“Well, then you’re good, too, Anna. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. You think the future is waiting for me—well, it’s waiting for you, too, if you want it. Whatever you want it to be.”
Anna’s smile was rueful. “I’ve created my own future already,” she said, though the words didn’t make her feel any better. “Now all I have to do is live it.” Her phone rang again in her hand, and then again. Todd must have hung up, thought he’d lost the connection to her. And, being Todd, he was trying again. Her mind tried to grapple with the details of apologizing to her family, shoring up her work files, heading back in to a full weekend of work prior to leaving everything she knew behind. She knew she had to do it, but she didn’t want to do it. For the first time in her life, she was faced with a decision between work and not work, and she was veering dangerously, perilously toward the untaken road. Even without Jake on it, it seemed like a better choice than the road she was on right now, the one taking her toward work and more work, money and more money, loneliness and more loneliness, even in the midst of a crowd.
“Well if you don’t like your future, you can always change it, Anna.”
No, I can’t! Fear surged up within her, panic running through her. “I …” She cleared her throat. “I have to go to Japan, Jake. And now, now …” She swallowed again. “Now I need to go back to work for the weekend, to help prepare the rest of the team. There’s a lot of money in it. And probably a promotion.”
“And that’s important to you?”
“Of course it’s important to me!” Anna snapped. “I have to make money! I have to make sure everything’s okay for everyone!”
“It looks like everything already is okay with everyone,” Jake said quietly, and he nodded to the side. Anna followed his gesture, seeing her mom and stepfather cooing down at their little girl. Jake’s grandmother had somehow appeared out of nowhere, and she was holding the baby’s hand as well, her eyes lit up with delight. “Your friends are happy, Anna. Kristen is married. Your mom is safe. It looks like everyone is doing just fine—everyone except you.”
Defensive anger flashed through her and she glared up at him. “I’m fine.”
“You’re more than fine, sweetheart, you’re amazing. And I’m telling you now that the world will beat a path to your door. It will always beat a path to your door, whether you go back to work right now or, you know, in another year.”
“A year!” she gasped, not believing her ears. But as soon as she said the words, something unfurled in her, a tight little knot of despair that she hadn’t even realized she was carrying around with her. “A year,” she said again.
“Or however long makes sense,” Jake said, watching her closely. “Let’s just go, Anna. Ride off down that road with me. I know I’m not perfect. I worry I might say too much, or get so full of whatever it is inside me that I react the wrong way or do the wrong thing. But I want to try, Anna. I want to see what it’s like. And I want you to be with me every mile of the way. Who knows, you yourself might find some hidden opportunity around some far-off corner that changes everything for you, and makes you see things in an entirely new way.”
A year. The idea took hold in Anna’s heart, refusing to let go, even as her brain screamed at her to be smart, be sensible, be responsible. “But Jake, you can’t saddle yourself with me for a trip like that. I’ve never traveled so long before.”
He grinned, a year full of promise in that smile, the kind of smile from the kind of man she’d never thought would look twice at her—rough and real, who drank every drop of life and experienced it completely. Who never met a risk in life he wasn’t willing to take—except for maybe sharing that life with another person. Only now he was offering to do just that, with her. Now he was giving her more than he could possibly realize. A chance to do the unexpected. To be the unexpected. “You’d never ridden a motorcycle before you met me, either, Anna,” he said. “And that turned out okay.”
“But I—”
“Anna.” Jake’s voice was firm, and she blinked up at him. “Being with you this past week has been the best thing to happen to me in longer than I can remember. I’m already half in love with you. Say yes and I’ll fall all the way.”
“Then, yes,” she said, without thinking, feeling the tears spark in her eyes. “Yes.”
Her phone chose that moment to ring again, only this time Anna did pick it up. It wasn’t Todd, however, it was her boss.
“Cindy, I’m so glad it’s you,” she said, her eyes wide and fixed on Jake, her heart pounding as if she was about to jump off a tall building without a net below. She couldn’t believe she was saying the words, but as each one passed her lips she felt wilder, more dangerous. “I’m tendering my resignation, effective immediately. I have a new opportunity that’s come up that I cannot fully leverage without devoting every minute to it, and while I know there are a hundred other people you can call to do my job there, only I can do this one.”
“You cannot be serious.” Cindy’s words were startled but not desperate. “Anna, we can talk about this.”
“I’ve done a full diagnostic on the situation,” Anna said, shaking her head, though Cindy couldn’t see her. No one could see her, really, except Jake. Except the only man who’d maybe ever really seen her in a way that actually mattered. She could do this, she thought, feeling happier than she ever had in thinking those words. She would do this. “It’s my first once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Cindy. I don’t know how many others I’ll get if I don’t go for it. My decision is firm.” She couldn’t even hear Cindy’s words over the thudding of her own heart, but she heard the resignation in them, the clipped finality.
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing, Anna?” Cindy finished. “You’re walking away from an incredible opportunity.”
“No,” Anna whispered, and before her there was only Jake. Jake and opportunity, and an endless open road. “I’m riding into one.”
She felt the phone slip out of her fingers, which had suddenly turned numb. She didn’t know if she’d dropped it or if it had been taken away, only that Jake was still in front of her, his entire body seeming to pulse with the intensity of his gaze. Then Jake lifted both hands to her face and leaned forward, brushing his lips against hers.
“Hello, Anna Richardson, I’m Jake Flynn,” he whispered, his fingers now trembling, too. He held her firmly—not as if she might break, but as if he wanted to raise her up, to put her closer to the sun and the stars. He swallowed, and his voice was rough when he spoke again. “You wanna take a ride on my bike?”
Anna lifted up on her toes, and kissed him fiercely, even as his fingers firmed on her face, strong and sure and ready for anything. “Hello, Jake Flynn,” she said back when she could breathe again, her heart in her words, her smile, and her future. “How can I refuse an offer like that?”
BY JENNIFER CHANCE
Fake It
Rock It
About the Author
JENNIFER CHANCE is the award-winning author of the New Adult Rule Breakers series. A lover of books, romance, and happily-ever-afters, she lives and writes in Ohio.
You can find her online at www.JenniferChance.com, on Facebook at Facebook.com/authorJenniferChance, and on Twitter at @Jenn_Chance.
The Editor’s Corner
July is a month of celebration—Independence Day is a holiday we remember with picnics, parades, and fireworks. I feel like celebrating this month’s Loveswept releases in the same way; they make me want to shout in jubilation to let the world know about all our fantastic summer reads.
Coinciding with the heat of the summer we begin with Shelley Ann Clark’s Loveswept debut, Have Mercy, where two damaged souls discover that when they’re together, their bodies hit all the right notes. Following that is USA Today bestselling author Stacey Kennedy’s next installment in her successful Club Sin BDSM series, Desired, featuring the hotly anticipated Kyler. Continuing with the warmth of the season comes New York Times bestselling author Tracy Wolf
f’s long-awaited sequel in her Ethan Frost series, Addicted. Then more love on the lam with Juliet Rosetti’s The Sexiest Man Alive, continuing Mazie’s on-again-off-again relationship with certified hottie Ben Labeck. Jennifer Chance’s Fake It then sparks some serious combustion between a sexy biker and a corporate go-getter who’s ready to let her hair down. And finishing up the month is Lavinia Kent’s sumptuous novel of sensual discovery, Mastering the Marquess.
Classic Loveswept relaunches another of our favorites, A Tough Man to Tame, by New York Times bestselling author Iris Johansen—the unforgettable story of a brilliant young woman and the sexy financial wizard with the power to make her dreams come true.
And ladies, don’t miss Flirt’s release of Awaken, book two in Lori Adams’s Soulkeepers series, featuring the hottest love triangle in this life—or the next.
See, I told you July deserves a great celebration!
∼Happy Romance!
Gina Wachtel
Associate Publisher
Erin Connolly hasn’t seen Zander James in four years, but he still makes her palms sweat and her heart race. And now she’ll have to put the past behind her because she desperately needs his help.
But he won’t make it easy.
In fact, he’ll make her question, every step of the way, how bad does she really
WANT IT
Read on for a sneak peek at the next sizzling story from Jennifer Chance!
Chapter 1
She had to ask. Even if he laughed in her face, she at least had to ask.
Erin Connelly straightened in the back of the crowd of mourners, fussing with the belt of her vintage black dress. Three beefy-looking men in suits stood in front of her, clearly ex-military—guys who’d once been all muscle, but were now mostly bravado and beer cheese. This was in her favor. She could peek out from behind them and see the family in their formal black or dress blues. She could see the casket, too, covered with the American flag, looking almost surreal beneath the brilliant August sun.
And, finally, she could see the young man standing at attention at the end of the first row, his shoulders ramrod straight, his manner intent.
Zander James. Standing not forty feet away from her.
He might as well still be halfway around the world.
Erin closed her eyes, thinking back to the email she’d gotten just three days earlier. The one from Zander’s mother, Sarah, with the stark subject line FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS.
She’d just … locked up. Staring the screen, her eyes blurring, her thoughts instantly jumping to the worst possible scenario while a thousand pictures of Zander rushed through her mind. The daredevil who’d jumped off cliffs just to feel the thrill of the splashing water far below. The speed freak who’d pushed his beat-up Mustang too hard, too fast, punching it in the dead of night to break records he’d made up in his head. The boyfriend who’d wrapped his long arms around her one minute with a kiss and a grin, then had taken off like a shot the next, unable to stand still when there was some abandoned building to climb, some state truck to hot-wire on the side of the road. Some army plane to jump out of.
She hadn’t seen him in four years. And when she’d opened that email, she’d thought …
It’d didn’t matter what she’d thought.
Because it wasn’t Zander up there, lying in that casket. It was his father—still a terrible misfortune, still a tragedy, but … not Zander. Caught up in sudden emotion, Erin had cried tears of gratitude that morning, gratitude and loss. She didn’t have any right to shed those tears, she knew. She had no claim on him anymore, not even on his memory. And right now, looking at him … she wasn’t so sure she’d made the right choice to see him today, no matter how desperate she was. He looked so different, now. Taller. Bigger. His uniform seemed to fit him like a second skin, moving with his body, his every step one of grace, precision, and—something else. Power? Lethalness? Was that even a word?
Zander had become the warrior he’d always bragged to her that he would be. And as much as she hated to admit it … she needed a warrior right about now.
Because Erin had two goals in coming here this afternoon. First, she was going march up to the family and pay her respects, just like everyone else in attendance. Because despite everything that had happened four years ago, Sarah James had included her on the email about the colonel’s death. She’d invited Erin to attend the funeral, to share in this family experience. That meant Erin had every right to be here, every right to speak to Zander—and, accordingly, every right to follow through on her second goal for the day: to ask a real-live trained soldier how he did what he did without getting his face shot off. All she wanted was a few tips. Tricks. Hell, she’d be thrilled for a couple of Google links. Surely, Zander could spare her that much.
There was a sort of line forming at the gravesite now, and Erin moved to the end of it, forcing herself to stay calm. As she folded her hands at her waist, she frowned down at her dress again. It was conservative, just like her. It blended into the sea of people, just like her. She didn’t have to apologize for it. She didn’t have to apologize for herself. She’d just walk up to Zander, express her regrets, and wish him well. That was the best way to begin.
Then maybe, just maybe, she’d slip in a casual question or two of her high-school-sweetheart-turned-kickass-army-Ranger. Nothing too bold, nothing too memorable. Nothing that involved words like “Mexico”, or “life savings.” And definitely nothing that included the words “drug dealers.”
Erin grimaced. Drug dealers. What was she even thinking? She worked in an art gallery, for heavens’ sake! She owned a brownstone and took care of three very nice tenants! She knew zero about taking ransom money down to someplace called “Nuevo Laredo” and begging for the release of hostages. Hostages. God.
She’d been on her way home from the gallery a week before when the first call had come through. Collect, of course. And suddenly she was hearing the voices of two people from whom she hadn’t so much as received a text in nearly eight months. Two people who had, over the years, taken her money, compromised her credit, stood her up on so many occasions she’d stopped counting, and convinced her to flat out lie to everyone from complete strangers to people who were important to her. People who’d needed her. People who, at one point, she’d needed back.
But this time, the voices pleaded, it was different. This time, they were desperate. She had to come get them. Not send money, not give them her credit cards—she had to come herself. In person, alone, and with every dime she had. Because they’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time and had decided to walk off with the wrong thing. How many times had they done that before, successfully? She didn’t even want to know. Except this time, they’d been caught by some very bad people, people who were capable of doing some very bad things. And now, Erin had to pay to get them back. She needed to get to Mexico as soon as the rest of her money was released from the bank … or she’d never see them again.
And they were her parents.
You can do this.
Erin’s heart was already slamming when she reached Zander’s brothers, murmuring her prepared “I’m sorry for your loss. He was a good man.” as she moved quickly by them. Even if they remembered her, they had that glazed-over look that indicated they’d already seen way too many people today, and she was just another face in the crowd. Not too surprising. The brothers had both been in their late twenties when she’d known Zander, and deployed for most of that time. His sister, Karen, recognized her instantly however. She was only six years older than Zander. It had seemed like an impossible age difference four years ago, but now, not so much. And as Karen turned to see Erin approach, her gaze flashed with open curiosity. “Erin,” she said, nodding. Her manner seemed cool, though, perfunctory, and Erin felt stung to explain her presence.
“I’m so sorry, Karen,” she said, drawing on every ounce of professional distance she’d learned while putting her own work up to scrutiny week after week while in art school, and affecting the
serene, collected manner she’d honed while working with gallery buyers. “Your mom let me know about the funeral. I—”
“No, no—thank you for being here, of course.” Karen didn’t cut her off as much as give her an out, but Erin shut up anyway. Wow, this was maybe the dumbest idea ever. Zander wasn’t going to help her. Zander probably never wanted to see her again. No one in his family did. It was only what she deserved.
She wondered if he ever thought about her, anymore. She wondered if he still blamed her for everything that had happened that last summer. Not that he shouldn’t, of course. But still, Zander hadn’t known everything she’d been dealing with back then, hadn’t known what his crazy, out-of-control antics were costing her every time she saw him put himself in danger—put the other kids in danger. Back then, no one knew how much of a train wreck her life really was.
She still didn’t want anyone to know.
Karen was saying something else and Erin’s gaze snapped back to hers. “I’m sorry?”
“I asked if you were coming to the house.” Karen’s words were polite, but Erin picked up a challenge in them. Which made no sense at all. “You should, you know. There will be a reception after the funeral. We would love to see you there.” She turned and left Erin blinking after her. They would love to see me there?
“Erin Connelly, how kind of you to come.”
The gracious words refocused Erin’s attention just that quickly, and, turning, she found her hands encased in the soft, strong palms of the next person in line. It was Zander’s mother, Sarah, who surely had to be the model for the perfect military wife. Attractive without being too pretty, strong without being cold, she’d welcomed every military soul to her house no matter their rank or station. If you were a friend of the colonel’s, you were Sarah’s friend, too. If you were not a friend of her husband’s, then you would never know it from her demeanor or hospitality. She was the kind of woman who could hold late night vigils in one corner of her mind while coordinating an army-wife pot luck dinner in another, all without ever letting on that she was worried about one or all of her family, deployed God only knew where.
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