LITMIR.BIZ

       ONE

      Assistant District Attorney Ashlynn Morris’s hands were shaking as she hurried down the steps of the courthouse toward her car. It couldn’t be him. It just couldn’t. But it had been Garrett Lewis in the foyer of the courthouse. The one man she’d never expected to see again.

      She hadn’t seen him in years—five to be exact—and she hadn’t allowed herself to think about him in all that time except when she looked into her son Jacob’s face and saw Garrett’s eyes staring back at her. But she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing how he’d devastated her when he abruptly ended their engagement, choosing his life as an army ranger over a life with her and Jacob.

      The December wind nipped at her cheeks as she reached her car and opened the door, dumping belongings that had been in her briefcase onto the seat. She hadn’t even bothered to slip on her coat in her haste to get out of the courthouse. She’d gone stone cold when she’d seen Garrett standing in the hall, his hands casually in his pockets and his easygoing manner apparent. His sandy hair was long on his neck and ears, and a goatee decorated his face, but his eyes were unmistakably kind when he turned to look at her, his expression just as surprised as she knew her own must be. She’d frozen in place, engulfed in a trance until someone had bumped into her, knocking her briefcase from her hands and spilling its contents on the floor. After quickly recovering her items with the stranger’s help, she’d turned and rushed from the courthouse.

      “Ashlynn,” Garrett called, his baritone voice another shock to her system. “Ashlynn, wait.”

      How could she face him now when she’d loved him so amazingly deeply? He’d shattered her world by rejecting her, leaving her a twenty-two-year-old law school student suddenly on her own with a baby on the way.

      It had been a struggle to raise a child alone and finish law school, but she hadn’t given up. She’d fought for a better life for herself and Jacob just as she’d battled for everything good in her life. Her mentor, Judge Warren, often called her a survivor, and she was. She handled more pressure on a daily basis in her job as a prosecutor than most people ever faced, and she never blinked. She wouldn’t—she couldn’t—let Garrett see her blink, either.

      Steeling herself against the emotions that threatened to overwhelm her, she shut her car door quickly before she acted on her need to jump inside and roar away. She would face him. It was time to finally put this behind her once and for all. Tucking her hair behind her ear, she took a deep, fortifying breath then turned and closed the distance between them. “Garrett, what are you doing here?”

      His green eyes bored into hers so intensely that it made her breath catch, and when he spoke, his low, husky voice was just as she remembered; his deep southern drawl unmistakable. “I’ve started mentoring foster kids through my local church, and one of the boys is here to see his mother, who was picked up for drugs. I’m here to support him.”

      Her mind spun at the idea that he was mentoring foster kids. Yes, he’d been one, and yes, he’d found a successful career as an army ranger, but what kind of role model ran out on the people who needed him most? He might fool some with his good-guy act, but not her, not after how he’d abandoned her. But he’d misunderstood her question. “No, what are you doing here in Jackson?”

      “Oh, that. I’ve been back in town for a while now. I’m living over on Sutton Lane out by the Reservoir.” He gave her an uncertain shrug. “I didn’t know whether or not to call. I heard you’d gotten married and started a family.”

      Yes, she’d gone on with her life after he’d left her. No need for him to know how it was currently falling apart. Her marriage was over, and her ex-husband wanted Jacob to live with him full-time. But those were her problems, and he didn’t need to know about them.

      “It’s better you didn’t,” she said, determined not to let her vulnerability show. “We’ve both moved on.”

      “I’m working with the police now. I took a job training local law enforcement in anti-terror response tactics.”

      She gasped at this revelation. “You left the army?” Being a ranger had been everything to him. He’d chosen that life over a life with her, having promised to marry her during an extended leave from the rangers only to change his mind once he rejoined his unit.

      He nodded, but his voice caught and she thought she spotted something lurking in his eyes—pain? “I did.”

      For Ashlynn, that was a final blow to her ego. He’d told her he couldn’t be a ranger and be with her, then he’d abandoned them both. Now he would be around town and working with the police. She might see him through the course of her work. Jackson, Mississippi, was a big town, but law enforcement was a small community, and in her job as a prosecutor she often worked closely with the police. It was just one more insulting kick in the teeth to her already encumbered life. “I have to go. I’m expected at home.”

      She hurried away from him and back toward her car. It unnerved her to think he was so close now and she might see him regularly. She made a mental note to conduct as much of her business as possible at the secondary jailhouse, where she would be less likely to run into him again instead of the primary jailhouse where he was now working. But, for now, she needed to concentrate on Jacob and looked forward to winding down after an incredibly hectic day by snuggling with him on the couch tonight and watching A Charlie Brown Christmas on television.

      She was nearly to her car when an explosion rocked the air. Ashlynn was thrown backward, landing hard on the asphalt. She tumbled back against a car, ramming her head. Blinding pain ripped through her and her head felt heavy, but she managed to glance up to see her car in flames and debris falling all around. People were running toward her. Garrett was the only one she could make out clearly. He appeared to be screaming, but she couldn’t hear him or anything over the ringing in her ears.

      He reached her and pulled her to her feet then hurried her away from the debris and flames. Her body was numb, but when her knees buckled beneath her, he scooped her into his arms and carried her. Noise began to seep back through to her—the huff of air through Garrett’s lungs as he ran, the distant wail of sirens and the roar of the fire raging a few feet away. The overwhelming smell of burning rubber permeated the air. She caught the worried expression on Garrett’s face as her vision faded, and she laid her head against his chest and slipped into unconsciousness.

      * * *

      The sky was on fire from the force of the blast and the heat radiating from what was left of the car. As she passed out in his arms, a horrible realization rushed through Garrett. He’d seen her put her things into the vehicle that was now ablaze. That was definitely her car. A sickening feeling pulsed through him. If he hadn’t stopped her, she would have been inside the car when it had blown up.

      The explosion immediately made him think of his time in the army and the night his ranger team was ambushed. Five years later and he was still reliving it. Anything could bring those memories front and center again, whisking him back to that dark place. To the echoing blasts of mortars and gunfire, the cries of agony and the anguish of hauling his best friend from the battle only to have him die in Garrett’s arms. This was his Ashlynn in the line of fire. And here he was, carrying someone he cared for out of danger once again. The way she slumped in his arms filled him with terror.

      Please, God, don’t let her be seriously injured.

      People rushed from the courthouse and surrounding downtown buildings. The fire still raged and the air smelled putrid. He carefully set Ashlynn down in a patch of grass beside the courthouse steps. She was light as a feather in his arms, and her skin was soft as he touched her face. Her brown hair spilled from a clip at the back of her neck. And he’d noticed while they were talking that her eyes still blazed with fire and her chin jutted when she spoke.

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