Until past meets present and Kane’s life threatens all the progress they’ve made. Then it’s Hayley’s turn to step up and stand up for the relationship and life she’s finally coming to believe she deserves.
Fearless
Excerpt
PREORDER FEARLESS – click HERE
Fearless Photo and cover: Sara Eirew
Chapter One
“Kane! Pick up on Route 5. Lady needs a tow,” Kane Harmon’s father, Joe, called out from the office in Harmon’s Garage.
Kane wiped his greasy hands on a rag and pushed himself out from beneath the jacked-up car he’d been working on. He rose to his feet and glanced around the empty shop, taking stock of his situation. Jackson Traynor, who usually handled the runs with the tow was out. He’d gone to the city to pick up an emergency part, meaning Kane and his dad were the only ones here. Joe, who Kane had no desire to leave by himself.
Temptation was always too great for Kane’s father. If he could pocket something to pawn, trade or sell for extra cash, he’d do it to fuel his gambling addiction. Unfortunately, Kane couldn’t send his dad out on the run because the older man was no longer allowed to drive. Too many accidents and he’d had his license revoked.
But Kane wasn’t going to leave a woman stranded on the highway, so he’d have to go take care of the tow himself. He headed for the office and found his father sitting behind the desk, writing on a scrap pad. Kane hoped it wasn’t notes on horses or ball games.
“Hey,” Kane said, striding around to the back of the desk, coming up behind his father. “I’m going to go do the pick up since Jackson’s out.” While he spoke, he pulled a key out of his pocket and opened the cash drawer, removing the bills that were in there.
At a glance, there were hundreds, fifties and smaller bills separated in the till. He didn’t leave anything behind to provide his father the least little bit of temptation.
“You’ve got to be shitting me.” His father’s eyes were on the money Kane shoved into his front pockets. “You don’t trust me,” he said, sullenly.
“No, dad, I don’t. Why should I?”
There’d been holiday money he’d gambled away when they were kids and when things were bad his dad’s motto was, if it wasn’t nailed down, it’s fair game. Kane didn’t feel the least bit guilty doing what he had to do to make sure he could provide for the family when his father couldn’t. Joe wouldn’t steal while Kane was in the shop. Kane knew that. It was only when nobody was around to see or answer to, that the demon on his shoulder got the best of him and temptation took over.
His dad muttered something under his breath, undecipherable but obviously mean, and Kane chose to ignore him.
“I shouldn’t be gone long. Hold down the fort?” Kane asked.
“Oh. You’ll trust me to talk to customers?” Sarcasm dripped from his dad’s words. “Last time I looked it was my name on the signage,” he muttered.
And last time Kane checked, he was the one running the business. True, the building was in his father’s name, but the old man wouldn’t budge on adding Kane or his siblings to the deed. The only salvation was the fact that Joe knew his limitations. He’d turned the business over to Kane when he turned twenty-two, after a bad run with some loan sharks. Kane stepped in and paid off the debt and in exchange, the business was in Kane’s name. Just not the land. Kane wanted it divided between the three siblings but his father’s pride demanded he hold onto it until he passed on. Which, thank God, didn’t look like it would be any time soon.
His father drove Kane mad but he loved his old man. Joe raised them since his mom died from Ovarian cancer when Kane had been fifteen and had done the best he could with the limited skill set he had. His heart was in the right place even if his vices weren’t.
Kane palmed the truck keys in his hands. “Don’t forget Nicky’s coming by after school,” he reminded his dad.
His sister Joy’s seven-year-old son spent afternoons at the garage with his uncle and grandfather while his mom worked. With Nicky’s father out of his life – and good riddance – it was important for Nicky to spend time with the men in his family. Not to mention it freed his sister up to work and not worry about her kid after school. And Kane liked having his nephew around. Even if he was under a car, Nicky did his homework in the office and chatted up his grandpa. It was good.
Kane stepped into the blazing, late afternoon sunshine, appreciating the summer heat on his face. Once he was outside, he forgot about the aggravation with his dad and instead appreciated the fresh air after being cooped under a car for the better part of the day.
He popped his aviators on his face and climbed into the flatbed, starting up the engine. He drove out of town and onto the highway, music blasting on the radio, catching sight of the gleaming, what looked like new, bright red Ford SUV on the side of the road.
The influx of summer visitors usually meant expensive foreign cars littering the side of the main street and taking up the prime parking near the beach. This little beauty didn’t strike him as one of those but he didn’t recognize it as one of his regulars, either.
He pulled in behind the SUV onto the shoulder of the road and parked. Hopping out, he strode to the front of his vehicle and caught sight of a woman in a flirty dress bent over the open hatch, as she draped what looked like a sheet over something in the far back.
He shoved his hands into the front pocket of his jeans and looked his fill of the sweet ass aimed in the air and long legs leaning against the edge of the back, his dick perking up and taking notice.
Before he could make his presence known, though she had to have heard his truck’s arrival, she turned around and met his gaze.
Recognition slammed into him, raw and real. “Halley Ward,” he muttered. “Well, I’ll be damned.” The girl he knew not at all but had protected from bullying back in high school stood before him, all grown up.
“Hi, Kane,” she said softly, shading her eyes from the sun with her hands. Eyes he knew were a light blue.
She’d been quiet and withdrawn back then, head almost always hidden inside a hooded sweatshirt, only her two long braids hanging out from her protective armor. But he knew her story.
Everyone did.
Rescued from foster care at fifteen by her aunt, Halley never seemed to adjust to life back home with her wealthy family. She didn’t reach out to other girls or make friends at school or in town. Or maybe they didn’t welcome her. He hadn’t been sure. He’d only known that at the time, he had recently lost his mom and pulled back from the world, so he recognized that same sense of sadness and loss in Halley and had stepped in when the kids gave her a rough time. They’d never talked or bonded but he knew she appreciated his efforts. Could tell by the lingering, sad but grateful looks she passed him in the hall that his actions meant something to her.
Despite living in the same town, he hadn’t seen her in years. She was more solitary than he was and she didn’t hang out at the The Dive, the main bar in town on Friday or Saturday nights. Had he wondered about her through the years? Sure. But life went on.
“So. Dead SUV?” he asked, gesturing to her ride.
“Dead new SUV,” she said, sounding pissed off. “What kind of new car just… dies?” She braced her hands on her slender hips and frowned at her vehicle.
He shrugged. “Won’t know until I get jacked it up and take a look.” He met her gaze. “How’ve you been?” he asked.
“Good.” She toyed with a strand of hair.
With the sun streaming down, her took in those brown locks with sun kissed streaks of blonde closer to the ends that hung just past her shoulders. And he immediately noticed that the face she hid as a kid was all the more striking now.
Seriously.
She was fucking beautiful. And still fragile at least in appearance, her skin like porcelain, her features delicate with a hint of freckles over the bridge of her nose. And there was still that hint of sadness that fell over her features, there whether she was aware of it or not.
“You?” she asked. “How are you doing? Still working at the garage, I see?”
He’d had a job there from the time he was a kid, hanging out from a young age, just as Nicky did now.
Kane nodded. “I run the place,” he wasn’t sure why he felt compelled to let her know.
“That’s good.” She ran her hands up and down her arms.
“Hey, let me get your truck on the flatbed and we’ll go back to the garage. I’ll take a quick look and see if I can tell you what we’re dealing with.”
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome to hang out in the front of the cab while I work,” he said.
She smiled. “And thanks again.” She spun on her low-heeled sandals and her floral dress, which clung to her curves, spun out around her thighs.
Flirty. Cute. Sexy as fuck.
He did his thing and soon they were on their way back to the garage. “So what’s covered in the back of your truck?” he asked, having seen the sheet for himself.
“Paintings. I paint. My work is in the gallery in town. I was taking a few pieces over when my car died and I didn’t want the sun beating down and fading them.”
“Wow. That’s cool. I’ll have to stop by the place and see your work.” He was impressed with that little bit of knowledge about her.
His hands on the wheel, he glanced over. A blush stained her cheeks. “I’m not sure my work is your style.”
“Doesn’t mean I don’t want to see it anyway. Besides, how would you know what my style is?”
“You’re right. I don’t,” she murmured. She curled her hands around her purse on her lap and he refocused on the road.
“Maybe we could change that.” Now where had that suggestion come from?
Her gaze swung to his. Startled. “What are you saying”
“Go out with me some time.” No, he hadn’t planned it but Halley Ward intrigued him. She always had.
“I don’t date.” That surprised him… but it shouldn’t, now that he gave it thought.
It wasn’t like he saw her out and about anyway and she did like to keep to herself. But not to even date? What was that all about?
“Then call it two old friends catching up,” he said, now even more determined to find out.
He glanced over to find her lips twitching in amusement she was obviously trying not to show. She might not want to be interested in going out with him… but she was.
“We weren’t friends,” she reminded him gently.
“Do friends stand up for each other?” he asked.
She nodded. “They do.”
“Then I’d consider us friends.” He looked at her and winked. “Just think about it,” he said as he pulled into the garage lot.
Because she intrigued him. Maybe it was fate that her car broke down and he’d been the one to answer the call, bringing them together again after all these years. They were adults now and he wanted to get to know what lay behind those blue eyes, what secrets she held. Because he sensed, then and now, that her layers ran deep.
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About the Author
Carly Phillips is the N.Y. Times and USA Today Bestselling Author of over 50 sexy contemporary romance novels featuring hot men, strong women and the emotionally compelling stories her readers have come to expect and love. Carly’s career spans over a decade and a half with various New York publishing houses, and she is now an Indie author who runs her own business and loves every exciting minute of her publishing journey. Carly is happily married to her college sweetheart, the mother of two nearly adult daughters and three crazy dogs (two wheaten terriers and one mutant Havanese) who star on her Facebook Fan Page and website. Carly loves social media and is always around to interact with her readers. You can find out more about Carly at www.carlyphillips.com.
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Thank You
Coming Next: Fearless
Excerpt from Fearless
Keep Up with Carly
About the Author
Tempt Me Page 16