Defiant Heart (Starlight Cove Book 1)

WHEN I’D FIRST SET foot in Starlight Cove a month ago, I hadn’t come here intending to chain myself to a tree. Obviously. But like my parents always taught me, I needed to take the opportunities life presented. So who was I to ignore it when information landed in my lap—like the times the soulless assholes arrived at this site in the morning, or just exactly when they planned to start tearing up this beautiful, untouched land? And if the hardware store in town just so happened to carry my preferred lock and chains, and I just so happened to be released from yesterday’s…incident…with plenty of time to get over here? Well, I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Sitting cross-legged at the base of the mammoth tree that would be my companion for the second day in a row, I rested my palms on my knees and closed my eyes, centering myself. If I listened carefully, I could almost hear the crashing waves of the ocean like I’d grown accustomed to greeting me each morning from my converted van parked along the shore in the forest preserve.

In the time I’d been in this sleepy little town, I’d taken to completing my morning Vinyasa just across the boundary of the preserve, a short walk from where I was parked. I loved nature and I loved the trees, but I didn’t want them blocking the view of my soul sister, the ocean. And yeah, technically, the boundary I crossed was the private property of Starlight Cove Resort, and technically, one of the owners of that resort was an ass with a penchant for arresting me, but the land was open and airy, much more so than the site I’d parked my van.

Who was I hurting anyway? I was just one petite woman. If people felt compelled to join me during my routine and then pay me for guiding them, well. What was I going to tell them? No?

Despite my less than pleasant reception from Starlight Cove’s sheriff, I’d fallen in love with this place. It was a postage-stamp-sized pocket of paradise, right along the rocky Maine coast, a lush crown of forest to one side and a charming downtown only seen in movies to the other. I’d stumbled across it on my way home to Maryland for a quick visit, but I’d been so enamored of it and the people, I just…hadn’t yet left. There was something so peaceful about it here. As soon as I’d arrived, it’d felt like my soul had settled. And, because I wasn’t one to question the proclivities of my soul, I’d decided to stay put until the urge to leave cropped up again.

And it would. It always did.

Knowing I wouldn’t have long until the cavalry arrived, I sank into a quick meditation. I breathed in deeply to a count of four, held for four, then released it in a slow, controlled exhale of eight. I liked to start my mornings as relaxed as possible, believing my beginning emotions held all the power to control my day. And I refused to let the intentions of the money-hungry corporation dead set on razing this land derail me.

I was calm. I was peaceful. I was—

“You again,” a male voice boomed from somewhere off to my left. “Just what in the hell do you think you’re doing?”

The sound of quick footfalls echoed around me, warning me of his imminent arrival, but I didn’t open my eyes. At least not until his shadow fell over me and I felt him looming above me.

I cracked open one eye and glanced up at the foreman I’d had the displeasure of meeting yesterday. He was in his late forties or early fifties, bald, with a beak nose and a protruding belly. He looked like my high school geometry teacher, Mr. Carson. I hadn’t liked him much, either, though the worst he’d ever done was force me to find the volume of a trapezoid and not the deforestation of twenty acres of lush land inhabited by dozens of species of plants and animals.

“Morning.” I smiled up at him, squinting into the sun peeking over his shoulder.

“‘Morning’?” he repeated, his tone incredulous. Sweat dotted his forehead, though it was still cool outside, and he swiped his sleeve across it. Someone was getting a little stressed. Good, it served him right. “Like I told you yesterday, you can’t be here.”

I snorted, gesturing to the chains that bound me to the probably hundred-and-fifty-year-old tree at my back. “I assure you, I can, and I am. Obviously.”

His face reddened even further—which, to be honest, I hadn’t thought possible. “You need to unlock this right now,” he spat, his voice rising with each word, spittle forming at the corners of his mouth. Ew. “We’re on a tight schedule, and you’re halting the progress!”

I shot him a wide smile. “Oh darn. I had no idea that would happen.”

He ground his teeth so hard, I heard it from my perch on the ground. “Don’t fool yourself, sweetheart. You’re not doing anything noble here. People need this shopping center.”

“Animals need their homes more, sweetheart.”

Was there anything worse than a pompous man who talked down to you because you were a woman? Yes, apparently. A pompous man who talked down to you because you were a woman and who also happened to be in charge of demolishing twenty acres of wildlife.

“Animals don’t pay the bills, lady. They’re going to have to mooch elsewhere. And you need to leave. Now.”

“No can do. I seemed to have misplaced the key. Whoops.” I shrugged, giving him my best contrite smile, despite the fact that said key was safely nestled between my breasts, tucked into my bralette right next to the amethyst I’d placed there this morning.

“Fine,” he said, pulling out his phone. “You’ve given me no choice but to call the sheriff again.”

“Oh, good. Let me know when he gets here,” I said, placing my palms back on my knees and closing my eyes. “We’re on a first-name basis, you know.”

The foreman didn’t need to know the reason for that was because Sheriff McKenzie had arrested me more than once. He’d done it so many times, in fact, my rap sheet had nearly doubled since I’d been in this sleepy little town. I’d never met a man more controlled by the law—more controlled, period—than Brady. Never met one more gorgeous, either.

At the first arrest, I’d been annoyed. Then irritated. But after my fifth time in his cuffs, I’d started to find it downright amusing. If he wanted to waste his time running the paperwork on little old me, then who was I to deny him something that obviously brought him delight? Besides, it wasn’t exactly a hardship to look at him.

Looming nearly a foot taller than me, he was gorgeous, with his dark, tousled hair and pale-green eyes, close-cropped beard that couldn’t hide his chiseled jawline, and a body that just wouldn’t quit. He was stacked, with tree-trunk legs, biceps the size of my head, and an ass I wanted to sink my teeth into.

So yeah…as long as he kept his mouth shut, I had no problem getting up to some good trouble and enjoying the view when he showed up to ruin all my fun.

Brady

THE LAST THING I should’ve been doing was bringing food to the enemy, but Beck wouldn’t drop it, insisting the Luna Special would work wonders in smoothing her ruffled feathers and cinch what we needed to happen—namely, keeping her away from trouble.

Still. I was the goddamn sheriff of Starlight Cove. I wasn’t about to show up to a call with refreshments for the lawbreaker. At least, not unless she gave me no other choice.

I stepped out of my car, taking stock of the witnesses. Hopefully, this hadn’t gotten out of hand already and word hadn’t yet spread like it was wont to do in our little town.

“…coming to you live from the Williamsons’ old place where, for the second day in a row, newcomer to Starlight Cove, Luna Lancaster, is taking a stand against corporate greed.” A small, older woman sporting a hot-pink sweatshirt and matching sweatpants, her gray hair still in curlers, stood off to the side, phone held out in front of her as she spoke.

I groaned, scrubbing a hand over my face as I changed directions and headed toward her. “Mabel. Can you not do this right now?”

She pinned me with a scowl, turning her phone on me. “Sheriff McKenzie. Are you saying the good people of Starlight Cove don’t deserve to know what’s going on in their fine town? I have an obligation to report the news, you know.”

I snorted, using all my restraint not to shove the phone away from me. “I think you can relax. It’s Facebook, not the Associated Press.”

“True, but we’ve got one of those here, too.” Mabel grinned, as if she was delighting in that fact and the shocked look on my face. “Showed up about five minutes before you.”

I shot my gaze around until it landed on the only person out of place. Tall, blond, and statuesque, with an air that said she didn’t belong here but was gracing you with her presence anyway. Harper Davidson. She’d spent summers at the resort in her teen years. She’d been inseparable from Levi and his best friend back then, but I hadn’t seen her here in years. “Harper? Since when do you work for the AP? I thought you wrote for some lifestyle magazine.”

“I don’t work for the AP,” she said, coming to a stop next to us.

Mabel blew out a raspberry and swatted the air between them. “Oh, you’re no fun.”

Harper rolled her eyes. “But I do freelance for several lifestyle magazines who’d probably be really interested in the protestation of a new shopping development in Starlight Cove.” She pursed her lips. “Too bad that angle won’t be a good look for the feature about the resort…”

I froze, my eyes widening a fraction at that bomb she’d just dropped. Fuck. Of course, this couldn’t have been easy. “You’re writing the piece on the resort?”

“Sure am—if it gets approved.” She pressed her lips together in some semblance of a smile, though it didn’t quite reach her eyes.

That it was Harper behind this might actually work to our benefit. She’d spent so much time at the resort when she’d been younger, surely she’d want to feature it. Maybe I was the wrong McKenzie brother to talk to her, and Levi would have more luck. “Does Levi know you’re here?”

Her stare hardened, smile dropping completely. “No idea. He’s not exactly on my speed dial.”

Well, shit. So much for that idea. I didn’t know what had gone down between her and my brother, but it was clear there was no love lost between them. Not exactly a shock when it was Levi I was talking about. But their…entanglement definitely didn’t bode well for securing a feature, which meant I needed to do everything to stack it in our favor.

“I’m working on taking care of this.”

A raised brow was her only reply as I stepped around her and away from the incessant yammering of Mabel. I needed a clear head for what I was about to do. Luna and I had only spat fire and ice at each other since she’d first shown up in town. And if I didn’t play my cards right, she could fuck up the one and only break the resort had had in years. I refused to let this woman prevent my family from getting what they needed.

Steeling my shoulders, I took a deep breath and prepared for battle.

Hands on my belt, I strode toward the too-beautiful-for-her-own-good woman who sat at the base of a huge tree, its trunk at least three times the width of her. She wore a pale gray sweatshirt and leggings that I knew firsthand would hug her shapely ass. Her dark hair was gathered off to the side in a thick, loose braid, with several smaller braids interspersed throughout and wisps of hair framing her face. It was infuriating, really, how gorgeous this pain in my ass was.

“Ms. Lancaster. Do you love handcuffs in general or just mine?”

A sparkle danced in her blue-hazel eyes as she looked up at me, her lips pursed. “Is that why you’re here? You gonna arrest me again, Sheriff?”

“If I have to.”

She jutted out her chin, her delicate features such a contrast to the firm set of her jaw. “Well, I’ve cleared my schedule, and I intend to be here all day, unless someone drags me away.”

“Is that so?” I asked in a low murmur, then squatted down so I wasn’t towering over her. “We just did this yesterday. Where’s the key?”

She sniffed, looking far too poised for someone who was sitting in the dirt and chained to a tree. “Must’ve lost it.”

“Mhmm.” I didn’t believe her for a second, especially since she’d given me the same line yesterday and then dug it out of some hidden pocket in her leggings. She was reckless, yes, but she wasn’t stupid. She had that key tucked somewhere safe on her person. I just needed to find it. Preferably soon, before we gave Harper any more fodder for an article than she already had. “Last chance.”

“You might as well do whatever you planned, because nothing will make me give up that key.”

With a sigh, I stood. “I didn’t want it to come to this.”

Without another word, I turned and headed back toward my patrol car. I was trusting Beck with the small bit of intel he’d given me before I’d left the resort and headed over here. Apparently, my little lawbreaker ate breakfast every morning in the diner—some crazy, new-age vegetarian, gluten-free, soy-free, flavor-free concoction no sane person would put anywhere near their mouths—but she hadn’t this morning. I was counting on her being hungry and caffeine-deprived for this next part to work.

“Are you getting a Taser?” Luna called after me, drawing the attention of not only nosy Mabel, but also a sharp-eyed Harper. “Or are you going for the pepper spray? Whatever it is, it doesn’t matter. You’ll need bolt cutters to get me away from this tree! I’m doing this for the animals who can’t speak for themselves.”

My God, could the woman be any more dramatic? Or infuriating? She set my teeth on edge, and I had to beat down the part of me that wanted to punish her for misbehaving. With my hand on her bare ass.

“Sheriff, can you let the good people of Starlight Cove know what’s going on? Who chained Luna to the tree and just left her there to perish?”

“Mabel,” I snapped, what little patience I had long gone. “Go home. You’re not even reporting the facts. No one did this to her—she did it to herself.”

Mabel pressed the phone against the material of her sweatshirt and shot me a wink. “Nothing wrong with spicing up those facts a bit. Embellishing and whatnot. Gets me more views and likes, and that’s what it’s all about.”

I grunted in response but otherwise ignored her as I reached in and grabbed the bag holding a takeout container and the to-go cup full of the disgusting green concoction Beck had tricked me into trying. It tasted like weeds and ass, and if I never had it near my mouth again, it would be too soon.

Thankfully, Harper was quite a ways away, her back to me as she talked with the foreman while I carried my…bribe—I cringed at the thought—toward Luna. The last thing I needed was Harper writing this up in her article.

“Food delivery for the person breaking the law.” Mabel tsked, eyebrows raised. “Trying a new tack, Sheriff?”

“Mabel, if you’re not gone in two minutes, I’ll arrest you for trespassing along with Ms. Lancaster.”

She gasped and held a hand to her chest. “You wouldn’t. What would your mother say?”

It was the same question I’d asked myself every day for nearly ten years. But in all that time, I’d gotten damn good at forcing it down and ignoring it, so I did it once again.

“Don’t push me.”

She narrowed her gaze on me, but she must’ve seen the steely glint in my eyes proving that I wasn’t in the mood for her shenanigans today, because she turned away without another word and spat some nonsense into the phone I couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to.

Not when I had one mission while I was here—remove Luna from the location and make her agree to stay out of trouble by whatever means necessary.

Images of a naked Luna, spread out and handcuffed to my bed, flashed through my mind, and I had to clench my teeth against them. My dick didn’t seem to care that she was a royal pain in my ass and dead set on making my life a living hell. It only cared that she was soft and beautiful, feisty and wild, with the kind of curves a man wouldn’t get sick of, even after a lifetime.

Fortunately, though, I hadn’t been ruled by my dick since I was fourteen, and I had no intention of reverting to that now.