Dan Trevor smiled broadly at Jack as he and Becca slowed to a stop. Becca turned toward Jackie and motioned for her to join them. Jack clasped one of Jackie’s hands, and Becca the other. There was never any question about their daughter being part of the ceremony. He and Becca might be getting married today, but they were a family already.
Thank you so much for reading Jack and Becca’s story. If you enjoyed this book—and want to read more about the Wolfe and Trevor families—you’ll love TWO OF HEARTS!
Two committed commitment-phobes …
Cassidy Trevor is the backbone of her family’s quilt shop, the one everyone relies on, the person who makes the trains run on time. She has a good life with loving parents and sisters, a job-for-life that she enjoys, and respect as a capable businesswoman within the community. Still, she can’t help wondering … is there something more out there?
Matt Wolfe has spent his entire life living down to everyone’s expectations. He’s the body, the workhorse, the guy who always says yes. As a member of a firefighting family, he’s also seen too many people lose everything they hold dear within the space of a heartbeat. He knows it’s easier to let go of things if you never really wanted them in the first place.
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… warned away from each other by their families …
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The Wolfe and Trevor families aren’t the Montagues and the Capulets. Just the opposite. Both families have been close for years, but one love match between them is enough.
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… strike a mutually beneficial arrangement …
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When Cassidy and Matt are volunteered to co-chair a holiday event, their working relationship slides into a secret friendship … with benefits. Everyone gets what they want. Matt gets to sample the forbidden fruit he has coveted for years and Cassidy gets some much-needed stress relief from the pressures of running the family business while planning her escape from St. Caroline.
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… and get more than they bargained for.
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Cassidy has avoided commitment because she doesn’t want anything tying her down. For Matt, a fling with Cassidy is perfect—the built-in expiration date means no messy breakup and no disappointment when expectations aren’t fulfilled. But now the one person who “gets” her, who supports her dream to leave St. Caroline, is the one person Cassidy can’t bear the thought of leaving. And, for the first time in his life, Matt is discovering expectations he wants to live up to … his own.
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Excerpt from Two of Hearts
“Hey. You okay, buddy?” The guy standing next to Matt Wolfe at the hotel bar clapped him on the shoulder. Dave, the guy’s name was. Matt had met him exactly six days ago at the nearby fire training academy. Matt was in Texas taking a week-long seminar. Today was the last day and everyone in the class was out to celebrate.
“Yeah. Fine,” Matt replied, squinting harder into the hotel lobby’s weird orange mood lighting. It made the space look like a science fiction movie set. Or like the whole place was on fire. Maybe that was why the fire training instructor had dragged them all here.
“Because you got a weird look on your face.” Dave wasn’t letting this go, and Matt really wished he would. It had been a long week. Matt wanted to drink a few beers to be polite, catch a cab to the hotel where he was staying, and fall face first into bed. His flight left early in the morning.
“I think the beer goggles have kicked in,” he said.
“Oh yeah? Who you checking out?”
“I see a woman over there who looks like someone I know. From back home. But I don’t know what she’d be doing way out here.” It probably wasn’t her. It was hard to tell in the orange light, and her face was turned down toward the phone in her hands.
“Which one is she?”
“The one in the pink dress, cowboy boots. Blonde hair. Glasses. Sitting alone in one of those big chairs.” Big enough for two, he thought.
“Whoa. Not bad. Well, if you do know her, introduce me.” He clapped Matt on the back again.
“If that’s really her, she’s an ice princess. I’ve known her all my life and no one has ever been good enough for her.”
Dave laughed. “Well, I love a challenge. Let’s head over there. You can either introduce me or we’ll just introduce ourselves.”
For a split second, Matt considered not following Dave over to the woman in the pink dress and cowboy boots. Chatting up women used to be one of his favorite pastimes. Or, as his brother Jack was fond of saying, his only pastime. But lately, nothing engaged his enthusiasm. His mother had succumbed to ovarian cancer the month before and his older brother’s wife lay in a hospital in Baltimore, comatose from a car accident. It had been a rough year and Matt was frankly exhausted. Physically, emotionally, mentally. He was wiped out.
Dave took three steps with his long legs, then turned to look back at Matt. “You coming?”
Matt pushed away from the bar and followed. “Yeah, sure.” He’d let Dave do all the talking.
As they got closer to the woman in the pink dress and cowboy boots, he saw that she was in fact the person he thought she was. Cassidy Trevor. One of the Trevor girls. The sister of his brother’s fiancée. The daughter of his parents’ close friends.
For all those reasons—and probably more that he was forgetting—Cassidy Trevor was forever off limits to Matt. All the Trevor sisters were. As Dave strode determinedly toward her, Matt wondered whether that prohibition applied to him too.
You’re not Cassidy Trevor’s keeper. Plus, she really was an ice princess. In fact, that should probably be in capital letters. Ice Princess. And maybe neon lights, just for good measure. She was going to shut down Dave’s advances like nobody’s business.
Then he reconsidered. Dave wasn’t a local St. Caroline boy. Cassidy had always turned her nose up at the guys in town. As a teenager, she had spent summers chasing after the summer kids. The rich summer kids. Which had always seemed like a losing proposition to Matt, since the summer kids all went home at the end of the, well, summer.
Not that it mattered to Matt, of course. He had been under strict orders for years to leave her alone. That was fine with Matt. There were plenty of fish in the sea, and he was an excellent fisherman. Gifted, some might say. And by “some,” he meant himself.
She looked up from her phone, seeming to sense their impending arrival. Confusion darkened her eyes for a moment, then she smiled one of those big Trevor smiles. Broad with blinding white teeth. He realized why he hadn’t been entirely certain of her identity from across the lobby. Her blonde hair was done up in some curlicue hairstyle. He’d never seen her wear her hair that way. Usually, it was long and loose around her shoulders or pulled back into a simple ponytail. Occasionally, a neat bun. Once in awhile, a thick braid down her back. But never this loose, curly do. He wasn’t sure whether he liked it or not.
“Matt. Hi,” she said when he and Dave reached her. Dave immediately perched himself on the edge of the wide leather chair. The familiarity of the gesture rankled Matt. But Cassidy didn’t seem to mind. She glanced at Dave, then looked back to Matt. “What are you doing here?”
“Training at the fire academy nearby. Since I’m taking over some of Oliver’s duties while he’s on a leave of absence.”
Cassidy nodded somberly. “How’s Serena?”
He shrugged. “The same. Ollie’s too distracted to be at work right now.”
“Understandable.”
“Yeah. So what are you doing out here? All dressed up?” He looked down at her boots. They were a roughed-up brown leather, with pink flowers embroidered on the toes.
“My college roommate got married this afternoon.” She smoothed her pink dress. “I
was on bridesmaid duty.”
Dave cleared his throat. Oh right. He wanted to be introduced.
“Cassidy, this is Dave. He’s a firefighter from Kansas City.”
Cassidy shook Dave’s hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“So you two know each other?” Dave was taking charge of the conversation. Matt was too tired to object.
“We grew up together in Maryland,” she answered. “Our parents are friends.”
That barely scratched the surface of their connections, Matt thought. Or maybe Cassidy didn’t see them as being all that connected.
Dave reached over and lifted her drink from her hand. “Whatcha drinking?” He sniffed at the glass, another act that irritated Matt. He didn’t exactly consider Dave to be a friend. It wasn’t like they were going to stay in touch or anything.
“Just water,” she answered, then trained a big flirty smile at Dave. “I think I had one too many pomegranate martinis at the wedding.”
“Pomegranate martinis? That sounds either really good or really awful.” Dave flirted back, his hand touching her shoulder for an instant. Her bare shoulder, Matt noted, since the straps of her bridesmaid’s dress were so thin as to be nearly non-existent.
“They were pretty good.”
“Hmm.” Dave made a show of studying the bar. “I wonder if the bartender here will make us some?”
“You should go ask.” Cassidy winked theatrically at Dave. “Hint, hint.”
“I think I will.”
Matt resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Dave was practically puffing up his chest at his success so far with Cassidy.
“You want one, man?” Dave asked Matt.
Matt held up his near-empty beer bottle. “Nah. I’m good.” He watched as Dave threaded his way through the increasing crowd and back to the bar.
“So how long are you out here for?” Cassidy asked.
“I leave tomorrow morning. And what about you?”
“I’m renting a car and driving over to Austin and San Antonio. I’m going to spend a few days checking out some quilt shops. See if I can find any good ideas to steal for mom.” She flashed that blinding Trevor smile at him again, which had the same effect on him now that it had when he was in middle school and she was the glamorous eighth-grader, the “older woman” a year ahead of him.
O Cassidy, Cassidy! Wherefore art thou Cassidy?
Yeah, he remembered a few lines of Shakespeare from middle school, too.
“So how was the wedding?”
“It was good. Fine. Fun. You know.” She shrugged.
Was conversation with Cassidy always this awkward? It wasn’t as though they didn’t see each other back home. They were friendly, if not exactly friends. But right now, he felt like he was chatting up a woman he’d just met in a hotel bar. Look for conversational openings. He glanced down at her short cowboy boots with the pink flowers.
“Did you wear those in the wedding?”
She twisted an ankle back and forth, and he tried to ignore the slender length of tanned leg between the boot and the hem of her dress.
“I did. We all did.” She laughed. “We’re out of context here, aren’t we? We’re not in St. Caroline anymore.”
“No, we’re not, Toto.” That made her laugh again. Cassidy had a big, hearty laugh. She was a girl who liked to have fun. Not a girl. A woman. There was a straightforward quality to her that Matt had always found appealing. “You look nice,” he added. “That color’s very pretty on you.”
“Well now, Matthew Wolfe. Aren’t you just the perfect gentleman?” Her voice was suddenly soft and flirty. “Though I have to say, you look like you’ve been rode hard and put up wet.”
It was his turn to laugh now. “It’s been a tough week. With the training and all.” Matt was about to ask whether she was staying at this hotel, when Dave reappeared with two martini glasses.
“Yup. Bartender hooked us right up.” Dave handed a pomegranate martini to Cassidy. “Let me know if these taste as good as the ones you had earlier. If not, I’ll go give the bartender hell.”
Cassidy took a small sip. “Mmm. Tastes exactly the same.”
“Excellent.” Dave clapped Matt on the back. “Tom over there said to tell you he wants to talk to you.”
Yeah, right. Matt could tell from the bemused expression on Cassidy’s face that even she saw through that ruse. Dave wasn’t even trying to hide it. But fine. Cassidy wasn’t giving off any signs that she objected to Dave’s interest. And Matt wasn’t her keeper, he reminded himself for the second time that night. And for probably the millionth time in his life. But who was keeping count?
“Well, see you two later then.” Matt retreated to the bar and to Tom, who didn’t seem surprised to see him.
“Ol’ loverboy, eh?” Tom laughed.
Matt didn’t share the laugh. Too damn tired right now. The week had been nonstop work at the training academy. He drained the rest of his beer and, against his better judgment, ordered another. The thought of sleep was enticing, but he’d stay awhile longer to say goodbye to Cassidy. He half-listened to Tom’s mostly idle chatter and added a few comments where it seemed appropriate or solicited. He ignored the interested stare of a woman at the other end of the bar. When his beer was finished, he turned back toward the lobby.
Dave and Cassidy were gone.
Well, can’t say you didn’t see that one coming. And like the world-class idiot he was, he had even facilitated it. He pulled out his phone to text his brother, Jack.
Just ran into Cassidy out here.
A moment later, a reply came. Oh yeah? Becca says she’s out there for a wedding.
Matt stuffed his phone back into his pocket. Of course, the Trevor sisters weren’t off limits to Jack. Nothing was off limits to Jack. The sky was the freaking limit for his younger brother.
For Matt, the ceiling had always been about thirty-five thousand feet lower. He was the workhorse in the family, the body that could always be counted on when another body was needed. Old reliable, that’s me. Not that he was complaining. When his father, the chief of the St. Caroline fire department, had asked him to take over some of his older brother Oliver’s training and management responsibilities at the station, Matt had stepped right up. Being a firefighter was what it meant to be a Wolfe. His father, his uncle, both of his brothers—all firefighters in St. Caroline. He wasn’t taking over Oliver’s job permanently. As soon as his wife was out of the hospital, Ollie would be back at the station. And Matt would step back into his old job, where he’d been since college.
He knew people tended not to take him seriously most of the time. Yes, he liked to have a good time. And yes, he liked women. Why not? Interacting with the opposite sex had always come easily to him. Generally speaking, it had been his experience that he could have any pretty thing he wanted. As long as that pretty thing’s name didn’t have “Trevor” tacked on to the end.
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Afterword
My mother, Margaret Carson 1932-1989
Hearts on Fire is the most personal book I’ve ever written.
Like Angie Wolfe, my own mother succumbed to ovarian cancer in her fifties. I was 24. That year—1989—is still the single hardest year of my life. Grief is a complex experience. I have memories that are as vivid as five minutes ago—leaning against a wall in the hospital’s hallway and weeping, or the phone call from my brother with the news that her condition had been downgraded to terminal.
And yet, I remember very little of the day of her funeral. Waiting for the funeral home’s limousine. That I never took off my red winter coat in the funeral home. One of my cousins hugging me at the cemetery. That’s it. Literally, just those three things.
I did most of the things Jack does in the book. Rage. Bargain with God. Cuss when bargaining didn’t work. Offer myself up instead. I can’t tell you how many times I cried during the writing of this book.
But none of my books would exist without my mother, Margaret Eileen Carson (1
932-1989). And so I dedicate this one, especially, to her. She passed on her great love of reading and books to me, and through my books I pass on a bit of her spirit to you. — Julia Gabriel
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A portion of the proceeds from this book have been donated to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund Alliance.
More from Julia Gabriel
St. Caroline Series
Hearts on Fire
Two of Hearts
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Phlox Beauty Series
Next to You
Back to Us
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Drawing Lessons
Chiaroscuro
About the Author
Julia Gabriel writes contemporary romance that is smart, sexy, and emotionally-intense (grab the tissues). She lives in New England where she is a full-time mom to a teenager, as well as a sometime writing professor and obsessive quilter (is there any other kind?). If all goes well, she’ll be a Parisienne in her next life. Her books have been selected as “Top Picks” by RT Book Reviews, and critics at RT Book Reviews, Kirkus, and others have called her work “nuanced,” “heart-wrenching and emotional,” “well-crafted contemporary romance,” and “deeply moving storytelling.”
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Hearts on Fire Page 26
