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Chapter 1
There was no such thing as love at first sight, but Tara Russell needed someone to explain that to Sugar. Her arm was ready to detach from its socket as her brother’s nine-month-old, fawn-colored Great Dane pulled her along the fairway, intent on her latest infatuation. So far, Tara had managed to keep Sugar from attacking the man as he ambled past the games and rides with their flashing lights and cajoling carnies, but her strength was waning.
Truth be told, so was her will. Her gaze locked on the backside of the man about ten yards ahead of them. Sugar’s target was easily the sexiest guy Tara had seen in a long time, and believe you me, she’d been looking. Unfortunately, the small town of Redemption, Wisconsin, didn’t provide its women with much to choose from—in her opinion, anyway.
But this guy…mmm. The summer sun picked up a suggestion of auburn highlights on the top, but the shorter sides were dark brown. A faint shadow of a beard darkened his jaw, softening his chiseled profile and enhancing his rugged appeal. She hadn’t caught the color of his eyes, though he’d glanced in her general direction a time or two.
Before she started drooling, she forced herself to acknowledge the most intriguing thing about him: his black suit that fit his six-foot, nicely built body like it was tailored especially for him. Wait a second. Intriguing? No. A shake of her head made her long ponytail swish against her back. Off-putting, that’s the word she meant.
Because, really, who wore a suit to a fair in this heat? Who wore a suit to a fair, period? She started imagining likely explanations and came up with lawyer…and…um…nope, that was it. Bummer. Imagine trying to bring a Suit home to her Hog-loving family? Bad enough she didn’t fit the Russell mold, they might disown her if she fell for some uptight, blood-sucking, sexy—
Geez, wasn’t he roasting in all that material? Because just looking at him made her hot. Sweat dampened her skin, making her tank top cling even more with the late afternoon temperature hovering close to eighty.
Then again, holding Sugar back was no walk in the park.
Tara plucked at the black material of her top and squinted at the sky through her sunglasses, wishing there were at least a hint of a breeze to cool her sticky skin. Thank heavens she’d kept her cutoffs on instead of changing into jeans.
Sugar switched direction, throwing Tara off balance in her sandals and giving the dog the upper hand with her forward momentum. The dog’s entire body wagged along with her tail as she made a beeline for Tom Hayden, one of her brother’s buddies. A few of the other guys from her brother’s crowd were leaning against their Harley’s, drinking beer and hanging out, dressed in their riding gear.
“Heads up,” Tara called, trying to regain control. As if she’d ever really had it.
To Sugar’s delight, Tom grasped either side of the exuberant dog’s neck and gave her a rough greeting, but his gaze swept the length of Tara. “Damn, girl. What got into you?”
Tara felt her cheeks flush and tried to laugh his comment off. “Just dressing the part for the tattoo booth. Can you imagine me helping out in my usual clothes?”
Tom snorted and a couple of the guys chuckled. Usual for Tara was the opposite of the skin tight, scooped neck tank top with metal-ringed holes of different sizes dotting her torso and back. She’d added a loose chain belt to her low, short cutoffs that made clinking noises as she walked, the ends dangling down past her right hip to bump her thigh with each step. Nothing she wore even remotely resembled her business attire as a real estate agent.
One of the guys made a borderline vulgar side comment to another and Tom turned to glare at him. “Charlie’s little sis, man, knock it off.”
Tara rolled her eyes. “I don’t need a stand in for Charlie, Tom. Allow me a little freedom.”
“Sorry—I’m just used to backing Charlie up.”
“Well stop.”
“Okay.” His gazed dropped from the extra makeup she wore to the tattoos on her arms. “If I didn’t know you better, I’d swear those were real. Your mom does an awesome job, even on the fake ones.”
“She is an artist—and the bonus is, they’re pain free.”
To complete the costume, her mother had air brushed tattoos of barbed wire around her right upper arm, an asp curled around a sword on her left, a rose on the side of her neck, a small shooting star on the inside of her left wrist, and last, but not least, a heart encircled with thorns on her ankle. Together they’d done a good job of transforming Tara into a biker chick ready for a walk on the wild side.
Tara’s gaze skimmed their bikes and leather chaps. “You guys heading out for a ride or on your way back?”
“We’re headed out in a little bit, but we’ll be back later tonight for the band. You going?”
Tara shrugged. “Not sure yet.”
Having licked all the hands she could reach, Sugar tugged on the leash, pulling back toward the thick of the crowd. Tara grinned at Tom. “I guess it’s time to go—maybe I’ll see you there.”
A few steps later, Tara heard her name over the noise, and turned to see Lauren Frazier waving from the frozen custard stand with her little girl in the stroller next to her. Grabbing a firm hold on Sugar’s leash, she approached cautiously, but with a genuine smile.
“Hey, Lauren, I’ve been meaning to stop in for a trim.”
Lauren sighed with mock disgust. “Some day you’re going to let me do more than just take a half inch off the ends.”
Tara shook her head; that day would be a long way off. But now Lauren was eyeing her with raised brows. “You celebrating Halloween in July this year?”
“What?” Tara asked.
Lauren grinned. “Between the Haunted House I saw on the way in and your costume, I don’t know what else to think.”
“Ha, ha, funny. I’m working the tattoo booth later. Mom asked me to display some of her work.”
“Ah, well that makes more sense.”
Tara suspected she needed to start expanding her horizons to avoid shocking people when she took a drastic turn. Before thoughts of her boring life took over, she looked down at cute little Emma with all her blond curls. “Hey, Emma, is Mommy getting you some ice cream?”
“We share it.” Emma held up a bandaged hand. “Owie.”
“I see that.” Tara glanced at Lauren. “What happened? Is she okay?”
“Yeah, she’s fine. She burned her fingers on a lit cigarette. Some punk friend of Max’s flicked it into the backyard, and Emma grabbed it before Max could stop her.” Lauren accepted the large twist cone from the man behind the counter and handed him two singles.
“Poor little girl. And how awful for you, too,” she said to Lauren.
“Not being able to take her pain away was the worst part. I was such a wreck. I don’t know what I would’ve done if Caleb hadn’t been there.”
Tara lifted a brow. “Caleb?”
/> Before Lauren could respond, Emma whined, “Momma, I’cream, I’cream!”
With an indulgent smile, Lauren knelt down and helped Emma grasp the cone with her unbandaged hand. “Careful, honey. Don’t drop it.” When Lauren stood back up, she pointed to a tall, auburn-haired man standing in line for a funnel cake with her ten-year-old son, Max. “Caleb.”
Tara looked him over and found herself smiling. Nice. Almost as nice as the Suit Sugar had been following. She tilted her head, thinking he looked familiar, but she couldn’t place him. Casting Lauren a teasing grin, she asked, “Where have you been hiding him? I didn’t know you were dating anyone—”
It suddenly dawned on Tara that the leash had gone slack. She did a quick twirl to locate Sugar and saw Emma holding out her ice cream cone. Sugar’s long tongue extended for a lick.
“Oh, no, honey, don’t do that!” Tara exclaimed. “She can’t have—”
At the sound of Tara’s voice, Sugar made a quick lunge and snatched the whole cone right from the little girl’s hand. She swallowed it in one mighty gulp. Oh, crap. Emma’s eyes went round, and her lower lip trembled as her eyes filled with tears.
“Sugar,” Tara admonished in a stern voice, pulling on the leash as Emma started to cry. After they’d backed up a few steps, Tara said, “I’m sorry.”
Tara glared at the dog and silently groaned with frustration. Her brother’s psycho dog was lactose intolerant. It was only a matter of time before that cone came back up, along with the bits of deep fried cheese curds, French fries, cotton candy, hot dog buns, elephant ears and even a piece of a corn cob that Sugar had inhaled off the ground over the past hour. She’d promised her mom a break from the airbrushing booth at seven, but now the best bet would be to get Sugar out of here. No one wanted to be around when those fireworks went off.
Lauren crouched down and ruffled Emma’s hair. “It’s okay, baby, I’ll get us another one.”
“Let me get it,” Tara said.
