Prologue

Blue lights were flashing like mad, giving her a headache as she leaned against the police car.

Genevieve’s body was shaking with fear, but a little bit of excitement was also bubbling deep inside of her. She knew damn well her family was going to flip. Once word got back to the country club, everyone would be talking about how the precious Genevieve Stone, daughter of the prestigious Murray Stone of Stone Masons, was caught trafficking drugs. The disappointment would ring loud in her father’s voice—he’d probably take her credit card away. And her poor mother would probably wring her hands, steeling her nerves with a healthy dose of vodka in her morning juice.

Too bad Gen didn’t care.

This trip was supposed to be the time of her life. She was going to see the world, but he’d said they had to stop back in his hometown first. What she didn’t know was that he had been planning to bring a whole bunch of drugs back for his buddies to sell down in Lexington. When she found out, by opening the trunk to put her bag in, the smart part of her brain told her to run the other way. But then he looked at her, his blazing blue eyes burning into hers as her lips pressed together in an “oh shit” kind of look. She should have taken that as a sign even he knew he was doing wrong, yet she just shrugged, threw her bag in, and went to the front seat.

She wasn’t sure what she was doing, but she knew she wanted to go on this trip with him.

But after only three days in his hometown of Spring Grove, where she fell in love with small-town life and learned more about herself than she had in her whole life, Gen found herself leaning against a cop car with her hands cuffed behind her back.

Well, shit.

Terms were being thrown around—some she knew, some she didn’t. But as she watched two cops from a neighboring town investigate, since Spring Grove only had one sheriff and a deputy, she knew she was in deep shit.

“I never thought I’d find you this hot with blue lights flashing on your skin, but I do.”

Gen looked up, her eyes meeting his extra blue eyes since the lights were flashing directly into them. “Yeah, neither did I.”

His lips pulled up at the side. “Probably should have stayed at home. Maybe my big brother would have taken you to the formal.”

She scoffed. “Pfft. Like I wanted to go anyway.”

“You did. You’re made for that life.”

She laughed, shaking her head. That was the furthest from the truth. She was actually more trailer park trash, like her mom used to be before her father found her and settled her in at the country club with diamonds hanging off her. “You must not know me.”

“Not as well as I want,” he said, making her heart flutter. He had that power, the one that made her whole body feel like it was tingling. Her mother said it was because she was young and naïve, but she was convinced it was just him. Theo. His thick shoulders, his darker than night hair. It was such a contrast, his eyes to his hair, and she loved it. She did. Even now, as she stood cuffed, knowing that serious charges could be coming her way, she still found him alluring. “But I know that formal would have been better than this.”

She shrugged, looking away. “Says you.”

He grinned over at her, and she met his grin with a smile. Things were easy between them. Since Gen had struggled her whole life, she enjoyed being with someone and not having to try so hard. She didn’t have to be proper; she didn’t have to make sure she had her manners turned on. She could just be her, burp if she wanted, and he would burp along with her. He was everything she had never experienced, and she couldn’t get enough.

“Man, this sucks.”

“Surely it’s not a big deal. It’s not like you’re selling the stuff.”

“I’m moving it, though,” he confessed, shaking his head. “I just wanted to get my mom out of here.”

Gen smiled. “She doesn’t want to leave.”

He laughed. “Yeah, but maybe I could have given her a better life than working in the damn diner.”

“She loves the diner, though,” she tried, but he wasn’t listening. “It’s all over with anyway. We were caught—”

“No, listen—” She looked up, her heart still in her throat as his eyes held hers. “I’m taking all the blame. Those are my drugs. I didn’t tell you about them, okay?”

Her brows pulled together. “But I knew.”

“Gen, really. This is going to be bad. You aren’t this girl. The one that goes to jail for drugs—or anything else for that matter. Just trust me. Keep your mouth shut. Don’t even talk to them.”

“But—”

“No but, Gen. I’m this guy. You’re not. This has been fun, but you gotta trust me. Let me take the fall. You act oblivious to everything, okay?”

“Theo—”

“For real, Gen. Okay? You know I love you, right?”

Her heart sang for him. “Yes, I love you too, but let me—”

“Darling, I’m not the one for you. You deserve the world. And this right here is a godsend, I promise. I do love you, Gen.”

Before she could say anything else, the cops were closing in on them. And as she stood there, tears in her eyes, she knew she’d never see Theo Hudson again.