Reunion: A Friends to Lovers Romance

by London Hale

  For more books by London Hale, check out www.LondonHale.com or sign up to receive the Temperance Falls Gazette for all new release, giveaway, and extra content notices.

  www.londonhale.com/gazette

  Did you miss our first book?

  The Experience Counts series kicks off with Daddy’s Best Friend

  Book one of the Temperance Falls series features a rough and tumble cop fighting his attraction to his best friend’s daughter.

  You don’t want to miss this one.

  She’s temptation personified

  Nathan’s always been more than just my dad’s friend. I never thought he’d see me as an adult, especially not after avoiding me for so long. But one hug, one moment feeling every inch of him against me, shatters that illusion. Consequences no longer matter—I’m eighteen, and I’m willing to risk everything for my shot with him.

  He’s not going to resist anymore

  I never should’ve seen Eve as more than my best friend’s daughter. As a cop, I know it’s wrong. It’s my job to protect her from guys like me. Chasing her could cost me my career—not to mention the only family I’ve ever known—but I can’t hold back another second. One taste, and I want her. To hell with the fallout.

  Never miss a release, a giveaway, or a sale. Sign up to receive the Temperance Falls Gazette, the only place to get all the gossip from London and Temperance Falls.

  www.londonhale.com/gazette

  Chapter One

  Nathan

  I wasn’t sure what shit I’d done in my life to be put in this kind of hell, yet there I was. Trying to remain unaffected while Eve—my best friend’s daughter and the object of every wet dream I’d had for the past year—walked around in a tiny white dress that barely covered her ass, her legs on full display and her tits pouring out of the neckline.

  I’d managed nearly a year without setting foot in this backyard, but Eve’s graduation party was something no amount of excuses would permit me to miss. It wasn’t like I could say to my best friend, “Hey, man, sorry I can’t come. I’m afraid I’ll spend the whole time picturing ways to fuck your daughter.”

  Turned out that fear wasn’t unfounded. I was sure if I got close enough to her, I’d be able to see the outline of her nipples through the material of her minuscule dress, because God hated me. Said dress was reminiscent of the nearly nonexistent bikini that had turned everything to shit in the first place. So much so that I’d think she was doing it on purpose if not for the looks she kept shooting the shithead currently panting at her side like a goddamn puppy.

  As I watched the two of them together, it took every ounce of self-control I possessed not to storm over and crush his windpipe with my bare hands. The last time I’d see him had been when I’d stopped them for public indecency. I’d never forget the kick to the gut I got when I’d shone the flashlight through the fogged-up window into the back seat of that little shit’s car and seen Eve readjusting her clothes, her cheeks flushed pink, her lips bright red and swollen, her nipples hard enough to cut glass.

  “Fuck,” I muttered under my breath, taking a long pull from my beer, wishing it were whiskey instead. Hell, I’d take any hard liquor at this point—I wasn’t picky. Not if I had half a hope of getting through Eve’s graduation party with my sanity intact.

  “Nate, glad you could make it,” Brandon said, clapping a hand on my shoulder.

  The rock in my gut solidified as I turned to look at my smiling best friend. He’d been the only person in my life ever to stick around, and how did I repay him? By lusting after his barely legal daughter. Some fucking friend I was.

  Swallowing down the bile in my throat, I said, “Hey, man. Nice party.”

  The backyard was full of more than a hundred people, fancy shit hanging from the trees and Tiki torches placed throughout his spacious yard. A taco bar and a s’mores station were set up by the outdoor kitchen, and a handful of teenagers tossed beach balls around in the in-ground pool. My only saving grace was that Eve wasn’t one of them. There was no fucking way I’d be able to handle seeing her in that bikini again.

  Brandon rolled his eyes and smiled in Eve’s direction. “Yeah, she didn’t want me to make a big deal about it, but I didn’t want the day to pass without a celebration. I mean, top ten percent of her class, Nate? My girl’s a genius. It’s costing me a small fortune, but when it makes her do that”—he gestured to Eve, whose head was thrown back in laughter, her dark hair falling past her ass and her fingers curled around the forearm of Shithead—“I’ll give her whatever she wants.”

  “Never have been able to say no to her,” I said.

  He just shrugged. Not much he could say to dispute it. Not when I’d been the one by his side for most of the past thirteen years as he’d raised her by himself after her mom split.

  “Have you stopped by to say hi to her yet? She was excited you could get the day off work. She’s missed you.”

  Forget a rock—there was a fucking mountain range in my stomach, the jagged tips ripping through my insides. I was an asshole. A disgusting, perverted asshole who didn’t deserve these people in my life. Eve had already lost her mother, and because I was a sick fucker who couldn’t get a hold of his lust, she had to suffer.

  “Nah, she’s having fun with her friends. I didn’t want to interrupt.”

  He put his fingers in his mouth and whistled, getting Eve’s attention. Once she looked toward her dad, Brandon tilted his head in my direction. The smile that spread across her face hit me with the force of a hurricane. She was genuinely happy to see me, and I’d been spending the past year making any excuse I could to avoid being in her presence.

  I watched with smug satisfaction as she left Shithead behind to run toward us, her tits bouncing and barely contained in the low neckline of her dress. Jesus. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, trying my damnedest to get my shit under control.

  “Nathan!”

  I snapped my eyes open a split second before her body collided with mine, her vanilla and apple scent surrounding me, immediately turning my cock to steel. My arm automatically went around her to catch her while I shifted my hips enough so she couldn’t feel exactly what she was doing to me, just by breathing.

  “I’m so glad you came,” she said, her head resting on my shoulder as she wrapped her arms around me, her feet dangling above the ground.

  I held her with one arm, all my concentration focused on two things—not letting her feel my fucking hard-on and not crushing this beer bottle in my fist. After a few seconds, I set her down, stepping back and offering her what was probably more of a grimace than a smile. “Congratulations. Sorry I missed your birthday party last month. I had to work a double.”

  “Yeah, Dad told me.” She fingered the edge of her short as hell dress, and I forced myself not to stare at those silky-smooth legs I wanted nothing more than to feel wrapped around my waist. “You could’ve stopped by another time. I haven’t really seen you in almost a year.”

  Except that wasn’t true, and the blush on her cheeks proved she was thinking exactly what I was. The last time I’d seen her had been in the back seat of a brand-new car that cost more than I made in a year. She darted her eyes to her dad then back to me, the nervousness written clearly on her face.

  Before I could reply, the blond shithead strolled up to her, throwing an arm around her shoulder and bringing her into his side. “Hey, babe.”

  She didn’t even glance his way, just kept her eyes on me. My cock twitched in my jeans.

  “Nate, have you met Brock?” Brandon asked. “He and Evie have been seeing each other for a few months. He’s Clark’s kid.”

  Brock. He even had the name of a shithead. And his parents were assholes. Rich, entitled assholes. Clark Wilkinson might be Brandon’s partner, but he was a Grade A douchebag. Despite being bred and groomed in that lifestyle, Brandon had never fit that mold, not in all the years I’d known him. And because of that, neither did Eve. But even with his shortcomings, Brock was better suited for he
r than I ever would be.

  And I hated it.

  Narrowing my eyes, I said, “Yeah, I think I’ve seen him around town once or twice. You drive a brand-new Lexus, don’t you?”

  Shithead looked at me then, and I had the pleasure of watching the color drain from his face. It was clear he hadn’t recognized me before, and now he was sweating bullets, no doubt praying I wouldn’t out him to his girlfriend’s father about the time he fucked her in the backseat of his car.

  I ground my molars together, my jaw ticking with the effort to keep myself in check. Thirteen years ago, I took an oath to serve and protect, and in all that time, my oath had never been tested like it was right now. I wanted to strangle the pretentious little prick with his necktie that probably cost more than my first car, just because of the way he’d been looking at Eve. Like he knew her—knew what her lips tasted like, knew what her smooth skin felt like under his hands, knew the sounds she made when she came. Knew what it was like to be inside all that soft, wet heaven.

  Fuck.

  “I’m gonna grab another,” I said, holding up my empty beer bottle and ducking away.

  Just before I went through the back door into the house, I paused and looked over my shoulder at the three of them, if only to remind myself I didn’t belong. Not here at this party. Not in this crowd. And certainly not with my best friend’s eighteen-year-old daughter.

  They were right where I’d left them, Brandon and Shithead talking about something and laughing like old friends, but Eve wasn’t joining in.

  Instead, she was staring right at me.

  Buy Daddy’s Best Friend now!

  Amazon US Amazon UK Amazon CA

  Amazon AU * For Other Links

  The DILF Sneak Peek

  It’s Summer on the island…

  Book two of the Temperance Falls series turns the attention on Eve’s dad. And her best friend.

  Come, pick a spot on the dock, and grab some lemonade. Things are about to heat up on the island as we bring you the next story in the Temperance Falls world. Read on for a sneak peek.

  She’s the definition of trouble

  For as long as I’ve known him, Brandon has always been the workaholic single dad to my best friend. But one night, one evening alone with him, makes me ache for something I never knew I wanted. Makes me aware that he’s so much more than what I thought. He isn’t just a dad—he’s a DILF. One I desperately want warming my sheets.

  He can’t stop fantasizing about her

  I never should have looked at Genesis the way I do, never should have seen her as more than just my daughter’s best friend. I’m too old for her, too wrong. Dating the fiery redhead with the killer curves could end my career and destroy my relationship with my daughter, but I can’t resist her siren call. One night, and I’m a man obsessed. One night, and I’ll do everything in my power to keep her.

  Chapter One

  Brandon

  There was something disturbing about walking into a hospital when your reasons for being there were completely in the wrong. Still, I did it. Climbed out of my car after rushing across town, all because of a phone call. I’d seen this sort of nonsense on dramatic television shows—the whole one moment changes your life bullshit. But I guess it wasn’t bullshit, not really. Should have been. Would have been, but then I’d spent an evening with someone I shouldn’t have been alone with, and as cliché as it sounded, my world changed. My focus changed. In all the wrong ways.

  So when the phone rang and the news that Lara McKay—mother of my daughter’s best friend—was in a horrible accident, that new focus sent me scurrying to find out what I could do to help. But again, for the wrong reasons.

  Yes, Lara was hurt. Yes, she needed someone to check on her since she had no family here except her daughter. Yes, my being her daughter’s best friend’s father gave me access to more of her life than a casual acquaintance, so I felt comfortable coming when I found out about the accident. That was all fine. What wasn’t fine was the reason I chose to come to the hospital—because it wasn’t Lara.

  It was her daughter.

  Genesis.

  One of the sexiest human beings I’d ever had the unfortunate luck to come across. Fiery, wild, bold—Gen wasn’t a woman you could ignore. Especially not when she turned those huge blue eyes on you. It was impossible. Until you remembered she was eighteen years old. Then…not so impossible. Hard for sure, just as she made me every time she looked my way, but not impossible.

  Yet there I was, storming into the hospital because I knew she’d be alone. I knew she’d need someone. And I wanted that someone to be me.

  “Lara McKay,” I said as soon as I approached the information desk. The man behind it, who wore an obnoxiously decorated sticker with the name Paul in the middle of it, frowned and typed, frowned and typed. Slowly. If he’d been an employee of mine, I’d have fired him already. And that was before he started humming to himself.

  “Car accident,” I said, doing my best not to grit my teeth. “Came in through the emergency room.”

  He nodded and pressed a few more buttons at the pace of a sloth. “Got it. Looks like she’s in the surgical ward. Are you family?”

  “Yes, I am.” The lie came easily—too easily—but the fact that my own cousin was a surgeon here had taught me a few things. Like that only family was allowed in the surgical waiting room, and that the volunteers behind the desk would never ask for proof of relationship.

  Paul did not disappoint. “Perfect. Okay, here’s a guest badge. Please wear it throughout the hospital. Surgery is up on—”

  “Four,” I said, cutting him off as I snatched the plastic badge from his fingers. “Yeah, I got it. Thanks.”

  I rushed to the elevators and jabbed the up button more times than necessary. The damn thing seemed to take forever to arrive and even longer for the doors to slide closed behind me. What was it with this place and obstacles?

  As I stared at the lights telling me what floor we were on, my impatience burned hot under my skin, my need to get upstairs harsh and painful. I would’ve liked to have said it was for Lara. She was a nice lady, pretty and sexy. Between her looks, her charm, and the fact that we were the youngest parents on the PTA—fully a decade younger than the rest—it would have made sense for us to date. Hell, we’d even flirted a bit when the girls first met and we started seeing each other at playdates and birthday parties. Two single people in their early twenties trying to navigate the waters of being a parent and an adult tended to gravitate together. But no, she wasn’t for me. No one had been, really.

  I’d kept any romantic connections private—very private. Temperance Falls was a small island with big eyes and even bigger ears. The last thing I needed was to start dating someone and risk my reputation. I had a little girl to raise, one I protected with everything I had. Lara had been barely more than a blip on my attraction screen.

  Her daughter was a whole different story, and I was going to end up in hell for the thoughts I’d had about her. Those thoughts—fantasies, if I was being honest—had started recently. Really recently. Just since the night barely over a week ago, when she’d sat on my couch talking with me as if we were old friends. Leg up and tucked beneath her, far too much skin on display, red hair tumbling over her shoulders—she’d been a dream come true. A siren calling to the basest parts of me. And smart. The girl was charming, personable, witty…and sex on legs. I’d barely been able to resist her; the only thing keeping me from pinning her under me was the knowledge that my own daughter, Gen’s best friend, had been sleeping upstairs at the time. That and the fact that she was far too young for me. Probably.

  Think of the devil, and he shall appear…

  “Brandon.” Genesis caught me as I stepped off the elevator, those killer eyes meeting mine. They were so bloodshot, so pained, so worried. I couldn’t help myself. I grabbed the girl and pulled her into a hug, shielding her as much as I could with my body.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, nearly shaking with my need to
press myself against her. To feel more of those curves. To hold her tight and never let her go so I didn’t have to think about what would have happened if she’d been in the same car as her mom when it went over the bridge. Fuck, she wasn’t mine in any way, but that would have killed me.

  Gen clutched my shoulders, her delicate fingers pressing deep, and nodded against my chest. “I’m fine. My mom’s bad, though. There’s swelling around her brain, plus her leg’s pretty mangled. I don’t… I’m not sure what we’re going to do.”

  The fear in her voice gutted me. “It’s okay. It’ll be okay.”

  A silent moment, the feel of her body melting into mine, and then she cried. Hard. Fuck, that wasn’t like Gen. The girl was loud, brash, and audacious. Sexy in a way that stopped men in their tracks. I’d done a good job of ignoring those facts as she grew into them, but then last week, after Evie’s graduation party… I couldn’t ignore them anymore. And I hated myself for thinking about that while she sobbed in my arms. Asshole of the Year award, well deserved.

  A polite cough had me turning, though I didn’t let go of Gen. I kept her wrapped up and safe. Close to me.

  “Hey, Brandon.” My cousin stood before me looking tired and slightly curious. Of course, he did—I had a sexy-as-fuck eighteen-year-old in my arms. Shit.

  “Josh. Good to see you.” I reached out a hand, moving Gen into my side so our embrace looked a little more appropriate. Which was fine so long as no one noticed the massive fucking hard-on I was now sporting. “How’s Lara doing?”

  “She’s hanging in. Her lower left leg is broken in three places, and her MCL is completely torn. We have the best orthopedic surgery team on their way in to take care of that, but it’s not our priority.” He glanced at Gen, who was still tucked against me with her hand on my chest. “Your mom took a pretty solid hit to the head, and that’s the issue we need to address immediately. There’s a lot of swelling, and that can cause brain damage, but this isn’t a touch-and-go situation. We’ll relieve the pressure by opening up a flap in her skull and keep her unconscious for a few days to give her brain time to heal.”