Evie’s Awakening: Love in Holiday Junction, Book Three

by Franklin, Tami

  Evie’s Awakening

  Love in Holiday Junction, Book Three

  Tami Franklin

  Copyright © T.M. Franklin, 2019

  Published by Calava Press

  The right of T.M. Franklin to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her under the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000

  This work is copyrighted. All rights are reserved. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Cover images by: www.depositphotos.com

  © kiuikson

  © yellow2j

  Cover design by: Tami Franklin

  Visit the Author’s Web Site at

  www.TMFranklin.com

  He’s everything she doesn’t want. But he might be exactly what she needs.

  Evie Hart has no time for romance. She’s poised to take over her father’s billion-dollar business, and a new development in a small northwest town could be just the ticket to get her dad to hand over the reins. When local protests put a hitch in her plans, Evie heads to Holiday Junction to take down the lawyer standing in her way. . . and the infuriating jerk causes her nothing but trouble.

  Liam Durant only wants to protect his hometown, and his broken heart. Dumped by his childhood sweetheart, he swears off women altogether, and uses work to fill the void. Hired to fight the builder of a planned luxury development, Liam immediately butts heads with the company’s pushy vice president. She’s a pain the neck, so why can’t he get her out of his mind?

  They’re on opposite sides of the fight, but the more time Liam and Evie spend together, the harder it gets to deny a growing attraction. When they finally put aside their battle of wills, can they drop the walls around their hearts and take a chance on love?

  Welcome to Holiday Junction, the town that takes it holidays seriously, and the perfect place to fall in love… any day of the year.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Epilogue

  Special Thanks

  Also By

  About the Author

  “We’ve been summoned to the Penthouse,” Grayson intoned in a low, ominous voice, his head poking through Evie’s office door. “I think it’s about Tobara.”

  Evie stood and gathered up her papers, sliding them into a manila folder. “Of course, it’s about Tobara. Everything’s about Tobara,” she replied, slipping on her suit jacket and checking the mirror over her shoulder to make sure she had no stray hairs or ink smudges. She smoothed her lapels and tucked the folder under her arm. “Let’s go.”

  They walked down the plush, carpeted hallway, ignoring the view of the New York skyline out the windows to the left. Evie could only think about one thing: Tobara and what it could mean for her career. It was her baby. The first project she’d been solely in charge of, without her father looking over her shoulder. And now it had hit a bump.

  She swallowed her nerves and got into the elevator, tapping the toe of her perfectly shiny, leopard-skin pump. Where Evie was all business from the ankles up, she let herself go a bit when it came to shoes—a small act of rebellion, if only in her own mind.

  “What’s the latest?” she asked Grayson as she pressed the button for the top floor.

  In response, he stroked a single finger down her arm, dark eyes sparkling as he smiled suggestively. “How about dinner tonight?”

  Evie fought back a sigh. Grayson Sparks was more than chief in-house counsel at Hart Enterprises. He was her on-again, off-again boyfriend of sorts. Nothing serious. Just a date when needed for a gala or fundraising event. A dinner or drinks when one didn’t want to be alone.

  But right now, Evie had too much on her mind to deal with him. “I can’t tonight, Gray. I have to go over the bids for Tobara, and try to figure out how to speed up the environmental impact statement. Have you heard anything?”

  Gray accepted the diversion, sliding his errant hand into his pocket. “Nothing yet. I have my usual feelers out, but they haven’t turned up anything.”

  “And do you know what my father wants?”

  Gray shrugged, eyes on the flashing numbers above the elevator door. “I guess we’re about to find out,” he said quietly as the doors swooshed open.

  Hart Enterprises took up the top twenty floors of Hart Tower in midtown Manhattan, and Warren Hart, of course, snagged the entire top floor for his own use, including a spacious office, a gym and massage room, and living quarters accessible by a second, private elevator. Evie and Gray smiled at Greta, Warren’s secretary as they stepped off the main elevator, Evie’s heels clicking on the polished marble floor.

  “Go on back. He’s expecting you,” Greta said as the phone rang. “Mr. Hart’s office. May I help you?” She typed at her computer, humming in response to whatever the person on the phone had said, and Gray pulled open one of the huge wooden double doors leading to Warren’s office.

  “After you,” he said with a little bow.

  When Evie was a child, she used to love to come to her father’s office. She and her brother, Niko, would run around from room to room, playing tag and hide and seek. Back then, her father had laughed indulgently at their antics. He’d pull them both up onto his lap and order in sky-high ice cream sundaes. When her mother would come to pick them up, neither ever wanted to leave.

  That all changed, of course. It seemed like forever ago, now.

  Another smaller door led to her father’s actual working office. Gray knocked twice, only opening the door when her father called out for them to enter. He held the door for Evie, and she forced a placid look on her face, unwilling to let her father—or anyone, actually—see how nervous she really was.

  The room seemed smaller than when she was little, but no less intimidating. Behind the huge, mahogany desk and her father’s black, leather chair was a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows with an incredible view of the city skyline. A leather couch and two chairs comprised a sitting area off to her right, a large picture of her father shaking the president’s hand on the wall behind the couch. To her left, two large bookcases flanked a glass case containing some of the priceless items her father had collected in his travels—art and sculptures, rare manuscripts—even a quill pen once owned by Benjamin Franklin himself.

  Her steps were muted by a large area rug that her father paid some obscene amount for at auction. She almost felt bad walking on it. She and Gray sat in thick, padded chairs facing the desk as Warren poured himself a drink. Whiskey, neat. He didn’t ask if they wanted anything, but took his seat and leaned back in his chair, observing them over his glass. He was in shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows and his tie loose. His blue eyes, so warm when Evie was a little girl, were piercing now. Almost icy. Evie made sure she met his gaze, and that hers didn’t stray to the photograph of her mother that still sat on his desk.

  “What are you going to do about Tobara?” he asked, setting the crystal tumbler onto his desk blotter.

  Evie opened her mouth to respond, but Gray beat her to it
.

  “We go to court next Tuesday on the injunction,” he said. “But I’m flying to Holiday Junction tomorrow to meet with town leaders and see if we can’t work things out before it gets that far.”

  Warren’s lips curled into a thoughtful frown. “You think any of them can be persuaded?”

  Evie knew what persuaded meant. Bribed was a more accurate word.

  “Possibly.” Gray leaned back in his chair, crossing his legs at the ankles. “The mayor perhaps. Or there are a few local business owners with debts I’m sure they’d be eager to settle.”

  Evie’s stomach turned, and she wished she had one of her antacids, but kept up her stoic facade.

  “It might not even be necessary,” she said. “We own the property. I sincerely doubt a judge is going to delay demolition because an old factory might have historical significance.”

  “It’s been done before,” Warren said shortly. “The longer the delay, the more money we lose, and the better the chance they’ll be able to find something to stop the project altogether. Some endangered rodent living in a tree . . . or temporary wetlands, or who knows what else?” He stood and turned to look out the window, his hands on his hips. “You brought this project to me,” he said. “Assured me that it would be a sound investment.”

  Evie could hear the disappointment in his voice. “It is a sound investment,” she replied. “The factory had been sitting unoccupied for almost fifty years.”

  “And it’s sitting there still,” he said gruffly.

  “We got the property for a song. No one wanted it,” she said, trying to sound confident instead of pleading or desperate. “With all due respect, there was no way to know there would be protests—”

  “You should have known.”

  He didn’t raise his voice—Warren rarely did—but Evie still felt the words like a slap in the face. Tobara was to be her leg up in the company, her shining moment—the one that would get her father to finally hand over the reins and name her his successor at Hart Enterprises. Now, she could feel it all slipping through her fingers.

  She glanced down at her shoes, the pointed, leopard-print toes perfectly aligned side by side. “I’ll take care of it,” she said.

  He finally looked at her, a brow arched in surprise—or maybe in challenge. “How?”

  “I’ll go with Gray to Holiday Junction.”

  Warren turned to face her fully, crossing his arms over his chest. “And do what, exactly?”

  Evie lifted her chin. “Whatever I have to.”

  A glint of something appeared in her father’s eyes. She thought, perhaps, it could have been respect.

  “All right then,” he said slowly. “Take the jet. Keep me posted.”

  He turned again to look out the window, and Evie and Gray got up to leave.

  “Oh, Gray?” Warren sipped his drink. “Has the situation in Philadelphia been dealt with?”

  Evie felt a chill down her spine at her father’s tone. The project in Philadelphia had been stalled by a fervent civil rights attorney fighting to protect the tenants of a condemned apartment building on a portion of the property. The case had been tied up in court for months.

  Gray slipped a hand into his pants pocket. “It has,” he said. “The case has been dropped. The tenants relocated.”

  Evie swallowed. She wasn’t sure how exactly Gray had accomplished that. Wasn’t sure if she wanted to know.

  “Excellent,” Warren said, turning back to the window. “Let’s hope we can resolve this situation as satisfactorily.”

  Dismissed, Evie and Gray left the room. She knew her father asked about Philadelphia for a reason. It was a message. He was letting Evie know that if she couldn’t fix the problem in Washington, Gray would. And she might not like how he went about it.

  “Well, that was interesting,” Gray said to her once they were back in the elevator.

  She let out a long, slow breath. “Yeah.”

  “So, you’re sure you want to do this?” he asked. “Could mean getting those pretty hands dirty.” He took one in his and kissed her palm.

  She laughed, although her stomach twisted. “You think I’m not up to the challenge?”

  He grinned wolfishly. “Could be fun, though. The two of us alone in the wilderness.” His mouth hovered over her hand, breath tickling her skin.

  Evie snatched it away. “It’s business, Gray,” she said firmly. “Not a vacation. There will be no fun. Not on this trip.”

  Gray shrugged nonchalantly and smoothed his pristine tie. “If you say so.”

  The elevator doors opened and Gray stepped out, turning back when she didn’t move. “Aren’t you coming?”

  “I need to see Niko if we’re leaving in the morning,” she replied.

  “Niko?” He made a show of checking his watch. “It’s almost three o’clock, won’t he have left for the day?”

  She would have defended her brother if it wasn’t true. And if it would have made any difference to Gray. Instead, she simply reached over to press another button. “I’ll see you at the airport. Text me the time.”

  “Will do.” Gray waved over his shoulder as he walked away, and the elevator doors slid shut.

  Evie sighed heavily, slumping against the wall as she slipped one foot out of her shoe, scrunching her toes. She’d have to re-organize her to-do list—packing tonight, then she’d review the bids during the flight. The elevator dinged and she put her shoe back on with a little groan.

  Niko’s official title was Vice President of Public Relations and Corporate Communications. In reality, he was the public face of the company and spent most of his time attending charity events and schmoozing. He had little to do with the actual day-to-day running of the division, and was perfectly fine with that. Evie, on the other hand, hated putting on a public face and preferred her spot in the trenches. It worked out well for both of them, although she did, on occasion, grow frustrated with her brother’s rather laissez-faire attitude when it came to the family business.

  His assistant wasn’t at his desk, so Evie went right to Niko’s open office door and rapped on the frame. “Niko? You still here?”

  Her brother came out of the attached en suite, fiddling with a cufflink. He was dressed in an impeccable black tuxedo, his nearly-as-dark hair swept artfully back from his face. He’d shaved as well, his usual five o’clock shadow swiped away, leaving golden skin still a bit shiny with dampness.

  Although Evie was four years older, they’d often been mistaken for twins, the same cognac eyes and full lips, the same golden skin, inherited from their Greek mother. Evie would even have the same black hair, if not for her frequent visits to her stylist for highlights. But the physical resemblance was where it ended. Evie had always been quiet and responsible. Niko was loud, brash and exuberant. The life of the party, without a care in the world. Evie equally admired and resented him for that.

  “Hey, Sis,” he said, buttoning the tailored jacket. “Did you need something? I’ve got to get going.”

  She sat in one of the leather chairs before his desk and took off her shoes, digging her toes into the plush carpet. “What are you up to? Big date or something?’

  He grinned, his white teeth dazzling against his tawny skin. “Or something.”

  Evie rolled her eyes. “Let me guess. Movie star? Or beauty queen?”

  Niko put on a mock-offended look. “Do you really think me so shallow?”

  She just stared at him.

  He threw up his hands. “Fine. Some friends are hosting a party, if you must know. And I have to catch a flight to Miami in about a half an hour, so . . .”

  “You’re going to Miami? Tonight?”

  “Sure.” He checked his phone and slipped it into his inside pocket. “We’re taking Richard’s jet.”

  “And when will you be back?”

  Niko rolled his eyes. “Tomorrow night. Maybe.” He shrugged. “We’ll see how it goes.”

  Evie wasn’t surprised. Niko did what Niko wanted and it had always b
een that way. She supposed she was at least partially to blame. Evie had always indulged him.

  You’re the big sister, kardia mou—my heart. You must always protect him. Their mother had meant well. But sometimes Evie wondered if she’d fulfilled the request a little too well.

  She put her shoes back on and stood up. “Well, tomorrow night would be good, if you can swing it,” she said, trying not to sound sarcastic. Niko didn’t respond well to sarcasm. “I have to fly to Washington in the morning for the Tobara project. I’ll probably be out there for a least a week.”

  He followed her to the door. “D.C. or the other one?”

  “The other one.”

  Niko made a face. “Don’t get eaten by a bear. Or a hipster.”

  Despite herself, Evie laughed. “I’ll try not to.”

  They got into the elevator and Evie punched the button for her floor and the lobby for Niko.

  “Really, though. I’d appreciate it if you kept an eye on things around here while I’m gone,” she said.

  Niko released a put-upon sigh. “If I must.” He let out a little laugh and shook his head. “Relax, Evie. I’ll be here. I don’t know what you think is going to happen.”

  She chewed on her lip. “I’ve heard Dad’s been talking to Peyton Wheeler.”

  The doors slid open and Niko held them, blocking her way. “About what?”

  “What do you think?” she replied in a low voice, checking to make sure no one else was in hearing range. “I think he’s considering bringing him on as CEO when he retires.”

  Niko’s face darkened, his jaw tense. “He wouldn’t.”

  Evie shrugged, a sudden prick of tears taking her by surprise. She swallowed them down. “He might.”