Just One Kiss by Susan Mallery Page A

to make a decision.
    As far as Felicia was concerned, she would go anywhere normal. Small-town America appealed to her, and Fool’s Gold fit the definition. She would be there to set up the business, and if she ended up hating Fool’s Gold, she would move on. But the others would be stuck.
    Ford Hendrix had also emailed two days ago to tell Justice to pick Fool’s Gold already, and yesterday to say anywhere but there. Ford’s ambivalence came from his close-knit family. There were days the former SEAL wanted to reconnect and others when he needed to head into some wilderness and never be heard from again. It was the kind of ambivalence Justice could relate to. With Patience...
    He shook his head. He wasn’t here to think about her.
    His third partner, Angel, fell into the neutral category. He’d never been to the town. When he’d read the description, he’d been intrigued by the nearby mountains. Angel enjoyed the outdoors and getting away from the world. The rugged topography offered plenty of both. So the decision fell to Justice, who, honest to God, didn’t have a clue.
    Except he did. There was a part of him that had always wanted to come back here. To the one place he’d felt welcome.
    Patience was a big part of the pull, he admitted, if only to himself. He’d never forgotten about her and had often wondered where she was and what she was doing. With his resources, it would have been easy to find out. He could have had a complete dossier on her in less than six hours. Only he never had.
    Now he knew she was in town and single, which made her a temptation. Their kiss the previous morning had only fueled the fantasy. He wanted more. He wanted her in his bed, pulling him close, taking him with as much passion as he wanted to take her.
    Which meant the best solution for both of them was for him to walk away.
    He knew who he was and the type of man he could become. Patience deserved better. He wanted to think he could be better, do better, than his father. That Bart Hanson’s DNA wasn’t his son’s destiny. But he couldn’t be sure. When his father had finally been captured and sent back to prison, Justice had been free to choose. He could have been anything, gone anywhere. The fact that he’d joined the army wasn’t noteworthy. His choice of occupation was.
    He’d become a sniper. Not a cop, not a technician. The son of a murderer had chosen to kill others. It was the ultimate proof of the darkness in his soul. Which meant leaving made the most sense for Patience and her family. They deserved better than him. The problem was he didn’t want to go. And that made him the biggest bastard of all.
    He heard footsteps on the concrete and turned to see a well-dressed older woman walking into the warehouse. Like Eddie from the day before, she had white hair. But the similarities ended there. This woman had on a well-tailored suit, pumps and pearls. She smiled as she approached and held out her hand.
    “Welcome back, Justice Garrett. I’m Mayor Marsha Tilson. You probably don’t remember me.”
    “No, I don’t. But it’s nice to meet you, again.”
    They shook hands.
    The mayor studied him. “You’ve grown up. I remember when you were a tall, skinny teenager. You were friends with Patience McGraw and Ford Hendrix. It was always the three of you, but I thought you had special feelings for Patience.”
    He stared at the older woman. She was talking about relationships that had played out fifteen years ago. While the events had been important to him, he couldn’t imagine a woman in her fifties paying attention to the lives of a group of teenagers.
    Her smile widened. “I can see my observations are startling. I confess I was intrigued by you from the very beginning. Your guardians did an excellent job of fitting in, but there were inconsistencies in their story. When you first arrived, it was obvious you’d suffered some kind of trauma.”
    “You knew I was being protected?”
    “No. I never figured that