Season of Second Chances

by Brighton Walsh

  Season of Second Chances

  By Brighton Walsh

  When a storm strands Claire Hanlin in Chicago on Christmas Eve, the last person she expects to come to her rescue is Logan Dawes, the man she almost married two years ago. The chemistry between them is dangerously potent, but with nowhere else to go, Claire accepts Logan’s offer to stay with him for the night.

  Back in the home they shared, surrounded by reminders of Logan and his young daughter, Claire begins to realize how much she misses the family she almost had. After a few cups of Christmas cheer, she falls right back into her ex’s arms—even though she knows it means setting herself up for heartbreak all over again.

  The magic of the season has thrown him together with the woman he’s never stopped loving, and Logan’s not about to pass up this gift. He’s not the workaholic he was two years ago—his family comes first. Now all he has to do is prove it to Claire, before the snow stops and she flies out of his life for good.

  25,000 words

  Dear Reader,

  It’s unbelievable to me that the holiday season is here already. I feel as though I was just stuffing myself full of holiday cookies, spiced wine and all of the wonderful chocolates sent to me during the holidays. But here we are again in what some call the season of joy, while others call it “the season where I avoid all shopping malls for at least two months.” If you’re one of those avoiding all of the seemingly endless holiday tasks, preparations and shopping, let us help you procrastinate with another fantastic lineup of books. If you’re one who revels in the season of joy, not to worry, these books will only add to your enjoyment of the season.

  This month, we have so many returning authors who are fan favorites, I’m not sure where to start. So instead, I’ll start with those who are new, either to readers, to Carina Press, or both. Beginning with debut author Michele Mannon, whose book first came to my attention two years ago during a cold-reads session at a meeting of New Jersey Romance Writers. During that session, I gave Michele some suggestions for strengthening her opening and she worked on it for several months before going on to win a few contests and eventually pitching it to me, at which point I acquired it with great enthusiasm. I hope you’ll check out her fantastic love story of a former ballerina turned ring girl and a brooding, sexy fighter in Knock Out, book one of the Worth the Fight trilogy. And don’t mind me while I claim partial credit for the opening line...

  Joining Michele with a debut book is Timothy S. Johnston and his science-fiction thriller. It’s Agatha Christie meets Michael Crichton in The Furnace as homicide investigator Kyle Tanner travels to a remote space station to solve a mysterious death that may have enormous consequences for the human race.

  Our third debut author makes her appearance in one of my annual holiday collections. These have become a tradition at Carina Press, and one that I love, since I get a chance to work with a new variety of authors every year. This year, we have four collections. Last month saw the release of two of them: Gift of Honor, a military holiday collection, and Season of Seduction, an erotic holiday collection.

  This month we release the two contemporary holiday collections, and it’s in For My Own that Shari Mikels makes her writing debut with her novella Christmas Curveball. Joining her in this contemporary romance collection are new-to-Carina author Kinley Cade with her novella Kissing Her Scrooge, and fan-favorite Alison Packard with A Christmas for Carrie.

  In the second contemporary romance holiday collection, returning authors Christi Barth, Brighton Walsh and Kat Latham join together to offer some holiday love and forgiveness in All I’m Asking For with their novellas Tinsel My Heart, Season of Second Chances and Mine Under the Mistletoe.

  Also new to Carina Press this month are authors Keri Ford, Ann DeFee, T.C. Mill and Daryl Anderson, each offering up something different for reader entertainment. Keri Ford brings us a fun contemporary romance in Never Stopped Loving You, in which the heroine has to remind herself: don’t date your friends—and definitely don’t ever date your friend’s brother. Ann DeFee’s Beyond Texas is a fast-paced contemporary romance of mystical lights that dance across the desert as the hero and heroine, Cole Claiborne and Twinkie Sue Carmichael, discover love while thwarting an evil cult, giving new meaning to the old saying “Don’t Mess with a Texan.”

  In T.C. Mill’s male/male fantasy novella, Gardens Where No One Will See, Nemaran’s gentle attentions inspire Renad to go beyond the boundaries he’s set for himself for so long—but can they help him break free of even crueler bondage?

  And last in the new-to-Carina category, Daryl Anderson is on the scene in Murder in Mystic Cove. In this new mystery, a former Baltimore homicide detective thought she’d put murder cases behind her—until she discovered a resident in her father’s retirement community shot dead in his golf cart.

  Returning to Carina Press with contemporary romance Love Me Not, Reese Ryan introduces us to struggling artist Jamie Charles, who finds refuge from the painful secrets of her past in her art and prefers living on the edge—without the complications of love—until she encounters charming ad exec Miles Copeland, who is harboring his own dark past and is determined to have her heart.

  Fantasy romance author Shawna Thomas has the third installment in her Triune Stones series, Journey of Wisdom. It’s not too late to catch up before the series wraps up with the last book, Journey of the Wanderer, in February 2014.

  If you’re looking to spice up your holidays with a BDSM erotic romance, The Dom Project by Heloise Belleau and Solace Ames will keep you warm, even when it’s cold outside. When buttoned-up university archivist Robin Lessing agrees to spend one month submitting to a sexy, tattooed colleague, she presents her new Dom with a firm set of rules. But once they begin their stimulating sessions, it’s not long before she’s ready to beg him for more—much more.

  Also this month, we have three powerhouse fan favorites with new books. Shannon Stacey returns to the Kowalskis with the much-anticipated Love a Little Sideways. When Drew Miller had a casual rebound fling with his best friend’s sister, he thought she’d go back to New Mexico and stay there, but now Liz Kowalski has come home to stay, and Drew’s feelings for her might not be as casual as he thought.

  After a two-year wait, Lauren Dane is back with Blade to the Keep, the follow-up to Goddess with a Blade. Rowan Summerwaite is no ordinary woman. With the power of an ancient goddess in her belly, she’s the perfect candidate to re-negotiate the fragile Treaty keeping the peace between the Vampire Nation and the last line of defense for humanity, The Hunter Corporation. And she’s got to do it as she attempts to manage a politically awkward romance during a trip back to a place she escaped nearly fifteen years before. No pressure.

  Wrapping up this month is The Principle of Desire, the final book in the Science of Temptation trilogy from Delphine Dryden. 1 Sexy Switch + 1 Nerdy Newbie = A Master Class in Seduction.

  Last, no matter what your religion, or what you celebrate, books are a common bond, so from all of us at Carina Press, we wish you a wonderful season of reading. May there be incredible books, stories and characters on your ereaders all year long!

  We love to hear from readers, and you can email us your thoughts, comments and questions to generalinquiries@carinapress.com. You can also interact with Carina Press staff and authors on our blog, Twitter stream and Facebook fan page.

  Happy reading!

  ~Angela James

  Executive Editor, Carina Press

  www.carinapress.com

  www.twitter.com/carinapress

  www.facebook.com/carinapress

  Dedication

  To
my husband, for wearing children’s face masks, adapting voices for story-time, and dressing up like a pirate with my leopard scarf. Thank you for showing me just how hot swoony dads can be.

  Acknowledgments

  Many thanks to my wonderful critique partner, Jeanette Grey, for all the help, suggestions and cheerleading. Thank God you’re not sick of me yet, because I might actually go crazy if I didn’t have you to talk me off the ledge.

  To Caren, Christina, and Tonya for your flails, your suggestions, and above all, your support. This piece wouldn’t be what it is without your help.

  Thanks to my editor, Angela James, for plucking this from the submission pile and choosing it to be included in the holiday collection, and for all her hard work on polishing this to its finest.

  And last but not least, thanks to my husband for understanding why dinner was sometimes (oftentimes) pizza, for swooping in with the kids when I needed a writing break, and for not scowling too severely when I fled the room mid-sentence to jot down a piece of dialogue. You’re the best.

  Contents

  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

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  If Claire didn’t get on a plane and the hell out of this city in the next twenty minutes, she was going to crawl right out of her skin. She’d thought she could handle being in Chicago after not having set foot here in more than two years. Though she probably should’ve realized coming back wouldn’t be a picnic. Especially since the last time she’d been in this very airport she’d said what she thought had been merely a temporary goodbye to her fiancé.

  Turned out the goodbye hadn’t been so temporary.

  She shifted uncomfortably in the hard seats, glancing up at the board declaring her flight still delayed. For the first two hours, an optimistic time had been shown, but now that she was approaching hour four of being stuck here in this godforsaken airport, they didn’t even bother. Not a good sign. Looking out the window, it was easy to see why. The heavy snow came down in sheets, shrouding everything outside in an unshakable layer of pristine white.

  The crackle of the overhead speaker boomed, and she struggled to make out the garbled announcement over the cacophony of restless and frustrated holiday travelers loitering about.

  Attention passengers: Flight 1457 to Denver has been canceled due to inclement weather. With the uncertainty of the length of the winter storm currently surrounding Chicago, we advise you to keep apprised of the situation and reschedule once flights resume regularly.

  Closing her eyes, Claire sank farther into the hard plastic seat, blowing out a defeated breath. “That’s just fucking great,” she grumbled quietly.

  More time stuck in a city that, inevitably, made her think about the one person she didn’t want to think about. And God knew she’d done enough of it already while on her short trip to Chicago. Of course, it hadn’t helped that she’d spent the majority of her time in the restaurant he’d helped build. It was like walking through a photo album of her memories when she stepped into the lobby they’d met in, not to mention riding in the elevator where they’d shared their first kiss. She saw ghosts of him at every turn, and she’d spent the last two days perilously close to her breaking point. She was raw and vulnerable and...overwhelmingly sad, if she was being honest. She’d thought the heavy regret from the demise of her relationship had dissipated, but this trip brought everything to the forefront, and now it sat prominently on her heart.

  She tried not to think about it—had tried not to think about him the entire time she was here. Fat lot of good that did her.

  After a mere two days, she was ready. Ready to get on that damn plane, ready to see her family, ready to leave these memories behind. Though ready didn’t even scrape the surface of what she was feeling.

  She blew out a frustrated breath and looked down at her phone, seeing one text message from her sister, wondering her status. The last time Claire had called her had been hours ago, when her flight had first been delayed. Now she was going to have to figure out how to break the news that she wasn’t going to be arriving tonight, and, more than likely, not even able to be there for Christmas tomorrow.

  She felt tears prick the backs of her eyes, but she refused to cry. She’d done enough of that over the past year. This would be the first Christmas without her grandma, and she’d been counting on the support of her sister, not to mention the distraction her four-year-old twin nephews would provide.

  With the brutal storm ravaging the city, she needed to start calling hotels as soon as possible before they were booked. It was clear that few, if any, flights would be getting out, and any open spaces still available at the surrounding hotels would fill quickly. And she could think of a few other things she’d rather do than camp out on the floor of the airport. Before she delved into finding a room, she got the phone call to her sister out of the way.

  “Hello?”

  “Sadie.”

  “Are you on the plane? Bryan’s been watching The Weather Channel. There’s a huge storm heading there tonight. I hope they get you out before it’s too late.”

  “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”

  “What? Oh no, are you stuck there?”

  “Yep, flight’s canceled. They aren’t rescheduling yet because they don’t know how long the storm’s going to last.”

  “Damn. Bryan said it’s supposed to be huge. Like the biggest storm they’ve seen in decades. Oh, Claire. This sucks.” Sadness dripped from her sister’s voice. God, she missed her. Claire had barely seen Sadie in the last two years, and when she had—like the last time Sadie had been able to visit their dying grandmother, and then her funeral this past March—they hadn’t been the happiest of times. She’d needed this.

  Though just because she needed something definitely didn’t mean she’d get it. History proved that quite blatantly.

  “Yeah. It does.”

  “Can you still come even if you can’t get a flight out tomorrow?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe. I have to be back in San Diego on the 27th, though, so it might be better to save the flight and reschedule after the first of the year.”

  Sadie blew out a deep breath, and Claire heard her mumble as she relayed the information to her husband. When she spoke into the phone again, her voice was filled with the no-nonsense tone Claire was so familiar with. “Okay, here’s what you’re going to do. Get on the phone and book a hotel room as soon as you can. With Christmas and the storm, you’ll be lucky to get one close. Then you need to call up some of your old friends there and go out. I don’t care if it’s a drink at the hotel bar. I forbid you from sitting alone in a musty hotel room on your birthday.”

  She smiled at her sister trying to boss her from a thousand miles away. Always the mother hen—at least she had been since the accident that had taken both their parents when they were just kids. “As soon as we get off the phone, I’ll start the hotel search.”

  “Don’t think I didn’t catch you completely avoiding the other part. Call your friends. You need to go out.”

  “Besides the fact that it’s Christmas Eve and I’m sure everyone is doing their own thing, not to mention the blizzard...I can’t, Sadie. You know that.”

  “No, I don’t know that. Why, exactly, can’t you call them? He doesn’t own them, you know.”

  Just hearing her sister mention him in a roundabout way brought a pang to her heart.

/>   Quietly, she said, “I know that, but they’re his friends.”

  “They were your friends too.”

  This was a fight they’d had a dozen times before. It was also a fight Claire wasn’t going to win. To pacify her sister, she agreed, though they both knew she had no intention of holding up her end of the bargain. “Fine, fine.”

  “All right. Call me when you get settled somewhere, okay? I don’t like the idea of you being stuck there with no one to help.”

  “I’m thirty years old. Well, fuck, thirty-one as of today, I guess. Not to mention the fact that I lived here for eighteen months. I think I can handle it.” Because she knew she was getting snippy and her voice dripped with her irritation, she added gently, “But thank you.”

  “Oh, hell, the boys got into the sprinkles for the cookies, and now there are red and green sparkles everywhere. Jesus Christ—Bryan, I thought you were watching them!” Claire held the phone away from her ear as Sadie’s raised voice rang across the line.

  “Go, go. I’ll be fine. I’ll call you later.”

  “Okay. Be safe. Love you.”

  “Love you too.”

  “And happy birthday, little sister.”

  “Thanks, Sadie. Bye.”

  As soon as she ended the call, she stood from her seat, stretching as she did so, and navigated to the web browser on her phone. Pulling her carry-on behind her, she moved to get out of the clusterfuck at the gate as she searched for hotels close to the airport. After inputting her information to the travel site, she found an empty expanse of wall in the terminal and propped against it as she waited for the data to load, hoping she wasn’t too late to find something close. Unfortunately, Karma wasn’t on her side today, and when the browser listed the hotels surrounding the airport, not one had availability. Mumbling a curse to herself, she expanded her search to the outlying areas. She didn’t want to have to go all the way to the Loop or River North in case she needed to return to the airport quickly, but it didn’t look like she had much choice. She could always try calling a few close hotels—maybe they had a block of rooms that weren’t listed on the travel sites.