by Cora Brent
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN DOMINIC In the beginning I tried to go slow with her, though it nearly killed me. I’d been thinking about this girl for weeks, and I wasn’t going to just grunt and get off. This wasn’t a fuck. This was Melanie. We fit together so flawlessly I could swear I’d been made to slide into her body. I’d wondered if she’d be shy or reserved between the sheets, but to my delight she didn’t hold back at all. And when I said dirty things, filthy things, she absolutely fucking loved it. “What are you doing?” she whimpered when I teased her, pulling out just as she was getting to the brink for the third time since I carried her in here. “Making you work for it,” I answered, easily offering up resistance when she tried to tighten her legs and draw me back in. Her eyes had been closed as she bit her lip and let me consume her as I pleased. Now those blue eyes opened and fixed me with a look of frustration. “I don’t work for you right now, Mr. Esposito,” she said, but she was lying. I
CHAPTER NINETEEN MELANIE We were now less than an hour away from the great grand opening of Esposito’s new downtown Phoenix restaurant, and suddenly it seemed like there were a million things to do. I still needed to double-check some details, from the presence of first aid kits to the required emergency and inspection signs. Over in the dining room, a couple of the servers were running through a quick inventory of all the plates, glasses, and flatware. “Remember,” I said as I passed by the built-in cabinets where the servers were busily counting, “any chips or cracks or other flaws, and the item is to be removed from circulation immediately. Place all rejects in the gray bin beneath the register, and I’ll make note of it later.” “Melanie.” Isaiah, one of the new dishwashers, appeared and looked around at all the activity with confusion. He was the youngest staff member, still in high school. “What should I do now?” “Um, why don’t you go to the kitchen? I think Dominic’s running throug
CHAPTER TWENTY DOMINIC Espo 2’s grand opening passed in a blur of people and pizza. I was working at full speed in the kitchen from the time the doors opened until they closed. A couple of times Gio prodded me to make an appearance out front, and I took a quick turn around the dining room to make him happy, but then I went right back to the kitchen where I could be more useful. Melanie stepped out of her usual role and manned the hostess desk to ensure that traffic kept moving quickly. She was charming and friendly, yet managed to be as efficient as possible considering the crowd. I was careful not to look her way often. Staring at Melanie threw me off balance and made me think about things that didn’t need to be on my mind when I was up to my elbows in pizza. Through the open space between the kitchen and the dining room, I saw Tara arrive with the baby. Melanie took a break from the hostess desk and bounced my niece on her hip. Leah laughed, and I noted how much she’d changed since t
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE MELANIE Tara Esposito was stubborn. When I explained via text that I didn’t know when I’d be able to take a night off, she marched right down to Esposito’s and through my office door. “Come on, Mel, the restaurant’s been open for over two weeks,” she said huffily as she stood there with her wispy blonde hair coiled on her head in a princess braid. “All you people work too much.” I laughed. “It’s three o’clock on a Tuesday afternoon, Tara. Where else would I be if not at work?” “I know,” she grumbled. “But I’m selfish. Gio’s been working crazy hours, and I’m desperate for adult conversation. If I watch one more episode of Yo Gabba Gabba!, I swear I’m going to lose it.” “Yo Gabba what?” I said. She snorted. “Never mind.” Tara plunked right down on a nearby chair and rubbed her eyes. She might have chosen another seating option if she knew what had gone on in that chair this morning when Dominic and I were the only ones here, but I certainly wasn’t going to be the one t
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO DOMINIC Sonoran Acres called at nine o’clock on Friday morning to tell me Donna had broken her left hip. I’d just left Melanie’s and was in my truck anyway, so I made a detour and headed for the hospital. I texted Gio from the parking lot, then shot off another text to Melanie, telling her my grandmother had a medical emergency and I needed Melanie to open Espo 2 at eleven. She answered back immediately, asking if there was anything she could do to help. I told her I’d be in touch as soon as I knew more, but for the time being I needed her to manage Espo 2. Then I stuffed my phone in my pocket and headed for the emergency room doors. The cranky nurse who’d scolded me the night I escorted Donna home late after the friends and family event had accompanied the ambulance. “What the hell happened?” I growled, knowing I sounded like a bear but not caring because my heart had been in my throat ever since I got that call. The woman didn’t bristle over my tone. Instead she ga
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE MELANIE “How is she?” I asked Dominic. When I walked into the office, he’d been on the phone with the hospital again. “They just gave her some more pain meds,” he said. “But the CT scan came back good, and Tara just said the surgical team stopped by. Her hip repair is scheduled for tomorrow morning at eleven.” “And she’ll need to stay in the hospital for a few days?” “At least.” He stretched his arms and sat down at the desk chair he never used, because he was always in the thick of the restaurant action and almost never in here. “I think the nurse’s station is ready to ban my calls. Even Tara’s tired of dealing with my constant check-ins.” I got behind him and put my hands on his shoulders, trying to squeeze the tension out. He relaxed under my touch, his eyes closing and his head rolling back slightly. I had to admit I thought it was utterly adorable the way this big, strapping man worried so much about his grandmother. All day I’d kept telling him that he could
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR DOMINIC Gio said the arrangements could wait, but I couldn’t stand the idea of her being laid out in the hospital morgue. I made some calls and found a funeral home that was willing to schedule things in a hurry. I signed whatever paperwork the hospital admins shoved in my face and reluctantly nodded my head yes when I was asked if I wanted to see her. My brother didn’t. He remained in the plastic hospital chair with his head down, not caring who was watching as he sobbed while his wife rubbed his back. Tara looked up at me with wounded eyes as she held him, and I wished I could let loose like Gio. I wished I could sink into the nearest chair and let my chest heave and my shoulders shake as some poisonous grief leaked out. I hadn’t cried yet. I’d come pretty close when I was on the phone with Melanie, but ultimately I held it in. “Can I come to the hospital?” she’d asked, and I knew she wanted to. I wanted that too. I wanted to hold her and take comfort in something
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE MELANIE Insomnia was my sporadic companion since I’d been a kid, coming and going in spells. Sometimes I’d spend months without any trouble, and then there’d come a night when, for no particular reason, my eyes would snap open like window shades, and I’d stare at the ceiling until daybreak. This was one of those nights. I turned on the sound machine. I squeezed drops of lavender on my pillow. I swallowed two Benadryl. None of it made the slightest impact. I tossed. I turned. I kicked the covers off. I visited the bathroom four times. I played Minecraft on my iPad, even though staring at electronics makes things worse. Interestingly, I’d never had trouble falling asleep on any of the nights Dominic stayed over. Maybe because we wore each other out so vigorously that sleep was inevitable. But Dominic wasn’t here tonight. We hadn’t fought, not exactly. He’d lost his beloved grandmother only a few hours before he returned to the restaurant yesterday, and he was still re
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX DOMINIC Gio was planning on coming with me to meet with the funeral home director about Donna’s service and burial. It would be a small, intimate affair on Tuesday afternoon, and we intended to close both restaurants until 6 p.m. Employees who were scheduled to work would receive full pay but were not expected to attend the service unless they wanted to. Sonoran Acres had offered us their conference room as an informal postfuneral gathering place, and I was happy to take them up on it. Most of Donna’s living friends were there anyway. When I saw Gio this morning, I also had to tell him that I planned t
o contact Steven and let him know that our grandmother had passed away. It shouldn’t be that hard in this hyperactive social media age to locate a family member, but after an hour of drinking coffee at my bare kitchen table while scouring search results on my laptop, I wasn’t having any luck. Meanwhile, my phone was overflowing with messages that I didn’t feel like deal
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN MELANIE The moment I walked in here, I felt like I was being slowly strangled from the inside. Death and sadness were old, unwelcome acquaintances. I should have realized that being at Donna’s funeral would remind me of the worst time in my life, but somehow it hadn’t occurred to me. Even the look of the funeral home was the same. Too much hardwood everywhere and far too many flowers. “Hey there, stranger,” said a familiar voice, and I looked up to find Dominic’s best friend was talking to me. “Mind if I keep you company?” he asked. “Hi, Jason,” I said warmly. “Please do.” I gestured to the empty space on the bench. In truth I barely knew this guy, but Dominic talked about him all the time. Jason was reportedly an unrepentant playboy with his own family struggles to deal with, but he and Dom had been close friends for a decade, so I figured he was all right. Anyway, I’d been feeling a little awkward as I suffered my private panic attack, alone in the back of the fu
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT DOMINIC Before I left for the airport to take the red-eye to JFK, I paid my brother a visit. He was working over at Espo 1, but he agreed to sit down and hear what I had to say. Gio swirled the ice in his water glass as he listened, and I felt ten years of guilt being lifted off my chest. I wished I’d told him all the details long ago. About me, about Beth, about why I needed to fly to the other side of the country and face the man I’d wronged. A phone call simply wouldn’t do, not if we were going to have any real closure. When I was done talking, he exhaled thickly, crossed his arms, and sat back in his chair. “You’ll be back on Friday?” he asked. I nodded. “I’ll land in New York early in the morning, rent a car, drive out to Long Island, and wait for Steven to show up. My return flight will be the following morning.” “And you’re sure you know where to find him?” “He bounces around a lot, but according to Jay’s PI friend, he moved into a rental house in Levittown
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE MELANIE I wasted half the morning categorizing my pen collection. Dominic was always mystified that I kept so many pens around my desk when most of my work was done on the laptop. When I haughtily informed him that a girl could never have too much of a good thing, he had smirked like I’d just said something dirty. I was already done with payroll, and I should have been catching up with entering the vendor invoices in the accounting system. Instead I was rolling a pen across my desk over and over again. I’d set my chin on the desk, and was pushing the pen lightly, watching it roll toward the far edge. Just before it fell off, I’d grab it, and feel triumphant for a split second. It was a simpleminded game that a curious toddler might play. At least that’s what Gio probably thought when he walked in the office. “Having fun?” he asked wryly as he closed the door behind himself. “Fun?” I snatched the pen just as it was about to topple off the desk. “There is no fun here.
CHAPTER THIRTY DOMINIC We were flying directly over Phoenix now. When I took note of such area landmarks as Camelback Mountain and Arizona State University, I found myself grinning like a jackass. Even though I’d only been away for thirty-six hours, I was damn glad to be home. New York was nice, but it wasn’t home anymore, hadn’t been for ten years. Before the plane took off this morning, I texted Melanie to let her know I’d be back this afternoon. Then I stared at my phone for half an hour and waited for her to respond. She didn’t. It was just after noon by the time I exited the airport, and since I was closer to Espo 1, I decided to stop there first. Gio was there, dealing with the lunch crowd, just as I’d figured he would be. The restaurant was busy and pleasantly noisy with herds of college kids running in to grab a slice or two before dashing back to their next class. Giovanni was actually working in the kitchen because we were a little shorthanded, and a few of the staff were bei
EPILOGUE MELANIE Fourteen Months Later The party was pretty much over, and it wasn’t even midnight. It had been a small family affair at Espo 2, in any case. There would be some cleanup to do, but tomorrow was New Year’s Day, and the restaurant would be closed so it didn’t matter. Gio and Tara had been here earlier, but they left when little Leah started to get tired. At nearly two years old, she was a sassy, dimpled little thing who managed to charm everyone she met. Tonight her doting parents announced that she would be a big sister next summer. “Don’t worry.” Tara laughed as I hugged her. “I’ll find a way to squeeze into my bridesmaid dress in April.” “If not, we can just drape you in a very large lavender sheet,” her husband suggested cheerfully. Tara made a face and then silenced Gio with a kiss. The year had passed so quickly. As I sat at a corner table with a glass of wine and played with the ring on my left hand, I could hardly believe we were on the verge of starting a new one
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Forever beholden to my husband and life partner who didn’t hesitate when I broke the news that I wished to quit my accounting job and write full-time. He looked me right in the eye and said, “Go for it.” Ever since then he’s put up with strange and often grueling working hours, tons of last-minute takeout dinners, and the sounds of me muttering to myself endlessly as I test out character dialogue. To my kids, thank you for being my pride and joy. You will always come first. To my agent, Kimberly Brower, who has been so amazingly supportive of this story and always maintains infinite enthusiasm for my work. To the Montlake team for believing in this project and patiently working with me to craft the best story possible. To the readers . . . your passion, your support, and your boundless zeal for the unique worlds found only in the pages of a book inspire all of us to keep creating.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Cora Brent is the USA Today and New York Times bestselling author of the Gentry Boys series. She was born in a cold climate but escaped as soon as it was legally possible. These days, she lives in the Arizona desert with her husband, two kids, and a prickly pear cactus she has affectionately named “Spot.” Cora’s closet is filled with boxes of unfinished stories that date back to her 1980s childhood (someday she fully intends to finish her first masterpiece about a pink horse that plays baseball), but in the meantime, she’s consumed with her romance novels. For more on the author and her work, visit www.corabrent.com, or connect with her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CoraBrentAuthor.
ALSO BY CORA BRENT
Unruly
Hickey
Breathless Point
The Gentry Boys
Draw
Risk
Game
Fall
Hold
Cross
Walk
Edge
Snow
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2017 by Cora Brent
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Published by Montlake Romance, Seattle
www.apub.com
Amazon, the Amazon logo, and Montlake Romance are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates.
ISBN-13: 9781542047760
ISBN-10: 1542047765
Cover design by Eileen Carey
To my sassy, spirited, complex grandmother whose lifelong passion for poetry lit an early creative spark that sent me in search of my own words.
I wish you’d lived long enough to see this, but I like to think that wherever you are in this vast, intricate universe, you somehow know.
And I hope you’re proud.
CONTENTS
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CHAPTER ONE MELANIE
CHAPTER TWO DOMINIC
CHAPTER THREE MELANIE
CHAPTER FOUR DOMINIC
CHAPTER FIVE MELANIE
CHAPTER SIX DOMINIC
CHAPTER SEVEN MELANIE
CHAPTER EIGHT DOMINIC
CHAPTER NINE MELANIE
CHAPTER TEN DOMINIC
CHAPTER ELEVEN MELANIE
CHAPTER TWELVE DOMINIC
CHAPTER THIRTEEN MELANIE
CHAPTER FOURTEEN DOMINIC
CHAPTER FIFTEEN MELANIE
CHAPTER SIXTEEN DOMINIC
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN MELANIE
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN DOMINIC
CHAPTER NINETEEN MELANIE
CHAPTER TWENTY DOMINIC
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE MELANIE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO DOMINIC
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE MELANIE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR DOMINIC
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE MELANIE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX DOMINIC
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN MELANIE
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT DOMINIC
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE MELANIE
CHAPTER THIRTY DOMINIC
EPILOGUE MELANIE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CHAPTER ONE
MELANIE
I heard him the first time, but I was hoping I’d hallucinated that last sentence.
As I gripped the slippery leather arms of the office chair, poised for my imminent execution, I asked, “What did you say?”
My tormentor blinked at me. “Miss Cruz, effective immediately your relationship with Desert Princess Resort and Spa is over.”
“You’re telling me I’m fired.”
“Yes, your employment has been terminated.”
Terminated.
My mind’s eye envisioned my body combusting in a cloud of white smoke, my black pumps remaining behind in some cruel, contemporary Wizard of Oz twist.
