Crows Don't Sing (The Stables #6)

Deputy Sheriff James Darcy has been chasing after Jude since high school, when she showed up out of nowhere and gave him a black eye for picking on a freshman. For just as long, Jude has been running away from James and all the things he makes her feel. As Johnson County begins to burn around them in the midst of scandal, they will have to sideline their chase and work together to save The Stables, their friends, and the entire county from the fires of corruption. The corruption in Johnson County runs deep and old, though, and it will force Jude and James to dredge up unwanted memories and face misunderstood pasts if they have any hope of building a future together. Set in Texas, The Stables is a Contemporary Romance series with light BDSM elements and mature themes.

James
The first thought that crosses my mind as my boot heels clack against the old wooden porch is that I really shouldn’t be here. In fact, I should probably be anywhere but here. God have mercy, I’ve finally lost my damn mind.

Fisting my shaking hand, I knock three times on the door. A heavy sigh exhales as the hand falls back to my side, and my heart races against my chest. So many times, I’ve thought about this moment. About being here where I shouldn’t be. About giving in to what I’ve wanted for so long.

And before this house, this porch and this quaint neighborhood, it was the five trailers over from my mom’s, in Alvarado’s only official trailer park. Back then, we’d both been dirt poor and fighting to raise our heads against circumstances. Back then, Jude still didn’t give me the time of day unless she was beating my ass for being an idiot.

Why is it on Friday nights I can play the Dom as easy as second nature, but the rest of the time I’m dancing to the crack of her whip? I’m a bit of a Switch, I know, but I’m no pure submissive. Except when it comes to Judith, and it’s so damn confusing.


Jude
Once again, I’m running. Sitting there, in Crow’s warm, strong arms had set my heart racing. I wonder if he could feel it pounding against my chest; if he knew that samba rhythm was for him.

My heart has always skipped a little beat when he’s near – ever since that first day in the parking lot of Alvarado High, when I punched him in the gut for picking on a freshman. Then, we’d ended up on the same bus home and got off at the same trailer park – the only one in Alvarado’s picturesque rural paradise. He teased me about my ripped jeans and the yellow ribbon in my hair. I gave him a black eye. I swear it was love at first sight.

Twelve years later, and I’m still in love with that damn crow.
Twelve years later, and I’m still running away from him.