Sometimes what you think you need least is what you need most.
Jenn Meyers has come home to take over the books for the family farm while her father recuperates from his stroke. She thought she’d put this part of her life behind her, trading in the tractor and blue jeans for sports cars and business suits. However, the longer she’s home, the easier it is for her to fit in once more.
Tony Blackstone hasn’t forgotten the woman who stole his heart all those years ago, despite the fact she never even known he was alive. Now that she’s back, all his feelings are resurfacing. Trouble is, she doesn’t seem all that keen on staying. He wants her to stray his way and not back to the big city. Can he show her that her place is here in The Edge, with him?
Reader advisory: This book is part of a series and is best read in order.
General Release Date: 3rd April 2018
Jennifer Meyers closed the book and pinched the bridge of her nose. Lordy, I hurt. Every inch of her was sore. Rubbing the back of her neck, she sighed. She cracked open her eyes and glanced over to the clock. Six hours had passed since she’d sat down in this chair.
She sobered. It wasn’t her chair, it was her father’s. A man she’d always idolized as far back as she could remember. Her days of sitting in this office with him, at her own little desk with her very own ledger, were fond memories she never forgot, no matter how much she moved beyond this small town.
Now that man, the one she’d thought would never slow down, lay upstairs recovering from a massive stroke and she was the one in the chair.
“I’d much rather you be sitting here, Dad,” she muttered.
“You okay, Jenn?”
She took off her glasses and peered up at her baby sister as she walked in. Mary removed the stethoscope from around her neck. Her jeans hung low on her hips, making Jenn realize that she’d lost more weight since she’d gotten home. It was hard to miss the dark circles beneath her eyes, as well.
“I should be asking you that. You’re home late. Everything okay?”
Mary tucked some of her hair behind one ear and rocked back on her heels. “You do know I’m not a baby anymore, right? I am allowed to be worried and ask how everyone else is doing.”
There was an edge to her tone but Jenn ignored it. Instead, she left her glasses on the desk and got to her feet.
“Let me fix you something to eat,” she said, shepherding Mary out of the room.
Jenn had mixed feelings about that space. As children, for the most part they hadn’t been allowed in there—it had been off limits aside from special occasions. Part of the reason it was all the more special for her was that she had memories of being in there with her father. And selfish as it may be, she didn’t want her sister in there now.
In the kitchen, she fixed them each a cold meat sandwich with a glass of tea. They sat across from each other at the oval dinner table.
“Anything I can do to help?” Mary asked her as she got a dab of mayo that had hung on the corner of her mouth.
“Nope.”
Mary’s gaze shuttered, and Jenn hurried to reassure her.
“Not because you’re the baby, but just because it’s all numbers and book work. I am catching up. It’s merely taking a bit longer than I thought it would. He was further behind than I first believed on writing everything down.”
“Fine.” She lowered her gaze back to the sandwich and finished it. “Thanks. Goodnight.” Mary got up from the table, rinsed off her dish and left Jenn alone with her thoughts in the old kitchen.
She could do to talk to someone. Rubbing her neck again, she demolished the rest of her sandwich then departed as well, clicking off the light as she went.
Jenn swiped her keys and opened the door. With a look over her shoulder, she acknowledged she had a small measure of guilt. She was sneaking out like she had done growing up. Only right now, that just left Mary in the house with her parents. Joe was most likely out with his fiancée and Patrick was settling into his job on the force.
She’d heard rumors they wanted him to take over as sheriff, with his experience. A final look over her shoulder and she hurried down to her car. She climbed behind the wheel and started the powerful engine.
Not much later, she was driving through town, heading to one of the bars. There were three of them in The Edge but she pulled in to the first establishment she came to, Perimeter.
Parking her small sports car next to the old, big trucks, she shook her head. Definitely not in the big city anymore. She grabbed her purse and went inside.
The interior wasn’t horrible, but so not what she was used to. Trying hard not to curl her lip in disdain, she made her way to the bar, dusted off the barstool and took a seat with caution.
A pair of dark gray eyes held her interest as their owner watched her. She bit back her irritation, accepting she was spoiling for a confrontation. Probably shouldn’t have come to a bar then, her subconscious cheerfully commented. She ignored it and gazed at the man watching her.
Big and strong. Not like the bartenders she was used to. This man had muscles gotten from hard work, not the gym. They weren’t over-exaggerated. Nope, pretty damn perfect if she had to say anything about them.
His jeans hung around lean hips and hugged tight to powerful thighs. She deliberately skimmed over what lingered in the center there and moved her gaze back up to safer territory. Or so she thought. His shaggy dark brown hair was stylishly messy. Scruff covered his chiseled jaw and she wanted to touch it.
Whoa! That’s not a good thing. Looking was fine. Touching would only lead to trouble, especially in a bar in The Edge.
Trouble was, if he kept looking at her like that, she would be over the bar doing a lot more than touching. He’d ignited a flame inside her that she needed him to extinguish.
Rallying her waning control, she cocked an eyebrow and asked, “Going to take my order or do I wait for someone else to walk by and do their job?”
A hint of a smile teased the corners of his lips. “From the look on your face before you sat, I wasn’t sure you’d want anything in a glass. Perhaps they’re not clean enough for you, Princeton.”
She drew back, furrowing her brow in confusion. “Princeton?”
He grabbed a glass and placed it on the bar in front of her. “That is where you went to school, isn’t it? Pretty sure the bars around there are a bit cleaner, higher end than this.”
He leaned on the counter, ran a hand through his hair, then gave her a smile which damn near melted her panties.
Giving her pussy a severe mental chastisement on how to behave, she narrowed her eyes. “How do you know that? How do you even know who I am?”