Rescuing Rachel Read online

  Rescuing Rachel

  Love in Oaktown Book 2

  Larissa Gail

  Contents

  Also by Larissa Gail

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Epilogue

  Afterword

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Copyright 2019 by Larissa Gail

  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. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Cover Design: 2019 Wildelake Creative

  Cover Image: Deposit Photos

  Edited by: Anja Pfister @ HourGlassEditing

  Created with Vellum

  Also by Larissa Gail

  Love in Oaktown

  Coaching Carly

  Rescuing Rachel

  Saving Sophie - coming soon

  Loving Lindsey - coming soon

  Chapter One

  Scrape, Thud, Thump! Scrape, Scrape, Thud, Thump!

  “What the…” Rachel Evans threw back her light-blue comforter and stomped across the cream carpet of her upstairs bedroom. Pushing back one side of the light blue drapes and the white lace shears underneath, she located the source of the irritating noise rousing her from a delicious dream featuring a dark-haired man and his expert hands. Squinting against the early morning sun, she watched two men in jeans and long sleeve denim work shirts on the roof of the single level house next door. They were busy ripping off the old, gray shingles and tossing them over the side of the roof into a metal utility trailer parked below. Hence, the loud scraping and thumping noises interrupting her Saturday of sleeping in after a busy week of preparing her teaching kitchen and classroom for the first day of school.

  Rachel yawned and started to put the edge of the drapes back in place only to pause when a tall, dark-haired figure in a pair of low-slung, faded jeans and a gray T-shirt clinging to his muscular chest in the hot August sunshine began to make his way up to the roof on a nearby ladder. Licking her lips and forgetting her irritation at being woken so early, she pushed the lace further to the side. Angling her body closer to the window to get a better view, Rachel sighed and watched the corded muscles of the man’s arms flex and bunch as he climbed over the top of the ladder onto the roof. A delightful shiver of want ran through her while her gaze continued to wander over the tall hunk of deliciousness, imagining him as the man from her dream. When he turned, the wisps of wavy hair curling from beneath his navy ball cap turned backward started a low pulsing throb in her lower body.

  Unable to tear her eyes away, Rachel sank against the frame of the window. Sucking in a deep breath and pressing her upper body further into the glass, she followed his long confident strides as he sauntered over to the nearest of the two men ripping up the old shingles. After the gorgeous man, whom she assumed from his actions was the boss, said something and pointed to the far side of the roof, the worker took his shovel and disappeared over the peak. Rachel leaned her forehead against the cool glass of the window while the dreamy man grabbed another shovel lying nearby.

  Rachel blew out a shaky breath as the muscles in the gorgeous man’s thighs strained against his jeans when he bent over to shove the tip of the shovel underneath the edge of another strip of shingles. A low, throaty moan escaped her lips as the ropy muscles of his arms bunched and rippled while he effortlessly scraped up the worn roofing material and tossed them over the edge into the trailer below. Rachel had always been drawn to tall, muscular men, and this one was no exception. In fact, he was the perfect picture of the type of man she’d always dreamed of marrying one day. A handsome, self-assured man with long lean muscles honed from hours of hard work each day rather than time spent in a gym. She ran several excuses for getting dressed and going outside to introduce herself through her head but quickly dismissed them not wanting to be too forward. Maybe she could sneak outside later and get a look at the name of the construction company on the side of the truck she could barely see from her window. With any luck, Gage, her friend Carly’s husband, would know who he was. After all, Oaktown, Texas was a somewhat small community, and Gage seemed to be friends with everyone.

  As the gorgeous man went to shovel underneath the pile once more, he suddenly stopped and turned his head as if he could feel her lingering stare. Rachel gasped as their eyes connected and a burning pool of desire drenched the thin cotton of her sleep shorts. Sparks flew through the air across the narrow space between the houses, ratcheting up the stuttering beat of her heart before his eyes turned dark and a heavy scowl marred the perfection of his brow. Rachel couldn’t help running her tongue along her lower lip as the muscles in her core clenched despite the obvious annoyance in his brooding eyes. Unable to look away, she shifted slightly running her free hand through her sleep-tangled hair. With another furrow of his brows and a shake of his head, Rachel’s breath whooshed out as he turned away. With her body still sizzling, she watched as the muscles in his arms and shoulders strained when he ripped up another strip of shingles and slung them over the side of the roof. At the heavy sounding thud and with a sigh bemoaning the loss of his intense gaze, Rachel stepped back from the window.

  With the image of irritation stamped across his perfect features filling her mind, a lump rose in her throat despite the buzzing of her body. Obviously, he hadn’t felt the same draw of attraction she had. Rachel released the edge of the drapes. She squeaked out a yelp as she turned and caught her reflection in the floor-length mirror next to her dresser. In her stupor upon catching sight of the gorgeous man, she’d apparently lost all sense of decorum. She pulled up the lace edge of her thin, pale-pink tank top that had slipped down exposing the rock-hard tip of one breast.

  No wonder he was scowling so angrily. He probably thinks you’re inviting him over for a romp when he’s trying to work. And, oh God, what if he’s married or has a girlfriend?

  Rachel groaned while a flush crept up her neck. Should she get dressed and go apologize? Deciding it would probably only make matters worse, she grabbed the fluffy pink robe draped over the end of her queen-sized bed and wrapped it around herself making sure her breasts were covered before tying the belt tightl
y around her waist and opened the bedroom door.

  “Ugh! What’s that noise?”

  Rachel looked at her roommate, Sophie, as she came out of the room across the hall rubbing her eyes. Stepping to the side, she motioned for Sophie to go first into their shared bathroom.

  “Men working on the roof next door.”

  “They could have at least waited for a decent hour to start,” Sophie mumbled under her breath as she closed the door.

  I couldn’t agree more, Rachel thought as she leaned heavily against the wall, thinking the whole embarrassing nip slip might not have happened if they had.

  Chapter Two

  “Shit.”

  David angrily ripped up another strip of the old shingles on the house he and his crew were renovating. He didn’t know what the curvy woman with wavy auburn hair and one rosy-tipped tit hanging out of her top in the window had intended, but he had no desire to take her up on her offer if that’s what it was. On the verge of getting his joint custody rights granted, he couldn’t afford to do anything to make the situation any worse. If circumstances were different, though, he’d be all over the beautiful woman in the window. From the little he saw through the glass she was just his type. Curvy in all the right places with a pretty oval-shaped face framed by a mass of curly, dark-red hair. He tried not to think about what her full, pouty lips would taste like if he grabbed her by the ass—which he had no doubt would fill his hands—and kissed the hell out of her. But he couldn’t risk it. The judge presiding over his case was a bitch, and he needed to stay in her honor’s good graces. He planned to keep this house for himself after the renovations instead of selling it like he usually did, but maybe he should reconsider. He didn’t need another woman messing up his life any more than it already was.

  “Dave!”

  “Yeah!”

  “About time for a break, don’t you think?”

  Looking over the edge of the roof, David nodded at his fellow firefighter and best friend, Gavin. Using the ragged edge of his old department-issued T-shirt, he lifted the cap and wiped off the sweat trickling down his face in the sweltering August heat. Raising two fingers to his lips, David gave a long shrill whistle to signal break time to the rest of the crew then headed for the ladder.

  “So, you’re going to move into this one?” Gavin handed him a water bottle from the cooler in the back of his white, scratched, and slightly dented work truck while tipping his head to the ranch-style house they were reroofing.

  After taking a long swig of the cold water, David turned his cap around to shade his eyes from the sun already high in the sky scorching the weeds in the overgrown front yard and looked around. “Yep. Seems like a nice neighborhood and there’s a good school a couple of blocks over.”

  Taking another look up and down the short block, David quickly dismissed his thoughts of looking for a house somewhere else. This house was the perfect place for his kids. Across the street, where he’d seen a little girl about his daughter’s age playing a few days before, two bicycles were propped up next to the porch while a slew of kid’s toys in a large plastic bucket sat in the open garage. The neighborhood was full of young families. This house and the one next door, where the tempting beauty he’d have to learn to ignore had appeared to ogle him, were the last two on the block to be updated. He’d talked to the owner and landlord of both houses into selling this one for a steal, but unfortunately, a rental agreement was on the other, and he hadn’t been able to convince the man to sell. Which was too bad because he could have turned a nice little profit with his crew working on both at the same time.

  “How did the meeting with your lawyer go?” Gavin asked as he tossed a couple of bottles to the other guys in David’s employ when they came around the corner of the house.

  “Pretty good. That’s one reason I’m keeping this house. He said if I show I’m trying to provide a stable environment for the kids in a decent area, the judge might be more inclined to rule in my favor.”

  David took another swig of water then tossed the empty bottle on the pile of rubble in the trailer thinking of the tiny one-bedroom apartment in the shitty area of town he’d moved into after divorcing his ex-wife’s sorry ass and started paying child support. It was no place for his rambunctious twins.

  “Man, I’m sorry about all you’re going through, but hopefully he’s right, and you’ll get your kids back soon.” Gavin thumped him on the back as he walked by to start scooping up some of the roofing materials that missed the utility trailer and lay in the grass beside the driveway.

  “Me, too,” David wiped the back of his neck with the collar of his shirt then turned to follow, vowing to stay far away from his new neighbor no matter how tempting she might be.

  Chapter Three

  Rachel gave the stainless-steel counter one last swipe then threw the rag into the bin beside the supply closet on her way to her office. She only had a few more minutes before the fire marshal and the crew from the fire station a block over were due to arrive for their inspection and tour of Oaktown High’s new culinary art’s kitchen and soon-to-be open café. She was confident everything would pass the inspection, but she couldn’t help being a little flustered at the thought of a whole crew of burly firemen tromping through the large space. Afterall, she was single and had only recently begun to have serious thoughts of trying to find someone to settle down with and start a family. The thought of several, possibly unmarried, handsome men invading her workplace had her heart racing and her palms sweating.

  Looking at herself in the mirror on the wall beside her office door, Rachel was smoothing down her wayward hair with a shaky hand when the sound of the assistant principal’s irritating voice pierced the air, making her flinch.

  “Miss Evans, are you here?” Dr. Crawford called out while she clip-clopped across the slate gray tiles of the kitchen on her ridiculously high heels. Why the woman insisted on tromping through the school on five-inch spikes was a mystery often talked about in the teacher’s lounge. Rachel shook her head, took a deep breath, and stepped out of her office, hoping she could get rid of the annoying woman before her visitors arrived.

  “What can I help you with, Dr. Crawford?” Rachel pressed her lips together, praying for patience as she waited for the scowling woman to finish her perusal of the pristine kitchen and tell her what she wanted.

  “I was hoping you’ve had time to reconsider the request for my nephew to be admitted into the program,” Dr. Crawford huffed then pinched her lips into a thin line and crossed her arms over her flat chest, narrowing her beady, mud-colored eyes at Rachel.

  Rachel resisted the urge to roll her eyes and let out a silent breath. “As I’ve told you, your sister, and her husband before, the program is full. It wouldn’t be fair to the other students who’ve gone through the interviews and application process to kick one out to let him in. I can assure you he’s on the waiting list, and if anyone drops out, I’ll let you know.”

  “Well, maybe we should see what my husband has to say about this, Miss Evans.” Dr. Crawford sneered, then with her heels clicking on the slate tiles of the floor stomped around a stainless-steel work table and out the door.

  Rachel blew out a breath and leaned against the nearest counter. Hopefully, the assistant principal wouldn’t push the issue and take it to the superintendent, who just so happened to be the woman’s husband. She’d looked at the student in question’s school record and had no desire to have him in the program. Isaac Garza had a history of disruptive behavior at school and served a stint in juvenile detention for vandalism a couple of years ago. Mr. Andrews, the Oaktown High’s principal, had assured Rachel she had the final say on who could enroll in the program and would back her up if anything came into question. She prayed he was right, and the school district superintendent wouldn’t bow to his wife’s wishes and force her to let the boy in.

  Rachel jerked away from the edge of the counter as a chorus of deep voices vibrated through the air into the kitchen. Smoothing down the front of he
r button-up blouse in a swirling pattern of greens and blues and adjusting the waistband of her dark navy slacks, Rachel rolled her shoulders then headed into the café where the sound of deep, heavy laughter boomed out.

  “Miss Evans?” queried the lone woman standing in the midst of a small huddle of deliciously muscled men in uniform. Rachel put a smile on her face as she nervously stepped out of the kitchen, adjusting her school ID tag with ‘Miss Evans’ printed across the front and making her way around the serving counter and through the dark, wood-topped dining tables toward the group standing just inside the café doors.

  “Yes, that’s me, but please, call me Rachel.” Rachel extended her hand to the pleasant-looking woman in a pair of dark slacks and a crisp, white uniform shirt adorned with a fire department patch on one sleeve and a shiny silver badge with the words Fire Marshall across the front pinned to one shoulder.

  “Becky Payne. Nice to meet you. And this is the crew from Station Four.”

  Rachel smiled as the fire marshal waved a hand toward the group gathering behind her. When Becky stepped to the side to let the large hulking men move forward, Rachel’s stomach dropped, and her hand flew up to cover her wildly stuttering heart as the gorgeous man she’d watched from her bedroom window the previous Saturday came into view.