Heartbreakers and Heroes

by Box Set

  Random strangers cheered in the background and gave fist bumps to Griffin and hugs and congratulations to Trinity.

  The graduate had tears in her eyes. He handed her the bouquet of roses he’d brought for her and wrapped his arms around her. For better or worse, he’d be there for her. And never let her down.

  Acknowledgments

  Writing can be a lonely business, but over the past few years I’ve found a tribe of women who understand that writing isn’t just glamorous days spent in the coffee shop coming up with new ways to torture a character. To become successful, there’s a lot of hard work, setbacks, and perseverance involved. And wine. Lots and lots of wine!

  Thanks to the eleven amazing authors in the Heartbreakers and Heroes anthology. Your inspiration and guidance helped me created a story that I hope my readers will love as much I do. Thank you, Jodi Linton and Carmen Falcone for inviting me into this adventure. You guys as well as Virginia Nelson, Jennie Marts, Codi Gary, Christine Glover, TJ Kline, Heather Long, Sharla Lovelace, Michelle Major and the wonderful Hayson Manning have not only become my crazy partners in this endeavor, but I consider you all my friends, too.

  Thanks to Michelle Grajkowski, my fantastic agent, for helping me carry my career up the huge mountain of publishing and working tirelessly to make sure every book I write is better than the last one.

  And a special thanks to Cameron Yeager, my editor, who challenged my plot, increased my pacing, and improved the overall flow of my words.

  About the Author

  A top ten finalist in James Patterson’s Co-Author Competition and a triple finalist in the Daphne Du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense, Veronica Forand is an attorney and a novelist. She's lived in Boston, London, Paris, Geneva, and Washington, DC and currently resides near Philadelphia. An avid traveler, she loves to roam across continents with her husband and kids in pursuit of skiing, scuba diving, and finding the perfect piece of chocolate.

  Read more about her upcoming releases and appearances at

  veronicaforand.com

  Also by Veronica Forand

  The True Lies Series

  Untrue Colors

  True Deceptions

  True Peril

  How to Be a Heartbreaker

  By Codi Gary

  Edited by Rebecca Lucash

  How to be a Heartbreaker

  The night Sebastian Valentine kissed Ashlynn Marks, the world shook, the heavens sparkled, and she was changed forever…

  Well, not in the way she expected. After he takes off without a word, an aftermath of betrayal follows Ashlynn even twelve years later. Bash is back in town and living next door to her for the summer. But she’s not the same naïve girl he left behind.

  Bash, now one of the hottest actors in Hollywood, had never planned to come back to Promise, Idaho, but when he returns to be in his friend’s wedding, he decides a place away from the chaos of L.A. is just what he needs. He doesn’t expect a welcoming committee, but the cold shoulder he receives is a little harsh…. especially from shy, sweet Ashlynn, who had always been the bright spot in his troubled past. Only the confident, beautiful woman is not the girl he remembers.

  Can Bash mend the mistakes of the past and show Ashlynn he’s not the heartbreaker she thinks he is? Or will he be the one to return to Tinsel town broken hearted?

  To My Sister from another Mister.

  I love you, Tina.

  Rule #5 - Never Kiss And Tell

  Chapter 1

  Sebastian Valentine turned his Audi R8 down the mountainside road, gazing out over the valley where Promise, Idaho lay nestled amidst the jagged Sawtooth Mountains. A town of only 4,500 people during the farming seasons and less once winter set in, Bash remembered the stifling small town atmosphere had driven him to Hollywood when he was just eighteen. But looking down on it now, a warm glow spread through his chest, a sense of coming home that he’d never thought he’d experience.

  As he reached the bottom and headed down the main road through town, he couldn’t believe how little had changed in twelve years. A few of the buildings might have had a new paint job, and it looked like old Doc Fergusson had updated the Promise Medical Clinic on Sycamore, but other than that, it was exactly the same.

  Bash hoped at least the people had evolved.

  He followed the commands of his GPS, taking him to the new vacation home he’d bought just outside of town. Most of his friends from L.A. chose to stay in Sun Valley, about twenty minutes away, but it hadn’t made sense for him. Not when his best friend, Troy Jenkins, was here.

  And his father, of course, but Bash hadn’t seen his dad, Samuel, since the night he’d kicked him out. As far as he knew, his dad still lived above the car garage he’d worked at for thirty years. Would he be happy to know Bash had bought a house in town, even if it was only for breaks between projects? He doubted it. The stubborn son of a bitch would probably be the first one to tell him to get his ass out of there.

  His hands-free rang through his radio, indicating he had a call coming in. He saw Troy’s name on the screen and said, “Answer.”

  “Hey, you here yet?” Troy practically yelled through the speaker.

  “Yeah, just finding my house now.”

  “Sweet, call me when you get settled! We’re going out tonight! Woooo hoooo!”

  “Alright, I’ll call you in a little while.”

  “Later.”

  Bash chuckled at Troy’s excitement. The two of them had been friends since Kindergarten, and even though Troy’s father owned the local pharmacy, and Bash’s dad was a roughneck mechanic with a bad temper, they had remained close through ups and downs. When Bash had been sent away at sixteen to spend six months at a boys camp in Montana, Troy had called and written him every week.

  The funny thing was that besides Troy, that stay at Saddle Creek Boys Ranch was one of the best memories he had of growing up. John Stone, the owner, had been the first adult to ever treat him like he could be more than a greaser’s kid.

  It was why the call a week ago from Rayne McCoy, letting him know about John’s stroke, had hit him so hard. He’d dropped everything to fly out to Saddle Creek, Montana and pay his respects to the greatest man he’d ever known. John hadn’t regained consciousness during the few days he’d stayed, but it had still been the right thing to do.

  Instead of flying back to L.A., he’d bought the Audi and driven across two states to see his new house. The delivery truck was supposed to arrive at two with his bed, furniture, and clothing for the month, and the Internet and phone were being hooked up today.

  Bash pulled up the driveway to his new place, a charming gray two-story ranch house with a wraparound porch and a large swing in the front yard. Not that he needed the swing for anything, but it made the house look idyllic, homier—which was something he craved, even if he wasn’t willing to say it out loud. He wanted the perfect life, and he’d gotten it. As one of the most sought after action movie stars, he had more money than he’d ever dreamed of, and never wanted for anything. He dated the most beautiful women, and ended it when they started getting too attached.

  It wasn’t bad for a poor kid from a Podunk town in Idaho.

  He climbed out of his Audi and looked around his place. It used to be owned by Promise Farms, one of the biggest outfits in town, but they’d been struggling the last few years and needed to sell off some of their assets. There was a detached four-car garage next to the house, and a large shop in the back. Ten acres of green grass and trees stretched out behind, but on the right he could see clearly into his neighbor’s front yard.

  Bash stopped in mid-stride as he caught sight of a woman standing on the front porch of the neighboring house. He didn’t recognize her with the large, dark sunglasses, but she appeared to be watching him.

  He waved to be friendly, and she slid her glasses up onto the top of her head…

  And flipped him the bird.

  Bash was sure he was seeing things, but nope, that middle finger was definitely di
rected at him.

  Before he could decide if he should head over and find out what the hell her problem was, she turned around and walked inside. Loud barking erupted where the woman had just stood and Bash watched in horror as a giant black hairy beast started running toward him.

  Bash ran toward the front porch of the house, keeping an eye on the dog. The whole scene seemed to play out in slow motion and Bash swore he could see ropes of saliva flying from the dog’s massive lips as he gained ground.

  It occurred to Bash as he leaped for the door that he didn’t have a key to the house yet, since the realtor was supposed to meet him there at one and he was a little early. He prayed luck was on his side and the door was unlocked; otherwise, he was gonna be dog chow.

  The doorknob didn’t turn, and Bash put his back to the solid wood, closing his eyes as he waited for the massive canine to sink his fangs into his throat.

  When something slammed into his balls instead, Bash bent over with a cry of pain and found the dog’s head buried in his crotch, all hot breath and wet nose.

  Realizing that the dog probably wasn’t planning to chomp down on his testicles, he reached down and tried to pull him away from the front of his pants.

  “Okay, dude, I know I probably smell awesome, but you should at least buy me dinner first.”

  “That is pretty disgusting,” a feminine voice said.

  Bash looked up, and found the woman from the porch standing at the bottom of his steps, holding a black leash.

  “Propositioning my dog? I knew some of you Hollywood types had weird fetishes, but didn’t know you were into that.”

  Bash stopped struggling with the dog. “I wasn’t, I was joking.”

  “With who? Bernie? I hate to tell you this but no matter what the movies portray, dogs actually don’t speak English.”

  Giving her the lopsided grin Oprah had called “irresistible,” he said, “You know, most of the time I at least know someone’s name when they’re insulting me.”

  “You already know my name, jackass. Bernie, come.”

  The dog whipped his head around, abandoning his treasure, and loped down the steps to sit in front of her. She snapped the leash on him without so much as another glance in Bash’s direction, and it irked him.

  Bash studied her, trying to place the high cheekbones and long dark hair pulled back from her face. She had a pretty face—tan and slightly freckled, with deep brown eyes. In a sleeveless shirt and a pair of denim shorts that showed off legs for days, she was striking.

  And yet, he still had no idea who she was or why she was so pissed at him.

  “I actually don’t. Sorry.”

  She had just started walking back to her place, but when he spoke she paused and faced him with a terrifying expression. “Really? Well, just Google Sebastian Valentine fucks Fatty. Maybe it will jog your memory.”

  What the hell? He had only slept with a handful of girls from Promise and none of them had been—

  Bash stilled as he stared after the woman’s hourglass figure and heart shaped ass.

  There was only one woman he’d known in Promise whom people had ever called fat, out of sheer stupidity, but he couldn’t think of one single reason for Ashlynn Marks to be pissed at him.

  Chapter 2

  Ashlynn Marks wasn’t the violent sort, but seeing Sebastian Valentine looking just as sexy at thirty as he had at eighteen made her a little homicidal.

  And the jerk didn’t even remember her name? He’d ruined her life and yet he couldn’t be bothered to actually feel bad that he’d screwed her brains out in the back of his piece of shit Impala and let one of his dirtbag friends take pictures? Not to mention that when she’d gone by his place to confront him the next day, she’d found out he’d skipped town without saying a word.

  Her first time having sex and the whole event had been catalogued with shots of them in various positions and poses. The posters had been spread about town, on bulletin boards and stapled on the outside of businesses. It had been humiliating, and Sebastian hadn’t even had the decency to stick around to enjoy the aftermath.

  At least he could have waited until she had a chance to break his nose.

  Fine, so she was being dramatic. It had been twelve years, and frankly, people hardly remembered the day after it had happened.

  But now, he was back and all of this shit was going to come up again. Hell, he was living next door. Their driveways were a few hundred feet from each other and there would be no avoiding him in a town this small.

  Plus, it didn’t help that their best friends were marrying each other. Maggie Thomas, the bride to be, had assured Ashlynn that even though Sebastian had bought himself a whole freaking house, he was only there for the wedding festivities and then he’d be going back to his life of movies and size zero models. It was a vacation home, but what kind of movie stars went on vacation in Promise? Which was perfect for Ashlynn; the less she had to see of his stupid face the better.

  Pulling Bernie inside the house, she heard her landline ringing and rushed in to answer.

  “Hello?”

  “Dr. Marks? It’s Rosa Winters, and I’ve got a serious problem.”

  Ashlynn nearly sighed aloud. Taking over the town’s medical practice had been her dream, but as one of only two doctors, she also had to take calls during her lunch and sometimes after hours. And lucky her, at least three of her patients were overzealous hypochondriacs.

  Like Mrs. Rosa Winters.

  “Of course, Mrs. Winters, what seems to be the problem?”

  “I was just in the bathroom, trying to pee, and I felt this horrible pain in my…well, my girly parts. Do you think it could be cancer?”

  “You know, Rosa, I doubt it since you just had a pap smear a few months ago and were fit as a fiddle, but why don’t you come by the clinic in an hour and I’ll run a few tests.” It was the only way to stop Rosa from blowing up her phone all night long while she was out with her girls. They had been planning this celebration for Karianne Paulsen since she found out she was going to be the new principle at Promise Elementary School. So many big changes for their threesome; Maggie getting married, Karianne becoming the youngest principle in the history of the school and Ashlynn taking over the practice...it was almost bitter sweet.

  “Thank you for doing this, Dr. Marks.”

  Rosa’s gratitude pulled her out of her melancholy. “Of course, Rosa, see you soon.”

  Ashlynn hung up the phone and went to the kitchen to make her lunch, trying not to let her new neighbor and the changes coming stress her out. Tonight would be the first time her new associate, Trevor Grimes, covered the afterhours shift at the clinic. Although the nearest hospital was only thirty minutes away, Ashlynn had wanted to create a closer alternative for the people of Promise. A lot of them were older and terrified of hospitals, so a twenty-four-hour clinic was something she had been longing to do, but she’d needed to find the right person. She and Trevor had gone to medical school together and when she’d mentioned looking for an associate, he’d jumped on board.

  While she pulled all the sandwich fixings from the fridge, she couldn’t help but stare across the way to where Sebastian walked off the steps, holding his arms out to Cate Herman, local realtor and one of Ashlynn’s high school tormentors… who had graduated into her adult tormentor, but in a subtler way. Instead of Twinkies taped to her locker or a wide load sign on her back, Cate liked to make little digs at her in that syrupy sweet tone Ashlynn loathed.

  As the two of them embraced, Ashlynn felt a little bile rise up in her throat. When they pulled back, she couldn’t help mimicking Cate aloud.

  “Oh, Sebastian, you’re so rich and handsome and I’m a gold digging whore. Wouldn’t you love to have sex with me? I promise to tell you I’m on the pill, but really, I’m not.”

  Sebastian ran his hair through his short, brown hair and whatever he said made Cate laugh and stroke his arm.

  “Ugh,” Ashlynn groaned, turning her back on the window.

&n
bsp; Forgetting her sandwich for a moment, she went to the pink pig cookie jar on the counter and pulled two chocolate chip cookies from it. One was halfway shoved into her mouth when she turned to find Bernie with both of his huge paws on the counter and her container of turkey in his mouth.

  “Bernie, you greedy bastard!”

  He dropped the turkey and took off to the other room. Ashlynn inspected the container while eating her other cookie and her stomach turned at the slimy, string of drool he left behind on the plastic.

  “God, you are disgusting.”

  Finishing the chocolaty goodness, she washed the container, noting there were no holes. She caught sight of Bernie in the entryway, his black bushy tail waving back and forth like he just didn’t care.

  “You’re lucky I foiled your evil plan or you would have been in big trouble.”

  He let loose with a string of booming barks, and she suddenly realized she was talking to her dog. The same thing she’d mocked Sebastian for doing not ten minutes ago.

  It’s okay if you do it, it’s your dog.

  Her cell phone buzzed, and she slid the answer button below Maggie’s name and tapped the speakerphone icon.

  “Hello?”

  “So, have you seen him yet?”

  Ashlynn took a bite of her turkey on whole wheat, looking out the window for Sebastian and Cate, but they were nowhere to be seen.

  “Unfortunately.”

  “Well, what did he say? What did you say? Did he apologize for the pictures?” Maggie asked in that rapid-fire voice of hers.

  “He said something stupid, and I called him a jackass, and no, he didn’t even know who I was.”