Free Tempting the Ringmaster by Aleah Barley

sweet. This year, my sister-in-law says she is going to pick them all for cider, apple sauce, that sort of thing. She’s made a pretty good showing of it so far.”
    Belle stared across the long stretch of darkness, past a crowd of trees, towards the gnarled farmhouse with the flickering lights. It had probably started out pretty enough, but somewhere over the years people had stopped paying attention to design and started sticking additions on every which way. There was a part that almost looked like a castle—stone, with a turret stuck on the side that would keep Petra occupied for days—but most of it was wood.
    It wasn’t the kind of mess that got built overnight. Something like that took generations.
    “Let me guess,” she said. “It’s the house you grew up in. You lived there all your life? Your parents, your grandparents—“
    “My family’s place is in the center of town. It’s a center hall colonial. I bought the farmhouse when I got back to town eight years ago.”
    Belle blinked of surprise. “When you got back to town? Where were you?”
    The way Graham talked about Buck Falls, Belle had figured that he’d never left the county. There was no answer.
    “College?” she guessed, but he wasn’t that young… not unless he’d gone to graduate school afterwards. “Prison?”
    “Nothing like that.” Graham coughed. “I—uh—did some traveling when I was younger. Bummed around for a couple of years. Joined the Navy.”
    The navy. That explained the tattoo she’d seen on his hipbone the night before. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to remember. She’d been slightly distracted at the time—by his ripped abs and his gun—but she seemed to recall an anchor and an eagle.
    He hadn’t been just any seaman. He’d been a Navy SEAL.
    “You wanted to fight the good fight?”
    “Not really.” He shrugged. “Not at first. When I was young, I was pretty wild. I couldn’t wait to get out of town. So, I went to college. I partied every night and slept with the entire cheerleading team. The summer after I graduated, I took off and ended up in New York City. You ever been there?”
    “I’ve been everywhere.” She’d never left the country, not like someone who’d been in the Navy. She corrected herself hurriedly, “I’ve been all over the United States.”
    “New York’s a great city, but it can be rough. I was looking for trouble, and—by god—I found it. My first month there I got in a new fight every night. I spent my second month drunk. I think. I don’t really remember. My third month, I joined the navy. I wanted to see the world, to meet interesting people.” There was a slight pause. “I never wanted to come back here.”
    “What happened?”
    “Things changed,” his words slowed, like he was picking and choosing what to tell her. “My sister-in-law got pregnant. The chief of police was thinking about retirement. The farm was for sale. I came back and got a degree in criminal justice.”
    Right. Belle frowned. They had more in common than she’d thought. They’d both left home when they were younger—looking for something more than they had—and they’d both come back.
    Only, Graham’s friends and family had welcomed him with open arms. They brought him freaking casserole and lemon bars.
    The closest she’d get to a pastry at the circus would be a pie to the face.
    “Sounds like everything worked out perfectly.”
    “Nothing’s perfect, but it’s pretty good.” His hand darted out to grip her wrist in the darkness. There was a moment’s pause, with only the sound of a happily munching elephant to interrupt the silence. “I know this is a little much… you’re going to have to forgive me. I haven’t gone on many dates since I left the Navy, I’m a little rusty.”
    “How many is not many?”
    “You’re the first.”
    Oh, damn. Belle couldn’t breathe or think, not with wave after wave of lust and desire rushing underneath her skin.
    This was not a good