Rachel woke up in bed feeling well rested, but with no recollection of how she got there. She stretched her sore muscles out, quickly deciding that at least she'd woken up in a bed that was familiar to her and not in a strange place. Or with a strange person. She was in the room she was staying in at the ranch. Though after her embarrassing performance the night before, she was worried that her visit with her brother might be coming to an abrupt end.

She smelled something good and since Rachel was quite sure it wasn't her, she shifted her body to see where the smell was coming from. Instead of a pillow, there was a rumpled, balled up suit coat under her head. It smelled woodsy and distinctly masculine, like the man she instantly knew it belonged to. And before she thought better of it, Rachel tucked her head into the garment, breathing in the scent that was still lingering in the expensive fabric. Rachel popped her head back up, laughing a little at herself and the pooling heat that was forming between her thighs. She knew it had been a while since she was with a man, but she didn't realize she was so hard up that sniffing some guy's dirty laundry would turn her on. Rachel rolled towards the edge of the bed, pushing the jacket and thoughts of the man it belonged to away. Her purse was sitting on the bedside table. And she tipped it on its side, fishing around the interior of the bag for her phone.

She found it. But the battery was dead. So she plugged it into the charger before she attempted to power it on. As the device powered up, Rachel realized that she was totally disoriented. She had no idea how long she'd been asleep. If her grumbling stomach was any indication, she suspected she might have slept through the rest of yesterday and the entire night. The screen on her phone lit up, confirming her suspicions. It was eight in the morning. She'd slept through half a day and the night. Her phone buzzed in her hand, vibrating with all the notifications she'd missed. Which seemed to be more numerous than usual. Rachel had to change her number a few times. To stop her ex from harassing and threatening her. So she typically didn't get a lot of calls and texts.

Most of the messages were from Dakota. And Rachel felt a pang of guilt. Getting arrested for bar fighting and then spending the entire next day in jail and asleep didn't exactly scream mother of the year. She opened her daughter's barrage of texts, expecting to see that the girl was upset and angry with her. Rachel laughed when she saw that she'd been spammed with pictures of baby animals and horses. In the texts, Dakota was begging to go on some sort of horse riding trip with Carter and Tate. Rachel was beginning to wonder if her daughter even noticed she was gone. There were a few texts from Beth and Monica which mostly looked like pictures of them together at the bar. Rachel felt her stomach drop when she saw that there were also texts from a number she didn't recognize. As much as she tried not to let him affect her, her first thought was that her ex somehow got her number again. Her hand was shaking when she opened the messages.

Rachel sighed in relief once she read the text. This is Jamie, your daughter gave me your number. Call me when you wake up. And a few hours later there was another message from him that was just a question mark with no further text. The last one was sent about a half hour ago, asking her if she was alright. Rachel smiled. He was persistent. She would give him that. And she found that the paralyzing fear she felt just a moment before had quickly been replaced by a warm fuzzy feeling and a deep pull in the bottom of her stomach. Rachel reminded herself that she ought to stay away from Jamie. Starting something up with him was only going to lead to a bunch of unnecessary drama and heartache. Two things she certainly didn't need more of in her life. But one more whiff of his jacket had her texting him back against her better judgment. I just woke up. She set her phone face down on the bedside table and got up, heading straight for the shower.

After scrubbing herself nearly raw under the hot water and brushing her teeth several times, Rachel was finally feeling less like bar and jail stink, and more like a normal human again. She tugged on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, ignoring the grumble in her stomach as she headed down the stairs. The first person Rachel saw was John. And she inwardly cringed, thinking about her own father and what his reaction would have been to her irresponsible behavior. Her father was a psychologist. So his scolding disapproval was always accompanied by an analysis of the possible motivation behind whatever she was in trouble for doing. Do your mother and I need to give you more attention? Have we been putting too much pressure on your academic success? His words drifting back in Rachel's mind had her instantly missing the man. And she was relieved when she saw that instead of looking ready to boot her from his house, John was smirking at her from his seat at the breakfast table.

"Finally ready to rejoin the living?," he asked. Rachel laughed.

"I don't know if I'm ready, but I'm gonna give it a try," she joked back. The sound of her voice brought a full stampede into the dining room from the kitchen. Rachel cringed back as Dakota nearly bowled her over in her hurry to get an answer from her. Tate and Carter were hovering behind the girl, waiting eagerly on her mother's response.

"MOM! Can I go horse riding? EVERYONE is going!," Dakota asked. "We're gonna ride horses and sleep outside and please please please can I go?" Dakota's volume was increasing as she leaned closer to her mother's face. Rachel glanced at John. He gave her a subtle nod of his head, indicating that he had already given the girl his permission to join them.

"Yes. Go, go ride horses," Rachel said, "...ride them wherever you want." She'd prefer if Dakota rode one away from her until she'd at least had her morning coffee. Rachel was prepared for the high volume excited screech that she knew was about to erupt from her daughter. But she could tell John was not. The man jumped a little in his seat. He shook his head and laughed as the kids thundered through the house and out the door. Beth had the misfortune of having chosen that moment to head into the dining room for breakfast. She flattened herself against the doorframe, hollering a few choice words at the kids that they promptly ignored as they flew out the front door and across the porch. Monica emerged from the kitchen, taking a large gulp from the cup of coffee in her hands.

"I'm glad they're having fun together," she said, "...but I don't know if they need to have so much of it this early in the morning." Rachel nodded her head in agreement, filling her own cup with coffee before she pulled a warm biscuit onto her plate. Beth and John started talking business. And since whatever they were discussing was way over Rachel's head, she picked at her biscuit and let her mind wander. Beth had to call her name twice to get her attention.

"Huh?," Rachel asked.

"I'm going into town to get my nails done," Beth repeated, "...want to go? We can get lunch and do whatever the fuck else women do when they hang out together." Monica spoke up, saying she needed to go into town anyway. To get Tate a few new pairs of jeans and a warmer jacket for the overnight trail ride. It might be fun just to make an afternoon out of it. Rachel noticed that while John was trying to feign disinterest in the plans they were making, it seemed to please him that the three women were making plans together.

"I actually need to drive into town today too," Rachel admitted. Since she could tell Beth's interest was piqued, she elaborated a little more on her plans. "My bakery is starting to outgrow the space I have back home. I've got an appointment to tour a location in Bozeman today." Bozeman was not only a bigger town. But it was a more touristy area as well. And the space she was looking at had a full commercial kitchen. Rachel would be able to take on more of the wedding cake requests she got. Instead of having to turn them down because she didn't have the space in her cooler for large projects.

"Holy shit," Beth said, "...are you moving here?" Rachel shrugged. She wasn't sure what she was doing yet. Her parents died a year ago. And Dakota did her schooling online anyway. So there was really nothing to keep her from moving to Bozeman. Nothing but her own self doubt. And she was trying to work on that.

Beth had no such reservations. She whipped out her phone and asked Rachel for the location of the place. In what seemed like only a few seconds, Beth was rattling off information about the location that Rachel didn't even know was accessible online. What the yearly revenue of the previous business was. How much foot traffic went by there a day. How many other bakeries there were in the area and what their radius was to the location. The wealth of information made Rachel's head spin. And before she knew it Beth had the owner of the building on the phone, bartering with him about the price of the lease and what amenities it did or didn't include. Rachel was grateful to Beth for the help, even if she was a little overwhelmed by the voracity of it. She was better at decorating cakes than she was at running a business. Her father helped her with the particulars when she opened her original bakery. Rachel wasn't sure if she'd be able to do it by herself. And she was starting to realize that maybe she didn't have to.

A few hours later, the realtor was falling all over herself as she showed them around the space. It was larger than it looked in the pictures. Even with the hanging plastic and the metal cart full of two by fours in the middle of the room, Rachel was impressed. And while the place just looked like a half empty under construction mess to Monica and Beth, Rachel was immediately able to envision the possibilities. There was room in the front area for seating. Which meant she could start offering the fancy overpriced coffee drinks that everyone in Bozeman seemed to love. And the kitchen was like a dream. The cooler was bigger than her car. She would be able to move most of her equipment and fixtures from her other bakery here. And though she would need to spend some money furnishing the place, it wasn't going to require much renovation. The floors and the large glass front bakery cases were in good shape. The ovens and stovetops in the kitchen looked almost new. She could finish the walls and paint them herself to save some money.

"How much did you say the deposit was?," Rachel asked. The realtor clicked at her phone, rattling off a number that was much lower than the figure they originally discussed. Rachel smiled, assuming that was Beth's doing. "Can I write you a check?," she asked. The woman nodded and Beth let out an excited string of curses that made Monica bury her face in her hands to hide her laughter. Beth was more excited than necessary about her moving to Bozeman. And it made Rachel happy. After what happened with her birth mother, it felt good to be around people that were happy to have her as part of their family.

The realtor said she needed to run back to her office and get some paperwork. But since her office was in the same building, it would only take her a few minutes.

"You want to go get what you need for Tate and I'll meet you at the restaurant in an hour or so?," Rachel asked. Not only did she not want Beth and Monica to have to wait while she filled out paperwork, she was also hoping for a few minutes to herself in the space to look around and dream up how she wanted it to look without everyone staring at her while she did it. Beth gave her a tight hug before she followed Monica out the door, her thumbs almost a blur as she clicked away at her phone. Rachel laughed. Beth was almost as bad with her phone as Dakota. Thinking about it, Rachel pulled her own phone from her purse so she could take a few pictures of the space. She'd missed a call from Jamie. And there was a text from him as well, asking her what time he could pick her up for dinner. Rachel could feel the heat rising in her cheeks. And since there was no one around to laugh at her for it, she lifted her hand and fanned her face. Then she messaged him back, telling him that tonight wasn't good for her. Her phone buzzed almost the moment she hit the send button. Tomorrow? Rachel laughed. What interest a handsome successful attorney from a wealthy family had in a small town single mother like herself, she really had no idea. But for the moment, she decided not to overthink it. Dakota was leaving early the next morning, to go on the overnight horse ride trip. Leaving Rachel conveniently alone and with no plans. She was still pondering over how to respond when she heard the little jingle of the door behind her. That was quick, Rachel thought, assuming that the realtor must already be back with the paperwork for her.

"What are you doing here?," Rachel asked, her hands already shaking as she took a few careful steps back. She knew Daniel tracked her down at the dingy motel she was staying at. But she had no idea how he found her here. Even Dakota didn't know the location of the bakery she was touring. Not that she would ever even think to tell her father even if she did know. Dakota was as terrified as she was of the man. Rachel couldn't even send her daughter to regular school. Because Dakota was scared her father would show up there.

Rachel took another step back, reaching into her purse and fumbling for her car keys. There was a little pink can of pepper spray attached to her keys. And once she felt her fingers graze against it, she gripped it tightly, letting her purse and the rest of its contents fall to the floor. But it was already too late. By the time she got the safety latch up, her keys were being snatched roughly from her hands. She yelped as her finger bent backwards.

"Daniel, please! Don't do this," she cried as he seized her by the arm and began dragging her away from the storefront window. Rachel pulled against his grip and started screaming for help. Daniel seized her by the hair, wrapping his other hand around her throat.

"Make one more sound and I'll choke you to fuckin' death," he warned. Rachel nodded, whimpering softly as he jerked her head around. She could feel her hair tearing from her scalp. And she scanned her eyes over the man she once loved, trying to gauge how high he was. His clothes looked clean. And his long black hair hung fully and glossy down his back. Which meant he wasn't so far gone into his bender that he'd stopped showering. But there were dark circles under his eyes. And his eyes themselves were not only red-rimmed but large and dark, his pupils dilated from whatever drug he'd taken. Daniel preferred narcotics. But he would take anything. And the way the recreational drugs reacted with his own prescriptions for bi-polar disorder was unpredictable and often turned him totally psychotic. He also looked like he hadn't slept in days. That was not a good sign. He was always worse when he stopped sleeping. That meant he was manic in addition to being high off his ass right now.

"You're a whore," he hissed as he drug Rachel forcibly into the kitchen and slammed her body against the large industrial refrigerator. Rachel shook her head, her eyes filling with tears that were threatening to spill over. "DON'T LIE TO ME!," he screamed. "I saw you with your goddamn boyfriend." Rachel cringed as he wrapped his hand around her throat again. He wasn't squeezing down. Not yet. For now he was just pinning her in place so he could lean forward and run the tip of his nose along her jawline and into her hair. "I bet you've been spreading your whore legs for that fuckin' cowboy." Rachel racked her brain, trying to figure out just what in the hell he was talking about. When Daniel said he saw her with her boyfriend, her first impulse was that he must have seen her with Jamie. Maybe when he stopped and helped her after Daniel slashed her tire. But Jamie was in a suit. He wasn't dressed like a cowboy.

Rip! He's talking about Rip. Daniel must have seen him when he came to the hotel with me to pick up Dakota for dinner at the ranch.

"No," Rachel said, keeping her voice soft and low. "It's not what you think. That's not my boyfriend. He's my brother."

"You don't have a fuckin' brother," Daniel hissed. He was still gripping her neck with one hand. But he ran the other one down her body, slipping it under the hem of her shirt.

"I was adopted," Rachel said. Her breath was coming in hard little pants. Daniel was pressing his body up against hers. And she could feel his hot breath ghosting over her hair. Rachel fought back the panic, reminding herself that they weren't alone in her apartment. The realtor would be back any minute. Daniel hated being arrested. There were no drugs in jail. He would take off the minute the woman called the police. Rachel just needed to stall for time. "I found out after my parents died. I tracked down my birth parents. And my real dad had other kids before he had me. He's my brother, I swear."

Her hands came up, fighting back against Daniel's grip as he started to squeeze down on her throat. He held on just long enough to make the edges of her vision turn black. Then he let go and allowed her to suck in a hard lungful of air. It was an art he'd perfected over time. Choking her just enough and then lessening his grip. He could torture her for longer this way. Without her passing out.

"You're a lying little whore," Daniel whispered into her ear. His free hand stroked up over her ribs until he was cupping her breast. He squeezed down until she winced in pain. "I told you I'd kill you if I ever caught you with another man," he said, reminding her of the promise he made her when she finally divorced him.

Rachel felt him tighten his grip on her throat again. And she was sure this time he really meant to kill her. As little black dots started to swim in her vision, she suddenly heard a loud thump. She sucked in a hard breath as Daniel's body slammed against hers. Her head hit the hard surface of the fridge behind her. And then Daniel flopped to the floor at her feet. Rachel sucked in a few more ragged breaths, blinking her eyes before she was convinced that what she was seeing was real. Jamie was standing there, with one of the two by fours from the cart in the front room gripped in his hands. Being fueled with drugs and rage, Daniel recovered from the hard hit more quickly than a sane person would. He scrambled to his feet. And for a moment it looked like he was thinking about having a go at the man that looked ready to wallop him again with the large hunk of wood in his hands. But Daniel quickly thought better of it and took off running towards the back of the building. Rachel heard the sound of a door opening. Once she heard it slam shut again, she sunk to the floor and burst into tears.

"Stay right there," Jamie instructed. "I'm getting my gun out of the car." He darted towards the front entrance, reappearing a moment later with a bottle of water and a handgun. He handed the water to Rachel. And she twisted the cap off, taking a sip as she watched Jamie head in the same direction Daniel just took, the gun gripped in his hands.

"He's gone," Jamie confirmed before he lowered himself down onto the floor in front of her. "Are you alright?" Rachel nodded her head. But Jamie didn't seem convinced. He tucked his knuckle under her chin, tilting her head back so he could examine the red marks on her throat.

"I'm fine," Rachel croaked, waiting until he was done checking her neck before she took another swig of water. "I've had worse," she admitted, glancing briefly in the direction Daniel took off in.

"Your ex?," Jamie asked, though he really already knew the answer. Jamie heard the asshole threatening to kill her if she ever slept with another man. So it wasn't exactly a stretch to assume that the man was her ex husband and her daughter's father. Rachel nodded.

Before Jamie could ask her anything else, she heard the realtor's high heels clacking in through the front door. Jamie rose from the floor, quickly tucking the gun into the back of his pants under his jacket. He cut the woman off before she even got near the kitchen. Jamie took the papers from her, explaining that he needed the rest of the day to look them over before Rachel signed them. Once he got rid of the woman, which Rachel was eternally grateful to him for doing, Jamie came back into the kitchen. He leaned down, helping Rachel up onto her feet. Her legs were shakier than she expected and she stumbled a little. He caught her, wrapping an arm around her and letting her lean against his chest.

"How did you even get here?," Rachel asked. Once the shock of the situation started to wear off, she found herself wondering not only how Daniel found her but how Jamie ended up involved. He seemed to be her lucky penny. Always turning up at the moment she needed him most. Not that she was complaining. He didn't have a white horse or a suit of shining armor. But he was certainly handsome enough to be a prince.

"Beth texted me and asked me to come down here and look over the lease papers for you," Jamie explained. Really, Beth texted him and ordered him to get his no good stupid fucking ass down here now, with only the address and no explanation of why his presence was being requested. But he quickly decided that he'd like to get to know Rachel a little better before she was exposed to the full gamut of his family dynamics. Especially the contentious relationship he had with his wretched bitch of a sister, who for whatever mysterious reason, Rachel seemed to like.

"Oh," Rachel sighed, happy to have at least one mystery explained. "Thanks," she added, unsure if she meant to thank him for helping her with the lease paperwork. Or for saving her life. Maybe both. It was hard to think straight with his body so close to hers. She set the bottle of water on the counter behind Jamie's back, wrapping her arms around his torso. "Is it okay if I stay here like this for just a minute?," she asked, her head already resting against his shoulder. He didn't answer. But his arms went around her, pulling her body closer to his. Rachel felt him stroke one of his hands gently up her back. When he began rubbing her between her shoulder blades she finally felt her body start to relax.

"He's the reason?," Jamie asked. "...the reason why you wouldn't go out with me the first time I asked?" Rachel didn't lift her head from his shoulder. But she nodded it. There were other reasons she said no. But that was the main one. She knew Daniel would go after any man that he saw her with. It wouldn't be right for her to put someone in that position.

"He might come after you next time," Rachel said, her voice small and scared. "...If he sees us together." She felt Jamie's body shaking slightly. But he wasn't shaking with fear. He was laughing.

"I hope that motherfucker does," he said. If Rachel's crazy ex-husband decided to come for him, it would be the worst and last mistake of his pitiful life.

"You're not scared?," Rachel asked, finally popping her head up to look at him. Jamie laughed again. He was scared of a lot of things. But Rachel's ex wasn't one of them. For a moment he considered asking Rachel if she had met his sister. Beth was scarier than that asshole. A lot scarier. Instead, he leaned down and pressed his lips gently against Rachel's. The kiss was brief and chaste as far as kisses went. But he could feel the tingles throughout his entire body. He wanted to kiss her again, but looking around them, it didn't feel like the right time or place. Jamie pulled Rachel against him one last time before he released his grip on her and started helping her pick up the spilled contents of her purse off the floor.