing this, Decker? Just leave us alone.”

  His eyes did another quick scan of her. “I’m sorry, Bryn. Not gonna be able to do that. You had me all messed up back then. I didn’t want you hurt. The idea of that sweet smile of yours not looking my way anymore was too much. Letting y’all leave was the best thing I could do.”

  I held Bryn tighter against me, placing my hand flat on her stomach. This conversation was going in a direction I didn’t like. She didn’t want me to hit him, but it was starting to become inevitable, the more he talked.

  “That was another lifetime ago. I was a kid. Cullen is not yours. His father is dead. I know who his father was. He even looks like his father,” Bryn said.

  Decker lifted his shoulders in a small shrug. “Sorry, sugar. I’m not leaving until I get the DNA test. I stayed away because I knew Tory would fight me, and then there was you. Hurting you was something I couldn’t bring myself to do for a long time. But she’s gone now.”

  “Then, you need to get a lawyer. Please leave,” Bryn told him with a firmer tone than her trembling body betrayed.

  He looked disappointed. “All right. If that’s what you want to do. But it doesn’t have to be that way. I hoped we could catch up. Talk about your last five years.”

  “Just leave,” Bryn said between her clenched teeth.

  “All right, I’ll go for now,” he said, then winked at Hazel before walking away.

  Bryn didn’t move. She stayed in my arms, and I continued to hold her to me.

  “Is he Cullen’s father?” I asked softly, pressing my lips above her ear.

  “I don’t know,” she whispered. “But there is a chance. I always thought there could be, but Tory wouldn’t admit to it.”

  “Why?”

  Bryn sighed. “Because Decker was my boyfriend.”

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Bryn

  “Talk about your last five years.”

  He wasn’t here for Cullen. Decker was selfish. He didn’t want a child. I hadn’t thought of him in years.

  Like him, I’d thought Cullen could be his, too, but that was when Tory wouldn’t tell me whose kid it was. The day she’d found out that Marco Long had been killed in a car accident, she’d broken down sobbing and admitted that he was the father.

  Marco had been in his late thirties, married with three kids. Tory had gotten a job, working for him at his restaurant. It was the only job she’d kept more than a few weeks. I’d found out later it was because she was sleeping with her boss.

  When she’d told him she was pregnant, he had given her money to get an abortion.

  Instead, we left town with that money. Something else I hadn’t known until years later. After she had admitted it to me, I could see the resemblance in Cullen. He had Marco’s eyes—or at least, I had thought he did. Until now.

  When I had seen Decker again, there were things about him that looked like Cullen. I had even convinced myself that Cullen was Decker’s until Marco’s death when Tory revealed he was the father. Why Decker wanted a DNA test didn’t make sense. He was a bull rider—or he had been.

  I’d never had a boyfriend, and when Decker had flirted with me at his dad’s store that I was working at, I had been naive.

  Rio opened the office door that I had been using and led me inside. Then, he closed and locked it. “I didn’t realize you’d had a boyfriend,” he said.

  I turned and looked at him. “I never said that. I said I hadn’t slept with anyone before.”

  “What happened with this guy?” he asked me.

  I groaned and closed my eyes. Things had been too good for me. Life was punishing me for whatever reason. Why did it hate me so much?

  “I worked at Decker’s dad’s store. He owned the feed and seed. Decker was saving up to leave for the rodeo circuit, and he started working there too. He flirted with me. He was my first kiss, but that was all I’d let him do. I was terrified of sex and being touched. He said he loved me and was a very smooth talker. I had never had a guy talk to me that way or say those things to me.

  “Anyway, Tory came to pick me up one day, and she met him. He was a year younger than her, but it didn’t matter to her. I could see the interest in her eyes.” I shrugged. “I never knew for sure, but there were things that happened, and I questioned it. They would look at each other in a very familiar way when she came to get me from work, which she started doing a lot after that. Then, one day, she and I got into an argument. She made the comment about my being a prude and not pleasing my own boyfriend.” I stopped then because talking about all this was pointless. Remembering it didn’t hurt anymore. Looking back, my sister’s betrayal hurt more than Decker’s. I hadn’t loved him.

  “He was fucking Tory?” Rio asked.

  I nodded.

  He cursed and walked over to me. “He was a damn fool,” he said, sliding his hands around my waist.

  “We dated for three months, and all I ever allowed was kissing. He was eighteen, attractive, had girls coming in the store all the time, flirting with him. I am sure Tory wasn’t the only one he slept with.”

  Rio pulled me into his arms. “Again, he was a fool.”

  I laid my head against his chest. For a moment, I enjoyed the comfort and security. Things had been perfect this morning. Now, I had this to deal with. A possible fight on my hands. Decker didn’t need or want a kid. Why was he here?

  “Is there a chance he could be Cullen’s father?” Rio asked me.

  I wanted to say no, but Tory had never been one to tell the truth. She could have lied to Marco, knowing he’d give her money to get rid of the baby. I didn’t know how her mind had worked.

  “Yes,” I whispered, hating the idea of it.

  “We’ll fight him,” Rio said with determination.

  “Yes, we will,” I agreed.

  We stood there like that for several minutes before I finally pulled back and looked up at him. “I’ve got to finish in here before I can leave, and camp is over in three hours,” I told him.

  He shook his head. “No, you’re not working anymore today. This can all wait,” Rio told me. “Let me go handle some things, and then I’m leaving with you.”

  There were several orders that needed to be made and filing I hadn’t finished. I shook my head. “I need to finish these things,” I argued.

  Rio took my face in his hands and looked down at me. “You need to go home. Let me go pick up Cullen from camp, and we will grab dinner from somewhere, then watch a damn Spider-Man movie.”

  His mouth touched mine before I could say anything else. Kissing him was distracting, and he knew it. If I left all this, I would need to get back early in the morning and catch up. But right now, the taste of mint and Rio made everything else seem as if it could wait.

  “I could just leave with you right now and fuck you good and hard before I go pick up Cullen,” he whispered against my lips. His hands left my face and moved down my rib cage. “I’ve been thinking about it all morning. I liked having you spread open for me on the kitchen table that one time. Let’s do that again.”

  Yes, everything here could wait.

  “Okay,” I replied, pressing my legs together as his words caused that familiar ache.

  Rio’s eyes dropped to my legs with the movement, and his hand slid between my thighs. “Or I could lock that door and bend you over this table,” he said. “I just like it when you scream. You can’t do that here.”

  I whimpered as he rubbed the fabric over my ache.

  “You’re getting your shorts wet,” he said in a low, husky voice as he trailed kisses along my jawline and neck.

  A knock on the door startled me, and my gaze swung up to Rio’s. He groaned and moved his hand before turning to see who was at the door.

  Hazel opened it. Her gaze going from Rio to me. I knew my face was flushed from my arousal. There was no hiding that.

  “Oh, uh, didn’t realize Rio was in here too. Um, I just needed to see when we had more Gala apples coming in. We’re low,” she said with a grin on her face.