“You’re making a scene, and you need to leave before my neighbors call the police.” I tried to jerk my arm away, but Chad had a tight grip on my wrist. “You’re hurting me.”

“Who was the man at the bar?”

“There were a lot of men at the bar tonight.” I knew exactly which man he meant, but his jealousy was making me angry. As expected, he’d been parked outside my apartment when I arrived. I’d almost kept driving. My best friend’s sofa was available to me anytime I wanted it. But Autumn’s fiancé lived with her now, and I didn’t want to intrude. Besides, no way was I going to let Chad run me away from my home.

“Don’t think I didn’t see the way you looked at him, Jenn.”

Well, I had done a double take, but so what? My mom and dad had a you-can-look policy, and I’d always believed that it was because they trusted each other and were secure in their love. With a man like Chad, that would never happen. Would, in fact, just get worse. I was done with him.

“He was a customer, Chad. Of course I looked at him.” I huffed out a frustrated breath. “You’ve known from the beginning that I’m leaving in December, and that there would never be anything serious between us. You agreed to that.”

“I changed my mind. And this idea of yours to take off for God knows where or how long is ridiculous.”

“Well I haven’t changed my mind, and I could care less what you think.” I tried to pull my arm away again, but he held tight.

Chad was a stockbroker in Asheville, and part of his attraction had been his claim that he was too focused on his job to get involved in a serious relationship. With his puppy-brown eyes and soft voice, my first impression of him had been that he had a gentle soul. Like I said, I’m obviously a lousy judge of men. Chad actually had the soul of a self-centered, controlling Neanderthal. And those soulful eyes that had charmed me in the beginning were starting to creep me out with the way he would sometimes stare at me, as if he owned me and needed to make me understand he was my lord and master.

“Let. Go. Of. Me.” As soon as I could put some distance between us, I would tell him it was over. Again. I’d tried to get that through his thick skull as soon as I’d gotten out of my car, but he’d closed his ears to anything he didn’t want to hear.

He slid his other hand up my arm. “Come on, baby, you know I love you.”

When he tried to kiss me, I turned my face away. “No, you don’t, but it doesn’t matter. I want you gone, and don’t come back. Ever.”

“That’s not how this works, Jenn. I say when it’s over.” He grabbed my hand, pulling me toward my apartment.

He was starting to scare me with the way his eyes shone with barely concealed anger. I was sure my neighbors were already peeking through their blinds, and I hoped one of them had called the police. Deciding it was time to make a lot of noise, I dug in my heels.

“Let go of me,” I yelled.

A man came out from a few doors down. “There a problem here?”

“No—”

“Yes,” I said, speaking over Chad’s denial. “I want him to leave.” This was embarrassing, but I was grateful for the man’s appearance.

“This doesn’t concern you.” Chad narrowed his eyes at me. “Unless he’s another one you’ve been flirting with. Are you screwing him, too?”

Seriously? I needed to have a firm talk with myself about my boyfriend choices. “Who I’m screwing or not screwing is no longer any of your business.”

“The lady wants you gone,” the man said.

Chad dropped my arm and stepped toward my neighbor just as bright lights almost blinded my eyes and the sharp whoop whoop of a siren sounded. Everyone froze.

“What’s the problem here,” a cop said after getting out of his car.

“No problem, Officer,” Chad said.

I glanced over, and seeing Tommy Evans, I backed up until I was close to him. “The problem is I want him to leave.” I pointed at Chad. “He refuses.” I’d never in my life witnessed or been involved in a domestic dispute, and I took a moment to be depressed that I could no longer say that.

Chad the Idiot waved a hand at my neighbor. “That man assaulted me. I want him arrested.”

Was he for real? Maybe he thought he could divert the attention from himself. “That’s my neighbor, Tommy, and he was only trying to help. He didn’t assault anyone.”

“Name’s Bob Hagan. Now that the police are here, I’ll take myself off.”

“Thank you, Bob,” I called to him. He raised a hand in acknowledgment as he walked away.

Not knowing when to quit, Chad started arguing with the officer.

“What’s his name?” Tommy asked, ignoring Chad.

“Chad Perrine. My ex-boyfriend.”

“Mr. Perrine, you have two choices,” said a voice from behind me that sounded familiar. “You can leave now, or you can spend the night in jail.”

I swung my head around and looked into the eyes of Dylan Conrad. Why was he here?

“I knew you were fucking him,” Chad the Even Bigger Idiot said.

I refused to respond to that absurd statement. “Why is he here?” I asked Tommy, eyeing Dylan.

“He’s our new chief of police, and he’s riding along with me tonight.”

That’s where I’d heard the name, from people at the bar talking about the big-city cop the town had hired. So he wasn’t a tourist that I’d probably never see again. My stomach gave a flutter of excitement at that news.

To keep from adding to Chad’s suspicions, I tore my gaze away from Dylan’s. “I’m thinking you should choose door number one and go home, Chad. Your father won’t appreciate having to drive here from Asheville to bail you out.”

That got his attention. His dad owned the brokerage firm where Chad worked. I’d met the man once and had the impression he was cold and ruthless.

“It was just a silly misunderstanding,” Chad said, but resentment radiated from him as he leveled his gaze on the new police chief. “I’m leaving. Talk to you tomorrow, babe.”

“I’d rather you didn’t.” His lips thinned at that, but he headed for his car. The two cops and I watched him until he drove away. “Sorry for the trouble.”

“Wait for me in the car,” Dylan said to Tommy. When we were alone, concerned eyes searched mine. “You okay?”

“As long as I never hear from him again, I am.” Why did this man have to be so gorgeous?

“Want to put a restraining order on him?”

“No, I don’t think he’ll bother me again.” I wasn’t so sure of that, but a restraining order seemed harsh, at least at this point. If Chad decided to cause me more trouble, I’d consider it.

He reached over and tucked a loose curl of hair behind my ear. I froze. Those whiskey-colored eyes captured mine, and I had the wild idea that he was going to kiss me.

Instead he reached into his back pocket and removed his wallet, taking out a card. “My cell number’s on here. If he gives you any more trouble, call me.”

When I stood there like a statue while my brain tried to start up again, he picked up my hand and closed my fingers around the card.

“See you around, Red.” He chuckled as he walked away.

That low chuckle said he knew exactly what was going through my mind. When he reached the door of the cruiser, he paused and shot me one of those killer smiles, accompanied by a wink, across the roof before disappearing inside.

I expected them to drive away, but the car didn’t move, and after a few seconds it dawned on me that they were waiting for me to go inside. Right, I would do just that. Spinning on my heels, I left, not giving them a good-bye wave. As soon as I walked inside, locking the door behind me, my cell started ringing. Chad’s name came up on the screen, and I let it go to voice mail. Pulling up my contacts, I deleted his name and blocked his phone number, then deleted the message without listening to it.

No doubt Chad thought this was just a little bump in our relationship, but when I’m done with someone, I don’t mess around. A quick peek out the window and I saw that the police car was gone.

Was I imagining Dylan was giving off signals that he was interested in me, or was he just a nice cop doing his job? Didn’t really matter either way because I had a vow to my sister to keep, even if being near him made my heart do that pitter-patter thingy.

I needed some girl talk with my bestie. “Hey,” I said when Autumn answered her phone. “You free for some girl time tomorrow?”

Autumn Archer, Savannah Graham, and I had been tight ever since first grade. Savannah was in New York now, fulfilling her dream of becoming a supermodel, otherwise I would have included her, too. Autumn’s fiancé owned a car dealership, and since Saturdays were a busy day for him, I knew she’d be free.

“Sure,” she said without hesitation. “Whatcha got in mind?”

“A day at the beach.” The beach was what, back in high school, the four of us called Skinny Dip Falls, which is a half-mile hike off the Blue Ridge Parkway and easy to get to.

“Awesome! I’m in.”

“I’ll swing by around ten. We can pick up some snacks on the way.” I’d wait until tomorrow to tell her about Chad. If I got into it now, we’d be on the phone all night. After disconnecting, I stared at the opposite wall, but it wasn’t my soon-to-be ex-boyfriend filling my mind. It was a man with whiskey-colored eyes and a killer smile.