Captivated: Emerson Falls, Book 3 (Emerson Falls Series) Read online

  Captivated

  Emerson Falls, Book 3

  By Harlow James

  Copyright © 2020 Harlow James

  Captivated

  Emerson Falls, Book 3

  Cover Design: NET Hook & Line Design

  All rights reserved. No parts of the book may be used or reproduced in any matter without written permission from the author, except for inclusion of brief quotations in a review. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, establishments, organizations, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously to give a sense of authenticity.

  Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. The eBook may not be re-sold or given away to another person except when loaned out per Amazon’s lending program. If you’re reading this book and you did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then it was pirated illegally. Please purchase a copy of your own and respect the hard work of this author.

  “When someone shows you their soul, show yours in return. Because this is how lovers meet—an act of courage, an act of surrender.”

  Contents

  Title Page

  Prologue

  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

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Epilogue

  Prologue

  Cash

  “What the fuck was that?” My head pivots on my neck as the sound of a gunshot echoes outside of Piper’s apartment, muffled by the walls of the room I’m inside—but I would recognize that sound anywhere. Being a sheriff deputy lends my ears to knowing what I’ve heard, and I definitely know that was a bullet leaving the barrel of a gun.

  I react on instinct, running for the door and bursting through the opening, frantically searching for the origin of the sound and the woman who owns me. The cold chill of the winter night hits my face as soon as I exit the building and twist my body around, searching for my blonde beauty. Ice crunches beneath my shoes from the snow that hit Emerson Falls just two days ago as I step into the night.

  “Piper? Piper!” I yell just as movement on the asphalt in the parking lot of her apartment complex draws my attention to the right, accompanied by furious footsteps moving away from her. I faintly make out a figure running from the scene as I hear the splash of feet on wet pavement, but then my eyes fixate on something else.

  Blood. And lots of it, so dark that it looks black from the night sky surrounding us and the dim street lamps lighting up the parking lot. But the red hits leftover snow and I know instantly something is wrong.

  “Fuck! Piper!” I race towards her as her body lies still, curled up on her side, her blonde hair falling over her face. As I reach her, I drop to my knees and brush her locks from her eyes while panic sets in. My heart beat is wild, my entire body shaking from the adrenaline running through my veins, and I don’t know where to touch her first.

  “Piper, baby… where are you hurt? What happened?” My hands are everywhere, yet I feel frozen, incapable of processing the image in front of me.

  This woman I never knew I wanted or needed in my life is lying on the asphalt, bleeding more than I know is alright, and I have no idea what to make of it.

  “Cash,” she croaks, coughing my name as blood trickles out of the corner of her mouth.

  “Shhhh, baby. Just breathe, hold on for me, Piper,” I whisper through a shaky breath, brushing her face as the hole in her stomach becomes more apparent from the headlights of a car approaching us. I shuffle her lightly to lay her head in my lap as I retrieve my phone from my pocket, my hands almost numb as my body vibrates from my rapid pulse. “Fuck! Come on!” Yelling as I desperately locate my phone is not making the process go any smoother.

  “9-1-1, what’s your emergency?” The dispatcher comes through my cell that I dialed with shaky hands, the light from the screen highlighting Piper’s increasingly pale face.

  “Fuck! I need an ambulance! My girlfriend… she’s… she’s been shot! There’s blood everywhere! Please hurry!” I yell, just as the car approaching us stops and the driver vacates the vehicle.

  “Hey, is everything okay?” The man asks as he takes in Piper lying on the ground and the blood covering both of us at this point. “Oh, shit…”

  “What is the address?” The dispatcher continues, but I can’t speak, which is ironic seeing as I’m trained to act calmly and rationally in instances like these.

  But this isn’t some random person in a textbook scene that I walked up to.

  No.

  This is the woman that I have fallen in love with, and she’s dying in front of me.

  I’m frozen, lost in time even though flashing blue and red lights make themselves known in the distance and the man that drove up on us has taken my cell and filled in the details to the dispatcher for me.

  Because reality is setting in. Because Piper is bleeding profusely and I can’t do anything to save her. Because I have no idea how we got here, or why we’re here.

  This isn’t real. This can’t be happening.

  “Piper… baby. Listen to me,” I break out of my trance as moisture clouds my eyes and my voice begins to choke. “You have to hold on, okay? The ambulance is coming… you… you can’t leave me, baby.”

  Piper attempts to move, but I settle her in my lap, linking my arms around her torso so I can hold her closer to me, rocking her body back and forth and attempting to apply pressure to her stomach with my stomach.

  “Don’t move. Just hold on, babe… please!” My hands are trembling and I’m choking back tears, but I’ve never been so terrified in my life.

  “Mmmm…” she mumbles before growing colder in my arms and her eyes flutter shut.

  “No! Piper… stay awake! You can’t leave me! I… I love you!” I shout as I pull her up further into my chest, pressing her against the hardness of my body and kissing her cheek, but the clamminess of her skin tells me we’re running out of time.

  The first time I told her I love her may be the only time she ever hears it.

  “Cash,” she whispers, and then everything around me goes silent even though medical personnel and deputies arrive on scene around us.

  But the only noise I can hear is the pounding of my heart as the physical extension of it goes limp in my arms.

  Chapter 1

  Cash

  Ten Weeks Earlier

  “So, you wanna get out of here?”

  With my fist full of her auburn hair and her head tipped back so I could feast on her neck, my flavor of the night mewls seductively at me as we make out against the wall outside of Tony’s Bar.

  “As long as you understand this is just sex. No feelings. I’m not gonna call you or miraculously turn into your boyfriend after one romp in the sack… do you understand?”


  Her eyes narrow and then a sly smile stretches across her face. “Sounds good to me.”

  Yeah, that’s what they all say.

  “Totally, I get it.”

  “No worries, we’re all good.”

  “I’m not that kind of girl, don’t stress.”

  And then within a week, they’re sliding into my direct messages on Facebook or Instagram (because I don’t exchange phone numbers), claiming they just wanted to say hi, then casually suggesting we should hook up again.

  But that’s not me. I don’t do repeats, very often that is. I’ve had a few friends-with-benefits situations that have lasted longer than one night—but I can count those on one hand.

  You’d think being honest with a woman from the get-go would help me avoid those situations that quickly turn into a stalker status from women who just can’t accept the fact that I blew their mind in bed, but that’s all they’ll ever get from me.

  “Where’s your place?” I mumble as I nip at her jaw again.

  “Kinda far. What about yours?”

  “I don’t take women back to my house. Car?” I suggest, tipping my head towards the parking lot.

  “Hell yeah,” she agrees as I pull her by the hand to my truck.

  Steamy windows and rocking tires would alert anyone to what’s going on inside, but I don’t give a shit. I need my release and Melissa here is helping me get it. Of course, she’s getting hers too—at least twice—so everyone is a winner here.

  “Fuck yes!” She shouts as she convulses above me, my own release arriving just moments after hers, the heavy breathing in the cab of my truck doing nothing to help the moisture building on the windows.

  “Well, that was fun,” she finally says, sliding her jeans back up her legs and fluffing her hair.

  “Agreed. Thanks.” And here’s the test—can this girl take a hint? Was she really listening when I told her that sex was all this would be and it’s time for her to leave? I need some rest and have a shit ton of stuff to do tomorrow before my shift at the Labor Day celebration for the town.

  “Well, hopefully I’ll see you around.” She kisses my cheek and then exits my truck. I watch her get into her car safely and pull out of the parking lot. Waiting a few minutes until after she’s gone, I fire up the engine and head for my house—a small three-bedroom bungalow I picked up for a hell of a deal when the market fell. Arriving just after midnight, I hop in the shower and pass out in bed, anxious for what tomorrow may bring.

  This is only my second year patrolling the Labor Day Celebration, but being on traffic control at big town events like these makes my eyes twitch—not because I hate my job—no, far from it. It’s because idiots don’t know how to slow the fuck down around pedestrians or read signs clearly marked to keep traffic flowing as normally as possible.

  It’s the first weekend in September and the final weekend of the summer in Emerson Falls, a quaint town in the forest of Southern Oregon that is quickly blossoming into the thriving place I call home. I’m leaving my duty for a few minutes today so I can support my friend, Cooper, a fellow sheriff deputy and my best friend, as he proposes to his girlfriend during the event in front of the entire crowd.

  “You nervous?” I slide up next to Cooper as he stands and waits for Captain to call him backstage at the main stage in the park.

  “More so about getting up in front of everyone, but not about asking her to marry me,” he answers, taking a deep breath to settle his nerves.

  “Well, you’d better go get this thing done. I could only pull away from my post for a little while, then I’ve got to go back.”

  “It’s always about you, isn’t it, Cash?” Cooper tilts his head to look over at me while I shoot him my best mega-watt smile.

  “Glad you’re finally realizing that. By the way, don’t you even dare putting me in a brown suit for the wedding, or I’m not coming. Brown doesn’t match my coloring. This blonde hair and blue eyes looks better in navy blue or black.” I push him forward towards the tent as Captain peaks his head out behind the tarp, waving him towards his impending doom.

  Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for the guy. Lord knows their secret relationship and miscommunication made their happy ending one they had to fight for, and I’m sure things will work out for them in the future.

  But watching him beat the shit out of a punching bag while he was heartbroken was just a clear reminder for me why I don’t do love.

  Nope. Never.

  I do sex. Pussy. Women writhing beneath me and chasing the ultimate physical release—because in my mind, that’s the only thing good about connecting with another human being. You don’t have to discuss your pasts, where you grew up, and the name of your childhood pet.

  All you need to focus on is how many orgasms you can dish out—and I have a strict two or more policy for her. It’s one of the reasons I don’t need to search for love at all or a woman to get my dick wet—because the women come to me. My reputation proceeds me and word travels fast. Add in the fact that I’m an officer of the law, and well, women throw themselves at me willingly and I can’t say that I hate it.

  If you’re looking for a down and dirty fuck, I’m your guy. I am not the guy you bring home to Mom and Dad, or the guy that you’re gonna change, no matter how spectacular you think your pussy is.

  Love and I don’t mix. I’ve watched relationships be torn apart by jealousy and greed, cheating and hate—my parents giving me the perfect glimpse of what happily ever after can turn into.

  And I’m not saying that everyone will experience that, like my friend who’s about to get engaged. Cooper and Clara are meant to be, and I support that one-hundred percent. In fact, I root for love for the people who aren’t as fucked up as me and deserve it.

  But when you’re raised around a toxic relationship between two people you share blood with—well, it makes you fearful you’ll continue that pattern subconsciously because it’s all you know and have ever witnessed firsthand.

  Cooper nails his proposal, complete with tears and applause from the crowd gathered to watch. I whistle loudly, shoot him a farewell salute, and then head back to my cruiser parked on the road adjacent to the park, taking off and continuing my patrol of the streets encircling the event.

  Clove Park has been sanctioned off and surrounding streets blocked for parade routes and parking. Most of the town is here, taking part in some way or spectating and enjoying the last official weekend of summer before kids return to school and the weather starts to turn.

  But I guess that doesn’t stop people who aren’t celebrating in the park from cruising around town and causing problems for people still trying to drive on the roads.

  “Can people not read the fucking sign? It says a one-way street!”

  Flipping the lights on in my cruiser, I close the distance between the car in front of me and myself as I wait for them to pull over to the side of the road. Luckily, the driver is smart enough to turn off of the one-way street and onto the side of a regular two-lane road before stopping and turning off their vehicle.

  Shifting into park, I wait the customary few minutes before exiting the cruiser, hand on my gun as I approach the driver’s side window. The black tint on the glass makes it hard to see the person inside, but as the buzzing of the window alerts me it’s lowering, my eyes bounce up and take in the porcelain face of the blonde woman being revealed to me as if in slow motion.

  Blue eyes as deep as the midnight sky on a summer night peer up at me beneath dark lashes and long locks of golden honey tendrils fly around her face from the breeze coming through the window.

  I’m star-struck—my chest feeling like a truck just slammed into me and cracked a rib. Fucking-A… this woman is gorgeous. Not just hot, but strikingly beautiful, angelic even.

  Suddenly images of her face calling out my name while I pound into her flood through my brain, but then I realize I haven’t even heard her speak. I need to hear her voice to make the fantasy truly come alive.

  Clearing my
throat, I remember my line. “Do you know why I pulled you over?” I deepen my voice like I always do on the job to signal my control and command.

  “Well, I think so, but I’m hoping you’ll give me a pass today, Deputy. I’m kind of lost. These roads are closed off around the park for the event, and I need to get across town for a meeting,” she explains with a wave of her hand.

  Yup, voice sounds like liquid sex. And now I’m hard. Fuck me.

  Why did the idiot I thought I was following have to be a walking wet dream?

  “Well, you were going the wrong way down a one-way street… does that sound about right?”

  She nods. “Yes, I’m sorry. Luckily no one was trying to go the right way, huh?” She grins and fuck me, my dick twitches. It’s been a while since that’s happened.

  “Yes, you got lucky. I need your license and registration please,” I ask as she turns and fetches the items from her purse and glove box.

  “Sorry again. Like I said, I got lost. I’m still new around here.”

  “New to Emerson Falls?”

  “Yeah, I’ve only been here for about a month. I’m actually headed to a job interview and I really don’t want to be late,” she cringes as I stare down at her license in my hand.

  Piper Davis.

  It suits her. Original. Beautiful. Intriguing.

  No, Cash. Shut it down. You don’t do details. You don’t need to know shit about this woman besides the fact that she can read a street sign.

  “Well, I understand what it’s like to be the new guy in a small town, so how about I let you off with a warning today? But in the future, please read the signs,” I gesture around us with my hand. “They are posted pretty clearly.”

  She lets out a big breath, accompanied by a blinding smile. “Oh, my Gosh, thank you! Yes, I’ll be more careful from now on, I promise. I just forgot that this event was going on today and didn’t account for needing to take a different route. Thank you Deputy…” she leans forward and pops up in her seat a bit to scope out my name on my uniform, “Williams… I don’t suppose you could tell me the best way to get to Emerson Memorial from here? These road closures are making this journey more difficult on me,” she winks and my erection grows harder.