A Lifetime to Find Love

by Ava Riley

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  About the Author

  www.lazydaypub.com

  A Lifetime to Find Love

  Digital ISBN- 9781612580234

  Print ISBN- 1612580238

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  Copyright © 2011 April Gutierez

  Cover art by Bret Poinier

  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, any events or locales is purely coincidental. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.

  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission from the publisher LazyDay, with the exception of quotes used in reviews and critical articles.

  Dedication

  To my husband, Marc, thank you for your undying love, your never ending support, and your constant encouragement. I love you more than life itself. Thanks for helping with the research!

  To my Dad and June. Your encouragement makes me want to be a better person! I love you both!

  To my reading buddy, Amanda, thank you for reading as I wrote and your constant encouragement to keep going. I love you girl, you ROCK!

  To my English teacher, Ms. Dixon, you taught me so much and I appreciate that you were always available for me. I couldn't have even begun this project without you. Thank you!

  Chapter 1

  The pounding at the base of Tessa Worth’s skull jerked her back to consciousness and to the recollection of events that caused the pain in her head and her erect position on her living room floor. Heat crept into her cheeks from the embarrassing images of her trying to seduce her brother’s best friend. His best friend since they had all three been kids, at that. Damn, what had she been thinking? Oh yeah, now she remembered – she wasn’t thinking! They had gone out for drinks and she must have had one too many. Apparently one had been too many because she was sure she’d not consumed any more than that! Did she really push him down into a chair and straddle him? God, just the thought made her head pound even harder. How was she going to face him? Hell, how was she going to face herself?

  “Tess? Tess? Jesus, are you okay?”

  With a moan, Tessa slowly opened her eyes to see her brother’s best friend, Cade, hovering over her, his hand reaching for her.

  God, just take me now! Get me out of this situation, was her only coherent thought.

  “Tess, oh my God! Are you okay? I’m so sorry, I didn’t-”

  “Please, if you care about my sanity at all, please do not say another word.”

  “But,” Cade continued, “I was just surprised; taken off guard when you straddled me the way you did. I-”

  “Cade! Please, don’t! It’s bad enough I have a multitude of Polaroids floating around in my head about what just happened. Please, just help me up.”

  Tessa grabbed at Cade’s biceps for leverage as he bent down to help her up and realized why the one drink threw those events into place. Damn, the man was built. Not built like a body builder, but just enough muscles to make her mouth water. As he pulled her up close to him, she drew his scent into her nostrils. He smelled delicious, in spite of the fact that they’d spent the majority of the night at a packed club. Oh, how she wished she could bottle his scent up just to have it on hand when he wasn’t around. The things it did to her body that no other scent had ever done, sending liquid heat pooling between her thighs. Then the thought occurred to her that she must have had more than one drink; otherwise, she would not be having such erotic images flashing through her mind. What was she doing thinking of Cade that way? Rowan and Cade became friends when they were ten and Tessa was three, so Cade was practically like a brother to her. She felt comfortable with him and that’s why they were at the club together and why they’d come back to her place. Neither of them were having much luck on the dating scene and staying home another Friday night alone wasn’t very appealing. She had called Rowan to go out with her to the local club – The LaunchPad – but he was working the late shift at the hospital this weekend. Rowan and Cade were both doctors and while Rowan enjoyed working the E.R. at the local hospital, Cade had started his own family practice, so his schedule was more flexible than Rowan’s. It had been Rowan’s idea that she give Cade a call and have him go with her.

  “Sis, you know guys will try to pick you up if you have someone with you” he’d told her to convince her to call Cade. Not that she needed convincing. She liked Cade. Fun to be around, Cade always laughed at her jokes, even the ones she knew weren’t that funny. Rowan’s reasoning did make sense though. While at the bar, she always got hit on more if she were with a guy than if she were with her girlfriends. So, she called Cade and he gladly accepted.

  When she’d made the call, she never thought she’d be standing mere inches from him, with his biceps in her hands, and her fingers kneading his muscles without thought. His scent filled her senses, causing a desire to have this perfect specimen buried deep within her. His muscled chest flexed every time her fingers moved against his skin. Leaning into him, his breath hitched and his body stiffened. She was close enough to feel the erection beneath his pants grow within seconds. He wanted her as much as she wanted him and she not only felt it his body, but saw it in his eyes; they darkened with desire and suddenly she forgot about the splitting headache she’d had moments before.

  The desire that lit up the room was impossible to deny, but damn it, he was Rowan’s best friend and she wouldn’t put Cade in such an awkward position. Why was it that when she finally found not only an incredibly sexy man, but a chivalrous one as well, did there have to be a sign hung around his neck that read, “Off Limits?” Tessa silently reprimanded herself, as she tried to deal with the unquenchable desire she felt for Cade. . At least the evening wasn’t a complete waste. The night was nothing short of perfect, at least it had been until she decided to hike up her skirt and slide over his thighs. The mistake was that little glitch in her common sense and self-preservation, which caused the shocked look on Cade’s face. Her being tossed across the living room, slamming her head against the wood flooring were the benefits she was now reaping. Standing like a kid in a candy store with a plethora of yummies to eat and all the restrictions in the world not to touch, her frustration grew more intense. Look but don’t touch.

  Before she had a chance to make a fool of herself again by pushing him back into that damn chair and having her way with him, she jerked away as fast as humanly possible. “Cade, I am so sorry! I don’t know what came over me.”

  With laughter in his absolutely gorgeous blue eyes, he said, “I should be apologizing. Damn, I didn’t mean to toss you like a rag doll. It’s not like I haven’t ever had a girl on my lap.”

  “Ugh,” Tessa moaned at the thought of her trying to seduce him.

  “Tess, it’s not a big deal. It just surprised me. We both had a lot to drink tonight. It’s really my fault. Rowan did tell me not to let you drink too much.”

  “Nice! So how many drinks did I have?” She winced at the idea of overdrinking. She couldn’t hold her liquor very well, which is exactly wh
y she usually stayed home if she were going to have more than one drink. She prided herself on having at least some semblance of self control.

  “Two,” he said, with a sexy smile that made her want to push him back into that chair. Between his eyes and that smile, oh, and let’s not forget his body, I’d be willing to throw all self respect out the door and rip the man’s clothes off.

  “Oh yes, that second drink would have certainly turned me into nothing but raging hormones.” No, that would be you standing there, looking all sexy as hell and acting as if you don’t even know you are.

  Cade just stood and stared at Tessa. He’d never thought of her as a sexy woman, not until they’d come back to her place and she hiked up her skirt and then it was as if she were someone other than his best friend’s little sister. Suddenly, he saw her as a woman with entirely too much sex appeal and apparently too much sex drive, instead of the little pest she used to be when they were growing up. Shaking his head, he realized what he was thinking! He had to get out of there fast before either of them did something they would both regret. He couldn’t allow anything to happen between them. Rowan would never forgive him. But damn, now that he truly looked at Tessa, as a woman and not his friend’s sister, he found her incredibly sexy and wanted to do more than just look at her. He didn’t hear anything she said, his attention was on her full, pink lips and all he could think of is what it would feel like to take her in his arms and kiss her senseless. He couldn’t allow himself the self indulgence to find out though.

  “I should go,” Cade said hesitantly. Part of him really hoped that she would ask him to stay, but he was relieved when she agreed and showed him to the door.

  “Thanks for going out with me tonight. Sorry you didn’t get lucky…I mean with another woman…I mean, sorry you didn’t have any luck…”

  “It’s okay, Tess. I know what you meant. I’ll talk to you later.”

  With a quick hug, Cade was out the door in a flash.

  Chapter 2

  If she could have thrown the phone across the room, Tessa would have done it, but apparently she’d gotten more than a headache last night from being catapulted across the room. The piercing sound of the phone combined with her headache and now sore shoulder just put her in a pissy mood altogether! And the fact that she hadn’t gotten any sleep because she couldn’t get Cade out of her thoughts added to her bad mood. God, what was wrong with her?

  “This better be good,” she said as she picked up the receiver.

  “Well, good morning to you, too, sunshine. Late night?” Rowan’s voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard. He was entirely too chipper for seven in the morning. Had he lost his ever loving mind?

  “Couldn’t you have called a little later? It’s Saturday! What the hell are you calling me this early for anyway? I swear, Rowan, if you weren’t my brother!”

  “If I weren’t your brother, what? And can’t I call you just because I love you, little sister. So, how was last night? Did you get lucky?”

  “Rowan, not everyone goes to the club just to get lucky. Some of us actually go just to have a good time.”

  “Yeah right, sis, since when? I will take that as you didn’t get lucky. That must be the reason for your cheery mood. ”

  Tessa just snorted into the phone and waited.

  “Well, since you’re up now, let’s go out for breakfast, my treat.”

  “No way, I’m not even out of bed.”

  “Okay well, I’m standing outside your door so get out of bed, let me in, and shower so we can go. I’m hungry.”

  Without a word, Tessa clicked the off button on the phone and slid out of bed, stumbling to the door. If he weren’t her only sibling, she would seriously consider hiring a hit man to take him out. However, being that she did love her brother, she’d put up with him and his early morning wake up calls. Unlocking the door and sliding the chain from its hook, she opened it to let him in. He was just too damn happy in the mornings. He’d always been that way. It had irritated her as a kid and it irritated the hell out of her now. No one person should be that happy she noted as his grin grew bigger, as if he had read her mind. How they were conceived by the same parents amazed her. They were such complete opposites; it was hard to believe they actually grew up in the same household. As he walked into the house, he grabbed her and pulled her close for a hug. Wincing from the pain in her shoulder, she gasped and pulled away from his embrace.

  “Wow, you look like death warmed over,” he said, with a crooked smile as he took inventory of her appearance.

  “Thanks brother, I know I can count on you to be a straight shooter,” she ground out, rubbing her shoulder.

  “Are you alright?”

  “Yep, I just tweaked my shoulder last night, that’s all.”

  “How did you do that?” He quickly switched from brother to doctor. “Let me look at it.”

  “That’s what a hard floor will do and it’s not a big deal, I’m fine,” she blurted without even thinking and shifted away from him.

  “A hard floor? What the hell, Tess?”

  There was no way she was going to explain this one to him. If Rowan had any idea at all what took place between her and Cade, he would never forgive either one of them. Changing the subject as quickly as possible, Tessa told him to give her ten minutes and she’d be ready to leave for breakfast. She stepped out from the bathroom, dressed and ready to go, when she noticed Rowan sitting in the very chair she had straddled Cade in last night. She would never be able to look at that chair the same way again. She would definitely have to get rid of it; put it out on the curb for someone who just so happened to drive by and realize that they needed a chair such as this one. That chair and the things she had tried to do with Cade would forever be imprinted on her mind. Hell, she’d have to put Cade at the curb with that chair. How would she be able to look at him without having images of what could have been last night? As her thoughts rattled on and on about the chair and the possibilities of what could have taken place in it, she was drawn back to reality by Rowan’s voice.

  “So, are you going to tell me what happened to your shoulder?” he asked.

  “Nothing. I just slipped and landed on it I guess. I didn’t even realize I hurt it until this morning when someone decided to wake me up entirely too early. I probably just slept on it wrong.”

  “Hmmm,” was his only reply, and then something happened that never had between her and Rowan. There was an uncomfortable silence. Never, in the entirety of their existence, had there been a silence like this between them. Oh, there were times when they had been in the room together for hours on end and not spoken a single word, but this was completely different. And it was really starting to weird her out. What she wouldn’t give to be able to read his mind at that moment; to know just what he was mulling around in there. She couldn’t take it any longer and just wanted to get the hell out of there. All of a sudden, her nice cozy three bedroom house felt like a cardboard box with just the four sides and they were closing in on her.

  She blurted out, “Well, let’s go get me some breakfast. And I don’t want some greasy McDonald’s breakfast. Since you woke me so early and made me get out of bed, you are taking me to a sit down restaurant where the cooks know what a breakfast is supposed to taste like.”

  “You got it. Let’s get out of here,” Rowan said. He started to walk towards the door, and then paused. “We should probably call Cade and let him know he left his wallet here last night though.”

  “What?” she practically yelled. Excuse after excuse that she could give Rowan started flooding her mind. There really was no reason to panic. Rowan knew her and Cade were together last night. And it wasn’t as if it were a big deal that Cade had come over. He’d been over before with Rowan thousands of times. However, he never came over unless Rowan was with him; never by himself. It wasn’t even a big deal, was it? They hadn’t actually done anything. She just didn’t want Rowan to know that he had come over after they left the club. All that didn’t matt
er now that he held Cade’s wallet in his hand with a questioning look.

  “Why do you have Cade’s wallet in your house, sis?”

  “I can only assume that he must have dropped it last night when he brought me home. I can’t imagine that he would leave it here intentionally.” That was her explanation, but by the look on Rowan’s face he wasn’t buying it. Why had Cade taken the wallet out of his pocket and left it behind? She didn’t go around taking her wallet out of her purse while visiting people in their homes. It just didn’t make any sense.

  “He would have had to actually taken it out of his pocket to have dropped it.”