Page 87 of The Aster Valley Collection, Vol. 1

TRUMAN

I was embarrassed to admit all of this in front of Sam.

The number of times I’d let the Stanner brothers take advantage of me was humiliating, but if I truly wanted them to pay for what they’d done to my shop, it was time to come clean.

This investigator was from the state, not the county, so I had to assume he didn’t have the bias local law enforcement had.

This was my chance.

“I went to the emergency room with bruised ribs, a sprained wrist, cuts and bruises on my face, and suspected head trauma. There should be records at the hospital. I know I had a CAT scan because I was relieved when it came out okay.”

I gently nudged Sam back up into the chair next to mine. His display of emotion had taken me off guard, and I didn’t have the mental energy to pick it apart right now.

I swallowed and continued. This was going to be the hardest part.

It was something I’d never told anyone. Ever.

“Like I said, they blame me for their father losing his job at the ski lifts. They thought my dad should have fought harder to keep the resort open, and they blamed me for the accident that had caused all the trouble in the first place.” I glanced at Sam to gauge his reaction. “But it wasn’t my fault.”

Sam nodded, encouraging me to stop thinking a five-year-old was to blame for the accident. But that wasn’t what I’d meant.

“The Stanner brothers were the ones who left the sled on the ski slope,” I said.

I waited for the volcanic shift I’d always assumed would happen if I ever admitted the truth. It didn’t come.

“It wasn’t me. I was at home in bed,” I added.

Sam took my hand in his. “I thought…”

“I know. They warned me if I told anyone the truth, their uncle would arrest me and put me in jail forever. I believed them. I didn’t know better.”

“How did they get your grandpa’s sled?” Sam asked. Apparently he’d heard enough of the story from Tiller and Mikey to be confused by my admission.

“We’d been at school that day, and everyone was talking about the big snowstorm coming and how everyone was going to sled the next day on the big hill at Lewis Farm.

I said I was going to ask my grandpa if I could finally try out his old sled which was this really cool metal sled with a steering wheel attached to control the runners.

The Stanner brothers told me they wanted to test it out first, and then they threatened to beat me up if I didn’t sneak it out of my house at midnight so they could try it out. ”

Sam’s fingers rubbed across the top of my hands, gently encouraging me.

“So I did. And then… then I guess they left it on the slopes. I didn’t know about the skier who’d run into it and gotten hurt.

My dad came to me and asked why grandpa’s sled was outside in the snow.

I told him I’d taken it outside and left it by accident.

I didn’t want to admit to him that I’d let those boys bully me. ”

“But why didn’t you come clean after you realized what had happened?” Sam asked.

“By then, Patrick and Craig had found me. They told me if I blamed it on them, they’d tell everyone my dad gave them the sled and he’d get fired and taken to jail.

Then they told me I’d get taken to jail for lying.

I know it sounds stupid now, but I was five.

And their uncle was a cop. I was terrified. ”

Sam sighed. “I understand that. You must have been very scared. But what about later, once you were old enough to know better?”

I let out a humorless laugh. “I did. I told my parents after we moved to Durango. They didn’t believe me.

They thought now that I’d seen all the consequences of my actions that night, I was trying to pawn it off on those poor Stanner boys.

And wasn’t it bad enough their father lost his job?

Then, when I moved back here, their uncle was the sheriff instead of a deputy.

There was no way in heck he’d take my word over his nephews, and by then, who cared?

No one would believe me after all this time, and the damage was already done. ”

It felt good to get it off my chest, but it also left me feeling exhausted and empty. Worse than when I’d woken up still half-drugged with artificial sleep. But I wasn’t done yet.

“I’m tired of covering for them and being scared of them,” I told the fire investigator. “I’m ready to fight.”

He nodded. “Well, we will certainly follow up on this lead, but in the meantime, stay away from them. If that family had anything to do with the arson, it’s going to be a big mess considering the connection to the county sheriff’s office.”

That was an understatement. But it was time for this all to be put to rest once and for all before someone got seriously hurt.

I’d had the thought off and on all day that Chaya could have been inside doing inventory or Solo could have come by to use the shop’s printer.

Both of them worked part-time at the Honeyed Lemon and had keys to the shop.

The idea they could have been caught inside when the fire started was enough to make me sick to my stomach.

“Let me know what other information you need from me,” I told the investigators. “In the meantime, I’m going to hope this arson claim doesn’t mean my insurance won’t cover the damage.”

Dirk leaned forward and met my eye again. “I need to ask where you were last night when the fire began.”

Hadn’t I already told them this? “I was home in bed asleep. Sam can tell you. He left after I was already asleep.”

Dirk looked over at Sam. “What time did you last see Mr. Sweet here at the house?”

Sam’s forehead crinkled in thought. “Maybe eleven thirty or twelve?”

The female investigator—I remembered her name was Gail—flipped back through her notes. “We believe the fire began a little after twelve which means he would have had time to leave here and get to the shop.”

Sam’s face turned stormy. “And what would his motivation be?”

Dirk tried to reassure us. “Property owners usually have several reasons to set their own property on fire, but insurance fraud is one of the most common. Regardless, it’s standard procedure to investigate the owner, as I’m sure you can imagine.

We need this information for our reports.

It doesn’t make you a suspect for us to ask these questions. ”

Gail turned to Sam with her pencil poised over her notebook. “And you? Where did you go when you left Mr. Sweet?”

“I drove back to Rockley Lodge where I’m staying with friends.” He gave them the address of the property.

Gail continued. “So you had to drive through town? Did you notice anything at the shop?”

Sam shook his head. “No. I didn’t even think to look. I was lost in thought. Sorry.”

She made a hum of disapproval as if she didn’t believe him or she found him irresponsible. For some reason it made me want to laugh, as if he should have been paying close attention to a particular storefront on a midnight drive through town.

“Is that all?” I asked.

“For now,” Dirk said, standing up. “Hopefully you’ll be around if we have more questions.”

“Of course. I live here. Where would I go now that I have a laundry list of extra work that needs to be done?”

I stood up and led them to the front door before closing and locking it behind them and letting out a deep breath.

“Do you want me to get out of your hair?”

I turned around to see Sam standing in the kitchen doorway, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

“Not only no, but heck no,” I said. “I was hoping we could get back in bed.”

Sam’s grin was slow and devastating. “I like the way you think, Mr. Sweet.”

I let go of the rest of the residual stress from talking to the fire investigators and led the man to my bedroom.

I had high hopes and big plans. There was going to be naked skin and questing tongues, hard dicks and happy trails.

There was going to be a textbook full of new experiences for me in bed with the sexiest man I’d ever met.

Ten seconds after I slid between the cool sheets, I fell dead asleep.

I woke up sometime later to a large erection nudging my ass. Sam’s mouth was trailing kisses along the back of my neck, and his hands had found their way under my shirt. One spread wide over my lower belly, and the other softly brushed one of my nipples.

I let out a long groan of approval without thinking, and it was answered by Sam’s low chuckle.

His hands—and my body’s response to his touch—made me feel powerful. Sexual. I pressed my hips back against his erection.

“You feel so fucking good,” Sam murmured behind my ear.

“That’s an accurate statement,” I teased, noticing my voice was rough from sleep. “Can’t remember the last time I felt this good.”

He turned me onto my back and propped himself above me. “What can I do to make you feel even better?”

“Take off your clothes. Take off my clothes. Kiss me.”

Within moments we were naked and rolling around the bed, kissing like the end of the world was coming.

Sam’s hands were everywhere—grabbing my ass, brushing my hair out of the way, gripping my chin to kiss me deeper.

I humped against him desperately, too far gone to even feel self-conscious about it.

I wanted him. And feeling the evidence of his own desire made me dizzy with excitement.

I’d never felt this way before. It was energizing and empowering, about as far away from scary and intimidating as one could get.

I’d never in a million years expected I’d feel comfortable in bed with someone like Sam Rigby.

His serious, stoic face and his wide, muscular shoulders were a combination that usually rang warning bells.

But not this time.

This time I wanted more. So much more.

I wrapped my legs around his hips and arched up into him. I wanted to come, and I wanted to bring him with me.

“You have lube, baby?” he murmured against my mouth.