Hit The Ground

<p><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Caleb Kelly has been my secret weakness since the day I moved to Sugar Brush Wyoming.</strong></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>I spend my days among the stacks as the town's librarian and my nights serving drinks at Joy's Elbow Room. It's safe predictable and a little boring. The only thing that makes my pulse kick is when Caleb Kelly walks through the door and takes a seat at one of my tables.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Four years of stolen glances watching him laugh with his family listening to him talk about his son and pretending he doesn't unravel me just by saying my name. </span><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Alice.</em></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Then one reckless night I steal a kiss. And for one perfect heart-stopping second he kisses me back.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>But the thing is Caleb doesn't date. He has his son his ranch and no room for anything-or </span><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>anyone</em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>-else.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>So I finally stop waiting stop hoping stop hiding. It's way past time to begin living my life on my own terms.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Just as I start to move forward trouble knocks me back. And when I need someone the most Caleb is the one by my side again and again standing between me and the worst of it. His steady fierce presence is impossible to ignore.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>I should know better than to keep falling for a man who told me he can't give me more. I should walk away before I get hurt again.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>It's just that every time he shows up every time he </span><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>really </em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>sees me every time he stays my heart refuses to listen.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>But letting him in might be the one thing I can't come back from.</span></p><p></p>