Dylan woke me up early. “Up and at ’em, Red. We have places to go, people to see.”

I pulled my pillow over my head. “Go away, evil man.”

It was his laughter that caught my attention. He’d fallen asleep before me last night, but he’d been restless, tossing and turning so much that I’d almost relocated myself to the couch. I hadn’t because I was afraid he’d wake up and need me.

My pillow was yanked away. “Up, Red. Coffee’s on, breakfast in twenty.”

I opened one eye, peeking at his hot ass as he walked out of the room. As if Dylan’s early morning chirpiness wasn’t bad enough, I got dog-breath licks across my face from Daisy. “You Conrads are the devil’s minions,” I told her, pushing her nose away. She gave me a pitiful whine, making me feel bad about hurting her feelings.

Nineteen minutes later I walked into the kitchen, inhaling the aroma of coffee. “Gimme, gimme, gimme.” I held my arms out, heading for Dylan like a zombie.

He smiled at my silliness, but I noticed it didn’t reach his eyes. His early morning cheerfulness was an act, maybe as much for himself as for me. “What’s the plan for today?”

“First, breakfast.” He put a bowl of cereal and some toast in front of me.

“Do you know where The Valley News office is?” he asked, sitting across from me.

“Yeah, why?”

“I want you to go there this morning. Tell those two women if they’ll hold off on publishing their so-called special edition, that I’ll give them an exclusive interview. I don’t want to go myself so that they don’t try to get me to do an interview right then.”

“No problem. I can do that. Why would you want to talk to them, though?”

“A man I respect above all others told me I need to take the bull by the horns. He’s right. If I’m going to be front-page news, then my side of the story needs to be told, but not until I get a chance to sit down with the mayor.”

“Makes sense, but we need to do more than that.” I popped the last piece of toast into my mouth while Dylan hadn’t done much more than stir his spoon around in his cereal. No surprise that he didn’t have an appetite this morning. “We need to make a list of who we know we can recruit to support you. Autumn and Brian, for sure. Definitely Adam and Connor… What?” He was staring at me with a kind of wonder in his eyes.

He put his hand on his chest, patting himself right over his heart. “Jenny Girl, you slay me.”

“Why?” I whispered. Something like snapping live wires latched around my heart, stealing the air out of my lungs. He didn’t mean he loved me, right? That wasn’t supposed to happen.

“Because you believe in me.”

“Of course I believe in you,” I said, not liking my disappointment that he hadn’t declared his undying love for me. If he had, I’d probably have gone running out of his condo.

He stood, took my hand, and pulled me into his arms. “Thank you.”

When his mouth fused with mine, setting me on fire, I closed my eyes, sinking against him as his tongue invaded my mouth. Everything about this man called to me in the most elemental way. I wanted to climb up him, wrap my legs around his waist, and never let him go. Minutes later he pulled away, leaning his head back and peering down at me. Both of us were breathing hard.

“Have I told you how much I love kissing you?”

I shook my head. “No, you’ve never told me that.”

“How remiss of me.” He trailed his knuckles down my cheek. “I do, you know.”

“I’m pretty fond of kissing you, too.”

“Then we’ll have to do more of it. In the meantime, however, I have that meeting with the mayor in an hour, so I’m going to jump in the shower.” He gave me a wicked grin. “I’d ask you to join me, but then I’d never get to that meeting.”

“Well, darn. How about we make a shower date for tonight?”

“You’re on, but meet me for lunch. You can tell me how it went at the newspaper, and I’ll bring you up to speed on what’s happening.”

I watched him walk away. “You have a mighty fine butt, Chief,” I said before he disappeared from sight. And did he ever.

He glanced over his shoulder, giving me a wink, making my stomach flutter. Dylan Conrad was a good man, and I’d be damned before I’d let my town destroy him. Since I was already dressed, I grabbed my purse and headed out to complete my mission.

The Stop the Press Operation was a success. Naomi and Gloria had agreed to hold off their exclusive in return for an interview with Dylan. My next stop was to my parents. My dad had been the mayor twelve years ago, and he still had influence. If I told him Dylan was worthy of his attention, he’d believe me.

“Exactly how well do you know our new police chief?” my mom asked as soon as I told my parents Dylan’s story.

“Ah… well, I’ve been dating him.” I hadn’t mentioned that little fact previously, not wanting my mother to get excited that there might be grandbabies in her near future. She would be thrilled if a man came along and swept me off my feet to the point that I forget about taking off to see the world.

Although my dad worried about me being off on my own like that, he understood and supported me. Natalie and I had gotten our wanderlust from him. He’d joined the navy because he’d wanted to see the world, and he had. We’d poured through his photos of his travels many times, listened to his stories about the things he’d seen and the people he’d met, and our dream to do the same had been born. From there our love of travel had grown with each vacation our parents took us on.

“We already knew that, Jennifer,” Mom said. “You should know by now that nothing’s a secret in this town. We’ve been wondering when you would bring your young man by to meet us.”

My mom only called me Jennifer when she was miffed. I should have realized she would have heard I was seeing Dylan since we’d openly dated. And I hadn’t brought him to meet my parents for several reasons. They hadn’t taken to Chad the one time I had brought him over. Dylan, though, they would love him, but I didn’t want him to think that I thought we were serious enough to do the meet-the-parents thing.

“What can we do to help?” my dad asked.

That was why I loved him so much. Not once did he question my belief that Dylan was a good man deserving our support. “I’m not sure yet. Dylan’s talking to Jim John this morning. Other than the interview with the newspaper, I don’t know what else he has up his sleeve, but I’m sure he has a plan. I’m meeting him for lunch at the Blue Ridge Café. Guess I’ll find out then.”

“No,” Mom said. “Tell him to come here. We need to meet him, and we can talk without nosy ears listening in.”

“That’s a great idea.” I leaned over and kissed her cheek. “You’re an awesome mom, you know that?”

She grinned. “I know.”

“Who else are you going to talk to?” my dad asked.

“I was thinking Autumn, Brian, Adam, and Connor to start.”

Daddy nodded. “Good people for Dylan to have at his back. How about we do this. Call in an order for several large pizzas and see if they all can come to lunch.”

“I like how you think.” Hopefully Dylan would be okay with us springing a lunch meeting on him like this. He wouldn’t like talking about his personal life, but since the rumors were no doubt spreading already, this would give him the opportunity to set the record straight with the people he could count on for support.

After ordering an assortment of pizzas to be picked up at noon, I got on the phone to my friends, all of whom were free for lunch and very curious about being called to a secret meeting. Once I confirmed everyone could make it, I texted Dylan, asking him to meet me at my parents and giving him their address.

My dad had just returned with the pizzas when Dylan arrived. If the people sitting around my parents’ dining room table surprised him, he hid it well. It was probably a cop thing, something he’d learned how to do over the years.

He slipped off his Windbreaker, and I took it from him. Every time I saw him in his uniform—the cargo pants, the police department logoed shirt that stretched across his chest and broad shoulders, the leather belt holding a gun, handcuffs, and other police paraphernalia—I had a strong desire to play cop and bad girl with him.

Autumn punched my arm, bringing me out of my fantasy trance. My cheeks heated, and I think everyone but my parents guessed my thoughts if the amusement in my friends’ eyes were any indication. I sure hoped my parents hadn’t caught the direction my dirty mind had taken.

“Mom, Dad, this is Dylan Conrad. Dylan, my parents, Porter and Anne Nance.”

“A pleasure to meet you both,” he said, shaking hands with my dad and then giving my mom one of his killer smiles. “Ah, I see where Jenny gets her beautiful looks.”

She actually giggled. No doubt she already had us walking down the aisle. I put my hand on Dylan’s arm. “You already know everyone else.”

“I do, and it’s great to see everyone again.”

“Well, let’s eat while the pizzas are hot.” As we took our seats, he glanced at me. I could see the question in his eyes, wondering what was going on. “This is your support group. Everyone in this room believes in you, and after we eat, we’re going to have a strategy session. I’m calling it Operation Save Dylan’s Ass.”

“Jennifer!”

I glanced at my mom. “Well, it is a very nice ass, definitely worth saving.”

Dylan sputtered a laugh. “Thanks, I think.”

We dug into the pizzas, and I stayed mostly quiet, preferring to observe Dylan. I already knew he was at ease with my friends and that they liked him. It was the way he was with my parents that fascinated me. If I hadn’t known he was a big-city boy, I would have thought he’d grown up in these mountains. He was respectful toward them, yet got into a heated discussion with my dad about the Chicago Bears versus the North Carolina Panthers.

At one point my mother mouthed, He’s a keeper.

Yep, she was hearing wedding bells. The pizzas had been demolished, and I stood, collecting plates. When my mom and Autumn tried to help, I shooed them away.

“Get settled in the living room, y’all. I’ll be along in a minute.” Surprising me, Dylan stayed behind, helping me clean up. After the pizza boxes were dumped in the trash and the plates loaded in the dishwasher, Dylan pulled me to him.

“Thank you,” he said, wrapping his arms around me.

“For?” He slid his hands down my back, resting them on the curve of my butt. I loved when he touched me. His hands felt so big and strong, his body always like a furnace, warming me.

“For this.” He leaned back and peered down at me. “For rallying the troops. For believing in me.”

I lifted onto my toes, putting my mouth close to his. “Of course I believe in you.” I kissed him then, and if we weren’t in my parents’ house, our friends waiting for us, I would have wrapped my legs around his waist and begged him to make love to me right there, pressed up against my mom’s kitchen sink.

Before we got carried away, forgetting where we were, I let go of him. “Guess we should join the others.”

“Ah, I need a minute, Red.”

We both looked down at the tent in his pants, and I giggled. I patted the bulge pressing against his zipper. “Someone wants to come out and play.”

“Little hellcat.” He pushed my hand away. “Go. I’ll be right behind you.”

I glanced over my shoulder. “Promises. Promises.” I put a little sway in my hips as I walked out, smiling at hearing his groan.

“Where’s Dylan?” my mom asked when I walked into the living room.

“He’s…ah, getting something to drink?” Dang, I hadn’t meant to make that a question. At Autumn’s smirk, I crossed my eyes, making her laugh.

Mom’s gaze darted from me to Autumn. “What’s so funny?”

“Beats me,” I said. Dylan came in, taking a seat on the chair next to me. My parents had a large L-shaped sofa. Autumn, Brian, and the twins had taken over the long side and my parents on the short half.

Now that we were all gathered, I was nervous about how they’d react to hearing Dylan’s story. I was also worried about Dylan and how hard it would be for him to talk about his wife and what she’d done. I guess I shouldn’t have been. As I was trying to think of how to start, Dylan put his hand on my arm.

“Have you told everyone why you asked them here?”

I shook my head. “I wanted to wait for you.”

“Then let me explain.”