Jarod's Heart (King Brothers Stories #2)

You’d think that, as the oldest brother in the King family and the youngest elected sheriff in Timbisha County, Jarod King would be living on cloud nine, but you’d be wrong. Ever since Miranda left him five years ago for her drug dealer, Jarod has barely been existing, faking smiles and civility for his family’s sake. Women are like Kryptonite to him, unless they’re helping his department run smoothly—like Lauren Lockwood, his secretary by day and royal pain by night.

You’d also think that Lauren, working as administrative assistant to Jarod King, the man she’s loved since the day she laid her young eyes on him, would be on cloud nine, but you’d be wrong. Ever since Miranda broke his heart with her deception, he’s almost impossible to get along with—let alone love.

But when someone from Jarod’s past enters their lives, and the drug dealings that destroyed his marriage set up shop in their small town, Lauren and Jarod will be forced to face the feelings that have been brewing inside them since the day they met. He’ll have to trust Lauren with the fragile pieces of his heart. Lauren will have to find the courage to give him what he needs, if she wants her greatest dream to come true.

A King Brothers Novel

Jason’s Princess

A King Brothers Novel

For my husband, and all of the sacrifices he has made for me.

SEPTEMBER…

Y
ou’re arresting me?” she screeched.

“Not if I don’t have to. Now get in the car, Lauren.” Jarod didn’t understand her attitude. There was a madman on the loose and she was out parading herself around as a target.

What had she been thinking, walking to her car by herself with Billy on the loose? He’d already brutalized one woman, burned down Jason’s house and set his goons on Julie.

“Jarod, get your hands off me. I’m hungry and I’m getting lunch.” She shook her arm out of his gentle hold and continued on toward her car.

“I’m not asking again, Lauren.”

“You didn’t ask the first time, Jarod,” she threw over her shoulder.

“Billy is still out there and you want to play Miss Independent? I don’t think so,” he said, as he grabbed her upper arm and spun her around. Their noses were almost touching. He looked down into her baby blue eyes and got lost for a moment.

A car horn brought him back to reality. “You can’t be alone right now,” he pleaded. “He’s already hurt one woman. Do you want to be the next?”

She was so close and breathing so fast that it was hard to keep his eyes from roaming all over her body, but maintain eye contact he would. He could see her mustering up another argument. Before she could get a word out he began to drag her to his cruiser.

She was hungry? Fine. He would head out to the estate. His mom would have lunch going, or better yet, Julie might have whipped up something out of this world. It was much safer at home than being alone in a random fast-food joint.

“Jarod, stop this! You’re making a scene,” she hissed.

“The only one causing a fuss is you. Now stop fighting me and watch your head.”

He opened the back door to his cruiser and pushed her pretty blonde head down so she wouldn’t bump it on the door jam. Once she was safely inside, she looked up into his face through the glass in shock. A chill of warning ran up his spine when her lovely face morphed into her infamous you-are-so-dead look. He’d be damned if he was going to worry about it, though. She was safe in his car and that was all that mattered.

One he was seated in the driver’s seat, he felt the heat of her anger almost sear the back of his neck. He started the engine and put the cruiser in reverse. When he turned his head to back out of his parking spot, he noticed her beet-red face and he swore there might’ve been smoke coming out her ears. A twinge of panic tingled a warning down his spine but he continued to ignored it.

This was Lauren, he reason. If she wasn’t flirting with him then she was mad at him. There was barely a middle ground and it had been that way since the day they met. That was their relationship and she always came around.

Besides, she was the best damn secretary a man could have, and he’d be damned if he’d lose her to a psychopath on a rampage because she failed to take proper safety precautions. She was a professional and he knew that her anger would never effect their working relationship.

They were all on edge because of Billy and his shenanigans. Once Jarod had the creep behind bars, this would all be a funny memory that the two of them would laugh about later, he assured himself.

“I hope you realize that I am never speaking to you again.”

Her voice sounded like a rough, gravel road. He peeked in the rearview mirror and yes, she had tears in her eyes but they hadn’t spilled over yet.

That just meant she was pissed. Nothing to worry about.

“Whatever, Lauren. Just simmer down. We’ll be at the estate soon.”

“I was headed to the estate, Jarod. I could’ve driven out there myself!”

Well, hell. How was he supposed to know that? She usually hit one of the drive-thrus for a salad.

Not that he paid that much attention to her when she was gone.

“Think of it as me saving you some gas money,” he assured her.

“I’m serious. I’m never speaking to you again. This is the last straw.”

She turned her head to look out the window. From his side mirror, he could just make out her profile. Damn it, her glossy, bottom lip was quivering. Maybe this situation wasn’t so good after all. That tingle in his spine was back and a little bit of bile was churning in his gut.

But he always enjoyed their sparring, and certainly this was all they were doing. He knew she liked the verbal debates as much as he did.

She’d speak to him again. He was confident that once she calmed down she would see reason and not be so mad anymore.

Lauren was a fixture in his life—an annoying, efficient fixture—but something he could count on nonetheless. She’d get over it.

But just in case, he’d better lay things out for her one more time, so she’d know that he was doing this for her own good.

“He’s out there, Lauren, and he’s about to snap. He knows we’ve got him cornered and that makes him more dangerous. He’s proven time and again that brutalizing a woman isn’t beneath him. I don’t want you, or anyone else I know, to be one of his victims.”

Didn’t she understand that? He knew she was smarter than this.

“I know he’s out there, Jarod. Do you think I don’t take precautions? My firearm is in my purse, I’ve been utilizing a yellow to orange awareness like they teach in self-defense class and there’s mace on my keychain. I’m not an idiot.” Her voice was still low but there was an edge to it that she’d never used on him before.

He didn’t like it.

“It’s not enough.” He could’ve sworn he’d heard her growl. He ignored it and drove into his parents’ driveway, parking in his normal spot by the side entrance. He got out and opened the back door. Before she could walk away from him, he grabbed her and spun her around again, this time pinning her to the cruiser.

“Billy is off his rails. Being on ‘yellow to orange’ and keeping your weapon in your purse, for god’s sake, is not going to be enough protection if he gets his hands on you. Don’t you see that?”

He saw one of her famous smart ass retorts coming but before she could answer, his mouth was on hers. He didn’t know why he’d done it but damn it, he couldn’t think how else to keep her from arguing with him. He had to make her see reason without her sassy attitude getting in the way. He’d known her too long to let anything bad happen to her. He needed her compliance, not her defiance.