by Natalie Ann
Copyright 2020 Natalie Ann
All Rights Reserved
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without a written consent.
Author’s Note
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events 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.
The Road Series-See where it all started!!
Lucas and Brooke’s Story- Road to Recovery
Jack and Cori’s Story – Road to Redemption
Mac and Beth’s Story- Road to Reality
Ryan and Kaitlin’s Story- Road to Reason
The All Series
William and Isabel’s Story — All for Love
Ben and Presley’s Story – All or Nothing
Phil and Sophia’s Story – All of Me
Alec and Brynn’s Story – All the Way
Sean and Carly’s Story — All I Want
Drew and Jordyn’s Story— All My Love
Finn and Olivia’s Story—All About You
Landon Barber and Kristen Reid- All Of Us
The Lake Placid Series
Nick Buchanan and Mallory Denning – Second Chance
Max Hamilton and Quinn Baker – Give Me A Chance
Caleb Ryder and Celeste McGuire – Our Chance
Cole McGuire and Rene Buchanan – Take A Chance
Zach Monroe and Amber Deacon- Deserve A Chance
Trevor Miles and Riley Hamilton – Last Chance
Matt Winters and Dena Hall- Another Chance
Logan Taylor and Kennedy Miles- It’s My Chance
The Fierce Five Series
Gavin Fierce and Jolene O’Malley- How Gavin Stole Christmas
Brody Fierce and Aimee Reed - Brody
Aiden Fierce and Nic Moretti- Aiden
Mason Fierce and Jessica Corning- Mason
Cade Fierce and Alex Marshall - Cade
Ella Fierce and Travis McKinley- Ella
Fierce Family
Sam Fierce and Dani Rhodes- Sam
Bryce Fierce and Payton Davies - Bryce
Drake Fierce and Kara Winslow – Drake
Noah Fierce and Paige Parker - Noah
Love Collection
Vin Steele and Piper Fielding – Secret Love
Jared Hawk and Shelby McDonald – True Love
Erik McMann and Sheldon Case – Finding Love
Connor Landers and Melissa Mahoney- Beach Love
Ian Price and Cam Mason- Intense Love
Liam Sullivan and Ali Rogers - Autumn Love
Owen Taylor and Jill Duncan - Holiday Love
Chase Martin and Noelle Bennett - Christmas Love
Zeke Collins and Kendall Hendricks - Winter Love
Troy Walker and Meena Dawson – Chasing Love
Jace Stratton and Lauren Towne - First Love
Gabe Richards and Leah Morrison - Forever Love
Blake Wilson and Gemma Anderson – Simply Love
Brendan St. Nicholas and Holly Lane – Gifts of Love
Paradise Place
Josh Turner and Ruby Gentile – Cupid’s Quest
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Drake Fierce is the most chill dude in his family. Nothing stresses him or ruffles his feathers. So it comes as a massive shock when an employee of his family’s firm makes his blood pressure rise and the snarkiness come out in full force.
Kara Winslow’s life was anything but exciting or perfect like the Fierce family. Dull, boring, and stable were words often used to describe her. Then why does Drake get under her skin and manage to break her unflappable control so much?
Table of Contents
Prologue
Stuck Like Glue
Losing Control
Stroking His Ego
Just Gets To Me
The Truth Nerve
Peace Offering
Color Blind
Keep The Secret
Keep Some Distance
Affect His Mood
Time To Move On
So Cute
Flirtatious Texts
Comfortable and Casual
To Settle Down
Color In Your Life
Test of Sorts
More Expectations
Nothing But Drama
Sexy Specimen
Feels Welcome
Same Wave Length
Dig Her Feet In
So Big and Handsome
His Family
That Space of Yours
Always In Control
Special Place
Slow His Roll
A Great Catch
A Family Dinner
Legacy And Name Alive
Special Kind Of Love
Like Magnets
Duties and Responsibilities
Oddly Touched
In His Face
Knew Everything
Epilogue
Prologue
“It’s going to be great,” Drake said to Tami when he went to pull open the door to walk into Fierce on a Friday night in late May.
He and Tami had graduated from Duke just last week. It was the only college he’d planned on attending since his father and uncle went there for their engineering degrees...just like he got.
Next week he was starting at the family-owned firm and wanted to spend some time having fun with his girlfriend first. In his eyes, that meant going to Charlotte to catch some concerts and chill out. Tonight he was having a few drinks at his oldest uncle’s bar.
“Whatever you want to do,” Tami said, looking off into the distance. That was her lately. Distant. He had no clue what her problem was and every time he asked her, she said it was nothing.
He pulled her aside before they entered. “You’ve had very little input on this trip. It’s just a long weekend until we both start our new jobs.”
“You are starting your new job. I’m still waiting tables trying to get a job,” she said, her tone more sarcastic than normal. That had been happening a lot lately too. It was almost like she was pissed off that he didn’t have to bust his ass to find a job like so many other people.
What most didn’t realize was that he had to work twice as hard to prove he was worthy of the family business. His family didn’t give anyone a handout regardless of what many thought.
His father, Garrett, and his dad’s twin brother, Grant, worked hard to get scholarships into Duke years ago while their older brother, Gavin, paid as much of the difference as he could. They’d lost their father when they were young, but they remained solid as a family.
That’s what his family was...solid. And he was going to damn well prove that he had what it took to represent what they worked so hard to build.
“You’ll find something soon. You know it,” Drake said, always positive. Always cheerful. Laid back even. It was often said he was the most chill of the family and not much got under his skin.
Considering how big his family was, he’d had plenty of time to learn patience.
“Whatever,” Tami said. “I just want to drink tonight. I don’t know why we couldn’t get a hotel instead of staying with your cousin Brody.”
“Brody works until midnight tonight and then two tomo
rrow. He won’t even be around much. What’s the big deal?” Drake asked. He got along with his cousins and Brody was the only one who didn’t go to college, opting to work alongside his father in the bar.
At just twenty-one, Brody was the first of the family to get his own place. A two-bedroom apartment less than a mile from the bar.
“A hotel would be more fun. We could have gotten room service or eaten out every meal. Now it’s like you think I’m going to cook for you.”
“What’s going on with you?” Drake asked. “I never said anything about you cooking for me. You haven’t done that once.”
“You said you didn’t want to waste money on a hotel. I just assumed,” she said crossing her arms.
That was her again. Assuming things for no reason. They’d been dating over a year and he had no clue what the hell was going on with her.
“Why spend money on a hotel when I’ve got family here in town I can stay with? It gives us more money to do things.”
Not that Tami ever spent one dime of her money on anything. It didn’t bother him much in the beginning. But now after almost a year, it was getting on his nerves she never offered to pay for anything.
Just because his family had money and he was starting a job next week that would pay damn good for a twenty-two-year-old didn’t mean he was throwing his cash away on stupid shit.
“You never spend your money on anything unless it’s what you want.” He held her stare, waiting for her to say something else. Like how he pretty much gave her everything she ever asked for and now he was wondering why that was. Why he’d been seeing a future life with her when she was copping an attitude he hadn’t seen before. “Forget it,” she said, putting a smile on her face and moving in to kiss his cheek. “I’m sorry. I guess I’m feeling sorry for myself that I haven’t found a job yet when so many of our friends had positions lined up before they even graduated.”
That was more like it in his eyes. A reason for her behavior. “You’ll find something. Don’t worry.”
He walked back to the door and pulled it open, saw the place was packed but pushed their way to the back where Brody nodded them over to two chairs he’d pulled from the side and now moved to the bar. “I saved these just for you. Thought you would have been here before now,” Brody said.
“We got a late start out of Durham,” Drake said. Tami couldn’t make up her mind on what she wanted to pack. Rather than getting annoyed because he was used to her doing that, Drake had sat in the apartment she shared with two of their classmates for over an hour just flipping through channels on the TV.
“You’re here now. What can I get you to drink?” Brody asked, moving back behind the bar.
“White wine for me,” Tami said. “Whatever is good.” She had a thing for wine when they went out. Never beer, never a mixed drink. Just wine. Not many college students only drank wine. And not wine coolers either.
“I’ll take a Sam Adams,” Drake said.
“Drake, it’s so good to see you again,” his Uncle Gavin said, approaching them. “Not that we didn’t just see you at graduation last weekend. You and Noah made my heart proud watching you walk down that stage with Bryce. Who would have thought four more of the family would have graduated from Duke already?”
“It’s where I always knew I’d be,” Drake said. His cousins Ella and Cade were students now and his cousin Sam graduated two years ago, but the rest of the family went elsewhere.
“Try to stay out of trouble while you’re in town. You know your Aunt Jolene would like to see you before you leave. She’s off tonight.”
“I’ll make sure we stop over tomorrow,” he said.
“See that you do,” his uncle said, then laid down two menus for them to look over.
A few hours later Drake was having a good time at the bar. Music was playing, the place was crowded. Tami was on her third wine while he was nursing his second beer. She’d been quietly looking around at people. She did that a lot. People watched.
He got up to go to the bathroom and when he returned Tami was smiling big and chatting it up with some guy. Someone he’d caught her looking at earlier.
“Who’s this?” he asked, coming back over and putting his arm around her shoulder, pulling her close.
Tami stiffened under his arm and moved it off of her. Whenever she had more than two glasses of wine she acted differently and he could never figure out what character would appear. Sometimes overly friendly, sometimes cold, other times flirty. Tonight looked like a combination of cold with him and flirty...with someone else.
“Ryan,” the guy said. “And who are you?”
“Tami’s boyfriend. So if you want to move on with your night,” Drake said. Even though he was standing he could tell he would tower over the guy that was making moves on his girl. At six foot four, Drake was the tallest of all his siblings and cousins. The same height as his father.
“She seems to think otherwise,” Ryan said, standing up. He was a little wobbly on his feet and gave Drake a shove for good measure.
Yeah, all that calm everyone said he had, that was out the window when he threw a punch and knocked the guy back into the bar. Brody pretty much jumped over the bar and wrapped him up from behind; his uncle grabbed the other guy and moved him to the back.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Brody said in his ear.
“You can let me go. I’m not going to fight you.” It was a bit mortifying that his younger cousin by almost two years, who was a few inches shorter, was much stronger. Then again, Brody had more muscle than them all.
“Damn straight you’re not. Go cool down in the back too.”
“That asshole is back there,” Drake said, knowing he wasn’t going anywhere near the man. “And what is wrong with you, Tami?”
She was grinning at him, her nails trailing down his arm. “Wow, Drake. I didn’t know you had it in you for that. I can’t wait to get back to Brody’s place now.”
Brody snorted next to him and whispered in his ear. “Dude. That’s wrong and not what I’d expect of someone dating you.”
Drake shook his head and took a step away from Brody. His cousin was right. “Tami, get your purse and let’s go.”
Only he was sleeping on Brody’s couch and they’d be leaving in the morning. His family had tried to warn him about her but he didn’t listen. He wouldn’t make that mistake again.
Stuck Like Glue
Eleven Years Later
Drake yawned as he pulled into the parking lot at the family firm, parked his Audi A8 and got out, stretching his long legs.
All the men were tall in the Fierce family. His father and his Uncle Grant at six foot four. Just like Drake. His Uncle Gavin was the tallest at six foot five. Drake’s twin, Noah, was six foot three and Drake held that extra inch over his brother’s head like the Stanley Cup Trophy. The rest of the men in the family were anywhere from six foot one to six foot three.
Big, strong...fierce. Like their name.
Though Drake never considered himself that fierce. He was probably the most laid back of the group. He went with the flow like water over a dam. Whichever way the wind blew, he could float along with it like the white fluff from a dandelion.
He’d only lost his temper a few times in life and those times, he’d learned his lessons.
Physical violence never sat well with him unless he was wrestling with his brothers as a kid and even then he’d done it the least. He was more a lover than a hater.
It wasn’t worth losing his temper in the past and it was not now. Too much on the line.
He’d taken his suit jacket off when he got in his car and hung it up. He really didn’t even need to have it on today but got into the habit of dressing more when he was going to meetings like this. It’s not like he had a tie on, just a light gray shirt, almost white, his jacket and charcoal gray pants.
He decided to leave the jacket there for now; he’d be going home soon anyway. He should have just gone home after the meeting, but he had too much
to do and had wanted to take a few of the men to dinner after. Which was why he was back at eight rather than six like most thought he’d be.
The two-hour drive from Charlotte allowed his mind time to work out a few kinks in his blueprints once the clients made changes and suggestions. Overall, the city was pleased with everything. And since it was a multi-year contract to repave roads, fix some bridges, and hopefully work on the water drainage if everything stayed in budget, he’d considered it a big win to get this contract. One he’d spent a lot of hours on. Hours of work and schmoozing officials. Come to find out, one of the officials knew his father, went to school with him back in Charlotte and reached out.
He snorted now, thinking he’d scored that big win, only to have his father and uncle laugh at him and say, “We like you kids to think those things, but they reached out to us first.”
That was his father and Uncle Grant, always busting on everyone’s ass. In a good way though. As family, they were stuck like glue.
He walked into the lobby of the four-story building his father and uncle owned, went to the elevator and punched the fourth floor where his office was located. Three fourths of the staff were on the fourth floor, the rest on the third with storage and conference rooms, the kitchens, and other miscellaneous rooms. The first two floors were renters.
When he got to the fourth floor, the lights were on, the cleaning people doing their thing, but most staff were gone. He would be soon, but wanted to finish up something first.
As he passed by the finance department on his way to his office at the other end of the hall, he saw a light on and popped his head in. Just as he expected, there was Kara Winslow working away at her desk. Probably planning spreadsheets full of meetings that she’d want him to attend first thing in the morning. “Late night?” he asked.
Her head shifted up fast, her dark eyes focusing on him behind her glasses. She didn’t always wear them, sometimes she had contacts in, he assumed. Her long brown hair was pulled back like it always was. Now that he thought of it, he didn’t think he’d ever seen it down.