“Copy. Fielder out.” Chase clicked off the radio and headed for home, debating whether to stop to buy groceries. She passed the convenience store without pulling in. Whatever was in the freezer would do along with the bottle of wine or two she’d stocked for the times Lily visited.

Lily. Everything came back to Lily.

Chase turned up the track to her cabin, more a glorified deer trail than anything else, and rolled all the windows down. Usually traveling these last five miles gave her the chance to throw off the hassles and stress of the job, to let the fatigue slide away like an unneeded cloak, and to purge her mind of worries and regrets. She loved leaving everything behind as the pines closed in on either side, as the Jeep bounced from hot sunlit glades into dense cool shade and out again and, with the windows down, as the fresh clean air flowed through the Jeep, carrying the sounds of the wild.

Today, the sunlight seemed duller, the shadows grayer, and the forest bereft of song.

She slowed entering the clearing in front of the cabin, a quick flash of hope quickly smothered by uncertainty and the fear of being wrong. An unfamiliar Jeep stood in front of her cabin. She parked behind it, got out of her vehicle, and walked toward the cabin. No one waited on the porch. Chase stopped below the stairs and watched the door.

A moment later it opened, and Lily stepped out. She looked exactly as she did in all Chase’s memories—effortlessly beautiful in casual navy-blue shorts, a scoop-necked white top with a row of small multicolored stripes along the edge of the sleeves and waist, and low hiking shoes. What grabbed Chase’s attention and held her captive, though, was the intensity in the depth of Lily’s green eyes. A fierce focus Chase could feel from feet away.

“It wasn’t locked,” Lily said, her voice as soft as her gaze was potent. “So I took that as an invitation to enter.”

“You have a standing invitation whenever you want it, Lily.” Chase tempered the urge to bolt across the space between them and pull Lily into her arms. Lily had the lead here. “How long have you been here?”

“Just since this morning. I was about to raid your freezer.”

Lily shrugged and grinned, a motion Chase found about as sexy as anything she’d ever seen. Her stomach actually rolled with the need to touch her. She swallowed hard. “Nice vehicle.”

Lily smiled. “Sarah always told me I needed a Jeep. She was right.”

“Can’t argue there.” Chase laughed. “But raspberry, Lil? Really?”

“Nothing says you can’t have a pretty Jeep.”

“Where’d you leave the Beemer?”

“My parents are safeguarding it.”