B9 Hometown Lover Read online

  Contents

  COPYRIGHT

  HOMETOWN LOVER

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  EPILOGUE

  MORE BY ANNABELLE LOVE

  STAY IN TOUCH

  SNEAK PEEK

  Copyright

  Copyright © 2019 by Love Lust Publishing. All rights reserved.

  In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.

  Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Hometown Lover

  We're best friends, not lovers. So, how did I end up in my best friend's bed?

  Well, he did rescue me from my broken down car.

  Plus, he’s grown into a complete hunk of a man and is hardly the beanstalk that I recall growing up with.

  It just... happened.

  I mean, if you call being trapped inside due to a snowstorm and then finding yourself being ravished in bed 'just happening'.

  A fling… that’s what we agreed. We know this can’t last, I’m only back in my hometown for a couple of weeks.

  My life is in Vegas with the job I love.

  And his is here with his ranch.

  We physically can't be together…

  So, why don’t I want to leave?

  ***Hometown Lover is a stand-alone read with toe-curling romantic scenes. There's no cheating, no cliffhangers, no escaping the steamy nights (and days), and a guaranteed HEA***

  Chapter 1

  Joanne

  You know what sucks?

  A twenty-hour plus drive from Las Vegas to Iowa. I remembered when I used to drive around with my friends for hours and it was no big deal. Now as I head toward age thirty I couldn’t think of a worse fate than being crammed into a car for hours and not able to get out whenever I wanted to stretch my legs and my mind.

  The scenery had faded very quickly from mountains and desert to nothingness and farms. The flat land was interrupted by the occasional hill and was dotted with cows, horses, and cornfields.

  Ah, home sweet home.

  I hadn't seen Iowa since I was sixteen. That was when I'd saved up just enough and moved in with a few friends that I'd met in California. The ocean and sunny beaches and the upscale shops had called to me. It was freedom, unbridled and uncomplicated and I'd loved living there. Although now that was years ago as well.

  I shuddered and placed my hands in front of the heater. It seemed like it was on its last legs, coughing and sputtering its dying breaths as the cold invaded my small car. I tried to rub my hands between my jeaned thighs but that didn't help much.

  "Shit," I muttered.

  I still wasn't home. I'd made it into Iowa a while ago, but Wakelin was still a ways off. The more the cold encroached on me, the more I realized how much I hadn't missed it.

  I need some coffee.

  Actually, I'd kill for some coffee. I'd driven all the way from Las Vegas, almost fifteen hundred miles. My legs were tired, my eyes burned and if I didn't see the inside of my car for several weeks I'd be a happy camper. I knew that wasn't possible though. I had to get back to the desert and go back to work. This was just a task that had to be completed.

  I'd found out my mother had died a week ago. In that time they'd had her funeral and put her in the ground, but I hadn't gone. We hadn't been close. There was no hate, because there was never any love, but we were cold to each other.

  I had wanted the mother everyone else had. The one that kissed your boo-boos and told you everything would be okay. My mother was the type to slap you upside the head, tell you to grow the fuck up, and then go find somewhere to shoot up. I'd endured an endless stream of abuse from her, as well as the worthless losers that accompanied her, and somehow I'd made it out mostly unscathed.

  I could honestly say it was the reason I didn't date. Who had time to fall in love when there were more important things to do? I loved my career. I'd become a nanny to give kids the love that I never received, but sometimes working for all of those diamond-studded parents jaded me. They were just as bad as my mother, only they had the cash to support their habits.

  "At the next turn make a right," my Google maps rang.

  "Yes," I said as I bounced in my seat. "Almost there."

  I'd forgotten the specifics to getting back to the two-story house that my mother had inherited from her parents. She'd kept the tradition and passed it on to me, but I didn't want it. The place was filled with violence, sadness, and heartbreak. The only reason I was back was so that I could tidy it up, sell it, and get the hell away from Iowa again.

  I glanced at my phone. I was only twenty minutes or so out. Not that much longer and I’d be soaking up the heat and away from the terrible roads.

  I turned the corner and peered through the windshield. It had started to snow and my windshield wipers weren’t too happy about it as they were bogged down with the white fluff.

  My car started shaking and suddenly it stalled out completely. I stared at it in shock when it came to a halt and the heat cut off altogether. I pinched the bridge of my nose.

  "Okay, let's try that again."

  I turned the key and the car tried to start before it stalled again. I scoffed.

  You have to be fucking kidding me.

  The last thing I needed was for my car to stall when I was so close to being home. I peered out of the windshield. The snow was getting worse and I was stuck inside of a car with no heat—what heat there was confined inside was minimum and I knew it would fade right away.

  "Come on. Come on," I prayed as I tried to get it to start up again.

  The car did nothing and seemed to look back at me as if it was accusing me of being a jerk. Yeah, fifteen hundred miles was a long way to go, but it wasn't a good reason to stall out.

  I told my car that, but it didn't help anything. I sighed.

  I slipped out of my car and dug around in the backseat. I found a pair of gloves and slipped them on before I tightened my jacket around my shoulders. It wasn't nearly thick enough, but I didn't think I'd get stranded. I figured I’d be somewhere with heating no matter where I went.

  That's what I get for thinking I knew what was going to happen.

  I walked to the front of the car and opened the hood. As I peered inside I pretended that I knew what the various hoses and parts did. I had no clue. Besides putting gas in, fixing a tire and changing my oil, I was completely clueless. I leaned back and sighed as I ran a hand over my face. That was all I needed. A busted car, only a little amount of cash, and the freezing cold.

  I stared down the street, but I already knew it would be too long of a walk. If I tried to make it to my mom's place I would probably lose a few fingers and toes along the way. I might have forgotten how bitterly cold Iowa winters could be, but standing outside for a few minutes reminded me with a vengeance.

  "
Well I can't stand around here all day," I muttered to myself.

  I walked back around and dug around in my car. My phone showed a very low number of bars and I held it up as I tried to get a signal. My feet crunched through the snow and I cursed the fact that I'd decided on my sneakers instead of boots for comfort while I drove. My feet had already started to freeze.

  I climbed back inside of the car instead of standing out in the elements. At least it cut down on the wind from whipping in my face. I scrolled through my phone as I looked for a tow truck. A few numbers popped up and I tried to call one.

  "Murray's."

  "Oh thank you," I sighed. "I'm stuck on Miller and Court. Could you come and pick me up? My car won't start and it's freezing."

  "Ma'am? I can barely hear you."

  "I'm stuck on Miller and Court," I shouted. "Can you come and get me, please?"

  "You're breaking up real bad."

  I groaned. "Can you hear me?"

  "Try calling me back."

  The guy, who I assumed was Murray, hung up the phone and I stared at mine.

  Shit.

  I couldn't do anything but sit there and try to call him again. Every time I got through however, we had the same problem. He couldn't hear me and I could barely hear him over the static-filled connection. I tried to call him once more and my phone beeped and showed me the low battery sign.

  "Please," I mumbled. "Don't do this to me. Come on."

  All I had to do was get to that damn house and life decided I didn't need to get there. I crossed my fingers that I could get through before my phone died, but I felt the panic as it rose up in my chest. It felt like an iron fist had clenched around my heart and started to squeeze.

  Panic. I'd had a panic disorder since I was young and it had mostly gotten better over the years. I blamed the flare up on the fact that my mom had died and I hadn't been there. The guilt that rose in my stomach and choked me said that I'd done something wrong. Now the car wouldn't start and my phone was dying.

  What if I get stranded out here all night?

  I didn't have a blanket or a thicker jacket that I could cuddle up under. All I had were some spare clothes and some snacks in the back, but if it kept snowing I wondered if I'd get stranded for more than a few hours.

  "This is not my day," I said out loud to myself.

  All I could do was sit and wait. I plugged in my phone, but leaving the battery on wasn't going to end well either. I knew it would run out and the slow way it charged in the car meant I might not even have a full battery by the time my car decided to die for good.

  I wished I'd stayed in Las Vegas. Part of me felt obligated to go through my mom’s house and sort everything out, but I knew it was bad luck to come back to my childhood home. I didn't have any ties to Iowa anymore. I'd stopped talking to my old friends from here years ago and I'd never had any family besides my grandparents and my mother. The place held nothing for me now.

  So why am I back? I didn't owe the woman who'd given birth to me a thing.

  Still, I felt responsible.

  I leaned my car seat back and propped my legs up on the dashboard. At least I could stretch out. I knew that wasn't much, but if I didn't find the good in the bad I'd end up upset and I couldn't afford that. I'd spent so long trying to stuff down my emotions. If I let them go I knew I’d be in a world of trouble. I sniffled and rubbed my hand over my cheek shutting it all back down again.

  Sometimes, I did miss having someone that could help me deal with things. A friend, a comforting voice. Something. I couldn't even call back to Vegas and talk to my bestie.

  Seriously, toughen up. Do not sit here and cry.

  I steeled myself and stopped sniffling right away. It was something I'd learned to do as a young girl and it continued to come in handy. I never cried over anyone anymore. That wasn't going to change now.

  Chapter 2

  Peter

  I loaded the last of the groceries into my truck and made sure they were secure. All I needed to do now was get the feed that I needed and pet food for Rory. He was my eager golden lab that sat by my side at night and ate me out of house and home. The last time I'd waited a night to get food the next day, he'd somehow managed to open the fridge and decimate everything inside. I loved the mutt, but he drove me insane at times.

  "All set?" Pat asked as he handed me the last of the bags.

  I nodded. "I should be."

  "Make sure," he said worriedly. "I heard there's a storm coming in tonight. It's already getting pretty bad out here." He frowned as he looked around. "You shouldn't linger around."

  "I still have some time," I said as I clapped a hand onto his shoulder. "Don't worry so much."

  I knew that was like asking the sun not to shine. Pat was an old family friend and he always worried about me since the time I was a pain in his ass stealing cherries from his yard and getting yelled at. Now he was older, white consumed every inch of his hair and he looked at me like he was constantly worried that I was going to fall apart at any moment.

  "Just be careful," Pat said as he looked up at the clouds. "I've seen it like this before and it gets bad. You might be snowed in for a while. I wanna make sure you don't starve up there."

  I grinned. "The only thing I'm going to be starved from is lack of attention."

  "You need a wife," Pat said and grinned as he relaxed a bit.

  "That's the last thing I need," I chuckled as I stared at him in mock horror. "Being shoved into a confined space with a woman for more than a few hours seems like a bad way to go."

  He shook his head. "You're the most ridiculous man I've ever met. How long are you going to run around town being a playboy, hmm? It's gonna get old eventually."

  "You say that, but I don't see it happening. What could be better than getting to know a woman for a while and then going on about my life?"

  "Having a loving family to come home to?"

  "That sounds awful," I laughed.

  Pat shook his head and waved me off. "Get out of here. If your mom was still around she would have slapped you upside the head for the way you act."

  "Oh she did that plenty. Still didn't change me. I’m sure by now she's up there laughing at the fact that her son is an idiot," I laughed again.

  "Get," Pat called as he waved a hand and walked back toward the store. "You're giving me a migraine."

  "Get home safe Pat! Don't get caught out in this storm."

  "Yeah, yeah," he muttered.

  I grinned as he walked back into the store. I kind of felt for the man. All he wanted to do was make sure I'd made the right decisions in life and I gave him a hard time at every turn. It was part of who we were though. He always demanded I get settled down, and I always refused.

  I climbed into my truck and slammed the door before I headed off. It started to snow when I was halfway home, but my truck could handle that. I still had snow tires on and the chains that encircled them. It wouldn't be hard at all to get home.

  Home was a four hundred acre ranch that was pretty out of the way. Going into town always was a bit of a drive, but it was worth it to have my own slice of heaven tucked away from the general population and any prying eyes. I liked my privacy. I liked the quietness that surrounded the place. The only sound I usually heard was mooing and barking, my chickens as they clucked and the farmhands I hired every year to help me out.

  It was paradise to me.

  As I turned down Miller I saw a car in the middle of the road. The lights were off and it just sat there. I frowned and pulled over to the side before I climbed out. My boots crunched in the snow as I made my way to the driver’s side door. I expected to find it abandoned. Instead, I saw a woman sleeping soundly as clouds of cold escaped her lips. They looked faintly blue and I frowned again. I didn't want to scare her, but I was more concerned she'd die if I didn't…

  I knocked on the window. "Hey, are you okay in there?"

  She jolted and sat up and stared at me with wide-eyes. Her fingers pushed red hair out of her
face and she opened the door. I could see the way she shivered in the cold, but that wasn't what froze me in my tracks.

  Those eyes. Pea-green and alert along with the red locks. Her wide-eyed stance, her pouty pink lips. They were so familiar that I stared until she narrowed her eyes at me and they flew back open.

  "Peter? Peter Jones?" She asked as she stepped out of the small, silver car.

  "Yeah?" I asked slowly. "That's me."

  "It's me! Joanne!"

  "Jo Jo?"

  She nodded and my heart stopped in my chest. I hadn't seen her in so long, but when I heard that name it all came back into perfect clarity.

  Joanne and I had been friends since we were babies. Our mothers went to school together, they were married around the same time and they'd raised us in the same neighborhood. I hadn't left her side for a minute through our school years, and when she left? I was devastated.

  Joanne hugged me and I felt her shivering body against mine. I wrapped my arms around her instinctually. She was obviously cold, scared and alone. I pulled back and she beamed up at me.

  That smile was enough to knock me off of my feet.

  "What are you doing here?" I asked her. "I didn't think I'd ever see you come back." I frowned. "Oh yeah, your mom," I mumbled.

  Joanne nodded. "Yeah. Did you go to the funeral?" She asked.

  I shook my head. "In the end she didn't want anyone there honestly. She told us all we could fuck off and she didn't want anyone around when she finally died. I think she'd been sick for a while."

  She nodded. "According to what I've heard, yeah, that's true. I couldn't make it out for the funeral, but I doubted I would have gone in the first place."

  I watched her face fall. It looked like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders as she stared down at the ground. Her hands gripped my jacket and I watched as she wavered on her feet. That was more than enough for me. I wasn't going to leave her out here on her own so she could really get hurt.

  "What happened to your car?" I asked as I wrapped an arm around her waist.