Nicole trusted Wyatt with her heart once. She won’t make
the same mistake twice.
A broken-down car
destroys Nicole DeMonde’s plan to be cool and self-sufficient when she returns
to her hometown for her brother’s wedding. The cop who comes to her rescue is
none other than local hottie Wyatt Truman, who slept with her then dumped her
when they were teens. She has no choice but to accept his help. However, she
knows better than to trust him with her heart twice.
Wyatt is determined
to earn Nicole’s forgiveness and make amends for his callous past. Once he lays
eyes on her, he can’t help wanting more than forgiveness. In fact, his
intentions are starting to bear a suspicious resemblance to the forever variety.
If she can’t avoid
Wyatt, a one-night stand might be just the thing Nicole needs to work him out
of her system. Or will her recovery plan destroy her heart once and for all?
Excerpt:
“So you protect
people. Interesting.” She glided into the car, her skirt riding dangerously
high up her thighs. “Who’s going to protect me from you?”
Ouch. And he
completely deserved the zinger. He wrenched his gaze from her sweet, smooth
legs. “Looks to me like you can protect yourself just fine, but if you’re
worried about me, I can call someone else to watch over you.”
“The only thing I’m
worried about is if I have to refer to you as my brother-in-law after this
wedding.”
“Please don’t.” He
winced as he closed the door.
After checking over
her disabled vehicle, he hustled to the driver’s side of his car. While he
settled in the seat, Nicole took out her cell phone and held it at arm’s
length, selfie-style.
“What are you doing?”
He couldn’t take his eyes off her reflection in the rearview mirror.
“Updating my
Facebook status. I’ll send you a friend request, and you can check it out. My
life is an open book, Officer.”
Cripes. First, she
wanted to call him her brother. Now they were going to be Facebook friends.
“Whatever you’re comfortable with.” He wouldn’t be comfortable again until she
exited the city limits and preferably the state, as well. In fact, he was
growing more uncomfortable by the minute, specifically in the crotch of his
uniform.
“What are your
plans until the rehearsal?” he asked. “Do you want to drive by your dad’s house
again? Maybe work up the nerve to ring the doorbell?”
In the mirror, her
face flushed. “I have no intention of ringing the doorbell, not because I’m a
coward but because he treated his family like crap, and I’m not going to
pretend otherwise.”
“Sorry. None of my
business.” But he couldn’t help adding, “You know he’s coming to the rehearsal
tonight and you’ll see him there?”
“Unfortunately. I
can’t avoid running into people I don’t want to see. It’s the reason I never
came back to Regret Hollow and still wouldn’t have if my brother hadn’t decided
to hold the most important event of his life here.”
He got the message.
Her dad wasn’t the only person she’d have preferred to avoid. Arriving at his
house, he backed the squad car into the driveway parallel to his truck. As he
rounded the car to let her out, he flipped on his phone and accepted her friend
request. Thumbing over to her profile, he pulled open the door.
As she stepped onto
the driveway, he read aloud the status above her picture. “Hellish meeting,
flight delay, defective rental, and now I’m riding in the back of a squad car.
Murphy’s Law is biting my ass today.” He lifted his gaze to hers. “If I bite
your ass, you’ll find it a hell of a lot more enjoyable than with that Murphy
fellow.”
Her eyes widened
and then narrowed. “You’re going to have to do a hell of a lot more ass kissing
before you get the chance to nibble on anything of mine.”
