Ride-along (Bounty County Series Book 1) Read online

  Ride-along

  Maren Lee

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale, or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Wildcat Ranch Publishing

  P.O. Box 691

  Idaho City, Idaho 83631

  Ride-along

  Copyright © 2016 by Maren Lee

  CONTENTS

  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

  Chapter 20

  Epilogue...

  STAY TUNED...

  Chapter 1

  Taking a chance and heading back to the small town of Imminence, Montana weighed heavily on Chloe’s mind. Last year’s debacle at the Sioux River Rodeo made her stomach flip. But the thought of seeing Justin Hunt again, and the need to get the hell out of dodge and away from her life, kept Chloe headed northbound.

  The last time she was alone with Justin he kissed her with an intensity that was incomparable to anything she had ever felt before. But just as soon as the kiss began to get hot and heavy, he released her and quickly put distance between their bodies. She looked up into his eyes and breathed out quickly, as if she knew she wouldn’t get another chance to say it, “Justin, I think I’m falling for you.” She remembered his response like it was yesterday. She wished she could forget it. He stared at her for a beat with guilt heavy in his eyes. “Chlo’...shit,” he said as he shook his head. “I’m not the man for you.” Then he turned around and walked away.

  He looked defeated as he shuffled through the dusty parking lot toward his truck with his shoulders slumped. Chloe wasn’t sure why she stood there and watched him leave. She couldn’t turn away; couldn’t get her feet to move despite her brain screaming at her to turn around and run. But Justin never looked back. She poured her heart out and he just walked away. It was so unexpected. Cruel.

  She’d reached out to him for an explanation, even though she was afraid his explanation would hurt more than the emptiness and disappointment she'd already felt inside. No reply. So after a month or so of nursing her wounds -- with the hurt turning to seething anger -- Chloe decided it would be more productive to get back in the saddle and move on. She channeled her anger into school and work and spent the better part of the last year trying to forget Justin Motherfucking Hunt. She would be lying if she said she was successful in doing so.

  Chloe knew that returning to Imminence would put her under Justin’s gaze once more. She couldn't deny that she felt a tiny bit excited about having a chance to rub in his face all that he’d been missing for the past year. Despite the fact that he’d burned her pretty badly, Chloe still hoped he hadn't moved on. She'd heard through the grapevine (ok, so the grapevine just happened to be her cousin, Sierra) that he was still single. It was surprising for such a catch, really. Chloe had never witnessed the “tall, dark and handsome” cliche in a real live human until she met Justin. Not only was he gorgeous, but he also ticked the box on several of Chloe’s other “unofficial” boyfriend requirements. Man in uniform? Check. Fill out a pair of jeans? Check. Perpetual five o’clock shadow that would feel amazing rubbing between her legs? Check and check. She let out a frustrated groan. Quit it, Chloe. You are not going to have a repeat of last summer. Besides, he’s a dick. Yeah...keep telling yourself that. Lost in thoughts of Justin, she didn’t notice the flashing lights in her rearview mirror. She heard the sirens first.

  Fuck. Chloe looked down at her speedometer. Nine, you’re fine. Ten, you’re mine... Shit! Is this seriously happening?

  She was less than ten miles from Imminence and well over the border into Bounty County. Shit shit shit. What if it was Justin? Should she floor it and make a run for it? Or pull over and prepare for the disappointment? Fuck. Her fear of having to share underwear with felonious women and the way the color orange washed out her complexion won over her need to avoid him. There was a good chance another deputy was on duty, anyway. Get your shit together, Chloe! He doesn’t affect you anymore! Breathe, dammit! She pulled over onto the highway’s shoulder and put her vehicle in park. She checked her rearview mirror again. Holy...

  The door to the truck swung open and a man’s Danner boots hit the pavement. The second she saw his large mass fold out of the truck she knew in an instant that it was the body she had spent a considerable amount of time fantasizing about -- and a considerable amount of time trying to forget. His muscular legs filled out his 5.11 pants in all the right places. She had a sudden flashback to his thigh between her legs as he pushed her up against the wall and kissed her hard. She remembered in great detail the way his shoulders felt when her hands snuck beneath his vest. Large. Hard. Strong.

  The moment she rolled her window down, he would see her; unexpected and very possibly unwanted in his town for the first time in a year. She could feel her face turn red as she heard the knock on her window. She rolled it down and attempted to hide her face.

  "License and registration, please, ma’am," he stated professionally.

  His voice came out deep and smooth. It pulled on her stomach. Her thighs automatically clenched. Even with him being 6'5" and towering over her Honda Civic, his voice was not muffled. She reached for her purse and fumbled through her wallet to find her license and took a deep breath. Phew. Got it. Chloe leaned quickly toward the glove box to grab her registration, but before she knew it his voice was loudly commanding her to put her hands on the steering wheel.

  What the fuck is happening?

  "What were you reaching for?!" he yelled.

  Really? He was asking that? What did he think she was reaching for? God, he was still such an asshole. Without thinking of the consequences of her attitude, Chloe snapped, "My fucking registration, sir." She put a bitchy emphasis on “sir.”

  "Place your hands on the steering wheel and prepare to step out of the vehicle, now, ma’am." He similarly emphasized “ma’am.”

  Oh no.

  Justin was having a shit day. Under normal circumstances, he probably wouldn’t make this bitch get out of the vehicle. But he’d been through the ringer today and was not going to let her get away with that smart mouth.

  He opened the door. She stepped out of the car. Justin inhaled. Holy fuck, her body is bangin'. He instantly regretted making her get out. Once dispatch ran her license, they were going to give him a load of shit for finding a reason to make an apparent Sports Illustrated swimsuit model get out of her car. The woman was all legs in her cut off denim shorts and she had an ass that would definitely fill his hands.

  He moved his eyes slowly up her body. Her toned waist set the stage for her breasts. They had to be at least a D cup. He wondered what her nipples looked like under her tight black tank. He could see a hot pink and black zebra striped bra peeking out. Jesus. His eyes met her lips. They were full and covered with juicy red lipgloss. Oh, fuck yeah. He finished his once over inspection of her body and let his eyes make contact with hers. Oh. Oh
no. No. His heart skipped a beat. Those piercing blue eyes. He felt his heart jump into his throat and his groin pulse beneath his zipper. Chloe.

  He'd done everything he could in the last year to try and get her off of his mind, but nothing had worked.

  Say something, dumb ass!

  "Chloe, what the fuck? What are you doing here?" he said, angrily.

  Please don't say you're here to meet someone else. Please don’t tell me Sierra is matchmaking for you again.

  Chloe smiled tightly. "Nice to see you too, Justin. I'm here for Sierra’s 30th birthday party,” she said indignantly.

  Justin's mind was racing. He couldn't stop staring at Chloe’s sexy body. Fuck, she was even more beautiful than he remembered.

  Chloe had to break the silence. She crossed her arms and covered her chest, as if to block his view. "Are you gonna write me a ticket or something?"

  Justin ran his hand through his short hair, visibly frustrated. Chloe was clearly pissed at him. He couldn’t deny that it was for a good reason. "Is there anything else you need from me, Justin?"

  Your mouth on my cock.

  Whoa. Those thoughts were going to get him in trouble. He wanted to tell her to put her hands on the hood so he could frisk her. She had to be hiding something between those thighs...right? Dammit, no. Unfortunately, he couldn't justify a strip search right now and Brenden would kick his ass if he cost Bounty County a lawsuit for putting his hands on her without cause. But he wanted to. Something fierce.

  He still hadn’t said anything in response to her question, “Earth to Justin? Hello?” Chloe was annoyed.

  Justin came back to and shook his head. "No. You're not in trouble. Just... slow down, okay?" Shit.

  Chloe bent over to place her license back in the car and the swells of her ass cheeks peeked out of the bottom of her shorts.

  He held in a groan. Justin knew he wasn't going to be able to stay away from her. He didn't want to. He'd spent too much of the last year regretting how things went down between them. He’d talk to her tonight at Sierra’s party.

  Thankfully, he’d already been invited. He loved his boss’ wife. Sierra was a tell-it-like-it-is type of lady. Completely blunt, often inappropriate, and a little weird, with a mouth like a sailor. Unfortunately, she was also constantly trying to fix him up with her various friends and family members, which annoyed the shit out of him to no end. He’d recently made her promise she was done.

  Chloe climbed back in her car and shut the door. Justin leaned into her open window, grabbed her seatbelt, and started to pull it across her lap.

  “I got it, Justin.” Chloe attempted to take the seatbelt out of his hand, but he kept a grip on it. Yeah. She was still pissed.

  His forearm crested the peaks of her nipples. Fuck. He could tell they were hard even through the two layers of her shirt and bra. He slid the buckle around her waist, caressing her hip with his large hand and then he snapped the belt into place.

  "Keep this beautiful body safe, darlin’," he said, almost in a whisper.

  Her breath hitched. He smiled and slowly walked back to his truck. She still reacted to him.

  He could work with that.

  Chapter 2

  As Chloe pulled back on to the highway she nearly had to pinch herself. What in the fuck just happened? Based on their last encounter, she certainly couldn’t have predicted that little reunion. Confused by the situation, she forced herself not to think about Justin while she traveled the last seven miles into Imminence.

  The last year of her life had been a whirlwind of terrible dates and one night stands...and one klingon stalker. Considering the amount of men she dated while trying to forget Justin, one stalker out of the bunch didn't seem so bad, right? But that was also the reason she had to get out of town. It was the reason she was headed right back toward Imminence and the man she tried so hard to get out of her heart and mind.

  After Justin’s rejection, Chloe registered on Tinder just for fun. But with the amount of penis pictures she’d received, it was mostly just gross. Of the few messages she received without an accompanying cock, there were several attractive potential matches. One of her matches was a man named David. He seemed normal and flirtatious and not at all creepy, so Chloe kept chatting. It was a nice change of pace for about three days. That’s as long as it lasted.

  David became obsessive. If Chloe didn’t respond right away, he wouldn’t stop messaging her. He kept asking to take her out. She politely dodged his advances. Despite her not providing him with any information, he seemed to know an awful lot about her and the area of town in which she lived. The messages got increasingly desperate. “Where are you? Is everything ok? Are you mad at me? Are you breaking up with me?” She got a major creeper vibe, so she decided to cut ties with both David and Tinder. She completely deleted her account.

  But then David found her on Facebook. Chloe didn't use her last name on Tinder, so it was a bit concerning that he had made that connection. But maybe the accounts were linked somehow? She blocked him again. That’s when the emails began. Shit, did this guy work for the NSA? Chloe did not respond to his emails and marked the messages as spam.

  This only escalated his obsession, however, because David also had the time and skill to find her cell number. The first time he called, she’d heard heavy breathing on the other end. She hung up quickly and then ran around the house locking the doors and the windows -- she felt like she was in a bad horror movie. She blocked his number. The next time he called, it was from a different number, so she was unable to dodge him. When she answered, he acted completely normal...as if she had asked him to call her. Without saying a word, she hung up. Chloe stopped answering her phone entirely. And that’s when he started leaving her threatening voicemails.

  To say she was freaked out was an understatement, but she stupidly didn’t report him to the police. Well, she didn’t until late one night a few weeks ago. David (she’d recently learned that David was, in fact, his real name) showed up at the steakhouse where she worked as a waitress and made a scene. It made her skin crawl just thinking about that evening. She’d been waiting on him for a while that evening and didn’t even know it was him. (Shocker that his Tinder profile picture was not a recent photograph.) He appeared a bit older, a bit heavier, and a bit greasier in person. But at the time he was just another guy who wanted a steak.

  Chloe was normally a very friendly person. But she was extra friendly when she was working because she worked for tips. Chloe smiled and chatted and took his order. He gave her a few strange looks, but she didn’t think too much of it. She just wanted her shift to be over and her tips to pay the bills. Then all hell broke loose.

  When she made one more pass by his table, she heard him growl followed by shouting, “You bitch!” He quickly stood up and grabbed Chloe by the wrist, stopping her and whipping her back toward him.

  It was all still a blur, but Chloe remembered hearing him screaming, accusing her of cheating on him. She tried to pull her wrist out of his grasp when he slapped her across the face with his other hand. Chloe fell to the ground, completely stunned, the pain of the slap stinging the right side of her face and making her eyes water. She’d never seen this man before in her life! He continued yelling as a few large, male restaurant patrons jumped in and restrained him. He made sure everyone in the restaurant knew that he was the victim and Chloe was the harlot. She heard him going on and on about a date she’d gone on last week.

  Chloe ducked out of sight while the bartender called the police, but she’d heard enough to know it was her Tinder stalker. Who else could it be? He knew her date’s name, his profession, what time they went, and where they had dinner. The fact that she’d gone out with anyone was known only to a couple of Chloe’s close friends. He had to have hacked her phone. Or worse: he'd been following her.

  Chloe knew that she needed to get rid of this guy for good. When Uintah County law enforcement showed up, she told them everything. Thankfully, she’d saved the voicemails and had enou
gh witnesses from the restaurant, so she didn’t need to work very hard to convince the officers. David was taken into custody.

  She learned that his name was David Sullivan and, apparently, she was not his first victim. He was a stalker. A restraining order was put in place and, fortunately, Chloe hadn't heard or seen from him since. But that didn’t mean Chloe could shut down her paranoia. She was constantly on guard and looking over her shoulder. She was mentally exhausted. Understandably, Chloe felt the need to get far away from the situation. Enter Imminence. She didn’t know if she was leaving town for good, but she packed enough in case she decided to stay away for an extended period of time.

  If Chloe were being honest, there wasn’t much left in Duchesne, Utah for her. She had a shitty job at a chain steakhouse and a stalker. She’d envisioned herself at the age of twenty-nine having already settled down with a family of her own and having a couple years of a career in finance under her belt. But her grandmother's health began to fail when Chloe was 21. Her parents were completely hands-off and her brother was an asshole, so Chloe stepped up to the plate. She didn't want her Nana to have to live in a nursing home, so Chloe moved in and took care of her.