Veer (Clayton Falls)

Copyright © 2012 Alyssa Rose Ivy

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written approval of the author.

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Cover Design: Once Upon a Time Covers

To anyone who has ever lost one dream just to discover another
.

Acknowledgements

As always, this book would not have been possible without the support of my family. Thank you especially to Grant for your
endless
encouragement and faith in my writing. Thanks to Jennifer Snyder for being both a wonderful friend and writing partner. Thanks to Karen Allen of Red Adept for another fantastic editing experience. Thanks to Kristina Scheid for a
great
proofread. Thanks to all of the bloggers who have helped spread the word about my books, and of course, thank you to all of my readers for giving me the opportunity to share my stories with you.

Chapter One

Becca

There were no warning signs. The car just went from running
,
to
a slow sputter
,
and then completely dead.
Luckily I was able to
coast
the car over to the shoulder. Thank
g
o
o
d
ness
for the little things in life.

Fishing my phone out of my purse
,
I prayed for service. Two bars
. I
t would be enough. I dialed Mo
lly
. S
he’d come get me
. I waited for the call to go through
,
but nothing happened. I hung up and tried again
. Nothing. I couldn’t hold off the
first
hint of
panic.

T
he sun
descended quickly
,
and I was stranded on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere.
Hitting
Molly’s
number again, I waited
,
but
got
only
more dead air
. I
considered
getting out of the car to see if I got better service
,
but that seemed too much like what would happen in a horror movie. Girls in those kind
s
of movies always did stupid things like get
ting
out of their cars.

I sat for another few minutes, contemplating my options
.
A
n
SUV
pulled up behind me. I stiffened. Was this going to be help or just someone using my car breaking down as an excuse to kill me
?

As I sat there freaking out about the possibilities,
I heard
a knock on my window.
My heart just about jumped out of my chest.
Hesitantly
,
I looked up and saw a tall
hulk of a
man right outside the car. He gestured with his hands for me to open the door. I shook my head no. This guy was huge
. T
here was no way I was opening the door.

He nodded, held up a finger as if tell
ing
me to wait
,
and disappeared. I waited, wondering what he was up to
and whether I could find any sort of weapon
. I settled
for
closing my fist around the small container of mace
I kept
in my bag.

I heard another
rap
on the window
and
glanced over
.
The man
h
eld a badge up for me to read. H
e was a cop. Of course anyone could fake a police bad
g
e, but that seemed extreme even for my imagination
.
I decided to take a chance and open the door.

Before I could even open it all the way, the guy
ducked his head down to talk to me
. “Having car trouble?”

I
tried
to appear more confident than I really felt. “Yeah, it looks that way.”

“
I can
take a look at it
for you
, but honestly
,
I’m not great with cars. I’m guessing by the Massachusetts plates
that
you’re not from around here.
”

“No, I’m not.” Cop or not, I wasn’t going to give him more information than I had to.

“Where are you headed?”
He
squat
ted
down, making
eye contact. He was good at this—yeah
,
he was really a cop.

“Umm, Clayton Falls?” I looked down at the Google directions I’d printed out in case my GPS failed.
Molly
hadn’t talked much about her town, so the name
still sounded foreign on my tongue
.

“Clayton Falls, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“You wouldn’t happen to be Molly’s friend, would you?”
A faint smile played on his lips. It gave him an almost boyish look that was at odds with his size.

How’d he know? “Yes…”

“I’m a friend of hers.
”
He held out his hand. “Gavin Powell.”

“
You’re
Gavin?
The
Gavin?” Molly had told me about h
er near fling with the hot cop in
her hometown, but I thought she’d
exaggerat
ed
his good looks and size.

He smiled. “So you’ve heard about me? As far as I know
,
I’m the only Gavin.”

I remembered my situation
. N
ot the time to flirt. “
I
s there any way you can help me get through to her? My phone isn’t working.”

“Yeah, service is iffy out this way. Why don’t I give you a lift
?
I’ll
take care of getting
your car towed.”
He leaned in closer, his body heat making an already warm evening hotter. His brown hair was messy, and I had a feeling he never really bothered to fix it. His friendly hazel eyes begged me to trust him, but I couldn’t.

“That’s really generous, but really
,
I can wait for Molly.”

“Listen, Ms…” He looked at me, waiting for me to fill in the blanks.

“
Harris
.
Becca
Harris
.”

“I appreciate your hesitation
. I
t’s smart for a woman to be careful, but we’ve already established I’m a police office
r
,
and we share a mutual friend. You can trust me.”
His voice was low a
nd rich with a sexy drawl that got under my skin
.

He was probably right
, but I still wasn’t willing to make a stupid decision. “For all I know
,
the badge is fake.”

“And I just happened to know
the person
you were coming to see?”

“No, but
—
”

“Come on
. I
t’s getting late
,
and I can’t leave you out here.”
He shook his head at me in frustration.

“Fine.” If I was debating chances of survival, taking a ride was probably the better option.

He reached out a hand to help me out
of my dead car
.

“I’m fine.”
I let go of the mace, put my purse over my shoulder, and got out
. I went around to the trunk, popping it open to
retrieve
my suitcases.

“I’ve got them.” Gavin placed a hand on mine
as if
to get me to release the handle of the
first
bag.
I tried to ignore how nice the momentary contact felt.
I hadn’t felt the warmth of a large, capable hand in a very long time.

“You sure?” I turned to look at him, but in the growing darkness
,
I saw more shadow than anything.

“Yeah, is this it?”

“I just have a garment bag in the backseat.
”
I went around
and
pulled it out. The bag contained the most important part of my wardrobe—my suit. I wasn’t sure how much I’d need it in Clayton Falls, but I didn’t want to be caught without it.

“Ready?” he asked.

“
Uh
huh.”

I followed him to his car
, one of those huge SUVs I’d never pick in a million years,
and
wait
ed
as he stowed my bags in the back. I stepped up into the passenger seat, wondering for the umpteenth time what I was even doing in North Carolina.

The impersonal email letting me know I wasn’t being asked back to work in the DA’s office for the summer
had been
the final straw.
I’d wanted to work for the D
istrict
A
ttorney
since I was 17—I didn’t have a backup plan.
My second year of law school had been a disaster.
Starting the year
without my best friend Molly
had been
hard enough—but then a few months later
,
my Mom died.

“You okay over there?” Gavin started the engine and eased us back onto the road.

“Yeah, sorry.”

He glanced over at me
and
frown
ed
before turning his attention to the road.
“You aren’t what I expected.”

“I beg your pardon
?
”

“I guess I expected someone more like Molly.”

“Oh, did you?” I guess Gavin wasn’t as over my friend as she
’d
thought. Of course
,
she probably
hadn’t thought much about it
since getting
married to her high school sweetheart, Ben
,
the
previous summer
.
I hadn’t been able to make the wedding on the short notice she gave, b
ut
I’d never heard her happier than when she called me the next day
.
It’s not that I blame
d
Gavin
for
having trouble moving on
.
Molly was a gorgeous blond with a big heart.

“Yeah
.
Maybe it’s the accent or something.”

“My accent?”
I asked, surprised that he wasn’t talking about my appearance. With
my
long dark hair and at least five inches on her, Molly and I
definitely couldn’t pass for twins
.

He turned to look at me. “You
don’t think you have an accent
?”