“Around the side of the house!” Grant called. He pointed at Chloe and whispered, “This isn’t over.”
“’Course not.” She winked at him.
He scowled at her as Sydney came into view as she bounded off the deck. “Hey, the cookies have been in the fridge for an hour, so we can bake them now.”
Chloe stood up, brushing the dirt from her gloves. The recipe they’d used had called for chilled dough and Sydney had been impatient. “Sure, just let me get cleaned up.”
She baked with Sydney as much as she could. Sydney taught her the exacting method of baking while she taught Sydney the more creative, free-flowing method of cooking.
It was fun, their bonding time, and Grant seemed to enjoy watching them.
He followed them into the house like a puppy, surely hoping to steal a little cookie dough.
Chloe scrubbed her hands in the kitchen sink while Sydney retrieved the bowl from the refrigerator.
The diamond on Chloe’s hand glittered under the water. Grant had proposed a couple of months ago.
They’d be married next year. Chloe would be an Osprey. And she couldn’t wait.
She and Sydney set to work without much conversing, rolling the dough into balls and placing them on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. When Chloe first moved in, there had been an adjustment period. Sydney was used to having her father all to herself. This house was her house, if anything, and Chloe had been more like a guest than a resident for a couple of months.
Sydney liked Chloe, but it was one thing to respect her and another to have to share her father’s attention with another female.
But with time, they all established a new routine.
She looked up from the pan to where Grant sat at the kitchen table, reading the newspaper. “Have you talked to Ethan lately?”
Grant frowned. “He’s been avoiding me.”
She sighed. “Me, too.”
“I think we need to storm his castle before he turns into a beast and the natives come after him with pitchforks.”
She wanted to laugh, but it wasn’t funny. Ethan had been worse lately, more grouchy, more reclusive, and no matter how hard she tried to drag him out of his house, he’d been excellent at resisting.
Chloe sighed. They were meeting Austin and Marley at a bar tonight to celebrate Marley’s brother’s birthday. Chloe had met Chad Lake once or twice and he was always entertaining. She had tried to convince Ethan to come, too. That hadn’t gone over well. He said he’d stay and watch Sydney, even thought she was old enough to stay home by herself. Chloe didn’t argue.
She loved Ethan, but she could only do so much. And if she learned anything in the past year, it was that she needed to stop preventing her own happiness for the sake of others.
Because this life? Well, she’d fought for it. And it was totally worth it.
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Acknowledgments
I think I have to thank the readers first. Because you all are the reason I have so much fun writing this series. You responded to Marley and Austin in CHANGING HIS GAME and you all wanted Grant and Chad and Ethan and I’m excited to say, “Yes, yes, I’m giving them to you!”
Thanks to Heather Howland for loving my nerds as much as I do. You are a master-editor and I’ve learned so much from you. Thanks for sticking it out with me when Chloe and Grant gave us fits.
Thank you to Marisa Corvisiero who’s my best cheerleader.
Natalie Blitt, the plot whisperer, thank you for helping me figure out how to end this book. Your ideas spurned my favorite grand gesture I’ve ever written. Chloe and Grant thank you as well.
Thanks to all my Mobsters in Meg’s Mob. I adore you all and you push me every day.
To my husband—thanks for your technology knowledge. Who knew four years of a computer science degree would lead to you feeding me technology puns for my erotic romance? Haha. I love you.
About the Author
Megan Erickson worked as a journalist covering real-life dramas before she decided she liked writing her own endings better and switched to fiction.
She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, two kids and two cats. When she’s not tapping away on her laptop, she’s probably listening to the characters in her head who won’t stop talking.
For more, visit www.meganerickson.org or sign up for her newsletter at eepurl.com/KNN9P
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