~ Adam ~

  Everything that could have gone wrong had gone wrong. Connor, my identical twin, and I were building three model homes and a sales office on a piece of property on the main street of our town. Retirees were discovering Blue Ridge Valley, North Carolina, and it seemed as if they all wanted one of the Hunter brothers’ luxury log homes. Business was booming, and I wasn’t complaining about that at all. But I was ready to kill the man standing in front of me, giving me a dozen excuses as to why the wrong kitchen cabinets had been delivered.

  “Roy, we buy local as much as we can, which is why we ordered these cabinets from you,” I said. “You just sent my schedule into the toilet.”

  After profusely apologizing and swearing that I’d have the right cabinets in four days, even if it meant overtime for his employees, he left. I tackled the granite counter problem next. The deliverymen had dropped the island countertop, breaking it in half. They’d called their boss, and the message back was that a new counter would be delivered in two weeks. That was not acceptable. I’d taken out my phone to deal with that issue when Connor and Autumn, his girlfriend, walked in.

  Seeing the two of them holding hands and laughing, I had the urge to unbuckle my tool belt, drop it to the floor, and walk away. To where, I didn’t know. Didn’t care. Just somewhere far away.

  Don’t get me wrong. I was happy for my brother that he and Autumn had finally dealt with their issues and now seemed to be ridiculously in love. But every time I saw them together, I thought of Savannah and how we’d once been that happy. I shook my head, banishing thoughts of Savannah from my mind. She was my past, and that was where she would stay.

  “Bro, what’s with that sour look on your face?” Conner said.

  Instead of punching him for smiling like an idiot, I settled for a glare. “Where should I start? With the wrong kitchen cabinets sitting over there?” I swept my hand out at the offending cabinets. “Or how about the delivery guys dropping and breaking the granite countertop for the island? Then there’s the—” My phone rang. Hopefully it was one of the reasons for my problems calling to make things right. The number was an unknown, so probably not. I answered anyway, hoping it was someone with good news.

  “Adam Hunter.” All I heard was breathing. I frowned. Just what I needed, a prank phone call. “Hello.”

  “Adam?”

  I stilled, certain that I was hearing things. That voice whispering my name couldn’t be Savannah. “Who is this?”

  “Savannah.” She laughed, but it sounded brittle. “I guess you’ve forgotten… Never mind. I shouldn’t have called.”

  “Don’t hang up.”

  “Who’s that?” Connor said.

  I glanced at my twin, the only person in the world who could practically read my mind. Right now I didn’t want him in mine. Without answering, I walked outside. After all this time why was she calling? I’d given her my number last year when she’d come to the valley for Jenn’s wedding. It had been obvious that she wasn’t happy, and in a moment of weakness I’d told her to call me if she ever needed anything.

  “What do you want, Savannah?” I’d once loved this girl with every bone in my body and every beat of my heart. As much as I kept telling myself I was over her, I wasn’t sure I’d ever be.

  “I… I, ah… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have called you.”

  “You already said that. Talk to me, Savannah. Are you in trouble?”

  “Not exactly.”

  I sighed in frustration. “What does that mean, exactly?” I glanced up to see Connor standing outside the back door of the house, watching me. I turned my back on him. “Savannah?”

  She hung up on me.

  I hit call back. Her phone rang six times before she answered. When she didn’t say anything, I said, “Where are you?”

  “Allentown, Pennsylvania.” A few beats of silence and then, “I ran away, Adam.”

  At those words my heart took a tumble to the pit of my stomach. “From Whatshisname?”

  “From Jackson, yes. I didn’t know who else to call.”

  “Seems like Jenn or Autumn would have been a likely choice.” Jenny Conrad and Autumn Archer were her best friends in the valley. Connor and I had grown up with the girls, and they were tighter than bark on a tree.

  “I know. It’s just that the first place Jackson will look for me is there, and both of them will be at the top of his list to interrogate. I don’t want them involved.”

  If there was a chance the schmuck would come here, I didn’t want them involved either. But I would warn Dylan, Jenn’s husband. He was our chief of police and one of the good guys.

  “Okay, I get that. What kind of help do you need?”

  “This is so embarrassing, but could I borrow a couple of hundred dollars? I’ll pay you back as soon as I can access my bank account.”

  “When will that be?” I realized how that sounded. “What I mean is, a few hundred bucks won’t get you far. How far are you going, anyway?”

  She started crying. Hell, she didn’t have a plan.

  “Two questions. Has he ever hurt you, and will he really try to find you?”

  “He… he put a knife to my face and said he’d cut me if I didn’t do what he says.” Another sob sounded over the phone. “And yeah, he won’t stop looking for me until he finds me since I’m his meal ticket. I just need a little money until I figure out what to do.”

  The bastard had threatened to cut her? I paced the ground, wondering how fast I could get to New York and see how the man liked my fist in his face. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Connor still watching me. He probably suspected whom I was talking to. Although we’d all been friends growing up, after Savannah and her mother had left for New York to pursue a modeling career for Savannah, leaving me with a broken heart, he’d stopped liking Savannah. But he didn’t know the whole story. It was the only secret I’d ever kept from him.

  “Okay, here’s the plan. I assume there’s an airport in Allentown?”

  “Why?”

  “Go there. I’ll have a ticket to Asheville waiting for you.”

  “No, Adam. The first place he’ll look for me is Blue Ridge Valley.”

  I hoped so. “Savannah, there’s no safer place than here. The entire town will protect you, you know that. Now do as I say. I’ll call you back with your flight information.” I disconnected before she could protest.

  As soon as Connor saw I was off the phone, he headed my way. “What’s going on?”

  “Not now. Where’s Autumn?”

  “Inside measuring the rooms.”

  Autumn was an interior designer, a damn good one, and she would be doing the decor for our model homes. “Good. Find a reason to get away, then meet me at the police station in an hour. And Connor, don’t give her any reason to be suspicious.”

  He frowned at me as I walked away. My problems with the building suppliers temporarily forgotten, I headed home to book a flight for Savannah and take a quick shower. I had a good crew, and they would continue on without my supervision for the remainder of the day.

  I’d called Dylan on my way to the police station, so he was expecting me. Connor was already sitting in his office when I walked in, closing the door behind me. “Savannah called me.”

  Connor scowled. “I knew it.”

  Yeah, sometimes it was a pain having a twin who could pick up on things others couldn’t. I ignored him as I sat in the chair next to him. “She ran away.”

  “So? What’s that got to do with you?” Connor said.

  “If you’d shut it, I’d tell you.” He didn’t want Savannah anywhere near me. I got that and understood. Connor had been there for me after Savannah left, even when I’d wished he’d get lost so I could be alone with my misery. He’d watched me struggle to get over her, had made sure I ate, and hadn’t gotten mad when I refused to tell him exactly what had gone down between us. One of the problems with some twins was that they felt each other’s pain, and it had always been like that for Connor and me. I hadn’t been the only one who’d hurt.

  “I gather this isn’t a simple breakup between Savannah and Jackson?” Dylan said. “Considering you’ve got me and your brother here behind closed doors?”

  “He held a knife to her face and threatened to cut her.” What kind of man did that to a woman?

  Dylan sat up, his eyes turning hard and cold, and beside me Connor hissed. She hadn’t answered her phone when I’d called to give her the flight information, so I didn’t know if she’d gotten the message I’d left or if my worst fear had come true. That Jackson Marks had found her.

  “We need to bring her here where we can protect her,” Dylan said.

  Connor nodded. “I agree.” He put his hand on my arm. “She’s not my favorite person, but she’s one of ours. No one hurts what belongs to us. Dylan’s right. We need to get her home.”

  “That’s my plan.” I hadn’t doubted that Dylan would be on board with however I decided to handle Savannah’s situation, but I hadn’t been sure about my brother. I glanced at him, and as often happened, a message passed between us without words. Thank you, my eyes told him.

  I’ll always have your back, he responded.

  “I booked her on a flight to Asheville, but she didn’t answer her phone when I called to give her the info. So the question is, will she be on the plane?”

  “What time does she arrive?” Connor asked, then added, “If she is on the plane.”

  “A little before eight in the morning. It was the soonest I could get her out of Allentown to here.”

  “That gives us time to make a plan,” Dylan said.

  I had a plan all right. Make sure Savannah was safe and then wait for Jackson to show up. He was going to wish he’d never stepped foot in my town.

  “We’ll need to hide her,” Connor said.

  “If she’s not on the plane, then I’ll go looking for her. If she is, the last thing we should do is hide her.” Both my brother and Dylan turned surprised eyes on me. “He’ll know she’s here, and from what she said, he won’t stop until he finds her. You ever see the Clint Eastwood movie, High Plains Drifter?”

  Dylan stared at me for a moment and then broke into a smile. I’d watched the movie on a cable channel a few weeks ago, and while showering earlier, I’d thought of the town that had joined forces to beat the outlaws. An idea had taken shape.

  “Yeah, I have,” Dylan said rather gleefully as understanding settled on his face.

  “I watched it with Autumn, maybe two weeks ago.” Connor glanced at Dylan. “She loves old movies.” His eyebrows furrowed when he turned back to me. “We’re going to paint the town red?”

  “No, dumbass, we’re not painting the town red, but the town is going to circle the wagons against the bad guy.” After working out the details of our plan, I headed home to grab some sleep before I had to leave for the airport.

  The next morning I was at the Asheville airport thirty minutes before Savannah’s flight was due. She’d never called me back. As I waited in baggage—the closest I could get to where she would exit the terminal—I wondered if she’d gotten on the plane.

  3

  ~ Savannah ~

  Coming home to Blue Ridge Valley had been a mistake. I would be bringing my troubles to the people I loved, and that was the last thing I wanted to do. I should never have stepped on that plane.

  Adam had booked me a seat in first class as far as Charlotte, North Carolina, and from there, a window seat on the commuter plane to Asheville. Although I was used to flying first-class, I didn’t like that Adam was spending that kind of money on me. As soon as I could get control of my bank account, I’d pay him back.

  Since my face was recognizable, I’d bought reading glasses and a baseball hat to tuck my hair under at the Allentown airport. Between my meager disguise and the fact it was a red-eye and everyone was tired and sleepy, no one gave me a second glance. When they called for boarding, I almost walked out of the airport, but desperation was apparently an excellent motivator. I had nowhere else to go.

  As I neared baggage, my heart beat an erratic drumbeat in my ears. I would be seeing Adam for the first time in over a year. There was no doubt in my mind that when I walked through security, he would be there, waiting for me. When I’d briefly talked to him at Jenn and Dylan’s wedding, he’d asked if I was happy. I’d lied, telling him I was, but the tears I couldn’t hold back had said otherwise. Adam was and would always be the man I loved.

  The years hadn’t dimmed what I felt for him, but he couldn’t know that. By now he would have moved on, made a life for himself. Nor did I want his pity. On the flight I’d considered my options. They were too limited for my peace of mind, but my first objective was to get control of my money. Then I needed to decide if I’d continue to model. I didn’t want to, but I didn’t know anything else.

  I’d led a sheltered life thanks to my mother and then Jackson. It was ridiculous that I didn’t even know how to write a check since I’d never once done that, had never paid a bill. But that was going to change. By leaving Jackson, I’d taken the first steps to get control of my life. There would be no turning around now. Forward was my only direction from today on.

  When I spotted Adam, he was looking directly at me. No smile greeted me, but I wasn’t expecting one. With one phone call I’d disrupted his life. Yet he’d been there for me. That was Adam. A man his friends could always depend on. He was also a man who still stole my breath.

  Tall with short black hair and blue eyes that had always made me think of a cloudless summer sky. Even in high school he’d had a hot body, but the man had filled out in all the right places. He built houses, so he probably had muscles from the physical labor that I’d never touched. My heart broke a little at seeing him and what I’d lost.

  An attractive woman walked ahead of me, and as she passed Adam, she gave him the once-over. I couldn’t blame her. It shouldn’t matter that he didn’t seem to notice her, but I would be lying to myself to claim otherwise. My steps slowed as I neared him, and I took a few extra seconds to compose myself.

  One of the advantages of being a model was that I’d learned to project on command whatever image the photo shoot called for. Sexy, you got it. Girl next door, I’m her. Badass female CEO, all over it. So I formed an image in my head of a woman not in love with the man waiting for her, hiding what was in my heart. Composed, no love stars shining in my eyes, and no soft smile on my face, I stopped in front of Adam.

  “Hello, Adam,” I coolly said.

  “I gave you a fifty-fifty chance of getting on that plane.”

  “Almost didn’t. When I asked to borrow a little money, I wasn’t hoping for a knight on a white horse.”

  “There’s not even one white horse in my stable.”

  His eyes were as blank as I knew mine were, and I hated that it hurt not to see anything resembling fondness for me on his face. Either he was as good at hiding his feelings as me, or he really didn’t think of me as more than a friend he was willing to help. My money was on the latter.

  As far as his willingness to step into a messy situation and help me, that wasn’t a surprise. Both the Hunter brothers had always been protective of Jenn, Natalie, Autumn, and me. We’d all been friends since elementary school, and the twins had even tolerated us girls invading their tree house. Of course Adam and Connor had soaked us with their water guns in an attempt to keep us out, but once they realized we thought that was fun, they’d decided we weren’t so bad.

  Natalie, Jenn’s twin, was gone now, leaving a hole in all our hearts after she’d died of a brain tumor a few months after graduating high school. Jenn was married to Dylan Conrad, Blue Ridge Valley’s new police chief, and Autumn was single again. I regretted that I hadn’t been there for her when she’d caught her husband cheating on her. Since leaving the valley, I’d been a crappy friend to this group of people that I loved. I could blame that on my mother and Jackson, but that didn’t ease the guilt.

  “Your luggage should be coming out in a few minutes,” Adam said, taking my overnight bag from me. He put his hand on my back, steering me toward the carousel.

  “I don’t have anything more.”

  He darted me a surprised glance but didn’t comment. No doubt he thought a famous model would have a truckload of luggage when she traveled, and normally that was true. I usually had one case that held nothing but shoes; then there was my makeup bag, larger than most women’s. And I won’t even start on my clothes. It wasn’t that I cared much for those things.

  Always looking perfect was in my job description, and there was nothing the paparazzi loved more than catching you at your worst. That had happened once before my mother died, when I’d slipped out without makeup, without my hair done, and wearing what she called ratty clothes. Within hours that photo had been popping up all over the place. All I’d wanted was a latte, something I wasn’t allowed. Mother and Jackson had been furious, because of both the latte and the pictures. I’d never made that mistake again.

  Fortunately it wasn’t as cold as it had been in New York and Pennsylvania, but I still shivered when we stepped outside.

  “Where’s your coat?” Adam said, his gaze raking down me, pausing for a moment on my running shoes.

  “Don’t have one.”

  He slipped off his leather jacket, putting it over my shoulders. The inside was warm from his body heat, and I almost sighed with pleasure before I caught myself.

  When we reached Adam’s vehicle, I smiled at seeing the muscle car. Adam and his brother were classic car nuts, had been for as long as I could remember, something they got from their father. “What year is it?”

  He fondly eyed the car. “She’s a ’68 Camaro SS. Took us a year to restore her to her original condition.”

  “She’s beautiful.” Because of the brothers I had an appreciation for classic cars. In high school they’d owned a 1970 Mustang Boss they’d restored to its original condition, and Adam had taken me on many dates in it. I had a special fondness for the back seat of that car.

  “That she is.” He opened the Camaro’s passenger door and I slid in. I pulled off the reading glasses and watched him walk around the hood of the car. I could spend my life watching him, enjoying the fluid grace of his movements… truthfully, just feasting my eyes on him in general. When he got in, I blanked my face, hiding my longing behind my mask.

 

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