Chapter One
Becca
There were no warning signs. The car just went from running, to a slow sputter, and then completely dead. Luckily I was able to coast the car over to the shoulder. Thank goodness for the little things in life.
Fishing my phone out of my purse, I prayed for service. Two bars. It would be enough. I dialed Molly. She’d come get me. I waited for the call to go through, but nothing happened. I hung up and tried again. Nothing. I couldn’t hold off the first hint of panic.
The sun descended quickly, and I was stranded on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. Hitting Molly’s number again, I waited, but got only more dead air. I considered getting out of the car to see if I got better service, but that seemed too much like what would happen in a horror movie. Girls in those kinds of movies always did stupid things like getting out of their cars.
I sat for another few minutes, contemplating my options. An SUV pulled up behind me. I stiffened. Was this going to be help or just someone using my car breaking down as an excuse to kill me?
As I sat there freaking out about the possibilities, I heard a knock on my window. My heart just about jumped out of my chest. Hesitantly, I looked up and saw a tall hulk of a man right outside the car. He gestured with his hands for me to open the door. I shook my head no. This guy was huge. There was no way I was opening the door.
He nodded, held up a finger as if telling me to wait, and disappeared. I waited, wondering what he was up to and whether I could find any sort of weapon. I settled for closing my fist around the small container of mace I kept in my bag.
I heard another rap on the window and glanced over. The man held a badge up for me to read. He was a cop. Of course anyone could fake a police badge, but that seemed extreme even for my imagination. I decided to take a chance and open the door.
Before I could even open it all the way, the guy ducked his head down to talk to me. “Having car trouble?”
I tried to appear more confident than I really felt. “Yeah, it looks that way.”
“I can take a look at it for you, but honestly, I’m not great with cars. I’m guessing by the Massachusetts plates that you’re not from around here.”
“No, I’m not.” Cop or not, I wasn’t going to give him more information than I had to.
“Where are you headed?” He squatted down, making eye contact. He was good at this—yeah, he was really a cop.
“Umm, Clayton Falls?” I looked down at the Google directions I’d printed out in case my GPS failed. Molly hadn’t talked much about her town, so the name still sounded foreign on my tongue.
“Clayton Falls, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“You wouldn’t happen to be Molly’s friend, would you?” A faint smile played on his lips. It gave him an almost boyish look that was at odds with his size.
How’d he know? “Yes…”
“I’m a friend of hers.” He held out his hand. “Gavin Powell.”
“You’re Gavin? The Gavin?” Molly had told me about her near fling with the hot cop in her hometown, but I thought she’d exaggerated his good looks and size.
He smiled. “So you’ve heard about me? As far as I know, I’m the only Gavin.”
I remembered my situation. Not the time to flirt. “Is there any way you can help me get through to her? My phone isn’t working.”
“Yeah, service is iffy out this way. Why don’t I give you a lift? I’ll take care of getting your car towed.” He leaned in closer, his body heat making an already warm evening hotter. His brown hair was messy, and I had a feeling he never really bothered to fix it. His friendly hazel eyes begged me to trust him, but I couldn’t.
“That’s really generous, but really, I can wait for Molly.”
“Listen, Ms…” He looked at me, waiting for me to fill in the blanks.
“Harris. Becca Harris.”
“I appreciate your hesitation. It’s smart for a woman to be careful, but we’ve already established I’m a police officer, and we share a mutual friend. You can trust me.” His voice was low and rich with a sexy drawl that got under my skin.
He was probably right, but I still wasn’t willing to make a stupid decision. “For all I know, the badge is fake.”
“And I just happened to know the person you were coming to see?”
“No, but—”
“Come on. It’s getting late, and I can’t leave you out here.” He shook his head at me in frustration.
“Fine.” If I was debating chances of survival, taking a ride was probably the better option.
He reached out a hand to help me out of my dead car.
“I’m fine.” I let go of the mace, put my purse over my shoulder, and got out. I went around to the trunk, popping it open to retrieve my suitcases.
“I’ve got them.” Gavin placed a hand on mine as if to get me to release the handle of the first bag. I tried to ignore how nice the momentary contact felt. I hadn’t felt the warmth of a large, capable hand in a very long time.
“You sure?” I turned to look at him, but in the growing darkness, I saw more shadow than anything.
“Yeah, is this it?”
“I just have a garment bag in the backseat.” I went around and pulled it out. The bag contained the most important part of my wardrobe—my suit. I wasn’t sure how much I’d need it in Clayton Falls, but I didn’t want to be caught without it.
“Ready?” he asked.
“Uh huh.”
I followed him to his car, one of those huge SUVs I’d never pick in a million years, and waited as he stowed my bags in the back. I stepped up into the passenger seat, wondering for the umpteenth time what I was even doing in North Carolina.
The impersonal email letting me know I wasn’t being asked back to work in the DA’s office for the summer had been the final straw. I’d wanted to work for the District Attorney since I was 17—I didn’t have a backup plan. My second year of law school had been a disaster. Starting the year without my best friend Molly had been hard enough—but then a few months later, my Mom died.
“You okay over there?” Gavin started the engine and eased us back onto the road.
“Yeah, sorry.”
He glanced over at me and frowned before turning his attention to the road. “You aren’t what I expected.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“I guess I expected someone more like Molly.”
“Oh, did you?” I guess Gavin wasn’t as over my friend as she’d thought. Of course, she probably hadn’t thought much about it since getting married to her high school sweetheart, Ben, the previous summer. I hadn’t been able to make the wedding on the short notice she gave, but I’d never heard her happier than when she called me the next day. It’s not that I blamed Gavin for having trouble moving on. Molly was a gorgeous blond with a big heart.