Prologue

Whitney heard the beeping of a horn and got up to look outside her office window. There was Kevin sitting in a black Mercedes convertible. 

She let out a sigh and went outside to see what her husband wanted this time. As if she couldn’t figure it out.

“You’re out here making enough noise,” she said when she moved to the driver’s door. “Testing out another new car?”

“We got this on the lot a few hours ago. What do you think?”

“I think it’s something that isn’t practical,” she said.

“It’s perfect for you,” Kevin said, grinning at her. At one point she’d fallen for that grin. When she was young and impressionable. Stupid even, but she’d never admitted that to anyone in her family.

“It has two doors and hardly a backseat. Where would we put a car seat?”

Kevin rolled his eyes. “You’ve got an SUV for that when the time comes. This is for fun. You need fun in your life. You’re too damn uptight.”

She’d been hearing this for years now. “And you’re irresponsible. Life isn’t all about fun.”

“Please,” he said. “You used to be a lot of fun. Now you’re a downer all the time. Take a test drive with me. You’ll love it.”

She wanted to grind her teeth over one more insult he threw her way. It never ended. She couldn’t be good enough for him. At least not in the past several years.

“I’m working,” she said. “Don’t you need to get to work?”

“Your family owns the business. You can come and go when you want and you know it. Not sure why you always feel like you owe them so much.”

He didn’t get it and never would. Butler Construction was her family business and part of her legacy. One she planned on handing down to her kids someday. 

If she ever had a child.

“Because they’ve done a lot for us.”

He snorted. “Yeah, right.”

It’d never been enough for her husband that was six years older than her and wanted the world on a platter without prepping in the kitchen. He sold cars for a living. Yes, he was good at his job. He made a lot of money. But he spent his time schmoozing with the guys and flirting with the women. She knew it. She’d seen it.

She had the money between them. Or her family did. And Kevin always expected that her parents would hand it over whenever she asked, even though she wouldn’t and didn’t.

“I’m not going to get into it with you right now,” she said quietly. “The boys are on their way for a meeting and I don’t want another scene.”

Her brother Ryan had never liked her husband and thought she’d gotten married too soon. Too young.

Yep, a month before her nineteenth birthday while she was in college was too young for her twenty-five-year-old husband. Everyone said it, but she was in love and saw the future family she’d been dying to have.

It still hadn’t happened almost ten years later.

“You always side with them,” Kevin said. “What’s your deal today? You were all pissy when you got up this morning too.”

“Nothing,” she said. Of course he wouldn’t remember she had to have more tests done today to find out why she couldn’t conceive a child. He hadn’t been to the doctors with her in years and didn’t ask questions when she tried to talk to him about it. It was obvious to her she was the only one interested in starting a family.

“What, are you on the rag again?” he asked, laughing.

He never used to be this crude either. “No. I had a doctor’s appointment this morning. They still can’t find anything wrong and don’t know why I can’t get pregnant.”

“Because you’re so damn uptight. We know it’s not me. You got pregnant once. It’s you. Relax. Come for a ride with me. Maybe we can conceive junior in this.” He was smirking and she wanted to just wipe it off his face.

Yeah, she got pregnant before they were married. She’d taken a home pregnancy test and told Kevin. He was shocked and not all that happy but said they should get married. They hadn’t been dating long, but she loved him and knew everything she wanted was coming true.

A week later, she’d gotten her period before she could get into the doctor’s office to have it verified. The doctor said it was normal for that to happen, she was young and wouldn’t have a problem conceiving in the future.

How wrong they’d all been.

Kevin had been so sweet during that time and they continued to plan their wedding, her knowing she’d get that family in time.

Since she was in college, it was decided they’d wait until she finished to try again. It just wasn’t meant, she’d told herself.

“I’ve got to work. So do you,” she said again.

“Fine. I want steak for dinner tonight. Stop and get some on your way home.”

He put it in drive and sped away. Heaven forbid he’d ask what she wanted. Or offer to cook let alone stop at the store to get anything.

She turned her head and saw Ryan pull in with her cousins Evan and Christian for a meeting. 

“What did that dick want? Doesn’t he have a job?” her brother asked.

“Nice way to talk about your sister’s husband,” Evan said to Ryan.

Ryan scowled at Evan, then turned to her. “Let me guess. He wants you to buy him that new toy?”

She forced a grin. “He said it’d be perfect for me.” She wasn’t going to relay the whole conversation. She never wanted to give Ryan more ammunition to hate her husband.

“Really?” Ryan said, looking over to the end of the parking lot. “Talking you into that new SUV that he said he could get a good deal on three months ago wasn’t enough?”

“I don’t need a money manager,” Whitney said. “It’s a nice vehicle and will last me years.”

“Until Kevin brings home something else,” Evan said, grinning.

Her cousin Christian shoved his brother, Evan. “Don’t get involved. It’s Whitney’s life.”

“Thanks, Christian. It is my life and my money, and no, I’m happy with that and I’m not a pushover when my husband wants me to be.”

She’d put her foot down years ago when the credit card bills started to pile up. The last thing she wanted to do was go to her parents and ask for money so she’d consolidated and paid them off. She cut the plastic up and told Kevin to get his cards in his name. She wasn’t doing this again.

Of course that was another fight that lasted a solid month, but at least he was paying his own bills off…or so she hoped.

“Let’s get the meeting going,” Ryan said. “Are you okay? You don’t look good.”

Under her younger brother’s rough exterior was a caring heart. “I’m fine,” she said, fighting back the tears. “Just a long couple of days.”

Ryan rubbed his hand on her arm. “Why don’t you go lie down. You had a doctor’s appointment today, right?”

Even her brother knew and asked and she hadn’t told him. Her mother knew, so she suspected he got the information that way. “Yeah. I’m fine.”

But at the end of the meeting, she had a splitting headache and decided to leave. She ran to the store and got the steak that Kevin wanted for dinner because she wasn’t in the mood for another argument today. He was going to start one about the car, she knew.

She went into the house that her family had built three years ago for them in Paradise Place. She’d never told Kevin it wasn’t in her name, but her father’s. She couldn’t get the loan because Kevin’s credit was so bad, but she was still making the payments.

When she went into their walk-in closet to change, she noticed one of Kevin’s shirts on the floor and picked it up to hang. He was such a slob at times. But once the light gray button-down shirt was in her hands, she smelled something floral and brought it to her nose.

Perfume? No. She didn’t wear any. And though Kevin wore cologne, this wasn’t the scent either.

She started to go through his side of the closet and found another shirt balled up in the back, and pulled it out. It smelled the same, but this time there was a red stain on the collar. Lipstick. 

She didn’t wear lipstick.

After taking a deep breath, she started to snoop everywhere on his side of the closet, then went to his home office. She didn’t go in there often; there was no need to. There was now.

She went through his desk, found his stack of bills to pay. The ones in his name. The envelope for a credit card bill had been opened, so she pulled it out and tried not to cringe at the balance. 

When she saw the three charges for hotel rooms locally she didn’t burst into tears—she got angry. Ryan wasn’t the only one with a temper and Kevin better damn well be prepared to be served more than steak when he got home.

Will broken hearts and promises hold these two lovers back from finding their second chance?

Whitney Butler had dreams of a family of her own. Maybe she shouldn’t have voiced them to her high school sweetheart so early, scaring him away. But she found who she thought would be her forever love soon after him. Only it wasn’t. Not even close. Left alone with a broken heart once again, she decides it’s best to focus on being happy rather than planning it all out.

Trey Bridges was in love as much as any seventeen-year-old could be. But when Whitney started to talk about weddings and babies, he bailed and moved on. Years later, he is a single father trying to make life work when he gets called to an alarm at his high school sweetheart’s home. Flames rekindle, but old memories and insecurities are hard to forget. He realizes he threw the best thing in his life away and hopes to hell he doesn’t do it again.

Check out the Prologue

Chapter One

The Incident

Six Years Later

Eli felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and pulled it out to see a text from the front desk. He didn’t like his name paged through the building. That was tacky in his eyes. His casino might be on a small island, but you were getting luxury once inside. And luxury to him meant discreet.

He called the front desk. “Yes, Kaitlin.” He knew his staff well. He had hundreds and didn’t care. He tried to learn everything he could about them and make them feel like a family. It was how he was raised and how his father and others in his family ran their businesses too.

“There is a woman at the front desk asking for you. She won’t give her name but says it’s important.”

“No name, huh?” he asked with a grin. It was not the first time someone had done that. “Is Griffin around?”

Griffin Zale was his head of security that normally could be seen by his side at night when he was in the casino. During the day, they weren’t together nonstop like most thought they were. 

“I haven’t seen him yet this morning,” Kaitlin said. “Should I try to contact him first?”

“No,” he said. “That’s fine. I’ll be over in a few minutes.”

The last thing he needed was shit from his best friend that he couldn’t handle a woman. 

He was in his office going through correspondence that built up way too fast. He had a lot of great employees he could delegate to, but nothing was done without his knowledge either. That meant spending mornings behind a desk when he’d rather be on the floor mingling.

Once he finished up with the email he’d been writing, he got up and walked out of his office in the back of the casino on the first floor. “Nancy, I’m going up front. You know how to find me if you need me.”

“Will do,” Nancy said. 

She’d been with him for the five years that Bond Casino had been up and running. She’d worked for his father for years and was steady, stable, and reliable. She could crack the whip on anyone that tried to bug him too much and she kept him in line too. Probably came from knowing him since he was a toddler when she first started as his father’s assistant.

He turned the corner to the lobby and saw the back of a woman with long blonde hair, soft and flowing over a petite frame, standing at the front desk off to the side just looking around.

“Eli,” Kaitlin said to him. “Thanks for coming up.”

The blonde turned, the punch to the gut followed, and he knew right away who he was looking at. How could he forget? “Bella. Is that really you?”

“Hi, Eli,” she said. “Sorry about not giving my name. Um, is there somewhere private we can talk?”

“Sure,” he said. “Thanks, Kaitlin.” The first thing he noticed was her French accent was missing.

“Did you want me to reach out to Griffin?” Kaitlin asked.

“No. I’ll see him shortly.”

“Griffin?” Bella asked. “The guy from my uncle’s casino?”

He laughed. He’d never forget the night he met his best friend and head of his security. “One and the same,” he said. 

“I hadn’t realized you were friends. You said you didn’t know each other back then.”

“We didn’t back then.” He wasn’t going to get into a conversation about his history with Griffin. He’d stayed at Bella’s uncle’s casino for a total of two weeks. He’d wanted to hightail it out of there, but to prove who he was and what he was doing, he decided to stay that extra week after the incident.

They were moving back through the lobby. He swiped a card to enter the door to the back, then two more to get to his offices. 

“It’s pretty secure here,” she said.

“Very,” he agreed. “I learned that the hard way. Or I should say through experience.”

She laughed. A nervous sound. Just like that night he was dragged into the security pen. “Sorry about that. I explained it all to my uncle.”

“I know you did. It helped. We worked it out.” Not as fast as he would have liked, but hey, he learned a ton from Oliver Dubois.”

“I know you’re busy and I appreciate you taking the time to see me.”

“Never a problem,” he said. After six years she no longer looked like the fresh-out-of-college girl but more like a woman. He might have been attracted to her but wasn’t about to make a move back then. Not after just talking to her got security on him. 

Besides, he’d only been there a week afterward and she was by no means the vacation fling type. He knew. He’d come across enough during his travels.

He passed by Nancy, grinned at her raised eyebrow and then shut the door to his office and gestured with his hand for Bella to have a seat. “Thanks,” she said. “I’m sure you’re curious why I’m here.”

“I am. Of course you could be on vacation and wanted to say hi, but that wouldn’t explain your reason for not giving your name to the front desk.”

“No,” she said. “I’m staying in a hotel in Boston. Or I did last night and took the ferry over this morning. I need your help. Or rather my uncle needs your help. No, it’s more about me.”

“Really?” he asked. “I find that hard to believe.” 

Oliver Dubois was easily one of the top billionaires in the world. He didn’t own just the one casino in Monte Carlo that Eli was in, but more in Monaco and all over Europe. It was Eli’s luck Oliver had been in town that week. If he weren’t and Eli hadn’t been able to talk to Oliver personally, he might still be sitting in the holding cells.

“This letter should explain things better,” she said, pulling it out of her purse. “I found it in my room a few days ago along with a plane ticket to Boston and hotel reservations made under my grandmother’s maiden name.”

Interesting. He reached his hand out to take the envelope. “Do you know what this says?” he asked, noticing it was sealed.

“No. I had another letter that stated he had to leave the country and needed me to do so also. He’s private and I never ask questions, but he’s never done this before. His head of security is gone too. I sought out his second in command who took me to the airport in the middle of the night for a private flight to get me out of Monte Carlo.”

Eli opened the envelope and silently read:

Eli, I need you to watch after my niece for some time. If anyone can it’s you and Griffin on your small island. People are looking for me and it’s not safe for Bella to stay here. She needs to be protected from her past while she is there and doesn’t need to be concerned with the trouble that I am currently going through. I will be forever in your debt if you could keep Bella safe. I’ll be in touch. Don’t try to reach out. It will draw attention to you or Bella. You will be compensated for all your troubles and expenses when I return if you would allow Bella to live the life she is used to in my absence.

He read the letter over twice. He’d had no idea that Oliver was aware Griffin was with him.

“You don’t know anything that is in this letter?” he asked.

“No. Can you tell me?”

The letter didn’t say he couldn’t, but he was going to be vague. “Just that your uncle needs some time away. He’d rather you are looked after somewhere remote where no one can connect you to him.”

“Oh,” she said. “I know he’s always been private, but I’m scared for him. He’s the only family I know. He didn’t say anything else?” she asked, her eyes filling with tears.

Man, he was going to be toast in a second seeing that. He was such a sucker for tears.

“He mentioned that you needed to be guarded against your past while you are here. He felt that Griffin and I could do that. Can you explain that much to me?”

He figured saying that much was better than mentioning the current issues since she seemed in the dark. “So he knew that Griffin was with you?”

“Obviously,” he asked. “What do I need to know about you? Why are you in danger? Or aren’t you? I’m going to assume you are to start before I can go any further.”

“I don’t think I’m in any danger,” she said. “Not from my past at least. However, my father and mother died when I was a teen and Uncle Oliver became my guardian. He’s always protected me due to my father’s career. He believed there might have been danger, but I don’t remember that ever being the case.”

“Let’s start with the facts then,” he said.

“Are you sure?” she asked. “I know you’re a busy man.”

He laughed. “I might be busy, but your uncle is asking a huge favor of me and he must know I wouldn’t turn you away. I can’t do what needs to be done if I don’t know what is going on. I get the impression you’d rather tell me first, but I can get Griffin.”

“No. You’re right. I’d rather tell you first.”

If you haven’t read the Prologue, you can catch up here

Chapter One

Strings Attached

Two years later

“Hey, Ruby,” Evan said when he walked into Butler Construction’s office. “Got the house sold across the street from me, I see.”

Ruby Turner was the realtor that Butlers used exclusively for new builds. Not everyone that was selling a house in the development went through her, but if anyone wanted to build, they did. It was easier for them to contract with her to do all the work, to set it up with his cousin Whitney when the time was ready to start building and ordering, and then Evan, his brother Christian, and cousin Ryan would get to work along with the over one hundred other employees they had.

Evan’s father, Michael, and his uncle, Matt, now ran the company that their father had started many, many years ago. But his father and uncle were in the offices buying land and making deals both residential and commercial.

“I did. Should be closing in two weeks. Want some information?”

“Nope,” Evan said. “Don’t care. I want neighbors that keep to themselves. I built at the end of the road hoping for that. I’ve been lucky with the neighbors on the one side and the few others on my street, but those directly across the street had been a pain in my butt from the day they moved in.”

He didn’t like it known who he was, but it was hard to hide it with his truck saying Butler Construction on it. Even then, he pulled it in the garage every night.

It drove him insane when the last people that lived across the street would knock on his door every time they heard a creak in the house.

“Since when are you the grouch of the family?” his cousin Whitney asked. “That was Ryan’s job.”

“Ryan isn’t a grouch much anymore and you know it,” he said of his youngest cousin, Whitney’s brother.  “He struck gold with Shannon and a ready-made family. I can’t believe he is getting married in a month.”

“Which means there is hope for you yet,” Whitney said. “If Ryan can land someone, then you can.”

Evan laughed. “I’ve got no desire to land anyone. As I told my parents and Kaelyn at Easter when Sarah was talking about the new guy she was dating, when someone is older and single, they are set in their ways.”

Ruby laughed when Whitney snorted.

Evan’s sister, Kaelyn, was married to Harris Walker, ex-pro baseball pitcher. Harris’s younger sister started dating a guy that relocated to the area a few months ago. Mid to late thirties and never been married. Yep. Set in his ways and wouldn’t change, and Evan made a point of saying that and for Sarah to keep her eyes open with Caden Finley.

When Evan’s mother laughed and said he’d be single forever, he pretty much agreed.

“That’s not true,” Ruby said. “Josh had never been married or in a serious relationship. I hadn’t been either until we met each other. Sometimes you have to wait for that perfect person.”

“You guys are still younger than me,” Evan said. “Doesn’t count. And Josh is a nice guy.”

“And we know Evan isn’t,” Whitney said.

Evan just wanted to mind his own business and do his job. Nice wasn’t a word many said about him.

Yep, he could put on a smile for a buyer and normally did, but then when he turned his back the smile dropped faster than a cookie in the jar after being caught red-handed as a kid sneaking one before dinner.

“I can be nice,” Evan said, smiling. “When I want to. I don’t always like to play nice. Or as my mother likes to say, someone had to be Oscar in the family.

He was often referred to as Oscar the Grouch when he woke up as a kid. It took him a few hours to get going and warmed up to talk to people and then by the end of the day he was back to being grouchy.

Why talk to people when they didn’t have much to say that he was interested in?

As an adult he knew it was caffeine that he needed. Get a couple of cups of coffee in him and he was good to go and willing to suck it up for the day.

“Kaelyn was always the happy one,” Whitney told Ruby. “Christian, the quiet calm one.”

“Again, someone has to be,” Evan said. “And how are you feeling?” he asked Ruby. He’d heard last week she was several months pregnant.

“See?” Ruby said. “That was nice of you to ask and I’m feeling great. We’ll find out the sex of the baby in a few weeks. Never thought I’d be a mother. Heck, I never thought I’d even get married.”

“Can you imagine Evan as a father?” Whitney asked, laughing. “If he had a daughter, he’d probably follow behind her until she was thirty before anyone of the opposite sex could get close.”

“Damn straight,” he said. “Just like I tried to do with Kaelyn.”

“Didn’t work, did it?” Ruby said. “Though your sister seems happy enough.”

“It’s a good thing or Harris would have to answer to me.”

Whitney rolled her eyes. “Not only is Kaelyn not fazed by you but Harris isn’t intimidated and you know it.”

It was true. His brother-in-law was bigger than anyone else in the family and treated his wife and daughter like gold. The daughter that was conceived before they were married!

“Well, she’s as independent as you,” Evan said. “And you too, Ruby.” He knew enough when to kiss ass.

“Now you’re sucking up,” Whitney said. “Was there something you wanted from me or can I go back to work with Ruby?”

“Since I’m in your office, there is,” he said. “Sorry to interrupt.”

“It’s fine,” Ruby said. “I always enjoy visiting and making money. Just going over two potential new builds for you guys.”

“That’s what we like,” Evan said. “When it’s set to go, let Christian know.”

His brother was one of the engineers for Butler Construction. They had three employed now because they were so busy, but Christian dealt with all the new builds, another engineer with renovation projects and repairs that might need to be done, and a third with commercial properties. In the past few years it’d gotten to be too much for Christian to do it all.

“We know the routine,” Whitney said. “Stop being so bossy all the time.”

“I’m not bossy,” he said. “I’m just right. I’m only doing my job.”

“Whatever,” Whitney said. “Get out of here and let me do my job after you tell me what it is you need.”

“I’m looking to find out when the shipment of cabinets is coming in for the house on Glendale.”

Whitney dealt with everything in the office from ordering supplies to dealing with vendors and clients once the paperwork had been signed on a new build.

Ryan oversaw a good portion of the construction crews on site for multiple projects but liked to get his hands dirty in the mix and work along with them. He was more a day-to-day manager.

Evan oversaw everything from a bigger picture. He scheduled the workload, he made sure everything was on track to get done, and when to shift crews around on other projects, along with what timelines to give when projects came in.

“Just give me a second. I know they were on backorder, but I thought they were due tomorrow.” He stood there while Whitney started to type into her computer and then pulled it up. “Yep. Tomorrow it is.” She clicked a few more buttons. “They are en route too. So at least we know they were shipped.”

“Better than still being in the warehouse. Okay, that’s one less headache I’ve got to deal with and can go tell Ryan to continue as planned.”

He walked out of Whitney’s office and headed back to his truck to get on with his day, not sure why he was in such a hurry. It’s not like he had anything planned after work tonight or any other night.

He talked about not changing his ways and didn’t plan on it, but damn, there were times when it sure was lonely.

Prologue

Parker looked around at the remaining ten castmates sitting in tribal council with her. It’d been a dream come true to be on Survivor and she made it to the merge.

In her mind, she was sitting pretty with her hidden immunity idol that took a risk getting when she was voted to spend the night alone on another island. She knew she rubbed people the wrong way. She’d been doing that her whole life and she was fine with it. Until she wasn’t.

“Be tough,” her mother used to drill into their heads. Her brothers, Marcus and Jeremy, were just as competitive as her, but they weren’t ones to rough it like she was. She’d do anything for a dare if she could come out on top.

Succeeding and being the best was something she always wanted. Maybe it was that she was the third of the four kids. Marcus was the oldest. Jeremy next, so he was in the middle too. Then her and finally the baby, Erin.

Yeah, Erin was the only one not competitive in the family and it drove her mother insane. Her father, he was used to their mother running the show, so he often ended up spending more time with Erin and cheering her up.

“So we’ve made it to the merge,” Jeff Probst said. “Anyone feeling safe?”

Parker looked around. She was fine, she knew it. Call her cocky, she didn’t care, but there were a lot of players that wanted Keegan out. Heck, she was thrilled when his name came up, as he was the first one to rally everyone against her in their tribe.

If people thought she was competitive and bossy, they’d never met Keegan before. He named their tribe. He took the lead, he told everyone what to do and when. Because she was a woman and had an opinion a few times, he’d given her shit.

No one gave her shit.

But she was smart enough to stay calm and work any angle she could. She wasn’t a great salesperson for nothing. She knew how to play the game of life and was doing well for herself at it.

And she had her safety that no one knew of hidden away and she wasn’t telling a soul.

She’d been watching this show since she was a little kid and too many people made the mistake of blabbing. Not her.

“I think we all know what we are doing tonight,” Tyler said. He was eighteen and had an issue with his mouth running like the results of consumed gas station egg salad for lunch that had sat out for a week.

“So, is it safe to say that it might be fairly unanimous who is going home?” Jeff asked.

There were some head nods, but no one was talking that much. Then Sandra said, “I’m not sure it’s ever unanimous. Everyone feels nervous at some point.”

“That’s true,” Jeff said. “What about you, Parker? Feeling safe? Your tribe has the majority of members with the merge. You could easily start picking people off from the other side. How safe do you feel?”

She heard Keegan snort two over. “Just like Sandra said: no one really feels safe unless they’ve got immunity hanging around their neck like Jason. So yeah, he probably feels real safe unless he wants to hand it to me.”

There was some laughter in the group. She might be confident and cocky, but she had a good sense of humor. At least she thought she did.

No one wanted to be sitting here for weeks starving and stinking without being able to make some jokes about it. Going to the bathroom in the bushes…yep, she was a pro at it now. When her family got to see these episodes months from now when she would be back home, they were going to laugh their butts off. Along with her coworkers.

Her mother wouldn’t be laughing. Not unless Parker took the win home. But she’d long since given two flying monkeys what her mother thought of anything.

She hoped to be laughing to the bank with that million-dollar check though.

There was more talk going around and she was listening like she always did but just wanted to get this vote over with. It should be ten for Keegan, and one for whoever he voted for. Everyone told him Tyler was the guy they were targeting, so that should be the one vote.

Who knew with Keegan? He was a wild card on top of being a dick.

“Let’s go vote,” Jeff said. “Tyler, you’re up first.”

One by one they all moved over and picked up the large coal pencil and wrote down Keegan’s name. At least she was ninety-nine percent confident everyone was.

When the last person was sitting, Jeff walked over to tally the votes and then came back. “Does anyone have a hidden immunity idol they want to play?”

Nope, she was holding onto hers, thank you very much. She’d wanted to split the votes tonight, but everyone insisted Keegan didn’t have an idol. That if he did, he’d be bragging to those closest to him.

He was cocky enough to do that, so she was confident Keegan was finally going home.

But when Jeff was getting ready to start reading the votes, Keegan stood up and said, “I’m pretty sure this is going to save my ass tonight.”

Her jaw dropped as she looked around at everyone else who felt the same way. No way. He had to be bluffing. He handed over what looked to be some rock with scratches on it. Hers was like a mini totem pole.

“Yes, this is one of the five idols that were on the island.”

“Five?” Tyler said. “There were five there?”

The island the members were sent to was out of play with the merge now. It was only when they were separate tribes. No one had any idea there were five of them. Everyone thought there might be two tops. One on each side for each tribe to find. Since Keegan and she were in the same tribe, she’d figured she had the only one.

Holy shit, there could be three more out there counting hers. How was it no one figured out there were so many?

“There are five,” Jeff said, taking the one from Keegan. “Now there could be four in play. One more thing to think about. But all votes for Keegan will not count. Let’s start.”

One by one Jeff pulled out sheets of the worn rough weathered paper and opened them up. The first six had Keegan’s name on them. Enough to send him home. Darn it.

She was starting to sweat. She had a feeling her name was going to be on Keegan’s sheet. That he’d outplayed them all and it was going to be a dirty bitter pill for her to swallow on a dry throat if that was the case.

By the time they got to the eighth vote, Jeff read, “Parker, one. Keegan, seven. Three more to go.”

But the next three had Keegan’s name on them. Son of a bitch!

“Parker. The tribe has spoken.”

She stood up with her torch to have it snuffed out when Keegan said, “No, Keegan has spoken.”

She could be a bitch about it but wasn’t going to be. She could be the bigger person even if it was killing her inside. This was national TV and she wasn’t stupid enough to do anything that could come back and haunt her. “Well played, Keegan.”

“I expected you to throw a fit,” Keegan said.

She smiled and winked at him. “You don’t know me as well as you thought you did.”

Then she walked off the set, her smile dropping the minute her back was turned. She’d throw a fit, but she’d do it in the hotel room after she took an hour-long hot shower and got all the grime off of her. When she was clean enough, she’d go stuff her face with food. It might be the only thing she had to look forward to before she got on the plane to go home.

Evan Butler has often been described as arrogant, grouchy, and inflexible. He just liked to say he was always right. When the wrong package is delivered to his house for the second time, he prepares to put a smile on his face and play nice with the new neighbor to bring it to its rightful owner. What he didn’t expect was the beauty that was going to make him realize that sometimes in life you’re wrong and you need to learn to compromise.

Parker Reed has had family pressure and competition shoved in her face her entire life. She’s always felt she had a handle on it. But when her sister dies, she realizes that life shouldn’t all be about getting to the top of the ladder. Only how do you change what you’ve always known and done? And when the sexy neighbor across the street enters her life, she realizes that maybe long term plans and goals aren’t the only things she should be focusing on anymore.

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

Chapter One

More To Offer

Three years later

“So, birth control options,” Emily Rauch said to Dr. Ava Mills. They were distant cousins, but that was the case with most of the Bonds on the island of this generation when they crossed family lines.

“I don’t see where you’ve been on anything other than birth control pills in your file. That was a few years ago?”

“Nothing in a few years. I’m not really keen on the pill again. I wasn’t a fan of the way it made me feel.”

“There are plenty you can try if you want,” Ava said.

“There are other options I think I’d rather explore.”

“So things are going well with the guy from the fundraiser? Enough that you are looking for birth control options?” Ava asked, wiggling her eyebrows. Lucky dog, her cousin was. It’d been way too long since Ava had any activity with the opposite sex. Heck, it might have been a year since she’d even been on a date!

“It’s been a few months now. You’ve seen us out to dinner and even came over to get the introduction. I want to know how you got out of that fundraiser.”

The fundraiser that island matriarchs Helena and Janet Bond oversaw to bring money to Amore Island to help fund the clinics and emergency services that taxpayer money didn’t cover. The island founded by their ancestors many, many years ago.

The island that she only worked at one day a week in the clinic. For now.

Ava grinned. “I was on call that week.”

“That’s your story and you are sticking to it?”

Maybe she should have offered to go on stage at the charity fundraiser and be one of the women men could bid on for a date if Emily was getting lucky with the guy who’d “won” her. No, no, it just wasn’t for Ava.

“Exactly. So tell me about your new beau.”

“Don’t you have other patients?” Emily asked.

“You’re my last of the day. I’ve got plenty of time to catch the ferry so don’t use that as an excuse either.”

“It’s only three,” she said. “How can I be your last patient of the day?”

“I didn’t know I had to report my schedule to you. But I had two cancellations and because I’m off the island, they called and rearranged it so that I could get out after you.”

Ava liked how accommodating everyone was at the facility where she worked. There were branches in Boston, Plymouth—where she was currently located—Amore Island, and other outlying areas. Her long-term dream had been Amore Island…at some point when there was an opening. It was coming true sooner than she expected though and since her father and brothers were now practicing on the island, she couldn’t wait to join them.

“It doesn’t bother you coming back and forth this way to work?”

“It’s only once a week.” Ava looked around as if she was afraid someone might walk in the closed door and hear them. “Until June that is.”

“What?” she asked. “What is going on?”

Her smile filled her face faster than when she was hired as an obstetrician less than two years ago. “I’m transferring here full time.”

“That’s great! I thought you didn’t want to be on the island.”

“It wasn’t that. I just went where the job was. I like it off the island and coming here once a week, but everyone is here. My brothers are at the hospital, my parents live here now with my father somewhat retired but the surgeon on call. I guess I’m finding the island is pulling me more than I thought. Or at least earlier than I thought it would. One of the doctors here full time wants to leave. She’s got kids starting middle and high school and they play sports and, well, you know how it goes.”

“I do. There is only so much you can do on the island. There are sports, but activities are limited and the traveling back and forth. It’s not a life for everyone.”

“You didn’t live here growing up,” Ava said. “Neither did we. But I find that things are different on the island now than they were when we were kids. There is more to do and more to offer.”

Life in the slow lane was calling her name after years of schooling. Now it was work, work, work and she was fine with that. But going home to her rented condo wasn’t as relaxing as it might be if she had a nice little cottage by the ocean. The next step of her journey would be to reach out to her cousin Drew and see if he knew of anything on the market that was in her range.

“Or maybe we are older,” Emily said.

“No clue. But I’m sure you know it’s hard to get medical professionals on the island to stay for long. Many come here young to get a job and experience, then leave when there is an opening at another satellite office in Boston or Plymouth. Or they come here when they are ready to retire.”

“Like your father,” Emily said. “Can we continue this while I’m dressed? I get the feeling you enjoy doing this to rattle me.”

Ava smiled. “Nothing really rattles you though.” She always did have a warped sense of humor, or so many told her.

“Talk to me through the door,” Emily said.

“Nope. I don’t want anyone to hear me as it’s not public knowledge. I just filled the paperwork out last week.”

Emily jumped down from the table, making sure the gown was covering her bare butt, and ran to the bathroom to change quickly so they could finish their conversation. When she came out, she said, “So why are you telling me? Or you needed to talk to someone other than your parents and brothers?”

“Right on the first try. I know you won’t say much, right?” Her parents and brothers were going to be thrilled, but they’d also start to jump in and give advice and suggestions on when or where she should move. She wanted to do this all on her own.

“My lips are sealed. When will it be public knowledge?” Emily asked.

“A few weeks or less. It gives me time to find a place of my own and start letting my patients know.”

“Those on the island will be thrilled,” Emily said.

“They will. Many still don’t like giving birth here, but I’m really pushing hard to get more advanced equipment. It’s better than it used to be, but we will never be equipped for any major emergency.”

“Which is no different than any other small town in the state. I look at it this way. There are plenty air lifted out of smaller rural locations in this state besides the island.”

“Exactly,” Ava said. “Anyway, so that is my news. Oh, I’m sure you heard another one bit the dust over Valentine’s Day.” That was two now in their family engaged of her generation. The green monster was starting to grow a little knowing Emily was getting some action too.

“Drew and Amanda?” Emily asked. “I did hear that. Helena has been burning up the hotlines. Amanda seems like a great person. Drew looks happy.”

“Drew is always happy,” she said. “So…will you be next?”

“Don’t even go there.”

“Ah, but you want birth control.”

“Which means I’m having sex.”

“Lots of sex?” Ava asked. “Come on. I’m in a dry spell and we are off the clock. You’re dressed again.”

Emily laughed. “More than I’ve had before, but it doesn’t seem to be enough either.”

“The best kind there is. So give me the scoop on him.” She needed something at this point to squash the urge to go home alone and watch another Hallmark movie with a tub of ice cream.

“Not much to say. You know how we met.”

“But you knew him before the fundraiser?” Ava asked.

“I did,” Emily said. “He delivers my mail. Everyone knows and I’m sure it’s the big talk of the family outside of Drew’s engagement and Hunter’s soon-to-be son arriving.”

“Don’t forget about Mac dating someone now too.” Just dating didn’t bother her as much as her cousins settling down and her wondering when she might have a shot at it. Being in Plymouth, she thought she’d have a better chance at meeting men and found that wasn’t the case.

“Is he really?” Emily asked. “Is it Kayla’s other roommate? Sidney?”

“That’s what I heard. That he’s been seen at the bar while she is working.”

“And he must hate it if people are talking about it,” Emily said.

“I’m sure, but Mac has no problem putting people in their place. Kind of like you.”

“Speaking of that. And me. What have you heard about me and Crew?” Emily asked.

“Not much. Just that you seem happy too. You know the family. That’s all anyone really cares about.” Many outside the Bond family thought they were all stuck-up, but the truth was, not many were. They were all caring and truly wanted each other happy.

“No one is making a comment about his career?”

Crew Ackley was a mailman. “I’m sure there are plenty that love to gossip that might. It’s no different than people commenting on Kayla and Amanda trying to land a wealthy man. Anyone that knows you knows you wouldn’t put up with it. You had no problem dropping Simon.”

Simon was Emily’s ex-fiancé that rumor had it only wanted the family name and money and part of the hotel Emily and her sister, Penelope, were building.

“No. No problem there, nor would I put up with it. So, back to my question. Birth control options.”

Ava rolled her chair over and pulled some brochures off the wall, knowing that their conversation was coming to an end, but it was fun while it lasted. She missed this with other women and found there wasn’t much of it in Plymouth.

The other doctors at the practice were older than her. The office staff and nurses didn’t really want to mingle with the doctors. Or maybe she didn’t want to mingle with them. She’d always had a hard rule about keeping friendships out of the office. It was just easier that way.

“The usual pill, a shot in the arm every three months, an IUD. Lots of information to read.”

“How soon could I get the shot in the arm?” Emily asked, looking at the brochure quickly. “I’ve read a bit on it already.”

“Today if you want?” Ava said, laughing.

“Give it to me.”

“Your wish, my command,” she said, standing up. “I’ll be back in a few.”

She’d given Emily her Depo shot, updated her notes in her computer, then went to the temporary office she used here. It was more like a coat closet and the next person that filled in once a week would get it once she moved over to the bigger office next door.

“Have a safe trip home,” Anne, her nurse for the day, said to her when she was walking out the door.

“Thanks,” she said, knowing it wouldn’t be much longer and she’d be home right here on the island.

Prologue

Hope picked her phone up and saw the text from a coworker asking her to sign into work and help out for a power outage an hour away. She’d expected the call to come in since her boyfriend, Sean, who was a lineman for the utility company they both worked for, was just dispatched out.

When she moved here several months ago to be with Sean, he’d helped her get the job as a customer service rep. Because they didn’t work in the same building, let alone the same department, it wasn’t a conflict.

She grabbed her laptop and headset. Though she was done for the day, the OT would be nice. Sean paid for their apartment, but she tried to pay for the rest of the expenses so she didn’t feel too guilty. She didn’t care what her family said; she didn’t expect a man to take care of her. Not financially at least.

She started to swear when her computer decided to do an update when she opened it up and saw it’d be at least thirty minutes.

With her phone in her hand, she was ready to text her supervisor and explain when she caught sight of Sean’s computer on the kitchen counter. Maybe she could try his first.

She walked over and lifted the top and saw a screen for a password. Crap. She should have figured, even though she didn’t password protect hers. Knowing he was busy and wouldn’t get her text asking him what it was, she decided to try to guess it. He was a simple person. There was no way his password would be hard.

By the third try she’d gotten it with SexyMan1 and wanted to do a palm slap to her forehead. He was always walking around calling himself sexy or referring to himself as Sexy Man.

She might have done that move anyway when almost immediately messages started popping up in the lower right-hand corner of his screen. She wasn’t trying to be nosy, but it’s not like she could turn her head away from them once she’d seen the username LilyLove. What the hell?

After shaking her head, wondering if this was a dream—more like a nightmare—she realized it was a chat box for Tinder.

Work was forgotten, and since the message was up, she figured he was signed in and clicked his app and…jackpot. That piece of shit had been hooking up with women for years. And the entire time they’d been together!

Tears began rolling down her face and she wondered why he even asked her to move in with him if he was doing this. Why he said he loved her. Why he told her time and again he wanted a future with her.

Hope pulled her phone out and took snapshots of some of his chats to have as proof, not that she needed them to end things with him. Then went to the fridge and got a tub of ice cream and started to bawl her eyes out while she made a plan on how to get the hell out of here.

The Fierce women are at it again! Jolene, Carolyn, and Diane have gotten their children settled and it’s time to move on to their nieces, nephews, and friends of their kids. Secretly…of course.

Devin Andrews loves his job at Fierce-The Brewery and working for his cousin Mason. What he doesn’t love is that his Aunt Jolene has set her sights on making him the next target of her matchmaking scheme. But he’s onto her and has no plans on falling prey like her unsuspecting children did. Besides, he’s not sure he has what it takes to fall in love since he never has before, even being the oldest of the family.

Hope Hall picked up her life and moved to Charlotte for a man. She should have listened to her family when they cautioned her against it, reminding her that she was too spontaneous with everything in life…even men. After being blind, stupid, and naive once again, she doesn’t want to go home and listen to them say they were right. Instead she is trying to make a life for herself—one without a man in it—and prove she can do it on her own.