A Sweet Life-kindle

by Andre, Bella

  Zach had expected Sophie to want a big wedding, a splashy Sullivan celebration where every relative and friend on the planet would be invited. Instead, here they were in his mother’s backyard, like so many other Sundays. The only real difference from their usual Sunday brunch was his sister’s long white dress and Jake’s monkey suit.

  When, Zach wondered, had Sophie grown up? And how long would it take him to see her as anything other than the baby sister he needed to protect with his life? He’d choked up more than once while she’d been walking down the aisle and then when she and Jake had exchanged vows, but pretty much everyone at the wedding had been sniffling and pulling tissues out of their bags. All of his brothers looked like they were having a heck of a time keeping it together, actually. Lori, of course, cried up a storm as her twin took the marriage plunge.

  Five months pregnant, Sophie was prettier than ever, especially in her wedding dress. He could see how happy she was, but Zach still had a hard time thinking of Jake with Sophie. Even though the bride and groom looked like the most mismatched couple on the planet—the big guy with the tattoos and the classy brunette—Zach was starting to realize that Sophie gave as good as Jake dished it out. Better, usually.

  As the chairs were cleared so that the dancing could begin, Lori walked over and handed him a beer. “Wanna make a bet on who’s the last one standing? You or me?”

  Zach loved his twin sisters equally, but he’d always understood Lori better. She thrived on speed. Excitement. Breaking the rules. Just like he did.

  “You looking to give away your money, Naughty?”

  She stared at him over the rim of her glass as she took a sip of Marcus’s finest bubbly. “Haven’t you learned yet—it’s always the cocky guys who think they’re so safe that fall the farthest.”

  Zach rarely backed down from a challenge. Especially not one that was this easy to win. Knowing there wasn’t a chance that he was going to fall in love with someone against his will, Zach Sullivan held up his bottle of beer to clink it against his sister’s champagne flute.

  “Game on.”

  ~ THE END ~

  For news on upcoming stories, click here to sign up for Bella Andre’s Newsletter.

  The next books in Bella's New York Times & USA Today bestselling series about The Sullivans are out now!

  Other Books by Bella Andre

  IF YOU WERE MINE (Zach & Heather)

  LET ME BE THE ONE (Ryan & Vicki)

  COME A LITTLE BIT CLOSER (Smith & Valentina)

  ALWAYS ON MY MIND (Lori & Grayson)

  ONE PERFECT NIGHT (A novella guest starring Mia Sullivan and Rafe Sullivan)

  KISSING UNDER THE MISTLETOE (Mary & Jack Sullivan)

  THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT (Rafe & Brooke, The Seattle Sullivans)

  IT MUST BE YOUR LOVE (Mia & Ford, The Seattle Sullivans)

  JUST TO BE WITH YOU (Ian & Tatiana, The Seattle Sullivans)

  And don’t miss the earlier books in the series!

  THE LOOK OF LOVE (Chase & Chloe)

  FROM THIS MOMENT ON (Marcus & Nicola)

  CAN'T HELP FALLING IN LOVE (Gabe & Megan)

  ***

  Click here to download a Sullivan Family Tree!

  ***

  About Bella Andre

  Having sold more than 3 million books, Bella Andre’s novels have been #1 bestsellers around the world and have appeared on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists 16 times. After signing a groundbreaking 7-figure print-only deal with Harlequin MIRA, Bella’s “The Sullivans” series is being released in paperback in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia. She has been the #1 Ranked Author at Amazon (on a top 10 list that included Nora Roberts, JK Rowling, James Patterson and Steven King), and Publishers Weekly named Oak Press (the publishing company she created to publish her own books) the Fastest-Growing Independent Publisher in the US.

  Known for “sensual, empowered stories enveloped in heady romance” (Publishers Weekly), her books have been Cosmopolitan Magazine ”Red Hot Reads” twice and have been translated into ten languages. Winner of the Award of Excellence, The Washington Post called her “One of the top digital writers in America” and she has been featured by NPR, USA Today, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, and TIME Magazine. A graduate of Stanford University, she has given keynote speeches at publishing conferences from Copenhagen to Berlin to San Francisco, including a standing-room-only keynote at Book Expo America in New York City. If not behind her computer, you can find her reading her favorite authors, hiking, swimming or laughing. Married with two children, Bella splits her time between the Northern California wine country and a 100 year old log cabin in the Adirondacks.

  Please visit Bella at her website (http://www.BellaAndre.com) and Facebook page (http://www.Facebook.com/BellaAndreFans).

  On A Night Like This

  (The Callaways, #1)

  Barbara Freethy

  Also Available

  In The Callaway Series

  On A Night Like This (Callaways #1)

  So This Is Love (Callaways #2)

  Falling For A Stranger (Callaways #3)

  Between Now And Forever (Callaways #4)

  Nobody But You (A Callaway Wedding Novella)

  All A Heart Needs (Callaways #5)

  On A Night Like This

  From #1 NY Times Bestselling Author, Barbara Freethy, comes a romantic new contemporary series about the Callaways, a big, blended Irish family born to serve and protect.

  The second oldest of the Callaway clan, Aiden Callaway veered from the family tradition of urban firefighting and became a smokejumper, never questioning his choice until the job took the life of his friend, Kyle, and left Aiden with injuries and fractured memories.

  Sara had always been untouchable, sweet, innocent, his sister's best friend, and the girl next door. But one reckless night in their youth took their relationship to a new level. Sara has never forgiven or forgotten the way Aiden brought it crashing down, but she's no longer that girl with the crazy crush. She's a woman in search of her own truth.

  The sparks between Aiden and Sara have been smoldering for a very long time. Sara is afraid to take another chance on a man who broke her heart, and Aiden knows better than anyone how dangerous an intense fire can be. As teenagers they weren't ready for each other. Are they ready now?

  On A Night Like This

  Copyright 2013 Barbara Freethy

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  For information contact: barbara@barbarafreethy.com

  Follow Barbara on Facebook: www.facebook.com/barbarafreethybooks

  Sign up for Barbara's Newsletter

  Chapter One

  As a teenager, seeing her father’s car in the driveway when she came home from school had always made Sara Davidson uneasy. She would steel herself for the evening to come, never quite sure why she felt afraid. Stephen Davidson had never physically abused her, but he had been demanding, and his words cut like a knife. It wasn’t always what he said that was the worst part; it was the rejection in his gaze, and the cold quiet that usually followed his disappointment in her.

  It would be different now Sara told herself, as she got out of her rental car. She was twenty-nine years old, a successful lawyer, and she hadn't lived at home in ten years. So why did she feel trepidation?

  Because her relationship with her father had never been quite right.

  They were biologically connected, but emotionally they were as distant as two people could be. Her mother, Valerie, had been the buffer between them, but her mom had died when Sara was nineteen years old. For the past decade it had been just
her and her dad. Actually, it had mostly been just her.

  While her father had paid for her education and living expenses, he hadn’t come to her graduations—not from college or from law school. The last time she’d seen him in person had been five years ago when they’d both attended the funeral of her grandmother, her father's mother.

  She walked up the path, pausing at the bottom of the stairs, her hand tightening around the bottle of wine she’d brought for her dad’s sixty-fifth birthday on Sunday. She’d tried her best to get him something a wine connoisseur would appreciate – a bottle of 1989 Chateau Mouton Rothschild Bordeaux. The wine had cost as much as her monthly car payment; she hoped it would be worth it. Her father was her only living relative, and she still, probably foolishly, wanted to believe they could find a way to connect with each other.

  Her nerves tightened, and she had to fight back the urge to flee. She'd flown all the way across the country to see him; she couldn’t back down. Trying to calm her racing heart, she looked around, reminding herself that this had once been home.

  Her father’s two-story house with the white paint and dark brown trim was located in the middle of the block in a San Francisco neighborhood known as St. Francis Wood. Not far from the ocean, the houses in this part of the city were detached and had yards, unlike much of the city where the homes shared common walls.

  Her family had moved into this house when she was nine years old, and one of her favorite places to be was sitting in the swing on the front porch. She’d spent many hours reading or watching the kids who lived next door. The Callaways were a big, Irish-Catholic blended family. Jack Callaway, a widower with four boys, had married Lynda Kane, a divorcee with two girls. Together, they’d had fraternal twins, a boy and a girl, rounding out the family at eight kids.

  As an only child, Sara had been fascinated by the Callaways and a little envious. Jack Callaway was a gregarious Irishman who told great stories and had never met a stranger. Jack was a San Francisco firefighter, following in his father and grandfather’s footsteps. The Callaways had been born to serve and protect, and all of the kids had been encouraged to follow the family tradition. At least two of the boys had become firefighters and last she'd heard her friend, Emma, had done the same, but she hadn't spoken to Emma in a long time.

  A wave of nostalgia hit her as her gaze drifted down the block. She'd let her childhood friends go—not that there had been that many, but she could still hear the sounds of the past, kids laughing and playing. The Callaway boys had run the neighborhood, taking over the street on summer nights to play baseball, football, or any other game they'd invent. She'd occasionally been part of those games, but not often.

  She might have grown up next door to the Callaways, but she'd lived in an entirely different world—a world of quiet structure and discipline, a world where expectations for grades and achievement were high, and having fun didn't factor into any equation.

  Sighing, she pushed the past back where it belonged and walked up the stairs. Time to stop procrastinating.

  She rang the bell, and a moment later the front door swung open. She drew in a quick breath as she met her father's dark gaze. At six-foot-four, Stephen Davidson was a foot taller than she was, and had always scared the hell out of her. He had dark brown hair, brown eyes, and wiry frame. Today, he wore black slacks and a white button-down shirt that had always been his uniform during the week. He seemed thinner than she remembered, although he’d always been fit. His sense of discipline extended to every part of his life.

  "Surprise," she said, forcing a smile on her face.

  "What are you doing here, Sara?"

  "It's your birthday on Sunday."

  "You should have called."

  "You would have told me not to come."

  "Yes, I would have done that," he agreed. "It's not a good time."

  It hadn't been a good time in over a decade. "Can I come in?" she asked.

  He hesitated for a long moment, then gave a resigned nod.

  She crossed the threshold, feeling as if she'd just gotten over the first hurdle. There would be more coming, but at least she'd made it through the door. Pausing in the entry, she glanced toward the living room on her right. It was a formal room, with white couches, glass tables, and expensive artwork. They'd never spent any time in that room as a family, and it didn't appear that that had changed. Turning her head to the left, she could see the long mahogany table in the dining room, and the same dried flower arrangement that had always been the centerpiece.

  The fact that the house hadn't changed in ten years was probably a sign that her father hadn't changed either.

  "You shouldn't have come without calling, Sara,” her father repeated, drawing her attention back to him.

  "Well, I'm here, and I brought you a present." She handed him the wine.

  He reluctantly took the bottle, barely glancing at the label. "Thank you."

  "It's very rare," she said, wishing for a bigger reaction.

  "I'm sure it is." He set the bottle down on a side table.

  She squared her shoulders, irritated by his lack of enthusiasm. But she knew it would take more than a bottle of wine to crack the iceberg between them. "I'd like to stay for the weekend."

  "You want to stay here?" he asked, dismay in his eyes.

  "Why not? You have the room." She headed up the stairs, figuring it would be best not to give her father time to argue. He was an excellent attorney, who knew how to win an argument. But she was pretty good, too.

  When she reached the upstairs landing, her gaze caught on the only two family pictures that had ever hung in the house. On the left was a family shot of the three of them, taken when she was about eleven years old. She remembered quite clearly how desperately her mother had wanted a professional family picture and how hard her father had fought against it, but it was one of the few battles that Valerie had won.

  The other photo was of her and her mother taken at her high school graduation. Her mother had a proud smile on her face. They looked a lot alike, sharing many of the same features, an oval-shaped face, long, thick light brown hair that fell past their shoulders, and wide-set dark brown eyes. A wave of sadness ran through her as she realized this was the last photo of her and her mother. Valerie had died two years later.

  Turning away from the memories, she moved down the hall. Her room was at the far end of the corridor. It had been stripped down to the basics, a mattress and box spring, her old desk on one wall, her dresser on the other. The bookshelves were empty and so were the drawers. Only a few nails revealed that there had once been pictures on the wall. There was absolutely no trace of her childhood.

  She shouldn't be surprised. Her father had shipped her several boxes a couple of years ago, but it still felt a little sad to see how her early life had been completely erased.

  Moving to the window, she looked out at a familiar view – the Callaways' backyard. The large wooden play structure that was built like a fort with slides and tunnels was empty now. Like herself, the Callaways had grown up. She wondered if any of them still lived at home.

  "As you can see, I'm not set up for guests," her dad said, interrupting her thoughts.

  She turned to see him standing in the doorway. "I'm sure there are some extra sheets in the linen closet. I don't need much."

  He stared back at her, his eyes dark and unreadable. "Why are you here, Sara?"

  "I wanted to be here for your birthday. It's been a long time since we've shared more than an email. We should talk, catch up with each other."

  "Why on earth would you want to talk to me?"

  The confusion in his eyes made her realize just how far apart they'd drifted. "Because you're my father. You're my family. We're the only ones left."

  "Do you need money?"

  "This isn't about money. Mom would have not wanted us to end up like strangers. We need to try to improve our relationship."

  He stared back at her for a long moment, then said, "There's nothing left for you here,
Sara. I wish you well, but we both need to move on. If you stay, it won't go well. We'll only disappoint each other."

  Her chest tightened, the finality of his words bringing pain as well as anger. Her father was like a brick wall. She kept throwing herself at him, trying to break through his resistance, but all she ever achieved was a new batch of emotional bruises.

  "You're a grown woman now," he added. "You don't need a father."

  "Not that I ever really had one," she countered, surprising herself a little with the words. She was used to holding her tongue when it came to her dad, because talking usually made things worse.

  "I did my best," he said.

  "Did you?" she challenged.

  A tickle caught at her throat and her eyes blurred with unwanted tears. She had not come here to cry. She sniffed, wondering why the air felt so thick. It took a minute to register that it was not her emotions that were making her eyes water but smoke.

  The same awareness flashed in her father's eyes. "Damn," he swore. "The kitchen—I was cooking—"

  He ran out of the room, and she followed him down the stairs, shocked by how thick the smoke was in the entry.