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ONE
The window rattled.
Olivia Leighton jumped, glancing over her shoulder at the dark alley beyond the windowpane. The motion detection light on the side of the building clicked on.
As if someone was moving out there.
Fear crimped her insides. She rose from her desk chair, her heels silent on the plush carpeting as she drew closer to the window. Weak yellow lighting spilled from overhead. It illuminated the pavement directly outside, but cast long shadows near the dumpster. Shadows big enough to hide a person in.
Was her stalker out there? Watching her?
She’d been receiving notes for weeks. When the first one appeared in her mailbox, she’d thought it was some kind of sick joke. But then another was slipped under the door of her office. A third tucked under the windshield wiper of her car while she was running errands in town. Olivia had reported them to law enforcement and Police Chief Sims had taken it seriously, but without knowing her stalker’s identity, nothing could be done.
She’d installed a new security system for her home and office. Slept with a knife in her nightstand. Changed her routine. She was doing everything possible to protect herself, but the constant stress was wreaking havoc on her mental state.
I’m watching. I’m waiting. Soon it will be time for us to be together forever.
Those parting words in the stalker’s last letter haunted Olivia. A shiver raced down her spine as she peered into the alley. Her heart thumped in an irregular beat, blood rushing through her veins, filling her ears with the noise.
Suddenly, a shape flew out of the darkness.
Olivia yelped. She jerked away from the window as the creature flew down the alley. Dark fur and black eyes.
A raccoon.
She pressed a hand to her racing heart as the animal ran through the beam of light before scrambling under a broken fence board into the neighbor’s property. Olivia sagged against the wall in relief. She closed her eyes. Then sucked in a deep breath and mentally berated herself for freaking out. She was losing it. Yes, her stalker had sent letters, but to her knowledge, he hadn’t done anything more than that. She couldn’t keep jumping at every shadow.
Olivia snapped her eyes open. Her office was bathed in warm light. Mood boards for a string of weddings coming up this spring and summer lined the far wall. For the first time since opening Blessed Events, Olivia was fully booked. It’d taken three years of hard work to get her event-planning business off the ground. In the beginning, she’d done birthday parties and corporate dinners. Her passion was always weddings though. One or two clients gave her a chance for a deep discount. Word spread. She was now the most sought after wedding planner in the Texas Hill Country.
It was a dream come true. But it would all fall apart if she didn’t get it together. A wedding planner’s job was to remain calm during chaos. Be a problem solver. She couldn’t accomplish any of that if fear and anxiety crippled her. Enough was enough.
Olivia snapped the blinds shut on the window, symbolically closing off her concerns about her stalker. The police were looking for him. And God was protecting her. She would continue to use caution, but fear would not run her life.
A loud chime came from her desk. Olivia hurried across the room. She searched for her cell phone among the seating table charts and wedding cake photos, finally unearthing it from under a pile of catering menus. “Blessed Events, this is Olivia.”
“Hi, Olivia.” A deep voice with a slight Texas twinge rumbled from the speaker. “It’s Cole.”
Texas Ranger Cole Donnelly. Olivia’s heart skipped a beat, this time for an entirely different reason, as an image of the last time they’d seen each other formed in her mind. At a tux fitting. Cole was strikingly handsome on a good day, but in formal wear… he was stunning. His chiseled jaw was clean-shaven, leaving all the focus on his arresting mouth and strong cheekbones. Tousled dark hair curled at the collar, adding a charming and almost boyish touch to his otherwise purely masculine features. If his face didn’t make every single woman in visible range screech to a stop, then the rest of him did. Muscles were visible even though the thick fabric of his jacket and slacks hugged slender hips that gave way to powerful thighs.
Cole was a groomsman for a wedding she was in the process of planning for Elijah Goodwin and Sienna Evans. He was also the reason Olivia was still in the office at eight o’clock on a Tuesday night. She was waiting for him so they could discuss his speech for the wedding. Something Cole was incredibly nervous about.
She hoped he wasn’t calling to cancel. The wedding was in a couple of weeks and Cole’s schedule was hectic due to his job.
“I’m running late.” Cole sounded stressed, a note of exhaustion peppering his tone. “It was unavoidable, and I’m sorry, but I’m on my way. Can you wait? I should be there in about fifteen minutes. If I don’t speed.”
“Don’t get pulled over by the Serenity Police Department. They take speeding in town seriously, and as an outsider, you’ll be given a lecture on top of it.”
He chuckled. “A well deserved one too. Okay, I won’t speed.” He paused for a moment. “Have you eaten dinner? Cuz I haven’t and I’m starving. There’s an Italian place on the outskirts of town I’ve heard is very good.”
She knew exactly which one he was talking about. “Romeo’s.”
“That’s it. If we meet there, it’ll shave five minutes off my drive time. My treat. What do you say?”
For half a moment, Olivia wondered if this was Cole’s way of asking her out on a date. A riot of butterflies fluttered in her stomach. It caught her off-guard with its intensity. They’d seen each other several times in the last year and there was definitely a spark between them. One Olivia wasn’t sure she wanted to pursue. Since losing her fiancé three years ago, she’d put romance on the back burner.
She needed to keep things professional. Olivia busied her hands by clearing her desk. “Dinner would be great. But I’ll pay. It’s a business meeting after all.”
“No, ma’am.” Cole’s tone brooked no argument. “My grandmother would box my ears if I let a lady pay for her meal. Besides, I’m the one running late. And I’m pretty sure helping a groomsman with his speech isn’t one of your duties as a wedding planner.”
