Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 140604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 703(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 703(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
Garrett Pace is a man who knows what he wants, and what he wants right now is the gorgeous redhead at the wedding he’s attending. She’s perfect, and he’s earned this. His life has been difficult, but he fought his way through it with hard work. With his law degree behind him, he’s an attorney for an organic cattle ranch collective. He enjoys his job and it keeps him close to his best friend. They’ve been living on Aidan O’Malley’s ranch, and seeing the way the man handles his wife and his partner is making Garrett think. It’s the kind of relationship he wants for himself, and that redhead is looking like a good place to start.
Keane Rollins was lucky to survive his childhood, and he knows it. He’s found some peace as O’Malley’s foreman and wants to live a quiet life. That said, he must admit that Garrett is right about one thing. There’s something missing and it’s a woman. They’ve been friends since childhood and the idea of having a relationship that doesn’t include Garrett seems impossible. When a beautiful, mysterious woman offers them a night together with her, he leaps at the chance.
What started as a wild, no-strings-attached night turns into an awkward morning when they realize Olivia is the woman they’re supposed to spend the next month working with. Garrett and Keane are thrilled at the opportunity to be with her, but Olivia is determined not to give into temptation again
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Chapter One
Olivia Barnes-Fleetwood glanced around the ballroom and wished she was anywhere else.
And then hated herself for the thought.
She was in a beautiful city. Fort Worth glittered beneath them. This hotel was luxurious. Her family and friends were all around her. The dress she was wearing could have come off a runway in Paris. She had the best job. She had every privilege. Every reason to be on top of the world.
Yet she sat here while everyone else was having a marvelous time.
“Hey, you look way less happy than a maid of honor should,” a familiar voice said. Bobby Farley. He looked handsome in his suit, his hair slicked back. He usually dressed like he was a cast member of The Big Bang Theory, but then he could be. He was about to graduate from MIT with a doctorate in physics.
And he was about to graduate into his truth by telling his parents what he’d known since he was a kid.
“I guess I never thought my little brother would get married before me.” She would hand it to her parents. They knew how to throw a party. Well, her mom did. Dad would have thrown a backyard barbecue, and Papa would have brought the beer. For all their success, her dads were still down to earth, which was probably why her papa was standing to the side pulling at his bowtie like it was strangling him.
And then her mom stepped in and smiled and took his hand to lead him to the dance floor, and Sam Fleetwood didn’t look like he cared about the fact that she had forced him into a tux.
She wanted that. Wanted it so badly she couldn’t stand it, and she had to consider the idea that it wasn’t in the cards for her. Her parents loved each other. They were each other’s best friends. Together for years, they still kissed and held hands and had real passion between them, along with all the softer things that came with a long-term marriage. They took care of each other.
Josh and Nicole and Grim were going to do that, too. They were going to start a family in their house on the ranch their parents had bought them. She had moved into the guest house, and it was nice to have her own space.
She hadn’t had a real date in over a year.
Bobby grabbed another two glasses of champagne, offering her one like the complete gentleman he was. “Well, I never thought Josh would marry anyone. I remember way too many times he would come to Bliss and hit on every available woman in sight. Some who weren’t so available.”
Olivia couldn’t help a snort that came with the memory. “Yes, he even did that when he was five. That boy has always liked the ladies.”
Her heart ached as she said it.
His hand came out to cover hers. “I can hold off if you need time. Honestly, I’m not sure I need to tell my parents anything at all. They don’t talk to me much anymore. Or Will. It’s like we betrayed them by leaving Colorado. I think the only reason my mom called Will was because she got the invite to the wedding.”
“Do you think she’ll actually go to Massachusetts?” Bobby had a twin brother, and they were still close. They had gone to college together and chosen MIT for their PhDs, and now they were both accepting positions in California. They were starting their lives.
For the longest time everyone thought they would go the Bliss route when it came to a relationship. Even their parents had wrapped their very closed minds around the thought of having a single daughter-in-law. After all, there were throuples everywhere.
And for some of that time, Olivia acted as their temporary girlfriend. When she would go to Bliss she would hang out with Bobby and Will and look like the perfect long-distance threesome. It worked for all of them. It kept Bobby and Will’s parents off their backs about settling down. It kept her momma from setting her up with every half-eligible man in their circle.
But she had to face the truth now. There was some part of her that had wanted it all to be real. Will had offered, but the truth was she’d always loved Bobby.
And she wasn’t Bobby’s type.
How was it she still ached after all this time? She loved this man, but it wasn’t romantic anymore. It was comfortable. It was friendship that felt like it could have been so much more if not for that one trick of fate.
She gave him what she hoped was a bright smile. “No. You need to come out to your parents once and for all. If they reject you, you know you always have a home with me.”
He huffed and sat back. “Maybe not once your parents know you’ve been my cover for ten years with my parents.”