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Campbell Thomas was my first boyfriend, first love, first everything. We were inseparable. Spending nights under the stars talking about our future together: marriage, kids, the whole nine yards. Neither one of us had a care in the world, or so I believed. When he told me he’d been accepted to Tennessee State in Nashville, I thought everything was perfect. We’d head off to college together, graduate, move back home to Magnolia, and then finally start the family we’d talked about. I was with the boy I loved, and who I thought loved me desperately. What could go wrong?
A lot, apparently. I spent most of my junior year working odd jobs around town, trying to save up enough money for us to start our life together when we went away to college. But because of all the work I’d been doing, we had less and less time to spend together. As the school year ended, he became distant, not returning phone calls and canceling dates at the last minute. I thought he was planning on asking me to marry him—hell, everyone did. How the hell could I have been so wrong?
Instead of getting down on one knee and asking me to marry him, he broke up with me. He said we wanted different things out of life and that it’d be best to make a clean break now before it was too late. I was heartbroken, but what could I do? If he didn’t want to be with me, there wasn’t anything I could do about it. However, that was only the start.
On the first day of senior year, I was there, front and center, when Campbell dropped to one knee and proposed to Emmeline Harris. Everyone was shocked, none more so than me. Not only had my boyfriend of three years broken up with me, but he was now down on one knee, asking someone else to spend the rest of their life with him. It seems Emmeline and Campbell were soulmates. A fact they figured out over the summer while I was working on gluing the pieces of my broken heart back together.
My heart shattered to pieces that day. I believed that what we had meant something to him, but obviously, I was wrong. To make matters worse, he tried to convince me it just happened and had nothing to do with the reason he broke up with me. I wanted the white picket fence and a small-town life, the life we both grew up having, but he didn’t. He wanted to get as far away from Magnolia as he could, unlike me. And it was those feelings and the need to escape that brought him and Emmeline closer together.
He told me she was there for him in a way I never could be. She was able to sympathize with his feelings of wanting to get as far away from Magnolia as he could and never come back. One thing led to another, and the feelings between them blossomed into something more, and he broke up with me. He promised he never cheated on me, and I believe him. But that doesn’t negate the fact that Emmeline was having his baby. That’s right, not only did he not waste any time jumping into bed with someone else, but he knocked her up almost immediately. When their parents found out, his dad practically forced him to propose to her, leaving me to deal with the fallout.
That was the day I decided I was done with relationships. I had pinned all my hopes and dreams on that relationship, and when it was over, I was left with nothing. It took me months to bring myself up out of the pit of despair I was in, but when I did, I knew I was stronger for having done it. I promised myself that no one person would have that much control over my happiness ever again. I knew then that I’d never allow myself to be so wrapped up in another person again. I had goals in life that I wanted to accomplish, and I refused to let anyone stand in the way of achieving them.
I went to Tennessee State and got my degree in criminal justice before coming back to Magnolia and joining the sheriff’s department. It wasn’t exactly how I planned to come back to my hometown, but I still had plans to live out my dreams. The plan just changed a little.
But that’s not really what he was asking. This stranger doesn’t want to know every thought and feeling I’ve ever had leading me to this moment with him in a bar. What he wants is in my pants, and I’m mostly okay with that. Most people only know the parts of me I allow them to see, never letting more than a few people close enough where they could hurt me. But the way this man is looking at me is as if he can see into my soul makes me want to spill everything, but I have a feeling that has more to do with the multiple shots of tequila I’ve had since getting here and not some cosmic connection between the two of us.
“Too bad you’ll never find out,” I whisper before placing my glass on the bar and signaling the bartender for another one.
His eyes widen in surprise, probably shocked by my response, before twinkling with mischief. “Oh, and here I thought you were going to make this easy.”
“Anything worth having in life is never easy.”
I can feel the tension crackling between us as I smile back at him. Alarm bells ring in my ears, warning me to run in the opposite direction, but I can't ignore the magnetic pull I feel toward him. He’s dangerous for my heart. I can feel it in my soul. There’s something about this man that has my mind screaming for me to run in the opposite direction, but my heart is screaming for me to stay. I just wish I knew which one was right.
I try to maintain my composure, but my heart is pounding in my chest and my palms are getting sweaty. I take a sip of my drink, hoping to calm my nerves.
He notices my unease and chuckles. “Indeed, it isn’t,” he says, his voice low and husky. “Good thing I’m always up for a challenge.”
The moment the words leave his mouth, my eyes zero in on his pants, my cheeks heating instantly.
“If you wanted to know what I was packing, all you had to do was ask.”
“Does this always work for you with the ladies?” I question, tilting my head to the side, trying to make sense of the man sitting in front of me.
At first, I had every intention of writing him off as just some guy, but now I’m intrigued. The only problem is, I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
“Ladieswould imply multiple women. Right now, the only one I have eyes for is you.”
Men like this are a dime a dozen. Gorgeous and exuding confidence, focused on getting between a girl’s legs and nothing more. I could give him what he wants. It would be so easy to pay my tab and walk out the door with him to have a night of wild passion. But the little voice in the back of my head is telling me this man is dangerous. He doesn’t look like a criminal or that he could even hurt a fly, but my senses are telling me to run in the other direction. Too bad I’m not really listening.
“You can’t be fucking serious right now.” I can’t help but smile at his words and the confidence with which he’s trying so desperately to keep my attention.
“Ah, there it is…” he whispers, a downright illegal smile spreading across his face.
I can’t help but feel a flutter in my chest at the sight of his smile. It’s dangerous how easily he can pull me in with just a few words and a flash of those pearly whites. But I’m not one to back down from a challenge, especially when it comes to men like him.
“There’s what?” I ask, trying to keep my voice level despite the growing heat in my body.
He leans in closer, his eyes locking on mine. “A smile. I’ve been trying to get a real one out of you since I sat down.”
“And why is that?”
“Because before I sat down, you looked like you had the weight of the world resting on your shoulders.” He reaches forward, brushing his finger down my cheek. “The silly pickup lines were just a diversion to get your attention.”
“And what makes you think you have my attention?”
He chuckles, the sound low and deep, sending shivers down my spine. “Because, darling, I can see it in your eyes. The way they light up every time I speak.”
