A Love Stolen by Ella Jade

Chapter One
    Lila Crofton pulled up a stool at the edge of the bar and waited for her friend Cali to finish serving a beer to the cute man she was flirting with. It had been years since Lila had been in the old beach town restaurant.
    Back then, Cali Tate's dad had run the place, before Lila had left the little New England community of Steeple, six years earlier, and tried desperately not to look back.
    She was twenty, and looking to make a new life for herself when she'd left.
    Then her father got cancer, a year and a half ago; she moved him to the city, and in with her. She'd told him the hospitals were better equipped for him there, and while that was true, she'd also had selfish reasons. Caring for her dad was important to her, but she didn't want to have to come back and face the memory of her stolen love. She'd thought of Trevor Matheson through the years. More than she would've liked. He was her high school sweetheart, and the love of her life. Her entire world revolved around him. It was funny how one man could make an eighteen-year-old girl's heart melt, over and over again. No matter how many times he'd hurt her or screwed things up, she'd always forgiven him. Except that last time. She'd been plain out of forgiveness.
    * * * * *
    The strong July sun reflected off the ocean as Lila sat by the shoreline and
    watched as Trevor's tall, muscular form made its way down the beach. She licked her lips and smiled at him because she couldn't control herself when he wore his uniform.
    She personally liked the handcuffs.
    "Hey, Deputy Matheson. Come to arrest me?"
    He smirked as he plopped down in the sand next to her. He'd completed his
    criminal justice degree that May and had taken on the position of town deputy. The job was familiar to him, because he'd been on the Steeple police force since he'd graduated high school. He followed in his father and grandfather's footsteps. At least one member of the Matheson family worked on the small force for the last thirty years. Lila knew it was a tradition Trevor wasn't entirely sure he wanted to continue.
    "I've been a really bad girl." Lila leaned in and ran her tongue along his bottom lip. "I think I need to be punished."
    He tangled his fingers in her hair and pressed his lips against hers. They kissed for a few minutes, then he pulled back and stared at her. His usually vibrant green eyes looked dull. She'd been with him for over three years. Long enough to know when something was on his mind.
    "Hard day at work?" She pushed his thick, dark hair from his eyes.
    "No, not at work." He kissed her again, with more force this time.
    "What's wrong?"
    "It's been one of those days." He picked up a broken seashell and tossed it into the surf.
    "Maybe I can make it a better night?" She climbed into his lap and draped her arms over his broad shoulders. "It's my dad's poker night. We'll have the house all to ourselves."
    He kept looking out into the sea, but she could tell he wasn't focused on anything in particular. He was so far away. She didn't like any distance between them. Not since they'd gotten back together, after a two-month break. Things were perfect between them, and she didn't want that to change. He had been working hard to treat her better.
    He was no longer the young guy who wanted inside her panties every chance he got.
    He was maturing, and Lila couldn't have been happier.
    "Trev?"
    "Mary Grace Jackson is pregnant." He looked down at his hands. "Three months."
    "What idiot knocked up the preacher's daughter?"
    "I did." His voice was low and he refused to look at Lila.
    "That's not funny." She smacked his shoulder.
    "I'm not trying to be funny."
    "What?" She didn't understand what was going on with him, but he'd better start explaining. "You hardly know her."
    "We were broken up," he said. "I didn't tell you I slept with her because it didn't mean anything. I didn't cheat on you."
    "You slept with Mary Grace? While we were broken up?" She tried to process the absurdity of