Davis, Keyonna - Nowhere to Hide [Pine Valley] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) (2 page)

Chapter 1

Detective Sam Donaldson sat at his desk at the precinct staring at his computer. He couldn’t believe the bitch left him. After everything he did for her
—
he even stayed with her after her “indiscretion” in college
—
and she still left him like eight years meant nothing to her. Yeah, he lost his temper every now and then, but it was nothing she didn’t deserve or ask for. All he asked was that she did what he told her to do, and if she didn’t, then there were consequences. How hard was that to understand? She didn’t have to work. All she had to do was stay at home, keep the house clean, and have dinner waiting for him when he arrived. Being a detective was hard, stressful work, and when he arrived home, he wanted to relax with his feet up
.
H
e didn’t want to wonder what Cane had been doing all day that she couldn’t have dinner waiting for him or why there was dust or dirt somewhere. Oh yeah, she was going to pay when he found her
.
A
ll
she had to do was make a mistake and he would have her back. He hadn’t been able to figure out where the missing money from his bank account went, but now he knew. He had been watching her for the past two months when he realized that someone was taking the money, but he never saw her buy anything, so he started looking for someone else to blame. He couldn’t help but to laugh at himself for letting his guard down, but that wouldn’t happen again
.
O
nce
he found her he would make her regret ever leaving him and she would never think of leaving again.

Picking up the phone, Sam put a call in to Kevin Rollins, a friend and the best private investigator in the state. He met him through the police department when Kevin did a few jobs for them. After a couple rings, Kevin picked up. “Rollins Investigation Inc.”

“Hey, Kevin, this is Sam. I have a problem and I need your help.”

* * * *

After taking a quick shower and changing her clothes, Cane walked out of the bed
-
and
-
breakfast and made her way to the diner that she saw down the street. She couldn’t help but to notice the stares from the few people that she pas
sed
and figured they didn’t get very many visitors to this small town, or it could be her eyes and hair, she thought with a smile. Looking around as she walked, she couldn’t help but to notice the beauty of the place. The town was surrounded by pine trees for miles with mountains on all sides. Laughing to herself, Cane said, “I see where the town gets its name from.”

The town itself only had the diner, the small grocery store that also served as the post office and bus station, and a small sheriff’s station that had a single gas pump out back that served as the filling station. There was only one doctor in the town that still made house calls and worked out of a small room in his house that was located at the end of the road into town. The closest town was Carlton, sixty miles away, and Cane couldn’t be happier. There was no way Sam would find her here
A
ll
she had to do was lay low until he gave up looking for her and then she would be home free.

Walking into the diner, she was greeted by the waitress that looked like she couldn’t be older than sixteen
S
he was only about
five foot three
with long black curly hair that went down to the small of her back. She also had the brightest, biggest green eyes that Cane had ever seen. She was gorgeous, but th
e
way she stood slightly hunched over with a shy smile on her face not meeting Cane’s eyes
told
Cane that the girl didn’t know how beautiful she was. She followed the waitress to a small table in the corner, and Cane sat facing the door. When the waitress started to speak, she spoke so softly that Cane had to strain just to hear. She quickly went over the specials, and Cane ordered the beef stew
,
because she was about to starve and knew that it was already made, with a large glass of lemonade. The waitress returned with the lemonade
,
sitting it on the table.

She looked down at Cane smiling and said, “Hi, my name is Alice, but everybody calls me Ali.”

Cane took a sip of lemonade and said, “I’m Cane, nice to meet you.” Ali smiled, shook her
hand
, and left to go in the back. Cane looked around the diner noticing that she was the only one there. She frowned, thinking it was odd since it was only
six thirty
in the evening. When Ali came back out with her stew, she sat it on the table and just stood there smiling. Cane took a bite of the stew and moaned. It was the first meal she had in three days, and it was absolutely delicious.

“Wow,” she said, “this is the best beef stew that I have ever had.”

Ali’s eyes lit up, and she grinned from ear to ear. “Thank you, it was my mom’s recipe. I don’t think it tastes as good as when she used to make it, but I followed it step-by-step.”

“You made this?” Cane asked shocked. She saw the blood start at Ali’s neck
,
creeping up until her cheeks and ears were bright red.

She looked away and said, “Yeah, I have been cooking since I was about twelve. This was my parents
’
diner
.
M
y brothers and I took over when they died last year.” Ali was still looking away, but slid the chair out on the other side of the table and sat.

“Oh, I’m so sorry about your parents,” Cane said. Not knowing what else to say, she started to eat again. Ali smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes
,
and stood again. She walked over to the door and flipped the closed sign.

She looked back at Cane and said, “It’s a good thing you came along when you did because it’s closing time. With this being a small town most people choose to eat dinner at home with their families, so we close early.” She came back over to the table and sat down again. Ali watched Cane quietly as she ate. Growing a little uncomfortable from the attention, Cane looked up and asked, “Do I need to leave so you can finish closing?”

“No,” Ali said quickly, “we don’t get many visitors here, and I’m not really popular with the few girls my age, so I am enjoying talking to you.” Cane smiled and couldn’t help but to think back to when she was Ali’s age. She didn’t have any friends either. All the girls her age wouldn’t talk to her because they were either jealous or afraid of her because of her looks. She mainly stayed to herself. Knowing how Ali felt, she decided that she would try to come in each day while she was in town and talk to her. Not only did it benefit Ali, but Cane as well. It was nice to have a conversation with someone other than Sam, also one that wasn’t all about what a disappointment Cane was or how she screwed up something, like forgetting to put the top on the toothpaste or not putting enough salt in something she cooked for dinner. Snap out of it, Cane thought to herself. No more pity parties, you are free now.

Looking up at Ali, she smiled. Just then the door opened and in walked the handsomest man Cane had ever seen in her life. Her breath caught, and her mouth went completely dry. She tried to swallow past the lump in her throat, but it was no use when he turned and looked at her. He had the same bright green eyes and black curly hair that Ali had, only his hair was cropped short, coming a little past his ears and to his collar in the back. His hair looked like he had been running his hands through it all day but still managed to look good. His nose looked like it should be on some Greek statue somewhere, not too long or broad, just perfect. Cane moved her eyes on down his face and stopped when she got to the most gorgeous set of lips that she had ever seen. They were both full and pink
.
T
he bottom lip looked liked it was just waiting for someone to bite and suck on it. Cane didn’t realize that she had her mouth hanging open and was licking her lips until she saw his mouth go up into a small, crooked smile. Snapping her eyes up, she realized that he had been watching her the whole time, and by the way he was looking at her, he knew what she must have been thinking. Her heart felt like it was about to jump out of her chest it was beating so hard. Sam never had this kind of effect on her, and she was with him for eight years. She only laid eyes on this man and her body started to go crazy.

It’s just the stress and relief of escaping Sam, she told herself. She just needed some rest. She smiled at the man and looked away. Ali walked over to him and hugged him.

“You ready to go yet, squirt?” he asked.

Ali smiled
,
shuffled from foot to foot
,
and said, “No, I’m sorry. I kind of got distracted talking to Cane, but I was almost finished before she came in. It won’t take me but about ten minutes to get done.” With that she turned and walked through the double doors into the kitchen leaving Cane alone with the gorgeous stranger. She noticed that he was tall about
six foot three
, and he was huge. His shoulders were broad, and he was wearing a black T-shirt that looked like it was molded to his body. Cane could see muscles from his chest right down to what
looked like
twelve-pack
abs.
T
hey certainly weren’t
a
six-pack. She couldn’t help but to wonder what he looked like under that shirt. Going lower, she could see that he was wearing faded jeans that fit low on his hips. She liked the fact that from what she could see through his jeans that his thighs and legs were just as muscular as his top half. She hated to see guys like Sam that went to the gym daily and worked on nothing but their upper body so that they came out not able to put their arms down due to so many muscles but looked like they were walking on toothpicks.

No more thinking about Sam, she told herself, he is out of your life and you never have to see or think about him again.

Suddenly feeling uncomfortable alone with a guy so big, Cane quickly stood, pulled some money out of her pocket, and laid it on the table. She turned behind her and grabbed her backpack off the back of the chair. When she turned back, he was standing next to her table smiling. He held out his hand and said, “Hi. I’m Duncan Matthews, Ali’s brother.”

Cane grabbed his hand quickly and mumbled, “I’m Cane.” She tried to let go of his hand, but he held on tight and just stared at her. His hand was huge and covered hers completely, but he didn’t hurt her. After another tug he slowly opened his hand and let hers go. Without saying another word Cane eased past him and walked as fast as she could out the door. She didn’t stop or look back until she got to her room and locked her door. Leaning against the door, she tried to slow her breathing and fight off the panic attack that was about to consume her.

“He is not Sam,” she chanted over and over again in a soft whisper.

When Duncan grabbed her hand and wouldn’t let go, shear panic just came over Cane and she couldn’t get out of the diner quick enough. She walked over to the bathroom and splashed some cold water on her face. She looked in the mirror and noticed the dark circles under her eyes. “You just need sleep, that’s all,” she said to her reflection and began getting ready for bed.

Once in the bed, Cane had enough time to realize that this would be the first time that she slept alone since her sophomore year in college six years ago. Cane had a feeling that if she stayed in this town long enough, she just might not mind sharing a bed with Duncan Matthews. Shaking her head at the random thought, she drifted off to sleep.

* * * *

Duncan couldn’t believe his eyes. He couldn’t help thinking about Cane
.
S
he was the prettiest woman he had ever seen in his entire life. Hell, pretty wasn’t even the right word for what she was. He had never seen anything like her in his twenty-eight years. The only word he could use to describe her was unique. Her eyes were like nothing he had ever seen before
.
T
hey seemed to hypnotize him and draw him in. When she was looking at him, it felt like she was looking through him right down to his soul. Her hair was as white as sugar and hung down her back in a ponytail. Her skin looked like the creamiest caramel that he had ever seen, and he knew that if he were to touch her, she would be as soft as silk. He wasn’t able to see much of the rest of her body because of the way she ran out of there so fast, but from what he saw she was slim with nice breasts that were not too big but not small either. They looked like the perfect handful, or mouthful for that matter, he thought to himself with a smile. At a loss for words, he just stood there like an idiot with a grip on her hand when he introduced himself. He knew he wasn’t squeezing her hand too hard, but it was odd the way her eyes got as round as saucers and she started to shake all over. He didn’t have time to figure out what was wrong because she bolted out the door as soon as he let her hand go. It was as if she was scared to death of him, and he wondered why. He didn’t have time to think too much about it because Ali came out from the back at that moment.