Table of Contents
Prologue
Part Two
Part Three—Present
Epilogue
Fifteen Years Earlier
James
Chelsea
Cora
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Stephie Walls
Unexpected Arrivals
Stephie Walls
Edited by Switzer Edits
Proofread by Judy’s Proofreading
Cover Design by Wicked By Design
Copyright © 2017 by Stephie Walls
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
For my own unexpected arrival…
Contents
Prologue
1. Fifteen Years Earlier
2. James
3. James
4. James
5. James
6. James
7. Part Two
8. Chelsea
9. James
10. Chelsea
11. James
12. Chelsea
13. James
14. Part Three—Present
15. Cora
16. Cora
17. Cora
18. Cora
19. Cora
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Stephie Walls
Prologue
I stared at the paper in my hands wondering what the fuck I was reading. My eyes scanned the area around the mailbox and the perimeter of the house, but there was no one in sight. This had to be a joke. Any minute now, the cameras were going to come out from behind the other homes on our street, or a van would drive up and Ashton Kutcher would slide the door open, laughing hysterically at my melodramatic performance on the front porch. The longer I waited, the longer nothing happened. Kids continued to play in their yards, my neighbor still mowed his grass, and the occasional car still drove by without stopping.
The words on the page jumbled into a toxic mess my brain refused to comprehend.
Please consider this letter as a formal request to arrange a paternity test (DNA) for minor child Airy.
Airy—that was a name I hadn’t heard in years. I’d gone out with Chelsea Airy once, and we’d been friends for a while after my dad’s fiftieth birthday party. I hadn’t heard so much as a peep from her since I’d gotten engaged. I’d reached out a handful of times, but she’d quit responding and fell off the face of the earth, and I hadn’t thought about her since. There hadn’t been a text, an email, a phone call, not even a Facebook message. She’d disappeared from my life as randomly as she’d stumbled into it.
Flipping the envelope over, I again read the return address and wondered who the hell sent this kind of information through the fucking mail. Clary, White, & Boyd—that’s who.
“Mr. Carpenter, are you okay?”
The little girl from across the street pulled my thoughts back to the present, and my hand from my head when she tugged on my elbow. I realized I’d been standing in the same spot since I’d opened the letter and had yanked my hair by the roots since I’d begun reading.
“Oh, um. Yeah. Jamie, I’m fine.”
“You look like my daddy after my mommy yells at him. Did Mrs. Carpenter yell at you?”
“Not yet, but I’m sure she will.” I mumbled under my breath, “Right before she files for divorce.”
“Maybe you should get her flowers. If it’s really bad, my daddy buys my mommy things that sparkle. Maybe Mrs. Carpenter would like sparkles, too.”
All the diamonds in the world wouldn’t fix this—Cora could forgive a lot, but she’d never wanted children.
1
Fifteen Years Earlier
James
After I slammed my locker door shut, I turned to join the sea of people meandering the halls of Harbrook High. Another day in the life with kids I’d known since birth. Shuffling through the crowd, I made my way to second period without so much as lifting my head. The voices that said hello, and the familiar pats on the back never changed. Every day was just like the last. There were never new faces, and I’d grown bored with the old ones somewhere around junior high.
Until today.
I hovered over the desk I’d sat at since the year started, but instead of it being empty—waiting for my ass to grace its presence and warm the seat—there was a girl where nothing should have been. The light streaming through the window behind me cast my shadow over her tiny frame. I’d been prepared to kick her out, until she lifted her gaze and tossed my world on its side just before it sent me spinning.
The way her eyes caressed my body until she found my gaze, the soft pink glow on her cheeks, her long, dark hair falling over her shoulder to cover her breast…it all stole the air from my lungs. I’d never seen eyes so green or skin so smooth. There wasn’t a flaw on her perfect face, and her lips—holy hell, her lips begged to be kissed.
When my heart resumed beating and my chest filled with air once again, I finally managed words. “Hey, I’m James.” Smooth, Carpenter, really fucking smooth.
“Hi.” She waved her delicate hand in greeting. “I’m Cora.” Her name rolled off her tongue like a song, pure and angelic, but sultry and seductive.
Before I could ask her to switch seats with me or decide to sit next to her, an unwelcomed interruption barreled into my shoulder. “Carp, looks like your ass is relocating to the back.”
My head jerked to the side to find my best friend, Neil Samson, with a wicked grin plastered on his face. He was moments away from embarrassing the shit out of me if I stood here like a lost puppy a second longer. I allowed him to move me as he proceeded to his normal hiding place in the last row, but then my eyes held hers until they were forced away.
“What the hell was that, man? You act like you’ve never seen a new kid in class.” Neil’s voice carried around the room. “And since when are you into nerdy-chic chicks, anyhow?”
Backhanding him across the chest, I found a seat as close to Cora as possible. “Dude, shut the hell up. What’s your problem?”
He held up his hands in surrender. “Nothing. Chill out.”
Mrs. Johnson stood in front of the board, anticipating the sound of the bell to start teaching. This had been my least favorite class all year. I sucked at chemistry and struggled to maintain a C in order to keep my spot on the basketball team, but my desire to skip this period all changed in one introduction.
“Why go for the brainiac who looks like a loud noise would make her jump? I wouldn’t be surprised if she was afraid of her own shadow.” Clearly, Neil didn’t see what I saw when Cora came into view.
There was nothing nerdy about her; quiet maybe, but that was quite possibly the fact that she was the new kid in town. She might be a star athlete, smart, and gorgeous, too. Neither of us knew a damn thing about her, but I planned to find out everything I could.
All through class, my focus stayed trained on her, wondering what she was like and where she’d come from. No one showed up here who hadn’t been born in the county limits, ever. People either grew up in this town or they retired here. Geneva Key was home to more money than Fort Knox and fewer and fewer younger generations. Those of us who grew up in this blip of a community left the first chance we got, and I didn’t know a soul who’d escaped and came back. There was no way to earn a living on this island—either people owned property that had been handed down through family lineage with hefty trust funds, or they’d found the tiny town after making their millions else
where and decided to call Geneva Key home.
I was part of that first group, as were most of the kids in this school. My parents ran organizations I couldn’t tell anyone the first thing about, but none of them were located on the island, and most of their work involved international traveling. At least that was the story I was told when they’d left me with nanny after nanny growing up, and then alone when I’d hit an age that I started getting busy with the hired help. The idea of their fourteen-year-old son having sex with the au pair was more than they could handle. And if they hadn’t caught us, I never would have complained. There’s something to be said about an older woman teaching a teen the ways of the world…or the bedroom. And Sofia had done just that—prepared me to be a man.
I’d been so lost in my thoughts—that had veered off on a rabbit trail about my au pair—I’d missed the opportunity to find out how the raven-haired beauty had landed in our beach cocoon. My plan was to be at her desk when the bell rang and escort her to next period, maybe ask a few questions along the way, but that didn’t happen. And my attempt to find her in the halls proved futile—not that the five minutes between periods offered me much chance to learn anything of substance.
When lunch rolled around, I strolled into the cafeteria with my horde of friends in tow. The basketball team was a tightly knit group of guys, and we owned this school and this town. I’d managed to make captain my junior year, and they were like my flock. I loved every one of them and had since pre-school. Today, my sights were set on something far more attractive than tall guys who belched too much and had a tendency to smell like they’d just finished a grueling practice.
There she sat, alone, at a table against the far wall in the corner. She’d chosen a spot away from the bustling of teenagers in favor of a quiet nook. Even if she hadn’t been sitting by herself, the tray in front of her would have given her away as a newbie. No one who’d been here any length of time ate food made in the cafeteria.
I turned to Neil, who’d almost run into me when I’d stopped to admire her. “I’ll catch you guys later.”
His head moved with mine to the girl with a book in her hand and her food untouched. “Seriously, Carp, do not get sucked into whatever that is.”
“Thanks, Dad, but I think I’ll be all right.” I didn’t wait for his reply or bother listening to the grumblings of my teammates as we parted company.
With each hello directed at me or invitation to join a crowd I’d never sit with, I just threw my hand in the air or gave them the James Carpenter award-winning smile the ladies all loved to see and kept moving.
I didn’t bother asking if the seat in front of her was taken; it wasn’t. And by the looks of things, I didn’t have to worry about anyone trying to move in on the fresh meat. My backpack slid down my arm and onto the table as I sat across from her. She watched me silently while I retrieved my lunch from inside my book bag, but I acted like I didn’t see her until I was ready to face her. I could feel the stares from around the lunchroom, and when I glanced up, I saw girls who’d spent years trying to get my attention gawking with their mouths slightly ajar, taking in the sight.
“I guess no one told you not to buy lunch?” I scoffed at the sight of the gray hamburger on an even duller-looking bun. I speculated those were fries next to it, but I wouldn’t have bet money on that guess.
“Not much of a choice. I didn’t have a lot of time to prepare for a new school.” Even the sadness in her words didn’t take away from the smile in her voice.
“Unexpected move?”
Her head bobbed slowly.
“Where are you from?”
“White Plains.” She took a sip from the bottle of water in front of her. “New York.”
“Why the hell would you leave New York for Geneva Key?” My teeth sank into the bright-red apple I’d missed eating between classes.
“I didn’t have much of a choice.” Her head cocked to the side when she’d repeated herself, and she studied me for just the briefest of seconds.
I wouldn’t be surprised if she were memorizing the crystal-blue eyes watching her or the way my brown hair sat perfectly messy on top of my head, or possibly, the way the muscles in my jaw tensed as I chewed. Girls had found far less interesting things to adore about me.
Cora returned her attention to her book and dismissed me as quickly as she’d answered.
Unsure of what to do with a girl who didn’t fawn all over me, I tried again. “Your parents move here for some odd reason?”
“No.”
Her response wasn’t cold, more like vacant. I couldn’t help but notice people had resumed their meals and no longer gave us any attention.
“So you wanna tell me what brought you here?” It came off more agitated than I intended. I wasn’t irritated with her, just the situation. She clearly wasn’t aware of what opportunity sat in front of her.
Cora closed her book and pushed her tray aside to set the novel down. I didn’t recognize the title, nor did I particularly care. I was more interested in why this gorgeous girl was sitting alone in an unfamiliar town not wanting anything to do with anyone around her.
“My parents were killed in a plane crash last week. My grandparents brought me home with them after the funeral. We got here last night.”
Holy shit.
That was not on my radar.
I stopped chewing and stared at her. The way her emerald-green eyes dulled made my heart clench painfully. Words weren’t going to ease her pain, and neither was my cocky attitude. With the half-eaten apple in one hand, I reached across the table with the other. My fingers rested on hers before curling in with the slightest bit of a squeeze. She fought against the tears that filled her aching eyes, but one escaped against her valiant effort. Mindlessly, I set the fruit down and wiped the lone tear from her cheek with my thumb.
“You want some of my peanut butter and jelly?” I could have slapped myself. She was orphaned less than a week ago, and somehow, I believed half of my sandwich would ease that pain.
She chuckled the tiniest bit, and the tears cascaded down her beautiful face. The loss radiated in her eyes, but God, I’d give every last cent in my trust fund to keep her smiling.
“Captain of the basketball team eats PB and J for lunch? And you said the school food was bad.” It wasn’t as funny as it sounded coming from her lips.
“My reputation supersedes me.”
“Yeah, something like that.” She’d suddenly become shy. Her eyes cast down, and the corners of her mouth fell flat.
“Sorry, I’m a tad arrogant at times. You’ll have to excuse that. It’s just part of my charm.” I bent over, craning my neck to coax her into meeting my gaze. “So tell me, Cora, have you ever been to the beach in December?”
My chest tightened, hoping she’d take the bait, desperate to find a way to spend time with her. I’d never had the instant attraction to anyone that I felt for her. It might have been nothing, yet it might have been everything. Unless she was willing to let me in, there was zero chance we’d find out.
“I’ve never been to the beach at all.”
“Do you have plans after school?” My pulse raced with anticipation.
“Don’t you have basketball practice or weights to lift or some other equally macho thing to do?”
“Yeah, but I’m done by five. I can stop by your house and pick you up.”
“You don’t know where I live.”
I wondered if she knew, although now wasn’t the time to ask such an insensitive question. “Just tell me who your grandparents are. I’ve lived here all my life. I’m sure I know them.”
“Chase. Gwendolyn and Owen Chase.”
If I’d been drinking anything, it would have ended up all over her light-pink shirt that cupped her perfect breasts like it was made to showcase them. “Seriously?” Chase as in the financial company—that Chase. They made everyone else on the island look like paupers.
She shrugged as if it were insignificant.
“You don’t se
em impressed.”
“Why would I be? I don’t know them any better than I know you. In fact, I might know you better at this point. We’ve certainly had more conversation.”
“So why did you come live with them if you’re not close?”
“I don’t have any other family, and they wouldn’t let me stay with friends for a year and a half while I finished high school. They didn’t think it was appropriate for a seventeen-year-old to be gallivanting around New York unescorted.” That last part was clearly a repetition of a sentiment they’d communicated to her, probably more than once in the last week.
Again, she’d rendered me speechless, which was a difficult task. Before I could figure out something to say, Neil came strolling up to the table.
“Carp, you coming?”
Any other time, that would have been my escape. I would have been pissed it’d taken him twenty minutes to come to my rescue, except this girl was different. “Nah, man. I’m good here. I’ll catch you after school.”
“It’s okay, James. You can go. I’ll be fine.” No one at this school called me James; however, the way my name floated past her lips made me want to drop the surname and be like Madonna or Prince.
“Yeah, James. You can go.” Neil scowled at me like I’d offended him by turning down his invitation.
I looked back at the dark-haired beauty still seated in front of me. Her green eyes had dimmed again, and I hated leaving her. The pressures of high school sucked. Even though I normally called the shots, I gave in this time—my friends had been my lifeline since we were all in diapers.
Unexpected Arrivals Page 1