Sometimes you can’t see love coming, but that doesn’t mean
it isn’t there.

 

CHAPTER ONE

Detective Ray Sommers

 

Marshall, Texas, hadn’t changed much over the past decade, at least not physically. The diner sat in the same spot, the high school and football field remained much the same as when Ray had lived there, and the main thoroughfare still typified small-town America with its flags, flowers, shiny storefronts, and welcoming sidewalks. It screamed: Here’s a place where you could raise a family in peace and safety—at least from all outward appearances.

Stopping here was little more than a quick visit on his way to a four-day law enforcement conference in Las Vegas. This was his way of keeping a promise to an old Marine buddy without being forced to linger too long.

He’d promised his friend, Sheriff Elias Cooper, he’d come back for a visit one day. They’d served together in the Marines before returning to civilian life—as if anyone who knew better considered being a sheriff or homicide detective a civilian.

Being a cop was as fraught with danger as being in the military. A while back, the pair of them had been on the hunt for Fletcher’s missing brother, Kyle. Fletcher was one of the members of a semiretired team of Navy SEALs that lived on a compound on Fire Lake. In the course of the investigation, they’d shut down a human trafficking ring in Seattle in which Fletcher and Kyle’s parents were involved.

So here he was, back in the town he’d grown up in. The town that had expected him to take over as sheriff someday as his father had, and his grandfather before him. Due to a twist of fate and a few better offers, that reality had never happened. Instead, he became a cop in Seattle.

As he drove through town, old memories crept in. The street he grew up on to the left, the park he used to play basketball in, the corner store that sold the best candy, the skate park where he broke his first bone, and the bench where he got his heart broken.

It was all here in this town, and it was choking him. He felt imaginary hands circling his neck, growing tighter by the moment. He pulled at his shirt collar for relief, but finding none, he sped up.

Those fingers loosened once he made it outside the town limits, and his breathing evened out. A town shouldn’t have such a visceral effect on him after so many years that he’d spent thousands of miles away.

He took a calming breath and turned down the side road that led to his friend Brick’s lake house. He’d be meeting Elias and his partner, Fletcher, at their cottage on the property.

It’d been a couple years since the case they’d investigated together had been closed, and Ray had run out of excuses for not visiting his old friend. Being so close to his hometown had him planning his escape before he’d even turned onto the road to Fire Lake.

He knew the area well and didn’t require directions, but in his day, Sophia Matthews had owned the lake house. Her older brother, who was Brick’s grandfather, had moved away years before Ray was born and his father had taken over as sheriff. All of it seemed like a lifetime ago. A past he’d preferred to stay that way.

To say he was shocked when he pulled onto the driveway leading to the old lake house would be an understatement. What lay before him wasn’t the same place he’d left behind years ago. The house looked shiny and new, and the cottages dotting the property between the large oak trees reminded him of one of those idyllic scenes from a movie. Almost too perfect.

“Shit. Times have changed around here,” he mumbled as he threw his truck into park.

When he got out, he spotted boats moored to a large dock, and he recognized Spencer, whom he’d met on Kyle’s case, fishing off to the side while a smaller man sat in a lawn chair reading a book. Doors opened on the lake house, and Brick, Elias, and Fletcher walked out onto the back deck.

“You finally made it,” Elias shouted as he waved at Ray. “Thought you might’ve gotten lost.”

“Yeah, well, some of us have busy caseloads and can’t hop on a plane whenever they want,” Ray zinged back as he changed directions and headed their way.

“Don’t give me that shit. You forget who you’re talking to,” Elias said as he held out his hand for Ray to shake when he reached the top step. “How the hell are you, buddy?” he asked, bringing him in and slapping him on the back.

“Good, good,” Ray said. “You know. Same story, different day is all. How has small-town life been treating you?”

“Beats the hell out of living in the rat race.” Elias laughed. “You couldn’t pay me enough to move to the city.”

“Good to see you again, Ray,” Fletcher said as he shook Ray’s hand.

“You keepin’ this guy on the straight and narrow?” Ray asked with a nod toward Elias.

“Hell, we wouldn’t be here if he was straight,” Fletcher joked, making Ray laugh along with the others.

“So true. How are you, Brick?” Ray asked, shaking the team leader’s offered hand. Brick led the team of semiretired Navy SEALs who lived and worked as private security out here on Fire Lake.

“Keeping busy. You know how things go.” Brick smiled.

“Yeah, I do. I hear those missions have you guys pretty tied up lately.” Elias had mentioned a bit about Fletcher being away with his military team, but had never gotten into specifics. Ray was aware that being semiretired still meant the government came calling now and then.

“Come on in. We’ll grab a beer and get you caught up,” Brick said with a welcoming back slap.

“Sounds great.” He could use a beer or two.

Ray followed them into the lake house, taking in how nice the place was given a bunch of men were living there. There wasn’t a coat lying across the back of a chair or an area rug askew.

“This house has come a long way since I was here last. Congrats on the renovations and the cottages. It’s really something.” Truthfully, it was damn near picturesque.

“Thanks. We’ve worked hard and had help,” Brick said. The look of pride on his face was well deserved.

A young woman walked in as if looking for something. This had to be the infamous Julia he’d heard so much about. The heart of the lake house and all its residents.

“Ray, I’d like you to meet Julia,” Elias said.

Julia turned and smiled wide.

“Hello, ma’am. I’ve heard lots of wonderful things about you,” Ray told her.

“Same here. I’m glad you found the time to visit us after helping out with finding Kyle.”

“These guys would’ve found him without me, but I’m glad I could help in some small way.”

Julia opened her mouth to speak, but something to her left side caught her attention.

“Found you,” she hollered at the wall roughly ten feet away.

Ray was about to ask what she was looking at when a nude, slender man appeared out of thin air. Standing there as plain as day and as real as the table beside him.

“What the fuck is that?” Ray shouted before taking a few steps forward to place himself in front of Julia.

The naked man’s eyes widened, and he screamed, but before another word was spoken, his eyes closed, and he slumped to the floor.

Julia pushed past Ray, and she and Fletcher ran to the man.

“Oh shit. Darren. Darren, talk to me,” Julia said as she lifted his head off the hardwood floor.

The man groaned and opened his crystal-clear blue eyes that stared at Ray in abject fear. A chilled gust whooshed through Ray’s body as he was overcome with a most unexpected and unwelcome feeling: the absolute need to ensure he never saw that expression on Darren’s face again.

Shit.

He turned to Elias for answers. “You forget to tell me something?”

“Yeah, we need to talk,” Elias said, rubbing the back of his neck.

 

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