Barefoot Bay_Something New

by Taige Crenshaw

  Table of Contents

  Welcome to Barefoot Bay Kindle World, a place for authors to write their own stories set in the tropical paradise that I created! For these books, I have only provided the setting of Mimosa Key and a cast of characters from my popular Barefoot Bay series. That’s it! I haven’t contributed to the plotting, writing, or editing of Something New. This book is entirely the work of Taige Crenshaw.

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Also by Taige Crenshaw

  Additional Books by Taige Crenshaw

  About the Author

  Text copyright ©2017 by the Author.

  This work was made possible by a special license through the Kindle Worlds publishing program and has not necessarily been reviewed by Roxanne St. Claire. All characters, scenes, events, plots and related elements appearing in the original Barefoot Bay remain the exclusive copyrighted and/or trademarked property of Roxanne St. Claire, or their affiliates or licensors.

  For more information on Kindle Worlds: http://www.amazon.com/kindleworlds

  Something New

  Taige Crenshaw

  Something New

  By: Taige Crenshaw

  When an opportunity brings an unexpected meeting this will lead to something new…

  The move to Barefoot Bay is supposed to be the start Brianna Johnson desperately needs. The nightmares that still plague her she will have to handle and hope they will go away with time. Settling into her new life isn’t as easy as she thought it would be especially with the distraction of a man who she had to stay away from. He was dangerous to her hard won sense of normalcy. Yet Monroe was determined, and she didn’t know what to do about that—run or stand and claim him.

  Monroe Rainey is focused on making his new business in Barefoot Bay a success. The community was welcoming and just what he, his dad and his brothers need to rebuild after a devastating loss. He’d vowed not to take life for granted and when he meets the woman who sparks his interest he wasn’t about to let an opportunity pass. Brianna was afraid to open up, but he was the right person to convince her that sometimes you needed to let go your control in order to get anything worth having.

  Two fractured people find each other and they find that together they can make something new.

  Dedication

  To my mother, who has always been my number one reader, although you are no longer with me I know you are smiling down each time I publish a book. Because of you, I love to read and write. To my big sister and second mother who has always believed in me. To St. Thomas, USVI whose beauty inspired me when I was growing up and sparked my imagination which shaped me into who I am today. To the people of the USVI with each Hurricane the landscape of our home becomes changed but the spirit of what makes us who we are will never be changed.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Also by Taige Crenshaw

  Additional Books by Taige Crenshaw

  About the Author

  Message from Roxanne St. Claire

  Dear Reader,

  Welcome to Barefoot Bay Kindle World, a place for authors to write their own stories set in the tropical paradise that I created! For these books, I have only provided the setting of Mimosa Key and a cast of characters from my popular Barefoot Bay series. That’s it! I haven’t contributed to the plotting, writing, or editing of Something New. This book is entirely the work of Taige Crenshaw.

  When two broken people find a healing love, it makes for a wonderful romance novel. Add in the sun, surf, and sand of Barefoot Bay, and you’ve got a mini-vacation for the heart. Something New is exactly the tropical getaway that will cure the winter blues!

  Roxanne St. Claire

  PS. If you love this island paradise, be sure to pick up one eighteen titles I’ve written set in Barefoot Bay. And there are more than sixty novellas in the Barefoot Bay Kindle World penned by other authors in the same setting. Come for a short visit or lose yourself on the beautiful beach and fall in love over and over again! All the books are listed at www.roxannestclaire.com.

  Chapter 1

  Survive! Survive! Now you need to live. Brianna Johnson kept silently repeating the words as she ran along the beautiful beach. This time of morning the area was quiet and no other people were visible. Just the way she liked it. She didn’t like people much which is why she hadn’t driven to Pleasure Pointe Beach even though she had been told they had running trails. Since moving to Barefoot Bay almost two weeks ago, there had been many well intentioned neighbors and those living here that had extended a hand to make her feel welcome. She wasn’t used to that at all in the more large cities she had lived in prior to this. Yes, she had eventually made friends which she kept to a small circle of people but that was of her choosing. She didn’t know what to do with people being so friendly.

  Since she had finally decided to put down roots here in Mimosa Key and more specifically Barefoot Bay, she’d have to adjust slightly to try to at least seem friendly.

  Don’t bring to much attention to you. She cautioned herself and then she paused that line of thought. Brianna blew out a breath and closed her eyes briefly as she ran. She didn’t need to do that anymore. Sometimes she forgot she no longer had the physical scars that drew far too much attention and questions. There were only the mental ones which no one saw or knew about. It was taking some getting used to that she no longer showed outside what had happened to her. They still lived in her nightmares.

  She sighed and thought of the last few weeks since arriving in Barefoot Bay when she’d been so busy meeting her deadline. She hadn’t taken the time to even go out except for essentials before heading back behind closed doors. The running she usually did on a daily basis was foregone for the solitude of her home. She slowed then turned and headed back to her new home. She promised herself to not fall into old habits and go back to being a hermit.

  Now that her deadline has passed, she made a vow to check out her new home. She slowed as she started her cool down as she got close to her home. The house was a quaint yet large cottage which she loved from the time she saw it for sale online. Even though it stated it needed to be fixed up, she figured she could do what was needed herself or find someone who could do the repairs needed. She’d found the place just as her last surgeries were completed. The last one was to fix her shoulder which still ached when it rained or if she ignored her exercises. She was feeling it today. And she welcomed the pain it made her know she was alive. Now she had to figure out how to be a normal person. She hadn’t had that in so long—normalcy. Now she did. And it was heady yet frightening at once.

  She walked the last steps to her house and then up the back deck to the back door. Brianna paused and looked out onto the beach she’d just run along. That was a major selling point for her—the beach being right out her back door. For too long she’d been in large cities trying to disappear in the throngs of people so she wouldn’t be noticed. Now she wasn’t, and she felt it in her bones this was the right place for her.

  “You’re home girl. A place to call your own.” Now if she could start to believe it.

  Brianna took out her key and unlocked the door then pulled it open. She walked in and Brianna smiled as she saw one of her closest friends.

  “You could have joined me on my run.” She said.

  “I could but I was feeling lazy.” Ashley Blake replied in her lyrical St. Thomian accent, stretched then slumped back in the chair by the window overlooking the beach. “Tomorrow… maybe.” She laughed. “I’m being such a lazy bum. When I get back home, I’m gonna have to get used to getting up early again.”

  Brianna felt a pang as she knew Ashley would
be going back home to Texas soon. She’d went there for part of her recovery and was tempted to stay. The Blake’s—Ashley’s family—had always treated her as family and when she went there, she’d felt it even more. But she’s already seen this place and fell in love. She didn’t regret moving here but would miss Ashley, her family, and all the others she had become friends with for the almost year and half she had been there.

  “I’m gonna miss you Bri.” Ashley said as if reading her mind. “But seeing you here. This is home for you now.” She smiled. “And we have a housewarming gift for you.” Ashley rose.

  “Ash you already helped me move here. Heck all of you helped in some way.” She protested. “I don’t need anything else.”

  “Hush.” Ashley said and left the room.

  Frowning Brianna went to the fridge and took out a bottle of water. She opened it and lifted it to her head. A sound made her lower it and look toward the kitchen entrance. A ball of black fur came in and she blinked as she realized what it was.

  “A puppy.” She said. “You got me a puppy.”

  Ashley laughed. “Yes. You’ll have some company. And someone to prod you from behind your computer since you’ll need to walk and so will your new pet. Don’t worry we already started to train her.”

  Brianna set the bottle on the counter and went to one knee. The scars on her hip pulled a little and she ignored it. The puppy came forward and licked her hand.

  “Is this from Valerian’s litter?” She lifted the puppy, and it wiggled licking her.

  “Yes.” Ashley came and joined her. “Maro said enjoy.”

  She smiled. Maro was Ashley’s sister and acted like a mother hen to all of them. She hadn’t wanted her to move either. At least that is what she thought. But seeing the puppy she sent, she knew she was giving her something to show her she cared.

  The phone rang and Ashley rose and flicked it on. She held out the cordless and Brianna saw the familiar Texas number.

  “We were just talking about you. Thanks for the puppy.”

  “I’m clairvoyant which is why I called at this exact moment.” A woman replied in a lyrical St. Thomian accent. Then she laughed. “Ashley texted me.”

  “I figured she did.” Brianna paused. “Thanks for giving me one of your dogs. I know how in demand they are.”

  “It was a group effort. Now enough of that, tell me about the book you just finished.” “Uh huh. No, you know if we get started it will be hours before we get off the phone.” She laughed.

  “Yeah. I know you all have plans.” Maro sighed.

  “How about you, are you working on a new book?” Brianna sat on the floor and leaned against the island counter and put the puppy in her lap.

  It wiggled so she let it down and it pressed against the side of her leg and curled up. She petted her new pet as she waited for Maro to reply.

  “Always.” Maro Blake snickered. “I’m blowing shit up and killing folks off.”

  Brianna laughed then said. “Are any of them named after someone who pissed you off?”

  “Of course. That’s the fun part of being a writer. Getting to put folks you like or in this case that piss you off and doing things to them you can’t do in real life.” Maro laughed.

  “You do know that when you laugh like that it comes off like you are cackling madly.” Brianna pointed out as she usually did when she laughed as she did.

  “Yep, I practice too. Freaks people out when I do it in public.” Maro laughed again then. “I need to get going I have to get my word count in before I go do someone else’s chores. When are you sending Ash back to Texas?”

  “She’s with me for another eight weeks.”

  “Who approved that?” Maro said.

  “All the family.” She smiled as she thought of the discussion they had had.

  Even when she protested she didn’t need someone to come with her, she had been overridden. Then the planning started. They had decided Ashley since she had the time for it.

  “Yeah, I know.” Maro grumbled. “Jerks.”

  She knew she was teasing. Brianna laughed, and she looked at Ashley who rolled her eyes.

  “I bet she is complaining about doing my chores.”

  “Yeah.”

  “It’ll do you some good to get some sun.” Ashley raised her voice to be heard on the phone.

  “Yeah, I’m turning into a vampire as some of you like to claim.” Maro said dryly. “Not. Although too bad I don’t have the awesome powers that come with it.”

  “You are such a nut.” Brianna laughed.

  “I know.” Maro said. “I’ll speak to you soon. Bye.”

  “Bye.” She hung up then looked at Ashley. “Your sister is weird.”

  “We’re all weird. Including you.”

  “True.” Brianna studied her. “Then—“

  “Hush.” Ashley interrupted. “All this was a joint project to get you here. Hell it was loads of fun too.”

  Brianna knew that wasn’t all it was. Ashley and the others didn’t like thanks, saying more than once, that was what family and friends were for. She felt a pang as she thought of those she thought of as family and close friends. They lived primarily in Texas, New York and a few other places around the country. There was a few here in Barefoot Bay but she didn’t know them as well. Once Ashley went home, she didn’t really know anyone here.

  Come on Bri. You have neighbors and so many who have been friendly. You only went out twice and the friendly overtures were there. Yes, it freaked you out but get out and get to know folks.

  “We need to finalize the conference we are going to later this year.” Ashley said.

  She knew she was changing the subject. She let her.

  “I’ve never been to one of those.” Brianna said wistfully.

  “Now you can.” Ashley laughed. “And your readers will be so excited. And now people will stop thinking you, Maro and I are the same person. Since I am getting my anti-social sister to come too. Yippee.” Ashley bobbed her shoulders.

  Brianna chuckled. She always loved to write but never had until after. She shut down anything about the before. As she was in pain and stressing, she had poured it into writing. Then when she was done had found a group and sent it to the group for their thoughts. They had been blunt. She could tell a story but her mechanics—grammar, POV and so on—needed work. That was good since you can teach mechanics but can’t teach someone to tell a compelling story. Brianna had started with romance since she loved to read that then branched out into multiple genres. Surprisingly she’d been successful and had a big following of readers.

  “That is a good thing for you. But once I show my face then… well not sure about it. No I won’t back out.” She looked at the clock on the wall. “Let me go get dressed so we’re not late.”

  “Ok. Just wanted to let you know we changed where we are meeting. We’re meeting at the Casa Blanca Resort & Spa. I’ve booked us a Spa treatment for after including massages.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “We’re gonna eat then go get pampered.”

  “You are a smart woman.” She frowned. “Why the change?”

  “I might have convinced folks. The men in group of course groaned at the spa but when I invited them they were all in.” She rolled her eyes. “Pampering can make anyone mush. So it’ll be a group thing.”

  “Great.” She was looking forward to it.

  They were meeting some of their online writing buddies. They would eat, talk shop and have fun.

  “I’m gonna get ready.” She rubbed her fingers along the bridge of her nose. “I’m sending you all a file to read.”

  “Ohh… the new book.” Ashely sounded excited.

  “No, I just finished, and it is sitting before I go through it.” She paused. “This is the one that I did my run-through on that is ready for someone else’s eyes.”

  “Ok.” Ashley nodded.

  “I’ll see you in about an hour.”

  “Ok.” Ashley rose and went to the kitchen door and out.

  Br
ianna also rose and headed after her. By the time, she reached the hall Ashley had already disappeared into her room. Brianna went down the hall. She noted the puppy trailed behind her. Soon she was in her bedroom and went to her laptop still sitting on the table by the window. That reminded her, she had an office to furnish. Well technically a house but the office to her was the most important. It would be where she would work and spend many of her hours. She made a mental note to check out the newly opened furniture place that many she had met mentioned. From what she recalled, they also did repairs. Maybe she would make a stop on the way back to check them out and see what they had and ask them to check out her place to see what they thought needed done.

  Brianna opened her email and then went to drafts. She looked at the message then clicked send. Leaving the puppy curled in the corner she went to the adjacent bathroom to get ready.

  Walking into the Casa Blanca Resort & Spa over an hour later Brianna laughed at her friends exaggeration of what happed in her last edits. She glanced back at her then her breath whooshed out as she hit into a warm chest.

  “Sorry.” She turned her attention to the person she ran into. “I was—“

  She lost all thought at she meet rich green eyes. The man’s eyes were sad yet around them, she saw laugh lines, which to her meant he was usually laughing or smiling.

  “It was my fault.” He said in a deep baritone then smiled wryly. “Was in too much of a hurry so I didn’t see you. Are you okay?”

  She stared, then realizing she was, she cleared her throat and replied. “Yes I’m ok. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going either.”

  “Then we were bound to bump into each other.” He smiled again.

  “Yeah.”

  “Bri.” Ashley sounded askant.