Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Epilogue
Charming Fiona
A Seductive Romantic Comedy
Jessica Prince
Copyright © 2018 by Jessica Prince
www.authorjessicaprince.com
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
Discover Other Books by Jessica
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Epilogue
Fire & Ice Excerpt
More from the Locklaine Boys
Discover Other Books by Jessica
About the Author
Discover Other Books by Jessica
THE PICKING UP THE PIECES SERIES:
Picking up the Pieces
Rising from the Ashes
Pushing the Boundaries
Worth the Wait
THE COLORS NOVELS:
Scattered Colors
Shrinking Violet
Love Hate Relationship
Wildflower
THE LOCKLAINE BOYS (a LOVE HATE RELATIONSHIP spinoff):
Fire & Ice
Opposites Attract
Almost Perfect
THE PEMBROOKE SERIES (a WILDFLOWER spinoff):
Sweet Sunshine
Coming Full Circle
A Broken Soul
CIVIL CORRUPTION SERIES
Corrupt
Defile (Declan and Tatum’s story – coming 2018)
STANDALONE TITLES:
Chance Encounters
Seducing Lola
Tempting Sophia
Enticing Daphne
Charming Fiona
Nightmares from Within
DEADLY LOVE SERIES:
Destructive
Addictive
CO-WRITTEN BOOKS:
Hustler – with Meghan Quinn
Prologue
Fiona
As children we were taught that the sky was the limit, that when we reached adulthood we could become whatever we wanted. For a long time I’d taken that far too literally, first deciding that I wanted to be a Barbie doll, then a princess, then a mermaid—that one’s on you, Ariel.
When I finally got over the heartbreak of discovering that Disney princesses didn’t actually exist in real life, I decided I wanted to be the first woman president or an astronaut. That phase hadn’t lasted long.
When I reached my teenage years, my father began grooming me to take over the family business. After all, I was Calvin and Evelyn Prentice’s only child. So it came without saying that I’d one day carry on the legacy that had started as nothing more than a small, family-run department store on the West Coast and eventually grew into a worldwide fashion empire thanks to my father, and his father before him, and so on and so forth.
Most teenage girls would have dreamed of working in the high-end fashion industry, reveling in all the perks, the haute couture. But I wasn’t one of those girls. I didn’t dream of running an empire. I didn’t care about notoriety or fame or any of that stuff.
I didn’t care about being the next big “it” name or who walked down the red carpet in one of our designs.
Truth was, I hadn’t earned any of that. It had just been handed down to me as the next Prentice generation. No, what I wanted more than anything in the world was to be a wonderful wife and mother. Yes, I was aware that my ambitions set feminism back by decades, but I didn’t give a shit. I wanted a family. I’d grown up watching my father dote on my mother like she was the only woman on the planet. They kissed, they touched, they didn’t care where they were or who saw their sometimes sickening—especially to a school-aged girl—displays of affection.
Most days my dad could barely keep his hands off her. And I was sure that, had my mom been able to, our house would have been full of children.
Unfortunately her body just wasn’t built to carry a baby. Her pregnancy with me was difficult enough, and after nine months of living in constant fear for his wife’s well-being, my father had decided that one was more than enough.
When I finally came into the world, I got all that adoration and love showered on me as well, so it had been ingrained in me from day one to find a man who treated me like I walked on water, and to hold on tight.
Because of that, I’d grown up with a somewhat inflated sense of romance. Meaning I threw myself into every single relationship I ever entered and had my heart crushed when they eventually came to an end.
But the absolute worst heartbreak I’d ever encountered had come at the hands of a man I’d grown up with. A man whom I’d idolized and placed on a pedestal for as long as I could remember.
Grayson Lockhart was absolutely everything a woman could want. He was kind and sweet, he was driven in success, smart, funny, and tying all of that up with a shiny, perfect bow was the fact that he looked like a Greek god.
The man was hot. I was talking take-your-breath-away, drench-your-panties hot. He could give you a mini-orgasm just by walking into a room and smiling.
And he’d been all mine.
For a time.
When our relationship ended, I’d been devastated. I threw myself into work, eventually jetting off to Prentice Fashion’s Paris headquarters. I just couldn’t take seeing him with other women. And since our families were such close friends, it felt like every exploit since our breakup was being shoved down my throat.
It wasn’t until years later when I’d finally managed to mend my broken heart that I realized Grayson was never supposed to be my everything.
No,
that title belonged to the one boy who’d been a central figure in my life practically since day one. He was the one who held me when I cried, who I shared my deepest and darkest fears with, who knew each and every one of my hopes and dreams.
He had once been my everything, and I’d been too stupid to realize it, even though it had been right in front of my face all my life.
I’d been taught that I could be anything, do anything, that true, unflinching love really did exist.
But what I hadn’t been taught was that it didn’t wait forever.
Eventually true love got tired of sitting around, waiting for you to get your head out of your ass and realize you’d picked the wrong brother.
And that was exactly what had happened to me, because by the time I realized that Deacon Lockhart was the love of my life, it was too late.
And I had no one to blame but myself.
Chapter One
Deacon
“I just don’t understand why they don’t like me,” Leah went on… and on, and on. “I mean, we’ve been together for three months now and they still treat me like I don’t belong. What have I ever done to any of them?”
Fuck me, this was a mistake.
The entire car ride to Caleb and Daphne’s place had been one long bitchfest about my friends and how they still hadn’t accepted my girlfriend. If I was being completely honest, I was getting pretty fucking tired of listening to it.
“Christ, Leah, if my friends make you so damn miserable, then why’d you insist on coming today, huh?”
She crossed her arms and pouted at my windshield. We were still too early in our relationship for me to have decided if this was something that was going to last, or if it was just a way for me to get my feet wet in an attempt to move on from Fiona.
I’d spent way too fucking long pining for a woman who’d never be mine, and it was time get on with my life. Sure, there had been plenty of other women over the years, but not for any other reason than getting off when the need arose. It was long past time to let Fee go completely and try to build something with someone else.
I couldn’t say for sure that Leah was going to be the one, but after my older brother Grayson got married and knocked up his wife, Lola, I started to feel like something serious was missing from my life. I wasn’t necessarily ready to settle down and have my woman pop out a handful of kids, but if I had any hopes of that being in my future, I needed to get my head out of my ass and stop clinging to something that was never going to happen.
It was what it was. Fiona was a friend. That was all she was ever going to see me as, just a guy she grew up with. She’d said as much herself that terrible fucking night that was still burned into my brain after all this time.
I let out a slow, calming breath as I took the last step onto the porch. I wasn’t sure what came over me but when I left my bar, The Black Sheep, I drove straight to Fiona’s house, determined that tonight was the night.
Maybe it was because my brother had his shit together and was settling down with Lola. Maybe it was because I was watching Dominic and Caleb jump through hoops, trying to get their women’s attention. I felt like everyone was attempting to move on with their lives but me. I was being left in the dust.
“Deacon?” Christ, she was beautiful, even with the confusion marring her face when she opened the front door. “Is everything okay? It’s really late.”
I raked a hand through my hair in agitation. I hadn’t thought about the time or the fact that she’d worry with me showing up at her door in the middle of the night. I was an asshole. “Yeah, shit. Yes. Sorry. Everything’s fine. I didn’t realize how late it was.”
Her head tilted to the side as her forehead wrinkled. “But didn’t you just come from closing the bar?”
Son of a bitch. I was fucking this all to hell. “Yeah. Right. Shit. I’m screwing this up.”
“Hey.” Fiona stepped across the threshold onto the porch, reaching out to place a calming hand on my forearm. The feel of her palm against my skin sent electric shock waves through my system. That was all it ever took with her, just a simple touch or look and I was completely undone. “It’s okay,” she continued in a soothing tone. “Just tell me what’s going on. I want to help.”
Christ, she was killing me. “I should’ve acted sooner,” I stated, lost in her eyes. “Fuck, I should’ve told Grayson the truth. He wouldn’t have betrayed me like that if I’d just told him the fucking truth. Then all these years wouldn’t have been wasted.”
I wasn’t making any sense. I knew that, but I couldn’t seem to bring myself to elaborate. My brain was locked on one singular task, making it impossible to concentrate on anything but my desperate need for her.
“Deac, honey. You’re starting to worry me. You aren’t making any sense. What should you have told Grayson?”
I knew I should answer, that it was the logical thing to do considering I wasn’t making a damn bit of sense. But I wasn’t thinking, so I let instinct take over and did the one thing I’d been wanting to do most of my life.
Grabbing the back of her neck, I yanked her body into mine, winding my other arm around her waist as I crashed my lips to hers. She froze stiff for several seconds, like she was unsure what was happening. However, the instant my tongue snaked out and ran across her full bottom lip, she groaned, falling deeper into me as her mouth opened in an invitation.
She tasted sweet, like cherries and that red wine she was such a fan of. I’d kept it stocked in my bar just for her, even though we’d spent the past several years distant from each other. I’d only gotten her back recently, but even with all the hurt and suffering those years apart caused, I hadn’t been able to let her go. Not completely.
She groaned as I tilted her head to the side for better access. My teeth closed on her bottom lip in a sharp nip that made her whimper. Fiona’s hands came up, her fingers digging into the fabric of my shirt at my chest as her tongue met mine, stroke for stroke. It was the most intense, erotic kiss of my life. I never wanted it to end. Unfortunately a lack of oxygen forced us to eventually break apart.
I kept her in my arms, pressing my forehead against hers as I squeezed my eyes closed and struggled to fill my lungs with air.
“Baby, you have no fucking clue how long I’ve wanted to do that,” I panted against her mouth. She jerked back just as I went in for another, breaking from my hold and taking several steps away. Her arms stretched out in front of her to keep me at a distance.
“Wh-what the hell was that?” she asked, breathing erratically. Her eyes flashed with something akin to panic, causing my blood to go cold in my veins.
“Fee—”
“I can’t… I don’t… I’m—Deacon, I’m not sure what’s happening right now but that, that shouldn’t have—”
“Don’t,” I growled, feeling like a knife had just been plunged into my stomach.
Her beautiful face fell, and her eyes flashed with gut-wrenching pity. I couldn’t stand it. “Deacon,” she whispered, her tone ragged. “You’re my best friend.”
And the hits just kept on coming. I shook my head to stop her. “No. Don’t say that.”
Fiona’s hands came up in a placating gesture as she stepped in my direction. “It’s true. Deacon, I feel like I only just got my friend back. I don’t want to lose what we have again.”
Moving backward, I lifted my arms to grasp the back of my neck as a humorless laugh escaped my throat. “Are you kidding me with this shit? You didn’t seem to have a problem taking Grayson out of the friend zone,” I spit out bitterly.
I stood motionless as her expression became awash with frustration and sorrow. “That’s not fair,” she said in a pained whisper.
“No, I get it. It’s not you, it’s me, right?” I snapped sarcastically. “It’ll always be the other Lockhart brother, am I right?”
“Deacon, stop. It’s not like—”
“I’m such a fucking idiot,” I muttered it more to myself than to her. Spinning around, I started down the steps,
vaguely noticing the sound of her footsteps trailing after me.
“Deacon, will you please wait. Just listen.”
“I’m done with this bullshit, Fiona,” I called over my shoulder. “Have a nice life.”
With that, I climbed into my car, started it up, and laid on the gas, determined to put her and this goddamned night in my rearview permanently.
The calls and texts from her started the very next day, messages and voice mails begging me to talk. She even started showing up at my bar, sitting alone on a barstool, just waiting for me to give her a second of my time.
I never did.
It went on like that for months. Each call went unanswered, each text unreturned. Avoiding her at The Black Sheep was easy enough with all the people constantly around. But when I got home from closing down late one night and found her sitting in her car, waiting for me, that had been harder. Instead of acknowledging her presence, I pulled into the garage and went inside my house without so much as a backward glance.
That had done it. I got the text the next day informing me that she was giving up. I still had that goddamned message saved in my phone.
Fiona: I get it. If I could go back to that night and do it all over again I would. I’m so sorry. I’ll leave you alone.
I would’ve been relieved if reading that hadn’t hurt so goddamn much. But what was done was done. And I was through letting her crush my heart over and over again.
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