Falling for the Good Guy (NICE GIRL TO LOVE)

by Violet Duke

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright © 2013 Violet Duke

  Dedication

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  Sneak Peek of RUSH by Joan Swan

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  FALLING FOR

  THE GOOD GUY

  NICE GIRL TO LOVE

  BOOK TWO

  VIOLET DUKE

  Copyright © 2013 Violet Duke

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN-10: 0989163318

  ISBN-13: 978-0-9891633-1-6

  This book and any portion thereof may not be reproduced, scanned, transferred, or distributed in any print or electronic form without the express written permission of the author. Participation in any aspect of piracy of copyrighted materials, inclusive of the obtainment of this book through non-retail or other unauthorized means, is in actionable violation of the author’s rights.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, and events are either the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is purely coincidental.

  OTHER TITLES BY THE AUTHOR:

  NICE GIRL TO LOVE (Serial Romance) Series

  RESISTING THE BAD BOY, Book #1

  Available Now

  FALLING FOR THE GOOD GUY, Book #2

  Available Now

  CHOOSING THE RIGHT MAN, Book #3

  Available July 31st

  NICE GIRL TO LOVE: The Complete Collection

  Available July 31st

  A ‘Nice Girl’ Spin-Off Standalone Novel (title withheld)

  Coming October 2013

  CACTUS CREEK Series

  LOVE, CHOCOLATE, AND BEER

  Coming January 2014

  LOVE, WEAPONS, AND COMBAT

  Coming May 2014

  LOVE, SIDELINES, AND ENDZONES

  Coming September 2014

  BOOK DESCRIPTION

  From the author who brought you RESISTING THE BAD BOY comes the second book in the NICE GIRL TO LOVE (serial romance) series: Abby & Brian's story...

  Abby Bartlett is well aware that everyone thinks she's in love with her best friend Brian. He is, after all, the type of man a nice girl should be with--the polar opposite of the bad boy--the kind of guy who didn't let his wife's decade-long illness stop him from showering her with a lifetime of love every second until her dying day. Yes, Brian has been the yardstick against which Abby has measured all other men. But everyone's wrong; she couldn't possibly be in love with him.

  Because she's never once allowed herself that option.

  It's taken a while but Brian Sullivan has finally come to terms with being a widower at the age of thirty, surviving the woman he spent half his life loving, a third of it losing. Truth is though, he wouldn't have 'survived' any of it really had it not been for Abby--sweet, incredible Abby--the woman he's never once had to picture his life without, never realized he couldn't truly live without. Until now. Now that he's finally able to love her the way she deserves, the way he knows she wants to be loved...by his brother.

  Who's giving him exactly one chance to speak now or forever hold his peace.

  Print Length: 145 pages (Based on paperback edition, available August 2013)

  DEDICATION

  To all the amazing doctors and medical professionals in Hawai‘i and Arizona who have saved my life and improved my quality of living countless times over the years. And to my family and friends,Kat who have made every day of this life fully worth fighting for.

  CHAPTER ONE

  HE WASN’T COMING BACK.

  With a heavy sigh, Abby Bartlett turned off the TV, cutting off the raucous sounds of folks getting ready to party in the New Year at Times Square. The resulting silence in her house was almost deafening.

  She’d sat and watched the merriment all evening in the hopes that it would miraculously get her into the holiday spirit, maybe even convince her to go out for the night.

  It hadn’t.

  And it was her own fault, really.

  Connor Sullivan had been gone from her life for three and a half months now and she still hadn’t managed to squelch the part of her that kept speeding up her heart rate every time the doorbell rang…and left her damn near holding her breath all through Christmas.

  The same part of her that was keeping her hostage at home tonight just in case.

  Gathering herself up off the couch, Abby ambled over to her desk and once again picked up the periodical her article had been published in last week—her first. Every time she saw the small milestone in her academic career, she was reminded of how big a deal Connor had made over the whole thing when she’d initially found out about the article acceptance. How he’d been just as proud of her news as he’d been about closing his $7 billion court settlement that same day.

  God, she missed him.

  Sure, their agreement had always been just one hot and heavy month together, per his rules, but she never expected to fall in love with him. And she certainly never expected him to extract himself from her life so thoroughly afterward. It hurt like hell. Because the truth was, she had connected with Connor in ways that were surprisingly just as deep as the best friend bond she shared with his brother Brian.

  Not that she’d ever tell Brian that—he’d been worrying over her more than enough as is lately.

  Speak of the devil.

  Abby answered her ringing phone with a smile. “How’s the block party going?”

  “Same old, same old.” The familiar rumbly timbre of Brian’s voice smiled back over the phone line, warming her as it always did. “But there’s only so much drunken neighborly fun a man can take.”

  She glanced out her window at the sight of headlights coming up her dark street.

  “So I left. I’ll be at your place in half a minute so go put on a pair of shorts.” Click.

  Damn, he knew her too well. She ran to her closet to throw on a pair of bike shorts under the old tshirt she’d changed into at the ripe hour of eight pm. Hearing Brian slam the car door shut, she hurried to slip on a bra as well.

  At the sound of the doorbell, she grinned and shook her head. Always the gentleman. They’d been best friends for what, nearly thirteen years now? And he’d never once used his spare key to let himself in when she was home.

  She swung open the door with a smile. “Don’t you have better things to do tonight than pay me a pity visit?”

  Brian smiled back, almost managing to hide the empathy darkening his eyes before answering, “Of course not. My life is just as sad as yours, remember?” He held up a case of Sam Adams and a tray of take-out from their favorite Mediterranean restaurant. “I brought some refreshments.”

  Skylar popped out from behind him, jazz hands afire. “And me!”

  “The entertainment,” he deadpanned.

  Chuckling, she stepped back to let in the father-daughter variety act.

  In a flurry of her usual pre-teen energy, Skylar rushed in the doorway and proceeded to give Abby a warp speed 30-second update of all the drama that had gone on in her life throughout the week before scampering toward the kitchen pantry for a bag of chips. Along the way, she made sure to grab the remote to flip through the TV channels with one hand and still keep at whatever game she was playing on her bright pink smartphone with the other.

  Brian wrapped Abby up in a big bear hug. “You doing okay, babe?”

&nbs
p; Abby sank into the protective embrace. She was so glad things had gone back to normal between them. The day Connor left, things had been…awkward. And then confusing. Mostly because it only seemed to be awkward and confusing for her. After that day, Brian continued right on being his perfectly normal, normally perfect self. Obviously, she’d completely imagined the brief ‘moment’ she thought they’d shared when he’d given her Connor’s parting gifts. She had, after all, been in a really vulnerable place; it was entirely plausible she’d simply latched on to the comfort Brian had been providing that day and mistook it for something more.

  Whether that had been wishful thinking or not, she simply refused to analyze.

  Settling her head against his chest, she reassured him as best she could, “I’m fine. Just tired, is all. Would you stop fussing over me?”

  He pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. “Who’s fussing? Can’t a guy just want to hang out with his two best girls all night long?”

  She sighed. He meant it literally, too. Because he was just that good to her. “It’s no big deal, Brian. You don’t have to hover all night; it’s just New Year’s Eve.”

  Right. Just. They both knew it was much more than that. They both knew that New Year’s Eve was ‘the deadline.’

  The last day she’d wait for Connor to come back to her.

  The last day before she finally moved on.

  It really was time. Her brain knew it. And Connor’s MIA status since September was making his views on the situation loud and clear. This ‘thing’ between them really was over.

  And yet there was still that one small, unsquelchable part of her heart that couldn’t seem to drag her eyes off the clock as it ticked down to the last second of the year.

  “I can’t believe how much worse her sleep-talking has gotten,” whispered Abby, smiling affectionately over at Skylar, who was down for the count in front of the TV, and arguing with herself in her sleep.

  “I know. It’s going to make her high school years a tiny bit easier for me to deal with,” replied Brian, looking over at his daughter with a smile matching Abby’s.

  “How do you figure?”

  “Normally, she chatters so much all night long, the silence in the house will be deafening if she tries to sneak out.” He winked. “I’ll know the minute she’s gone.”

  Abby grinned, knowing full well the adorable reality behind that truth—Brian was an impossibly light sleeper who still checked in on his daughter several times a night to make sure her sleep-talking wasn’t in fact a nightmare. It was terribly cute.

  Without even realizing she was doing it, she glanced at the time again mid-chuckle—just a half hour to go. When she turned back and saw Brian giving her a sympathetic look, she attempted a quick recovery. “I didn’t realize it was so late already. Why don’t you guys just stay over tonight? We can start the new year together and whip up some of Skylar’s favorite strawberry pancakes in the morning as a New Year’s Day treat.”

  Not an unusual plan for them by any means considering how the pair spent the night at her house almost as often as she slept over theirs. And yet…something about the way Brian’s eyes darkened when she made the offer made her pulse kick up a bit.

  What in the world?

  “You took the words right out of my mouth. I’ll go get Skylar set up in the guestroom,” he replied in a voice that sounded even deeper than usual. Almost…husky.

  How odd.

  She puzzled over the tiny, undefinable differences about Brian tonight that were proving to have an uncharacteristic effect on her insides as she headed over to the fridge for some fresh beers. Meanwhile, Brian got Skylar settled into the guestroom across the way and Abby caught him doing that melt-your-heart dad thing he always did where he smoothed Skylar’s hair back and whispered ‘sweet dreams, Sky-bug’—as if she was still two and not twelve—before making a point to leave the room door just a tiny bit ajar on his way out.

  He was such a good father.

  When he rejoined her on the living room couch, Abby handed him his beer and clinked bottlenecks. Just twenty minutes to go. She was in serious need of a distraction. “Oh hey, I meant to ask, has Skylar changed her mind about opening her Christmas gift from Beth?”

  Brian shook his head, frowning sadly. “No, the whole gift from her mom beyond the grave thing is still a little tough for her to take. And I don’t want to force her. Last Christmas was hard enough on her with it being so soon after Beth’s death. I’m more focused on her having as many enjoyable memories from this year’s holiday season as possible.”

  Abby could understand why. She remembered how despondent Skylar had been last winter break, barely saying more than a few words the entire time. The poor girl deserved the jubilant Christmas she’d had this year.

  He snagged her gaze. “Thanks again for helping Beth do the whole gift thing.”

  “No thanks needed. I’m glad I could do that for her. And Skylar.”

  Not that it hadn’t been a hugely emotional favor. About a few months before her Huntington’s had all but robbed her ability to speak, Brian’s ailing wife had asked for Abby’s help in setting up a means to make sure Skylar got birthday and Christmas presents from Beth well after she was gone. So, armed with a large check from Beth, Abby had begun the long mission of buying up two pre-brainstormed gifts for every year of Skylar’s life until her twenty-first Christmas and birthday…along with one special gift for her wedding day as well.

  And she had cried buying every single one.

  But she never did show Beth any of those tears. In each of their weekly gift brainstorming sessions, Abby made sure to keep the biggest, most upbeat smile on her face. And as soon as she’d find a gift that fit the ideas they’d discussed, she made sure to show it to Beth with the same dry-eyed positivity.

  Between the two of them, they managed to successfully avoid mentioning what each gift represented entirely, altogether ignoring the tragic reality of how much of Skylar’s life Beth would miss out on.

  “I just wish I could’ve gotten more of the gifts to her…before,” she whispered.

  Before Beth’s dementia had set in fully

  Before Abby became just another familiar stranger to her.

  Before the gifts became just something nice for someone else’s child.

  She looked away. Seriously, the hardest favor she’d ever been asked to do.

  Brian sighed and pulled her into his arms. “Why didn’t you two tell me about all this back then? You didn’t have to go through it alone. I could’ve helped.”

  “That’s exactly why she didn’t want me to tell you,” explained Abby gently. “Beth knew she was soon going to be leaving you with the impossible task of being both mother and father to Skylar. And so in this one small thing, she wanted to have her side covered…so you could be just the dad. For all the birthdays and the Christmases, and Skylar’s wedding day, Beth wanted you to be able to be just Skylar’s dad.” Unshed tears for her gone-too-soon friend washed over Abby’s eyes. “She was an amazing woman, that wife of yours.”

  “That she was.”

  A heavy silence fell between them.

  “Abby—”

  “Brian—”

  Abby nodded. “You first.”

  He gave her a long look. “I just want you know, I think Skylar’s lucky to have grown up with two amazing women to look up to in her life.”

  Darn it, there were those tears again.

  “You’ve been a second mom to Skylar from the day she was born; at times the only one she had, even before Beth became bedridden.” He raised a hand to stop her before she could contend otherwise. “Beth and I talked about it all the time; she thanked the universe for you every day, Abby. Just like I did.”

  He wiped the single wayward tear that had found its way down her cheek. “And that’s precisely why I was glad you changed your mind about going back to California for Christmas this year. Skylar would’ve missed you.” His voice went down a quiet notch. “Almost as much as I would
have.”

  Abby silently processed the compliment, wondering why she was feeling so emotional about it, and at the same time, attempting to stop thinking about the reason why she’d almost skipped town for Christmas to begin with.

  Connor.

  “You know you can still keep waiting on him, right?” Brian gazed into her eyes softly. “No one would fault you for it if you did. What you and my brother had was pretty intense.”

  That was an understatement.

  Still, she didn’t even hesitate. “No. No more waiting. It’s time.”

  “Yeah?”

  She gave him the most determined look she could scrounge up. “Yep.”

  He studied her for a beat and then leaned in closer. Until she could see every fleck of green in his teal blue eyes. “Your turn.”

  Confused, she drew back to a more thinking-friendly distance. “What?”

  “Your turn to talk. You were going to say something earlier.”

  “Oh, right.” She shook her head to clear it. Geez, maybe she was drunk. “I was just going to say something similar, actually. That no one would fault you for missing your wife during the holidays. You don’t always have to be so strong. Not around me, at least.”

  “And now it’s my turn to reply in a similar fashion. It’s time.”

  She tilted her head. “What do you mean?”

  “Are you serious about wanting to get over Connor?”

  Was it that hard to believe? “I’ve told you, a deadline is a deadline.”

  “So this is now officially one of your wishes that you want to make into your reality?”

  Heartbreakingly, it was. “Yes.”

  “Then let me help.”

  The corner of her mouth lifted up. The man was forever trying to right the world for everyone he cared about. “And you’re going to help how exactly?”

  “By any means necessary.” He stole back the precious brain-clearing space she’d gained. “Are you going to make my task easy and let me kiss you at midnight, Abby-Bee?”