Carter Bond is not embarrassed or ashamed to be a blue-collar worker. Nor does he mind he came from the “poor” branch of the family tree. He’s got success in his own right through hard work and pure determination. If women don’t like his career, that’s their problem. He doesn’t want the drama that a relationship could cause when he is just as happy with his dogs. Or so he tries to tell himself.

Dr. Avery Keegan became the guardian of her best friend’s daughter when tragedy struck. Her world is turned upside down and is spinning nonstop. When an old college friend reaches out to her about the need for a veterinary clinic on Amore Island, she jumps at the chance to start over. Too bad the past is determined to chase her down and remind her that sometimes she just can’t do it all on her own.

If you haven’t read the Prologue yet, check it out.

Chapter One

Count On A Dog 

Eighteen Years Later

Faith O’Malley clipped the leash on the harness of her big shepherd mix, Fred. “Ready for our walk?” she asked the only commitment she had in her life.

You could always count on a dog. That was what she told everyone. Male or not. Though she was happy he was male and when her family—especially her Aunt Jolene—asked why she couldn’t find a guy, she could reply she had one.

Woman’s best friend was in her mind and she was pretty content that the close to one hundred-pound dog loved to be by her side.

Everyone was hooking up in her family and finding love. With her aunt’s help. But Faith wasn’t going to fall for it. She was the last one standing and was going to stay that way for a long time. 

Unless she found someone on her own and then she’d rub it in all their faces. 

Fred barked once, not even a loud one. She’d trained him well to do what he was told and when. To protect her if need be, but it never was needed. That she’d got Fred a month after moving into the townhouse she’d purchased three years ago at least made her father more comfortable with her living alone.

She used Fred as her tool when she was dating someone. If the guy was scared of her dog…he was out. If Fred’s hair stood up around a guy, he was gone from her life too. 

Even if a guy passed the first two tests, if he wanted her to leave her dog alone all the time and didn’t think of Fred as a member of the family, he had no place in her life either.

Once Fred was ready to go, she opened the door to her townhouse and walked out of the development and a few blocks over to a park. They had a fenced-in area where Fred could run loose. Fred did scare some other dogs, but most people were used to seeing him there now and knew that Fred was well behaved.

It was early for a Saturday morning, so she didn’t expect as many dogs to be here yet. But she wanted to get her walk in and hit the park by eight.

She was enjoying the cool morning breeze and thinking of the large hot chocolate she was going to buy on her way home. She’d get Fred a treat too. They had some peanut butter cookies there and she’d split it with him. 

She heard a yell from behind, turned her head and saw a man in a gray hoodie with it up over his head coming her way carrying a purple purse. He was running at her, and she had nowhere to go before he plowed into her and she went down on her hands and knees, her palms scraping the concrete. 

Fred was growling and yanking at his leash and would be dragging her along too if she didn’t let go of it.

“Shit,” she said, knowing she’d never catch up with her dog who was giving chase to the asshole that just hurt her.

“Are you okay?” a man by her side asked.

She was getting to her feet and he helped her up. “Yeah.”

He didn’t say another word and took off after the other man and her dog. He was in running gear and had a lot of speed to him.

Faith had no choice but to follow along to the sounds of the barking so she could get her dog back. The last thing she needed was some kind of liability that Fred attacked the guy…who attacked her.

She’d lost sight of her dog but saw the second runner going up over a hill on the grass and followed.

Not only was she not as fast, but she was completely out of shape despite being skinny.

She finally saw them off in the distance when she got to the top. Fred still gave chase and caught up, knocking the guy down.

“Shit, shit, shit!” She was dashing as fast as she could, but the other man giving chase was on top of the hooded man with his knee in his back and putting his arms behind his back.

Looked like he wasn’t afraid of Fred either. Interesting.

She came to a skidding halt. Fred barking and growling away, the second runner pulling the first one up and holding onto his arms, a phone to his ear. All she heard was the name Brennan and a badge number.

Must be her lucky day a cop was running and witnessed the whole thing.

She was bent over gasping for breath as her run had all but done her in. “Call this dog off before he bites me,” the man being held by Brennan said.

“It’s not my dog,” Brennan said.

“It’s mine,” Faith said. “I’m not sure I want to call him off.”

Brennan looked at her and smirked. “He’s not going to bite me, is he?”

“Nah,” she said. “He likes you because you took care of the guy who knocked me down.”

She stood up at this point positive she wasn’t going to pass out from being winded. The hooded man was squirming and every time he moved Fred growled even more.

She finally put her hand on Fred’s head and her dog sat, quieted down, but didn’t take his eyes off either of the men.

“Impressive,” Brennan said.

“Thanks,” she said, then lifted her hand and noticed the blood. Both of them actually. She looked down and the knees of her cotton joggers were torn and some blood was seeping out of them too. 

She had to look like a mess and her cuts and scratches were starting to sting.

“Jesus, Brennan,” she heard a minute later when an officer came running over. “Even on your day off you’ve got to be the hero.”

Brennan snorted and let go of the guy. “Asshole here mugged a woman on my run this morning. I wasn’t going to just let him get away.”

“I don’t have a purse,” the guy yelled. 

“Then why were you running when the woman yelled?” Brennan said. 

“You had a purse,” Faith said. “I saw it. It was a small leather purple tote bag. I thought it was funny and didn’t go with your gray hoodie as you ran toward me.”

“Nice catch,” Brennan said to her. “I’m sure he ditched it when I was checking on you.”

“The five seconds it took for you to ask if I was fine and run off?” she asked sarcastically.

“Hey,” he said, smirking. “I helped you up.”

“I guess.” She squatted down and told Fred. “Where’s the bag, Fred?”

“It’s my bag,” a woman said, coming up to them. “He ripped it right out of my arms.”

“We’ll have someone search for it,” the officer said. “We need you to come down to the station. You too,” Faith was told. “Brennan, you know the drill.”

“Unfortunately.”

Faith turned to the woman. “If you don’t mind Fred sniffing your hand, he could find it faster, I’m sure.”

“Anything to get it back,” the woman said. She held her hand out, Fred sniffed it for a minute.

“Find the bag, Fred,” she said and clapped her hands, then winced in pain.

“I’m going with you,” Brennan said when Fred started to pull her back toward the way they’d all been running.

“I can’t keep up with him,” she said, being yanked along. She didn’t expect Fred to do that to her.

“Give me his leash or let him go,” Brennan said. 

She handed the leash over and was shocked that Fred took off in a run, Brennan’s long legs easily keeping up. 

Damn, he had a lot of muscle on him now that she was getting a good look at his body.

He had a knit hat on his head, probably keeping his head warm from the sweat chilling him.

There was a scruffy beard going on that she found oddly sexy when she never had before.

Fred’s barking got louder and she caught up to them by some bushes. She took Fred’s leash and Brennan went into the brush, found the bag and brought it out.

“I’m sure we’ll get the guy’s DNA on this, but I don’t need it. I know what I saw.”

“Me too,” she said.

“Which is why you need to come down and give a statement too. Can I give you and Fred a lift back home? He can’t come in though I’d love to see what he thinks of our guy,” he said, laughing. 

Not afraid of Fred and Fred sure the heck wasn’t afraid of Brennan. So far, so good. If she was thinking along the lines of a date. Which she shouldn’t be since she’d told herself it was better to keep to herself rather than get more comments from her family or be disappointed yet again.

Right now she was more concerned about the stinging cuts and the aches her body was feeling and how she must look like the hot mess express.

“If you don’t mind,” she said. “I need to clean up.”

“I should take you to the hospital,” he said. “I didn’t even think it.”

The two of them walked back to where the woman and the cuffed mugger were waiting with the other officer.

“I’m fine,” she said. “Nothing some rubbing alcohol and ointment won’t take care of. Some aspirin for my bruised pride.”

“Are you sure?” he asked again.

“I’m sure,” she said.

The officer took off with the mugger and she walked with the hot-looking guy back to his vehicle with Fred. The woman whose purse had been stolen was told where to go.

“Will he ride in the back okay?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she said, opening the backdoor of the black SUV and noticing some food wrappers in there. Fred was going to have a field day. 

She got in the front with Brennan, told him where she lived and then turned her head when Fred had an empty drink cup stuck on his snout. The slurping noises were her dog’s tongue trying to get something out.

“Crap,” the guy said, turning and pulling the cup off her dog. “Sorry about that.”

“No problem. Just hope it wasn’t old dairy. I don’t want to clean that mess up.”

“No,” he said. “Probably black coffee or a soda. Never anything more than that.”

She held her tongue over the fact there were more wrappers in the front seat she had to move aside too.

“I’m the third building on the right, the end unit.”

He pulled in front of her townhouse, she and Fred got out, Brennan following her. “I’ll bring you back to the station with me,” he said.

“I can find it on my own,” she said. “Then you’d have to bring me back again. Don’t worry, I won’t skip out.”

He hesitated a second. “I didn’t think that, but now I do. I’ve got to make sure I get the collar for this one.”

He was laughing and since this was more excitement than she’d had in a long time, she figured why not?

“Okay, come on in,” she said, and he followed her into the house. “I’ll be back in a few minutes. If you want something to drink or whatever, the kitchen is down the hall. Just help yourself. Fred won’t stop you.”

Faith ran up the steps, laughing, knowing Fred wouldn’t leave Brennan alone in her place. 

She undressed quickly, washed up her hands and knees, bit back another few curses when she put the rubbing alcohol on them and then applied the ointment to her knees with some Band-Aids.

She did the same with her hands and just hoped the bandages stayed on enough for the ointment to not ruin her shirt if it transferred.

She ran back downstairs, went into the kitchen and saw Brennan with a bottle of water in his hand and a cookie from a jar.

“Damn,” he said. “These are out of this world.”

“Thank my brother,” she said. “He’s a chef and likes to bake. I saw him yesterday and he gave me a box of cookies to take home.”

Her older brother did love to spoil her. She’d run over to talk to him about an idea for Christmas for their parents. Liam and his wife, Margo, were such a perfect fit for each other. Their wedding less than two months ago was just another event where she had to listen to her aunt going on and on about her being the only one single.

Even her cousin Ivan had a girlfriend. A serious one, and her aunt was driving everyone nuts trying to find out when Ivan would get engaged to Kendra. She hoped it was a long time so that the attention would still stay off of her.

“Hope it was okay to take one.” Fred barked and Brennan grinned. “Fine. Two. What a snitch.”

She started to laugh. Fred had never behaved like this before with a stranger.

“It’s fine. I can’t eat them all anyway. Do you need to change or anything before we go?”

“No,” he said. “I didn’t get as dirty as you. Your dog did all the work.”

“He’s a good boy,” she said to Fred, getting down on her knees and putting her face next to her beloved companion. She got some licks on the cheek as a reward and turned to see if the hot guy in her kitchen would think it was gross. He was too busy putting his hand back in her cookie jar for another triple chocolate cookie.

She supposed he deserved it.

She gave Fred a biscuit the size of her palm, Brennan reaching in and doing the same, and then they left to go to the police station.

It felt odd for some reason without her dog with her. Quiet too.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

She tried not to giggle over the fact this all happened and he didn’t even know her name. “Faith O’Malley,” she said. That was it. Nothing more. No more conversation.

It didn’t take long to get to the station, Brennan parking and them getting out together.

She was brought to where she needed to go and got to listen to all the men laughing and congratulating him on a good catch for his day off.

There was tongue-in-cheek in it for sure.

“I’ll be back,” he said and left her with another officer.

“That Sawyer, he’s a lucky dog,” the officer said. 

“Sawyer?” she asked.

“Sawyer Brennan,” the officer said. “Detective Brennan. The man you just came in with. I said he’s a lucky dog, but the truth is, I’m hearing it’s your dog that gets the collar for the day.”

Faith laughed, then thought to herself, what an idiot thinking his name was Brennan. Good thing she didn’t address him as that, or she’d look like even more of a fool.

Prologue

“Sawyer, can you come talk to me before you go to your room?”

Sawyer Brennan had just shut the front door after walking home from school. His father was home recovering from a broken leg and called out to him.

“What’s up?” Sawyer asked.

“Come sit down,” his father said.

Sean Brennan was a big guy with red hair and a scruffy red beard. He fit the role of a truck driver in Sawyer’s mind, but with a busted leg, he was riding the couch for a few more weeks instead of his big rig. Sawyer only hoped the accident where his father was speeding and lost control of his vehicle didn’t cause him to lose his job on top of it.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

“Your mother is gone,” his father said.

“Gone where?” he asked. His father looked pissed off more than sad. It surprised him because his father put up with his mother more than he thought most would, saying he loved her too much to let her go.

“She moved out,” his father said. 

“Huh?”

“She’s moving in with someone else,” his father said.

Sawyer had heard the rumors at school. In a small town it was hard to hide the things that happened. More so when they fed a juicy grapevine of deceit and betrayal.

“The guy you were chasing when you got in your accident?”

His father held his stare. “What did you hear?”

“Does it matter?” he asked.

“I want to know,” his father said. “I know you’re going to hear all sorts of things and I’d rather you know the truth.”

That was one thing he could respect about his father. That he told the truth when asked. Too bad he wasn’t around much to talk to and that was why many said his mother strayed as much as she had over the years.

“That you caught her with someone when you came home early two weeks ago.”

 He’d been spending the night at a friend’s house. When his mother picked him up the next morning and told him about his father’s accident he’d been stunned. He hadn’t known his father was due back until later that night. He’d thought the accident was work related but soon found out otherwise.

“Yes,” his father said. “Your mother said you were staying at Dan’s and I figured I’d surprise her. I haven’t been around much. Guess I was the one that got the surprise.”

“And you were chasing after him and crashed?” he asked. “Are you going to lose your job?”

“Yes, I was chasing after him. No man should go after another man’s woman. Remember that.”

In his mind, maybe that woman didn’t want to be with one man and if that was the case, wasn’t it the woman’s fault too? His fifteen-year-old brain knew what he knew and heard.

If someone he was with wanted another man, more power to her. He wasn’t fighting for her. He wasn’t chasing any guy down and he sure the heck wouldn’t stay with that woman and put up with it.

No way, not when he kept hearing what a fool his father was for sticking around for years.

But they were rumors and maybe they were wrong. Though it didn’t seem it now.

“Well, if she did it to you, she’ll do it to him,” Sawyer said.

His father held his stare still. Now there seemed to be nothing more than tiredness behind the big guy’s eyes.

“You’re probably right. We all make our decisions in life. She made hers and I’m sitting here getting a numb ass for a few more weeks due to mine.”

“Do you still have a job?” he asked. He wanted to know. He supposed there were things that would change with his mother gone. “Do I have to live with her? I don’t want to. I don’t know this person she is with and I sure the hell don’t want to meet him. He can go fuck off.”

He turned to go to his room. “Sawyer,” his father snapped.

“What?” he asked, spinning around. “It’s not like I was chasing him down the street with a shotgun. I just said he could fuck off.”

His father scowled. He supposed he shouldn’t have shared he’d heard that part of the conversation too. If it was true, and he thought it might be, then who knew what would have happened if his father had caught up with the guy.

He’d like to think his father’s temper wouldn’t have unleashed any way other than a warning. His father wasn’t a killer. He was just a man that couldn’t seem to let go of his wife.

“I wasn’t going to shoot the man,” his father argued. “Your mother knows that. I just wanted to scare the prick.”

“You didn’t answer me on if you were losing your job? If I have to stay with her when you’re gone if you don’t? I can stay home alone. It’s okay. I’ll be sixteen soon and can get my license and drive myself places. I’ll be fine.”

“I don’t think I’m losing my job,” his father said. “I’m meeting with them in a few weeks. While I’m on the road, you can’t be home alone. We’ll work it out. If it’s not with your mother.”

“No,” he said. “I don’t want to talk to her or see her. No way. She just picked up and left without saying goodbye. I come home from school for you to tell me. She can fuck off too.”

His father sighed and wouldn’t say anything to him for swearing. In his mind he had a right to be pissed off. 

Sawyer wasn’t going to show any tears, but he was positive they’d come later. No one wanted to think their mother would just up and leave like this. Pick some dude over her child.

“Then I’ll talk with your grandparents. I’m sure they will be fine with it.”

“They live in Charlotte,” he argued, thinking of his father’s parents. The grandparents he loved to visit. It was just a different world than the one he lived in. He wasn’t sure how his father became a truck driver when his parents had good white-collar jobs. Not that there was anything wrong with the work his father did, but it still wasn’t what he was used to. 

“Not my parents,” his father said. “Your mother’s parents. They aren’t happy with what is going on. Trust me, they will be a good shoulder for you to lean on.”

His mother’s parents didn’t live that far away. Maybe five minutes. It’s not what he wanted to do either, but it’d be better than his mother. 

“I wish you weren’t on the road all the time,” he said.

“Me too,” his father said. “I’ll see what I can do or find once my leg is healed. For now I’m here and it’s a nonissue. We’ll work it out, Sawyer. I’m here if you want to talk.”

“Nothing to talk about,” he said, starting to walk away again. But he stopped first. “As you said, people make their choices and don’t give a shit about those left behind to pick up the pieces.”

He walked up the stairs to his room like normal even when every part of him screamed to run. Instead of slamming the door as was his urge, he closed it quietly and went to lie on his stomach on his bed.

Losing his temper and bursting out in anger wasn’t going to solve anything.

Neither were the tears that were falling, but he’d be damned if anyone else saw them.

Sawyer Brennan has a massive distrust of women thanks to his mother. Though he’s got lots of examples of good solid relationships in his life, he can’t move past what he experienced. The fact that two of those good examples—his grandparents and the Fierces—are working together to set him up only turns up the dial on his resistance.

Faith O’Malley is the last of Jolene Fierce’s immediate family left standing. She’s determined to hold out the longest. But a chance meeting with a sexy detective has her thinking maybe being single out of spite isn’t worth it. Until she finds out that fate is working on her aunt’s side and Sawyer is the man they had picked out for her. Now she just has to make sure everyone knows she did this on her own…and get them to believe it.

Prologue

“We are so sorry for your loss.”

McKenna heard this way too many times in her life.

Mostly it came from being in the funeral home that her father owned and ran. The one that had been in the Preston family for generations.

This time it was personal.

“Thank you,” she said. 

At fourteen, she accepted the awkward hug from yet one more stranger. Someone that knew her father and mother, she was sure, but no one she could remember.

Or maybe her brain just couldn’t function, as she was trying to not only hold it together for herself but also for her father and younger sister.

As if it wasn’t bad enough that her father ran a funeral parlor for a living, he wouldn’t hand her mother’s wake over to anyone. Rather setting this up himself for his wife and son who both were killed in a car accident just a few days ago.

Michelle Preston had been coming home from picking up her five-year-old son, David, from a playdate when a car chase was occurring. Her mother had no clue. She’d been an innocent bystander like the other six cars crashed into that day.

But her mother’s car was the first one when the guy lost control of what he was driving and hit her head-on. She’d pulled over like you were supposed to do when flashing lights were seen, but it hadn’t mattered.

McKenna had heard more than once that death was instant. She wasn’t sure how that was supposed to make her feel better, but maybe in time it would sink in.

“McKenna!”

She turned her head to where her ten-year-old sister, Molly, was standing in the doorway whaling her name.

Leaving the stranger, she rushed over. “What’s wrong, Molly?”

“My dress has a spot on it,” Molly sobbed. “What am I going to do?”

In Molly’s world this was always an issue. “No one is going to notice,” she said. “It’s fine.”

“They will notice. Mom would fix this. Dad won’t leave to drive me home. Now I look a mess.”

Her sister’s face was red and blotchy from tears. The same kind of tears that McKenna was shedding at night in her room while trying to be strong the rest of the time.

Her mother would want that. Would tell her that it was her place to step up as the oldest and hold the family together. 

She’d been told most of her life she was just like her mother so she had some big shoes to fill and she was going to do it.

She grabbed Molly’s hand. “Come on. Let me see if I can get it out.”

They went to the bathroom and she wet the spot on the bottom of Molly’s dress after she scraped off what she could. It looked like it was just some dried-on food. 

Once she rubbed it clean with soap and rinsed it off she had her sister stand close to the air dryer and kept running it until it was dry.

“It’s gone,” Molly said. “How did you do that?”

“You saw what I did,” she said. “It’s not that hard.”

“I can’t do anything. Mom did it all. What are we going to do? Dad isn’t even talking to us right now.”

Her father was grieving harder than Molly was. But he was doing it silently like McKenna was. Maybe he was just frozen inside from dealing with death his whole life.

But something told her that Dan Preston was going to break soon and she’d have to be the one to hold them together.

“He’s trying to figure things out,” she said. It was the best answer she could come up with. She didn’t know what was going on either and all she wanted to do was get through one day at a time.

And at the end of the day, hundreds of people she didn’t know had come through and talked to her and her family.

Lots of kids. Her friends, Molly’s and David’s friends too. Five- and ten-year-olds shouldn’t have to come here to see this. Neither should teens, but as she’d been told often, death was just as much a part of life as anything else.

It’s just she never thought she’d experience it up close and personal so soon.

“Go home, Dan,” Joe said. He was one of her father’s employees. “We’ll lock up. You need to be there for your family.”

“Yeah,” her father said. “My parents are waiting at the house.”

She knew that. They’d had food and drink here to celebrate her mother and brother’s lives as best as they could after the services. She didn’t want all these people in her home where they might not leave when it was time for her to shed her tears.

But there’d be family there now and that might be worse. She’d heard her grandmother say she’d stay at the house for a few weeks and help, but her father had said no. He had it covered.

McKenna wasn’t so sure of that, but the truth was, she needed the solitude as much as he might.

Molly and she got in her father’s car. The family SUV had been totaled in the wreck. They drove the short distance back to Paradise Place where they lived. It didn’t feel like such a paradise now though.

When she walked in the backdoor, her grandmother came rushing toward her, her mother’s mother. “It’s okay to cry, McKenna.”

“I will,” she said. She knew once she started it wouldn’t end. She didn’t care if others thought she was cold.

She was calling it survival. 

Because now that her world had changed, that was the mode she was in and the one that would make her mother proud.

McKenna Preston had to step up and be the ‘mom’ of the house when her mother tragically passed away. She didn’t mind doing it, helping her younger sister, being the responsible one to set a good example. When her father is almost taken from her suddenly years later, she realizes that nothing has changed from when she was a kid. She’s still the responsible one holding everyone together while her own life is passing her by.

Dr. Jeremy Reid never expected a chance meeting on the golf course would put him face to face with the woman he was meant to spend the rest of his life with. But to do that, he has to get her to see that she can finally step back and let her family care for themselves. That it’s her turn for some happiness. If only he can do it without turning her away.

If you haven’t read the PROLOGUE check it out first

Chapter One

A Little Excessive

Fifteen Months Later

“It’s going to be so much fun tonight,” Daisy said to Heather. “I love that they are having a Christmas Eve party and doing it at Mona’s. It’s like they are keeping it all in the family.”

Heather turned from the closet in her room where she was trying to figure out what mini skirt to put on. Daisy was in a dress, but Heather didn’t own any dresses. Well, the only one she had she’d worn to Lily’s wedding over a year ago and it was more a summer dress that she got away with in September.

Not only that, but she also hadn’t looked at it or worn it again since that day.

Too many memories of the hot guy she followed to his room after her last glass of wine at the bar.

She’d told herself she hoped she didn’t have regrets, and when her body was screaming out its releases more than once that night, she knew she’d never regret an ounce of anything.

Was she embarrassed? Yeah, she was. But she’d never see him again. And it was so nice to just be the person she always wanted to be.

Well, she didn’t want to be a slut that slept with random men, but this felt different to her. Luke was best friends with her boss’s husband, not a random stranger.

She had a high level of respect for the Bloom sisters and it didn’t hurt anyone what she did that night.

It’s not like she confessed it to anyone and she wouldn’t.

“I’m happy they are doing this too. First year for something this big. And can I say you look pretty hot in that dress? Which skirt do you like better?” She held the black one up, then a tan one.

“Black for sure,” Daisy said. “Then you can put any color shirt on. What are your choices there?”

“I’ve got this red sweater that is somewhat festive. Maybe wear with black ankle boots and black tights. I mean it’s winter and chilly out.”

“That will look great,” Daisy said. “And we know you’ve got some awesome legs on you. Might as well show them off.”

Heather laughed and dropped her sweats and then moved to get her tights from the drawer. She didn’t mind Daisy was in her room and she was flashing her panties. Who cared? They were both single women and lived together for fifteen months at this point.

“That was my thought,” she said. “Not much call for a skirt or dress in the labs.”

She sat on her bed and pulled her tights up, then yanked her skirt up and found her sweater in her drawer and changed out her cotton shirt. 

“Nice,” Daisy said. “Do a little twirl for me.”

She laughed. Daisy was great and they got along so well. When she moved to Mystic she had no idea what to expect or think her life would turn out to be.

But she was loving every minute of it.

“Is that dress new?” she asked Daisy. 

“It is. Do you think it’s too much?”

“The color is awesome on you.”

Daisy looked great in jewel tones and the emerald green with a black belt was great with Daisy’s black stockings and pumps. The dress was above her knees, but not sleazy. She didn’t think the two of them could pull off sleazy, but they could be considered overdressed for a holiday party.

“Thank you,” Daisy said. “Do we drive or Uber?”

“I say Uber,” she said. “This way we can relax and drink as much as we want.”

“Sounds like one hell of a plan to me,” Daisy said.

The last time she drank too much she’d planned on getting an Uber home, but since she slept most of the wine off, she drove home the next morning. Not before she and Luke had another round of messing up his sheets. Then she left while he was in the shower.

No reason to stay any longer. It’d be awkward anyway. He was going back to God only knows where and if he wanted to reach her, he knew where she worked.

Since she hadn’t heard from him in all this time, she did the right thing leaving as she had. She probably did him a favor.

“There are a lot of cars here already,” Heather said when they were dropped off.

“Probably people in the restaurant and not the party,” Daisy said.

“Could be. Let’s go in and get our table.”

Once they were inside, they grabbed a table that would be for most of the single ladies that worked in the shops. She found she was closer to them than those at the warehouse or greenhouses.

Daisy and she got a drink from the server walking around and started to mingle.

She saw Violet Soren come in with her boyfriend, Trace Mancini. She hadn’t expected Violet to bring the new guy in her life of only a few weeks and assumed Violet wouldn’t sit with a bunch of women now.

Violet was talking to Jasmine and she heard them say something about a person moving.

“Who is moving in where on Monday?” Heather asked, going to stand by them.

Violet looked at her and whistled. “Wow. You’ve got a skirt on. And a short one.”

She wiggled her shoulders a little. “I never get to dress up and I like it. Daisy talked me into it.”

Violet turned and found Daisy with a dress on too. 

“Remember Luke from Lily and Zane’s wedding?” Jasmine asked.

The smile dropped from her face, her heart started to race, her hands got sweaty and there might have been some heat between her legs at the same time. “Yeah. Why?”

“He’s here. He’s moving into Zane’s cottage on Monday.”

“What?” she asked. Did her voice just squeak? Then she seemed to catch herself. “I mean, since when?”

“Wow,” Violet said, smirking. “That reaction was a little excessive. Did you think he was hot in his tux?”

She snorted. No use lying since she’d been heard making that comment. “Yeah. So did you and everyone else.”

“It’s something about those men in the service,” Violet said.

“Are you talking about me?” Trace said, coming to stand next to Violet. “You know, men in the service and all. You haven’t even seen me in uniform.”

Violet laughed. “Do you still have them?”

“I do,” Trace said. “It’s not my life now, but it is still part of me. I don’t know if we’ve formally met, have we?”

“I’m Heather and you’re the hot guy that Violet is blowing the singles table off for.”

“Your coworkers think I’m hot,” Trace said, bumping his hip into Violet’s. Heather wished she could find a guy like this, but the few dates she’d been on since Lily’s wedding, she’d found those men didn’t hold a candle to Luke.

And she had to stop using him as a measuring stick because he’d been gone from her life.

Or so she thought, but now they said he was back in Mystic.

“You should only care what I think,” Violet said. “And we are sitting here. But I’ll take you to the singles table to meet some of the rest of them and then we’ll come back and mingle with the mature ones.”

“Who says I want to be with the mature people?” Trace asked.

“Don’t flirt with my coworkers,” Violet said. She took the wine out of his hand. “You’re only allowed to flirt with me.”

“I’ll be flirting with you all night,” Trace said.

Heather walked away forcing a grin when someone waved at her. There was jealousy there for sure for a coworker, but more so she had to figure out why Luke was being talked about and how come he was moving to Mystic and not still in the service.

She was bound to run into him and what would she say? How would she act? 

How would he act? 

Would he think she would just pick up where they left off and be around anytime he wanted a quick roll in the sheets?

Or maybe he was with someone now. He could be married and she’d have to get any sexy thoughts of him out of her head if that was the case.

Didn’t matter. She had time to prepare for when she saw him again. She was just going to enjoy tonight.

Until she turned and saw her one and only one-night stand leaning against the doorframe of the back room and his eyes were locked right on hers tighter than if a missile was getting ready to launch and she was the target.

She gulped and did the only thing she could think of.

She ran to the bathroom.

Prologue

“That was one crazy wedding, wasn’t it?”

Heather Davis turned from where she was sitting at the bar after her boss, Lily Bloom, married Zane Wolfe. The hot guy chatting her up was in half a tux at this point. Luke Remington had been the best man and was in the Army, only here on leave. His tux jacket, vest and tie were off, the white shirt unbuttoned a few and her mouth was watering more than it had been as she eyed him all night.

His short military cut. Dark eyes that didn’t let you see much of what he was thinking. A charming grin coming her way.

Cool and relaxed was the impression she’d gotten. Cocky too.

Not someone that was her type, or she’d ever talked to, let alone would consider flirting with.

That was her past life though. The one she had in Mystic now was who she was trying to be.

“It was,” she said. “You seemed to be having fun. How long are you in town for?”

“Just a few more days,” Luke said. “I’m staying right here at this hotel.”

“You’re on leave or something? Don’t you get a lot of time off for that?”

She didn’t know much about the service or how time like that worked. “I am. Just another week, but I’ll travel some and then go back.”

“No family to visit?” she asked.

Most of the wedding party was long gone. She’d be getting a new roommate tomorrow. Daisy Jones was recently hired as Rose’s assistant and was going to be living with her.

The few months living alone hadn’t been all it was cracked up to be and she was starting to get lonely.

Heather hadn’t been employed at Blossoms that long, but she’d needed a place to stay and since Poppy moved in with her fiancé, Reese, and was going to sell her condo, she asked if she could rent it out instead. It’d been tight moneywise, but with a roommate soon, life would be smoother sailing.

“No,” he said quickly and held his hand up to the bartender to get another beer. She’d had more wine than she should have, but she wasn’t drunk. Not unless she considered it drunk with happiness over having the time of her life at this wedding.

Heather never felt as if she fit in all that much in her family. Two older brothers that protected her and made her feel as if she couldn’t do much on her own.

Her parents thought she was a disappointment in her career because they wanted her to be a doctor after she went into science. She never had any desire to go into medicine like they hoped.

She’d let herself be talked into doing research, maybe finding cures or saving the world from something. That job didn’t last all that long either because she was miserable letting others make decisions in her life. 

She had to remind herself more often than not that her Grandmother Jane, who’d cultivated her love of gardening, also told her repeatedly to be selfish and find what made her happy, not anyone else.

Her grandmother had passed while Heather was in college and never got to see her graduate. It’d been a handful of years now, and once her grief settled, she decided to listen to that advice regardless of her mother telling her she was being foolish.

She was working on fragrances and formulas for healing and relaxing properties for Blossoms and loved how she could blend her education with a love of gardening she’d developed as a kid.

“I don’t blame you. I love my family and all, but I’m glad they are there and I’m here.”

“Where is there?” he asked her.

“Concord, New Hampshire,” she said. “What about you?”

“The not so nice side of Baltimore. Too many places to count. So yeah, not the same thing.”

She looked him over again. His tall build, she was guessing six foot two, which was much bigger than her five foot four. He probably had a hundred pounds on her easily too. His brown hair and eyes, close-cut hair, and five o’clock shadow.

He looked dangerous to her, and she figured it came from being in the service, but now she was guessing it might have been part of his upbringing too. He didn’t look like the guy that would tell you any of that though.

“No,” she said. “I don’t care where someone came from. I only care about the here and now.”

He laughed at her. He’d laughed a lot tonight. He talked to people and mingled and her eyes were always going to him. She couldn’t help it and she wasn’t alone with her gaze.

Many of the single women at the wedding were feeling and saying the same things she was thinking, but she wouldn’t admit it to anyone.

She was still new here and didn’t know anyone well enough to share things like that.

She’d already had more than one comment on how she looked and acted different tonight than they were used to.

Not that she needed it pointed out. She didn’t look nerdy. She had her contacts in rather than her glasses, though most didn’t see her in her glasses that often either. They usually just saw her in safety glasses when she was in the lab.

But when she was out and having fun, she tried to be the person that she felt inside. Not the one her parents and brothers wanted her to be. But the one her grandmother encouraged her to let shine.

Moving here might have been the best decision in her life, but it was still hard to break away.

“Sounds like my type of woman,” he said. “Can I get you another drink?”

“Sure,” she said, picking up her wine glass and finishing it. She’d just take an Uber home tonight. No way she was cutting the night short. She looked around the bar and didn’t see anyone from the wedding and wondered what possessed her to come in here alone. Probably because she didn’t want to go home alone.

“How long have you worked for Lily and her sisters? She seems like a great catch for Zane. Man, he needs that in his life. Lucky bastard.”

She smiled. “Just a few months. But those three sisters are the best. Is this the first time you’ve met Lily?”

“It is,” he said, “though Zane talks about her.”

 “That’s so nice. You big tough guys have a sweet side.”

He laughed at her and her face blushed. She hadn’t meant to say that and wondered if the wine was loosening her tongue up a bit.

“Not sure anyone has ever said I had a sweet side to my face before.”

“I don’t know you that well,” she said. “Unless you want to share. But you’re leaving in a few days, so we are back to the here and now.”

“That’s right,” he said. “To the here and now. Or maybe later.” He held his glass up to her.

“I might be on board for the maybe later,” she said. She knew by the look in his eyes he meant going to his room and, damn it all, though she’d never done it before, she was pretty sure she was going to tonight.

Regrets would be for later, but this was the new her and why she moved away. To be herself.

If that meant a night of sex with a man she just met, then so be it.

It’s not like she’d see him again. He was going back into the service and she’d go on with her life but at least have some great memories.

Luke Remington has a past and childhood no one knows about and he has no plans on sharing. His military career is just one more mark against him. He’s seen and done things most women would gasp at. His new career as a State Trooper is just another slot in time that most women can’t handle. In his eyes, he’ll never be good enough for someone, so might as well be married to his job. Until he meets someone that he actually wants to try with. If he can work up the courage to let her in.

Heather Davis has never been good enough in her parents’ eyes. She couldn’t be what they wanted so she moved and decided to do what made her happy. Luke brings things out of her that no man has ever done before. Like a one-night stand at her boss’s wedding. When he arrives back in town to stay, she wonders if there is any way she could be the woman for him and wiggle her way into his complex life.

If you haven’t read the PROLOGUE yet you can check it out first.

Chapter One

Standing Behind It

Two Months Later

“What are you doing here?” Duke Raymond asked his twin sister, Kelsey, who was walking into his restaurant. “Don’t you have a business to run?”

“I’m working,” Kelsey said. “Just like you are.”

It was nine on a Monday morning in early April. His restaurant, Duke’s, would be opening for business at eleven thirty. He was here going through inventory and placing orders for his specials this week. Or at least trying to.

“Yeah, but you sit in an office, not me.”

Kelsey co-owned and managed a CPA firm with their mother. She was the furthest from the tourist industry on the island. 

Their ancestors had founded Amore Island many generations ago. Duke was from Patricia’s side, one of the twin daughters of Malcolm and Elizabeth Bond who’d married well but didn’t get as big of the Bond fortune as their three brothers did.

There was money in his branch, trust funds too, but everything they had they’d worked for and continued to do so.

He always knew what he wanted to do in life and was thrilled there was money there for him to buy this restaurant over three years ago and get it started.

His sister had stepped right into their mother’s business and did everything for him and for a lot of their cousins on the island too. On the outside, not many knew there was more than his restaurant and his mother’s CPA firm that would go to him and Kelsey. But his father who was from the Bond side had multiple business ventures and investments on and off the island too.

“Which is why I’m here so we can meet,” Kelsey said. “Do you have some time to talk?”

“I do,” he said. “Do you want something to eat? I’m sure you haven’t had breakfast yet.”

“No,” Kelsey said. “Why would I eat when I knew you’d offer to make me something?”

He laughed and walked to the kitchen, knowing his sister would follow him. She had a key to his restaurant and had let herself in, then all but scared the shit out of him when she called his name before entering his office. At least she gave him a heads up, not something she did when they were kids and she wanted to sneak up on him.

When they were in the kitchen, he asked, “What do you want?”

“An omelet sounds good,” she said.

He pulled out the eggs and veggies that he knew she liked, found some bacon and ham to go with it. He’d load her up to the point she wouldn’t be able to eat the rest of the day. And she’d eat the full plate even though she was a tiny thing.

It was a game they played. She’d clean her plate because she’d always say it was the best thing she ever ate and it couldn’t go to waste.

He pulled the rubber band out of his pocket and tied back his long dirty blonde hair. Tonight when he was working he’d have a bandana on his head to keep the sweat from his face too, but for now, it wasn’t needed.

“What’s on your mind that you are here this early?”

“I’ll get to that soon,” Kelsey said. “You ready for the wedding on Saturday?”

Their cousin Penelope Rauch was marrying Griffin Zale at Penelope’s hotel, Atlantic Rise. He’d lost track of the family tree at this point. His grandmother and Penelope’s grandmother were twin sisters. His father, Kyle Raymond, and Sophia Rauch were first cousins. What he was to Penelope at this point didn’t make a difference to him. They were blood like he’d always felt of everyone.

It seemed like his family were shacking up like bunnies in heat around him lately, finding significant others, getting hitched and having kids.

Or in Penelope’s case, having the child first.

“Yep,” he said. He was cracking eggs into a bowl and set them aside while he speed cut through peppers and mushrooms. The bacon was in the oven already. He’d rather put it in there and have less of a mess to clean up. “Just need to make sure there are no stains on my suit.”

Kelsey laughed at him. “You need to buy another one. If I have to keep buying a new dress for these things you need more than two suits and shirts.”

“No one pays attention to me,” he said. He was glad of that fact because he lived in his chef’s clothing most of the time. Or jeans and a T-shirt like now. In the summer, it’d be shorts. His wardrobe didn’t change much.

“That’s right,” Kelsey said. “The men have it easy.”

“Unless you are trying to impress someone there, why do you care? Looking for some single man to land?”

“Please,” Kelsey said, waving her hand. “Like I’m going to pick up some man at a family wedding. I’m fine the way I am. Just like you.”

“Seems to be the story of our lives. We are young yet,” he said. “At least I am.”

“We’re the same age,” she argued. “Thirty-two isn’t old. But I guess you’re right. It is when you’re a woman.”

“Talk to me about business while I work,” he said.

“Sure,” Kelsey said. “I emailed you your monthly reports. You know things are going well. They always are. Even during the winter when it’s the slowest.”

“It’s good to have the best food on the island,” he said, smirking. He was cocky enough to say it and stand behind it, but he also knew it was a higher end restaurant in terms of cost. Most people came to him for a special night out and not a fast meal. 

Well, not true. They’d come at lunchtime more often, but dinner was a completely different menu. He’d planned it that way on purpose so that people felt they could come and not be handcuffed by their wallets to sample his food.

“I tell everyone that,” Kelsey said. “You know I spread the word for you. That’s the bulk of your marketing. Maybe at some point you could splurge for some more than you do.”

He sighed. He’d heard this before. “I’ll look into it. I don’t have time. I talk with the hotels and we exchange things that way.”

Like his cousins. Penelope and Emily at Atlantic Rise. Hunter Bond at The Retreat. Eli at Bond Casino. 

Hell, even his cousins Bode and Drew with their retirement community, he’d been talking with them about putting things out for future tenants. He could make it work. If he could find the time.

“You do,” Kelsey said. “And it’s cost effective.”

“You get off on words like that, don’t you?”

“I don’t need my brother asking me what I get off on,” Kelsey said.

“Geez, Kelsey. Cut the shit. You always do that to me.”

He didn’t need to think of his sister being with a man or anything at all related to one.

“It’s fun to get you worked up.”

He dumped the eggs into the hot pan, then followed it up with the vegetables, ham and cheese. He had two pans going at once. Might as well make one for himself while he was at it.

“You always did like to yank my chain,” he said, moving to the oven and checking on the bacon. He knew it was done. Everything was timed in his head and he was never wrong.

He pulled it out and set it down, then went back to finish up the omelets.

Once he had their plates completed, he carried them out to the bar. They could sit there and talk.

Kelsey helped herself to orange juice. She knew where everything was. She’d been behind the bar a time or two helping out when he’d been short staffed. The same with his parents. That was what family did. They were there for each other.

“Mmm,” Kelsey said. “You made mine as big as yours on purpose and now I’m going to feel sick all morning when I finish this, but it will be so worth it. I just won’t eat until dinner later.”

Exactly what he’d thought she’d say. “Tell me why you stopped over this morning other than me feeding you.”

“You told me that three years into Duke’s you were going to start looking at other opportunities on the island.”

“I did,” he said. 

He wasn’t jumping on anything. It had to be right. The right location, the right building that didn’t need too much work. The right style of fare he’d want to offer. Once he found the place, the food would come next. He wasn’t tied into anything.

“I might have an opportunity for you.”

“Are you selling real estate now? I thought that was Drew’s domain.”

“Very funny,” Kelsey said around a mouthful. “No. I’ve got a client. They own a pub on the south end. Less than a mile from Juliet.”

Amore Island’s south port was Juliet, the north Romeo. Everything tied back to the lore and legend of the island of love at first site. Or fate. Or whatever other tales had been spun from it over the years.

Duke never believed any of it, but it seemed a lot of his cousins were proving him wrong.

“Are they looking to sell? What’s the name of the place?”

He was aware of every restaurant on the island. Best to know his competition. 

“Southside Pub,” she said.

“I’m familiar,” he said. “They opened shortly after I did.”

“Yes,” Kelsey said. “Stan and Louisa Breaton. They are retired educators from Plymouth. It’s their second career. Really nice couple. They live on the island. They’ve had a cottage in their family for years.”

“Did they have any experience in running a pub? Or at least cooking or working in one?”

“No,” Kelsey said. “It was a dream they had. To them, they wanted to just break even. They had their pensions and were comfortable. If they were able to take a paycheck and keep people employed and bring business to the island, they were happy enough.”

He supposed he could understand that thought. 

No, he couldn’t.

To him, he put everything he had into what he did. To his craft. That was what he thought of it as.

“It’s not going well?” he asked.

“No. I think they got what they wanted for the first year or so, but this past winter things were rough. It’s a lot of work and time, as you know.”

“It’s not a cushy forty-hour-a-week job. Not even ten months a year if they were teachers.”

Kelsey grinned. “Louisa was a high school principal, Stan a superintendent. Hardly forty hours or ten months, but still not the same as running a pub.”

Duke nodded. “They want to sell?” he asked. “I’d have to check it out and get a feel for the place. See their books. You know that.”

“I do,” Kelsey said. “And I can tell you anything you bought up I’d go over and since I do their books, I wouldn’t lead you astray. I think they just don’t know how to run a restaurant. It seems they get enough customers, but their food costs are crazy high. Their staffing costs too. They’ve had a lot of turnover on top of it.”

“So they are paying more to get people to stay?” he asked.

“That and their prices are low too. There isn’t anything wrong with that.”

“There is if they don’t know how to figure out their margins,” he said. 

“That is part of it,” Kelsey said.

“Have you eaten there? How is the food?”

“Not bad. It’s not your quality by any means,” Kelsey said. She was more than halfway through her omelet.

“Hardly,” he said.

“Here’s the thing,” Kelsey said. “They aren’t even sure if they want to sell. Well, that isn’t the case. They want it to go to someone that will make it what they thought it could be. They know you’re my brother. We were talking. It’s an odd proposition they are offering.”

He looked up from his plate. “How odd?”

“They’d be willing to let you run the pub for a period of time. Let’s say spring to fall.”

“The busy season,” he said. “They want me to run their business so they can profit? Hell no.”

“No,” Kelsey said. “Hear me out. They’d turn it over to you. You’d run it and take the profits. You’d take all the food expenses and payroll. You aren’t buying anything. They will cover whatever debt there is for this period of time in terms of loans they’ve got. To them, they put themselves into that and wouldn’t pass it to you. If you are doing the work, you don’t have to pay their debt.”

“Let me get this straight,” he said. “I walk in let’s say the first of the month and take over every expense starting that day. I get the profit along with it?”

“That is what they offered to me,” Kelsey said.

“That’s nuts,” he said. “What are they getting out of it?”

“Satisfaction that something they had an idea for can work and they just can’t do it? I’m not sure.”

“It seems too good to be true,” he said. “And it feels as if I’m taking advantage of things too.”

“Well, not really,” Kelsey said. “They don’t have a lot of debt. Just the loan on the building more than anything.”

“If I agreed to do that, it’d have to be part of the monthly expenses that I cover,” he said. That was only fair in his eyes. It’d be like paying the rent for the building.

“I knew you’d say that but didn’t tell them. I’m just passing on the information.”

“I’d be crazy to not consider this. With their permission, give me what you know I’ll need to look at. Revenue and expenses. I’ll go try their food out this week and get a feel for the business and how it flows.”

“You can change all of that,” Kelsey said, running her fork over the last piece of egg on her plate.

“I can. It’s if I want to.”

“The location is good,” Kelsey pointed out.

“I know that,” he said. “Which is why I’m considering it all. Get me that information and then I’ll reach out to Hailey if I decide to move forward. It all has to be drawn up and signed regardless.”

Hailey Bond was the family attorney. As he said, he didn’t do anything half assed.

Kelsey stood up. “This meeting went exactly as I expected. Along with your monthly financials in your email are all the information you’d want on Southside.”

“You knew I’d agree to look it over,” he said, picking up her empty plate.

“Of course I did,” Kelsey said, laughing. “Neither one of us is stupid. Reach out when you’re ready to talk more.”

He watched his sister walk out of his restaurant in her navy pants and pumps, her light green sweater with her dirty blonde hair flowing across her back.

They might be twins, but they didn’t look all that much alike. 

Yet they did think the same for the majority of their lives.