A knock cut off Nola as Avery pushed the door open and poked her head through the crack. “Willow? Miss Nola’s partners are here.” She widened her eyes and mouthed Holy shit, there’s two of them while fanning her face. Then she pushed the door open the rest of the way, allowing the two men to walk into Willow’s office.
And her whole world stopped spinning. Just froze entirely.
History in the form of heartbreak strolled right through her door. Willow couldn’t talk—could barely breathe. Her eyes landed first on the man closest to her—the one, she realized, she’d seen walk into Higher Grounds only fifteen minutes earlier. He was tall, dark, and handsome, just as he’d been years ago. Nothing short of drool-worthy, as her assistant and best friend had pointed out.
But he wasn’t the one who drew her eyes. He wasn’t the one whose very presence was a magnetic pull Willow couldn’t ignore no matter how hard she tried. No, that belonged entirely to the man who stepped in behind his twin.
While only minutes before she’d been almost saddened at the thought the spark between them could somehow be gone, she now yearned for that separation. Because it was damn embarrassing sitting in front of the man who’d stomped all over her heart with her nipples noticeable from a fifty-foot distance. She tried to appraise him with cool, detached professionalism, but that was a joke. There was no denying the zing of awareness that always flared in her body at his nearness. And damn it all to hell if it hadn’t lessened any with time.
Looking like a near mirror image to the man Willow’d seen across the street, Griffin “Finn” Thomas stood in front of her for the first time in a decade, the breadth of his shoulders blocking out the harsh sun from the window at his back. His dark hair was shorter than it’d been when they were younger, cropped close but still carelessly messy. At least a day’s worth of stubble covered his jaw, probably more like two or three. The cotton of his T-shirt stretched over muscles that’d popped up since she’d known him, worn jeans encasing strong legs. Strong, long legs—he’d somehow gotten even taller since she’d last seen him when he’d been just nineteen, and Lord have mercy, had he filled out. Where once he’d been tall, almost rangy, now he was fine-tuned with solid, carved muscles, the kind men worked hard for—either at the gym or at life. And if Willow knew anything at all about Finn, she’d place money on the latter.
A memory of work-roughened hands sliding up the insides of her thighs, fingers brushing over the brand on her hip, breath hot in her ear, and lips soft against her neck flashed in her mind before she blinked it away. Memories didn’t have any place here—certainly not those kinds of memories.
“Hey, Willowtree,” Finn said, his voice just as rich and smooth as she remembered.
His old nickname for her set her on edge, tightening her nipples and her jaw all at once, snapping her composure like a twig. He’d given it to her all those years ago, before they’d become a couple, saying she’d always looked sad like a weeping willow. And then he’d pulled her into his orbit, and her sadness had lifted because for the first time in her entire life, someone had seen her for exactly who she was. Seen her, and apparently concluded the real her wasn’t worth sticking around for.
Oh, he had some nerve coming back here, strolling into her office like he hadn’t made her fall in love with him only to take her heart, chain it to the hitch of his car, and drag it behind him as he’d peeled out of town, never to be seen or heard from again. Like he hadn’t upended her plans, hadn’t changed the course of her life when he’d so callously bailed on their future. Like he hadn’t disappeared like a ghost without so much as a backward glance.
In the past ten years, she’d had a lot of time to fantasize about what she’d do if she ever saw Finn Thomas again. What she’d say, how she’d look. What she’d be wearing and how she’d act. In her daydreams, she’d always had on her best outfit—something that minimized her ample booty and maximized her barely there breasts. Her hair was always salon-day perfect, her makeup flawless. Sometimes, she’d give him a piece of her mind, tear him up one side and down the other. Sometimes, she’d be with another man—someone infinitely good-looking who’d dote on her. They’d laugh and joke, lean in for a kiss as they passed Finn. Sometimes, she’d walk by as if she didn’t recognize him.
But never, not once in all the scenarios she’d dreamed up over the years, did she sit there looking like hell warmed over, wearing two different colored shoes, no makeup, and dirty hair pulled back into a ponytail, just…staring.
Silence reigned for far too long, blanketing the room until it nearly smothered her. Only when Avery cleared her throat did Willow manage to pull her head from her ass.
She clenched her teeth, fisted her hands… Tried to bite back the words that were on the tip of her tongue, because they certainly weren’t professional. And Lord knew she’d already been unprofessional enough for one morning, strolling into an appointment fifteen minutes late, without a clue as to the details of said appointment. Besides that, the words certainly weren’t Willow. She didn’t lose her temper. She didn’t snap. Those qualities belonged solely to her daddy.
But, truthfully, after the spectacular start to her day, there was really no holding back anything. Not when her worst memory greeted her as if nothing had happened to cause that painful ache in her chest. “You’ve got some nerve showing up in my office after all this time, asshole.”
One-click Second Chance Charmer now!
OTHER TITLES BY BRIGHTON WALSH
Reluctant Hearts series
INTERCONNECTED STAND-ALONES
Caged in Winter
Tessa Ever After
Paige in Progress
Our Love Unhinged
Havenbrook series
INTERCONNECTED STAND-ALONES
Second Chance Charmer
Hometown Troublemaker
Pact with a Heartbreaker
Captive series
INTERCONNECTED STAND-ALONES
Captive
Exposed
Stand-alone titles
Dirty Little Secret
Plus One
Season of Second Chances
The Neighbor
HAVE YOU READ LONDON HALE?
Filthy, taboo, smart erotic romance is what you get when Brighton Walsh and Ellis Leigh/Kristin Harte team up. Ready to set your e-reader on fire?
MAY-DECEMBER ROMANCES
Daddy’s Best Friend
The DILF
Nanny With Benefits
OPPOSITES ATTRACT ROMANCES
Sinner (formerly Sinful Temptation)
Cuffed (formerly Sinful Attraction)
Talk Dirty to Me (formerly Sinful Distraction)
FRIENDS TO LOVERS ROMANCE
Reunion
ONE NIGHT STAND TO MORE ROMANCE
Tapping That Asset
TEACHER/STUDENT ROMANCE
Seducing His Student
STEPBROTHER’S BABY ROMANCE
Knocking Her Up
BILLIONAIRE BOSS ROMANCE
Bedding the Billionaire
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brighton Walsh spent nearly a decade as a professional photographer before taking her storytelling in a different direction and reconnecting with her first love: writing. When she’s not lost in her own made up worlds, she’s probably either reading or shopping—maybe even both at once. She lives in the Midwest with her real life hero of a husband, her two kids—one taller than her, one not quite yet—and her dog who thinks she’s a queen. Her boy-filled house is the setting for dirty socks galore, frequent dance parties (okay, so it's mostly her, by herself, while her children look on in horror), and more laughter than she thought possible.
www.brightonwalsh.com
[email protected]
with a Heartbreaker: A Best Friends to Lovers Summer Romance (Havenbrook Book 3)
Pact with a Heartbreaker: A Best Friends to Lovers Summer Romance (Havenbrook Book 3) Page 10
