Prologue

“I’m sorry about Eddie.”

Hadley Breaton sighed into the phone. She sniffled a little too. “I know, Mom.”

“It’s got to be heartbreaking for you. When are the services so your father and I can attend?”

“I’m not sure yet,” she said.

No way she was telling her parents she only found out about her ex’s death because a friend texted her. Her parents didn’t even know Eddie was an ex. She hadn’t had the heart to tell them that they’d split a month ago.

They’d only dated about five months. The first month, he was so charming and full of life. Something she’d never been.

Charming or full of life.

She’d always kept to herself and was kind of quiet. A coworker set her up with Eddie, and as uncomfortable as she was at first with his outgoing personality, she started to feel so alive around him.

He was the life of the party, doing everything to excess though. Drinking. Smoking. Drugs. Anything to give him a thrill.

The smoking and the drugs bothered her, but he said the pot was to help him sleep at night because he went a hundred miles an hour during the day.

Pot was legal in many states, so though it was a drug accepted by many, it just wasn’t for her.

She let it go though because of how he made her feel.

Then his accident happened when he was goofing off with friends. She’d told him he needed to slow down multiple times, but he’d always said not to be a stick in the mud.  That life was meant to be lived not watched from the sidelines.

He’d asked for her help in his recovery and she’d gladly done it because…that was what she always did.

She’d been called a doormat in the past and now it was just stepped on all over again with muddy shoes.

A people pleaser she’d always been and she was pretty sure she always would be too. She’d never learn.

“Let us know when you find out,” her mother said. “You shouldn’t be alone right now.”

“I’m fine,” she said. She was pretty sure she wasn’t going to be allowed to go to his service. She’d been told Eddie’s family was going to have it be small and private. Almost like an invitation only. 

That meant no ex-girlfriend regardless of everything she’d done for him and how soul crushingly hurt she was in the end.

“Hadley. You and Eddie dated for almost six months. You’ve been through so much with him. Then to have this happen. I know his lifestyle bothered you at times…”

“He lived his life his way,” she said. “I should have realized that in the beginning.” 

“I know that he made you feel like a person you always wanted to be.” Thinking back, at the time she thought she wanted to be that outgoing person, but her true self came out and she learned she couldn’t be someone she wasn’t.

Now she was just trying to pick her life up and move on.

Somehow…someway.

“He did make me feel that way,” she said. “But it’s not who I am.” She didn’t want to talk about this and start crying again. She hated to feel like such a fool and not only had it happened with her heart, but now her life in general was a big old hot mess. “How is the restaurant doing?”

“You know how it is,” her mother said. “Your father and I are considering selling it. But you don’t want to hear about that right now. Maybe Dad and I should come be with you.”

“I need some time alone,” she said. “Talking about your life takes my mind off of mine. It’s been your and Dad’s dream since you retired. Why would you sell it?”

Her parents were both retired from the Plymouth school district. Her mother had been a principal, her father a superintendent. There’d been a small two-bedroom cottage in their family on Amore Island that went to her father and that was where they moved to when they retired.

Having grown up in Plymouth, it wasn’t that far and she’d spent a lot of time on the island as a kid herself. It was just never a place she wanted to be but wasn’t shocked when her parents said that was going to be their retirement home.

Her mother sighed on the other end and she knew she’d get her way and have the distraction of talking about something other than her foolishness. “It’s been three years,” her mother said. “You know we are struggling. We’ve got our pensions to live off of. It’s not a big deal. The goal had been to just break even and provide jobs to the area. Have some fun. I don’t know what we were thinking.”

“You were thinking that you were young when you both retired and weren’t ready,” she said. “There isn’t anything wrong with that.”

Her parents wanted to experience life too. Just like she was trying to do with Eddie.

“No,” her mother said. “And if things were still breaking even, I think we’d continue, but the truth is, this last winter was harsh on us. We didn’t have enough put away from the summer to get us through. It’s just a thought, nothing you need to worry about. You’ve got other things on your mind.”

Yeah, and that just added to it. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could stay here with everything looming over her.

She could barely make ends meet right now and the debt from being with Eddie was floating around her like an ominous fog making her want to run for shelter.

Shelter was going to be home with her parents, as much as she didn’t want to feel like she couldn’t handle her own life.

She’d had plans to return home—which meant the island now—and see if she could find a job there. She’d thought she could help out at the restaurant because she knew her parents would need it and it’d give her some spending money to figure out her next move without having so many living expenses on her own.

But if her parents were selling the restaurant, that was going to put a wrinkle in her plans. She’d figure it out on her own like she always did.

“It’s fine,” she said. “I just had no idea you were thinking of selling.”

“Just talks,” her mother said. “Don’t concern yourself with it. We always thought maybe you’d want to take it over, but if it’s not turning a profit, there is no reason to be saddled with it. It’s a lot of work and you don’t want to be here either. We know.”

Hadley let out another sigh. No reason to talk about this now. They said it was just a thought. “Keep me posted if you decide,” she said.

“We will,” her mother said. “And let us know when the services are, please. Your father and I can take the day and come be there for you. It’s not that far.”

She was three hours away in Portland, Maine. She’d come here for college and never left. She wasn’t in love with the area, but she didn’t hate it either. 

“Sure,” she said. “I’ll do that.”

She hated to lie but the truth was, she had no idea what was going on with Eddie’s services and she didn’t think she’d find out until after the fact anyway.

She hung up with her mother after that and sat down in her tiny apartment. She was positive she couldn’t stay here much longer unless she could find another job. Or at least a second job.  Eddie had a lot of medical bills, and like every other time in her life, when people asked her for something, she did it without thought.

She was the one left with little to no savings and a ton of credit card debt because she’d been giving Eddie money for his expenses. A month ago when she asked if he’d be able to give her some of it back, he started being a jerk. Like a person she’d never seen before. She bit her tongue because it always seemed she did and chalked it up to him being under stress himself.

Once again in her life, she was sitting here wondering what the heck she was going to do and all her options were slowly swirling down the toilet.

She put her head in her hands and started to cry. It’s not like it would solve any problems or even make her feel better, but she didn’t know what else to do.

Duke Raymond comes off as a tough guy in the kitchen but those that know him well, realize he only wants what is best for the people he sees potential in. He always focuses that energy on his employees, but now he finds himself doing it with a woman. One he isn’t so sure he knows everything about and hopes it doesn’t burn him in the end as he lets his heart open up.

Hadley Breaton spent most of her life being a pushover and taken advantage of by those close to her. No matter how hard she tries to put her foot down or take a stand, she always finds herself stepping back and accepting things rather than having a confrontation. Life has changed drastically for her. She is starting over. With that comes a new career and man and maybe it’s time to do what everyone has been telling her. To go after what she wants. Only the minute she does, she realizes she might lose the man she is falling in love with.

If you haven’t read the PROLOGUE you can catch up now.

Chapter One

Made Her Hot 

Fifteen Months Later

“Chloe,” Grant Fierce said, knocking on her door in early November. “How are the plans coming?”

“Almost done,” she said. She’d been working on several parts of the commercial building for over a year now. When Grant and Garrett brought her in and said she’d be one of the few engineers responsible for the work, excitement had filled her over the task.

She loved her job here and didn’t care there weren’t that many female engineers. The owners of Fierce treated everyone the same regardless of their sexual orientation and position.

“Great,” Grant said. “Royce will be stopping over tomorrow to pick them up. I know they are on a timeline and the new tenants are itching to get in.”

“I’ll have them for you to look over and sign off within a few hours,” she said. She tried not to think about Royce Kennedy coming into the office and maybe seeing him.

She didn’t always, even though they’d worked together on and off since she’d been hired here five years ago.

Sometimes she did the work and he came in to get it when she wasn’t around or picked it up at the front desk. If he had a question he’d email or call, but they were both busy and it’s not like his projects were the only ones she had on her desk.

“Thanks,” Grant said. “I know Royce is ready to get this space done. These tenants have been more difficult than the rest, but they are taking up most of the fourth floor.”

The commercial building project had been massive and the work even more so. Many of the tenants were lined up prior and the work they wanted done was figured out before they moved in. She’d heard the talks that the cost of the construction over the standard was normally incorporated into the monthly rental. Made sense to her though that wasn’t her job. 

Nope, her friend Megan in accounting was overseeing all the costs on this project too. But she knew based on the amount of work she’d done with this one tenant their rent might be the highest and not because of the space but because of the sheer pain in the ass they’d been with nonstop changes.

“I’m sure he’s as ready to be done with them as I am,” she said, smiling at Grant. “Though he has it worse than me. I finish this and it’s back to him. He has to worry about them changing colors and finishings I’m sure.”

“I heard from Richard that keeps happening too,” Grant said.

“Better him than me,” she said.

“He’s a nice guy,” Grant said.

“Richard?” she asked.

“Yes, Richard, but I meant Royce. You work with him a lot. He’s pretty easy to get along with.”

“Sure,” she said. “I have no problem getting along with anyone though,” she said.

Which was true. Though she tended to keep to herself, she was always professional. Maybe she was a little cooler with Royce than others because when he was in the room he made her hot.

She wasn’t sure the last time a guy made her feel that way just being in a room with them, but since their conversations never really turned personal, she didn’t know what was going through his mind.

She knew he wasn’t married because Grant and Garrett had mentioned it a few times in passing. She wasn’t stupid either. She knew why they were saying it and wasn’t going to let on that she knew where their thoughts were going.

Those two men liked to set people up. You’d think they’d be satisfied with the couple they were working with now. Megan from accounting and her boyfriend, Jonah Davenport. Jonah’s sister, Raina, worked at Fierce and was married to Cody McMillan. Cody was the brother-in-law to Ryder Fierce. 

Yep, they were keeping it all in the family and working this magic they all said they had.

She figured they were just getting lucky.

“Royce, he’s had a lot on his plate for years,” Grant said. “After his heart attack Richard had to step back from the day-to-day grind, but he’d never back off completely.”

“I’m sure it’s hard when it’s your family business,” she said.

“That’s true. And it’s in your blood too. It’s hard to step back. I think Richard went from seventy hours a week to a normal forty at this point.”

“But someone has to work those seventy hours so it’s probably Royce,” she said.

She should have realized that. Maybe he had no time for a personal life. 

“It is. And Elise. You know his sister owns part of the company too and runs the business part of it. She oversees the staffing in the office and the dealings there.”

“I did know that,” she said. “Royce has mentioned it before.” 

Or maybe Megan did. Sometimes Megan would come in and ask her a few things so she could come up with an invoice to send. Yeah, maybe she didn’t hear it from Royce because they never talked about anything other than the current project they were working on.

Grant was still standing in her doorway and she got the feeling that he wanted to talk more but wasn’t opening his mouth.

“Oh, sorry to interrupt,” Raina said when she stopped by her office.

“No interruption,” Grant said. “I’ll let you get back to work then, Chloe.”

“Thanks,” she said. She watched Grant leave and then asked Raina, “What can I help you with?”

“Nothing,” Raina said, laughing. “I could hear Grant talking to you and thought I’d come save you.”

She started to laugh. “Save me from what?”

“Come on now,” Raina said, moving into her office. “You know as well as I do they are trying to move onto you next, right?”

“You think you’re so smart now that you are happily married.”

Raina shrugged and grinned. “It did fall into place nicely. Megan agrees too.”

“What do I agree with?” Megan asked, popping her head in. “I was looking for Raina but heard her in here.”

Raina moved closer to the door and shut it. “That Grant and Garrett did a good job setting us up.”

“They didn’t set me up,” Megan said. “I met your brother for the first time at your Jack and Jill party.”

“Please,” Raina said. “You know they are pushing it and going to take the credit for it.”

“It seems like that, but it’s not going to be with me,” Chloe said, putting her hands on her desk as if she wanted to stand up and lean into the conversation. 

Megan shrugged and then grinned. “I wanted to do it myself, but Jonah is a bit bullheaded. If his name comes up they are always pushing more.”

She should have thought of that herself. It just wasn’t going to work for her. She was going to keep her lips sealed on her personal life.

“Good move,” she admitted. “And it seems to be working.”

“I came in to save Chloe. Grant was fishing and Chloe isn’t ready to bite on anything. I could tell by her tone she didn’t want to push Grant out of her office but didn’t want to talk about it either. But you can talk to us.”

“I don’t have anything to say,” she said.

“Come on now,” Megan said. “There is no one you have your eye on?”

There was no reason to lie. “Maybe,” she said. “But there is no way I’m telling anyone in this office where there are big ears.”

“What?” Megan said, laughing. “We tell you everything.”

“No,” she said. “Raina didn’t tell us about Cody for a while.”

“She’s right,” Raina said. 

“I told you about Jonah pretty early. How he’s rough around the edges. He’s not rugged like he’s going to go out and swing a hammer and get dirty but he’d mop the floor with someone so that’s dirty in his own right.”

Jonah owned a gym and trained MMA fighters and boxers. Not too many would mess with him, she was sure.

“Sounds like you’ve put a lot of thought into this,” Chloe said.

“That isn’t your type?” Raina asked. “Is that the problem? You like the suit-and-tie guy?” 

“God no,” she said. “Or I don’t know. It seems like it doesn’t matter their career or what they wear to me. I just have horrible luck with men. I want someone that doesn’t crowd me too much and lets me do my own thing.”

“Oh, because you are so busy with all your friends,” Megan said, grinning.

“I can’t help it if all my close friends are getting lucky and left me out in the cold. Now I’m busy binge watching TV at night. What if I like a show this fictional guy doesn’t? I’m not giving up watching something because they don’t like it.”

Both girls started to laugh at her. “We have more than one TV in our house,” Raina said. “Cody and I don’t watch the same thing all the time.”

She looked at Megan. “Don’t look at me. I don’t see Jonah enough to worry about that.”

“And you are okay with that?” she asked.

“Yeah. Like you, I don’t want someone in my space all the time either. It sounds to me you are just making excuses though.”

“Whatever,” she said. “If you two don’t have a work conversation for me I’ve got to get this done so Royce can pick it up tomorrow.”

“Let’s go, Megan,” Raina said, smirking. “Chloe needs to figure this out on her own.”

“Nothing to figure out,” she said. “I’ve got work to do.”

Both girls left and she did what she said she was going to. She got to work and tried to push Royce from her mind. Too bad it never seemed to happen.

***

“Did you get anywhere?” Garrett asked Grant before he could sit down in his office. He’d rushed in and shut the door behind the two of them.

“No,” Grant said. “She’s like a vault. Either the two of them are extremely clueless to the potential we see or we are way off.”

“We aren’t off on this one,” he said. “No way. We’ve been watching the two of them look at each other for years when they worked together. We noticed it a long time ago.”

“I know,” Grant said. “That’s part of the reason we named her to this project. Not that we wouldn’t have done it regardless based on her work alone, but it’s been over a year and nothing from these two.”

He sighed. “I never expected it to be this hard. I talked to Richard a few weeks ago and he said Royce never slows down to even want to meet a woman.”

“I can’t believe you told Richard that we thought Chloe and Royce would be perfect for each other,” Grant said.

“I know. Normally you’re the one with the loose lips, but this time I couldn’t help it. Maybe it had more to do with hoping Richard could push on his end. This is getting tiring, don’t you think? I thought for sure something would have been going with those two before Megan.”

“I know,” Grant said. “Royce is going to come get the new plans tomorrow. I’m going to make sure he has to get them in Chloe’s office. We just have to figure out how to keep putting them together and hope sparks fly.”

“Might be time for a field trip to the site when we know Royce is there too. Nothing like watching someone in action to see if it works.”

Grant started to laugh at him. “I don’t know what goes through your mind half the time.”

“Don’t knock it,” he said. “Sometimes we might have to get out of this little box we are in. I’m running out of ideas. Do you have anything better?”

“Sadly, no,” Grant said. “Let’s see what tomorrow brings before we try that.”

If they didn’t see anything soon, they were going to have to change tactics. Once Royce got these plans from Megan the two of them might not cross paths again until they got another tenant for one of the other open spaces. They were running out of time and space.

Prologue

“Do you know what’s going on?” 

Royce Kennedy looked at his sister, Elise, as she attacked him when he walked into their family’s office building. Elise worked in the back, not up front. He hated when she all but mauled him trying to get answers the way she’d been doing since they were kids.

“You know the same thing I do,” he said. “We got the same group text.”

He started to walk past her toward his office, which was next to his father’s. “Slow down,” Elise said. “And why are you so grouchy?”

He turned and looked at her. “Unlike you who gets to sit in the air conditioning, I’m outside sweating my balls off in the heat. I’m down three guys today and we are on a deadline, as you so often remind me.”

“Awwww,” Elise said, following him as he continued down the hall. “Poor baby had to get his hands dirty rather than bark orders and tell people what to do.”

He turned and looked at the smirk on his sister’s face. “Beat it, brat. I’ve got fifteen minutes before we meet and I need a damn shower.”

“I guess I never figured out how handy that shower would come in when you insisted it be put in the bathroom between your and Dad’s offices,” Elise said.

“That’s right,” he said. “Pampered princess sits at her desk and looks at papers and tells us what to do without actually doing the work. The rest of us don’t want to sit in dirty sweaty clothes any more than we have to.”

He shut his office door in his sister’s face to her laughter. They always talked like that to each other. For the past almost two decades it’d been just his father and the two kids. Their mother didn’t get the life she thought she was going to and decided to find someone else to give it to her.

He and his sister had fought to stay with their father and not their mother. They were of an age where their voices were heard and their mother was just as happy to only see them every other weekend. When she wasn’t trying to find a guy to give her what she wanted.

Royce walked over to one of the cabinets in his office where he kept a change of clothes. He didn’t often need to shower here, but there were times he’d come from a site and be a mess from the dust and dirt blowing around and then have a client meeting and didn’t want to show up looking like he walked out of a dust storm.

Most probably wouldn’t care all that much. They owned a construction company, so it came with the territory.

Maybe it was just one of those things his mother used to bitch about with his father. That his father came home dirty and stinking and she’d comment about it. Not that his mother ever bitched about the money they had. Never that.

Just that his father didn’t sit behind a desk for it but worked with his hands.

At least back then. In the past three years though, since his father’s heart attack, he spent more time in the office with Elise and managing projects or talking with clients, putting Royce on the site and doing the hard work. Like today.

Once he was in the bathroom, he locked the connecting door to his father’s office so that he could shower and get in the conference room on time. When Richard Kennedy called a meeting you got there when you were told.

“You made it,” Elise said to him when he walked into the conference room down the hall. If it was just the three of them he wasn’t sure why they couldn’t meet in his father’s office. “And you smell much better.”

“Bite me,” he said. He lifted his hand and pushed his fingers through his damp hair that he’d towel dried fast. 

“You’re both here,” his father said coming in. All six foot three inches of man that didn’t have the presence that he had years ago. His father lost a lot of strength and muscle after his heart attack and recovery. He was pretty sure his father lost a lot of his confidence too, but it was not something they ever talked about.

“After Royce showered. He stunk,” Elise said.

His father looked at his sister and frowned. Royce wondered if it was a memory of the words their mother used to say. 

“You’d stink too if you were outside working construction in ninety-degree weather. Do you want to switch with your brother for a week?”

Elise laughed. “I would break a nail. No, thank you. I love you both just the same though.”

His father laughed. He grinned and shook his head. His father would never get mad at Elise, he was sure, because she stuck by his side. She’d always been a daddy’s girl.

“You might not love me when I’m done talking,” her father said. “But I’ve got big news to share. It’s going to put a crazy amount of work on us, but it will pay off in the end.”

“You made a decision without us?” Elise asked.

“I still own more of the company than you two, remember that,” his father said.

When his father had his heart attack, he gave up fifty percent of the company, giving Elise and Royce each twenty-five percent, his father retaining half. His father had enough to decide on his own knowing that they’d never both go against him.

More so if it expanded the business. 

“What’s the news, Dad?” Royce asked

“I received a call from Grant and Garrett Fierce this morning regarding a business proposition they’d like us to go in with.”

“Not a job?” Elise asked.

They had worked with Fierce for years. They’d thought of hiring their own engineer here years ago but in the end decided it was better to contract with Fierce, knowing they were more knowledgeable and had many to choose from if one person was on vacation and questions had to be answered. It’d been a great relationship his father had for years and he and Elise decided if it wasn’t broke there was no reason to fix it.

“No. Grant and Garrett are looking to expand some themselves. They found a big commercial building they want to rehab and rent out for office space. Lots of options at this point. They already have Olson Law Firm on board as a partner and are looking to bring in two contractors.”

“Two?” he asked.

“One that does commercial construction that we don’t specialize in. And one for the office spaces and interior that we do.”

“This is a partnership for four different entities?” Elise asked.

“Yes. We will all put in the same percentage to purchase the building. Olson and Fierce will provide services needed free.”

“No way we are doing work for free,” Royce said. “It’s not the same thing as drawing up legal documents or blueprints.”

“No,” his father said. “But we will do the work at a discounted rate. After all, we will own a quarter of the building. It’s a rental property. Those are things that will be worked out more.”

“Who is going to manage all of this?” Elise asked. “Collect the revenue, pay the bills. All the things I do here. Someone has to do it for this property and assure there is enough money to cover everything. Staff to work on the building. The list goes on and on.”

“That is what Olson’s and Fierce’s will manage. There is a lot to figure out. This is a good business opportunity for us. Something I’ve wanted to branch out and do for years. It’s less risk when there are four of us. If you two don’t agree to it, then I’ll put the money in by myself.”

Royce wouldn’t leave his father hanging like that. Not when he thought it was a good idea. “I’m for it,” he said. “Which puts us at the majority even if Elise doesn’t want to. It’s no more work for her, as you just explained.”

“If that is the case,” Elise said. “Sure, I’m in.”

He snorted at his sister’s smile. “It’s going to be work for us,” his father said. “We have to manage our other work and this project. Elise will have to figure out the costs and they will be billed at a lower rate. We need to walk the property and figure out the estimates. The all-in project will be split four ways but not all cash if we are doing the work. The work for each office above standard costs will be passed onto the tenant in their lease. Does that make sense?”

“Yep,” Elise said. “That is on my end. They need the cash for the building, but the rest is going to come from our services. Got it.”

“When do we see the building?” Royce asked.

“I went and looked at it today with Grant, Garrett and Robert Olson. They haven’t firmed up who the other contractor is going to be. They are talking to two of them and will show them the building this week. Both are people we know, Royce. Either will be a good choice.”

He’d take his father’s word for it. “Okay. So not much more to do for a bit by the sounds of it. It’s all going to take time to even get to the work part.”

“It will,” his father said. “But I think everyone will move fast if they can. The hardest work is going to fall on you. You’ll have to oversee the jobs and the guys and deal with the engineers and their changes.”

It was the story of his life that the work fell on him, but he wasn’t going to let it go to his father either. 

And he hated to always deal with the engineers but bit his tongue half the time. He got along with everyone at Fierce that he’d dealt with. Most times. 

It’d be his luck that Chloe Grey would be put on this project, and though he got along with her, he also got tongue-tied for someone that didn’t have that problem much in life.

He’d get through it just like he did everything in life.

By picking up a hammer and smashing his way through.

Chloe Grey loves her job at Fierce Engineering. She likes being single because she isn’t one for compromising. The last thing she expects is that her bosses would try to set her up but once she is onto them and with whom, she takes matters into her own hands and offers a proposition to the sexy contractor.

Royce Kennedy is determined to follow in his father’s footsteps and take over the family construction business. He didn’t think he’d have the same nasty luck with women that his father did though. Well, at least he has his career since that is the only thing he has time for. Which is why Chloe’s idea is so tempting…until he wants to change the rules.

Prologue

“Go get it,” Cooper Winslow said to his dog, Winston. The rescue mutt took off in the fenced-in yard to get the ball that was just tossed.

When Winston returned and dropped the wet mangled ball at his feet, Cooper picked it up and tossed it again, watching the dog race to the back to retrieve it.

He could stand out here all day playing fetch with his dog.

His best friend. 

If he could have more pets, he’d fill this house with anything he could save.

But at fifteen, he didn’t have much of a say other than the one dog that slept on his bed and kept him company. The only dog he’d ever been allowed to have.

“Good boy,” he said to Winston, squatting down and rubbing the dog behind the ears. When Winston flopped over, he did the same for the exposed belly.

At three now, Winston had joined the household over two years ago. Shortly after Cooper’s mother was gone from his life.

A horrible time back then for a teenager that was close to his mother. His father and he had grieved like a loving family did when someone was ripped from their lives so tragically. 

He wondered if he’d ever get closure from it all. A hurricane in south Florida where his mother had been staying overnight because of a delayed flight. Her job as a flight attendant always made him nervous, but she loved it. She got to travel all the time, though it’s not like she went sightseeing in most of those places. Just rode the plane there and back a few times a week.

The last time she didn’t come back. 

The hurricane hit. The hotel she and the crew were staying in destroyed, her body never found with plenty of others. 

Life had to move on though. It’s just he didn’t want it to. 

His father struggled the same as him but adjusted better in the past year. 

Cooper picked the ball up and tossed it again, Winston taking off running. His grief and what he went through were the only reasons he’d been able to get this dog. He knew that. He’d been asking for a pet for years and was always told no.

Or more like he’d been told he could get a cat. A bird. A fish. Frog. Anything that was easier than having to let a dog out all the time or handling one that barked. 

He’d never been one to shy away from something hard and was determined to go after a dog and give it a loving home.

He had all this love to give and was just waiting for the right time to hand it out. It seemed his father didn’t have to wait as long.

No, he was going to let it go. It wasn’t his life. They’d all been through enough.

Winston came running back with the ball in his mouth, dropped it at his feet, then took off for the edge of the yard, put his big paws on the fence and started to bark. Winston didn’t bark much, so Cooper looked and saw a stranger across the street watching him playing with his dog.

He couldn’t see the woman’s face, but she was definitely watching them.

“Quiet, Winston,” he said, tugging on his dog’s collar to get him to stop. “Sit and be good.”

Winston didn’t sit and he wasn’t being good. The woman started to walk closer. His jaw dropped, his eyes might have popped out of his head and he knew they were filled with tears.

“Mom?” he asked. It couldn’t be. It had to be a ghost.

But it wasn’t. His mother was standing in front of him with a baseball hat on her head, one eye seemed to be more closed than he remembered with a faint scar on the side of her face.

“Hi, Cooper.”

“How can it be?” he asked, wishing the gate was right where he was standing and he could hug her. His hand reached out and touched hers.

“It’s a long story,” she said.

“Cooper. Who are you talking to?”

He turned to see his stepmother, Hannah, standing in the doorway of the back porch and all he could think was, “Oh shit.”

Cooper Winslow experienced a devastating childhood event that changed his life forever. He tried to move on the best he could but when he met who he thought would be the love of his life and she didn’t see him much more than a friend, he found it wasn’t as easy as he thought. Years later, he’s conceded he’ll never see her again and yet fate brings them back together. This time he’s going to make sure she knows how he really feels.

Morgan Finley focused more on her career than her personal life. Some of it had to do with trying to keep up with her siblings, the other was she just knew what she wanted out of life. As time goes on, she realizes that career wasn’t what she thought it was and picks up her life to start over when an old college friend offers her a job. Being around him so much now, she sees something that she couldn’t believe she missed before. Now she has to figure out how to hold onto it when doubts creep into her mind.

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

Chapter One

Good For Business 

Twenty-Five Years Later

“Can I help you?”

Trace Mancini looked at the woman waiting on him in the flower shop and he asked himself for the tenth time what he was doing here and how he got talked into this.

“I’m looking for some plants,” he said. Sure, he liked plants and all, but he’d only be in Mystic for less than a month at this point. The half a week he’d been here so far, he’d spent unpacking, getting food and figuring out the area.

“What kind of plants?” the woman asked. She had dark hair and eyes. Her skin was the same shade as his, as if she tanned easily and, though it was December, the tan hadn’t left her completely.

“Good question,” he said. He had to think of something fast. He’d always been good on his feet. “Something easy. I’m here for about a month on vacation. I like having some nature around me. Maybe something I can leave in the house for the people I’m renting from.”

“A month, you say,” she said. “Wow. I don’t know what I’d do for a month-long vacation, but good for you.”

No reason to tell her it was a working vacation. He planned on exploring the area and basing his next book here. He’d been lucky enough to find a house a block from the water but with a nice view from a second-story window that he was using as his office.

Being two blocks from Main Street helped too and he found he liked walking around this small quaint town. Sitting too long wasn’t good for his back and being able to move outside in the fresh air was always more preferable for him.

“What about these succulents over here?” he asked. They were beautifully potted gardens. Different shapes and colors. He knew they’d be easy to care for. He’d probably only have to water it once or twice while he was in town.

“That’s a good choice,” she said. “We grow most things locally.”

“Really?” he asked. “Here in the building? You do it?”

“No,” she said, smiling. “I manage the flower shop and put bouquets and orders together. The growing is all done at the greenhouses off site by Jasmine. All the succulents you see here have been propagated from plants Blossoms has owned for years and years.”

“That’s interesting,” he said. “Gives it some history.” He looked around at the different plants on the shelves. There was a ton to choose from. He wouldn’t mind more than one but told himself he could come back again. It’d give him the excuse to get back here. 

“You could say that,” she said. 

“Jasmine, you say?” he said. “Ironic that the person has a flower name.”

She laughed. “Since you’re a vacationer you wouldn’t know that most of us do here.”

He was aware of the names of the owners. Lily, Poppy and Rose. He knew they were all married now and that they’d been orphaned. He also knew Lily married the previous owner of the shop, Carl Blossoms, when she was eighteen. No way he was letting on he knew those things though.

“What’s your name?” he asked. “No, let me guess. Rose?”

“No,” she said. “We do have a Rose here. One of the owners. Along with Lily and Poppy. The Bloom sisters own Blossoms. The store next door too. If you’ve got a special lady at home you might consider going over there to get some lotion or accessories.”

“You’re a good salesperson,” he said. “But no one at home. Sorry.”

“They carry a men’s line too.”

Which of course he knew. “I might have to check that out another day,” he said, picking up the succulent garden he liked the best. He’d walked here so he didn’t want to go too big since he had to carry it back to his place.

“Follow me to the desk and I’ll check you out,” she said.

“You didn’t tell me your name?” he asked.

“I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours,” she said.

There was mischief in her eyes. He couldn’t remember the last time he saw that from a woman and wanted to engage more.

It seemed to him most of the women he spent time with were on the serious end. All but Kate, but that was different.

“Trace,” he said. 

“Violet,” she said back.

“Goes with the shirt you’re wearing,” he said of the purple T-shirt she had on. It had the name Blossoms in the corner. “Do you all have shirts that match the color of your flower name?”

“That would be funny. I might have to bring that up to the owners,” Violet said. “But no. We just have a handful of shirts in different colors. You know, like the flower shop.”

“Got to keep things bright and cheerful,” he said. “Good for business.”

Though the flower shop didn’t seem to be that busy, the phone had been ringing a lot and there was another woman bringing items out through a door in the back he could see. Maybe deliveries. 

The tourist season was done, being a few days into December, but the weather was holding for the moment.

He should have come earlier, but he’d been under deadlines with his other book and this one was going to be the start of a new series. He’d had to pitch it to his agent; then he got the contract faster than he expected.

A month here would be more than enough to get what he needed for the setting. And it was close enough to his home on Staten Island not that far from where he grew up that he could come back again in the future.

He handed over his credit card when Violet was done ringing up his plant.

“You can put it right in the machine,” she said, moving it from behind a plant where he hadn’t seen it. She glanced down at his card. “Trace Mancini. Nice Italian name.”

“Violet is hardly Italian,” he said, not surprised she figured out his nationality. “Now you know my last name. Don’t you think it’s fair to share?”

“Sure,” she said, grinning at him. “It’s Soren. Violet Soren.”

Definitely not Italian even though her coloring indicated otherwise. His old fashioned grandmother might not approve of the name but would have liked her on sight.

All he heard repeatedly when he saw his nonna was that he needed to get himself some nice Italian girl to settle down with.

He finished with the transaction, took his receipt and left a few minutes later to walk the few blocks to his rented house.

When he got in the front door, he brought the plant to his office and set it by the window to give it a lot of light.

He was barely at his computer when his phone buzzed and he looked down to see Kate texting him.

It was like she knew he might have made contact. Not that he felt there was much made.

He read the message asking if he had anything to report, and rather than text her back or ignore her for now, he called so that he could get it over with and get to work.

“You’re calling me fast,” Kate said. “That means something. Normally I wait hours to hear from you.”

His best friend since childhood was always busting on his ass. “Some of us work,” he said.

“You play,” Kate said. “You type and research and kill people on paper.”

“No paper around here,” he said.

“You know what I mean,” Kate said. “Well? You’ve been there a few days. Anything?”

“It’s a good thing I love you because no one else would put up with your nagging.”

Kate laughed. “That’s right. Remember that.”

“I just left the flower shop. Bought myself a nice succulent garden. Do I get to bill you for these for expenses?”

“Stop,” Kate said. “You know you love having plants around. But if it makes you feel better, then sure.”

He’d never do that. He didn’t need the money and Kate knew that. 

He didn’t always have as much as he did now, but he was never poor. He was a hard worker like his parents and was proud to say he earned every penny of what he had.

“I’ll send you a picture of it when we are done talking.”

“Enough about the plant,” Kate said, letting out a sigh. “What did you find out at Blossoms?”

“Nothing much,” he said. “I got sick of walking up and down Main Street and trying to figure out a way to go in and see if I could talk to someone.”

“So you used the plant excuse. Did you talk to one of the owners?”

“No,” he said. “An employee. It was better. She was about my age, maybe a little younger. Flirty and funny. We exchanged names.”

“There you go,” Kate said. “Get an inside source.”

“If you say so,” he said. “I wasn’t thinking of it that way.”

“Do you find her pretty?” Kate asked.

“Never mind,” he said.

“Come on,” Kate said. “Maybe you can have a vacation fling while you’re there. I appreciate you doing this for me. It was a big ask, but I didn’t know who else to go to.”

“You could have hired a PI,” he said.

“Why? You did recon or something in the Army. You know how to get facts and research. You needed the break anyway and you know it. Besides, you used to be a PI. It’s kind of what I did.”

Kate wasn’t saying anything that wasn’t true. “Then I guess it worked out for both of us,” he said. 

“You made contact. Got a name. Anything else?”

“No,” he said. “I told you everything I found on the sisters and their life. Everything I could find online. Remember, they are very wealthy right now. All married. The youngest got married two months ago to an attorney. The oldest is married with a kid and Lily’s husband is an ex-Ranger. I know men like him. I’ve worked with them. I have to tread carefully. Then there is Poppy’s husband. He’s part of the McGill family.”

Everyone knew the McGills in New York and Connecticut. It was too big of a name to not in the Northeast.

“I know,” Kate said. “I just want to know what happened. I wish I never found out what I did.”

“You did find out and you can’t let it go until you get answers. I understand. But it’s not going to happen overnight. It’s been close to sixteen years.”

“It doesn’t change anything,” Kate said. “We were Lily’s age back then. All of us teens.”

He didn’t need the reminder.

“And she’s a stranger to us,” he said.

He knew his best friend wanted answers and he hoped to help her, but he wasn’t sure if it was the best thing either.

“Thank you again, Trace. I know this is a big favor.”

“I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t think I could help,” he said. “But I can’t make any promises. You might have to hire someone anyway to get the answers you want.”

“But then my family might find out. I can’t hurt them this way if it’s true. More like I can’t deal with any more fights with my mother. There has to be a limit on my communication with her now.”

He knew that too. It was easy for him to do this and no one would think of it. 

“If you find out anything from your next visit with your grandmother, then let me know,” he said.

“It won’t be for a week or so. I’m leaving tomorrow for Paris. That is why I was reaching out today. I’ll be gone about six days.”

“Globetrotting again,” he said.

“Some of us have more exciting lives than others,” Kate said. 

They talked a few more minutes and hung up.

Kate was right. His life was boring. He mumbled to himself all the time when he was home because he was always alone and sometimes just liked to hear his own voice.

That ten minutes with Violet might have been the highlight of his past few months and he realized he wanted to see her again and it had nothing to do with this wild goose chase his best friend put him up to.

Prologue

“Vinnie,” a man’s voice said late one night. Violet was sitting at the top of the staircase at the back of her house. She should be in bed sleeping, but sometimes she couldn’t get her body to relax and had gone in search of her mother to lie with her. When she couldn’t find her, she started to walk down the back staircase and heard the men’s voices and stopped.

“Steve,” her father said. “I’m not sure why you are here.”

“Vinnie,” the man named Steve said again. “We go way back. I’ve done business with you and your father for twenty years.”

Her father let out a not so funny laugh. She’d heard it a few times in her life. It was a sound that meant he didn’t find it funny. Even at five years old she could figure it out.

“What business you had with my father isn’t the same business that I’m trying to run,” her father said.

“I just need another thirty days,” Steve said.

“I already gave you thirty. I told you before,” her father said.

“I know,” Steve said. The man’s voice was getting higher. “Bruno paid me a visit this morning. Twenty days. Fifteen? Half the time. I can get the money by then.”

“It’s a lot of money,” her father said. “I know my father floated you all the time.”

“And I came through when I needed to. I can win it back. A line of credit in the casino,” Steve said. “That’s all I need to win it back.”

“Or go into more debt,” her father said. “Men like you are good for business but not if you can’t cover your debts. You owe me outside the casino. I told you I was done with this once you were paid up.”

She wasn’t sure what her father was talking about. She knew he owned a casino in Las Vegas where they lived. Not that she’d ever been there or would be allowed to. But it wasn’t a secret the business her father owned.

“I know, I know,” Steve said. “I can get it all for you. I’m feeling lucky.”

“I’ve heard that before,” her father said. “Your ten percent just jumped to fifteen for those extra fifteen days.”

“That’s steep,” Steve said.

“So is my time with you right now,” her father said.

“I get it,” Steve said. “I’ll take it. How about the line of credit? It’d help me out.”

“Five grand,” her father said. “It has the fifteen percent interest on it too. I expect payment in full in fifteen days.”

Her father’s voice had gotten deeper than normal. Firm too. She’d heard that when she wasn’t supposed to.

“I know. Bruno will come to collect on that day.”

“Not a day later.”

“Maria Violet Sorrentino. What are you doing on the stairs?”

She turned her head and saw her mother moving toward her quickly down the hall. Guess she’d gotten caught. The full name was proof she might get in trouble. “I was looking for you, Ma.”

“You’re not going to find me sitting at the top of the stairs in the dark. You know better than to come to this end of the house at night,” her mother said.

She’d always been told it was off limits and she didn’t know why. The stairs led to her father’s office in the back and then toward the kitchen. 

“But I couldn’t find you,” she argued.

Her mother grabbed her hand.

“Fifteen days,” Steve said. “Heard loud and clear. You’ll get your money.”

Her mother yanked her up and moved her back down the hall to her room. “Why were you looking for me?”

“I couldn’t sleep,” she said.

“And you thought listening to your father was going to help?”

“Well, no. I just wanted you. I thought you might be in the kitchen.”

“I was taking a bath,” her mother said.

“I didn’t look in the bathroom,” she said. She wasn’t sure why. Maybe because it was earlier than she was used to her mother going to bed. She’d gone down the stairs in the front of the house. She walked around to the living room and the room her mother did some crafts in. She couldn’t find her. Not even when she walked by the kitchen.

She’d passed her parents’ bedroom on the way down and had looked in. When she got back to her room she heard a door shut and thought her mother had left and just come back and was going to that end of the house to find out.

Her father’s voice stopped her though. She knew she shouldn’t be there, but she sat down waiting to see if she heard her mother’s voice too.

“Let’s get you back in bed and I’ll read you a story,” her mother said. “Is that why you were looking for me?”

“You can read me a story,” she said. “But I just wanted you to lie down with me.”

“I can do that too,” her mother said. She was tucked in, her mother lying down next to her on the bed, running her hand over her hair. “What’s on your mind, sweetie? Why can’t you sleep?”

“I’m nervous about school starting next week,” she said. “I won’t know anyone.”

Her mother sighed. “That is what you will do though. Learn to meet people and make new friends.”

“Why don’t I have any friends now?” she asked. “No one I can call and play with?”

“It’s complicated,” her mother said. “You have friends though.”

“Cousins,” she said. “And kids that come with your friends. But never any of my own.”

She couldn’t figure that out. She went to a Pre-k and met lots of kids, but they were never allowed to come over. Or some of the kids’ parents didn’t want her playing together with their children either.

No one ever told her why.

“You’ll get some now. You’ll like this school. I know you will.”

She’d been told she was going to a private school. A driver would bring her back and forth daily. She hoped it was fun, as she wanted to meet more people.

“Why do I have to start going by Violet and not Maria though?” she asked. 

“I thought you liked the name Violet more,” her mother said.

“I do.”

“Isn’t that a good enough reason?” her mother asked.

“I guess. But you said my last name is going to be spelled differently too. Why?”

“It’s shorter,” her mother said. “For now it’s just better if people don’t know who your father is. Someday it will all make sense. I promise. Maybe in the future it will be different. That is what we are aiming for.”

She didn’t understand any of this, but as long as they didn’t send her away for good, she’d just have to accept it. At five she understood that she didn’t have a lot of choices in her life, but she just didn’t know why.

Violet Soren’s parents made the ultimate sacrifice to protect their only child. When she was younger, Violet had no choice in those decisions. Now as an adult, she’s spent so much of her time as someone else, she doesn’t know who she is anymore and wonders if that is what is holding her back from finding love. Until a vacationer comes into town and she realizes it’s time to figure it all out and put herself first.

Trace Mancini is finally doing what he wants in life. Not for anyone else and only for what he’s dreamed of. He isn’t in Mystic for the reason he’s given though. Not the full reason. But the closer he gets to Violet, he realizes that to earn her trust he may have to betray his best friend in the process.