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CHAPTER ONE

MARLEY

Taking a breath, my lungs expand and deflate with each and every one. It wasn’t easy. Not with having to stand off with a man as sinful as the one I’d just served papers to.

Graham Holland.

The name doesn’t do him justice. Built well over six-three, I barely came up to his shoulders with my three-inch heeled boots. Without the extra height, I might have come to his chest.

I needed to get out of there ASAP.

Not because I was afraid of Graham Holland. He might have been big and hot, but he didn’t scare me. Not like you’d think. What was getting to me was that he was hot. Hot in a way that made my knees weak. It sucked to have to serve him papers. I’d have much preferred to have jumped him like the tree he is.

Okay, that sounds lame, but it’s the truth.

Talk about libido going into overdrive.

Getting to my car, I barely get the door open before I hear him calling after me.

“Hey, wait up.”

I glance over my shoulder to see him striding my way. Well, he was more or less stalking, not just striding, and the expression on his face is one of a man on a mission.

“I’m just doing my job,” I call out, not wanting to get into it with him. It wouldn’t be the first time that a person tried to argue with me and say I was out of line for serving them papers, but I’m just doing my job. Giving the papers that the courts need to be delivered.

Being a freelance process server should be a simple job, but it never is. There’re always headaches that come with it, especially lately. I only just moved here to be closer to my grandmother, who refused to move away from her home. I get why she doesn’t want to move from here. The views have been nothing but gorgeous.

I’m not talking about the man stalking toward me.

“I don’t give a damn about you doing your job. Those papers are nothing but a joke. But that ain’t why I came out here,” he states, stopping no more than a foot away from me.

“Then why are you out here?” I cock my head just the slightest bit, my curiosity piqued.

“‘Cause I wanted to know what your name is, sweets.” The grin on his face is what I’d definitely call panty-melting.

“Why do you need to know my name?”There’s no way I can give him my name.

“Because I want you to give me your name. Maybe even your phone number.”

Oh my.

If it weren’t for the fact we’re outside and there was plenty of air around us, I’d lose all oxygen in my lungs completely.

“Are you seriously hitting on me?” I was surprised I managed to ask him without sounding like a twit.

“Nah, sweets, I’m not hitting on you. That’s not my style.”

Okay, seriously, that grin tugging at his lips is total panty-melty worthy. He could have a woman creaming herself with just that little look. It makes a girl wonder what else he could do with that sexy body of his.

“And giving my name and number out isn’t mine,” I tell him. It’s the truth. I don’t ever give my information out to people I don’t know.

Shifting enough to open my car door, I glance back at him. “Bye, Graham. I hope everything works out for you.”

I really did mean it. I didn’t know what he was being served for. It could be a dime a dozen different things. None of them are my business.

I swiftly move, getting in my car and closing the door, not taking my eyes off Graham. He holds my gaze while I start my car and put it in reverse. I only take my eyes off him in order to back up and turn my car around. I feel his gaze still staring after me as I turn out of the parking lot of the garage.

It’s a good thing I’d been able to find him at his work and didn’t have to go to his house or even the clubhouse where he’s a member of the Devil’s Riot MC. I knew who the Devil’s Riot MC were, and I didn’t have a problem with them or any bikers.

That didn’t mean most didn’t have a problem with me. I knew a lot of people who had a problem with me, but mostly it was when they didn’t get their shit together.

You see, other than being a freelance process server, I also handled skip traces and helped work with private investigators. Sometimes, the cops would even call me in to help, however, that had been back home. Here, I hadn’t really established a name for myself yet, and I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to.

Making a name for myself came with consequences before. I don’t like thinking about those said consequences now because it would mean bringing up the past. I told myself when I moved here, I wasn’t going to do that. I closed out all of my files and cases before I left. Granted, I still have a copy of all of those files. They are what I call insurance for if I ever need them at a later date.

Regardless, it doesn’t matter with being here since I didn’t intend to have my name known as it was.

It also means not giving my name and number out to men, no matter how sinfully sexy they are.

Sighing, I drive to my grandmother’s house. She wanted me to come by when I finished working for the day. She lives just outside of town, ironically not far from the Devil’s Riot MC clubhouse. She lives on a farm, but since my grandfather died twelve years ago, she hasn’t done anything with the farm. She managed the yardwork herself the best she could.

Since moving here, I’ve been doing what I could to help her with the upkeep of it. It was a good thing my daddy made sure I knew how to do stuff on my own. He taught me, alongside my brothers, how to use a zero-turn mower, a weed-eater, and everything else that went along with knowing how to manage a yard. Since he’s a hunter, he taught us all how to shoot as well.

Everything he taught was beneficial to us all, and I liked being able to be self-sufficient. It just sucked sometimes. I had my own place in town to take care of on top of helping my grandma. Not that I’d ever complain. I should’ve just moved in with her when I decided to make the move, but like her, I like my independence just as much as she does. I’ve been on my own since I was twenty and had the money saved up in order to get my own place.

Grandma Ryans, she’s my mom’s mom and stubborn as a mule. My mom says I’m just like the woman who raised her, and I take that as a compliment because my grandma is awesome, even if she’s a bit batty.

I pull into the driveway to find the old woman outside already with that wide brim hat of hers, weeding her flowerbeds. She’s always doing something outside in her flowerbeds. Or in the little rose garden she’s got off to the side of the house.

The property is surrounded by overgrown fields, but around the house, it is kept neat.

I park the car and drag myself out from behind the wheel. I pop the trunk of my car and move to the back of it as it slowly opens. There’s no way I was sticking in heels for whatever I might be doing out here. I grab my muck boots out and make the switch easily.

“You don’t need to be changing them shoes out, sweetheart,” Grandma Ryans calls out.

“Knowing you, Grandma, I’m not taking chances,” I shout back with a laugh.

Shoes changed, I cross the yard to where she’s been working.

“What are you doing out here now?”

“I want to get some brown mulch from town and spread it around. Give my beds a fresh look,” she says, nodding to where she already gotten a patch of mulch done. “See how good that looks. I want the rest of my beds to look the same.”

“It does look good,” I agree. “Want me to get you some delivered?”

“I’ll get it delivered,” she states, planting her hands on her hips.

“Okay, so what was it you wanted me to come out here for this afternoon?”

Grandma Ryans looks back at her flowers momentarily before dropping her arm and starting for the house. “Found something I wanted to show you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, it’s something that I thought you would appreciate,” she says, nodding. “You go make us some sweet teas while I get it.”

I knew better than to protest. She’s a woman who, when she tells you to do something, you listen.

I barely get the two glasses set on the table before my grandma makes her way to the little table. Her hands filled with a small little box.

“What’s that?” I ask, gesturing to the thing.

“I just found it last night while looking for something in the guest room closet.”

The guest room used to be my mom’s room.

“So, it’s Mom’s?” I ask, eyeing the box.

“It is, and I figured you could have it. No reason to hold onto it for her. She’s got no need for a little box like this.” Grandma sets the box next to me and takes her seat. “Go ahead and open it. We’ll look and see what secrets your momma left behind.”

Laughing, I shake my head, but still, I do as she says and open the box. Inside, it’s filled with little folded pieces of paper. I open one and read over it. It’s a love letter from the looks of it, but it’s not signed.

“What’s it say?” Grandma asks.

Quickly, I read the letter to her and see her features change.

“These aren’t from Daddy,” I acknowledge.

“No,” Grandma whispers slowly and clears her throat. “It’s not from your daddy.”

“I didn’t think Mom had any other boyfriends before Daddy.”

My parents were always talking about how they were high school sweethearts. The only reason they moved and stayed where they were was because of Dad being in the Navy before he’d gotten out and started his landscaping business.

“Your momma didn’t date anyone else, child. I didn’t even think she kept that letter.” Grandma clears her throat again and shakes her head. “What else is in the box?”

I set the letter to the side and look back into the box. I pull out a thing of flowers that were tied together like a headband and several more letters. At the very bottom, there were a few other trinkets similar to the flower headband.

By the time I finish, my grandma’s expression is one that I’ve never seen before. “Are you okay, Grandma?”

Nodding, she clears her worried expression away and gives me a smile. “I’m fine, sweetheart. Let’s put this stuff back in the box. If you want to take it with you, you can. But do me a favor, don’t mention it to your mother.”

“Okay, but why?”

Why wouldn’t I mention a box that evidently belonged to my mom to her?

“Let’s just keep this between you and me, Marley. Your momma doesn’t need to remember this box.”

Now, that makes me curious as to what’s in the box all the more, and I’m going to have to find out. Otherwise, it’s going to drive me bonkers until I know the truth.