Silver Heart

by Green, Victoria

  Copyright © 2013 by Victoria Green.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without written permission of the author, except for the inclusion of quotations in a review. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Please note that this novel contains mature subject matter, including strong language and sexual situations that may not be suitable for all readers. Reader/buyer discretion is advised.

  What Readers Are Saying:

  “Sweet, steamy, sexy, and addictive—I couldn’t put it down! Victoria Green has set herself apart from the crowd with one fantastic, fresh, hot romance. I fell in love with Silver Heart from page one.” – J. Meyers, Author of Anywhere

  “Absolutely adored this steam-tastic debut to its wintery core! Filled with everything a perfect romance needs, Silver Heart will literally make you melt.” – Jena, Shortie Says

  “Silver Heart is phenomenally written with the perfect balance of beauty, inspiration, wit, and romantic love. The words just melt off the page and go straight to your heart.” – Jessirae, Words, Pages, and Books

  “Silver Heart is an original take on the NA craze and I am positive that you will fall in love with Sawyer just as much as I have. Sawyer is definitely on my top five book boyfriends list.” – Kristina, Ladybug Storytime

  “Sawyer's and Dylan's story will capture people's hearts and leave them breathless by the time they reach the end of the book. Incredible debut from Victoria Green.” – Justin, Justin’s Book Blog

  “Silver Heart is one of those heart-wrenching books that is also heart-warming at the same time. It made me feel such a roller coaster of emotions that it’s hard to pin-point one single essence of what makes this book so awesome.” – Keren, Gothic Angel Book Reviews

  “Silver Heart was, without a doubt, a sexy read! Well-developed and entertaining, Sawyer had me melting into a puddle. Victoria Green’s debut NA is a powerful show of what is to come.” – Tiffany, Escaping…One Book at a Time

  Dedicated to those suffering from unspoken love and believing in second chances.

  CHAPTER ONE

  “This is going to be the best vacation ever!” My best friend Maddie had a habit of overusing the words best and ever.

  Everything she did was the “best ever,” but her optimism was an endearing trait. Nothing short of a natural disaster could get Madison Evans down. Scratch that. She handled natural disasters with as much cheerfulness and grace as everything else that came her way.

  “How can a trip to Whistler excite you so much, Mads?” Her enthusiasm brought a smile to my face. “It’s just a ski resort. You’ve been on real adventures.”

  The day after our high school graduation, Maddie had announced that she was going to see the world. In a spur-of-the-moment decision, she deferred college for a year and set out on a backpacking trip around Europe, turning one of our long talked-about travel dreams into reality. After Europe, she had to see Asia, then Africa, then Antarctica. Along the way, her wandering feet opened her eyes, mind, and heart.

  Although she never made it to college, she did manage to launch a successful travel agency that doubled as a charity. Roads Traveled-Hearts Touched enabled people to not only see remote parts of the world on a budget, but to also belong to a volunteer force for those in need. Maddie and her adventurous clients had built schools and orphanages in various parts of Africa and South America, and even helped with much-needed relief in countless disaster areas.

  My best friend fixed her dark brown eyes on my light blue ones and grinned. “First of all, this is going to be the best trip ever because you’ll be by my side,” she said. “Dylan Silver and Madison Evans—back together again!”

  The two of us had been inseparable since the day she shared her Nutella sandwich with me in kindergarten, but for the past four years we’d only seen each other through our computer screens. Her long absence had left a void in both my heart and my life, but I knew that travel was her calling. Unlike me, Maddie lived in the moment and craved constant motion.

  Even now, as we sat in the back seat of a taxi on the way to Denver International Airport, her knees bounced up and down and her fingers strummed against the denim of her jeans.

  “Second of all,” Maddie said, flashing me another toothy smile, “we’ll be living like royalty, Dee.”

  One of her wealthy clients had given her a key to his private cabin near the beautiful Whistler-Blackcomb ski resort. The large mansion was nestled deep in the mountains and all of its lavish amenities were ours for an entire week.

  “I forgot all about Humble Globetrotter Maddie’s love for fancy coffee and warm bubble baths,” I teased.

  Maddie’s shrug was followed by a hearty laugh. “It’s not that I don’t enjoy living out of a backpack, but sometimes a girl needs a little luxury.”

  “What about the third of all?” I asked, though I already knew the answer to my question.

  She evaded my probing gaze. “The third of all? What makes you think there’s a third of all?”

  “I don’t think there’s a third of all, Mads. I know there is,” I told her. “It’s the real reason you wanted to travel all the way from Denver to Whistler during your only week back in the States.”

  My big brother, Adam.

  “Okay, fine. I’m a tiny bit curious to see if Adam still has those sexy skills on the slopes,” Maddie said, confirming my suspicion.

  “Adam hasn’t snowboarded for years,” I reminded her. “Medical school kind of took over his life.”

  “It’s a shame,” she said, pouting. The gesture made her already full lips appear even bigger. “He was really good.”

  Growing up in Colorado meant that we’d grown up on the slopes. I could ski, but Adam was an incredible snowboarder. So incredible, in fact, that he got scouted by sponsors when he was still in high school. Not that my parents would even entertain the idea of allowing him to compete.

  What if he broke his wrist and couldn’t hold a scalpel?

  “Key word—was,” I said to Maddie. “With Adam, it’s stethoscope over snowboard right now.”

  “He has two more years of med school left, right? Maybe he’ll have more free time to hit the slopes when he graduates,” she mused hopefully.

  I shook my head and chuckled. “After med school come years of residency.” Seeing Maddie’s fallen face, I added, “Who knows, maybe this weekend will make him realize how much he missed it.”

  When my brother and I were younger, my parents had allowed us to explore interests through carefully planned hobbies. Somewhere along the way, Adam developed a passion for snowboarding. It was on those same slopes that my love for photography was born. I strived to capture the entire world in photos, but I enjoyed sports photography the most. The thrill that my brother felt when he landed a tricky jump resonated through me when I snapped the perfect shot of him in mid-air.

  Looking through the lens of my Canon and preparing for The Shot was the only time I truly felt alive. It was during those rare moments that I could be myself. Camera in hand, I was awake with potential and power, ready to take on the world. Or, at least, indefinitely capture a tiny piece of it.

  Everything in photography came down to a split second in time. A tiny instant could be life defining, and all I ever wanted was an opportunity to make people pause and enjoy that moment through my art. A long time ago, I’d even considered pursuing my dream of becoming a professional photographer. But just like Adam’s snowboarding, the hobby had to take a backseat to school.

  The fact that I’d graduated from the pre-med program at Stanford an entire semester ahead of my peers in combination with my early acceptance to med school had my parents bragging t
o anyone who’d listen, but my heart ached whenever I thought of my empty, undeveloped portfolio.

  “Regardless of whether or not your brother still snowboards, I’m happy that you managed to convince him to meet us,” Maddie said as our taxi came to a stop in front of the airport entrance. She had full knowledge of how difficult he could be. “Did you have to make a deal with the devil for that to work out?”

  “Kind of. I had to pull the whole your-little-sister-just-graduated-and-you-owe-her-a-celebration act,” I replied as I reached into my purse for cab fare.

  Adam had seemed proud that I was following in his footsteps, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that the only reason he’d agreed to join us was because of convenience. He was in Vancouver for some medical convention my father had invited him to and had two days to spare between conferences.

  I paid the driver and we piled out of the car as Maddie said, “You talked him into coming to Whistler for two days, so I’ll talk him into strapping on a snowboard.” As always, she sounded like she could take on the world. “Hell, maybe I’ll even convince him to go skinny-dipping in the hot tub with me.”

  Despite her self-assured tone, her cheeks turned a deep crimson shade. I knew her well enough to know that her excitement had very little to do with the icy mid-January wind. Maddie had been obsessing over Adam for years. To him, she had always been his little sister’s pesky friend, but that hadn’t deterred her from trying to worm her way into his heart.

  Or his pants, for that matter.

  “Four years have passed since your brother was at our high school graduation. So much has changed. I’m no longer a tall, thin beanpole with frizzy hair and braces.” She shook out her silky auburn locks and placed her hands on her hips. “Look at these curves, baby!” she called out as she made her way into the airport.

  She came to a halt at the end of a long line of people assembled in front of a ticket pick-up booth and performed a dramatic spin, completely oblivious to the fact that her runway performance had turned numerous heads.

  I chuckled to myself as I dragged over our luggage and joined her in line. My best friend had grown into a stunning young woman. She radiated beauty from inside and out, but the best part about her was that she was still every bit the Crazy Maddie I knew and loved.

  “We’ll have to find you a sexy ski fling to occupy your time—and bed—while I’m busy with your brother.” Maddie’s shrill voice ensured that the entire line of passengers en route to Vancouver had overheard her words.

  “No, we won’t,” I informed her—and our spectators. “And the mere fact that you used the words sexy, bed, and brother in the same sentence just signed that idea’s death warrant.”

  “We’ll be at one of the hottest ski resorts in North America.” She winked and elbowed me in the ribs. “With some of the hottest men alive. You should be getting ready to party! You know, like most twenty-two-year-old college graduates often do.”

  “Preston is coming up in two days,” I mumbled, glancing down at my feet. Now was a good time as any to share that particular detail.

  I didn’t even have to look up at Maddie’s face to know that there was a scowl painted across it. “Are you kidding me?” she moaned. “Preston Stonewall the Third? Or whatever freaking number goes after his pretentious-ass name?”

  The Stonewalls were the most esteemed family in all of Denver. Old money, new money—they had it all. Preston’s mother was an oil empire heiress and his father owned a world-famous tech company. Preston was following in his footsteps, already a well-established programmer at twenty-five.

  “He’s only staying for one night, so we’ll still have plenty of girl time.” I tried to keep my voice light, but I was suddenly speaking in a high-pitched tone to compensate for my uneasiness. “He wanted to meet you and congratulate me on my graduation. It’s the only time he’ll be able to get away from the office for the next three months. I couldn’t exactly tell him that he wasn’t allowed to come. He’s flying in on his father’s private jet for the occasion.”

  “I don’t care if he’s riding in on a unicorn,” Maddie retorted. “I don’t have any interest in meeting the guy.”

  “Don’t be mean. Preston is…” What was he? “Well, he’s—”

  “Lame as hell,” Maddie finished for me with a very deliberate yawn.

  Preston and I had met at a fundraiser gala his parents were throwing for my father’s clinic. It hadn’t been love at first sight. Or second sight, for that matter. What we had wasn’t love at all. Our relationship was one of convenience. It was something our parents had forced on us and pushed for, so we went along with it. Two years later, we were still going along with it. Mostly because we both shared one common trait—the inability to stand up to our parents.

  Strangely enough, our arrangement suited us both and kept our families off our backs. We only saw each other when our mutual presence was requested by our parents, so despite the fact that he worked in Silicon Valley and I was in Stanford for school, we only had to carry on the charade when we were in Denver.

  “Dee, we’ve been friends for a long time now,” Maddie said, eyeing me carefully. “Right?” I knew that look—she was getting ready for a lecture.

  “We have,” I replied as the line of people ahead of us began to move.

  “I know you better than you know yourself.”

  “You do.” I busied myself with rummaging through my purse in search of my passport.

  “Preston isn’t your destiny,” she said, gently touching my arm.

  There was nothing wrong with Preston—he was smart, good-looking, kind. He was just the wrong guy for me. And while I succeeded at hiding that fact from my parents—as long as his bank account was full enough, they were utterly blind to how empty my heart was—I was unable to fool Maddie. She knew exactly how I felt about Preston. Or, rather, how I didn’t feel.

  “You know how I know that you and Preston aren’t fated for a happily ever after?” Maddie wasn’t ready to drop the subject.

  I looked up at her and sighed. “There are no sparks in my eyes and no warmth in my voice when I talk about him,” I recited. She had said that exact phrase a billion times over the past two years during our many Skype chats about this topic.

  “No spark is an understatement!”

  “Then I suppose it’s a good thing that I don’t believe in fate,” I reminded her. “I believe in reality.”

  My grandfather had once told me that fate was an inevitable force which preordained all life events. I was seven and he was dying of cancer. He’d evoked the concept with the intention of momentarily alleviating my fears and justifying his rapidly approaching demise, but the idea of not being in control of every single part of my life both scared and scarred me. It was that day that I’d waged my war on fate.

  Fate demanded utter, infallible submission, and I wasn’t very good at surrendering control. I had been brought up to follow a set path in life, trained to feel a sense of comfort in knowing how a story would end before it even had a chance to begin. Yes, I was one of those people—the type who flipped to the very last page of a book and read the final sentence just to make sure that I had full control over every surprising twist along the way. I came to accept the fact that I would never live an exciting life, but at least I was lucky enough to be safe and comfortable.

  Maddie rolled her eyes. “Well even though you don’t believe in fate, can you at least try to believe in fun this week?” she asked, breaking into a smile and tugging at one of my blonde curls.

  “I know how to have fun.” I playfully swatted her hand away, but her words resonated through me, bruising my ego.

  Yes, I was a workaholic-and-a-half with a lame pseudo relationship, but that didn’t mean that I couldn’t be fun. The fact that Maddie seemed to have forgotten that hurt. After all, she’d been the one who’d taught me how to party.

  My friend’s eyebrows shot up in disbelief. “You have fun doing what, exactly? Following your parents’ dreams? That’s all you�
��ve been doing since we left high school. Don’t you think it’s time to let loose and live a little?”

  “I know how to have fun,” I repeated. “I’m just a lot safer about my fun than you. For me, fun equals going out to bar for a drink, not running off to Antarctica.”

  Maddie raised her hands defensively. “Alright, alright. You win. Dylan Silver is the queen of fun. Just please avert that evil glare. I feel like your baby blues are drilling a hole in my head. I’m going to spontaneously combust any second now.”

  “I intend to overdose on fun this week,” I vowed, softening. “Promise.” After all, this wasn’t just a greatly anticipated reunion with a long lost best friend; it was going to be a well-deserved, much-needed break from school and responsibilities. “I’ll let you take the reins on our entertainment,” I told her. “Just like back in the day, okay?”

  Maddie had always been the outgoing one in our group. Hell, she was born without any inhibitions. I, on the other hand, had grown up hearing the words no, don’t, and can’t. My parents had given me so many opportunities in life, but along the way they somehow managed to prevent me from experiencing a normal, messy childhood.

  Maddie’s free-spirited attitude had brought me out of my shell. She knew how awkward I was in social situations, so she constantly pushed me to take more risks and be bolder by challenging me to overcome my introversion.

  “You’re really willing to do everything I ask?” she asked, sounding somewhat doubtful. It had been years since we last played this game.

  “Yes,” I pledged. “Everything.” I knew that I would probably want to eat my words the moment Maddie’s first idea hit, but I was so unbelievably excited about the fact that we were finally together. In this particular moment, I was ready to sign over my firstborn. Or something more important—like my MCAT scores. “Just promise me that you’ll be nice to Preston,” I begged. “And please no making out with my brother. At least not in front of me.”