Chapter 3

• She was exhausted. For her last shift of this week, Arizona Sky was already dreaming of snoring in her bed, but she couldn’t speed up with a truck that already had a place in the junk shop. It was her dad’s. She let her father lend her a car to visit her aunt in the other town.
• Then her daydreaming was interrupted by Old Bob’s group of flock passing by the street. She remembered Old Bob hired a new and inexperienced shepherd. Then an ear-splitting squealing brake followed by the crumbling in the weeds caught her attention.
• As a nurse, her instant action was to call an ambulance, but then, she was already jumping out of the truck toward the car before she even realized it.
• The man was already beside the road, breathing heavily as he leaned on his knees, throwing curse after curse. He was wearing a white shirt, sleeves rolled up his elbows, too fancy to be working at the local firm, and his pants were too perfect on his strong thighs. Ari noticed it right away.
• With a hard swallow, Ari tentatively gripped the man’s broad shoulder startling him. She couldn’t blame him for cursing out loud. She would probably be doing the same thing if their positions were reversed.
• “Are you okay?” That was the first word that came out of her mouth. Concern was obvious in her voice.
• She realized that the man was tall—way taller than her five feet and two inches height when he stood straight. She hadn’t had the chance to see his face, yet his cologne engulfed her, inducing her to make a bold move. And by the scent alone, it screamed luxury.
• Who was this man?
• She got the chance to inspect him for possible injury. She held her strong arms, then patted his unbelievably wide chest. No complaints from the stranger, or he was probably still shocked to process what she was doing.
• Ari could feel the muscles under his shirt clenching against her fingertips. For an unlikable reason, her heart went erratic as she kept touching the stranger.
• This man worked out a lot, she even thought.
• “Are you hurt?” she managed to ask him again as she rounded to his back. Before she could inspect him further, he turned around.
• “What the fuck are you doing?” he asked, his voice was uncharacteristically harsh. “If it wasn’t because of your damn truck, I wouldn’t have been in an accident.” The strong and deep voice made her stop—it sounded familiar—too familiar as if she’d talked to him quite often before.
• When she lifted her gaze to meet his, her heart was in an uncontrollable rage—anger, dread, surprise, resentment, longing—those emotions she didn’t expect to feel after all these years.
• The shock in his deep blue eyes matched hers. His thick brows were meeting together. Now his eyes were burning holes to hers as if he was ready to swift her off the road. His glare alone was colder than ice and she felt it penetrated through her chest. Then they all vanished in a second, replacing with recognition—a warmed recognition, to be precise.
• “What the hell?” she recognized her own voice as she mumbled.
• His full lips were pressed into the thin line just a few seconds ago, and now they slowly undid and parted.
• It was ages ago, but she could still feel how soft, yet firm they were against hers as he captured her lips for the first time. Her lips started to tingle in anticipation of feeling them again.
• She needed to get ahold of that butterfly-effect thingy in her stomach. She blinked off the jumbled thoughts in her head. Ari wouldn’t want to go to that regrettable part of her life again.
• “Ari?” With his brows falling low, his voice lowered to whisper—a little shock was still there.
• With a warning flashed at the back of her mind, Ari stepped back before Tripp could say any further.
• Wow! He still remembered her. So, the rumors were true then that the almighty Tripp Raker Wrylee’s presence was not just a rumor after all. He was the talk of the town for the past weeks— the best friend of the city mayor had been seen in town.
• “Since you look okay, and your car is not busted, I’m leaving.” With her breathing going to crap, and she was about to lose her sensible thoughts, she grabbed the door of her truck ready herself to flee.
• Her body stilled, almost shuddering when her name was called again—her name was still foreign to her ears when it came from him.
• “Arizona, wait! I might need your help.” She started to hate her name at this moment. She didn’t even bother to stop.
• “You’ll be fine.” She groaned as she settled in her truck, and drove off, leaving Tripp nothing but the dust behind.
• Ari felt a twist of guilt in her stomach. He definitely needed help, but he had the mayor at his disposal. He could call a tow for him, and she didn’t give a crap, Or he could call his sister, too. Anyhow, it was not her concern anymore.
• She had nothing up against his sister. She seemed kind. She’d met her a few times, and Ari was sure Charleigh wasn’t aware of what happened to her and Tripp three years ago.
• ***
• After her short shower, she was ready to hit the hay when her phone rang. Her eyes grew big to see the name flashing on her phone screen.
• Crap!
• “What can I do for you, Mayor?” Dax could probably hear her sarcasm. She didn’t care though. She was not as wealthy and powerful as his family, but he’d been good with her. Dax even pulled a few strings for her application to get the slot at the hospital where she’d been working as an ER nurse.
• “You didn’t recognize Tripp Wrylee, did you?” His name alone made her heart erratic.
• “I recognized him.” How could she not?
• “Then why did you leave him alone in the middle of the road, Ari? His car is still stuck in the weeds.”
• She rolled her eyes. “Because I know he will call you, and guess what, he just did. Tell him to drive a monster truck when he visits next time.”
• “Ari—”
• “Look, Dax. I’m so exhausted. I just came from an eight-hour job, and I’m already in bed. I checked him up, and he seemed fine. He was probably shocked, but he didn’t have any broken bones. Trust me.” She rolled her eyes. “Your friend was still in one piece when I left him. Unless the bear tore him apart.”
• “That’s not a good thing to say about Tripp. Why do I feel that you have a beef with him? I thought you had a thing for him back in the day.”
• Her heart squeezed painfully. “Back in the day? He helped me, that’s all. And I thought he was cute.” Cute was not the right description for Tripp. More likely he was ridiculously hot. Based on what he touched earlier, he had a load of what every woman wanted in a man. Dax was also handsome, but Tripp was exceptionally gorgeous. Ugh! She knew she was biased.
• “If you say so.” She knew Dax was not convinced, and he was probably mocking her right now. She didn’t give a crap though.
• What she wanted at that moment was to disappear in front of him. He probably thought she was a spinster and a loser driving an old truck, older than Mater from the movie Cars.
• “If that’s the only reason why you call, can you let me get some sleep now?”
• “Fine. And Ari, be nice to him next time you two meet, please?”
• “Sure, Dax. Good night.” She couldn’t argue anymore because her lids were heavy, and she could barely speak from exhaustion.
• ***
• She decided to visit Cleighry’s for her favorite cake. Bryce’s cupcakes were the best in town. She could smell the sugar and vanilla as she pushed the door wide, and the freshly brewed coffee on the coffeemaker made her stomach grumble instantly.
• Before she could step closer to the counter, someone caught her attention, making her want to flee. Too bad, it was too late, Charleigh must have spotted her first when she entered.
• “Considering this is a small town, news travels fast, Ari.” Charleigh rose from her seat at the table that she and Tripp occupied. “I heard you help my brother get out of the car last night. He wasn’t that reckless, believe me, but he’d been under a lot of pressure at work and he was probably tired. I’d like to say thank you properly. Please, join us.”
• “Oh?” She widened her eyes. “I didn’t do anything. He helped himself out. You don’t have to thank me if ever. You know, everyone around here helps everyone. It’s not a big deal.” Ari noticed Tripp was already on his feet.