“We lost another baby.”
My girl had been a princess in another life, and she was sheepish of natural errors. Thank goodness, I was handy enough to repair most things—just not us. I’d ripped us apart and tossed away the manual on fixing our marriage.
Evie still hasn’t answered my question. Her eyes lower. Her fingers clench and unclench. Whatever she has to tell me is hard for her, and I’m making her sweat. My heart races because for all the reasons she could—and should—divorce me, there’s one I fear most.
“I’ve met someone.”
Fucking fuck to the fucking hell no.
However, I’m not shocked at the reality of what she’s said. Evie is beautiful. A real Southern peach of a woman with that still-blond hair, those bright azure eyes, and her rocking body. She’s three years younger than me, putting her at forty-five, and I always thought we’d grow old together. I knew she’d grow more gorgeous through the years.
“Well, lucky him,” I mock. While some chump is fortunate to have her, he might never know how fortunate he is. Evie has a heart of gold, trust for miles, and a sweetness under her sassy side. I don’t want some other guy having what’s always been mine, but she doesn’t belong to me anymore. From the moment I met Evie, I was in trouble of losing my heart for the first time ever and did—to her.
I’d been a player most of my life. I’d had no shortage of women and one woman I nearly wrecked with my carelessness, but Evie was different. When her body collided with mine that day in July, her lean weight pressing my pack at my back, I knew I’d never be the same.
+ + +
Nineteen years ago . . .
I didn’t typically seek out campers in the woods, but I did later that day. As a proud member of the search and rescue team in the area, I liked to hike the trails on the regular and even go off course on occasion just to remain familiar with every root and branch of the area. I would come across day-hikers, trail walkers, and the occasional tent campers, but I’d never purposely been looking for someone who wasn’t a rescue mission.
I’d been searching for her all evening, though. It was strange that I couldn’t get her out of my head. The way those wide blue eyes looked down at me as she straddled my middle just did something to my insides. My heart raced. My dick jolted. My stomach felt a little off.
I was joking—but I wasn’t—when I asked if she fell from heaven. It’s like I hadn’t seen her, did a double take, and then she was there. I lost my footing looking at her from the ridge above and slid down the slight incline. I’d called out to her, but she hadn’t heard me, and we tumbled, ending with her on top of me.
I’d like to have her over me again, minus a few layers of clothing.
Instead, I gave up my quest and made my way to a recognizable space near Bolton Lake. My family had a small sliver of property here that no one ever lived on. It was just a slice of land passed down from generation to generation like our granddad’s cabin on the ridge or the brewery my family ran. We proudly owned Giant Brewing Company, officially named after my eldest brother, George the second, nicknamed Giant to distinguish between the many Georges in our family.
I was pressing through the trees surrounding the place when I saw an illegally parked camper on the property. The 1961 Airstream Bambi was in mint condition, and I didn’t know how someone could comfortably fit in such tight quarters, let alone camp in one, but that wasn’t my concern. I needed to find the owner of this small rig and tell them to get off the private property they were trespassing on.
Rounding the sparkling aluminum rig, I stopped short when I saw a topless woman in the lake.
She stood without abandon, not looking in the direction of the camper, but enjoying the peace and quiet of the dying summer day. Her hair was slicked back against her head while her face tipped up to the setting sun. Her breasts were on full display, though slightly shadowed by the waning light. Gracefully, she tossed herself backward, diving into the water in such a way it expanded her lean body, peaking her breasts and then giving me a hint of the valley at the top of her legs. Water sloshed over her legs before her pointed toes broke the surface and then disappeared. She emerged a few feet away, standing once again, only this time with her back to me. Her hair lay smooth and flat to the middle of her spine, and her hourglass shape was backlit by the dripping sunrays. She looked like a water nymph, if I believed in such mythical creatures. She was more like a siren, and her body called to mine.
“You’re trespassing,” I call out to her, finally breaking through the lust-filled thoughts in my head. She quickly spins, rustling the water around her. Whether she forgot she was naked as the day she was born or just boldly putting on a display, I’d never know, but she stared me down from the distance.
“Who’s there?” she cried out, arching a hand over her brow to see me. I was actually leaning against the side of her camper equally taking my fill of her before breaking the news.
“I’m with the Smoky Mountains Search and Rescue team, and I’d gotten a call that an alligator escaped into these waters.”
“What?!” she shrieked, twisting her body side to side and staring down at the liquid surrounding her. Her hands splash at the surface, and she slowly walks forward, still uninhibited by her nakedness.
Sweet Jesus.
Her body was stunning with the dipping sun outlining her form. Water cascaded down her skin, giving her an otherworldly appearance.
“Stop,” I hollered, knowing I was going to lose it if she came all the way to the edge of this lake in all her glory. I could exemplify control. I’d never take advantage of a woman, but seeing her like this, was too much. My body hummed. My dick stood at full attention. I pressed off the camper and lowered my crossed arms to clenched fists at my side. The desire to rush her, tackle her in the lake, and lick every drop of water off her body consumed me.
She halted, exposing more than three-quarters of her body. “What about the alligator?” she questioned, searching the water again for the impossible.
“Do you have any idea where you are?”
“The Smoky Mountains,” she said, tipping her head like I’m the silly one.
“How many alligator sightings do you think really happen in the mountains?”
Even with the space between us, the heat of her blue eyes hit me. I took a few steps forward, drawing closer to the lake’s edge and slipping my hands into the pockets of my shorts. Her fists came to her hips, accentuating the curve of them.
“I know who you are.” Her voice rises like she finally recognizes me. “Do you make it a habit to stalk all the girls you knock to the ground, Ranger?”
“Only the pretty peaches that have fallen from a tree,” I teased. Her hair was glistening in the dipping sun, giving it a fuzzy peach color, and I wanted to pick her.
“You playing me for a fool?”
“Never,” I teased. “But I’d like to play you.”
She shook her head, laughing at me. “Does that line actually work on anyone?”
“Most girls,” I snarked back at her.
“Well, as I’m not most girls, good luck with that one.” She turned her back on me and cautiously strolled deeper in the water.