Wanted Dead or In Love: A Small Town Romance (The Cortell Brothers Book 3) Read online

  Wanted: Dead or In Love

  A Small Town Romance

  Giulia Lagomarsino

  Copyright © 2020 by Giulia Lagomarsino

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover Design courtesy of T.E. Black Designs

  www.teblackdesigns.com

  Created with Vellum

  To Ellen, who helped me plot this amazing story and walked me through every step of it. And also to Katy, your family has become a big part of my stories, though I won’t say how. LOL.

  Contents

  1. Josh

  2. Hannah

  3. Josh

  4. Hannah

  5. Josh

  6. Hannah

  7. Josh

  8. Hannah

  9. Josh

  10. Hannah

  11. Josh

  12. Hannah

  13. Josh

  14. Hannah

  15. Josh

  16. Carly

  17. Josh

  18. Carly

  19. Josh

  20. Carly

  21. Josh

  22. Carly

  23. Josh

  24. Carly

  25. Josh

  26. Josh

  27. Carly

  28. Josh

  29. Carly

  30. Josh

  31. Carly

  32. Carly

  33. Josh

  34. Derek

  35. Josh

  36. Carly

  37. Josh

  38. Carly

  39. Josh

  40. Carly

  41. Josh

  42. Carly

  43. Josh

  44. Carly

  45. Josh

  46. Carly

  47. Josh

  48. Carly

  49. Carly

  50. Josh

  Also by Giulia Lagomarsino

  Josh

  7 years ago…

  I hit the snooze on my alarm clock and groaned when I saw the time. It was way too fucking early to be up. Sighing, I swung my legs over the side of the bed and rested my elbows on my knees. Holy shit, I was tired. I had been working long hours at the garage lately. But this was my life and I liked it. I was meant to work on cars, and no college degree could give me the same satisfaction I got out of being a mechanic.

  We had so many jobs coming in, and today, I was supposed to go check out a few cars for Rusty, my boss. There were a few cars that we were thinking to bring into the shop for restorations, but one in particular that Rusty really wanted to get his hands on. It was a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO. But Rusty wanted to be with me when I went to see it, and that wouldn’t be happening for a few more weeks. So, today I was just checking out a few others that were closer.

  I grabbed a quick shower and got dressed. If I hurried, I could stop at the bakery and grab some breakfast before my day started. Shutting my apartment door, I grinned as I turned and walked right into my neighbor across the hall. She was beautiful, maybe five foot six with blonde hair and a killer smile. With blue eyes like hers, I wasn’t surprised that she was already taken. Her boyfriend, Carter Roy, was a policeman in town. But I had a feeling it wouldn’t last. And when they broke up, I fully intended to be around to pick up the pieces of her broken heart, along with her panties off my bedroom floor.

  “Hey, Madison,” I said, my hand on her hip to steady her. And to get a little feel of what I was missing. “How are you this morning?”

  “Good,” she smiled.

  “Tell me, are you still seeing Carter?”

  “Why do you want to know?” she smiled coyly.

  “You know why. When are you going to leave him and run away with me?”

  “Like you’d ever run away,” she grinned.

  “I don’t know, I might consider it with the right woman.”

  She blushed furiously and ducked her head, but the smile on her face was a dead giveaway that I was getting to her.

  “Madison,” a deep voice came from downstairs. I sighed and turned to see Carter climbing the stairs. I took a step back and grinned at Carter.

  “Hey, Carter. I was just saying hi to Madison.”

  “I’m sure you were. Don’t you have a car to fix somewhere?” he said snidely.

  “Don’t you have some corduroy to try on?”

  He grinned at me and wrapped his arm around Madison’s shoulder, pulling her in closer. “You know what? I think I might do that. Take my lady out for a night on the town in some brown corduroy.” His eyes twinkled. He knew he had me beat. Wearing corduroy or not, he had the girl I wanted. And Madison was a good girl. She was as loyal as they came and she wouldn’t turn her back on Carter over something so silly. In fact, she’d probably get a matching pair of pants just to show how she stood by her man. It pissed me off.

  “Well, I have to get to work,” I said, turning and locking my door. Then I grinned at Madison. “And you let me know when you’re tired of Carter. I’ll be glad to take you out and show you a good time.”

  “Like she’d ever get tired of me.”

  I smirked at him. “Give it a few days. It shouldn’t be too much longer before she catches you staring at another woman’s ass.”

  I winked at Madison and walked down the stairs, pushing out the front door of the apartment building. After getting into my truck, I headed for the bakery and went inside for a cup of coffee and a breakfast sandwich. If I could, I would live off Mary Anne’s food. She made the most delicious food, and as a single guy, I wasn’t going to get that food on my own.

  “Josh, it’s so good to see you,” Mary Anne beamed.

  “Good to see you too. Do you have anything new on the menu this morning?”

  She smiled, a slight blush flushing her cheeks. “Well, I’ve been working on something really delicious, but it’s a little adventurous.”

  “You know I’m always up for a good time.”

  “I promise, you’re going to love it.”

  “Great, I’ll take a cup of coffee also.”

  “Coming right up,” she said cheerily.

  The bell rang over the door and I turned to see who entered. I grinned at Jack, who had his arm wrapped around a beautiful brunette. “Jack,” I nodded. “And who is this pretty lady?”

  I had known Jack most of my life, and while he was more Eric’s age, I got along with him pretty well, and frequently grabbed a beer with him at The End Zone.

  “This is Natalie.”

  “Ah, the lovely Natalie,” I grinned. Jack had already told me about Natalie last week when I saw him in the bar. He described her as a rare beauty that he wasn’t sure he deserved. They had been dating for about three weeks from what I understood. “Jack has told me a lot about you.”

  “Really?” she blushed. “He hasn’t told me anything about you.”

  I leaned in to whisper, but loud enough that Jack could hear. “That’s because all he can think about is you.” I stepped back and grinned. “Not even enough time to talk about your friends, huh, Jack?”

  He shook his head and pulled Natalie in closer. “Why would I talk about an ugly guy like you when I could talk about the most beautiful woman in the room?”

  “I think you mean the state,” I said, winking at her. I sighed heavily and turned back to grab my order from Mary Anne. “I guess we can’t all be as lucky as Jack.”

 
; “Still trying to steal Carter’s girlfriend?” he asked.

  “What can I say? So many beautiful women in town, and they’re already taken.”

  “Just not by you,” he pointed out. “I’m guessing that says something about you, not them.”

  I spread my arms wide and grinned. “I’m too good looking and they’re all scared to date me.”

  “Sure,” he snorted. “We’ll say that’s what the problem is.”

  I laughed and nodded to them, turning for the door, holding it open for some ladies that were entering. I shoveled the delicious concoction that Mary Anne made into my mouth and then pulled into the gas station before I headed out of town. As I was pumping gas, I noticed a woman stepping out of her car. Another really hot lady, just walking past me without a second glance. I guess that was my life, to be surrounded by beautiful women, but never be able to keep any for myself.

  Hannah

  I slid my sunglasses into place as I stepped out of my car. Glancing around discreetly, I headed for the doors of the truck stop. I could pick up everything I needed here without drawing any attention. Most smaller truck stops didn’t have cameras in place, but someplace like Walmart would have cameras inside the store and in the parking lot.

  I needed some food to get me through to my next stop, though truck stop food wasn’t really a good meal. Beggars couldn’t be choosers. I headed to the restroom first and took care of business, careful to avoid the camera in the hallway. Then I grabbed a hot dog and a drink, paid for it and headed out the door.

  Glancing around the parking lot once again, I noticed a man with shaggy hair staring at me. I wasn’t sure why, but something about it made me uncomfortable. He didn’t look like anyone that would be after me, but he was staring, which automatically sent shivers down my spine. I hurried to my car and got inside, locking the doors behind me. I pulled out my map and started routing out the rest of my drive. When I glanced up again, the man was inside paying for his gas.

  As I pulled out of the lot, I looked in the rearview mirror and saw him watching me leave. Taking a deep breath, I took a country road instead of getting back on the interstate. I could probably lose him on the backroads. I was just a few miles down the road when my car started wobbling, the kind of wobbling that meant I had a flat tire. Shit. I pulled over and quickly got out, looking at the driver’s side tires, which were both fine. Stepping around to the other side, I saw my rear tire was completely deflated.

  Something shiny was poking out of it, so I got down on the ground and took a closer look. There was a knife plunged inside the tire. I scrambled to my feet and looked quickly in both directions. A truck was headed toward me, the same truck that was at the truck stop. Heart pounding, I opened the passenger door and popped open the glove box, pulling out the gun I had stored in there. I shoved it into the back of my jeans and quickly covered it with my shirt.

  Forcing myself to calm down, I waited as the truck pulled over and the man stepped out. I left the passenger side door open in case I needed to grab my bag and make a run for it. The man stepped out of his truck, his eyes boring into me as he walked the distance between us.

  He was handsome, with hair that hung around his chin and piercing blue eyes, eyes that looked very much like mine. His hair was a medium brown and he had at least two days growth on his face that he hadn’t shaved. He wasn’t really built. I could tell he had muscles, but I was pretty sure I could get away from him if I needed to.

  “Flat tire?” he asked.

  I swallowed hard and forced myself to remain calm. “Yeah.”

  Shit, I should have taken the knife out. If he wasn’t the one that put it there, I wouldn’t be able to explain this away. On the other hand, it could be the perfect excuse for my blatant distrust of anyone that came into contact with me.

  “You need some help?”

  “Uh…I can take care of it.”

  “Really?” he grinned. “Because you look like you weigh a buck ten.”

  Appearances can be deceiving, I thought. Instead, I smiled at him, giving him a slight shrug.

  “I work at the shop in town. I can have this changed for you in just a little bit.”

  “I know how to change a tire,” I pressed, hoping he would get the hint and walk away. Then again, if he was the one that put the knife there, there would be no getting rid of him.

  “I’m sure you do, but around here, it’s the gentlemanly thing to do.”

  I snorted to myself. Gentleman. A lot of men pretended to be gentlemen, but they were all after the same thing, and I wasn’t about to fall for his country charm. He could be trying to distract me. I had been on the run for the past four years, and suddenly there was a knife in my tire. And he was staring at me, and then happened to find me on the side of the road. I wasn’t buying it. I didn’t believe in coincidences.

  “Look, you should probably just go,” I said testily, hoping that he really wasn’t involved and I could convince him to leave me alone. I really didn’t want to shoot him.

  He quirked an eyebrow at me, but before he could say anything, a squeal of tires had me spinning around and staring in horror at the vehicle careening toward me. I snatched my bag out of the passenger seat just as the man leapt forward and grabbed my arm, pulling me down into the ditch. We tumbled down the embankment as the crunch of metal sounded above us. My car was pushed precariously toward the edge of the road and I stared in horror as I watched it start to tip over the edge.

  “There!” the man shouted, shoving me toward a fox hole in the side of the embankment. I scrambled inside just as the car started to roll over the edge and head for us. I shuffled in as far as I could go, curling up so the man could fit inside with me. I was all too aware that if whoever crashed into my car found the hole, we were both dead. The car crashed at the bottom, right where we had been laying in the dirt and finally settled right in front of the fox hole, leaving us in complete darkness.

  My breathing was harsh in the darkness and I felt the man reach out and touch my hand. I jerked away from him, unsure of his intentions.

  “Relax, just calm down.”

  “What are we going to do now? My car is blocking us in here. We’re going to die in here,” I said, my voice reaching a panicked state. In all my years of running, I had never felt as trapped as I did right now. I had no idea who this man was, and I had no idea if we were going to make it out.

  “Shh,” he said, his hand gripping onto my arm. I waited, listening intently.

  “She’s probably smashed under the car,” a voice said. “I say we walk away.”

  “You know he’s going to want proof,” another voice said.

  “We don’t have the equipment to move the car. And we’ll have to get rid of the truck also. No witnesses.”

  “We’ll get a tow truck and then get rid of all the evidence. No one will know what happened.”

  His hand tightened on mine for just a moment and then we heard the sound of an engine and gravel flying.

  “What are we going to do now?”

  I heard him shuffling back to the entrance. “The window is in front of the hole. We need to go through it and then we can get out.”

  I heard him kicking at the glass and then it cracked, leaving us an opening. “That’s not big enough for us to fit through.”

  “It has to be,” he muttered. “Otherwise, when they get back, we’re dead. I’ll go first and make sure they’re gone. When we get out, we can take my truck and get the hell out of here.”

  “We can’t take your truck,” I hissed. “The moment they see that it’s gone, they’re going to start looking for us. At least if the truck is still there, they’ll have to take the time to pull the car out.”

  He sighed. “Let’s just get out of here and then we can decide what to do.”

  My eyes had adjusted to the dark now. I didn’t see how he was going to fit through that hole. He started slipping through head first, and I heard his sharp intake of breath as he struggled to get his shoulders through. Wh
en he finally made it into the car, he picked up an old sweatshirt of mine and wiped away the rest of the glass.

  “I’ll be right back. I’m just going to make sure they’re gone.”

  I nodded, but I wasn’t sure if he could actually see me. Minutes passed and I thought he might not come back. Although, that might be better for me. I really didn’t need someone tagging along with me right now. But he was in this because of me. Either that, or he was the one after me and he was trying to lure me into trusting him.

  “It’s all clear. We need to hurry.”

  I nodded and moved forward, handing him my bag, even though I didn’t want to let it go. He shoved it behind him and then held out his hand to me. I grabbed it and allowed him to pull me through the window. When I was finally through the window, I grabbed my bag and followed him out through the back windshield that was mostly destroyed. When I stepped outside, I saw that he had a huge gash on his bicep that was bleeding down his arm. As it was, there really wasn’t any choice but to take his truck. He was right, we needed the getaway right now.

  “Come on,” I said, running for his truck. I jumped into the passenger side, pretending to be terrified. I still didn’t know if this guy was involved. It was better to appear weak and let him think he had me. If I was wrong about this guy, if he was here to lure me in, it was better to allow him to let down his guard around me. It would be easier to get away. But if he wasn’t involved, then I just involved him in the shit storm that was my life, and I could let him get killed.