by Erin Kern
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2018 by Erin Kern
Excerpt from Winner Takes All Copyright © 2016 by Erin Kern
Cover image © Tim Robbins—Mint Images/GettyImages.
Cover design by Elizabeth Stokes.
Cover copyright © 2018 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
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Forever
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First Edition: March 2018
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ISBNs: 978-1-4555-3601-6 (mass market), 978-1-4555-3602-3 (ebook)
E3-20180214-NF-DA
Contents
Cover
Title
Copyright
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-One
Twenty-Two
About the Author
Also by Erin Kern
A Preview of Winner Takes All
Fall in Love with Forever Romance
Newsletters
One
Audrey Bennett had been on the road for almost seven hours. The two extra double-shots she’d hastily tossed back with a chocolate scone at daybreak had long since worn off, leaving her with the jittery aftereffects of a caffeine crash. As a rule, she usually avoided caffeine, simply because her nerves were almost always edging on this side of shot. Not that Audrey had issues with anxiety. Usually. But, thanks to both her parents being type A personalities with a bit of OCD thrown in, Audrey rarely understood the meaning of calm, cool, and collected.
So yeah. Coffee had been a bad choice.
Audrey glanced in the rearview mirror at her passenger, who’d been alternating between sleeping and talking to her stuffed cat Jellybean, which had long since turned from its original pink to a questionable brown. Audrey had meant to wash it, but Piper had yanked the cat from Audrey’s hand with a trembling lip that had cut straight to Audrey’s already broken heart. Because Piper had been through so much lately, the loss of her mother to cancer and being forced to move away from her home to live with an uncle she’d never met, Audrey had let the subject of washing the putrid stuffed animal rest.
A sign for the Blanco Valley city limits came into view, and Audrey practically cried tears of relief. Or maybe pain, because her legs had gone numb about an hour ago.
“Are we almost there?” Piper asked from the backseat.
Audrey glanced in the rearview mirror and offered a comforting smile. Piper had Jellybean wrapped in one small arm, and the other was playing with the hem of her shorts.
“Almost, sweetie.”
“I’m bored,” Piper announced.
Audrey ground her teeth together and reminded herself to be patient. The poor girl had been in the car as long as Audrey had: a miserable seven hours.
She made a left turn and followed the directions toward the high school football stadium. “Why don’t you watch your movie again?”
“I don’t want to,” Piper answered.
“Okay,” Audrey said, searching her brain for something for Piper to do. “What about one of the books you brought?”
“I already looked at all them,” Piper offered.
Well, shit.
“Audrey?” Piper asked.
Audrey’s heart cracked open again at the child’s soft tone. Piper had been through a whirlwind of emotions the past few weeks, alternating between crying and asking when her mommy was coming back. Audrey had cried with her and tried answering her question as best she could, but how could a six-year-old understand about death? Did she understand it was permanent? Did Piper know she’d never see her mother again? Never hear her voice, or hug her or hear Dianna tell her little girl everything was going to be okay?
Audrey gripped the steering wheel harder at the unfairness of the situation. Piper was a sweet, loving, outgoing girl who’d lost her only parent and would be forced to live the rest of her life wondering why. Why she didn’t have a family. Why she didn’t have a mom to tuck her in at night or teach her how to wear makeup. Piper deserved the very best. She deserved to feel safe and loved and whole.
“Is my uncle Cameron nice?” Piper asked when Audrey hadn’t responded to her.
Audrey swatted away the fresh tears that almost fell. “I don’t know, sweetie. I’ve never met him.”
“Why can’t I stay with you?”
Audrey sighed at the question Piper had asked a dozen times already. As much as she’d love, and give anything, to keep Piper with her, it just wasn’t possible.
She spared the child a glance in the rearview mirror. “Honey, we talked about this, remember? Your mom wanted you to stay with family.”
“But you’re my family,” Piper argued.
The statement pulled a smile from Audrey. “Not in the way your mom meant.”
The poor girl didn’t understand any of it. She didn’t understand why her mom had died, and she didn’t understand why she had to live with an uncle she’d never met. But Dianna had been explicit in her wishes. She’d awarded custody to her half brother, Cameron Shaw, and she wanted Audrey to deliver Piper. To help make the transition easier, she’d said. Audrey didn’t understand it either, but Dianna didn’t have any other family, and Piper’s dad had never been in the picture. Audrey’s job was simply to deliver Piper to her uncle and stay until Piper was comfortable with the man.
But what kind of man was he? Audrey’s brow furrowed as she came to a red light. From what she knew, Dianna and Cameron hadn’t had much of a relationship. Dianna had been tight-lipped about it, only saying Cameron’s father had left his mother and remarried, and Dianna had been born several years later. She said she’d met him a few times when she was little, but as she’d gotten older, Cameron had stopped coming around. Audrey suspected that maybe the mysterious Cameron Shaw had resented his much younger half sister, even though Dianna had never said as much. Audrey hoped that wasn’t true, because what kind of asshole would resent his little sister for a situation that wasn’t her fault?
In any event, if Dianna had entrusted the life of her little girl to Cameron, then he couldn’t be that bad.
Right?
But if Audrey even sensed a flicker of something not right with the guy, she’d whisk Piper away so fast,
his head would spin. She’d fight for custody of the little girl herself.
“Why don’t you read one of your books to Jellybean?” Audrey suggested. “We’ll be there in a minute.”
Silence filled the car, followed by a muffled, “’Kay.”
The light turned green at the same time that her phone vibrated in the cup holder. Probably Evan, Audrey’s boyfriend of three months, who hadn’t been comfortable with her driving. She blindly reached for the phone just as she heard a loud pop and the car jerked wildly to the left, almost veering into oncoming traffic.
From the backseat, Piper yelped, and Audrey barely stifled a curse as she gripped both hands around the steering wheel. She knew a popped tire when she heard one and cursed her shitty luck after already having been on the road for half a day.
“Audrey?” Piper called out with fear lacing her voice.
“It’s okay, honey,” Audrey soothed, while trying to keep herself calm. She jerked the car into the next lane, ignoring honks and other drivers whipping around her. The shredded tire, which sounded like it was in the back, thudded around the rim and bobbed the car all over the place. She managed to pull the SUV over while narrowly missing a handful of bikers. The thing jerked to a stop, then rested crookedly, hanging halfway in the bike lane and half into traffic, where impatient drivers were forced to maneuver around her.
With a sigh she tossed the gear in park and leaned back on the headrest.
“What happened to the car?” Piper asked from her car seat. “Is it broken?”
Audrey blew out a breath and opened her eyes. “Audrey really wishes she could curse right now,” she whispered to herself. Then she pasted a smile on her face, for Piper’s benefit, and turned to face the girl. “The car’s not broken. I just need to take a look at the tire.”
Piper blinked and hugged Jellybean closer. Her chubby cheeks were red, and her once neat ponytails were loose, allowing the girl’s blond curls to stick to her cheeks.
“It sounds like the car broke,” Piper said again.
“It’s not broken.” She reached back and rested a comforting hand on the child’s knee. “But I need you to stay in your seat while I get out and look at the tire. Okay?” When Piper nodded, Audrey grabbed a book from the seat and dropped it in Piper’s lap. “Here, read this to Jellybean. I think she’s bored too.”
Piper picked Jellybean up and bounced the stuffed toy on her knee. “Jellybean was asleep, but the broken car woke her up. She was dreaming about jelly beans.”
Of course she was. Jelly beans were Piper’s favorite thing in the whole world, aside from her stuffed cat.
Audrey got out of the car and ignored the glares from other drivers. Like it was her fault her damn tire blew and forced her off the road. Thank goodness her father, a dentist, had shown her countless times how to change a flat tire. He’d said he never wanted his little girl to be unprepared should she ever find herself in a situation such as this.
Audrey yanked open the back hatch to start removing suitcases to get to the spare tire and her other tools, mentally cursing all the way.
Piper stuck her head over the backseat. “Are you gonna fix the car?”
Audrey grinned and ignored the bead of sweat rolling down the middle of her back, even though the temperature was in the sixties. “You bet, sweetie.”
Piper bounced in the seat. “I’m hungry.”
Of course she was. Next thing, she’d have to go to the bathroom.
Audrey set the jack on the ground and dug around for a snack. She handed the girl a plastic bag of Goldfish crackers and a Fruit Roll-Up.
“Stay in your seat, please,” she reminded the six-year-old. Piper, God love her, had the attention span of a puppy.
Audrey had just set the jack and wrench on the ground in front of the flat when a deep rumbling behind the trailer caught her attention. A shiny yellow Camaro slowed to a stop; then the rumbling quieted and the driver exited the car.
Great. Probably some guy who thought she didn’t know shit about changing tires. Just because she was just shy of a hundred twenty and average height didn’t mean she didn’t know how to handle things herself. Men always underestimated her.
“Need a hand with that?”
The voice was deep and low and tickled long-forgotten places. Places Evan had yet to discover. Strange. This guy pulls over to offer help, mutters five words, and all of a sudden sparks were igniting all over the place, like she was some nun who’d never heard a sexy voice before.
Audrey jabbed the wrench on the first lug nut and twisted. The thing didn’t budge. “I’ve got it,” she responded with a glance at his brand-new AND1s.
The stance of his feet widened. “Looks like you’re struggling.”
She spared him a glance…way the hell up because, damn, he was tall. But she couldn’t get a good look at his face because the bright afternoon sun shone just over his shoulder and blinded her. Her only impression was long legs and wide shoulders. Oh, and don’t forget that voice. “I know how to change a tire,” she told him.
“I never said you didn’t,” he responded, and squatted next to her.
She continued to work on the lug nut, finally loosening the first one. She kept at it until the nut came all the way off and fell to the pavement.
The dude next to her tensed. Audrey wasn’t sure how she could feel the tension in him, but somehow she just knew. Sort of like how the air shifts when someone enters a room. He wanted to correct her. He probably thought she was doing it wrong. He had another think coming if he thought he was going to tell her how to change a tire.
Audrey was a bit of a perfectionist who liked to do things herself. She was independent like that.
“You should loosen all the nuts before you take them all the way off,” he told her.
Audrey’s mouth quirked as she loosened the next lug nut. “I appreciate your help, but—” Holy hell, were all the men in Blanco Valley walking Calvin Klein ads? Audrey had just meant to toss him a dismissive glance, long enough to convey her message that she didn’t need help. But the overwhelming hulk of a man who’d hunkered down next to her had captured her attention. No, not just captured. Commanded. Deep blue eyes, sort of like staring down into the deepest part of the ocean, held her gaze from beneath the bill of a Blanco Valley High baseball cap. The shadow from the hat slashed across his straight nose, which was perched above a mouth so firm and full that Audrey actually felt a flutter somewhere in her belly.
Shit, what had she been saying?
Oh, yeah. She’d been about to tell the guy to take a hike when she’d been rendered speechless by a pair of dreamy blue eyes and a mouth that probably delivered toe-curling grins.
One of his dark brows arched. “But…?” he prompted.
She blinked and tried to regain the composure she had had before he’d shown up and tied her tongue in knots.
“But I know how to change a tire.” Hadn’t she already told him that? To prove her point, Audrey went back to loosening the lug nuts. The second one was proving to be trickier, which was just her luck. She turned the wrench, with no progress.
The guy, who’d yet to give a name, so Audrey had decided to dub him Gorgeous Baseball Cap Guy, reached out to take the wrench from her.
She shot him a look, and he held his hands up.
“May I?” he asked.
Audrey spotted Piper bobbing her head up and down in the window. She probably had to go to the bathroom, in which case she needed the tire fixed stat.
Reluctantly, she passed the wrench over and moved aside for him. Mr. Gorgeous Baseball Cap Guy took her place in front of the tire and worked the lug nuts with ease.
“I take it you’re one of those independent types,” he commented while loosening one nut after the next.
“It’s faster if you take each one off first,” she pointed out instead of confirming his observation.
One side of the full mouth kicked up. “It really isn’t.” He loosened the final nut and slanted her a look. “You
have control issues as well?”
Audrey opened her mouth to argue, because that was always her first reaction to everything. Correct. Control. It was sort of a vice for her and one she’d been trying for way too long to fix. And it was also probably why she hadn’t had a relationship that lasted longer than three months. She’d come to learn that men didn’t take well to their girlfriends constantly correcting everything they did. She had a coping mechanism for when she felt her anxiety skyrocketing and the urge to nitpick came clawing to the surface. Unfortunately, reciting designer labels alphabetically tended to annoy people just as much as her control issues. But Evan didn’t seem to mind. Evan was a sweet guy.
“I’m not controlling,” she found herself saying, and ignored the look of disbelief that flashed across Mr. Gorgeous’s blue eyes. “It’s just that when I see something that I feel could be done better, I say something.”
“But you weren’t doing it better,” he pointed out.
“In your opinion,” she argued.
He nodded as though he understood. “Controlling,” he said again, and any forgiveness she had been about to offer him was obliterated.
She reached for the wrench. “I think I can take it from here.”
“Just give me a sec.” He placed the jack under the car and raised the thing as though it were nothing more than a child’s toy.
“Okay then.” Audrey attempted to shoulder him out of the way, but it was like trying to move a cement statue. She had a brief impression of a solid shoulder underneath his hooded sweatshirt before backing away. Her first thought was, why would a man like him hide all that goodness beneath a bulky sweatshirt? But her second thought of Hello, boyfriend immediately smacked away any improper thoughts.
“Impatient little thing, aren’t you?” he asked with a smirk as he removed the lug nuts.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Maybe I’m not the only one with control issues.”
His smirk turned into a full-blown grin, and holy Alexander McQueen, the man had some serious wattage. “So you admit you have control issues.”
Was he for real? And in the time he’d been distracting her with his pearly whites, he’d removed the tire and replaced it with the spare, in probably half the time that she could have done it. But still. There had been nothing wrong with the way she’d been removing the lug nuts.