Fall into Love (Wyoming Fever Book 3) Read online

  Fall Into Love

  By Elizabeth Lennox

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  Copyright 2021

  ISBN13: 9781950451395

  All rights reserved

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Any duplication of this material, either electronic or any other format, either currently in use or a future invention, is strictly prohibited, unless you have the direct consent of the author.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Epilogue

  Excerpt from “Winter Awakening”

  Chapter 1

  Only forty mile per hour winds.

  Even more exciting than the lack of the sometimes insane, Wyoming winds, her neighbor wasn’t home! An excellent day to garden! Sylvie grinned as she grabbed her gardening gloves and her bucket of garden tools, almost skipping out of her house. As soon as she pulled the front door open, she felt a gust of wind. Bracing the door, she pulled it closed and moved outside.

  “Oh, you lovely ladies are getting a haircut!” she told her bushes. Another gust of wind blew her hair into her eyes and she laughed. “Okay, maybe not today.” She leaned in closer. “I don’t want to have to collect all your bits and pieces from you-know-who’s yard!”

  “Who the hell are you talking to?” a deep, gravelly voice demanded.

  Sylvie yelped and spun around.

  Sure enough, the man who shouldn’t be here was standing a mere five feet away.

  “But…!” she gasped in horror, Sylvie’s eyes frantically moving from his tee shirt covered muscles to the empty driveway where his obnoxiously large pickup truck was normally parked. “You’re supposed to be gone!”

  Dean Gibson…Detective Dean Gibson, crossed massive arms over an equally massive chest and looked down his nose at her. It wasn’t that he was a snob, Sylvie thought. It was merely that he was so tall. Well over six feet tall. Something like three inches over six feet compared to her height that was barely three inches over five feet. So yeah, when he looked at her, it felt as if he were looking “down” at her because…well, he was. Darn it.

  “I am?” he asked, interrupting Sylvie’s perusal of his impressively muscular arms. Seriously, what was the point of having muscles that big? It seemed a bit…excessive!

  She lifted her own, less-muscular arm, gesturing floppily with her gardening gloves towards his empty driveway. “Your truck! It’s not there!” Her eyebrows lowered with accusation. “That means that you’re not home!”

  The man’s coal black eyebrows perfectly matched his coal black hair, indicating a touch of Native American ancestry in his bloodline. The startling blue eyes contrasted against the darkness of his hair and…well, his body. Which was gloriously tan and… overly muscled. But Sylvie had already mentioned that. In her head. Not in her dreams. No, this man hadn’t been in her dreams last night. Maybe the night before. But he was just as obnoxious in her dreams as he was in real life, which is why she only came out to garden when she knew that he wasn’t around.

  The dismissive shrug of one broad shoulder pulled her thoughts away from her dreams and back to his muscles. “A friend borrowed it to move something today.”

  Sylvie blinked up at him, then at his empty driveway. Clenching her teeth, she turned and grabbed her gardening bucket. “I’ll work in the backyard today then.”

  His laugh stopped her and she turned, ready to lambast him with her fury.

  “Sylvie, there’s no reason for you to change your plans just because I’m here. Do what you were going to do.”

  She shook her head, refusing to allow her gaze to drop to his biceps again. She sighed impatiently. “No, that’s not going to work for me.” She turned to head back into her house.

  “Why not?”

  She huffed a bit as she looked back at him. For one moment, she considered ignoring him and walking away. But Sylvie was tired, it was Saturday, and she was irrationally disappointed that she couldn’t tackle the front yard. So instead of muttering some lame excuse and leaving, she glared at him and released her temper. “Because you annoy me!”

  “I do?” he asked, wearing that aggravating grin she hated!

  “Yes!”

  “How am I annoying?” he asked, moving closer.

  Sylvie wanted to back up a bit. Glaring at him was much more effective if she didn’t have to strain her neck. Unfortunately, backing up would probably appear weak and she definitely didn’t want that! Especially not when she was “lambasting” him, although he didn’t seem to acknowledge her temper.

  “When I planted flowers last weekend, you told me I was doing it wrong.”

  “You were,” he replied with a dismissive shrug.

  “I was not!” she snapped, stomping her foot.

  He leaned forward, as if he were sharing a secret with her. “You were planting them in neat rows, Sylvie. Flowers should be more haphazard.”

  Gritting her teeth, she snapped, “Says you!”

  He grinned again. “Exactly.”

  “I like my flowers in rows!”

  “Nah,” he chuckled, shaking his head. “That’s too orderly. You need a bit of chaos in your life.”

  She looked over at his yard and groaned. “You add enough chaos to my life. I prefer a more…” she searched for the right word. “Organized,” she finally said, “approach.”

  Those black eyebrows lifted again. “So you don’t like my yard?”

  Sylvie glanced over his shoulder at the flowers and bushes. There was a certain beauty to the chaos in his gardening style. But it wasn’t her preference. Trying valiantly to calm down, she took a deep, steadying breath before answering. “You have the right to keep your yard however you prefer.” She took another slow breath, straightening her shoulders. “But that means that also I have the right to do things my way.” Her eyes sharpened, “Without criticism from you!”

  That’s when he hit her with that “naughty-boy” expression that never failed to send her heart rate through the roof. “Ah, hell, Sylvie, where’s the fun in that?”

  She almost growled. But she was a school teacher and school teachers didn’t growl! They were calm and precise! She had to maintain her cool. No temper tantrums, regardless of the provocation.

  “How about if you go about your day as you’d planned, and I’ll proceed with my plans?”

  He shrugged. “No problem. I’m all for that. Just…” he looked behind her at the bushes. “Don’t change your plans simply because I’m home.” There was a slight quirk to his mouth that wasn’t quite a smile. “I’ll keep out of your way.”

  Sylvie’s eyes narrowed. She didn’t trust him. Not at all! But her front yard needed weeding. She knew this man. She’d stupidly moved in six months ago and every interaction with the guy had been a trial.

  “Fine,” she muttered, but as she turned away, Sylvie continued to keep half an eye on him.

  Dean chuckled as he turned back to his own yard. Damn, he loved teasing her! She was incredibly hot but so uptight, teasing her was almost too easy. Getting her to stay in the front y
ard was a bonus because now he could enjoy the pleasure of watching her work.

  She was definitely one of those straight laced, uptight high school teachers who thought they needed to be role models to their students. But when she pursed those sexy, full lips with disapproval, he wanted to kiss her! He wanted to weave his fingers in her hair and pull that curly blonde waterfall out of the tight band she almost always wore.

  Did she have any idea how her hairstyle emphasized her gorgeous eyes and those high cheekbones? She was stunning! Add in a body that was soft, curvy, luscious, and…damn, he turned away so that she wouldn’t see his body’s response. He chuckled as he entered the code that would activate the garage door opener.

  Looking up at the sky, he supposed he should get the grass cut today. The Chinook winds were coming in from the mountains and the wind gusts were up to forty miles an hour again today. At least it wasn’t storming. Too often, the summer storms brought, heavy downpours, brutal hail and a lot of damage.

  Pushing the lawn mower out of the garage, he bent down and primed the gas. Then stepping back, he pulled the starter. A moment later, the lawn mower roared to life.

  Straightening, he started forward, only to freeze when he noticed Sylvie watching him, her gardening gloves still clenched against her chest and that soft, sexy mouth slightly open.

  What the hell? Was she staring at him?!

  As soon as their eyes met, Sylvie quickly turned away, focusing on the weeds.

  Damn, that was hot! His body tightened with the need to drag her into his house and do all sorts of imaginative things to her delectable body!

  Instead, Dean concentrated on mowing and not allowing his body to reveal his lust. He pushed the mower along the grass, focusing on creating a neat line and not allowing his eyes to stray towards Sylvie’s luscious ass. Turning, he walked the other way, away from Sylvie. Away from the sexy position she was in as she reached behind one of the shrubs for…whatever was back there.

  Neat and tidy lines, he reminded himself. Straight, clean lines!

  Thinking of neat and tidy, he wondered if his prim little neighbor was still watching him. Dean reached the edge of his lawn and headed back.

  Oh yeah! She was watching. But as soon as he’d turned, she looked away, focusing on….what the hell was she doing? Dean almost stumbled because his cute little school-teacher neighbor was bending over again. All he could see was her pert ass and long, sexy legs, because the bushes hid the rest of her. Damn, it was a very fine ass!

  Damn, he could easily picture him standing behind her while she knelt exactly like that on the bed. Or against the kitchen counter! Or the kitchen table! Hell, he could bend her over like that in any number of places in his house!

  Swallowing a groan, he focused on his yard. Not Sylvie’s ass! Hell, she’d probably never let someone bend her over the furniture. She was so uptight, he suspected that Sylvie only had sex in the missionary position.

  And that caused him to stumble again. Because he wouldn’t mind making love to Sylvie missionary style. Hell, he’d do her any damn way she wished, as long as he could watch those full, sexy lips as she made the request.

  Not that she’d ever ask him to have sex, he thought, mentally laughing at the idea. He doubted Sylvie ever had sex! She was so prim and proper, he wondered if she even knew what sex was!

  That thought made him laugh. Of course the lovely Sylvie knew what sex was. It was one more thing she could disapprove of. And Dean loved it when she disapproved of something because he loved watching those lips of hers. Okay, he loved watching her. She really was that stunning! Her green eyes and blond hair just…they did it for him. He also knew that she worked out at the gym down the street, which was why he’d joined that gym as well, even though he had a full gym in his basement.

  His partner, Mack, didn’t understand why he’d joined the gym and there was no way in hell that Dean was going to explain it to him. Because if Mack, Simon, or Arik, his friends on the detective squad, or any other officer on the force, ever discovered his cute little neighbor, well, there would be squad cars driving past her house constantly and crime rate in this neighborhood would drop dramatically!

  Not that there was a lot of crime here. Cheyenne had its share of crime, he thought as he turned and moved back over the next patch of grass. As a detective, he and his fellow detectives on the homicide squad had plenty of cases. But the crime rate wasn’t like, say, New York City. Hell, Dean never wanted to go back to that kind of case load. Moving out to Cheyenne had been the best decision he’d ever made.

  Glancing up again, he smiled as Sylvie wiggled her way out of the bushes, her sexy butt dancing, taunting him.

  And because of that little wiggle, Dean decided to be a good neighbor. Having finished his own lawn, he moved over to Sylvie’s and started mowing hers as well. He was careful to make the lines as neat as possible because Dean knew that she liked things precise. He also knew that she was watching him, irritated that he was helping her out. Which only made him chuckle.

  Unfortunately, he couldn’t stop himself from tweaking her nose just a bit. On the last pass, he wobbled just a bit, making the line he mowed not as straight as the rest.

  Without looking at her, he pushed the lawn mower back into his garage, whistling the whole time. After waving to her, he went inside. But did he stop watching? Oh hell no! His sexy, petite neighbor was too fascinating to ignore. So while he poured himself a glass of water, he moved back to the front window, chuckling to himself as she glared at the messy line at the end.

  Oh, she was gonna give him hell for that one. But what fun was there in living sanely?

  Unfortunately, his cell phone buzzed and he was called into the station. There was a suspicious death on one of the remote ranches about twenty miles out of town. Simon and Arik were already out on other cases, so Dean and Mack were called in. Dean jumped into the shower and pulled on a clean pair of jeans and a tee shirt, grabbed a jacket so he could cover up his weapon, then slid his badge onto his belt. He pushed a hand through his hair just as Mack pulled up in his SUV, since Arik hadn’t returned his truck yet.

  “So…where is she?” Mack asked, resting his wrist on the steering wheel as he peered at the neighbor’s house.

  “Where is who?” Dean asked, pulling the seatbelt over his chest. But he knew! Damn it, he’d thought that Mack hadn’t seen Sylvie! He should have known better. Mack wasn’t an idiot! He was observant and smart as hell, which made him a damned good detective. Plus, he was a great friend. He and the other two detectives hung out on their off hours, although not as much lately since the other two had both gotten married recently.

  “Where’s your sexy, little neighbor?” Mack clarified.

  Dean didn’t answer. “Let’s go,” he ordered, resting his elbow on the edge of the window.

  Mack smirked at his friend. “So that’s how it is?” he asked, and burst out laughing. “Is she the reason you joined that gym down the street?” he asked, with an air of having put two and two together.

  Dean scowled hard enough to scare an ordinary person. But Mack wasn’t ordinary. While Dean was covered in obvious muscles, Mack was lean, mean and had about an inch on him.

  “Death and murder?” Dean prompted sarcastically. “Any of those ring a bell?” He tapped on the dashboard. “Perhaps we could focus?”

  Mack cracked up as he put the SUV in drive and pulled away from the curb.

  Sylvie ignored the hint of sadness that washed over her as she watched the Ford Bronco drive off. She recognized the driver. She’d seen him around Dean’s house before, usually with the other two big guys. She didn’t know any of their names, nor did she plan to find out.

  Sylvie sniffed as she turned away from the window. She had more important things to do than discover the names of her irritating neighbor’s friends.

  Although, perhaps the driver of that SUV was more than a friend. He seemed to hang around with Dean more often than the other two guys. Maybe the driver was Dean’s partner? Ye
ah, that would make sense. She lifted the faux silver vase from the pretty dresser in her dining room, dusting underneath before carefully replacing it. Looking around, Sylvie beamed happily at her beautiful little house. She’d moved here to Cheyenne after having lived in Pennsylvania for far too long. And this house, with all of it’s glamour and pretty pieces, suited her perfectly! She loved the freedom of decorating her world exactly as she liked. Sylvie knew that others might find her style on the girly, romantic side, but she loved her spaces!

  She’d eschewed the lace doilies and antique furniture that her mother preferred. In her house, everything was glitz and glamor. She’d found an old dresser that someone threw away. She’d hauled it home, lovingly scraped off the paint, sanded the wood, and fixed the sagging drawers. Then she’d painted the whole thing a dusky blue, adding small avant-guard features to the sides with molded clay and detailed those areas with an antique white. The look was a bit whimsical, but definitely beautiful!

  Her job as a teacher was all about order and discipline, as well as figuring out creative ways to entice her students into reading books that they’d normally skip. But here, in her own house, she’d glammed it up as much as she wanted. Sylvie loved her private world. It was the opposite of her public persona, and made her feel like she’d stepped into a beautiful movie set every time she came home from her job.

  She aimed a glare at the house next door. Her neighbor’s backyard was…male. Very male! It had a pool, which she’d watched the man swim in late at night. He loved swimming at night and Sylvie acknowledged, if only to herself, that she loved watching him swim. She loved watching the muscles on his back ripple and shimmer as the water moved over his skin. There was a grill as well, and a large patio filled with comfortable chairs and a dart board with an enormous, bare backboard. Oh, and she couldn’t forget the outdoor shower. Who showered outdoors?!

  Her neighbor, she thought with a disapproving shake of her head.

  “Time to get to work,” she announced to the now-clean room. She settled into her desk chair and got to work on her lesson plans for the next week. She had a test planned on one of the books she’d assigned. She needed to review the test questions, perhaps tweak them a bit so that they incorporated the current class discussions.