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The Mighty Warrior Returns
Last Updated:
2024-10-29 19:42:56Related chapters
Collide Making a Home
An hour later, Dani and Maggie were in Pearl trying to navigate the old gravel road out to the homestead. She had remembered the route but had forgotten the giant potholes in the road. Out that way there was just the old Cooper spread and theirs and apparently no one had even been trying to maintain the road. Poor Pearl was not a happy camper with the constant scraping of her undercarriage. “Gee, Dani,” Maggie said as they bounced through yet another pothole, hitting their heads on the soft top of the convertible, “if you had told me we were going out here we could have taken my Explorer. Your expensive car is going to be ruined.”Note to self, if I did move out here, Pearl and I were going to have to have a difficult chat about replacing her with a 4-wheel drive.“Yeah, well, it’s been a minute and I kinda forgot how bad this road can get,” Dani said, gritting her teeth as gravel flew up to hit the windshield despite creeping along like a turtle. “It’ll be ok. We’re almost there.”A
Collide Back in the Saddle
Levi couldn’t remember being so tired in his life. Even when his dad had him working long hours as a teenager, he hadn’t felt this exhausted. It was a good kind of tired, though. One earned with accomplishment. After he had fired the farm hands, he had been happy to discover that they had at least kept up with his cattle. The prize breeding stock was well taken care of and his pastures looked good. He spent hours studying bloodlines and creating his own specialized feed that would be mixed by Johnson’s Feed & Seed as soon as he could make time to get into town. He also updated the spreadsheets for the farm’s finances and did maintenance on equipment that had seen better days. It was also up to him to make sure the stock were fed and watered and check all the fences were up to par. He’d also made a first pass at the gravel road trying to fill in some of the holes and smooth out the ruts. He couldn’t believe his mom had been traversing this road on a regular basis and never got anyone
Collide Jesus Take the Wheel
“Good Lord. Jesus take the wheel!” Dani said, her eyes widening. “What did I miss?” asked Maggie, her lively brown eyes darted around, looking for the action, as she set their lunches down on the table at Common Grounds. She was well-aware of her friend’s new favorite sport of people watching and was always ready to add to her ever-growing pot of fertilizer for the Gladewater grapevine. “That.” Dani pointed with her chin, trying to be discreet but failing miserably. Her eyes ogled the man who just climbed out of an old, faded red Chevy pickup, a truck that somehow looked familiar.The man himself looked like he was hot off some cowboy romance novel cover. He was at least six foot four, his dusty, faded Wranglers were tight in all the right places and sported holes that she bet were put there from hard work and not by a designer. His white t-shirt was so tight it left little to the imagination. No wondering if there was a six pack under there, you could count every ab muscle. His bice
Collide No More Hiding
Dani managed to mostly avoid town for the next couple of weeks, meeting with contractors at the farm and talking Maggie into bringing her things under the guise of desperately needing her design expertise. At the end of the day, she would haul herself back to her aunt and uncle’s house, grab a bite and fall into bed. Slowly but surely the house was taking shape and she had avoided accidentally running into Levi. “I know what you’re doing,” Maggie told her one evening when Dani had begged her to come out to the farm to help her pick out paint colors and bring wine.“I’m kicking ass and taking names getting this house together,” was her cheeky reply, trying to pretend she didn’t know what her friend was getting at.Maggie completed an Olympic-worthy eye roll. “Sweet baby carrots! You know what I’m talking about, Daniella Lynn. You haven’t been to town in 2 whole weeks! You’ve been dragging me out here every couple of days for some imaginary design emergency. Tonight is an intervention.
Collide What Could Go Wrong?
“Thanks, Sofia,” Levi said distractedly, not even looking up as his burger and fries were placed in front of him. “Well, well, look what the cat dragged in,” Maggie said dryly, crossing her arms over her chest.Levi hunched almost imperceptibly and slowly turned to face Maggie. “Uh, hey, Maggie,” he said trying to use a friendly tone, “kept hearing such good things about this place, I couldn’t stay away.”“Glad you finally made it in,” Maggie motioned to the chair opposite him silently requesting an invitation to sit.Levi scrambled up halfway from his chair, remembering his manners at the last second, “Please, have a seat.”Maggie sat and crossed her legs. “JT told me you had moved back. Are you staying?”Levi nodded. “Yeah, it was time. I’ve started a new breeding program. Time to get out of beef cows. And the city was starting to wear on me.”When Maggie continued to watch him placidly without comment, he rushed to fill the silence. “Uh, and my mom wanted to move over to that new
Collide Chemistry
“Goddammit straight to hell!” Levi cursed, dropping his hammer and shoving his thumb into his mouth. He’d been trying to work on framing up the new bathroom in the bunkhouse but had spent more time hammering his thumbs and yanking out crooked nails than making any progress. All because of Dani.He couldn’t focus. His mind kept drifting to seeing her sitting there right in front of him in Maggie’s café. It still felt like a dream – looking into her burning green eyes, putting his arms around her and holding her close again. He’d never felt that thrum of electricity with anyone else in all these years. Her hair even smelled the same, like coconut and citrus.He’d checked his phone multiple times today making sure his ringer was on and he hadn’t missed a call from her. “I’m acting like a teenage girl,” he muttered, disgusted with himself but unable to stop.Why didn’t I make her give me her number? He hadn’t wanted to push too hard, didn’t want to spook her or make her shy away from him
Collide Friends Divided
She sat there staring out the screen door until the sun was on its last descent, casting long shadows from the trees onto the front porch, the cicadas’ song gaining volume. “What am I going to do?” she questioned out loud to her freshly painted walls, walking to the kitchen to find her cell.As she listened to Maggie’s phone ring, she retrieved a half empty bottle of pink Moscato from the fridge and a jelly glass from the cabinet. She hadn’t gotten around to unpacking her ‘kitchen’ box yet but had found a few old jelly jars she had washed and was using for glasses.Maggie finally answered just as Dani was preparing the message in her head that she wanted to leave on the voicemail. “Hey, girlfriend! Sorry, I was going over menus with JT and left my phone on the charger. What’s up?”Dani decided the direct approach was best. “Levi just left here. He kissed me.” Her voice sounded flat to her ears.“Whaaaaaat?” Maggie shrieked into the phone. “No, don’t say another word. I’m on the way o
Collide Triage
Dani woke up feeling like she had spent the night in the honky tonk on the edge of town and knew it wasn’t from the one glass of wine and a couple of sips of margarita she’d had the night before. It was from making her best friend cry and generally being a monster to Maggie when she was just trying to help. She really hadn’t meant to be such a bitch. She really had to make it right asap. She was just all in a kerfuffle. Between moving, taking care of her aunt, working all hours on the house and now Levi swooping in and churning up emotions that were best left buried, she was caught in an undertow and didn’t know which way to swim to fight out of it. Damn him anyway! She’d been fine, more than fine, all these years. She’d had a very nice life. She had a steady, rewarding job. Nice things. A rich, successful boyfriend. Even though he wasn’t her dream guy, he was predictable. Everything nice and planned and predictable just like she liked it. So why did all that now seem so boring and g
Latest chapter
Collide Epilogue
Three months later, Maggie was back in Dani and Levi’s barn, standing under the million twinkle lights. This time, however, it was for her own wedding. It wasn’t the large Texas wedding she’d had in her little girl dreams with the fairy princess dress, a crystal tiara holding a chapel length train to her head that would billow for a mile behind her, the minimum six bridesmaids – all in blush pink, of course, the ride to the chapel in a horse drawn carriage, and the sit down dinner afterwards for at least 300, but it was so much more. Maggie’s dress was a simple, Empire waist gown à la Pride and Prejudice, with lace panels in front and back and a few sparkling crystals surrounding the low-scooped n
Collide Fight for Her
Maggie reclined on her chaise in her room looking out her window at the hummingbirds flying around their feeder, zooming in for quick sips and zooming back out, their tiny wings nothing but a blur. She felt like her life had been like that for the last week, blurry around the edges. She resented the headaches that were her constant companions and would not allow her to sleep through the pain in her heart. Per doctor’s orders, she had not been allowed to come into the cafe even for a little while this week. She’d tried to read but that made the pain in her head worse. There wasn’t one TV program she could find that held her interest. She didn’t know how she was going to live through another week of this enforced rest. A quiet knock came from her bedroom door. “Come in,” she replied. She hoped desperately someone needed her for something. With nothing to distract her, she was slowly losing her mind. Her attention had nowhere to go except back to Zane and the events of last weekend.“He
Collide The Sound of a Heart Breaking
Maggie came back to herself in pieces. She smelled bleach and some other antiseptic and wrinkled her nose. Sun was beating onto her closed eyelids and her head was throbbing. She moaned and reached a hand up to her head finding a bandage at her forehead. It slowly came back to her. She was in the hospital. Someone had attacked her at the Mama Tried. “Zane?” she asked without opening her eyes yet. “Can we shut the blinds? My head is pounding.”He didn’t answer her, but she felt a shadow fall over her face and the brightness dimmed. She carefully cracked open her eyes. She blinked a few times to bring everything into focus and saw Dani and Levi standing over her bed.“Hey, Mags, how’re you feeling? Do you need some water?” Dani said softly to her.She started to nod but then stopped abruptly when pain shot through her skull with the movement. She raised her hand to her head again. “Ow. Yes please.”Levi poured her water from a plastic pitcher next to her bed and handed a cup to Dani. S
Collide Testosterone Poisoning
Zane sat for a long time, holding Maggie’s hand and watching her sleep. He wanted to memorize every detail of her, her beautiful rosy skin, those plush pink lips that drove him to distraction, the way her silky chestnut locks spread out across the pillow. Her eyes were closed but he could visualize the chocolate brown orbs that changed to dark expresso when she wanted him. The unfathomable look in them when she told him she loved him. And her hands, the wonderfully small hands that were so soft but competent and graceful. Those hands that had the power to drive all his worries away and make him feel whole. He wished he could see her smile at him one more time. His eyes shone with unshed tears. He wondered if you could truly die from a broken heart. When he was sure she was sleeping soundly, he let go of her hand carefully placing it under the starched white blanket on her bed. He leaned over and let his lips brush her cheek, careful not to wake her. He took a deep breath filling his
Collide Concussive Forces
"Get security!" he yelled, turning to the woman he had pushed past to get into the ladies' room. She started to argue with him but then took in the sight before her. "I'm on it," she said and quickly moved through the crowd. “Maggie!” he yelled, falling to his knees next to her. She was on her hands and knees on the floor near the sink. Blood was pouring down her face and her eyes weren’t focusing. He could tell she was trying to stand but couldn’t get her feet under her.“Don’t try to get up, baby,” Zane told her. He eased her back down to sit on the floor and took her face in his hands trying to see where all the blood was coming from. He knew logically that head wounds bled copiously even from a tiny cut but, his heart stuttered in his chest at the sight of her beautiful face and gentle hands covered in red.“Zane?” she asked in a confused whisper. “How did you get here? Are we in the ladies’ room?”She tried to raise her bloody hands to her head, but he caught them. “It’s ok, swe
Collide Mama Tried
Saturday came before she knew it and Maggie found herself rushing to pack for the weekend before she was late. Her thoughts were unusually scattered and she couldn't seem to get her things together. Her current dilemma included her boots taking up too much room in her weekender bag causing her to not be able to get the zipper closed. “Aren’t you coming back tomorrow night?” JT asked, leaning on the door frame to her bedroom and watching her attempt to get her bag closed with amusement.Maggie glared at him over her shoulder. “Yes, I am, but we’re going to Mama Tried to see Morgan Wallen and I have to get.these.boots.to.fit,” she said punctuating her last words with the effort to get the teeth of the zipper close enough to catch.JT chuckled and went to her side, pushing her away from the bag with a hip. “Here let me fix it.” He reached in the bag, removed the boots and easily zipped up the case. “There, fixed.”Maggie stared at him, hands fisted on her hips. “I could have done that,”
Collide The Hall Pass
The last few months had flown by in a happy haze for Maggie with the wedding planning, her business going great guns and her nightly marathon Facetime sessions with Zane between visits, but with only two weeks left until Dani and Levi’s wedding, she was exhausted. There seemed to be a never-ending list of things to do and not nearly enough hours in the day to get them all done. I’ll just lay my head down for a minute.Sofia started to knock on the door jamb but then stopped abruptly at the sight in front of her. Maggie was at her desk with her head pillowed on her arms, fast asleep. She was really burning the candle at both ends. Sofia was worried about her. She’d never caught her sleeping at her desk before. She rarely even took a coffee break during the day. Maggie could do more things in a day than most people did in a week but even she apparently had her limits.She saw JT coming down the hall and put a finger to her lips. “Shhhh,” she whispered, closing the door softly. “She’s as
Collide Small Town Moves
Zane sat in his club chair, Jameson in hand, staring at the city lights from his window. He had picked up a book to read but couldn’t focus. He'd hated to have to leave her after her weekend together. The Shawna situation made him want to wrap Maggie in bubble wrap and lock her in his apartment where nothing could get to her, but maybe she was right. He had always been the one Shawna followed and harassed. He'd casually dated a couple of other women after her and nothing had happened. Maybe all these new and intense feelings he had for Maggie were just making all his protective instincts go into overdrive. Hell, he hadn't even really been aware he had protective instincts before Maggie. He sipped the smooth scotch and tried to convince himself that Maggie was right. She would be fine. He had to make himself believe it. It was the only way he could get anything else done. He glanced at his watch and saw he had two hours before Maggie would be done with her catering event and he could
Collide Charmed X Two
JT was just finishing up cleaning up after his prep work in the Common Grounds' kitchen when Sofia popped her head in. “Hey, boss. I finally got the final numbers from Jim at the bank if you have a few minutes to go over the menu with me,” she said brightly.“Sure, give me five minutes,” JT said. Sofia shot him a grin and nodded. With a flip of her dark, shiny ponytail, she was gone.JT smiled and shook his head as he wiped down his workstation. He’d never seen Sofia in a bad mood. No matter how onery the customer or how crazy the day got, she always had a smile on her face and a bounce in her step. And she was good at everything she did. He’d never tell Maggie, but he thought Sofia could give her a run for her money in the organization and customer service departments. The best decision they’d ever made was recently promoting her to manager of the cafe and assistant event coordinator for Common Grounds Catering.When he met her at the table a few minutes later, he moved over some pa
