The Most Eligible Bachelor

Blurb

I was just a simple girl from a tiny town in Texas. I’d had one man in my life, in my bed, in my body, and that ended in a nightmare. My ex-husband Earl made my life a living hell, and his daddy’s money let him get away with it. I was running out of time and options. Then, he walked into my life…

My heart skipped a beat when I saw him sitting there with dust on his boots and the wind in his hair. A tall, dark, handsome cowboy named Chance. He had a mysterious air about him, like he was hiding some deep, dark secret that he didn’t want anyone to know about. And he had his sights set on me.

I had no idea how deep that secret ran, or that he wasn’t who he said he was. I also had no idea how deep I could fall after just one night. His body was rock hard, lean, riding him was like riding a wild Texas stallion.

But bliss doesn’t last long when the truth comes out.

He’s not the man I thought he was, and learning the truth might just break my heart.

Chapter 1: Chance Ridder

“Come back to bed.”

I didn’t turn around. Didn’t need to. I already knew the petite brunette calling to me was lying lazily on one side, eyes half open, looking at my naked body from across the room. There was the distinct ruffle of silk sheets, the soft moan of her equally-hot friend waking up next to her, a muffled giggle as their naked bodies intertwined.

I smiled to myself. Staring out at the street below through the large floor to ceiling window, I took a long puff from my cigarette and let the smoke cloud my faded reflection. The sun was coming up, and from the thirtieth floor, I had a perfect view of Austin as the city slowly woke up. I relished these moments, the few minutes in my life when I had complete peace and couldn’t be bothered by anything else except the view and the smoke filling my lungs.

The fact that the girls were waking up naked in my bed was only going to ruin that for me.

“Come on, Chance,” came the voice of the second girl, don’t ask me her name, hoarse from all the screaming she did last night, yet seductive enough to make my cock twitch. “How about we give you a little breakfast in bed?”

After what I had done to the both of them last night, I had a feeling their idea of breakfast was going to be just a little too tame for my taste. I took another drag from my cigarette, watched as the morning joggers ran down the sidewalks of the park across the street, and stretched my arms toward the high ceiling. My phone beeped, a reminder that my life was already starting, and I sighed as I put the cigarette out.

“Sorry, girls, work beckons, you’ll have to eat without me,” I said, walking out of the room, barely glancing at them as they watched me leave.

I crossed the large expanse of the living room, kicking panties and bras aside as the automatic curtains opened and let the sun in. The automated penthouse where I had spent the last seven years of my life slowly came alive, coffee machine turning on, the large flat screen waking up and displaying the six o’clock news, and the chime of my computer starting up with an immediate display of my email and to-do list.

I walked past it all and made my way upstairs to the second floor to the secluded master bedroom. I never brought girls here. This was my sanctuary. The parties always happened in the second master downstairs with the oversized king-size bed.

I continued on the master bathroom, which was larger than most apartments in Austin, and turned on the hot water and stepped inside. I leaned against the Italian marble tile wall and let the steaming jets wash away last night’s grime, then stepped out and dried myself off. My day had begun. I was in work mode. Everything on a precise schedule. Three minutes for a shower when I was alone, tops.

My suit had already been laid out for me the night before, a gentle reminder from Pauline that she had been here to tidy up despite my late-night antics. I made a mental note to give her a little something extra the next time I made out her check.

From downstairs, I could hear the soft giggles and whispers of the girls as they gathered their clothes. I got dressed quickly, slapped on my platinum Rolex watch, and made my way back downstairs. The girls were sprawled across the couch in their lingerie now, lazily filling up glasses with what was left of last night’s champagne and enjoying the view.

“This place is incredible, Chance,” one of them said, turning around to look at me as she swayed gently from side to side.

“Didn’t notice much last night, huh?” I asked, grabbing my phone and keys.

“We were too busy noticing other things last night,” the second girl giggled. “Like the size of your cock.” Giggles all around.

I nodded. “Well, make yourselves at home,” I said, heading for the door.

“We’ll be here waiting when you get home!” the first girl called. Again, no clue what her name was. She did have an amazing set of tits and the tighter pussy of the two, but I digress.

Babe, I’ll never see you again...

Pauline would see to that. She’d be here within two minutes after I left and would chase both of them out with a shotgun if she had to. Another bonus for Pauline.

* * *

I rode the private elevator down in silence, briefly checking my messages as they came in one after the other over my phone, already clouding my head with crap I would have to deal with before the day was out.

I tucked the phone inside my jacket, walked across the lavishly furnished lobby, and waited as my car pulled up to the curb. The back door opened, and Alice gazed at me from over her horn-rimmed glasses, a scowl on her face that left unattractive lines etched on her forehead.

“We’re going to be late,” she announced as I slid into the backseat, closing the door behind me.

“Good morning to you, too, Alice,” I greeted.

“You have a meeting in ten minutes,” Alice said, ignoring the tired smile on my face. “Dennis has been planning this meeting for weeks. The least you can do is show up on time.”

“Alice, sweetheart, I pay you to keep my life organized, not to give me advice,” I replied. “Or to chastise me. I’m pretty sure I pay other people to do that.”

Alice grunted, and I couldn’t help but smile. Ever since I had hired her as my personal assistant slash wrangler, I had definitely upped my game. I didn’t have to worry about incompetence anymore, and since Alice enjoyed pussy as much as I did, I didn’t have to deal with office drama, either. She was the perfect fit for me, and she knew it just as much as I did. Which made her one smug bitch.

My kind of girl.

“Okay, Miles,” I called out to my driver. “Get us to the office, pronto, before Alice here rips us both a new one.”

“With pleasure, sir,” Miles replied, giving me a knowing smile in the rear view mirror. “And may I say, you look exceptionally well today, Mr. Ridder.”

“I feel like crap, Miles, but thank you.”

“You’re quite welcome, sir,” he said as the car pulled into the morning traffic to head downtown. “Just doing my job.”

* * *

“As you can see, investing in this would put Ridder Technology at the forefront of the game.”

I was slumped in my seat fiddling with my phone, barely listening to the pitch Dennis had lined up for me. When you’re a rich and famous entrepreneur like yours truly, people come out of the woodwork to pitch you all kinds of business ideas… the next big thing… nothing like it on the market… the greatest invention since sliced bread. At least that’s what everyone claims. Some of the ideas are truly crazy, some are not, most would lose rather than make money. I get pitched everywhere I go: at the office, at social events, on the golf course, in the men’s room at a strip club; even at the fucking Astros games standing in line to buy a freakin’ hot dog.

This pitch was no different. I just wasn’t standing at a urinal with my cock in my hand. The kid standing across the conference room looked like he had just come out of high school, nervous voice cracking, zits and all. The suit he was wearing was a size or two larger than his frame, his glasses kept slipping down his nose, and he fumbled along his presentation as if he were asking a girl out for the first time.

I was already bored to tears.

“What do you think, Chance?”

I looked up and lifted an eyebrow at the man sitting to my right. Dennis East was my best friend and right-hand man, and the one person on the planet that I truly trusted. Ever since freshman year at college, we had been stuck to each other’s sides like ticks on a blue hound. I had started my company with the little bit of inheritance my good-for-nothing old man had left me when he finally choked and died, and building it up to the billion-dollar tech conglomerate that it was now had been a real challenge. A challenge I could not have overcome without the help of Dennis.

He was as ruthless as I was, his charming smile hiding the true tiger that hid behind it. He could compliment a man one minute, then tear off his head in the next. If there was one person I knew who could run my company as well as I could, it was Dennis. That was a thought that gave me both comfort and pause. Sometimes, Dennis acted like he did run the place. I’d have to gently nudge him back into the second chair to get us back on track.

That made me wonder why the hell he was wasting my time with this crap. I had no idea what this kid was pitching, but it wasn’t something I was the least bit interested in. Dennis knew it, so why was he wasting my time?

“I’m not really sure what Poindexter is pitching,” I said with a long sigh. “Hell, I’m not sure he knows what he’s talking about.”

Dennis shot me a glare, his signature “play nice” look that I was slowly getting tired of, especially when he set up useless meetings like these.

“I think Alan’s idea has tremendous potential,” Dennis said, waving a hand at the kid, who was fidgeting like he had to take a piss.

“Oh, man?” I said, lifting my hands up in apology. “I’m sorry, I thought this was a high school science fair. Were you pitching an idea for a real business? Alan?”

“Chance,” Dennis hissed.

The kid was fiddling with the pointer in his hand, his face bright red, visibly uncomfortable.

“Okay, I’m sorry, I’ll be serious,” I said, leaning in. “You’re asking me to invest millions of dollars into a software that directly competes with something my company already has on the market, based on research that directly contradicts what we know about customer satisfaction and future product development.”

“Erm, well, um…” the kid stuttered like a village idiot.

“Not only that, what you’re showing me here is a demo of what is only half-developed, based on a concept that is not fully thought out, with the promise that what I’ll be getting surpasses our own product tremendously.”

“What Alan is suggesting,” Dennis cut in, glaring at me, “is that what he’s offering can be developed into a newer version of our own software, with much better compatibility options, for a much lower cost. And is a lot more stable.”

“Alan, are you looking for a job in our research and development department?” I asked. “Because if that’s the case, then you’re in the wrong room, and I just wasted half an hour of my time I’ll never get back. If, however, you’re trying to sell us something that we can’t make ourselves, then you’ve gone about it all wrong, and I highly recommend you get your ass out of my conference room and back to high school before the bell rings.”

“Chance!” Dennis growled between gritted teeth. “Don’t be such an asshole.”

I got up, buttoned my jacket and gave Dennis my best smile. “Next time you set up a meeting with a monkey, make sure it can dance. At least then I’d be a little more entertained. And much less of an asshole.”

I stepped out of the conference room and made my way down the hall to my office. Behind me, I could hear Dennis apologizing to the kid, and I shook my head in disbelief. Of all the fucking demands I had to my schedule, this shouldn’t have been one of them.

Alice met me halfway down the hall and handed me a manila folder. “What the fuck is this?”

“The quarterly reports from last week,” she said. “I need your signature on all of them. Also, you’ve got three calls on waiting, two from board members, one from our client in Sweden.”

I frowned at her. “Jesus, Alice, couldn’t you just take a message? I don’t have the energy to deal with the fucking board right now.”

“I’ve taken messages,” she said defensively. “Twice in the past three days. You just never called them back.”

“Fine,” I replied.

“How did the meeting go?” she asked.

“Waste of time.”

“Did you make another one cry?”

“No, this one just shit himself.” I opened the door to my office, slumped down in my chair and threw the folder on my desk. I sighed, laid back and rubbed my eyes. I felt a heavy weight on my chest, as if someone were sitting on me. I undid my tie and took a few deep breaths. When I opened my eyes, Alice was still there.

“What?”

“Signatures,” she said, nodding at the folder on my desk.

I waved her away. “I’ll get it done, Alice. Please, just let me breathe for a few minutes.”

She looked at me for a beat, then clicked her tongue and walked out of my office just as Dennis brushed past her and stormed in.

“What the fuck was that, Chance?” he yelled.

I glanced past him and nodded at Alice to close the door. She rolled her eyes at me and left.

“I spent a week setting that up!”

“Really?” I asked, getting up and walking to the mini-bar. “A week? Damn, Dennis, you’re losing it.”

Dennis slammed his hand down on my desk. “I’m serious, Chance.”

“So am I,” I shot back, pouring two shots of bourbon and handing him one.

“It’s seven in the morning,” he said, looking into the glass like it held a turd.

I smiled and downed my bourbon. “Never too early to start drinking.”

Dennis glared at me for a moment, then pushed the drink back into my hand. I carried both drinks with me as I returned to my chair. He let out a frustrated growl, fell into the chair across from me and shook his head. After a few seconds, he finally scoffed and smiled.

“There he is,” I said, pushing his drink towards him.

“You’re a fucking asshole, you know that?”

“Yeah, but you love me for it,” I said. “Are you going to drink that or should I?”

He pushed it back to me. “Go ahead, kill yourself for all I care.”

“Oh, but you do care,” I chuckled, drinking only half the glass before my chest tightened and I had to set the drink aside.

Dennis undid his own tie, pulled it off and tossed it onto my desk. “You can’t keep doing this, Chance,” he said. “We can’t keep shooting down every good idea that comes walking through our doors. If we don’t get these guys, someone else will.”

“Calling that kid’s idea a good one is a bit of an overstatement,” I said, leaning back in my chair and fishing for my cigarettes. I lit one, took a log drag, and let the smoke out in rings. I waited for Dennis to give me shit about smoking—everybody gave me shit about smoking—but he was still harping on about the kid.

“R&D is coming up with nothing we can use,” Dennis said. “We either innovate or we die, you know how this business works.”

“Then fire the whole fucking R&D team,” I replied. “Ask Alan if his high school buddies want a job. Hire the whole fucking twelfth grade if it gets you off my ass.”

“Funny.”

“I’m serious,” I laughed. “The guy’s right for the job. He definitely can’t head a project, but we can find some desk for him in a corner where he doesn’t bother anyone. Maybe get him laid as well.”

Dennis clenched his jaw and shook his head. “We’ll leave the women to you,” he said. “They’re already throwing themselves at your feet, Austin’s Most Eligible Bachelor.”

“Guilty as charged.”

“Speaking of which, how are Barbie numbers one and two?”

“Left them at home,” I smiled, lifting my drink in toast.

“A little present for Pauline?” Dennis laughed.

“Yup.”

A knock at my door and Alice walked in. “Three calls, Chance. Three.”

Dennis blew out a long sigh and stood up, adjusting his tie as he went. “Don’t forget. My place tonight, don’t be late.”

“I never miss a party, man,” I said with a smile.

Dennis shook his head as he walked out, leaving me with a very angry assistant.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“The phone, Chance!”

“Fine!” I replied. I put out my cigarette, picked up the phone, and began a long day of setting and putting out fires.

* * *

By the time I was done and stepped out of my office, most of my employees had already gone for the day, and the only lights visible were the ones coming from the conference room where I knew a team was working out a few bugs in one of our most recent software releases. Alice was at her desk, blonde hair tied back in a high ponytail, fingers tapping away at the keyboard like lightning.

There was a bittersweet feeling about the office when it was this empty. My mind went back to when Ridder Technology had been nothing more than a few cubicles in a run-down building just outside Austin, the only space I could afford at the time. We practically lived there, worked day and night, toiled like our lives depended on it and success was just out of reach.

That was six years ago. Now Ridder Technology had its own high-rise building in downtown Austin, and I had enough money to feed a small nation. It felt good being on top of the world, and looking out at my kingdom, I knew there was only more to come.

I dropped the manila folder on Alice’s desk, and she gave me a quick glance, her fingers never leaving the keyboard.

“Signed and ready,” I said.

“I needed those three hours ago,” she said.

“I’ve only got two hands,” I replied. “I’m heading out. Call Miles and have him wait for me downstairs.”

“Try not to stay up too late,” Alice called after me. “We have a long day tomorrow.”

“Sure thing, mom,” I called back and made my way towards the elevators.

Chapter 2: Chance

I took my time getting ready.

If there was one thing I had learned over the years, it was that people expected me to show up late. Being to any event on time made me look a little too desperate, like I was seeking approval or something. Of course, Dennis thought that was a load of crap, but I knew what I was talking about.

I took the Porsche Carrera, let the top down, and enjoyed the night air as I drove through the streets of Austin to Dennis’s building. I made sure I took the longer route, one with enough room to let me go a little wild, and arrived at the party two hours after it had started.

Dennis greeted me at the door, already tipsy, dragging me inside with an arm thrown over my shoulder. The party was loud, full of women dressed in as little as possible, and enough drinks to make the Mardi Gras seem lame. Within seconds, I was surrounded by chatting women, high profile celebrities, and business investors who just “had to get in on whatever I was cooking up in my oven”. Fucking parasites.

“Chance, darling!”

I turned just in time to catch Wendy O’Connor as she threw herself in my arms and planted a very wet and drunk kiss on my lips. The Austin Times journalist was one of my biggest fans. I had been interviewed by her at least three times in the past two years alone. She had a taste for the rich and famous, and shared my love for the spotlight. As well as my thirst for sex. I could fill a drawer with the panties she’d left behind.

“Big entrance, of course!” she shouted over the sound of the pounding music. Her breath reeked of vodka and cigarettes, and I knew that if I wasn’t careful, we’d probably end up in the bathroom upstairs bumping uglies until she puked all over the sink while I hammered her from behind. An intoxicated Wendy O’Connor was not a woman I wanted to spend the night with.

“Wendy, beautiful as always,” I said, holding her at arm’s length.

“When am I going to bring you in for another interview?” she asked, giggling as she fished for the straw of her drink with her tongue.

“Whenever you need me, I’ll be there,” I said, looking for a way out. “You know I can never say no to you.”

She rested a hand on my chest and leaned in, her lips close to my ear. “I’m not wearing any panties,” she whispered. “And I shaved my pussy just for you.”

“Okay, good to know,” I said, turning her around so that she was facing a group of men and women laughing a little too loudly. “How about you tell these guys how horny you are while I get a drink?”

I disappeared before she could object, and made my way to the bar where Dennis was chatting up a trio of beautiful blondes.

“And here’s the big man himself,” Dennis said, pulling me close. “So, Chance, the girls here were wondering how I got so lucky to be Chance Ridder’s best friend.”

I knew what he was doing, and played along right away. “Met him in college, the brains behind everything I am, ladies. Without Dennis here, there would never have been a Ridder Technology. He’s just modest about it all, lets me take all the credit.”

“And there you have it!” Dennis cried out, pulling me in for a tight hug.

I leaned in and whispered, “You owe me.”

“You fucked up our meeting today,” he mumbled back. “You owed me.”

“Enjoy your evening, ladies,” I said, gesturing to the bartender and asking for a bourbon.

Dennis went on blabbering, and I quickly took my drink and disappeared into the crowd.

* * *

The thing that attracted me the most about her was her breasts.

I didn’t care if I was being shallow or not. The fact was, I had been to too many parties just like this, and hooked up with enough women to have completely forgotten what it was like to ask for a first name. Besides, everyone knew my first name, and as long as it was screamed out in the middle of “oh my God” and “fuck me faster”, I didn’t care if the girl was called Brenda, Sheila or the Whore of Babylon.

Which was why when she smiled at me and made her way towards where I was standing, my bourbon in one hand and cigarette in the other, I already knew I wouldn’t be going home alone tonight.

Not that I really expected to.

“Chance Ridder, right?”

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!

I nodded, flashing my best smile and taking a long sip from the glass, my eyes scanning her tight body wrapped in a red silk dress that left very little to the imagination. The music wasn’t very loud on this side of the penthouse, and the lights were dimmed down enough to make sure everyone minded their own business.

“I’m Haley,” she said, sticking out her hand. I took it, felt the soft skin, the slender fingers, the nails that I knew were going to be scratching down my back before the night ended. “I really like your home.”

“Thanks,” I replied, “but it’s not mine.”

“Oh?”

“See that guy over there?” I said, pointing to Dennis, who was surrounded by groupies of his own. “He owns the place.”

Haley looked over her shoulder, then back at me. “Don’t know him,” she said with a smile.

“But you know me,” I said.

She nodded and bit her lower lip.

“How about a drink?” I asked.

* * *

She was all over me before I could even get the door open.

Over drinks, she had not been shy about how forward she could be, her hand finding comfortable places on my arms, thighs, and when she wanted to leave the party, on my crotch.

On the drive to my place, her hand had quickly found its way into my pants, squeezing and pumping me as I tried my best to keep my attention on the road and not kill anyone in the process. The doorman had flashed me a knowing smile as we passed and I tossed him the keys to my Porsche, and the elevator ride up to my penthouse had been a hot mix of her tongue down my throat and my hand in her panties.

I kicked the door closed and helped her pull my blazer off, throwing it to a side and quickly wrapping her arms around my neck as she kissed me. To call her wild was an understatement, and I could tell I was in for a hell of a ride. My hands squeezed her ass hard and I pulled her against me, feeling her warmth through her dress and my pants. My hand slipped into her panties and my fingers were drenched in her wetness, her moans making her lips quiver against mine.

I kissed her neck, made my way down to her tits, and pushed her up against the wall, slipping my fingers inside her pussy. I finger fucked her hard and fast, making her shake against me, her nails digging into my shoulders and her teeth biting at my ear. She began to grind against me, moaning for me to move faster, harder, until she exploded against my hand and pulled me tight against her.

“My turn,” she whispered when she had regained some composure. She turned me around and pushed me hard against the wall, her slender fingers expertly working my belt and zipper. She had my pants down in seconds, and her fingers gently wrapped around my cock, stroking it lovingly while she gazed up into my eyes. The smile on her face was a promise that she had a lot planned for us tonight.

She took me like a pro, sliding her soft lips over my cock and sucking me inside her mouth. Her tongue ran circles around me as her head moved, and I grabbed her by the back of her head, urging her on. She had me pushing against her, fucking her mouth, while all the time her eyes locked on mine. I reached down and undid the knot of her dress, the straps falling down smoothly and revealing twin mounds of heaven in a black lace bra. I was torn between enjoying the feeling of being inside her mouth, and wanting to bury my face between her breasts. Either way, I was more than happy to let her control the moment, because soon enough she’d be screaming my name when I took over.

Her nails raked my thighs, and she let my cock slip out of her mouth before standing up and stepping out of her dress completely. She looked fucking incredible, hot as hell, and a part of me didn’t even want to wait to get her completely naked. Just rip off the panties and take her right there in the hallway.

She could see it in my eyes, though, everything I wanted to do to her, and she grabbed me by the cock and led me deeper into my own penthouse, as if she was leading a stud bull by the horns.

“This place is almost as impressive as the other one,” she giggled.

“Wrong,” I said, grabbing her by the arm and pushing her against the couch, bending her down so that her ass was sticking up and ready. “It’s better.”

I pulled her panties down, her scent so strong I knew that I would slip inside her without any trouble at all. She pushed her ass up higher and spread her legs, wiggling her butt at me invitingly. I smacked one cheek, then smacked it again when she yelped in excitement.

“Come on,” she pleaded, wiggling her ass at me again. “Take me already.”

I pulled off my shirt, grabbed her by the waist, and pushed inside her with even more ease than expected. She threw her head back in a loud moan of approval, and looked over her shoulder at me, eyes half closed, tongue tracing the lines of her lips.

I waited, let the width of me fill her up, and when she clenched down on my cock, I began to slam against her. My hips smacked against her perfect ass, and I squeezed her cheeks as I fucked her, ramming her from behind, turning her moans into screams. Within seconds I had her begging me to go faster, to fuck her harder. She had even begun to throw her ass back against me, pushing me in deeper with every stroke.

I reached my hand around her waist and began to finger her clit, and before I knew it, she was screaming with an orgasm that shook her so hard, her legs began to wobble, and I had to hold her up for balance.

“Don’t stop, Chance!” she begged, turning and grabbing my cock, pumping me as she moved us to the front of the couch. “Don’t you fucking stop!”

She pushed me onto the couch, straddled me, and slid me back inside her. She immediately began grinding against me, and I reached behind her and undid her bra. Her breasts fell free in all their glory, and I sat back and watched them bounce as she rode me. She leaned in, pushing her breasts against my face, and I sucked hard on one nipple while pinching the other. Her moans echoed in my living room, loud and animalistic as her hot breath tickled my ear. My hands wrapped around her waist, and I brought her down harder against me. She threw her head back, screaming in pleasure, and rode me even harder when I took her nipples into my mouth again.

“I’m going… to… fuck… cum…” she screamed. “Yes, yes… oh fuck… yessss… right there… yessssss…”

I felt really close to cumming myself, and quickly threw her off me and onto the couch.

“No!” she growled, immediately reaching for me, and I had to grab both her hands and push her down to stop her. I wasn’t ready to cum just yet, not even close to being done with her, and she wasn’t going to fucking dictate how this night played out. I was Chance Ridder. I was fucking in charge. Or in charge of fucking. I playfully pinned her down and slipped two fingers inside her, pumping my hand as she giggled and wrestled to break free of my hold.

“Stop fingering me and fuck me!” she moaned, but I could see my fingers were having the desired effect. Soon enough she was gushing out over my hand, her body curling as she came, her legs shaking as her orgasm rushed through her.

“Had enough?” I asked, smiling wickedly as she tried to roll away from me. With her arms pinned down over her head, she had little room to move.

“Not nearly enough…” She looked up at me, her chest rising and falling with her heavy breaths, her breasts like twin towers of worship. She smiled at me, bit her lip and shook her head. “Come on, cowboy, let’s see you ride.”

I climbed on top of her quickly, positioned myself at her pussy and slammed inside her with one powerful thrust, forcing her to scream out in surprise. Her legs quickly wrapped around my waist and her nails dug into my back as she pulled me to her.

“Fuck me with that billion-dollar cock,” she gasped. “Show me what you can do.”

Billion-dollar cock… seriously?

There it was.

The real reason she was here banging the shit out of a guy she just met.

She wasn’t fucking me.

She was fucking my reputation.

My bank account.

Well then, if that’s what she wanted, I’d give her my fucking money’s worth.

Her screams rocked the penthouse, loud enough that I could have sworn the windows were shaking. At one point I thought the neighbors would start knocking on my door, wondering if maybe I was killing someone in here. But she took it like a champ. Every stroke. And each time I slammed inside her, she begged for more, urging me to give it to her harder and faster.

I fucked her until I felt the couch would collapse underneath us, and she only pressed her legs against me harder. Her nails scratched my back until I could feel them tearing at the skin, the wildness of it all only turning me on even more.

“Come on, baby,” she begged between screams. “Come on, harder, come on.”

I gave her what she wanted and more, and soon enough she couldn’t put two words together between her gasps and moans. She must have cum at least three times in the midst of it all, her pussy clenching down on me hard and bringing me closer to the edge. I tried to make it last as long as I could, relishing the moment, feeling more alive than ever as I fucked her brains out.

I pulled her up to me, and thrust in one last time before I exploded inside her. I groaned loudly, my eyes closing and my head spinning as I emptied myself deep in her cunt. She milked my cock with her pussy, squeezing hard on my cock until it felt like she might tear it right off. When it was over, I collapsed on top of her, and we rolled off the couch and onto the floor, gasping for breath, the two of us spent.

I closed my eyes, washed in an overwhelming feeling of satisfaction, and waited for my breathing to settle. I could feel her hot body against mine, her limp hand lying gently on my chest, her breath against my shoulder. I don’t know how long we stayed like that, but when I finally opened my eyes, she was fast asleep on the floor, hair disheveled across her pretty face. I pushed myself into a sitting position and let my eyes take her in, the nakedness of her making me want to turn her over and do it all over again.

I got up, leaving her on the floor, and made my way upstairs to my bedroom. I quickly jumped into the shower, turned on the hot water and closed my eyes. I felt my muscles slowly start to relax. Go slack. There was a short burst of pain in my chest, quick and piercing, that made me cringe, but I quickly shook it off as the water fell in waves down my body. With a fuck like that, it was no surprise I’d be this spent.

I stood there for what seemed like forever, then stepped out and dried myself off. The bed beckoned me to it, and without a second thought to the girl sleeping on the floor downstairs, whose name I had already forgotten, I crawled under the covers and closed my eyes.

I’d let Pauline deal with her in the morning.

Chapter 3: Chance

“If you don’t mind me saying, Mr. Ridder, you look terrible.”

I looked at Miles’s eyes in the rearview mirror and nodded. “I feel like crap, Miles” I said. “Thanks for noticing.”

“Long night?”

“Aren’t they all?” I asked.

The piercing pain from the night before hit me again, and I winced, my hand automatically reaching for my chest as if it could somehow pull the pain out and relieve me from it. I squeezed my eyes shut, my head spinning. The car had pulled away from the curb, and when I opened my eyes again, Miles was watching me instead of the road.

“Sir, are you…”

“Eyes on the road, Miles,” I said, gritting my teeth against another burst of pain.

“Mr. Ridder, are you sure –”

I didn’t hear the rest of what he said. My vision blurred, and I felt like the world had somehow dumped me in a large carousel that was going a little too fast. I blinked, trying to regain some sort of focus, and was greeted by shifting images and bright spots. The heaviness against my chest only intensified.

Am I having a fucking heart attack?

I laid my head back and gazed out the window, the buildings looking like silhouettes of varying shades of gray. I felt the car pick up speed and turn sharply.

“Miles, what are you doing?” I croaked.

“I’m taking you to the hospital, Mr. Ridder.”

I didn’t protest. The hospital sounded like a very good idea.

 

* * *

I felt better. Not much, but enough to wish I could light a cigarette and maybe get a drink. The walls around me were surrounded by posters of the human body and motivational quotes telling me that my health came first, everything else second. I scoffed when I looked at the fake smiles of the models in the pictures, the frozen “jumping in the air” glee that was a little too happy for my taste.

I need a drink. And a smoke.

The door opened, and I shifted on the bed as the doctor walked in, holding a chart in his hands and flipping through the pages with great concentration.

“Mr. Ridder,” he mumbled, frowning as he looked at my stats.

That can’t be good.

“How old did you say you were?” the doctor asked, looking at me from over the top of his glasses, his gaze making me feel like I was twelve again and being scolded for playing where I shouldn’t have.

“Thirty-two,” I answered. “Isn’t that in your chart?”

“It is,” the doctor nodded, flipping through the pages again. “The thing is, according to these reports, you should be fifty.” He looked up at me again. “Or dead.”

“That’s great, doc,” I smiled. “Not much for bedside manner, huh?”

The doctor placed the chart down on his desk and folded his arms across his chest. “Mr. Ridder, from what I’ve seen, bedside manner shouldn’t be your main concern at the moment. I’m going to ask you a few questions, and please try to answer them as truthfully as you possibly can.”

As I possibly can? Really?

“How many cigarettes do you smoke a day?”

I shrugged. “Two packs, maybe three.”

“And how much alcohol do you drink?”

“I have no idea,” I replied. “In my line of work, there’s always some event or the other, and there’s always drinking.”

“What exactly is your line of work, Mr. Ridder?”

“Seriously?” I chuckled. The doctor raised an eyebrow, clearly not impressed. “I’m founder and CEO of Ridder Technology.”

“I see,” the doctor said, jotting down something in the charts. “Do you get out much, Mr. Ridder?”

“I’m always out and about,” I said.

“Exercise,” the doctor stressed. “I meant exercise.”

I wondered if sex counted, and was about to say that when the look on the doctor’s face made me think otherwise. Whatever this guy’s problem was, he was making me uneasy, and right now I needed to know what was in that chart.

“No,” I said. “Listen, can you tell me the results of all these tests you made me do?”

“In a minute,” the doctor said. “How about your diet?”

“Steak and pussy,” I answered with a grin. He shot me a look that told me he was not impressed or amused. “Listen, doc, I appreciate the tough love antics, but I got enough of that growing up from my old man. So, let’s just skip to the part where you tell me what the fuck’s wrong with me.”

The doctor looked at me for a beat, sighed, took off his glasses and blew out a long sigh. “Hypertension, high cholesterol, beginning signs of serious atherosclerosis, high levels of liver enzymes.” He stopped. “Should I go on?”

“Yes, please do, only this time in plain English?”

“You’re a step away from a heart attack or stroke that will probably kill you, Mr. Ridder,” he said, setting the glasses back on his thin nose. “Is that English plain enough?”

* * *

I ignored my calls.

For most of the day, I sat in complete shock on my couch, staring out at the Austin skyline, an unlit cigarette in one hand and the doctor’s words rolling over and over in my head.

A heart attack.

A stroke.

Fuck, I’m only thirty-two.

I couldn’t believe it. I remembered the warning signs, subtle but there, enough for any man to take notice if he didn’t have his head so far up his ass. Dennis had told me the drinking would kill me. Alice had tried to get me to quit smoking over and over again. Even my mother had commented on the stress I was under, telling me that it was the stress that had taken my dad away.

Funny, I always thought it was his good nature and care for others.

My mother hadn’t thought that was funny, and right now, neither did I.

I laid my head back, rolling the cigarette between my fingers as I rubbed at my chest. Dying was not on any of my to-do lists. To say I wasn’t ready for it was an understatement; it fucking terrified me. Not that I didn’t have anything to show for my thirty-two years. I was a multi-billionaire. I could roll tobacco in hundred-dollar bills and smoke three dozen of them a day for years, and still I wouldn’t see a dent in my bank account. I was on top of the world, doing what I wanted, when I wanted, partying and fucking every night. Whoever said money couldn’t buy happiness didn’t have the money I had.

Much good your money’s doing for you now.

I frowned, suddenly angry at the doctor who tried to convince me to stay at the hospital for more tests. What the fuck did he know? I could buy good health if I wanted to. I could pay the best doctors in the world to turn all these test results around. I could pay the fucking angel of death to leave me the fuck alone!

I snapped the cigarette in half and threw it angrily at the window. I felt my entire body shake, and my heart began to pound in my chest. I felt the beginning of sweat beads collecting on my brow, and there was a sudden crushing weight on my chest. I closed my eyes, took in deep breaths and let them out in long exhales. Slowly, my heart’s beating returned to normal, and the weight on my chest lifted.

You’re going to kill yourself.

I knew that, but had no clue what I was going to do about it.

My phone rang, and I turned my head lazily to see who was calling. The word MOM flashed on my caller ID, and at that precise moment, I knew what I needed to do.

* * *

“You’re kidding, right?”

Dennis stood angrily at the threshold of my bedroom door, watching as I packed my bags. I had called him right after hanging up with my mother, and he had wasted no time driving over and trying to talk some sense into me.

“Nope,” I replied. “I’m serious as a heart attack.”

“You can’t just fucking take off,” Dennis said. “Not now. Not with everything that we have going on.

“I can,” I said. “And I will.”

Dennis threw his hands up in the air and finally stepped into the room, grabbing my arm and stopping me in the middle of packing. “You can’t leave,” he said, stressing on each word as if he were talking to a lunatic. I thought it was sweet, if he didn’t look like a complete moron doing it. He reminded me of the kid I spent four years of college with.

“I’m not leaving forever,” I replied. “It’s a break. I need a break.”

Dennis shook his head quickly. “You don’t need a break, you need a second opinion,” he said. “You said it yourself, the doctor was an ass. Who knows what he would say just to scare you a bit. He probably has something against rich and successful people.”

“So if I was poor he wouldn’t have told me I was killing myself.” I shook my head and went back into my walk-in closet to get a second pair of jeans.

“Chance!”

“I saw the results, Dennis,” I said, holding up my hands in defeat. “It’s not a lie. It’s not a trick. This whole thing.” I paused, gesturing around me. “This is getting to me, man. It’s going to kill me if I don’t ease up a bit.”

“Then stop the drinking, quit smoking, and do some fucking exercise,” Dennis suggested. “Just don’t leave Austin. You can’t leave the company in the middle of what’s going on. We have shareholders breathing down our necks, clients constantly asking for updates and sending in requests, and three new products hitting the market in the next few weeks.”

I didn’t respond. I couldn’t because I didn’t know what else to say.

“Chance, could you just stop and fucking listen to me?” Dennis shouted.

“I am!” I yelled back, slamming my fist into the wall.

Dennis winced and took an involuntary step back. I felt my heartbeat pick up tenfold, and I gasped for air. I leaned against the closet door, closed my eyes and tried to control my breathing.

“Okay, fine, I’m sorry, Jesus,” Dennis said.

I waved his apology away. “Forget it,” I said. “Listen, I get it, okay? I know you’re worried, but that’s why you’re here. You can do what I can do, and you know everything there is to know about the company. Keep the ship afloat until I come back, and then we can think about my future life changes. But right now, I need to get away from everything if I want to hit that restart button.”

His voice softened a bit as the reality of the situation set in. “You actually think this is going to help?”

I shrugged, feeling my heartbeat return to normal as I took a few deep breaths. “All I know is that the company’s stressing me out. It’s probably why I’m drinking the way I am, why I’m smoking the way I am. I just need to get it out of the equation for just a little bit, and maybe I can kick everything else. Just a few weeks, that’s all I’m asking. Nothing too serious.”

Dennis looked at me, and it seemed like we stayed like that forever before he finally nodded. Sighing and running a hand through his hair, he looked at my bag, then at me.

“So, Booth, Texas, here comes Chance,” he said, unimpressed.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been home,” I replied, finally finding the jeans and stuffing them in the bag with everything else.

“So, your father dies, and you don’t go back, but a doctor says you might have a heart attack, and it’s home, home on the range?”

“Don’t be a dick.” I frowned and cocked my head to a side. “And don’t get too comfortable in my chair. I’ll be back before you know it.”

“Just do me a favor while you’re there,” Dennis said. “Don’t fucking die. I’m not coming all the way to Booth just to plant your sorry ass in the ground.”

“Fair enough,” I said, giving him a hug before going through the door. “Fair enough.”

* * *

Because I owned the building, I had an entire section of the underground garage closed off just for me. The only other people with access to it were Miles and Alice; even Dennis had been banned from it ever since he had decided to borrow my classic Jaguar and then crashed it into a tree while drunk. I remember telling him that if he had died, I probably would have still been pissed about the car.

I opened the garage door and made my way past my prize possessions. The Ferraris and Porsches and Teslas stood side by side, while the classic ’65 Mustang brought up the rear. I wasn’t interested in them today, though. I was going back home, and I wanted to stay as anonymous as possible. None of these would have done that for me. Instead, parked to a far corner and covered in a tarp, was what I would be using on the trip home.

I hadn’t laid eyes upon the old 1978 Chevy pickup truck since college.

It had belonged to my old man, probably the only good thing I had gotten from him back in college when he had suddenly decided that I had become somewhat of a man. And a man needs to drive a real vehicle, he had said. I remembered the slight twinge of what I could only call appreciation that I had felt for him when he handed me the keys. It had been one of those rare moments I actually felt like I had a father.

I loaded the back of the truck with my bags and dusted my hands across my jeans, feeling more than awkward wearing them along with my boots and denim shirt. At one point in my life, the ensemble was the only thing I would ever be caught dead in. Now, though, I felt a little out of place, and had a feeling it would take a while before I felt any better about it.

The sound of screeching tires and a car door closing brought my attention around. Alice walked into view, carrying a laptop in one hand as she made her way towards me. She hesitated for a second, her perfectly professional gait wavering for a second when she laid eyes upon me, and then she smiled.

“What?” I asked.

“You look like my cousin Billy Ray,” she said.

“I’m honored.”

“You shouldn’t be,” she said. “He’s a dick.”

I chuckled and took the laptop off her, chugging it into the back with everything else.

“For a guy wanting a break, I really don’t see why you need that,” Alice said, gesturing to the laptop.

“Just in case,” I said.

“Well, it’s clean, just like you wanted. Only thing on there is Chrome, and you’re already logged in with a new account.”

“Good,” I nodded. “Don’t give the account to anyone. Only you. Just in case.”

Alice nodded and smiled. “Can I just say I think you’re doing the right thing?”

“Careful, Alice,” I said, opening the truck and pulling myself up into the driver’s seat. “You’re starting to sound supportive.”

“Just don’t do anything stupid,” Alice said, rolling her eyes.

I stuck the key in the ignition, turned, and waited for the engine to burst into life. It took a couple of tries, but eventually, the old girl coughed up and sang.

“You’re going to be okay,” Alice said.

“I know,” I replied. “Do me a favor, lock up here, and keep an eye on the company.”

“Don’t worry, but Dennis can handle things.”

“That’s what I’m worried about,” I said with a grin. “Just keep your eyes on him.”

Alice smiled and nodded. I gave her a wink, shifted gears, and pressed down on the gas. The truck lurched, almost died, then roared back into life as I pulled out of the garage.

In the rearview mirror, I could see Alice watching me with a wide smile on her face. I wasn’t sure why, but I felt like going home was going to be good for me in more ways than one.

Chapter 4: Ashlyn Carter

I loved living in Ludwig, Texas; population not that many.

Growing up, my mother had always believed I’d find my way out of the small town and make it big in the city. She’d tell me stories of what I was destined to do, who I was meant to become. Sometimes, I was big shot lawyer standing in court and bringing justice to the world. Other times, I was a talented artist, singing my way to the top of the charts and wooing millions. In some, I was a doctor, healing the sick and fighting the good fight. All of them were always successful stories, and most importantly, involved leaving Ludwig, a little spit of a town that she always hated.

I hated to disappoint her, but in the end, I never left home. The truth was, I loved it here. I hated the big city with its noise and inhospitality, where no one knew who you were, and no one really cared. I didn’t want the crowd, the skyscrapers, the air that smelled like the world had a bad case of flatulence.

Give me the small-town life any day, and I was just fine. I cherished the relationships I had here, the mornings spent in my greenhouse, the nights when I could look up in the sky and actually see the stars that weren’t hidden behind the smog of the city. I liked being able to walk around without worrying about anything more than coming up with good conversation starters and wondering which book I’d be reading next.

Ludwig was my kind of town. My home. I wouldn’t give it up for the world.

“Hey, Ashlyn, beautiful morning!”

I smiled as I walked past the motel’s front office and waved to Chuck, trying my best to keep the flowers in my arms balanced. I carefully made my way around Chuck’s pickup and set my bundle down, one by one. Chuck came out to greet me, carrying his signature red mug with the words ‘World’s Best Dad’ in bright yellow colors printed on it.

“I see you’ve brought the lilies,” he said with a wide smile.

“Martha says the guests love them,” I replied, nodding as I looked about the motel and took note of what I would be replacing and what I’d be tending to.

“The few that we get do,” Chuck laughed. “Tell you what. How about you finish up with those and come in for some coffee and slice of apple pie? Martha made a fresh one this morning. Happy to spare you a slice.”

“I’d love to, Chuck, but you know I need to be on my way,” I said. I glanced around nervously and mustered a smile.

“Don’t worry,” he said, lowering his voice just a bit. “That son of a bitch stopped coming here. He knows better since the last time.”

I tried my best to keep my smile in place. “Don’t want to risk it,” I said. “Better get to work.”

I grabbed two pots of flowers and got to work putting out fresh flowers in all the rooms.

* * *

The son of a bitch that Chuck mentioned was Earl Lee Greene. And he was what my daddy would have called “my piece of shit ex-husband.”

In any other time or place, our marriage would have been a fairytale of the perfect Ludwig couple. We grew up together, our fathers were poker buddies and our mothers almost like sisters. Ever since middle school, I couldn’t keep my eyes off him and once we were teenagers, he couldn’t keep his hands off me. He was the guy all the girls wanted to be with, and I was just grateful to be his friend.

When high school came around and my body started changing faster than any of the other girls around me, Earl was quick to take notice. We spent a lot more time together, flirted like crazy, and ended up dating before I even knew what was happening. We were the envy of our school, your typical high school sweethearts that everyone compared their relationship to. When my parents died in a car accident right outside of Ludwig, his parents took care of everything, and were quick to make sure I was safe and didn’t need for anything.

When Earl didn’t get the football scholarship to Texas A&M he was hoping for, we ended up staying behind in Ludwig. We were married a year after high school, and for three years, my life had become a living hell. With no real skills other than chugging a football across the field, Earl ended up working as a lineman for Texas Light and Power. Compared to his successful father, a man who owned most of the cattle land around Ludwig, Earl was quickly labeled as the Greene family letdown. It was something he could never really shake off, and the fact that his old man ridiculed him as well, only made things worse.

Earl quickly found a mistress in alcohol, and slowly after that, a few other mistresses of the female variety on the side. He came home most nights smelling like whiskey and cheap perfume, and when I opened my mouth about it, his fists were his reply. I lost count of how many days I had stayed home because I didn’t want anyone to see my black eyes.

People constantly told me to seek help, to end the marriage and get the hell out of Ludwig. But I wasn’t going to run away from my home just because of Earl. I tried to get help, even talked to my in-laws about their son’s violent streak, but that never amounted to much. I had even gone to the Sheriff once, but no one in Ludwig wanted to get on Big Ben Greene’s bad side, and the result had been a darker side of Earl I had yet to familiarize myself with.

When I finally got my divorce, Earl never stopped harassing me, even passed by my house several times and threatened to kill me. Once he broke into my greenhouse and destroyed everything in it, something that devastated me because my flowers were truly all I cared about, but gave me grounds to file for a restraining order. It didn’t stop the harassment completely, especially since no one wanted to arrest Ben Greene’s son, but Earl was a lot more careful after that. I could finally get some peace when I was home, and a few of the townsfolk stood up for me whenever he was stupid enough to approach me in public.

Like last week, when he had come by the motel and tried to talk to me. I had been tending to the plants as usual when he had rolled in, honking loudly to announce his presence and smacking his gum in his mouth in that disgusting way I always hated. I had tried to ignore him, even tried to leave without talking to him, but he had stopped me and started shouting like we were still married and I was somehow still his personal property to treat any way he saw fit.

Thankfully, Chuck didn’t care for Ben Greene much, and really hated Earl. He had come to my aid, shotgun in hand, and a scowl on his face that showed Earl he meant business. I never found out if there had been any repercussions to what Chuck had done for me, but from the way business had gone on as usual, it seemed like the whole thing had gone by without trouble. I guess Earl had been a little too proud to make a big deal out of the incident to his daddy.

Still, I tried to get my work done as fast as possible, finished whatever errands I needed to get done in town quickly, and be home before Earl could find a way to ruin my day.

It wasn’t the best way to go about my life, but it worked.

Besides, I loved Ludwig. I wasn’t intending on letting the son of a bitch ruin things for me, even if it meant facing down his anger every single day.

* * *

Martha met me on the way out, and despite my protests, pushed me into the front office and sat me down with a piece of apple pie and coffee.

“Business is slow, and I need someone to talk to,” Martha said as she sat herself down across the table from me. “Besides, if I have to listen to Chuck bitch about how bad the Cowboys are playing one more time, I swear to god I’ll shoot him with his own gun.”

I laughed and sipped at the coffee, letting the hot liquid warm me up. “I see the girls aren’t here,” I commented, referring to the twins who were Chuck and Martha Pratt’s only employees.

“When things are this calm, we give them the day off,” Martha said. “Besides, they’ve got those SAT’s to study for anyway. They ain’t got a brain between the both of them and need all the time they can get.”

“I doubt they’re studying, Martha,” I giggled, taking a bite of the pie. It tasted like heaven.

“Well, that’s their problem, then, ain’t it?” Martha sighed. “We do what we can to help ‘em. If they’re gonna screw up their lives, then I don’t want it to be because of us.”

“I’m sure they’ll be fine,” I said with a smile.

“I want ‘em to get out of Ludwig, that’s all,” Martha replied. “There’s nothing in Ludwig for those two. Best thing’s send ‘em off to Austin or someplace else where they might have a chance at a normal life.” She looked at me, and I could almost sense what she was going to say before she said it. “Makes me wonder all the time why you’re still here.”

“Same reason you’re here,” I smiled, trying my best not to look frustrated at hearing the same thing over and over again. “This is my home. I have no desire to leave.”

“Honey, this ain’t a home for anyone,” Martha said. “You don’t choose to stay in Ludwig. You just kinda get stuck here when you ain’t got no other options.”

“Then I guess I’m stuck here.”

“You haven’t tried anything else,” Martha clicked her tongue. “That damn Greene boy stole away your ‘run-away’ years.”

I laughed and almost choked. “My what?”

Martha smiled and slapped my hand. “Don’t make fun of me, girl,” she said. “You know what I mean. Your run-away years. Those couple of years right after high school when you’re still young and stupid and fearless. You got the guts to just pick up and leave, without any plans, without any money. Just leave. Some come back, sure, when they realize they ain’t got anything to work with. But most stay away, because there’s so much the world’s got to offer outside this little town. And you could have used that, Ashlyn.”

“I don’t think so,” I replied, drinking my coffee and smiling at the image of a bunch of teenagers running away from town, barefoot and wild, as if escaping a prison.

“If your daddy had been alive, he wouldn’t have let you stay,” Martha said, a lot more serious. “I know your mama would have fought you out with her broom if she had to.”

“My mama dreamed a little too much,” I said. “Martha, honestly, I love it here. I’m happy. You don’t have to keep trying to convince me to leave.”

Martha turned and grabbed both my hands in hers, holding them in her lap as her blue eyes pierced mine. “You know something, Ashlyn?” she asked. “I pray for you. I pray that one day, some dumb Texas boy will come rolling into town, sweep you off your feet, and take you with him to some place far from here. Somewhere you can start over, fresh and all, leave all this behind and be the woman your mama wanted you to be.”

I smiled at her, feeling like I could hug her just for caring this much. But the truth was, the next time a man tried to sweep me off my feet, I would probably put two bullets in his head before blowing off mine. I didn’t want another relationship. Earl had made damn sure of that.

“Thank you,” I said, not wanting to crush her hopes and dreams for some miracle cure to what she thought my problem was. “By the way, the pie was delicious, and the coffee great. But I really need to get going.”

Martha sighed and shook her head. “You don’t ever hesitate to stay for coffee and pie, okay?” she said as I got up and let her walk me out. “We don’t spend enough time together, you and me.”

“I won’t, I promise,” I said. “Besides, I’ll be here tomorrow to deliver those roses you wanted for the lobby.”

“I’ll be waiting,” Martha said and waved as I got into my truck and drove off.

* * *

I was home an hour later, stocked up on groceries and ready to spend a few hours in the greenhouse. I had one of my mother’s old books with me, one I’d read a hundred times because it was her favorite, Bridges of Madison County, a story about a small-town woman who has an affair with a big city photographer. I knew that as she read the book, mother fantasized that someday a handsome man would pass through town to take her away. It never happened. She lived and died in a small town that smothered her like dirt on a coffin.

As soon as I had gone through my regular routine, checking the water, cutting and trimming, making sure everything was in order, I made my way back to the porch and settled down on the old swing.

I closed my eyes, letting my mind wander back to when I had sat here with my mother, curled up beside her with my head on her lap as she read to me from her book. It had been a magical time, a better time, one that kept playing and replaying in my head, making it impossible for me to even consider leaving this all behind.

I opened my eyes and let the light breeze wash over me, then lay down and opened my book, flipping to the last page I had marked. In the distance, I could hear the soft sing song of the birds, and all around me, the world seemed to slow down and embrace me with love. I quickly forgot about Martha and her desire to constantly convince me to leave. I forgot about Earl. I forgot about my parents being dead and that I was alone in this big house with only my plants to keep me company.

I began to read, losing myself in the love story, but not once thinking about being swept away by a knight on a white horse.

This was home.

This would always be home.

I’d never leave.

Never.

Chapter 5: Chance

The damned old truck broke down a few miles off Interstate 10 half way between Austin and Booth, literally in the middle of fucking nowhere.

For the most part, the trip home had been quite amusing. After desperately trying to get the AM radio to work, I had quickly given up on that and had spent most of the trip singing to myself. I never had a singing voice, not one of my strong suits, but it kept my mind off the seemingly endless drive and gave me something to do.

I had toyed with the idea of picking up the random hitchhiker, but again, couldn’t be bothered much, and didn’t feel like making small talk. Besides, I was still a little too close to Austin for comfort, and didn’t feel like explaining myself to anyone who might recognize me. Which was why I waited until I was several hours out of Austin before I stopped for a burger and beer.

I should have known something was wrong when a man at the rest stop pointed out that there was black smoke coming out of the truck’s exhaust, but I was too distracted to give it any more thought. The only thing on my mind was getting home quickly so I could start what Alice called the “healing process”.

Which was why I was ready to shoot myself in the head as I stood by the side of the road, kicking at the pile of shit truck I should have known wouldn’t make it all the way back to Booth. I could almost hear my father laughing from whatever pit of hell he had been thrown into.

“Need a ride?”

I turned and looked into the weathered face of a portly farmer, leaning his head out the passenger side window to look at me, the sheer size of him taking up the entirety of the truck’s front. He was chewing on something, like a cow chewing cud. He spat tobacco juice out the window and flashed me what I could only hope was his best attempt at a smile.

“Broke down,” I said, gesturing to the Chevy.

“Mm hmm, looks like,” the farmer nodded, wiping spittle from his chin with the back of his hand. “I can drive you into Ludwig where you can get a tow, if you want.”

I hesitated for a second, wondering if maybe I should just call Alice and have her send someone. Then I remembered that the whole point of the drive home was to forget all about my life in Austin for a few weeks. No, I wouldn’t call Alice. I’d take my chances with the fat farmer who looked like he had just swallowed a hog and was chewing on the last bite.

“That would be great, thanks,” I finally said.

“Hop on in, fella,” the man said, reaching across to open the passenger door. “This here’s your lucky day.”

* * *

Ludwig was a strange little town. It looked like something out of an old TV western; just one narrow main street, a few random shops here and there, and enough smiles going around to make anyone uneasy. Still, it made finding a tow easy, and it had only taken an hour to get my truck back to what I surmised was the only repair shop in town.

“It’s the head gasket.” The owner, and only employee, a giant of a man with the name Hank sewn on his greasy shirt, rubbed a dirty rag between his big hands and diagnosed the issue without even looking under the hood once he had the truck towed back to his shop.

“How do you know that?” I asked.

“Damn old Chevy trucks were bad about blowing the head gasket.” He raised the hood and leaned in for a closer look. He had a long screwdriver in his hand. He tapped it around the engine compartment like a drunken one-armed drummer.

I was skeptical, and I think the tinkering he was doing around the engine was mainly for my benefit. He closed the hood, spat on the ground between his boots, and stared long and hard at the truck.

“Definitely the head gasket,” he said. “This girl ain’t gonna take you anywhere like this.”

“How long is it going to take to get this girl fixed?”

“You in any kinda hurry?”

“I was hoping to be in Booth today,” I replied.

Hank chuckled, shook his head and spat again. “No, sir, this thing ain’t goin’ anywhere today,” he said. “It’s gonna take me a few days to get the gasket in. Unless you’re willing to tow it all the way to Booth.”

I cursed under my breath. My plans for relaxation had not included being stranded in the middle of nowhere for a few days.

“You might wanna grab a ride to Booth and come back for it in a few days if you don’t wanna wait,” Hank said. “Probably cost you a few hundred dollars. You don’t look like you’re made of money, though, so…”

I smiled at the impression I had given him, just a broke cowboy in an old piece of shit truck on the way home. I probably had ten-grand in cash in my pocket and a wallet full of credit cards. Money wasn’t an issue. My health was.

“If ya don’t mind me askin’, what’s a man like you doin’ goin’ to Booth anyway?” Hank asked.

The question took me by surprise. I suddenly got the feeling that I had been wrong. My broken cowboy disguise had not worked as well as I’d hoped.

I said, “Excuse me?”

Hank gestured to my jeans and boots. “That getup doesn’t look like its ever had a coat of dust on it,” he said. “And I ain’t ever known a billionaire to be drivin’ one of these old Chevy’s.”

My mouth bobbed open, which made Hank laugh so hard he started to cough. “Did you think that just because I got grease between my fingers and dust between my ears I wouldn’t know who you was, Mr. Ridder?”

I sighed, ran a hand through my hair and scratched the back of my head. So much for trying to be inconspicuous. I wouldn’t be surprised if the guy milked me for every penny I had just to get the Chevy fixed. I was probably better off ditching it here and just calling someone from the office to come drive me the rest of the way. Only, I didn’t want anyone to know where I was going, and calling Alice or Dennis meant I was admitting I couldn’t take care of myself without their help.

“Oh, I see,” Hank said, giving me the eye.

I frowned. “See what?”

“Escapin’ the city life, are we?”

I smiled. “You’re a lot smarter than you look, Hank.”

“It’s easy to play the fool when you’re stuck in the asshole of Texas,” Hank chuckled. “Makes it easier for people to ignore ya when you’re noticin’ everythin’.”

“Smart.”

“So, Booth, huh?” Hank asked. “You got family there?”

“My mother,” I replied. “Grew up there.”

Hank nodded. “Well, I’m more than willin’ to drive ya there, if you want. But if ya ask me, Ludwig’s just as good a place to run away to as Booth. Probably got more goin’ for it. Got a nice motel, good diner, cold beer.”

I raised an eyebrow, doubting that very much.

Hank chuckled. “Suit yourself,” he said. “Motel’s only a few minutes away, and no one’s gonna know you’re here.” He made a zipping gesture across his mouth and smiled.

“How do you figure? You made me.”

“I’m a bit late into the tech game, but I got my interests,” he said. “Besides, ever since Lowe shut down last year, I’ve been getting more business my way. Had to upgrade my system to keep up. Got your software set up on my old PC in the back. The Neptune 2.0, the one with all the tracking and stuff.”

“Well, good for you,” I said, smiling and nodding.

“Rest of the town’s still in the stone age, if ya ask me,” Hank said. “They wouldn’t know you from a stack of hay. I guarantee it. My guess is, every Tom, Dick, and Harry in Booth will spot you the moment you hit town. Not much to get away there, if you ask me.”

I looked around, taking in my surroundings. From where I stood, the motel looked a lot closer than just a few minutes away, and there weren’t enough people around to make me feel like I’d bump into someone else who recognized me. A part of me thought that this might not actually be a bad idea. The town seemed like a good enough place to start my vacation.

“A few days to get the gasket?” I asked Hank, looking at the Chevy and silently cursing it for breaking down on me.

“Yup,” he said. “UPS delivers once a week.”

“Alright,” I said, nodding. “I take it I won’t have trouble finding a room at the motel?”

“You might just be their only customer,” Hank laughed. “Slow time of the year.”

“Is there a busy time of the year around here?”

Hank just shrugged and flashed me a smile that was missing a few teeth.

I grabbed my duffle from the back of the truck, shook Hank’s greasy hand, and made my way to the motel.

* * *

I walked into the motel lobby and rang the bell on the desk. A large man walked out, easily towering over me, with a beard that would have made ZZ Top jealous. His smile, though, was warm, and I could see from the sparkle in his eye that he was just glad to have someone walk through the door. His nametag read Chuck, and when I was sure he didn’t recognize me, I felt my nerves ease up a bit.

“Welcome to the Ludwig Motel. What can I do you for?” Chuck asked, giving me a pristine smile that made me want to ask him who did his dental work.

“I need a room,” I said, dropping my bag by my feet and running a hand through my hair. I was sweating like a pig and killing time. I was born and raised in Texas, and still couldn’t bear the heat for too long. I just hoped the rooms had air conditioning.

“Well, you’re a lucky one,” Chuck said. “We’ve got fifteen rooms here, and thirteen of them are up for grabs.”

“Great,” I said, feeling a small prick in my chest and taking in a deep breath to ease the pain before it began. I stretched my legs and waited as he pulled out a ledger from under the counter.

Definitely not using one of your software here.

“Name?” Chuck asked, holding his pen over an empty row.

“Chance,” I said.

“Last name with that?”

“Does it matter?”

Chuck looked at me, squinted for a second and then shrugged. “I assume you’re gonna be paying with cash, then?”

I nodded as he wrote down Chance No Last Name in the register. I peeked over, noticing that only one other name was jotted down above mine, and pulled out my wallet. “Could I have a room on the ground level?”

“You can have any room you want,” Chuck smiled. “Other than mine and room ten, your pickings.”

“Good to know I have company,” I smiled.

Chuck laughed and shook his head. “Guy in room ten’s booked the room for six months. Some writer fella who never really leaves the room unless it’s time to eat or take a walk to the diner. Don’t worry, he won’t be bothering you.”

I didn’t really care. I was hoping for some peace and quiet, but actually finding it scared me a little. It was almost as if I had stepped into some Twilight Zone episode, where there were only a few people left in the world, and my only way across the country had blown a head gasket. I checked my phone, made sure I had bars, then pocketed it again. Better safe than sorry.

“How long you planning on staying, Chance?” Chuck asked.

“Couple of days, maybe three,” I replied. “Depends on when Hank can finish fixing my truck.”

“Whatcha driving?”

“1978 Chevy. Blown head gasket.”

Chuck smiled. “Oh, that’s a beaut, that one. Take care of it, it’ll take care of you.”

“Yeah, I guess it got upset that I’ve been ignoring it for a few years.”

“Trucks are a lot like women,” Chuck laughed. “Ignore them, and they’ll welcome you back alright when you come crawling. But they’ll definitely give you hell for it.”

“I had it coming, then,” I smiled.

I didn’t exactly know what it was, but for some reason, I was actually starting to feel better. The tension of the city, coupled with the frustration of the broken-down Chevy, it was all gone. Almost as if I had stepped into a completely different world, a bubble of sorts, and had left everything else behind.

I could get used to this.

Chuck helped me with my duffle bag even though I told him I could manage. He seemed to want to take me on a tour of the place, proudly pointing out different parts of the motel as he led me to my room. It was a cozy little establishment. The rooms were divided into two buildings set in a semi-circle, separated by a small hut that Chuck explained was the bar slash diner.

“Only it isn’t operational unless we have a full house. If you want a drink, Joel’s is a couple of buildings down.”

The swimming pool was at the center of it all, small but clean, fenced in. Other than an older Ford parked at the far end of the parking lot, the motel was empty.

Chuck let me know that his wife came in every morning with fresh pie, and there was always coffee brewing. If I was hungry, there was a diner, apparently next to Joel’s, where they served the “best burgers this side of Dallas”. Most of the townsfolk kept to themselves, which suited me just fine, and other than the twins who worked here in the morning, and some woman named Ashlyn who tended to the flowers that decorated every corner of the motel, I wasn’t going to be bothered much.

It amused me how much Chuck cared about my privacy, and given that I had paid in cash and refrained from giving him my last name, it wasn’t all too surprising. Guy probably thinks I’m running away from the police or something.

He opened the door to my room, and I was hit by the strong smell of Gardenias. The scent almost immediately brought me back home. I was eight again, racing around behind our house while my mother fooled around with her garden. Somewhere in the distance I could hear my father’s tractor, and I knew any minute now he’d be driving the loud monster back, hopping off it and giving my mother a long, wet kiss. Then he’d tell her to stop breaking her back over plants that did no good, and then call me over to help him in the barn.

For a second there, I completely forgot about Austin, about the company, about anything and everything, and was lost in this one solitary memory.

Chuck snapped his fingers in front of my eyes and brought me back.

“Sorry,” I whispered. “The flowers. Brought back some memories.”

“Yeah, they’re really something,” Chuck smiled. “Ashlyn Carter tends those, green thumb, that girl, really knows how to make this place pop. I was skeptical at first, it was Martha who really gave the girl a chance to show us what she can do. And you know what? I’m glad she did. Can’t imagine this place without the flowers she brings in all the time.”

“She really knows how to pick them,” I said, feeling my chest swell as I breathed in the scent of the Gardenias.

“Sure does,” Chuck laughed. “Grows them in a greenhouse behind her place. A real plant junkie, that one.”

The Gardenias were set in the center of a table that took up the space in front of the bed. Beyond it was a small flat screen, and beyond that the bathroom. The room was decorated for comfort, and the large window let in enough light to make it feel homey. But my attention was set completely on the Gardenias.

“Well, if you need anything, you know where to find me,” Chuck said. “But I guess for now you’re all set.”

I was. Looking at my temporary lodgings, feeling the sun at my back and the sweet smell of the flowers filling my sinuses, I truly and utterly was.

Chapter 6: Ashlyn

“Have you met him yet?”

I was barely out of the front office when Martha’s daughter, Britney, grabbed me by the arm and pulled me to a side. If it weren’t for her pink highlights, I wouldn’t have been able to tell her apart from her twin sister, both girls identical to the point where I wondered how they hadn’t completely abused that benefit yet.

“Met who?” I asked, laughing as I tried to balance the flowers in my hand while simultaneously not tripping over my own two feet. Britney pulled me all the way down the corridor to where it branched off behind the buildings. This was where the girls usually hid to smoke their cigarettes without Martha giving them a speech about what it meant to be a proper girl in Texas.

Heather was already there, a cigarette in her mouth and another in her hand which she dutifully gave to her sister once we appeared around the corner. She offered me one, and I quickly declined. Earl’s smoking habits had been enough to put me off the damn things anyway.

“The new guy!” Britney almost squealed. “How have you not met him yet?”

“Maybe because I just got here?”

Britney rolled her eyes and gave me her typical high school ‘ugh’ that came with every other sentence she said. Heather only giggled.

“Okay, so first thing you do is go to room seven, knock and use some excuse like, I don’t know, you have to water the plants or something.” Britney was talking very quickly, a little too excited for my taste. Who the hell was this new tenant anyway? “Then you’ll know what I’m talking about.”

“Okay, first of all, it’s great to know you think my job here is to water the flowers,” I said with a smile. “Very encouraging. Second of all, I’m not going to knock on someone’s door just to ogle at him. Sorry, a little too old for that.”

“Your loss,” Heather said between puffs. “You’re really missing out.”

Britney nodded in agreement and grabbed me by the shoulders. “I didn’t know he was in there when I was cleaning up. I walked in, and he was just walking out of the shower. I saw him in all his splendor, and I mean all his splendor.” Britney leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes. “And, oh my God!”

“How didn’t you know someone was in there?”

“That’s not the point Ashlyn,” Britney protested, stomping her leg like a five-year-old. “I have never seen a body like that up close and personal. It was like staring at the body of a Greek God!”

I smiled at that, placing my plants down at my feet and ruffling my hair. I was still a little asleep, having had tossed and turned in bed all night. It wasn’t usual for me to have trouble sleeping, and the lack of it made my head swim a bit. My intention had been to change the flowers I could, quickly, and then race back home and jump back into bed. I liked the twins, a lot, but could have done without the ‘behind the bleachers’ conversation we were having.

“Well, Greek God or not, I need to replace these flowers and get back home,” I said.

“Suit yourself,” Britney said. “More for us.”

I winked at her, picked up my pile and made my way back. The flowers were waiting.

* * *

I did run into him, sooner than I had expected.

The guest in room seven really was something out of the storybooks. Tall, brown hair, and the most incredible blue eyes that were so clear a girl could easily lose herself in them. I didn’t get to see the Greek God body the twins were talking about, but his shirt clung to him tight enough to let me know that what was underneath must have been chiseled to perfection. Besides, what I could see was good enough. Way too good enough, and when he caught me staring, I quickly turned away and felt my face flush.

I’m back in high school, I thought to myself. I’m standing by my locker, hiding, because the hottest guy in school just noticed me.

When I turned back around, I felt my heart skip a beat as I watched him make his way towards me, a wide smile on his face that blew me away. If I had had any sense, I would have just dropped what I was holding and made a run for my car. In the back of my head, I imagined the twins watching my escape and laughing at me.

But I didn’t run. Instead I just stood there, watching him approach, frozen in place like deer in the headlights. He crossed the space between us in seconds, his long legs making his movements both quick and graceful. It was only when he was a few feet away did I get a clear look at him, and to quote Britney, Oh My God!

“Hi,” he said, sticking out his hand and flashing me a smile I wished I could wake up to every morning.

“Hi.” I would have taken his hand if not for the bundle I was carrying, and I tried to maneuver my way around it but only managed to make myself look even more like a fool.

“Oh, sorry, yeah,” he said quickly, relieving me of my flowers and placing them carefully on the window sill of the room I had been working at. “Let’s try this again?”

I smiled. “Sure,” I replied, feeling electricity shoot up and down my arm when he wrapped his hand around mine.

“Chance,” he said. “And you must be Ashlyn.”

I frowned, a little confused as to how he knew my name, but at the same time holding back a giggle that threatened to break free.

“Chuck told me,” he said, noticing the confusion on my face. “The woman with the flowers, right?”

And that is how I will be remembered for the rest of my life. It’s going to be etched into my gravestone. Here lies Ashlyn Carter, the woman with the flowers.

“That’s right,” I managed to say, reluctantly letting go of his hand and sticking both of mine into my pockets. “Hope they’re not too much.”

“Oh no, to the contrary,” Chance smiled. “My mother used to have a garden of her own, and just the smell of everything here kind of brings me back.”

Did he just compare me to his mother? I wanted to slap myself.

“That’s wonderful,” I said instead. “Not a lot of people appreciate them.”

“Well, Chuck obviously does,” Chance said. “The motel’s like a giant greenhouse.”

I chuckled. “Chuck’s a sweetheart,” I replied. “My biggest client. Well, as big as they come in Ludwig.”

“You should really think about delivering outside of town,” Chance hinted. “I mean, these are actually beautiful, and with the right management tool, you could expand your business tenfold.”

“Woah, slow down, cowboy,” I chuckled and mocked Chuck’s thick Texas accent. “What are you, one of the entrepreneurs we hear about?”

Chance laughed, hesitated for a few seconds, and then nodded. “Yeah, of sorts. Listen, I’m sorry, didn’t mean to intrude on your work. I just wanted to come over and say I really enjoy the flowers, and that what you’re doing here is beautiful.”

“Thank you,” I said.

He nodded, looked at me for a beat, and then nodded again. “I guess I’ll be seeing you around.”

You most certainly will.

“Yes, I guess so,” I smiled.

I watched him walk to the front office, then turned around and let out the breath I had been holding in.

* * *

He was still in the front office when I was done putting out fresh flowers in all the rooms. I had gone through my routine a little faster than normal, most of my work done yesterday, and was just going in for a cup of coffee when I saw him sitting on the couch in the tiny lobby, flipping through a magazine. Chuck was bent over a few papers, scratching his head as he tried to make sense of the numbers he was punching into an old-timey calculator.

Chance looked up at me, flashed me a smile, and put the magazine down.

If he keeps smiling at me like that, I’ll lose it.

I smiled back, went to the coffee pot and poured myself a mug, my mind screaming at me to just ignore the coffee and go home. Another few minutes with him, and I’d probably say something stupid that would just make me look like a complete idiot.

Britney came out from the back, stopped in her tracks when she saw him, and then diverted her gaze to me and winked. I widened my eyes at her and mouthed “stop it”, earning a knowing smile from her as she walked out.

“Numbers confusing you again, Chuck?” I asked.

Chuck raised his head, a frown on his face, and looked at me as if he was trying to decide whether or not he knew who I was. He quickly shrugged, pushed the calculator away and scratched at his beard.

“Martha usually does the bill paying and such,” he said, “but she’s at her sister’s for the next two days, and I have no idea where to start.”

“Need help with those?” Chance asked. “I’m a bit of a numbers guy.”

“That’s okay,” Chuck said. “I need to get a hang of these things sooner or later. I can’t keep pushing things off onto other people just because I don’t like to do them.”

Chance stood up, crossed the room with three long strides, and brushed up next to me as he gazed down at the papers in front of Chuck. I sipped at my coffee, wondering what it would be like to just lean into him and have him wrap an arm around my shoulder.

Fifteen, Ashlyn. You’re acting like you’re fucking fifteen.

“See, there’s your problem,” Chance said, pointing at a column on one of the sheets. “You’ve got the cost of your laundry supplies listed under room rents, which is income, when they should be in the expenditures side. That’s why the numbers don’t balance.”

Chuck leaned in, shook his head in disbelief and chuckled. “Thanks, Chance,” he said. “Although I’m not sure if you should be looking at these numbers in the first place. Lord knows they’re nothing to be proud of these days.”

“Glad to be of help,” Chance said, glancing briefly at me and winking. He seemed so laid back, so relaxed. I wondered what the hell he was doing in Ludwig.

“So, business advice and numbers,” I said. “Can you do repairs, too?”

Chance laughed at that. “I’ve got some time on my hands,” he said. “Tell me what needs fixing and I’ll figure it out.”

I laughed and sat down on one of the high chairs near the coffee machine. “Why exactly do you have time on your hands?”

“What do you mean?”

“You said you’re an entrepreneur of sorts, right? Aren’t you supposed to be buried deep in numbers and graphs, choosing your next venture?”

Chance leaned against the counter and fixed me with his eyes. They’re like twin windows to an ocean view. How the hell do you look at those and not lose yourself?

“I’m on sabbatical,” he said. “City life’s a little too much these days, thought I’d take a break from it all, appreciate the great outdoors.”

“And that’s why you’re in Ludwig?” I had to laugh. “Our great outdoors ain’t that great, especially this time of year.”

“Unless you like things dry as the desert and hotter’n hell,” Chuck added.

“No, actually, I’m in Ludwig because my truck broke down,” he answered. “I was on my way to –” He hesitated, then smiled. “Never mind. Let’s just say I’m grounded for a few days until Hank can get the part to fix my truck.”

I nodded and took a sip from my coffee, wondering why he was being so vague. Then again, we were strangers, and there was nothing that said we had to share everything just because we were sitting in the same couple of square feet. Ludwig could do that to you. Everyone knew everything about everyone else, and although it was a privacy killer, it did bring the community a lot closer together. It was just second nature to want to know everything you could about the person in front of you. It was almost like welcoming in a new member of the family.

“An odd place to break down,” I said. “I mean, Ludwig isn’t really on the interstate’s way to any major city.” I winced a little inside, wishing I didn’t have that bit of curiosity that was either going to make him hate me, or at the very least avoid me for the remaining days he was here.

“Who said I was going to a major city?” Chance asked, a wide smile on his face as he crossed his arms over his chest. He was obviously enjoying the little game.

“I just assumed as much, I guess,” I said, looking at him from above the rim of my mug.

“Told you, taking a break, great outdoors, all that.”

I nodded and smiled, giving him a look that I hoped let him know that I wasn’t buying it. From what I knew, investors never really took breaks. Not unless they were sitting on a pile of cash, which would not explain why he would be driving anything that might break down on him.

“I guess I’d just expect someone to move a little bit more northwards if they were looking for the great outdoors.”

“You gotta excuse Ashlyn,” Chuck laughed as he watched our conversation go back and forth. “We’re a small town. We’re used to asking questions.”

“Not at all,” Chance said. “Truth is, I was on my way to Houston, big investment opportunity. Only it’s in a few days, so I thought I’d do a little sightseeing until then.”

“Sabbatical,” I nodded. “Is that what normal folks would call a little time off?”

“It is,” he said with a smile itching at the corner of his lips. He stared at me, his eyes squinting just a little, and I knew he was trying to read me. He was definitely interesting, along with the strong jawline and piercing blue eyes. For reasons other than the fact that I was a Ludwig native, I wanted to know everything there was to know about him.

Attracted to the strange ones, as always, eh Ahslyn?

I pushed the little voice to the back of my head where it wouldn’t bother me anymore. I finished my coffee, grabbed the rest of my stuff and handed Chuck the master key I’d used to replace the flowers in all the rooms, even though most of them would be vacant the entire week.

“I guess I’ll be seeing you around, Mr. Sabbatical,” I said with a smile. “Just let me know if you’re ever looking for a tour guide.”

“I’ll do that,” Chance replied, drawing out the words as if he was teasing me with them.

I gave him one last look, then turned and walked out the office, blushing like a silly school when I realized that my brief chat with the man called Chance had left me as wet as the Rio Grande in spring.

I would definitely be seeing him again.

Chapter 7: Chance

Ashlyn… Ashlyn…

I couldn’t get the beautiful girl with the warm smile out of my head. Which was strange for a guy like me. Usually it didn’t matter who they were, I was always able to forget about a girl the minute they were out of my line of sight. And under no circumstances did I remember their fucking name. I was the poster boy for “Fuck ‘em and forget ‘em”… I’d fucked models and actresses and socialites… so why was this girl pushing out all other thoughts from my mind and making my cock twitch like a live wire?

The whole thing was just… surprising; in a good way.

The minute I saw her, her name popped up in the front of my head, quickly brought back from some obscure box in the recesses of my mind after Chuck had told me about her. I blamed it on the flowers; those damn things had made the room smell like heaven all night, and it must have somehow kept the memory of who she was lingering in my head. Which, again, was fucking strange.

And despite all that, I couldn’t get her out of my mind. She wasn’t the typical girl I went after. Definitely not the model cut, but curvy enough to make me curious, with breasts that were absolutely perfect and hips that a man could dig his fingers into. Blonde and blue-eyed, seemed like your typical Texas small-town girl. Only problem was, this place really was a small town, and any attempt at doing something would probably spread like wildfire around here. Besides, I was stranded for the next two days anyway until Hank was done bringing the old truck back to life. I didn’t need people giving me dirty looks wherever I went. And gossip led to attention and attention led to reporters and that led to the fucking world poking its nose in my business, as usual.

And let’s not forget the fact that you’re here to relax, not chase pussy.

That, too.

I lay back on my bed and covered my eyes with my arm, breathing in the sweet smell of the flowers that had been refreshed earlier by my dream girl. Dammit, I wasn’t going to be able to get her off my mind if I stuck around here. I needed a distraction; anything that would make me forget about Ashlyn, so I could go back to thinking about nothing at all, other than getting my ass to Booth and healing my worn-out body so I could get back to work.

I pulled on my boots, grabbed my wallet and made sure I had enough cash for a meal before I head out. Enough cash. Hilarious. I had a wad of cash in my bag that would choke a horse. I peeled off five twenties and stuck them in my pocket. I almost ran right into one of the cleaning girls, the one with pink highlights and big tits, on my way out the door.

“Sorry, didn’t see you there,” I said.

“That’s okay,” she smiled and swept her big eyes up and down my body before settling on the bulge in my jeans. She licked her lips. Now this one seemed right up my alley, although she couldn’t be a day over seventeen, and I was pretty sure her daddy, as friendly as he was, had a shotgun behind the front desk loaded for guys like me.

You’re here to relax, not get your brains fucked out and your balls shot off. Remember that!

“You can bump into me any time,” the girl said, and I felt a slight twinge in my crotch. Dammit, my cock had a mind of its own. The damn thing was like a heat-seeking missile. It could detect a hot pussy from a mile away.

I forced the monster to get back in its cage. I could already see the headlines: Billionaire Tech Mogul Jailed for Statutory Rape. Or Local Motel Owner Acquitted of Justifiable Homicide.

I gave her a quick smile and hurried along before I involuntarily made my intentions clear, and raced to the front office where Chuck was still huddled over his paper work. He looked up at me, flashed one of his tired smiles, then turned back to what he was doing.

“Listen,” I said, interrupting him. “I thought I’d take your advice on that diner. Any suggestions other than the burger?”

Chuck looked toward the ceiling and scratched his bearded chin. “Their menu’s pretty good, if you ask me, but ever since the doc said my arteries were clogging up, Martha’s got me on a strict diet. Not sure what things taste like over there now. But you can’t go wrong with the burgers. Best burgers in town.” He chuckled. “Hell, they’re the only burgers in town.”

“Alright,” I said, rubbing my hands together. “A burger it is.”

He straightened his back and tossed the pencil to the counter. “Need me to walk you over? I can take a break from trying to figure out these damn numbers.”

I glanced over my shoulder at the window. “Can I miss it?”

Chuck shook his head and chuckled. “Town’s too small to miss anything, really. Just follow your nose.”

“Then you keep chugging at those numbers,” I smiled back. “I’ll find my way around.”

The town really was small. The main street was barely wide enough for two cars, and was probably a congestion hazard if anyone parked on one side. With the scant number of people moving about, I doubted that happened much anyway. The stores stood in rows next to each other, small enough to pass for kiosks. There was hardly more than two people in each one, and as I walked down the street, heads turned to watch the new guy in town.

A guy could really escape here.

Which was why Chuck’s reaction to my not wanting to tell him a last name, or pay with cash, didn’t seem very surprising. I wondered how many people had lodged up in his motel for weeks on end just to get away from it all, without a worry in the world that anyone would find them. Ludwig certainly had its small-town charm, and it probably didn’t see too many strangers. Especially one who looked like me.

It explained why everyone was staring a bit too hard.

I found the diner easily, pushed back a bit from the main street to allow for a parking space where two trucks sat idly side by side. The bar beside it, Joel’s, had music coming out the open door, and I wondered how many people were actually inside this time of the day. Actually, the fact that any business was open surprised me. The population was probably a little shy of two or three hundred people, if that. Booth was a small town. Ludwig was just a dot on a map that didn’t even merit a stop light on Main Street.

I walked into the diner, the small chime above the door bringing everyone’s attention to me. Other than the girl behind the bar and two guests, each occupying his own booth, the place was empty. From inside the kitchen, the soft sound of sizzling escaped through the small window, and the aroma of something savory being deep fried wafted through the diner.

I nodded at the other guests when they didn’t stop gazing at me, and pulled up on one of the stools directly in front of the girl behind the counter. She smiled at me, all fake cheers that hid layers of lost sleep, and passed me the menu while smacking her gum.

“Chuck says you guys make the best burgers in town,” I said, pushing the menu back.

The girl nodded. “Hell mister, we make the only burgers in town. Not much to compare with.”

I smiled. “Then give me your best. And an order of those onion rings.”

She nodded, called out my order through the window to the kitchen, and then grabbed a pot of coffee and placed a cup in front of me.

“New in town?” she asked. The way she eyed me made me feel like I was the newest animal on display in the local zoo.

“How could you tell?” I asked, giving her a wry grin.

“Staying at Chuck’s, huh?”

“Only motel in town,” I replied. “Great guy.”

“Here on business or pleasure?”

“A little of both.”

“Family here?”

I took a sip from my coffee. “You folks don’t get a lot of tourists, do you?”

She smiled at me, blew a bubble with her gum and let it pop. “I’ll get you that burger.”

“Thanks.”

The chimes rang again, and I turned around just as Ashlyn walked in. She stopped in her tracks when she saw me, hesitated for a bit, then smiled awkwardly.

So much for getting her out of your head.

“When I said I’d be seeing you around, didn’t expect to see you so soon,” I said as she approached.

“There aren’t that many places where you can go,” she said. “It’s a small town.”

“I’ve been hearing that a lot,” I smiled. “You guys running it as your tagline or something? Welcome to Ludwig, We’re a small town. Bump into you later.”

“That’s city talk for sarcasm, right?”

I laughed. Touché. This girl’s fun.

“Mind if I join you?” she asked, already climbing into the seat next to me.

“Please, I could use the company,” I said. “Looks like a pretty hard place to make friends.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Everyone keeps looking at me like I’m a walking corpse, or something.”

She laughed. “It’s because you’re a stranger. We’re unusually suspicious.”

“Is that why everyone asks so many questions?”

“Precisely.” She winked at me, then during to the waitress. “Hey, Susan, how’s your mother?”

Susan smacked her gum and shrugged. “A little too alive for my liking.” Ashlyn laughed. “Don’t tell her I said that,” Susan added with a wink.

“My lips are sealed.”

I watched them go back and forth a bit, the whole ordeal reminding me a lot of the times when Ridder Technology was still a tiny company with only a handful of people working side by side, day in and day out. Things had been a lot more personal back then, a lot closer to the heart, like we were a small family that cared about each other and where the company was going and how its success would benefit us all, as a group. I remembered how I had known every single person toiling away by my side, their families, their problems, their happy moments. There were barbecue invites, beer parties when we landed a client, and sleepless nights when one of the guys’ wife was giving birth.

Now I couldn’t even remember the name of the security guard I drove past on my way in and out of the building every day. I had forgotten how warm the whole thing had once felt, in comparison to the cold steel and mirrored glass building that now represented my entire fortune. I couldn’t even remember the last time I had met with the new hires and told them success stories of Ridder Technology, as used to be customary.

The whole thing had expanded way too fast, and beyond my control. I guess I should have been just glad that I was able to keep it all together. Thank God for Dennis.

“So, how are you gonna poison my new friend, here,” Ashlyn said, cutting through my thoughts.

“He ordered the burger,” Susan said. “Same for you?”

Ashlyn looked at me and squinted, grinning. “Let me guess, Chuck recommended the burger?”

I laughed. “He said it was the best in town.”

“Well, he wasn’t wrong,” Ashlyn replied. “One for me, too, then, Susan. With fries.”

Susan yelled the order through the window just like last time, then walked out from behind the bar to tend to one of the other guests. I took a sip from my coffee, pulled out a cigarette. I held it nervously between my fingers without lighting it. It was my way of going cold turkey.

“Nasty habit,” Ashlyn said.

I looked at her, then at the cigarette, and then shrugged. “I kinda like it.”

“What’s there to like?” she asked. “Smells horrible, tastes even worse. You ever kiss a smoker? Like sticking your lips to an ashtray. Nasty, nasty, nasty.”

Was she saying that she’d never kiss me if I smoked? Well, now there was an incentive if I ever needed one.

She kept ranting. “Not to mention it dulls your taste buds completely. How are you going to enjoy the best burger in town after you’ve had one of those?”

“You can’t smoke in here,” Susan said, returning with an empty coffee pot. “State health code. Take it outside or put it away.”

“I’ll put it away,” I said with a smile as they both gave me the eye. “I’ll have it for dessert.”

“Those things will kill you,” Ashlyn added, shaking her head. “I hope you’re not stinking up the room with those dang things. The flowers don’t really do much with poison in the air.”

“Your flowers are just fine, okay?” I laughed. “They smell amazing, you have my word.”

“So you say,” she said. “You just keep puffing those and I’ll forget to replace the flowers tomorrow.”

I smiled and took another sip of my coffee, already smelling the sweet aroma of fried onion rings coming from the kitchen. “So, you do this every day?”

Ashlyn reached over the bar, grabbed her own cup and filled it from the fresh pot Susan had set on the warmer on the counter. “What? The flowers?”

“Yeah.”

“Pretty much,” she said, taking a sip and ruffling her hair out of her eyes. The blonde locks fell around her face beautifully, making her eyes pop. “Chuck pays for them in bulk, as long as I keep them fresh every morning. I know he does it just to support me. He and my daddy were best friends. Not a lot of call for fresh flowers in Ludwig.”

“He told me you grow them all.”

“I do,” she nodded, licking her lips. I watched her pink tongue dart in and out. “I built a greenhouse behind my place. Grow them all there.”

“You built it?”

Ashlyn laughed. “Well, paid to get built.”

“Ah, I thought you were an odd looking handy man,” I laughed.

She held up here hands and wiggled her fingers at me. There was an acre of dirt under her chipped fingernails. “Are you saying I can’t get my hands dirty?”

“Oh no, just that you seem to be a girl of many talents,” I said with a grin. “So, how big is your greenhouse? How hot do you keep it?” I wondered if she’d get the hidden meaning of my words.

“It’s big enough,” she replied with a coy smile. “And pretty hot.”

“Maybe you should expand your territory. Maybe deliver out of town to get more customers.”

“More business advice, Mr. Sabbatical?” she asked, leaning on her chin on her hand. “I thought you were taking a break.”

I can really get to like this girl.

“Just saying,” I shrugged. “I have a hard time turning off my brain sometimes.” Even though the blood was rushing to another part of my body as I gazed into her eyes.

“I have that same problem sometimes,” she said, chuckling. “You sound like you want to turn my greenhouse into a bona fide flower factory.”

I took a sip of coffee and let my shoulders go up and down. “I think a small business can become a big business with the right planning and guidance. Just how big is this greenhouse of yours?”

She looked at me for a beat, biting her lower lip as her eyes searched mine. “How about this, since you’re so eager with the advice? We finish our meal, and I’ll take you to it to see for yourself. I’ll even bring you back to the motel, just because I’m nice.”

“Good old Ludwig charm?” I asked.

She winked at me. “You have no idea.”

* * *

Ashly grossly underplayed the size of her little greenhouse.

We finished our meal (the burger wasn’t the best I’d ever had, but it was edible) and Ashlyn drove us to her house in an old truck that made mine seem brand new. There had been a few sounds under the hood I had never heard before, and the damn thing shook and rattled in a way that made me think it was going to explode at any minute.

Spending time alone with Ashlyn, though, was worth the risk.

Ashlyn lived in a large Victorian that fit in perfectly with the surrounding area. I could almost imagine a small family living there, going about their day, with acres of farmland behind it. It was picturesque, and I knew almost at once that the skies would be clear as a bell during the night, with stars scattered across it in constellations you could almost connect with your fingers.

The greenhouse was almost as big as the main house, set up a dozen yards away and to the back, connected with all sorts of pumps, pipes and wires. It would have looked like a house out of a Frankenstein movie if it weren’t for the luscious green heaven inside.

Ashlyn let us in through the locked door, and I was instantly cradled in the mix of scents emitted from all the plants around me. Flowers bloomed everywhere, shrubs folded in over each other, and in some areas, vines had crawled all the way to the ceiling and had formed a carpet of colored flowers between its green. It felt like I had stepped out of Texas and into the woodlands of New England. The whole thing took my breath away.

“Jesus,” I whispered.

“Not bad, huh?” Ashlyn said from behind me.

I turned just as she was adjusting something in one of the pots, her golden hair falling across her face like a carpet. When she turned to look at me, I felt my heart skip a beat.

Fuck, man, you’re in trouble.

I whistled and turned my attention back to the wondrous world around me. “Not bad is an understatement,” I said.

She smiled at that and looked around her. “Took a lot of work, too.”

“I bet,” I breathed. “How much did this whole thing cost?”

“Well, let’s just say I need to deliver flowers to Chuck every day if I want to eat,” Ashlyn grinned.

“My delivery idea doesn’t sound all that bad right now, does it?”

Ashlyn laughed and shook her head. She walked past me, beckoning me to follow her. She led me down rows of plants and flowers, stopping momentarily at some to let me know what they were, watching me for a reaction. I must have been a disappointment, though, because I had no fucking clue what the half of it all was. Still, it didn’t faze me from admiring the greenhouse as a whole. It was like she had created her own little rainforest here.

“The flowers are further down at the back,” she said. “But I don’t think we need to go all the way there. I mean, you see most of them at the motel anyway.”

“Ashlyn, I am seriously impressed,” I said. “I have never seen anything like this.”

She frowned. “I’d expect you moved around the country a lot, surely this isn’t that great.”

“Are you kidding?” I asked. “Just the sheer devotion to it is impressive. Something like this must take a lot of time and effort. I can never remember to water the plants in my place. If it weren’t for Pauline, they’d all be dead.”

“Pauline?”

Watch yourself, I thought, cringing that I had so casually mentioned my maid in a conversation when I should have been trying to remain inconspicuous.

“My sister,” I lied, wondering if there would ever come a time when I would have to explain why I didn’t have any pictures of my imaginary sister.

Ashlyn nodded. “Well, tell Pauline that I appreciate her efforts,” she said. “I hate it when someone buys a plant and can’t take care of it.”

“It’s not a pet,” I said.

Ashlyn looked at me with wide eyes and slapped a hand against her chest in mock shock. “How could you, Mr. Sabbatical?” she gasped, giggling just a second after, unable to keep up with the façade. “In all honesty, though, if you actually thought of them as pets, you’d probably act differently around them. They’re alive, too, you know?”

“If it can’t play catch or purr when I scratch it, then it’s not a pet,” I chuckled.

“Okay, you know what? Get out of my greenhouse,” she laughed, pushing me playfully back to the large double glass doors.

“Hey!”

“If they could react to what you just said, we’d both be dead right now,” Ashlyn said. “That’s enough disgrace for one day.”

“Alright, alright,” I laughed along with her and let her push me back into the bright light of the afternoon.

She invited me for a glass of iced tea, and we spent most of the afternoon on her porch, laughing and drinking and talking about nothing at all. It was probably the best couple of hours I had ever had in my life, and when the sun began to set, we both agreed that it was high time I get back to the motel.

“Don’t want Chuck to worry,” I joked.

She drove me back, the ride mostly silent except for a few instances when she would ask me a question I’d reply vaguely to. When she dropped me off, she went to the back of her truck and pulled a pot out from under the tarp, handing it to me.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“Consider it a little welcoming gesture,” she said. “You know, so you can remember Ludwig when you go back to your big city.”

“What is it?”

“Echinomastus warnockii,” she replied with a grin.

“Echino what the fuck?”

Ashlyn laughed. “A Warnock’s pineapple cactus.”

I grimaced. “Okay. Thanks, I guess.”

Ashlyn laughed again and slapped my arm. “The flower, when it blooms, is gorgeous. And it’s a cactus, so you won’t kill it if you forget to water it for a few days.”

“Now this I can work with.”

“Right,” Ashlyn smiled, walking back to the driver’s side and climbing in. “Good night, Sabbatical. See you in the morning.”

I waved as her truck pulled away, clinking and clunking as it disappeared down the road.

Chapter 8: Ashlyn

The minute I got home, I made straight for the greenhouse. I needed to keep myself busy, to get my mind off of Chance. It had been so long since the last time I had had a proper conversation with someone, and although the man was literally a stranger, talking to him almost felt like I had been talking with an age-old friend.

I went straight for the flowers in the back, grabbing my chart and quickly marking off with flowers I would be taking to the motel tomorrow. My mind kept wandering back to Chance, a part of me wondering if maybe I should change the lilies in his room for something a little more colorful. Maybe a stronger scent if he was going to keep smoking in there.

Which shouldn’t be something you’re thinking about.

Right, of course. I shook my head and tried to concentrate on the task at hand, and after a few minutes, I realized I had screwed up the order completely. I sighed in frustration, ripped the checklist off my pad, and started over again. I needed to keep my head on straight. There was no logical reason for me to be thinking about the guy, especially since I knew he’d be gone within a couple of days.

Maybe convince Hank to go extra slow on the repairs?

Stupid. Very stupid. I crumbled up the second checklist after I had realized I’d written in two dozen flowers of a kind I did not even have yet. This was getting ridiculous. Sure, he was hot. Fucking hot, for that matter. The eyes, the jawline, the way he looked at me when I talked, hanging on my every word. And the fact that his eyes hadn’t wandered south was definitely a plus.

And my God, an actual mind to go with it. I had come across my fair share of handsome men who had nothing up top other than a burning light bulb. But Chance was different. Intellectual. Knew his books, his history, almost as if he had stepped out of a commercial for the perfect Saturday night date. And a sense of humor, too. Sure, a bit on the sarcastic side, but definitely funny enough to keep me smiling all afternoon.

I had missed that. It had been so long, way too long, in fact, and the whole day had felt like something out of a dream. Like I had somehow fallen asleep at the motel and had dreamt through everything that had happened. I would wake up any minute now, realize that nothing had been real, and that the stranger in room number seven was just your regular douche who couldn’t stop staring at my breasts or ass.

Only, that wasn’t going to happen, was it? I wasn’t going to wake up. I wasn’t dreaming.

I tossed the clipboard to a side, leaned in on the table of pots and sighed. I blew a strand of hair out of my face and ran my hand across my brow, massaging my neck softly. If I wasn’t going to get any work done, I might as well call it a night. A good book and the comfort of my bed. That’s what I needed.

And less thinking about Chance, dammit.

Chance Sabbatical. I realized I had never asked him for his last name.

“What’s your story, Mr. Sabbatical?” I asked myself as I made my way into the house, kicked off my shoes and rummaged through the kitchen for anything to snack on. There was still a little iced tea left, and I poured myself a glass before heading upstairs with my book.

I undressed slowly, my eyes closed and my mind striking up images of Chance’s hands pulling off my clothes. I felt a slight shiver race through me at just the thought of it, and quickly brushed the image away. I crawled into bed, turned on the night light and began to read Bridges of Madison County.

The farmer’s wife had just decided to sleep with the traveling photographer… The words on the page sent my thoughts swirling back to Chance.

This is ridiculous.

But it was hard to shake the thought of Chance away.

I turned in bed, pulling the covers tighter around me and closing my eyes, trying to concentrate on nothing else but the sound of my own breathing.

He’s here for only a few days. Won’t hurt, would it?

I had no idea, but there was not a single part of me that was willing to find out. My time with Earl had turned me off all men, and even the thought of dating someone, or eventually sleeping with someone, made me shudder. Earl had not just been a terrible husband, but an even worse lover. It was all about him, all the time, and I couldn’t count the number of times I waited until he was asleep so I could finish off what he hadn’t. It was like sleeping with a wooden board that happened to have an extension slamming inside me.

I had a feeling, though, that would be quite different with Chance. With that last thought in my head, I slowly fell asleep.

* * *

I woke up to the sound of someone repeatedly slamming on my front door. The sheer aggressiveness of it made me jump out of bed, quickly reaching for a shirt and shorts as I silently hoped it wasn’t someone coming to give me bad news. My heart thumped in my chest, and my mind immediately went to Chuck and Martha. Had something happened at the motel?

It was only when I heard Earl shouting from outside did the worry ease.

But only a little.

What the hell is he doing here?

I made my way down the stairs, and stopped halfway down, suddenly aware that an angry Earl never meant anything good. I thought about calling the Sheriff, then remembered that nothing would happen in that department. The least the man would do was drive over and tell Earl to go home. The restraining order meant nothing when pitched against Greene money.

Still, it’s better than nothing.

I tiptoed the rest of the way down, then made for the telephone. Earl continued to hammer at the door. “Open this fucking door, Ashlyn!” he yelled. “Open up or God help me I’ll break it down!”

The phone rang a few times before the deputy picked it up. I quickly told him what was going on, my eyes glued on the front door as Earl began throwing his weight against it.

“Hold tight, Ashlyn, I’ll send someone over right now,” the deputy was saying just as the door flew open and slammed against the wall so hard, the glass broke.

Earl was red in the face, nostrils flared, eyes wide and wild. It took him a few seconds to register that I was only standing a couple of feet away from him, then he came for me.

“You fucking whore!” he yelled. “Who was that guy, huh? Who the fuck were you toting around town?”

Earl grabbed me by the arm, and I forcefully pulled away from him, pushing him back angrily.

“Get the fuck out!” I screamed. “I’m going to put your sorry ass behind bars for this, you son of a bitch!”

Earl tried to grab me again, but I slipped away, running into the living room to put some space between us. I only needed to buy time. The sheriff would be here in five minutes, maybe less, and I had a feeling that with Earl actually inside my house, there wouldn’t be any excuses for not throwing him in a cell.

Earl lunged for me, his fingers wrapping tight around my elbow and pulling me to him. His breath reeked of alcohol and cigarettes, and I wanted to puke from the stench.

“Who is he?” Earl spat. “What, you think you can just walk around with some guy and I wouldn’t know? You think you could cuckold me like that, you fucking bitch?”

“Let go of me!” I screamed, kicking at him, but that only made him angrier.

“How do you think it makes me look, huh?” His voice boomed through the small space. “What do you think people are going to say about me? That I can’t keep my woman in check?”

“I’m not your woman, you fucking asshole!”

“You’ll always be my goddamn woman!” His hand came around quick and hard, my cheek instantly flaring up with the slap. The force of it sent me tumbling over, and I fell to the floor with a gasp. He grabbed my hair, pulled me up, and when I tried to punch him, he slapped me again.

“You’re fucking crazy!” I screamed at him, my mind racing, my head spinning.

This is good. He’s digging his own grave.

But at what cost? My cheek throbbed, and I could feel blood in my mouth from where I must have bitten my lip. There was a slight pain in the back of my head from where he had pulled me by the hair, and my arm was already starting to bruise.

And he wasn’t letting up.

Earl grabbed me by the waist and hurled me onto the couch. Before I could even register what was happening, the weight of him crushed down on me, his mouth inches from my face, the stench of his breath filling my nostrils and making me gag.

“What is it, huh?” he asked, and I could feel something hard press against my thigh. Is he fucking serious?

“Get off!” I tried to push him away, but he pinned my hands down over my head, adjusting himself so that I couldn’t knee him where it hurt.

“You missed the feel of cock inside you?” he hissed. “Is that it, you little whore? Is that what you need? A nice hard cock to make you feel all better?”

I wrestled against his grip, but he was too strong, and the fact that he was drunk only made this worse. There would be no reasoning with him, no self-control of any kind. Right now I was dealing with the raw crap that was my ex-husband.

“I can give you that, you know?” He licked my cheek, and I squirmed against him. “I can make you scream again, just like old times.”

“You never made me scream, you fuck!”

He slapped me again, this time so hard I felt I would black out completely. The only thing that kept me conscious was the sound of ripping fabric as cold air hit my naked breasts, and hands tugging at my shorts, trying to pull them off.

The old me, the meek little girl afraid of her shadow, would have just gritted my teeth and let him have his way. But not now, not this me. I was never going to be abused by this cocksucker ever again without a fucking fight!

I kicked out, fast and hard, not caring where I was kicking or what I would hit. Earl’s scream of pain was enough to let me know that I had definitely hit the right spot, though.

He tumbled off me, both his hands grabbing his crotch, and rolled away, calling me a dumb bitch all the while. I pushed away from him, wishing that somehow the couch would just swallow me whole and keep me safe until the police arrived. The siren blaring in the distance seemed to still be too far away.

I looked down at my shirt, torn down the middle, and the shorts that were now almost around my knees. He was going to rape me!

A burst of anger shot through me. I pulled my shorts up as I pushed off the couch. “You fucking asshole!” I screamed and kicked him hard in the ribs. “You fucking son of a bitch!”

I don’t know how long I kicked him, but it couldn’t have been more than a few seconds, because before I was fully satisfied, arms wrapped around me and pulled me away. I kicked and fought against my captor, screaming at the top of my lungs to be let go. I wanted to kill Earl. I wanted to kick at that smug face until nothing was left but a bleeding mask with the shape of my foot in it.

“Calm down, Ashlyn, we got this!” the deputy grunted in my ear, struggling to keep me away from Earl, who was curled into a ball on the floor with blood coming from his nose.

I didn’t calm down. Not by a long shot. The minute I was put down on my feet, I made for Earl again, screaming with renewed rage. Hands pulled me back and held me tight, and I watched in frustration as a second deputy knelt down and checked on the groaning mess that was my ex-husband.

“It’s over, Ashlyn, we’re here,” the deputy whispered as he fought to keep me under control. “We’re here. He isn’t going to hurt you.”

When the second officer brought Earl’s arms around his back and cuffed him, I finally calmed down and broke into tears.

Chapter 9: Chance

“She’s still not here.”

I snapped my head around just as Chuck handed me a mug of coffee and a plate of pie. “Thanks,” I said. “Who’s not here?”

Chuck smiled knowingly and shook his head at me.

It couldn’t have been more obvious, come to think of it. I had woken up early, knowing Ashlyn usually made her rounds at around ten, and had been waiting in the office patiently for her arrival.

I’d had a blast the other day, and was actually hoping to invite her to breakfast, maybe convince her to show me a little bit more of the country side. The truth was, I couldn’t care less about Ludwig, and sightseeing was probably going to take me twenty minutes, tops. I could probably be through the entire town and back at the motel before she was even done replacing the flowers. It was the company that I craved. I wanted to be with Ashlyn in every conceivable way.

I looked at my watch, the cheap Timex my mom had given me for high school graduation, then back out at the road leading up to the motel, slowly sipping on my coffee. It felt strange to be anticipating someone’s arrival this much. The last person I had looked forward to meeting was the CEO of a small company we had purchased a few years back, and the only reason then was because she was hot as hell. We eventually came to an agreement, and she came screaming my name.

But this was different. I wasn’t even thinking of Ashlyn that way, which struck me as odd. All I wanted to do was have a cup of coffee and talk, which sounded pretty lame in my head, but didn’t change my attitude towards it. If Alice could see me now. She would probably ask me where I had left my balls.

“Isn’t she usually on time?” I asked Chuck, no longer trying to hide my anxiety.

Chuck laughed. “She doesn’t really keep any specific time,” he said. “She should be here by now, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she decided to skip a day. Sometimes you just wake up and don’t really feel like doing anything.”

That didn’t sound like Ashlyn, though. Yesterday she had been full of life, ready to take on anyone and everything. It didn’t seem like her. Granted, I didn’t really know much about her, and who was to say that she hadn’t decided to kick back and relax for a day. Still, it felt odd.

“If it’ll make you feel any better, I could give her a call,” Chuck offered.

“That’s okay,” I said, although I did like the idea.

“No, you’re right,” Chuck said, picking up his phone and sliding his finger across the screen. “Martha would have called her by now. No hurt in checking up.”

I stood up, downed the rest of my coffee and stepped outside to light a cigarette, but stopped myself before putting fire to the tip. The only other tenant in the motel had made an appearance today, sitting by the pool, hurriedly scribbling something in a pad on his lap. I toyed with the idea of going for a swim to kill the time, or at least build an appetite before I passed by the diner again.

“Hey,” Chuck stuck his head out the door. “No answer. I say she’s probably still sleeping.”

I tried to act nonchalant, but I had started to worry just a little. I had no idea why, but it was there. Are you falling for this girl?

“I think I’ll check on Hank,” I said. “See how far he’s come with the truck.”

“In a hurry to get out of here already?” Chuck smiled.

“No, not at all,” I chuckled. “But I do have to keep moving if I want to make that meeting in Houston.”

Chuck only nodded and disappeared back into the office. I stuck the unlit cigarette back into the pack and made my way to Hank’s.

* * *

“Has it been two days already?” Hank asked when I stepped into the small garage. He had the hood of the Chevy up, but the real work seemed to be going into an old Ford Fairlane parked to one side. Tools littered the floor around it, and the engine hung dangerously above the hood, balanced on chains that seemed to groan in protest.

“Just checking up on the old girl,” I said.

Hank wiped his hands on his overalls and made his way to a desktop in the corner. His fingers flew across the keyboard at an impressive pace, and windows popped up and closed like a flash on the screen.

“Should be here in the morning,” Hank said, squinting as he read his invoice. “Like I said, UPS comes once a week. I could probably take my truck and pick it up if you’re in a hurry.”

“No hurry,” I said. “That’s fine.”

“Enjoying your stay so far?”

Hank slumped down in the chair in front of his computer and used his grease rag to wipe the sweat from his brow. Although the weather was warm outside, the garage itself felt like a furnace. I could already feel beads of sweat running down the line of my back.

“So far,” I smiled, when a sudden thought struck me. “That truck of yours, do you need it over the next few hours?”

“Thinking of going on a road trip, Mr. Ridder?”

I shook my head. “Want to check on a friend,” I said. “She hasn’t shown up today, and I’m a bit worried.”

Hank squinted at me for a few seconds, then nodded and tossed me a set of keys. “She gives a nasty kick when you start her up, so be careful,” he said.

“Thanks, Hank.”

“No problem,” he said. “Glad you’ve made friends so quickly.”

I waved and walked out the garage.

* * *

I drove the way to Ashlyn’s from memory alone, although I knew that if I stopped to ask for directions, I’d be pointed the right way. I didn’t need to do that, though. As soon as I was off the main road and had managed to find the dirt road with the red marker, it was a straight drive all the way up to her house.

Her truck was parked by the side of the house, the tarp drawn and the back empty. I pulled up beside it, peering through the windshield at the greenhouse in hopes of seeing her moving about inside. The plants made it impossible for me to make anything out, but either way, the door was closed with the padlock still hanging from outside.

Maybe Chuck’s right. She could still be asleep.

“Then there’s no harm in making sure, is there?” I asked myself as I climbed out of the truck and slammed the door behind me, hoping that the sound would announce my arrival before I knocked on the front door.

I had barely made it up the front porch when she stepped out, the screen door swinging closed behind her. She had her arms crossed over her chest, and her hair fell across half her face. She looked gorgeous, despite the fact that her smile seemed a little forced and her eyes didn’t shine as much as they had the other day.

You’re overstepping. You fucking idiot, maybe she didn’t want to see you today. Why are you acting like a love struck, high school nerd?

“Hey,” I greeted, stopping at the bottom of the porch steps.

“Morning, Sabbatical,” she joked, although I could see it wasn’t genuine. She was being nice, and I felt like a fool.

Turn around, go back to the motel, and remember that women chase you, not the other way around.

I ignored the voice in my head. I didn’t know what it was. Maybe it was because I had enjoyed her company. Maybe it was because I needed a friend who wasn’t humoring me because I was rich. Whatever it was, I felt like I would have chased her to the ends of Texas if I had to.

Which pissed me off. Just a little.

“Afternoon, actually,” I said. “Missed you at the motel this morning. Thought I’d check up on you.”

She smiled, genuinely this time. “What did you do, walk here?”

“Hank lent me his truck.”

Her eyes widened. “Hank? Really?” She shook her head. “He must really like you.”

“I guess so,” I said. “Looks like you’re taking a little sabbatical of your own.”

She shrugged. “Didn’t feel like work this morning.”

“Do you feel like coffee, then?” I asked. “My treat.”

She gazed at me, rocking slightly on her feet and biting her lip. The silence lasted long enough to make things awkward.

“Ashlyn?”

I caught the tear that ran down her cheek before she could wipe it away, and I was up the stairs in two strides, holding her by the arms. “What’s wrong?”

She looked away from me, her lower lip shaking slightly as she bit down hard and tried to maintain her composure. I tried to get her to look at me, and that’s when I saw the bruise on her cheek. I frowned, pushing her hair back, only now realizing that the locks hadn’t fallen across her face like that by mistake.

She pulled away from me quickly, readjusting the hair to cover her bruise.

“Is that what I think it is?” I asked.

“It’s nothing.”

I couldn’t fathom how she could have gotten it. It looked like the result of a nasty beating, only I had been with her for most of yesterday, and I couldn’t imagine when someone could have done that to her.

“Did someone hit you?” I asked.

“It’s nothing, Chance, seriously,” she said, stepping back from me. “I appreciate you coming here to check up on me, and tell Chuck I’m sorry I missed his call. I’ll call him back later. But right now, I’m just really tired. Can we do coffee another day?”

“Ashlyn, what’s going on?”

“Chance, please,” she said, tears welling in her eyes and falling down her cheeks faster than she could wipe them away. “I just want to be alone.”

“Absolutely not,” I said, shaking my head and following her retreat. “I can’t just leave you like this.”

“Yes, you can!” she yelled, and I stopped cold. She looked at me with a mix of sorrow and anger, like I had somehow embarrassed her or something. “You don’t even know me. You don’t owe me anything. Just go. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She was crying freely now, and I had no idea what to do other than what my instincts were telling me to. I closed the distance between us, grabbed her by her arms and pulled her in, wrapping my arms around her tight.

She resisted, for the briefest of moments, then her body went limp and her shoulders shook with her sobs. Her cries came in short gasps and whimpers, and I pressed her tighter against me, burying my face in her hair as I tried to calm her.

“Shhh,” I cooed. “It’s going to be alright. Whatever it is, it’s going to be alright. I’m right here.”

I had no idea just how convincing I sounded, but what I did know for sure was that my blood was boiling. I was skeptical at first, but her reaction told me everything I needed to know. In the hours between last night and now, someone had obviously come here and decided to use her for punching practice. The only question was who.

Her sobbing had eased, and she softly pushed away from me, sniffing as she wiped her tears and turned away from me. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Not exactly the way I wanted you to see me today.”

“Ashlyn –”

“Chance, it’s alright. Thank you, really, but this isn’t something you can help with,” she said. “Actually, I wouldn’t feel comfortable bringing you into the middle of it at all. Let’s just leave it at that, okay?”

I took a deep breath and let it out in a long exhale. “How about this?” I started. “You invite me in, I make us both some coffee, and we pretend that we’re at the diner without having to leave the house at all. Then, when you feel comfortable enough, you can tell me what the hell happened.”

She looked at me for a beat, then looked away, biting her lip again. It would have looked cute if not for the bruise on the side of her face and the tears in her eyes.

“I’m not sure if that’s such a good idea,” she said.

“Sure it is,” I insisted. “Besides, what do you have to lose? I’m going to be leaving town in a day or two anyway. It’s not like I’m going to be spreading gossip or anything.”

“You don’t seem like the gossip type,” she smiled.

“I’m not,” I replied. “I could just really use some coffee right now.”

She smiled softly, and it was good to see the cheerfulness in her eyes. “Fine, coffee it is.”

She led me inside.

Chapter 10: Ashlyn

For some reason, I told Chance everything. It took two pots of coffee and several hours, but I spilled it all. He just smiled and listened and held my hand and let me talk. It felt wonderful.

I told him about Earl and my miserable marriage, about Earl’s family money and its influence in Ludwig, about Earl harassing me and his daddy thinking his money could make the problem go away. And of course, I told him about Earl breaking in and trying to rape me.

Chance listened quietly and intently, only interrupting me to ask for some clarification before letting me continue. He was appalled by the Sheriff’s inability to do anything, or refusal thereof. I knew that Earl would walk away that morning with only a slap on the wrist, and although that had pissed me off, it angered Chance even more. He had also been confused as to how news of this morning hadn’t reached the motel. With a town this small, he or Chuck should have heard something. But, as always, the Sheriff had snuffed out any news from spreading before it had even reached the station’s front door.

Through it all, though, I had started feeling much better. It was good to have someone to talk to who wasn’t directly involved. It was different than talking to anyone else in Ludwig, who, in one way or the other, was associated with the Greene’s. And telling Chuck would have probably resulted in a fist fight at the bar and the eventual wrath of the Greene’s on his motel. Both of which I did not want.

With Chance, though, opening up just felt right. It was awkward at first, but by the time my story had gained momentum, I was talking freely and without remorse. There was no judgment in his eyes, no look of pity that I usually got from everyone else. There was only intent interest and a warm air of concern.

By the time I was done, the sun was sinking low in the afternoon sky, and we had fallen into a deep silence that was both comforting and a little uneasy. I had expected some sort of reaction from him once I was done, but all he did was hold my hand, squeeze it and offer a comforting smile. I began to wonder if he was looking at me in a different light, if maybe he was thinking that being with me here was a little too much of a liability, especially since he was supposed to be gone within a day or two. He didn’t need trouble, and I certainly didn’t want to be the reason for it.

He surprised me, though, when he finally spoke up and told me that he would spend the night on the couch to keep me safe. I thought it was probably the stupidest idea in the world, and told him that, too. He wouldn’t let up, and although I continued to protest, he just shook away my resistance and told me that he had already made up his mind.

“I already called my lawyer,” I said. “Another incident like today and he said he could have Earl picked up and sent to jail for thirty days.”

“And I’m supposed to wait for him to do that again?” Chance asked, frowning at me as if I were a child who had just made the most ridiculous statement ever.

“You don’t have to do anything,” I said, frowning at him. “This isn’t your fight.”

“Whatever,” Chance said. “I’m staying. I just need to get Hank’s truck back. Do you mind following me into town so we can drive back together?”

“I’m not going to do this,” I protested.

“Yes, you are,” Chance replied. “Or I’ll just stay here, and if Hank asks, I’ll tell him it’s your fault he was down one truck for the night.”

I sighed, bit my lip and finally nodded. “Fine.”

“And the motel.”

“What about it?”

“I need to pass by and get some stuff for the night.”

I shook my head quickly. “If Chuck sees me, he’ll know it was Earl who hit me, and he’ll try and do something about it. I don’t want that to happen.”

“Then wait for me at Hank’s and I’ll walk to the motel and back,” he said. “I’ll be back in five minutes and we can drive up here right away. No one has to know you were in town.”

“Hank will know.”

He smiled. “Hank’s good at keeping secrets, don’t worry.”

How he knew that, I had no idea.

* * *

I lay in bed, eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling as I thought about Chance downstairs. Everything had gone as planned, and as promised, we didn’t bring any unwanted attention to us. By the time I was ready to sleep, Chance had set himself up on the couch in the living room to be as close to the door as possible if Earl did decide to show up again.

I thought it was sweet. And charming. And everything else that made my stomach flutter like butterflies. He didn’t have to do this, but just knowing he was downstairs made me feel a lot better. Although it did feel odd having someone else in the house. I wondered what it would be like in the morning. I couldn’t remember the last time I had breakfast with someone in my own kitchen, let alone Chance.

Let’s just hope he isn’t some serial killer, okay?

I smiled to myself. This was so unlike me. It was true, I hardly knew the man, but he made me feel safe, and that was all that mattered really. I found it strange that I was scared of a man I had been married to for a few years, yet felt unbelievably comfortable around another I had only known for two days.

Serial killer or not, I wanted him downstairs. A part of me wanted him upstairs, too.

Why not invite him upstairs, then? He’s already here. God knows you could use a good time. When’s the last time you felt a man inside you? A man who really cared?

“Never,” I whispered. I closed my eyes, letting the voice in my head play with my thoughts just a little. It was odd how close I felt to Chance, how open I had been to him. There was just something about him, a quality that made me weak in the knees. Hot, sure. Tall and handsome, double check. But that wasn’t all. The fact that he had sat down and listened to me the way he had, that just gave him a completely different edge that far surpassed the line of sexy. A part of me wished we had more time together.

Then use the time you have.

I opened my eyes and stared up at the ceiling. I pondered the thought, long and hard, and just thinking about Chance holding me, his hands all over my body, made me a little wet. I closed my legs and curled onto my side, trying to think of anything else to get my mind off the absurdity of what I was considering.

But it wouldn’t go away.

Now or never, girl. Get your ass up and at him.

I made up my mind instantly, threw the covers off, and rolled out of bed. The hardwood floor was warm against my bare feet, and I quickly made my way down the hall. I hesitated at the top of the staircase. What if he didn’t want me that way? What if this was a one-way street? I couldn’t bear the thought of being embarrassed in my own house. If he turned me down, it would be impossible to avoid him until he left.

Worth the shot. Go for it.

I bit my lip, threw caution to the wind, and made my way downstairs.

He hadn’t slept yet and was sitting on the couch, clad only in a pair of pants, holding a book in his hands and reading the back. In the dim light of the table lamp, his body seemed to ripple with muscles, and I found myself staring for what seemed like forever. He must have felt my presence, because he quickly turned to where I was standing and frowned.

“Ashlyn?” he asked, putting the book down on the coffee table. “What’s wrong? Did you hear something?”

I bit my lip again and shook my head, willing my body to move instead of just standing there like an idiot.

“What is it?” he asked again, slowly standing up.

My eyes traced the lines of his muscles, and when I looked into his eyes, the ocean blues were glimmering like a sea under the moonlight. I could have stared at him forever. Instead, I forced myself forward, moving quickly before my mind caught up with my emotions and started screaming about how much of a mistake this would be. He watched me approach, confusion etched all over his face, but he didn’t pull back when I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my lips against his.

He kissed me back. And the way he did removed any doubt in my mind that he didn’t feel the way I did right now. His hands held me by the waist and his lips entangled with mine. I kissed him with urgency, a deep need that I did not know I had, and was rewarded with much of the same.

“Ashlyn, are you sure you –”