Maybe someday…
She inhaled deeply and started walking again.Thinking about her five remaining siblings, wondering what they were up to, wasn’t going to do her a single bit of good.And thinking about Devlin, rotting away six feet beneath the ground…That way lay madness.
Up ahead, the bright green door of her house came into view.Well, technically it wasn’therhouse.Teague’s wife, Callie, had gotten her aunt to agree to let Sloan live there.Sloan had woken every morning for the last seven days thinking that would be the day when Sorcha showed up, but the woman hadn’t shown up.It was more than a little strange that she’d agreed to give Sloan a place to stay and then not been there upon her arrival.The only contact she’d had from the woman was a text from a random number saying to make herself at home.When she’d texted back, there had been no reply.
Frankly, a part of Sloan was relieved Sorcha hadn’t made an appearance.She didn’t know much about the woman except that she owned this house and seemed willing to do her niece a favor by housing Sloan indefinitely.
Against her better judgment, her gaze drifted to the house directly north of hers.She’d mistakenly gone there her first night in town, and her encounter with the surly man who lived there still made her shiver.Jude.He’d been like a junkyard dog guarding his territory, more interested in getting her off his property than hearing her out about an honest mistake.
If she never ran into him again, it would be too soon.
Still…She couldn’t help being a little curious.Nearly every other local she’d come across had been friendly and welcoming.When they learned she was in the old O’Connor house, they always perked up and prodded her for more information, but wasn’t that what small towns were known for?Everyone took care of everyone else, and if there was a bit of gossip involved, that was to be expected.
It just made Jude’s horrible attitude stand out even more.He didn’t care where she came from, didn’t care what she was doing in town, didn’t care about anything but getting her away from his house.
If she were a more curious woman, she’d wonder if he was hiding something behind those closed curtains and barred shutters.Who owns a beach house and keeps all the windows blocked?
“None of my business.”She had enough trouble without borrowing more.If that…that…jerkwanted her to stay away from him, that was exactly what she’d do.End of story.
As she passed, the door in question opened and Jude emerged, a coffee mug in his hand.Sloan jerked to a stop, unable to tear her gaze away.His long dark hair was in a bun at the back of his head, which should have made him look delicate, but there wasn’t a single delicate thing about the man staring at her.His jaw might as well have been chiseled from stone, and though she couldn’t see his brown eyes across the distance, she knew they were like bitter dark chocolate and intense.
But what he was wearing…
Or, rather,notwearing.
Cargo shorts hung low on his hips, and he’d misplaced his shirt somewhere.Every muscle was defined, his body too perfect to be real.She blinked, but he didn’t vanish like she’d half-expected.Instead, he lifted the mug to his lips, drawing her attention to his impossibly broad shoulders, which tapered to a narrow waist and, good gracious, what were those muscles called that created a V leading directly into his shorts?
Her face felt impossibly warm despite the mild August morning and she was suddenly sure that she was blushing furiously.Keep walking.Just put one foot forward and keep walking.She couldn’t move.She couldn’t do anything other than stand there and stare at him until he nodded briefly at her, turned around, and walked back into his house.
What in God’s name just happened?
***
Jude MacNamara left his place as soon as night fell.He didn’t like moving around Callaway Rock during the day.Fuck, he didn’t like small towns in general.Everyone had too much time on their hands and felt like it was their God-given right to stick their noses into their neighbors’ business.He’d had to run off over a dozen attempts to welcome him into town since he moved here three months ago, and that hadn’t done a damn thing to dissuade anyone.If anything, it made the localsmoredetermined to figure out everything there was to know about him.
They were wasting their time.He was here for a job.He sure as fuck wasn’t staying.
He stalked onto the beach, pausing only to make sure no teenagers had thought it was a brilliant idea to have a beach fire tonight.Clear.Unlike the towns farther north, Callaway Rock didn’t get much in the way of tourists.Maybe if they had, he wouldn’t have had to actually buy a house here while he waited for his target to reappear.
Jude lifted a pair of binoculars.In his dark clothes and with the ocean at his back, he was damn near invisible on a night like this, especially with clouds covering the moon.He gave the beach to the north and south of him a cursory look to reconfirm that there was no one but him out tonight and then he turned to his real target.
The O’Connor house.
It had been unoccupied since he’d gotten to town, but a little over a week ago, a woman had moved in.She was about fifty years too young to be Sorcha O’Connor, and the coloring was all wrong regardless.This woman—Sloan—had both dark hair and eyes, not the blond hair and blue eyes that ran through Sorcha’s family.
He paused his binoculars at each window, taking in the little changes that had come with the new resident.After he’d moved to Callaway Rock, he’d broken in and gone through the entire house, looking for clues to where Sorcha might have gone and familiarizing himself with the layout in the event that he’d need to return.There was nothing of the former, and the latter was laughably easy.With the massive windows and fact that the curtains and shutters were never closed, he hadn’t had to set foot in the place to figure out everything he needed to know.But it paid to be thorough.
What he couldn’t figure out was who the hell this Sloan was and how she was connected to Sorcha O’Connor.
For a second, right when he found her peering into his windows that first night, he’d half convinced himself that she was actually Callista Sheridan, come to visit her long-lost aunt.A coup like that…It made his adrenaline spike just thinking about it.What better way to make Colm Sheridan suffer than removing his beloved daughter from the equation?She was the only child he had left, after all—though recently she’d been too protected for Jude to even consider.He’d have to wait until things died down to circle back to Boston.
But as soon as the woman stepped into the light, he’d realized his mistake.Even if her coloring could be faked, this wasn’t Callista.He’d seen her a time or two over the years, and she carried herself as a woman used to having her orders followed without question, even before she took over the Sheridan empire.
Sloan?She seemed to have her shoulders perpetually hunched, as if expecting a blow.He couldn’t tell if it was an abusive ex or something else, but she was fleeing something.It’s none of my fucking business if she is.She’s not my target.Colm’s sister Sorcha is.
He’d bide his time and see how this played out.His vengeance had waited this long—it could wait a little bit more.
Every light was lit inside the house, and he watched Sloan walk through it, pausing to touch the marble kitchen counter, the thick mantel over the fireplace, the back cushion on the couch facing the massive windows.Then she disappeared, reappearing in the guest room, her hands going to the buttons at the front of her dress.
