Daring to Fall Read online

  Daring to Fall

  A Willow Creek Romance

  Shannon Stults

  Daring to Fall

  Copyright© 2019 Shannon Stults

  EPUB Edition

  The Tule Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  First Publication by Tule Publishing 2019

  Cover design by Michele Catalano

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

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  ISBN: 978-1-951190-15-6

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  Dedication

  To Laura, the other pea in this silly, wonderful, sometimes cramped little pod (with a pod next door).

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgements

  Please Leave a Review

  The Willow Creek series

  Excerpt from Keeping Score

  Other Books from Tule

  About the Author

  DAY 1

  “I don’t have a shift at the hospital for the next few days. I was thinking maybe we could get dinner with some of my friends tonight.” The redhead bombshell in the driver’s seat looked over at Cowboy with bright eyes and a toothy grin. “The girls are dying to meet you.”

  “I’ve already got plans,” he said, not the least bit disappointed. Well, unless you counted the fact that he’d only just met this woman yesterday and she was already telling her friends about him.

  “Oh,” she sighed, her smile slipping for only a second before it came back at full force. “What about tomorrow?”

  “I’ve got a really busy week ahead of me.”

  She huffed, her shoulders falling as her bottom lip poked out. “I understand. But make sure you call me if anything changes.”

  “Okay,” he lied.

  The car filled with an awkward silence while she continued to pout, occasionally casting glances his way. God, what had he done to deserve this?

  Okay, so maybe this was karma’s way of getting back at him for hitting on a woman while his best friend was recovering from extreme smoke inhalation in the Dublin emergency room. In his defense, he’d waited until after Cole was released before he officially made his move on the sexy nurse he’d been fantasizing about for more than an hour.

  Dana was sensual and alluring and said in no uncertain terms that she had no interest in anything more than a one-night fling. He’d been raring to accompany her back to her place for a night of fantastic sex, and he’d thought—not for the first time—that he was the luckiest guy in Willow Creek.

  At least until he woke up the next morning. He’d barely even had his jeans back on before she invited him to breakfast and started calling him “baby” and “honey” and a number of other little pet names that made the back of his neck prickle. Breakfast? As in let this awkward morning-after go on even longer? Sorry, he couldn’t. He really needed to go home and check on his friend.

  He sent up a small prayer of thanks for that handy little excuse. It probably took a special kind of person to find a silver lining in his best friend nearly dying.

  “What about sometime next week?” Dana went on now as they rounded a curve on the country road leading back to his place in town.

  He really should have brought his own transportation. It was an amateur move, one he sure as hell wouldn’t be making again.

  He was mercifully saved from coming up with another excuse when a gray Jeep parked on the shoulder came into view way up ahead. A woman with long, blond hair and a bright orange dress wiped her brow before kicking at what he suspected was a flat tire.

  “Pull over.”

  “What? Why?” Dana’s eyes narrowed, the car slowing infinitesimally. “Who is she?”

  He had no idea, but Dana didn’t need to know that. “That’s…Lexi,” he said, grasping at a random name. “She’s an old friend of mine.”

  “What kind of friend?”

  “The kind who clearly needs my help,” he said, his patience straining. “Now pull over.”

  She did as he said, coming to a stop just behind the gray Jeep. Cowboy practically flew out of the car. “Hey, I thought that was you!”

  The blonde woman spun around as he approached, and any uncertainty he’d had of her identity vanished. He hadn’t seen Harper Maddox in almost four years, but this was a small town and he’d recognize their class’s quiet, reclusive valedictorian anywhere.

  She squinted at him from behind a pair of red-rimmed glasses. “Cowboy?”

  Yes! She remembered him, too. That was going to make this next bit so much less awkward.

  “I didn’t know you’d be in town today, Lexi. It’s been a long time,” he said loudly.

  Harper’s brow furrowed before her face fell completely flat.

  Before she could say anything that would give him away, he pulled her into a tight hug. He stood almost a foot taller than her but managed to bring his lips level with her ear. “Just go with it,” he nearly begged.

  “Uh…”

  He released her, keeping an arm over her shoulder as he turned to face the blue Camry he’d just escaped from. “Thanks again for the ride, Dana, but Lexi and I have it from here.”

  Dana glared at them through the windshield. She hesitated for a moment, waiting until Cowboy waved a sign of dismissal. She pulled away, her angry eyes zeroed in on Harper as she went.

  Every one of his tense muscles instantly relaxed. “Don’t mind her. She may be the jealous type, but I don’t think she’d actually do anything to you.” He removed his black UGA cap and wiped his sweaty brow with his forearm. “I owe you one. Usually I can tell the clingy ones before things get too far. If we’d actually made it back to my place, I think she would have started plans to move in and redecorate. So…you think I can get a ride into town, Lexi?”

  Harper threw his arm off her shoulder. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “What?”

  “Well, for starters, Russell, that’s not
my name.”

  “Right. Sorry about that. I panicked and told Dana you were an old friend. Lexi was just the first name that came to mind.”

  “Second, you just used me to get away from one of your one-night stands. And now you have the nerve to ask me for a ride?”

  Okay, so that one was fair. But if she’d been in that car to hear Dana debating with herself over whether it was too soon for him to meet her parents, he suspected Harper would be much more understanding right about now.

  She didn’t wait for his response. Instead, she let out a frustrated grunt that reminded him of a disgruntled kitten before she grabbed the flat tire she must have already removed, carried it around to the back of the Jeep, and tossed it in the trunk.

  He snatched up the tire iron from the ground where she’d left it. “Here, let me help you…”

  “Harper.”

  “Right, right.”

  She scowled at him once again as she tore the iron from his grasp, and he had to bite back the smile that tried desperately to make an appearance. “And I don’t need your help.” She walked to the front left tire and nearly stumbled in her white heels. She huffed as she bent down and yanked the shoes off her feet one at a time. She shoved them into Cowboy’s empty hands.

  “You sure?”

  “Yes. I’m not some helpless damsel who needs rescuing from a flat tire.” She hiked up the narrow, knee-length skirt of her dress that he only just now realized was torn and smudged with grease and squatted by the wheel.

  He chuckled to himself. “Clearly.”

  He watched her with curious interest as she made quick work of securing the tire on its mount. He didn’t know who this fuming, outspoken woman was, but it was definitely not the shy, mild-mannered girl he knew back in high school. This woman was much more amusing.

  His eyes raked over her petite figure while she finished tightening the last of the lug nuts and slowly lowered the jack. While the cute librarian look was far from his type, even he had to appreciate a woman who could fend for herself. And the way the orange, lacy material of her dress strained over her chest didn’t hurt either.

  “So about that ride…” he said slowly once she’d tossed the jack and tire iron into the trunk, her white high heels still in his hand.

  The skin under her left eye ticked, and she looked like she wanted to stab him with one of those heels right now. But then she took a deep breath, and her scowl was wiped clean. “Fine, whatever.”

  Cowboy climbed into the Jeep before she could change her mind, and she started it up with a soft rumble.

  “Thanks. You know, most girls would jump at the chance to have a big, strong, undeniably handsome man like myself get down and dirty for them. I have to admit, it’s actually a bit refreshing.”

  “I have to admit, I don’t care.” She pulled out onto the road, not even bothering to ask directions. Not that it surprised Cowboy. Everyone in Willow Creek knew that he and his best friend, Cole Tucker, still rented the same small house since their high school graduation four years ago.

  He studied her tight lips and creased forehead from the passenger seat before his gaze fell once again on her lacy dress and high heels. “Can I ask what’s got you all dressed up this morning?”

  “None of your business.”

  He laughed, unfazed. “Just trying to make friendly conversation with you.”

  “Well, seeing as we’re not friends, you can stop anytime,” she grumbled. She turned onto the main road leading into town.

  The corner of his mouth twitched. “You know, you’re kind of cute when you’re angry.”

  “Don’t do that,” she snarled, shooting a quick, yet menacing, glower his way, which he found immensely entertaining. She really did make this too easy.

  “Do what?”

  “Get all flirty with me. I know what kind of guy you are, Cowboy, and I’m not falling for it. I go to Georgia Tech. I’m in the top percentile, and I’m way too smart to fall for your crap.”

  “Is that so?”

  “Yeah, it is. I’m not the kind of girl who’s going to go fawning all over a guy, especially one who doesn’t even remember my name after going to the same school as me for ten years.”

  They pulled up to the curb outside his house where the only other vehicle present was his white landscaping truck parked in the driveway.

  “What?” she asked when he said nothing. “No charming reply?”

  “Come out with me tonight.”

  Harper stared silently at him for several long seconds. “You’re joking. Did you listen to any of what I just said? I’m not going on a date with you!”

  He could hardly believe he’d said it himself. Not because he was interested in her like that. He’d decided several minutes ago she wasn’t his type, and the fact that he wasn’t already thinking about how to get an invite back to her place tonight was proof of that.

  Still, he’d never been the kind of guy to hang out with a woman he wasn’t trying to sleep with either. Normally he couldn’t be bothered without the promise of sex afterward, but something about this girl was practically screaming for his help.

  “I didn’t say it was a date. Look, clearly you could do with a good unwinding, and I just happen to have a free night tonight. So why don’t you let me take you out where you can let loose a little? Just as friends.”

  “I just told you we’re not friends,” she argued as he opened his door.

  “You still live with your grandma over on Dorchester?”

  “I…yes?” she said as if even she couldn’t be certain where she lived at that moment.

  “Great, I’ll pick you up at seven.”

  “I never said yes!” she yelled through the open window behind him as he headed for his front door.

  He turned and winked over his shoulder. “I’ll see you tonight, Harper Maddox.”

  Chapter One

  Harper let the market door close softly behind her, several heavy grocery bags hanging from her hands as she practically ran back to her Jeep. She knew coming back to Willow Creek would be hard for many reasons, but what she hadn’t expected was the sad, pitying looks everyone gave her. What was meant to be a quick trip to the store turned into over an hour of getting stopped by people young and old, all insistent on giving her their condolences and words of encouragement. It was all she could do not to break down in the middle of Macy’s Market.

  Instead, she’d put on a small smile, the one that showed she was perfectly in control of herself, and thanked each of them for their kind words, without a single tear in sight.

  Harper was tired of crying. She felt like she’d been crying nonstop for a week now, ever since that night in her Boston apartment when she got the phone call from her little sister.

  She pushed the memory away, instead focusing on her three Cs.

  Cool. Calm. Controlled.

  A little mantra she’d gotten in the habit of repeating anytime her emotions threatened to get the better of her. It had been her saving grace after losing her parents, and it had been the only thing holding her together this past week.

  Cool. Calm. Controlled.

  She took a deep breath, opened her trunk, and started loading the heavy grocery bags into it one by one.

  “Harper Maddox?”

  Harper closed the trunk door and spun around to see a familiar face beaming at her. “Lo?”

  Logan Kase—technically Logan Tucker since her wedding just over a year ago—was jogging across the street toward Harper and her Jeep. She looked almost the same as when she’d last seen her three years ago. Long, dark brown hair and tanned skin that looked amazing in the yellow sundress that was perfect for the early September heat.

  One thing that had changed was the very noticeable bump hiding under the flowy skirt of Lo’s dress. Harper’s eyes went wide as her old friend came rushing at her, throwing her arms out and pulling her into a quick hug.

  “Oh my God! I can’t believe it. I haven’t seen you in forever.”

  Harper retur
ned her hug, then pulled back and stared down at the other woman’s swollen belly. “I can’t believe you’re pregnant! How far along are you?”

  “Six and a half months.” Lo was grinning from ear to ear, absolutely glowing with soon-to-be motherhood.

  “I had no idea. Congratulations!” This time Harper was the one to pull Logan into a hug.

  “Thanks. We’d planned to wait a few years before we started trying to have kids. But we were so excited when we found out, and then Cole almost cried when they told us it’s a girl. He’s already picking out baby clothes and furniture and stuffed animals. It’s adorable.”

  “I can imagine.” Pretty much the entire town had seen just how much Cole Tucker loved Logan, even from when they were kids chasing each other around town and pulling pranks. In fact, Logan had been just about the only person who didn’t see it. At least until a few years ago when she graduated from college and moved back home. The two had started up their games again, and it hadn’t been long after that Lo realized her own long-standing feelings for her childhood rival.

  So, it wasn’t at all surprising that Cole would be excited to add one more to the very short list of girls he would love unconditionally.

  “Now if his brother, Keith, can just get the new house finished before she comes, we can get out of the cramped rental, and I might be able to get in a few nights of good sleep before I’m up twenty-four hours a day with a screaming baby.”

  Harper laughed. “It sounds like you’re both really happy.”

  “How have you been?” Logan asked, her smile fading. It was replaced with that same look of pity Harper had seen ever since she got back into town a couple days ago. “I heard about your grandmother. Daddy said it was a stroke?” she said, sounding uncertain.

  Harper nodded. “She’d been on blood pressure medication for years. But the doctor said it looked like she hadn’t been taking it for a while.”

  “Oh. I’m so sorry.”

  She gave her friend a soft smile, fighting the ache that rose in the back of her throat. “Thanks. It hasn’t been easy. Grams practically raised me and Sadie after our parents died, and she’s really the only family we had left. Now…now it’s just us. But please don’t feel bad for me. I’ve had enough sympathy to last me a lifetime.”