by Anna Brooks
“Shut up! Oh, my God!”
I laugh so hard I almost miss a turn. “I popped a boner on the treadmill. It’s hot.”
“Shut up.”
“Don’t be embarrassed.”
“Can we just not talk about it again, please?”
“Yeah, no. We will.” I don’t want to push her if she’s really uncomfortable, so I drop the subject but plan to bring it up again. I’d like to try a few things she wrote about with her.
Ruby turns the volume down, which is unlike her. “So I’ve been thinking about what you asked me the other day.”
Nice change of subject. “Okay.”
“And I want to tell you that I’ve changed my mind.”
I kiss her hand and squeeze it hard before kissing it again. “Yeah?”
“Yes. I want to move in with you. Mom’s been getting better every day, and she’s had seventeen straight days where her memory has not lapsed. As long as she stays on the up and up, I’ll move in with you.”
“Damn, Ruby. That makes me so happy. Not only for your mom, but I can’t wait to wake up with you every morning and go to bed with you every night.”
“Me too.”
If I admitted how I really felt right now, she’d probably leave me for acting like a bitch, but I’m so fuckin’ happy. She gives me so many reasons to smile and laugh every single day, and I can’t imagine my life without her.
I walk her up to her door and before she goes inside, I hold her face in my hands and kiss her soft, full lips. “When do you want to move in?”
“When do you want me to?”
“Tomorrow.
“Okay.”
“Really?” I didn’t think she’d give in that easy.
“I feel like we’ve waited forever, and I don’t wanna wait anymore. My mom’s better and it’s finally time I lived my life for me — not under the control of someone or a forced relationship, but with someone I love. Someone I want to spend the rest of my life with. Someone who will let me make decisions and mistakes, but who will be there to help me along the way.”
“I’ll always be here for you, Ruby. You know that.”
“I do.”
I kiss her nose. “I like you saying that.”
“What?”
“I do.”
She pulls herself up and mirrors me, kissing my nose. “Someday.”
“What time do you want me to get you tomorrow? Pub opens at eleven, so it’d be good if we could do like nine so I can get Nik and Dec to help carry boxes.”
“I really don’t have that much stuff. Just some clothes, since I’ll be leaving all the furniture here. We can do it ourselves.”
“Okay. I’ll be back to get you around ten? Sound good?”
“I’ll just drive over there. No sense in you coming here to follow me back to your place.”
“Ten, then?”
She rolls her eyes and kisses me hard and fast. “Fine, ten’s good.”
“’Kay. Night, Ruby.”
“Night.”
“Love you.”
“You too.”
* * *
Ruby
I unpack the last of my clothes, take a step back, and admire how perfectly my clothes fit in the closet. I never expected him to want me to be here so fast, but I’m glad he did. I can’t wait to finally live my life. To be happy and to be free.
“They fit?” Pierce startles me from the doorway.
“Yeah.”
“Hungry?”
“Starved. You wore me out.” I put a hand to my heart when it speeds up just thinking about how he leaned me over the kitchen table and had his way with me earlier. He ate me out from behind, and I unabashedly came all over his face.
“Come on.” He reaches for my hand, and I steer my feet toward the kitchen, but he pulls me in the opposite direction. “Slip your sandals on.” At the front door, he points to my flip-flops, and I pull my head back in confusion. “Humor me, babe.”
“Okay.” I slide them on and follow down the hall to the end and take a right, then smile when I see the sign on the door that says roof access. When we get to the top, my eyes zero in on a single lounge chair with a basket on top and the blanket thrown over the back.
“Thought we could eat up here tonight.”
I let go of his hand and walk to the edge, looking over at the city.
“Everything’s not as small from up here since we’re only a few stories up.” He stands next to me and crosses his arms. “But this is where I would come when I wanted to really remember you.”
“Pierce, it’s perfect. You know what I see now, though?”
I point at the people and cars below. In the distance, downtown lights shine bright, and buildings block the view of the lake.
“What?”
“I don’t look at that and think about how small I am anymore. I look at it and think how lucky I am to be here. How truly blessed I am that I found you. I realize life isn’t always what you expect, and people aren’t who they appear to be on the outside.” My gaze goes from the busy city below to the man before me. “But it also takes just one person to make you realize that all you have to do is spread your wings, and even if you take a nosedive, he’ll be there to lift you up again and help you soar to places you’ve only ever dreamed about.”
For a bonus scene, click here
Acknowledgements
Along this journey, I have met some of the most wonderful, talented, supportive women I will ever have the pleasure of knowing. Some of them I’ve known from the moment I started writing, some of them I’ve just met in the last couple of months. I’m excited that I get to hug a few in person, and so sad that there are some I will never get to see face to face.
So to those women I’ve known from the beginning, Kelly Lincoln, Marianne Stark, Megan Isaacs, Nikki Belaire, thank you for sticking by me and being so damn supportive.
There are so many I’ve met along the way, I’m afraid to miss anyone! Crystal Singer, Nicole Richard, Heather Carver, Elizabeth Himsworth, KC Lynn, and each and every person in my reader group who has shared, participated, and laughed with me, I appreciate you more than you know, and without you guys and your constant cheering, I wouldn’t be where I am.
Of course, there are people behind the scenes that make every book possible. I’m so lucky to have the same group making my work shine. Kari from Cover to Cover Designs, Jenny from Editing4Indies, Bree from Vivid Words Editing, and Stacey from Champagne Formats, thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you do for me.
My beta readers for this book. You guys are the best! Crystal, Shannon, Polly, Kelly, Nikki, Taylor, and Nicole. Thanks so much for giving me your feedback! Bloggers! Erin from Southern Belle Book Blog and Kylie and George from Give Me Books for helping me organize cover reveals and blitzes. And to the countless other blogs that spend spend hours of their time to help spread the news about my books, words of thanks aren’t enough to express my gratitude for all that you do.
My inspiration song was by the amazing band Three Days Grace. Their song “Fallen Angel” fits Pierce and Ruby’s story perfectly and I listened to it over and over again while writing.
And last but not least, my family.
Thank you for loving me and accepting how important writing is to me.
One memory can repair everything.
Lisa Scott’s perfect world changed with a knock on her door. A widow for several years, she struggled with the reality of her life and made bad choices in her grief. But she’s done with that now. She moves away from her once happy home to start anew, to remember who she really is.
Nikolas Nervetti isn’t going to talk about his problems. He’s not going to share that even though he’s tough as nails on the outside, his heart is more fragile than anyone would believe. He plays his parts well, never revealing his truths, but he’s sick of being on the sidelines watching everyone around him fall in love, while he remains unsatisfied.
When the beautiful new bartender at Kelly’s Pub
leaves Nik short of breath, he won’t back down from something he knows they both want. Their chemistry is undeniable, but Lisa promised not to put herself in a position to be destroyed again.
An unfortunate accident leaves Lisa with memory loss and she has to relive the excruciating pain of losing her husband. Months pass with Lisa withdrawing from her current life, including Nik. She denies the unfamiliar feelings he awakened in her, and spirals back into destruction. Nik won’t let the woman he loves torture herself anymore. Even if she doesn’t know who he is, Lisa is a target Nik refuses to let out of his sights.
Remember Me Now
Copyright © 2016 Anna Brooks
Published by Anna Brooks
Cover design by Cover to Cover Designs
Editing by Editing4Indies
Formatting by Champagne Formats
Proofreading by Vivid Words Editing
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form without written permission except for the use of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
The author acknowledges the trademark status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owner.
Dedication
To the readers, especially those who asked about Nik and wanted to know more about him.
Without your support, I wouldn’t be able to do what I do. Thank you.
Prologue
Lisa
WHEN YOU BECOME A widow, everybody tells you how sorry they are. They smile at you with empty eyes and speak like you’re made of glass. Curious stares are given in passing and sympathetic pats on the shoulder are routine.
When Bradley died, I had a wonderful support system and plenty of shoulders to cry on. People I didn’t even know brought me things they thought might be useful, and those close to me kept their distance when they sensed I needed to be alone.
But the thing nobody tells you, the one thing I wished I was prepared for, is just how damn empty everything would feel. My house, my heart, my entire life. I felt like I was the only person left in the world. I could be standing in a room with a thousand people surrounding me and I might as well have been in the middle of the ocean alone. I expected to be lonely … I mean shit, my husband was dead, but I wasn’t prepared for my heart to be hollowed.
Bradley and I met in high school. We were each other’s firsts and onlys. We had a future planned that consisted of a very large family, a white picket fence, and a yellow lab. Since both of us are only children, we wanted our kids to grow up with many brothers and sisters. We wanted our life to be loud and happy.
Before we did any of that, though, Bradley wanted to serve his country … and in doing so, he made the ultimate sacrifice. I wasn’t the same person after I answered that dreaded knock on the door. I might as well have died right along with him, because I wasn’t even a shell of the person he knew and loved. He would have been disappointed in me for refusing to live without him.
After spiraling down in order to feel something, I went to his favorite bar. I drank his favorite whiskey and played his favorite song on the jukebox. One drink led to two. And two led to five. Five led to sex with a man who reminded me of Brad. He bent me over the sink in the men’s bathroom and even though it was awful and fast and dirty, it breathed life into me that I’d been missing.
After that experience, I sought to feel it again. To have a second of normality. A moment of relief. So I became a slut. A whore. A tramp. I’m not proud of it, but at the time, it was the only thing that made any sense to me.
If I couldn’t have Brad back, I’d at least have a man who wanted me … if only for a night, but usually not even that. I was sitting at the kitchen table of a man whose last name I didn’t even know watching his neighbor play in the backyard with her kid when it hit me. I needed to move on. Get a fresh start. Stop demoralizing myself. Maybe get a cat as a companion because I’d never love anyone again. Nobody could replace the one and only man I had vowed to be with until the day I died. Nobody.
Chapter 1
Nik
“NIK, THIS IS LISA.” Meara, the owner of the pub I work at and my best friend’s little sister, winks as she introduces me to the new bartender. “Lisa, this is Nik. He’s a brooding asshole, but I promise he won’t bite. Unless you’re into that sort of thing, then I’m sure he’d accommodate.”
Lisa’s eyes are on the door, looking over my shoulder but not at me.
I stick out my hand. “Nice to meet you.”
She looks down at it before her dainty one wraps around mine. Her fingers loosen, but when I don’t let go, she finally looks at me. Her almost black hair falls over half her face, and she shakes her head to have more of it cover herself. Like a shield. Interesting.
I reach up and push some of the silky hair away so I can see her. She jerks back as a storm rages in her blue eyes, making them flash with a combination of fear and lust. An immediate smile forms on my lips, anticipating how much fun we’re going to have, and hers turns into a frown.
“You, too,” she mumbles, and rips her hand away as she turns to Meara. “I’m going to run to the ladies’ room before I start, if that’s okay.”
“Of course.”
When Lisa rounds the corner, Meara slaps me across the head. “What the fuck was that?”
I smooth down my hair and shrug. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Bullshit. What was that look you gave her?”
“What look?”
“You know, that look?” She narrows her eyes and tries to raise her eyebrows but fails miserably.
“I certainly hope I didn’t look like that.”
“Ugh, you’re impossible. Don’t scare her away, okay? I really like her, and I think she’ll fit in great. She’s been through … just, I really want it to work out. Play nice.”
A man at the end of the bar raises his glass, and I nod at him then begin making another Seven and Seven. “I’m not gonna scare her off, Meara. You think I’m that much of a dick?”
“No, you’re the most un-dickish man I know.”
“Better not let your man hear you talkin’ about another man’s dick.”
“Liam knows I love his dick and what he does—”
“Woman, I don’t wanna hear that shit.”
Her laughter fades away when I walk to the other end of the bar to deliver the drink. By the time I get back, Lisa’s returned and Meara squeezes my arm as she walks by. “I’m going to work on ordering. Come get me if you have any problems.”
Neither Lisa nor I respond — me because I’m getting change for a customer and Lisa because she’s looking at her shoes. I go about my business and she dodges me as I put some glasses back on a shelf. “So you from here?” I break the ice because she’s obviously apprehensive. Being the new person sucks no matter what.
“No.” She doesn’t look up from the bar menu that she’s flipping through. “My mom lives here because of her job.”
“Why’d you move here?”
“To get away.”
“From what?”
“Listen.” She shuts the book and turns, crosses her arms, and holds her shoulders high. “I just want to work. You seem nice and all, but there’s no need for all this.” Her hands gesture between the two of us.
“For this?” I copy her and lean closer. “I’m just being friendly, but if you’d rather work in silence, be my fuckin’ guest.” Without giving her a chance to respond, I turn my back to her.
My initial impression was wrong, which isn’t something that happens often. She’s already thrown me for a loop, and I
don’t like it. This isn’t going to be fun. There’s more going on behind her hesitant eyes than she wants to admit … and I hate to love a good challenge.
By the time I get back, she’s pouring a drink for some guy, and I ignore her even though I see she’s struggling. I don’t know what the fuck her problem is, but I’m not going to kiss her ass, even if it is tight as hell. Not that I noticed or anything. Just like I didn’t notice that her lips are about the fullest, sexiest pair I’ve ever seen before and as much of a dick as it makes me, I wanna fuck ’em. And while I’m doing that, I’d grab her hair with both of my hands and watch my cock disappear down her throat.
“Shit.” Her clipped curse breaks my train of thought, and I toss the empty bucket on the ground, still ignoring her. “Sorry about that. I’m still learning.” She smiles at the customer, and he waves his hand in the air.
“S’okay. Everyone learns somewhere.”
“Yeah, I just started a couple of days ago.”
“Take your time.”
Sensing her growing frustration when she continues to mess up, I grab a glass, mix the mojito, and slide it to the customer. “No charge. Sorry about the wait.”
“Oh, it’s fine.” He slides a five over and winks at Lisa. “You were on the right track.”
As soon as he’s out of earshot, she tosses the muddler she unsuccessfully used into the sink. It lands with a bang, and she huffs in frustration. “I had it.”
“Whatever.”
“Seriously, I’m fine. I’ll never learn if you step in every time.”
Holding my hands up in surrender, I back away. “Fine. I was just trying to help.”
“I don’t need your help.”
For the next three hours, I stay at my end of the bar, avoiding her except for when I have to get change. The darkness from outside filters in and the mood shifts from after-work cocktails to college partiers. The crowd thickens, but it’s nothing I can’t handle, while poor Lisa looks like a fish out of the water.
