Dallas Nights by Em Petrova

 
     
    Dallas Nights
    The Quick and the Hot Book 1
    Em Petrova
     
     
    Ellie leaned against the side of her pickup and wrapped her arms around her middle. Squeezing in the pain wasn’t going to stop it from bleeding out.
    I made this bed. Time to crawl out of it.
    The moonlight glazed the pond over in a sheet of silvery ice. She stared at Hart’s Pond, the heart-shaped body of water where she’d lived so many happy moments—romantic moments.
    With Dal las.
    Her eyes blurred with tears, but her lips tipped into a smile. She could almost hear his Texas drawl right now. “ Ellie girl, crying under the moon is as much of a cliché as being a Texan named Dallas.”
    She gave a huff of laughter and sniffed back her tears. Even the Dallas of her imagination was right—she shouldn’t be crying now. She was on vacation, and she was going to see him—to set things straight.
    As soon as she got up the guts to sit down with him face-to-face and apologize for hurting him years ago. Her little college fling with Nathan Rafferty had been just that for her. But she’d gone about it all wrong and hadn’t broken up with Dallas first.
    Still, she hadn ’t thought her date with Nathan would go beyond the latest action-adventure movie.
    But it did. She issued a shaky sigh. Her indiscretion had morphed into a monster of mega proportions when Dallas walked into her dorm room and found her doing the naked two-step with the jock. She could say she was young and inexperienced compared to the slick college guy, but it was no excuse.
    While the events had taken place six years ago, she still felt the weight like concrete cowgirl boots.
    Shaking her head, she pulled away from the truck. The metal was still warm from the beating sun, and she shivered as cool air struck her bare arms.
    Wrapping them tighter a round herself, she stared across the pond for another long minute. Dreaming of tender looks and playful caresses. Of her very own Dallas, grinning lopsidedly down at her while tracing her features with his dark gaze.
    A lone howl in the distance made her jerk. Time to get on home. Tomorrow would be soon enough to go searching for Dallas.
    She climbed into her truck and started the engine. When she tried to pull out, the tires spun. She eased off the gas and put the truck in four-wheel drive. Tried again. And again.
    Her heart sank as she realized she was bogged in the mud.
    Jumping out again, she circled the truck and stared at the deep muck. She kicked the tire. “Dammit. Stupid of me to park here. I should have known the ground would be soft.”
    Her voice mingled with the night sounds, and she realized how isolated she was out here. She tugged her phone out of her back pocket and stabbed a button.
    “No reception. Figures.” Breathing hard with anger at her carelessness, she peered into the night in both directions. Not a single light from a house could be seen, which she already knew. She could map this land blindfolded, and there was nothing for miles, which meant she’d have to walk for help.
    Chills crept ove r her skin, but she rubbed her palms over her arms to dispel them. No fear, Ellie. There’s nothing out here that you don’t already know about.
     
    * * * * *
     
     
    “ What the—?” Dallas bit off the curse and veered the ATV to the right before he struck the bulky form rising out of the darkness. Moonlight glinted on the old Dodge pickup that had no business on his land. Let alone at ten o’clock at night and…
    He climbed off the ATV and circled the rear of the truck. Yep, bogged down in the mud.
    Peering into the cab, he found it empty. Whoever had driven the truck down here to his pond and gotten stuck had apparently abandoned it and gone off on foot.
    Shaking his head, his back muscles screaming after putting in a deadly twelve hours erecting miles of fencing to keep his horses from roaming, he returned to his ATV.
    The truck didn ’t look familiar, and everyone in these parts knew not to trespass on his