Wounded (An Aspen Series Novella) (Prequel to Relentless) by Cindy Stark

Chapter One
     
    Jerry Tierno’s new Camaro ate up the distance
between Salt Lake and his hometown of Aspen, Utah, like a mid-summer storm
rolling over the Rocky Mountains.  The miles of pine-laden canyons interspersed
with green valleys disappeared faster than he would have liked, even though he
was anxious to see his family.
    If he could find a way to stop thinking about her ,
life would be bearable again.
    But how could he?  The last time he’d deployed,
he’d left Aspen believing Kimber Reynolds was his everything, and that when he
returned, they’d start their life together.
    Believing that had made him the world’s biggest
idiot, along with the instant he’d taken his focus off the mission in
Afghanistan and had become the target of an attack.
    He pretended he didn’t notice the three-bedroom
house nestled in a grove of aspen trees just off the highway as he passed it.  The
for-sale sign was still there, but that no longer mattered.
    As he cruised past Aspen’s welcome sign, stating a
population of 250, he lowered the window and cranked up his stereo, trying to
drown out his cursed memories.  The sweet, summer air heavy with the scent of
freshly cut alfalfa filled his lungs, a complete contrast to the harsh desert
in a part of the world so far from his home.
    He slowed as he hit the so-called city limits,
grateful to be back where life moved at a slower pace and every person he met
wasn’t a potential threat.  Hanging baskets of flowers and numerous displays of
the Stars and Stripes reminded him the small town’s celebration of America’s
independence was only two days away.
    The vibrations and sounds of his loud music drew
the stares of a couple of his mother’s friends talking outside the market.  He
waved, knowing they wouldn’t recognize him in his new car, but wanting to be
friendly just the same.
    Then he choked.  His foot slipped off the
accelerator as he caught sight of Kimber walking out of the coffee shop that
had opened a few weeks before he’d left the last time.  Hell, for all he knew, her
last name might be Cameron by now.
    Wavy brown hair caressed her sun-kissed
shoulders, her unforgettable tan legs disappearing under a short, pink skirt.  She’d
probably been working in the city clerk’s office that day.
    He remembered exactly what it felt like to kiss
those shoulders, to trail his fingers up the smooth skin of her legs.  The way
she walked, her scent, everything about her had been seared into his brain, and
he would have been able to pick her out of a crowd with a bag over her head.
    As he passed, she turned toward him, their gazes
connecting for the briefest of seconds.  He swallowed past his choke and slammed
on the gas pedal.  His engine growled with delight as he pushed the boundaries
of acceleration, and he could suddenly breathe again.
    He was so over her.  Over the pain.  Over
the wrenching heartbreak.  Rehabilitating from shrapnel severing his calf
muscle had been easier than getting over her, but he’d managed it.
    Before he made it to the end of the little town,
a piercing wail filled the air.  He glanced in the mirror to find flashing red
and blue lights hot on his tail.
    This wasn’t the homecoming he’d hoped for.  He
punched off his stereo as he pulled to the side of the road.  “Shit,” he ground
out.
    He pulled the license from his wallet and dug out
his vehicle registration while he waited for the officer to approach his car.
    “If it ain’t Jerry Tierno, back from the
trenches,” the older officer said as he took his license, not bothering to look
at it.
    “Hello, Sheriff Reynolds.”  Kimber’s dad . 
Double shit.
    Other than some gray lightening the dark hair above
his ears, the officer didn’t show much of his forty-something years.  “Didn’t
recognize the car, J.T.”
    “I just bought it yesterday.”
    “Kim said you’d be back before too long.  Healing
okay?”
    He ignored the comment about Kimber.  “Yes, sir.” 
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