It was the weirdest town.
“Rachel, you have an order up,” Hal barked from the kitchen.
“Coming.” She was finally getting used to answering to Rachel. She liked her new name. Rachel Swift seemed to suit her in a way that Mandy Cooper hadn’t. She was even starting to like it more than Elizabeth Courtney.
Rachel turned from the large windows of the diner where she had been watching Nell and Henry Flanders make their statement about monarchial rule in England. They were making the point through mime, of course. It was Friday, and apparently every Friday Nell and Henry made a political statement. They were an odd couple. Nell couldn’t be older than thirty, while Henry was the very definition of retired professor. He was a blandly handsome man in his late thirties, but there were times Rachel would swear he looked older, harder than he normally did. Then he would smile and the darkness vanished. His wife, however, was all about the sunshine. Well, until someone “hurt the earth,” and then Nell had been known to give the frowning of a lifetime.
Rachel had only been in Bliss, Colorado, for two weeks, but she already looked forward to the Friday lunch show.
Rachel grabbed the burger and fries and looked down at the table number. It was Stella’s order, but Stella had walked outside for a quick smoke break. No point in letting the food sit under the lamp. She smiled and turned to take the order to table fourteen.
And then stopped and bit her bottom lip when she saw who was sitting at the small table, looking intently at his papers. Maxwell Harper. Her crazy, stupid heart started thudding in her chest. Max Harper was just about the best-looking thing she’d ever seen. Ever since the day she’d gotten this job, his stark blue eyes were all she thought about. Well, she also thought about his broad shoulders and how amazing his butt looked in a pair of jeans.
She tried to remind herself that he was known as “the baddest man in town” according to Stella and pretty much everyone else.
Men are bad.
She began the silent litany she went through every time she thought she would break down and throw herself into the cowboy’s arms. She needed time to get to know him before she risked making a complete idiot of herself.
Naturally she was attracted to the obnoxious one. She was on the run from one man. Did she need to risk herself with another?
And yet every night she bedded down in her now functional car, and when she closed her eyes, she saw Max. She saw him staring up at her as she took control and rode him hard.
It wasn’t like she would be here long. The waitressing gig was a good way to build up some cash, but she couldn’t stay in the same place for too long. She hadn’t forgotten how close she’d come to getting caught and how fast she’d had to bury Mandy Cooper. She was on the second of three IDs. Rachel didn’t like to think what would happen when she ran out of those.
But would it be so bad to have one wild affair with a bad boy while she was here?
She carefully put the plate down and tried not to sigh when Max’s baby blues looked up at her. Men shouldn’t have eyelashes like that. He was a work of art. “Is there anything else I can get you?”
He smiled shyly. That got to her, too. Despite that first day, he was always polite around her. It made her wonder if the rest of the town was playing some joke on her. “I’d like some more Coke, please.”
“Of course.” Her voice was way more breathy than she’d intended. She picked up his empty glass. “I’ll be right back with it.”
Rachel turned and walked toward the drink station. Stella strode in from the back, smoothing the apron over her jeans and white T-shirt.
“How you doing, doll?” The forty-something force of nature winked at Rachel.
“It’s going well. The lunch rush seems to have started.” Rachel liked Stella Benoit. Stella was in the long slide to fifty, but she was fighting it with everything she had. She was a broad in the best sense of the word. She was loud and assertive, funny and kind. “Table fourteen came up, but I took it out for you.”
Stella shoved her lighter in the pocket of her too-tight jeans. “Thanks. I swear I’m going to quit one of these days…Wait, oh no, hon. Was that Max Harper’s order?”
Rachel nodded. She hoped no one could tell she’d gone gooey at the sound of his name.
Stella’s face had gone a little white. “Damn it. I forgot to tell Hal that was for Max. He likes his burgers cooked to an inch of their life. Why he wants to eat a hockey puck, I have no idea, but he’ll shout the place down until we get it right.”
Stella started marching toward the dining room. Rachel gamely followed, carrying Max’s refreshed Coke.
“I don’t think he’ll get upset. He seems perfectly reasonable to me. He seems shy. I don’t know why everyone’s afraid of him.” Stella seemed to think that Max was a time bomb waiting to explode. Everyone in the diner gave Max a wide berth.
Stella turned on a dime, and Rachel had to stop quickly to avoid running into her. “You’re kidding, right? Honey, that man is the bear of the county. Seriously, I have often hoped that someone will shoot him and bring him trussed up to the Big Game dinner we have at the end of the summer. He would probably be too tough to eat. That man is only gentle with horses. If you don’t have a long tail attached to your ass, he’ll tear you apart when you cross him.”
Rachel took a deep breath and continued following her boss. The dining room was filling up. She saw Jen’s ponytail bob as she bounced through to shove her orders at the cook. The younger waitress looked over with a questioning glance. Her eyes followed the track of Rachel’s movements and grew wide. Rachel watched her shrink back and knew there would be no help from that corner.
“Now, Max, this was my fault and not Rachel’s.” Stella acted as though she was approaching a dangerous animal who might pounce at the first given sign of attack. She held her hands out. “I got busy and took two orders after yours and forgot to note your preferences.”
Max looked from his burger to Stella and then to Rachel. He took a deep breath and seemed to make a decision. “It’s perfectly fine, Stella. Rachel brought me exactly what I wanted.”
Stella’s brows came together to form a perfect V on her forehead. “Max, that damn thing is practically still mooing.”
Max waved off her worry. He picked up the burger. “I’m sure it’s perfect.” He took a big bite. Rachel couldn’t help but notice him wince as he bit into the medium-rare burger. He smiled through it. “It’s great,” he said, choking it down. “And it’s got pickles.” He coughed. “Love those pickles.”
“Have you gone insane?” Stella asked, hands on her hips.
Max discreetly used his napkin to rid himself of the offending pickle. When he looked back at Stella, his face was serene once more. “Nope, I’m perfectly sane. Can’t a man change his mind about what he wants in a burger?”
“I’ll take it back to the kitchen and Hal will burn it just the way you like it.” Stella reached out to grab the plate.
Max pulled it back defensively. “No. Rachel brought it, and I’m going to eat it.”
Stella went still for a moment, then threw back her football-helmet hair. She laughed long and loud. “Damn me, I never thought I’d see the day. I look forward to this, Harper. Paybacks can be hell, you know. Enjoy your undercooked burger, my friend. I’ll be sure to note your newfound appreciation for pickles.”
Stella turned on her stark white-and-red embroidered cowboy boots and walked off. Rachel felt the weight of almost everyone in the diner staring at her. She set the Coke down on the table.
“I can take it back if you like,” Rachel offered with a small grin. He looked a bit pale as he tried to eat the burger. Rachel had learned Hal would lightly sear it if you didn’t give him explicit instructions.
He shook his head, and Rachel admired his short, curly brown hair. It was thick, with red and gold threaded through the brown. She wanted to see if it was as soft as it looked. His masculine jaw was starting to show signs of a five-o’clock shadow though it was only minutes past noon.
“It’s fine. I’m not hard to please.” He looked at her directly, and she got the feeling he wasn’t talking about the burger. “As a matter of fact, I’m quite easy.”
He reached out and brushed his hand against hers.
Rachel laughed nervously, her skin tingling where he touched it. She suddenly wondered what it would feel like to have that hand on a more intimate part of her body. It had been way too long since she’d felt the touch of a man. She was ready to jump the poor guy.
“That’s a pretty horse.” Rachel changed the subject quickly because the need to sit in his lap had become almost too much to bear.
He looked down at the file he’d been studying. There was a gorgeous horse in the picture. “Her name is Sunflower. She’s a quarter horse, and she’s got everything it takes to be an excellent rodeo horse. My client’s daughter is a barrel racer.”
“But?” There had to be a but. She’d learned a little about Max over the past two weeks. He was very good at training difficult horses.
“Well, she kicks everyone who comes near her.” Max’s voice was a deep rumble that rolled over her skin. “It makes it hard to train her. That’s why her owner is sending her to me. It’s what I do, Rachel. See, deep down, Sunflower is scared. She doesn’t want to kick and buck every time someone comes near her. She wants love and affection. She wants to please her master. She’s just not sure how. That’s where I come in. I teach her it’s all right to accept love. I gently ease her into the saddle. I show her how nice it is to let someone special ride her.”
Holy crap, she was getting aroused in the middle of the diner. It was like his low, sexy voice had a direct line to her pussy and everything heated up when he started talking.
“Do you like to ride, Rachel?”
Oh, boy, did she like to ride. Not horses, of course, but she definitely wouldn’t mind a cowboy. She missed riding. It had been a long time, and part of her thought she might never ride again.
“Sure,” was all she managed because her brain was thinking about what it would feel like to ride Max Harper.
Max smiled up at her, a wide grin that made his eyes sparkle. He looked more approachable when he smiled like that. “That’s great. What kind of horse did you train on?”
“Oh, I’ve never ridden a horse,” she blurted out without thinking.
Max’s smile turned distinctly seductive. “Then what type of riding were we talking about, darlin’?”
Rachel swallowed and sought an easy way out. She couldn’t do this with him. As gorgeous as he was, she couldn’t flirt and pretend that she was this carefree girl. She must never, never forget what was at stake. Her life.
And what the hell does your life mean if you get no pleasure out of it? If you spend every moment merely trying to survive and don’t find a single second to live?
That voice in her head had gotten so much louder since she’d been working here at Stella’s.
“I have to get back to work.” She turned away from the hottest man she’d ever met. She walked back to the counter, where Stella was talking to Mel. Mel Hughes was one of the kindest men she’d ever met. He’d had her Jeep back to her within hours that first day, with a new tire on and the oil changed. When she’d promised to pay him back, he’d merely asked her that when the aliens came, she would fight on his side.
He was a little wacky, but kind of awesome, too. He lived in a small cabin up the mountain but made the trek almost daily to sit at the diner’s counter and visit with Stella. He was completely insane but harmless. He also made the prettiest pottery. Rachel had admired it when she walked through the town’s galleries.
“But, Stella, when I left the house I checked the time,” Mel insisted. “It was 10:21. When I got to the car, it was 10:35. It does not take me fourteen minutes to get to the car. They took me, I tell you.”
Stella looked sympathetic. “Oh, hon, that wasn’t an alien abduction. You just can’t set your clocks right. I’ll come up to your place and make sure all your clocks are in sync, all right?”
Mel leaned in, his voice low and trembling. “Then how do you explain the fact that my backside is very sore in an intimate place? I think they probed me, Stella.”
Rachel fought hard not to giggle. She knew exactly what Stella was about to say. They had this discussion every couple of days. She walked to the counter and opened the bakery plate.
“They didn’t probe you,” Stella assured him, patting his arm. “You eat bacon on everything. It’s inevitable. You need some fiber. Rachel?”
Rachel reached to pass her a bran muffin on a clean plate. She glanced out over the dining room. The muffin fell off the plate as she was completely shocked to see Max Harper talking to a perfect replica of himself.
A second Max was standing over him, looking down with his hands on his hips. The first Max frowned up at his mirror image. Well, except for their clothes. The other Max was wearing a khaki uniform that was hard to mistake.
The other Max was law enforcement.
“Oh my god,” she said in utter horror. “There’s two of him.”
Without missing a beat, Stella got a new muffin. She looked cheery as she followed Rachel’s sight line. “Don’t worry about it, hon. You won’t have to pick. Everyone in town knows those boys like to share.”
“Not helpful,” Rachel said in a daze. The whole time she’d been here, she’d avoided the sheriff, but it looked like he was back in town and closer than was comfortable.
* * * *
“Hey, bro.” A familiar voice broke through Max’s thoughts.
His thoughts—as they always seemed to be for the past two weeks—were on Rachel. On the way her hips moved when she walked and that sassy talk of hers. On how her eyes reminded him of grass in the spring, new and fresh.
He was losing his damn mind.
Max looked up and saw Rye standing over him. His brother nodded and winked at a couple of the regulars before turning a chair around to straddle it with his long legs. He was wearing his sheriff’s uniform and requisite Stetson. Max’s twin politely took his hat off and set it to the side.
“How was Denver?” Max wished Rye was still there. He hadn’t expected his brother back for another two days.
“Boring.” Rye leaned forward and stole a fry. “I decided to skip the end of the conference. I left after teaching my last session. I could barely stay awake during the lectures on the new traffic laws. Seriously, couldn’t they give me a pamphlet or something? Three hours of some DPS dude droning on just about killed me. You gonna eat that?”
Rye reached out and grabbed the burger. It was halfway down his throat before Max could give his assent.
“Feel free,” Max told his baby brother. “Baby brother” was a misnomer. Rye was exactly two and a half minutes younger than Max. Max pushed the plate toward Rye. He didn’t care about the burger. He was still thinking about Rachel.
He’d come on too strong. He should have known better. He should have taken it easier. She was nervous around him, and he’d come on to her like a horny bull. He’d been extremely careful around Rachel Swift up to this point. For two whole weeks he’d watched his temper around her. He’d been excruciatingly polite to everyone in her vicinity. It hadn’t been all that hard. His anger issues seemed to take a nosedive when Rachel’s sweet face was around.
Rye continued talking about something to do with his job. Max nodded and kept his eyes discreetly on Rachel.
He watched her awkwardly step around the counter, obviously still disturbed by their conversation. He hadn’t been able to help himself. He’d told himself he needed to make sure she was aware of him. Well, she was definitely aware. Max let his fingers drum against the table. It wasn’t that she was uninterested. Max was experienced enough to know when a woman was intrigued. Rachel was curious about him. She was simply nervous. He was a big guy with a bad rep and an even worse temper. He had to show her he could control himself around her.
He’d come in almost every day for the last two weeks, having breakfast or dinner depending on which shift Rachel took. Often, she took more than one. On her second day, she’d dropped a whole platter of food, dishes, and glasses. They’d crashed to the floor in a terrible mess. She’d stood there and looked surprised Stella hadn’t fired her on the spot. Max could have told her Stella was patient with the strays she took in. Max might fight with Stella from time to time, but he respected the lady. She was good people.
Rachel had looked grateful to have a job. She and the other waitress, Jen, had cleaned up the mess and then Rachel had come to his table, her hands still shaking. She’d carefully taken his order, writing everything he said down on her notepad. She’d chewed on that bottom lip of hers. God, he loved her lips. They were perfect and pouty, and his dick would look so good between them.
Max took a long drink of cold Coke and told himself to settle down. He had been walking around in a permanent state of erection ever since Rachel Swift had yelled at him that first day. Then the very next, she’d been sweet as pie, walking up to his table and asking in her husky twang if there was anything she could do for him.
She could lie down beneath him and spread her legs, that’s what she could do. She could spread those pretty, petite legs of hers and show him her pussy. He’d stare at it for a while because there was nothing more beautiful than a ripe and ready pussy. He’d lie on his stomach and arrange her legs over his shoulders and make a meal of her.
Rye would watch…
Damn it. He had to get that out of his head. His hands fisted in frustration. They weren’t doing that anymore. They were going to be perfectly normal from now on. They weren’t going to scare off good prospects with their perverse needs. It had been a year since the last time they’d played out their ménage fantasies. Rye had tried dating without him. He’d seen some girl from Creede for a while but broke it off. Max hadn’t dated at all. He’d buried himself in work. Rachel was the first girl to catch Max’s interest.
Don’t you fool yourself. You aren’t interested in Rachel. You’re half in love with her. For the first time in his thirty-one years, he was falling in love.
“Are you even listening to me, Max?” Rye’s voice cut through Max’s thoughts. “And what the hell is going on around here? This burger is actually edible. It’s nice and juicy. What’s wrong with this picture?”
This was why he wished Rye was still far, far away. Max tried hard not to flush. He needed to play this cool. “They got the order wrong. It’s no big deal.”
Rye’s mouth hung open for a minute. “Do we need to call in a doctor? Wait a minute. Is Stella still alive, or did you stuff her body in the trash compactor? I have ways of finding out these things, you know.”
Max pointed to the counter. “Stella’s alive and well and trying to talk Mel out of his latest paranoid fantasy.”
It was a mistake. Max realized it the moment he said it. Rachel stood right beside her boss. Those big green eyes were even bigger than usual as she stared at the two of them. For a moment, she looked like a kid who’d found the last cupcake on the planet. Then she obviously realized they were looking back because she suddenly looked intently interested in wiping down the counter.
Max turned to his brother, and sure enough, Rye’s face had gone slack.
“No,” Max said. He set his jaw stubbornly. “I got dibs. I saw her first.”
Rye didn’t bother to look back at his brother. He stared at the beauty with strawberry blonde hair. “But I saw her best. You got a date with her yet?”
“No, I’m working my way up to it,” Max explained, trying to salvage the situation. “There’s something up with her. She’s very nervous.”
Rye’s smile was brimming with self-assurance as he stood up and straightened his jacket. “You make a lot of women nervous. Watch how it’s done, Big Brother.”
“Damn it, Rye.” But his twin was already making his way to the counter. Max stood up and followed. He was going to beat the crap out of the town sheriff if he scared Rachel off.
“Hello there, sweetheart.” Rye poured on the charm.
Stella snorted and muttered something under her breath before walking off to check the kitchen.
Max watched as Rachel really looked at his brother for the first time. He noticed her mouth tighten as she took in his uniform. It was another clue. He’d wondered if she was running from something. She had that look. He needed to make her comfortable, and then she would tell him what was wrong. He’d fix it, and they could have raucous sex to celebrate her freedom from whatever was bugging her. That was his plan.
Now his brother was fucking up his perfectly fine plan.
“What can I get for you, Officer?” Rachel pulled out her ever-present notepad and a pen. She was very professional.
Rye was not. “Oh, I think I can come up with a few things you could get me. How about your phone number? That way I can call you and we can plan out our date.”
Max was satisfied when Rachel looked completely unmoved by his brother’s charm. Her mouth formed a flat line. “I don’t have a phone.”
Rye’s eyebrows shot up. “What do you mean you don’t have a phone? Everybody’s got a phone, darlin’. Most people have at least two.”
“I don’t have one,” she said dully. Max didn’t like the look in her eyes. It was like all the life in them had fled at the sight of Rye’s badge. “Is that a crime, Officer?”
“It’s sheriff.” Now Rye’s voice held a tone of uncertainty. It had been a long time since a girl turned down Sheriff Ryan Harper. Max watched as the doubt in Rye’s face dissolved, and he gave her his high-wattage grin. “My name is Ryan Harper, but everyone calls me Rye. I see you’ve met my brother.”
She nodded at Max, but it was a polite thing. It held none of the shy curiosity from before. He was going to bash his brother’s skull in.
“Is there anything you wanted from the kitchen, Sheriff Harper?” Rachel asked. “I have other customers waiting.”
Rye scratched his head, and Max saw the moment he decided to retreat. “No, darlin’. I just wanted to say hello. It was nice to meet you.” His eyes flashed to her name tag. “Rachel. If you have any trouble, you give me a call, okay?”
Max followed Rye back to the table, where he sat down. His brother looked thoughtful as he munched on the burger he’d stolen. Max ate the fries as he waited for Rye’s brain to work through the problem.
“Has she been that cold to everyone?” Rye asked.
“She’s not cold at all.” Something had split in Max. For the two weeks his brother had been gone, he’d been able to focus on Rachel. He’d been able to see her as a puzzle to be solved. Why did this one woman, of all the women in the world, call to him? He’d been able to view her almost academically, if obsessively.
Rye was here and there was a decision to be made. One he’d never had to make before. He hurt thinking about that decision. All his life he’d thought he would end up with a family that consisted of his brother and their shared wife and a bunch of kids they called their own.
“How did she get to Bliss? Does she know someone here?” Rye asked.
Max knew where his brother was going. He would come to the inevitable conclusion. “She blew a tire and Mel helped her out. He brought her to Stella’s and Stella hired her. She’s living out at the Movie Motel for now.”
He’d overheard her telling Stella she’d gotten a room out there.
“That girl’s in trouble, bro,” Rye finally said, his voice grave.
“No shit, Sherlock.” Max was damn glad there weren’t many crimes to solve in Bliss. They all would have been in trouble.
“Damn.” Rye sighed. “I hope she’s not running from the law. I hate it when I have to arrest someone that fine.”
Max tried to pin his brother with his most intimidating stare. “You are not arresting her, you understand me? If she’s done something, then I’ll take care of it. How bad could it possibly be? She can’t weigh more than 110 pounds. I don’t see her committing a bunch of violent crimes at her size.”
“Yeah.” Rye stared at Rachel as she took orders from a table of tourists. “She’s pretty, but she could use a couple of decent meals.”
“You should have seen her two weeks ago.”
She’d been sickly thin, with faint circles under her eyes as though she hadn’t slept much. Waitresses at Stella’s ate for free one meal per shift. Rachel had inhaled a sandwich and a bowl of vegetable soup that first day. She’d practically cried when Stella set a piece of chocolate pie in front of her. He’d wanted to scoop her up, take her back to the house, and make sure she never missed another meal again.
“So this is the woman who showed up right before I left town?” Rye asked, his eyes steady on Max.
Guilt punched him in the gut. “Yes.”
“You didn’t mention how pretty she is. I believe you described her as mean. That woman doesn’t look mean. She looks sweet and sexy as hell. You didn’t find her attractive that first day?” Rye seemed determined to poke at the sore spot.
“I couldn’t take my eyes off her that day. It took everything I had to leave the diner because all I wanted was to sit and watch over her,” Max admitted. “I can’t explain it. I don’t understand it. I just know that it’s true.”
Rye’s eyes closed. “All right then. We made a deal to try this on our own. But you have to let me look into her background. Just a basic check.”
“Thank you.” Max could use his brother’s help on that part. Rye had resources that Max didn’t. If Rachel was on the run from something, it would be good to know what might come after her. She certainly wouldn’t be the first woman on the run to wind up in Bliss. They formed a good portion of the population.
Rye nodded. “You like this woman. You want her?”
“I do,” Max said quietly. It was odd to think about seeing a woman without Rye. Rachel was special, though. He had to see where it was going. “I want her like I haven’t any woman. Ever.”
Rye was quiet for a long time. His blue eyes were sad as he turned back to his brother. “I’ll back off, then. I want you to be happy, man.”
Rye finished off the burger in silence. Max put down the fries. He took another drink and contemplated his situation. His twin was sometimes more like the other half of himself than a brother. He wondered if he could ever be happy as half a man.