1 Chapter 1

The pounding in his head grew more persistent as he fought his way through the murky darkness toward consciousness. He groaned as his eyes fluttered open and tried to focus. Light flooded in and Chad squeezed his eyes shut against the intrusion. He focused on his breathing, trying to orient himself while fighting the dizziness creeping in.

He lay flat on his back, and a piercing ringing in his ears made him want to bury his head under a pillow. A large, soft, and fluffy pillow. Not this hard—whatever it was—under his head. Chad was fairly certain he was not at home in bed. He dragged his eyelids open again and fought against the nausea. When the fogginess began to clear, he found himself looking into a pair of deep chocolate brown eyes just below a furrowed brow.

“He’s awake,” the owner of the brown eyes screeched as he waved around his arms like one of those puppets with the pull-strings. Chad worried Puppet-Guy would hit him with one of his fly-away arms, but when he tried to move, a tremendous pain stabbed through his own arm and he groaned.

“Don’t move,” Puppet-Guy advised, leaning in close to peer into his eyes.

Chad wasn’t sure he’d ever seen lashes that long. Or a nose that cute. What was that called? A button nose? Wait…when had he ever thought a nose was cute? And was that a crownperched precariously on top of the brown-eyed Puppet-Guy? He was obviously still out cold. Or delusional. Either way, he still couldn’t figure out why he was on his back.

A horse neighed as it stomped a hoof, and the memory of what happened roared back to him, filling him with anger. Who the hell had let that guyon a horse?

He narrowed his eyes and again tried to focus, but could see only the light dusting of freckles sprinkled across the man’s creamy white skin. Shit, did the guy have a blemish anywhere?

Fuck it,he told himself. That’s not the point. This idiot is why I’m on the ground.

And to think, his day had begun so normally. How could he have known he would find himself sprawled on his back in the middle of the street?

* * * *

Earlier that morning

Chad Charming had been looking forward to his first glimpse of Apple Grove’s Annual Fairy Tale Parade ever since he’d first heard about it. The town was known for the big event—sort of its crowning glory—and it had been eagerly talked about ever since he made the town his home just three months ago. The citizens of Apple Grove were certainly proud of it, and after a while, he’d become swept up in the excitement as well.

Since Chad had come from a big city, a small town had appealed to him in many ways. Last year, on the day of his twenty-ninth birthday, after working yet another gang-related shooting, he realized how burnt out he was and how desperately he wanted something more peaceful. But he’d still wanted to remain a police officer, so the very next day, he’d begun applying to forces across the country.

His sister Mandy, his only living relative, had recently moved to Hawaii with her new husband. She’d tried to get him to join them, but he really had no desire to move there, even though he had always been close to her. Besides, with her husband’s job, there was a good chance they would be moving every couple of years and he was looking for someplace he could make a permanent home. Someplace less urban, less gritty, less…violent, and he had certainly found it in Apple Grove.

He’d wasted no time in sinking most of his savings in a cute three-bedroom bungalow with a huge front porch that wrapped around the east side of the house. He particularly loved the large attic. It needed a lot of work—like the rest of the house—but it had one window that gave him an incredible view of the trees in his front yard. A bluebird had recently started building a nest on a branch just outside the window, and Chad planned on picking up a bird feeder and seed today after the parade.

When Chad arrived at the station, his sergeant gave him the news. “Murphy’s got the flu. I need you to cover his section of the parade.” Sergeant Miller told him the particulars—Chad was being stationed at the corner of Main and Fuji, in front of the drugstore. “Just keep the crowd manageable and watch for teens misbehaving.”

Afterward, Chad strode down the hall toward the locker room, in search of his partner, Grant. When he didn’t see him, he asked Cynthia, the older woman manning the front desk, to pass along the message he’d been reassigned for the day.