Love Me Today

LOVE ME TODAY A.L. JACKSON CONTENTS Also by A.L. Jackson Prologue 1. Paisley 2. Caleb 3. Paisley 4. Caleb 5. Paisley 6. Caleb 7. Caleb 8. Caleb 9. Paisley 10. Caleb 11. Caleb 12. Caleb 13. Caleb 14. Paisley 15. Caleb 16. Paisley 17. Paisley 18. Caleb 19. Paisley 20. Paisley 21. Paisley 22. Caleb 23. Caleb 24. Paisley 25. Paisley 26. Caleb 27. Caleb 28. Paisley 29. Caleb 30. Paisley 31. Paisley 32. Caleb 33. Caleb 34. Paisley 35. Caleb 36. Paisley 37. Caleb 38. Caleb 39. Caleb 40. Paisley 41. Paisley 42. Caleb 43. Paisley 44. Caleb 45. Paisley 46. Caleb 47. Paisley 48. Caleb 49. Caleb 50. Paisley 51. Caleb Epilogues Also by A.L. Jackson About the Author Connect with A.L. Jackson online: Copyright © 2023 A.L. Jackson Books Inc. First Edition All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior permission of the publisher. Please protect this art form by not pirating. A.L. Jackson www.aljacksonauthor.com Photography by Michelle Lancaster Photography Cover Design by RBA Designs Editing by SS Stylistic Editing Proofreading by Julia Griffis, The Romance Bibliophile The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Names, characters, places, and plots are a product of the author’s imagination. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. Print ISBN: 978-1-960730-04-6 eBook ISBN: 978-1-960730-11-4 ALSO BY A.L. JACKSON MOST TITLES ARE FREE WITH KINDLE UNLIMITED Time River Love Me Today Don’t Forget Me Tomorrow - Coming Soon Claim Me Forever - Coming Soon Redemption Hills Give Me a Reason Say It’s Forever Never Look Back Promise Me Always Falling Stars Kiss the Stars Catch Me When I Fall Falling into You Beneath the Stars Confessions of the Heart More of You All of Me Pieces of Us Fight for Me Series Show Me the Way Follow Me Back Lead Me Home Hold on to Hope Bleeding Stars Series A Stone in the Sea Drowning to Breathe Where Lightning Strikes Wait Stay Stand The Regret Series Lost to You Take This Regret If Forever Comes The Closer to You Series Come to Me Quietly Come to Me Softly Come to Me Recklessly Stand-Alone Novels Pulled When We Collide Hollywood Chronicles A collaboration with USA Today Bestselling Author, Rebecca Shea One Wild Night One Wild Ride PROLOGUE Energy crackled through the dim-lit hall. Tension binding the oxygen in attraction and need. Every-fucking-thing I could no longer ignore as I stared at her where she hovered in front of her door. “Caleb.” My name barely hit the air. At the sound of it, I broke. I crossed the space. No restraint left. My hand dove into her hair at the side of her head, and I curled the other around her waist and tugged her against me. We collided in a torrent of greed. Mouths and tongues and spirits that no longer knew how to exist without the other. We spun, gripping at each other, desperate to erase every inch of space as I kissed her. Kissed her with a madness that burned me to the soul. This woman who’d scored herself into the places I wasn’t supposed to let her go. Because I knew what I brought into the lives of the people I cared about. I knew the price they paid. And I should have known what touching her would cost… ONE PAISLEY Leave it to me to be late, but it couldn’t be helped. Gathering the straps of the reusable grocery bags, I slung them over my shoulder and shifted my cell to my other ear as I hustled out the automatic doors of the small grocery store. “You know I don’t have many details,” I told my bestie Dakota as I jogged toward my old truck in the parking lot, my boots thudding hard on the pavement. I pinned my phone between my ear and shoulder so I could dig my keys from my bag. “You know Ryder got me the gig. Some cousin he doesn’t know all that well has a little girl who got her first pony, and she needs to learn how to ride it. Easy peasy.” Extra cash in my pocket. Exactly what I needed. “Are you sure you don’t just want to come and work with me at the café? We’re slammed this morning. I could really use the extra help.” A small chuckle got free. “Which is why you’re wasting your time on the phone with me?” “Hello, bestie duties. I needed to get the details before you run off to some rando stranger’s house in the middle of nowhere. You haven’t even talked to the guy. You could end up dead in a ditch somewhere. Buried in a shallow grave. Locked in an attic or basement with some freak telling you that you’re his new pet.” I could physically feel Dakota shudder through the phone. She was so dramatic. “You really should stop listening to true crime podcasts before you go to bed at night. Your paranoia is getting out of control. Besides, this is Ryder’s cousin we’re talking about. He isn’t going to send me to some serial killer’s house.” At least I hoped so because it was super odd this guy had only communicated through email, all formal and calling me Ms. Dae, referring to himself as Mr. Greyson as he gave me the precise time to show at his ranch. What a weirdo. As far as I knew, Ryder had spent summers with him growing up, but they hadn’t seen that much of each other as adults, and the mysterious Mr. Greyson had moved into Time River about six months back. In all that time, I didn’t think anyone had ever even met the guy, which considering the size of the town we lived in, that was on