Is this their happy ending?

After her plans for a storybook wedding are derailed by a shocking discovery days before the big event, Ava Bradley retreats to a tranquil beach cottage. Days of intense soul-searching turn into nights of passionate yearning when she clashes with her infuriatingly arrogant and incredibly sexy Hideaway Island neighbor. Derek Patrick is tempting her, not just as a lover but as a soul mate, and it’s a connection unlike anything she’s ever experienced before.

The up-by-his-bootstraps entrepreneur is proud to be mayor of the beautiful, secluded tropical island. Derek doesn’t need some social-climbing diva messing with his hard-earned serenity. Yet Ava keeps surprising him. When their no-strings affair leaves them both hungry for more, Derek is tempted to take their island affair to the next level. But Ava doesn’t intend to make her permanent home there...until a natural disaster threatens Derek’s beloved island, making them realize what matters most—a love too precious to lose.

“I know I shouldn’t have walked into your house and started cleaning, but I knocked and you didn’t answer. I just meant to straighten up a little but I got carried away.”

He just cocked his head to the side and looked at her.

“I was feeling restless,” she explained.

“I can tell.” He took off his gloves, tossed them onto the counter and came toward her. “You just can’t come into a man’s home and be bent over in his refrigerator without some consequences.”

“Consequences?” She swallowed hard. “How about a thank-you, you big jerk? Your house is a disaster and I’ve been working my fingers to the bone to make it habitable.”

“Oh, poor princess. Had to do some actual work and now she’s all worn-out.” He placed his big hot hands around her waist and she couldn’t think clearly.

“Shut up, Derek.”

“Okay.” He placed his mouth over hers and gave her a shockingly sexual kiss, and what was even more shocking was that she let him. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him back. It wasn’t something she could control anymore.

Dear Reader,

In Mine at Midnight, you’ll meet Ava and Derek, two strong-willed people who want nothing to do with each other or falling in love. Join them on beautiful Hideaway as they figure out who they are and discover that they can’t live without each other.

Jamie

Mine at Midnight

Jamie Pope

www.millsandboon.co.uk

JAMIE POPE first fell in love with romance when her mother placed a novel in her hands at the age of thirteen. She became addicted to love stories and has been writing them ever since. When she’s not writing her next book, you can find her shopping for shoes or binge watching shows on Netflix.

To Jason,

I’m dedicating this book to you just because I like you.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Extract

Copyright

Chapter 1

Ava Bradley wasn’t often nervous. Her twin brother often said that she had cold water running through her veins, that she was an ice princess. But today, as she stood in the living room of her charming seaside cottage, she felt anything but cold. Her heart was racing. Pounding so hard she wondered if it was going to burst out of her chest.

An enormous black garment bag had just been hand delivered to her by the designer after more than a thousand hours of work had been put into what was inside.

It was his masterpiece, as he called it.

Ava called it her wedding dress.

Her $25,000, crystal-encrusted, frothy confection of a wedding gown.

Most brides would be nervous, excited to receive their completed gowns.

It symbolized closing the door completely on one life and starting another.

But Ava didn’t feel excitement. She felt more like throwing up.

This was her second wedding gown. She had purchased a simple but elegant one originally, which she had found in a shop right on Hideaway Island. It had been love at first sight. The ivory gown was vintage inspired, something a young bride might have worn in the 1940s, but that wasn’t the dress she was going to wear when she walked down the aisle.

Her fiancé wanted her to wear something...better, he called it. Something luxurious and extravagant. It seemed like such an incredible amount of money. They could feed Miami’s homeless for years with that amount of cash, but her fiancé wanted her to have it, so she had it. It was like that with everything. The car she drove had to be top of the line. The handbag she carried had to be so exclusive that most people were on a waiting list for a year just to be able to buy it. He was extremely wealthy and powerful, and he wanted his woman to reflect that.

“I only want the best, sweetheart,” he purred in his Belgian accent. “That’s why I picked you.”

No, simple wouldn’t do for Maxime Vermeulen. He was forty-four years old. Never married. He told her that he planned to be married only once, and that’s why this wedding had to be the event of the century. Every time she had voiced her concerns about how much money they were spending, he would tell her that he had to spend it because she was perfect for him. And that she was beautiful and smart and lovely and all the things every woman wanted to hear from the man she was going to spend the rest of her life with.

A perfect wedding, for my perfect bride.

Ava had agreed to all of the pomp and circumstance to make him happy, although she had grown up in a working-class family in Maryland. Her father worked in a factory. Her mother had worked two jobs when things were tight. Yes, her older brother had made it big in the major league, but never in a million years did Ava dream that she would land someone like Max. Someone who had always had so much and had no idea what it was like to fly in a plane that he didn’t own. She’d met him by chance while she was working. She’d been a buyer for an exclusive chain of boutiques and had literally bumped into him walking out of a meeting. He’d dazzled her with his easy charm and devastating good looks.

He was good to her. He spoiled her silly and proudly showed her off to his friends. It was why she made sacrifices for him.

Small ones like quitting her job. And giving up her home and a tiny bit of her freedom. Max insisted that the wives of rich men didn’t have jobs. He told her that he would look like a fool if he let her continue to live in her modest townhome instead of a penthouse apartment in an exclusive section of Miami. And the thought of her grocery shopping or even doing something as simple as making their bed nearly sent him into a series of fits.

We have people to do that for us, my sweet.

She didn’t want to make Max look foolish. But she wasn’t adjusting to the lifestyle of the rich and idle too well.

That’s why she had thrown herself into planning the perfect wedding. There had been no planner or assistant. It didn’t make sense for them to hire someone to do it when she could. Max indulged her on this. He thought it was because she was very particular, but the truth was she needed to plan this wedding because without her career she was bored.

And now the ceremony was upon them. Five more days. Guests were coming in from all over the world. Heads of state, members of royal families, politicians. These were the people they needed to impress. That’s why Max insisted on the cake being made in the most exclusive bakery in New York and flown in the next day. He wanted flowers that were grown in special hothouses. A string quartet was being flown in from Belgium. And a celebrity chef and his crew of fifty were arriving to feed the hundreds of guests that were going to be present. There were so many moving parts, so many things that needed to be done on a deadline that it felt more like a job than the most meaningful day of her life. Maybe it was better that this felt like work, because the longer she focused on the work, the less time she had to think.

Think about him and their future and how she would be spending her time as his wife.

She hadn’t seen Max at all this week. In fact, she had seen him only twice in the last thirty days. He traveled a lot for work, and they agreed to spend the days leading up to the wedding apart so that their honeymoon would be more special. Ava was hoping that he would slow down once they walked down the aisle. He had promised her that he would. That they would put down roots. Unfortunately, it couldn’t be on this island, even though she had loved it since her parents had first taken her here as a little girl.

Maxime was a restaurateur, and she had convinced him to open up a small bistro on the island and staff it with local people. Their idea to open an oceanfront eatery had somehow expanded into a plan to build a massive resort. But the residents of the island, led by the mayor, made it impossible for him to even purchase land. Maxime had been furious. He wasn’t a man that was used to hearing no. Ava had secretly been glad the plan had failed. A huge hotel would have taken away from the quaint, homey feeling of Hideaway Island, and that’s what Ava loved about this place. Miami was good for nightlife and culture, but this place felt like home.

Maxime wanted nothing to do with it now. He had wanted her to move the wedding off the island, but she had refused. She would quit her job to make him happy, plan a wedding that would rival all weddings, but she was going to get married on Hideaway Island. In the place her family spent summer vacations. In the oceanfront home her father had helped her older brother pick out before he passed away. She had grown up in Maryland, but this was the place where she felt closest to her father. She remembered him being so happy here. And as she walked down the aisle toward Maxime on her brother’s arm, she would picture her father’s smiling face.

Max wanted her to have a baby soon, but she wanted to wait a little while. She knew she couldn’t hold him off much longer because he was older than she was, and he wanted to be an active father. Children and family were extremely important to him.

I want to have as many as possible. My children are my legacy.

She wanted children, too, but she wanted to spend some time with just him first. He was away so much that there were times when she felt like she barely knew him at all.

She tried to shake off the uneasy feelings that snuck into her chest and nearly suffocated her. She had been with him for more than three years. Of course she knew him. And if she didn’t, she would have the rest of her life to get to know him.

Ava took a deep breath and finally unzipped the large garment bag that held her dress. She didn’t even have to unzip it all the way to see the sparkle from all the hand-sewn crystals. Even if it wasn’t exactly her taste, she had to admit it was magnificent. All that effort for something that she would wear for only a few hours. She wondered what her father would think of all this. He had been a simple man. She wondered if he would be impressed by it all or think it was crazy to spend this much. Deep down she knew the answer.

She hated to think that her father might be disappointed in the way she was leading her life, but she knew that he had just wanted her to be happy. In the end, Ava was happy when Maxime was happy.

A knock on the door distracted her from her musings. She thought it might be her sister in-law, Virginia, bringing her six-month-old by for a visit. Ava would happily quit wedding planning for an hour or two to spend time with her niece. She had been there when Virginia had given birth and for every little milestone that Bria had met. She loved being so near the next generation of her family and seeing her oldest brother, Carlos, being a father.

She zipped the garment bag up and headed to the front door. Only she didn’t see her sister-in-law with her adorable little baby standing there. There was a woman that she’d never seen before. She was older, probably nearing forty, with plain brown hair and nondescript features. Ava had never had a visitor outside of her family and the delivery people since she’d been there.

“I don’t mean to be rude,” she started, “but I am very happy with my current faith at the moment.”

“Oh, I’m not here for that reason, Ava.”

She knew her name?

“You are Ava, aren’t you? I recognize you from your pictures.”

Maxime wasn’t quite a celebrity, but because of his massive business holdings and his family’s last name on a string of luxury hotels he was well known and sometimes his picture was snapped by the paparazzi. She was sure she had been photographed with him a few times, but that didn’t explain why the woman was there.

“How can I help you?” Ava tried not to let her nervousness show. There was a strange woman at her rental home, and she was alone. She had taken some self-defense classes, but right now that information had flown out of her head while other more troubling thoughts had crashed around into it.

“I’m Ingrid.”

She studied Ava’s face for some kind of reaction.

“You don’t know who I am, do you? Max never told you,” she said sounding disappointed.

“Told me what?” Her stomach dropped. Sick was the only way she could describe how she was feeling.

“I think it might be better for me to show you rather than tell you. May I come in? You’re probably going to need to sit down.”

“I don’t want to sit down, and I don’t want to go inside. I want you to tell me why you are here.”

Ingrid pulled a small photo album out of her oversize handbag and handed it to Ava. Ava opened it slowly. The first picture was of Maxime with a newborn swaddled in a blue blanket in his arms. His eyes were adoring. She had never seen that look in them before.

“That was nearly sixteen years ago now,” Ingrid said softly.

Ava flipped to the next page to see a younger Ingrid with two small children, a boy and a girl, her head thrown back in laughter. Max sat next to her, a grin on his face and love in his eyes.

Ava wanted to ask if Ingrid was his long-lost sister, if those two children were his niece and nephew, but she already knew the answer. And yet she kept turning the pages. There was Ingrid with yet another baby, in a hospital bed, Max’s arm wrapped around her. Ava walked back inside then and sat down heavily on her couch. She couldn’t think. She just couldn’t muster one coherent thought. But she kept turning those pages. Family vacations and birthday parties. Smiling faces. Happy times. She had hoped that this was a past relationship, but as she turned the pages she could see that Max was still very much a part of their lives. It was clear that when he wasn’t with her, he was with them. He had the kind of life with them that she hoped they would have together.

She was more than stunned, more than shocked. She was paralyzed as she sat there.

“Our eldest is going to be sixteen in a few months. His name is Hugo. My middle’s name is—”

“I don’t want to know their names!” Ava pushed the photo album back at Ingrid, who had followed her inside. They were supposed to get married, spend the rest of their lives together. There were hundreds of people coming, some of them already there, and yet she was sitting next to the woman the man she loved had made a family with.

It was all going to waste. All the money that was spent that could have helped people. All the time she spent loving him, her career, it was all gone. Sacrificed for him.

“I’m not here to hurt you. I just thought you should know before you walked down the aisle that you would be sharing him with us. He said he was going to tell you. I had hoped he would tell you before you were married...”

“I don’t understand.” Ava shook her head. “Why are you a secret?”

“Look at me.” She shrugged.

“What are you talking about? There is nothing wrong with the way you look.”

Ingrid smiled at her. “He’s right. You are sweet. I didn’t think you would be from your pictures. I’m plain. I’m uninteresting. Uneducated. I was working as a waitress when we met. I always knew when I took up with him that I was never going to be the main woman in his life. He needs someone like you. Someone beautiful and graceful. You look like the wife of a billionaire. Plus he really does love you.”

Ingrid had said so many things that Ava was having a hard time focusing on just one of them.

“How do you know he loves me?”

“He told me. We talk about you. He tells me everything. Max is my best friend.”

“He doesn’t tell me everything. I’ve spent three years with the man, and he couldn’t be bothered to tell me that he was leading a double life.”

“He was wrong for that. He should have told you from the beginning. I didn’t want you to start your marriage off that way, and I didn’t want you to find out by accident. But now that things are out in the open, you can discuss it with him and get past it.”

“Get past it? There is nothing to get past. There’s not going to be a marriage.”

“Oh no!” Ingrid looked truly dismayed. “That wasn’t my intention. You have to marry Max. He adores you. He’s waited so long to get married. You’re perfect for him.”

“Do you think I’m the type of woman who would lower myself that far for a man?” Maybe it wasn’t such a stretch, Ava had already given up a lot to be with him—what was the rest of her self-respect?

“Maxime isn’t just any man. He’s special and powerful, and millions of women would give up their souls to be where we are. He’s so kind to me, and I know he’s kind to you. There’s no one else in the world who’s going to give you what he can.”

“I don’t want what he can give me. And I’m sure as hell not willing to give up my soul to be with him.” She stood up and walked to the door. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a wedding to cancel.”

Chapter 2

There was something big going on next door, Derek Patrick thought as he walked over to his window. He was a busy guy and usually nothing could tear him away from his work of making custom furniture and being the mayor of Hideaway Island, but the words “I’m going to kill the slimy bastard” had punctured his career-related fog.

Ava Bradley was staying next door to him. He hadn’t realized it at first, because for the last week all he had seen were delivery trucks going in and out of her tiny driveway, but it certainly was her. Sister to his island’s richest resident. Future wife of the man who’d tried to destroy Hideaway Island with a disgustingly large resort. As mayor Derek had done everything in his power to rally the citizens and prevent that. This place wasn’t a resort town. It was an island full of hardworking people who wanted to live in peace. A resort of that size would have brought thousands of tourists in the summer. And he might’ve been okay with that if the billionaire was going to hire local people to build the monstrosity and to be lifeguards or housekeepers or whatever positions they had available, but that had never been an option. Vermeulen had planned to bring in foreign workers from overseas and pay them a rate that no one could live on. It was damn near evil. Derek had gone toe to toe with the man. And almost came to blows with him.

He had won, which infuriated the Belgium businessman. That’s why Derek was surprised to find out that Ava had rented the house next door. She clearly hadn’t known that he would be living beside her. She probably would have strapped on her four-inch designer stilettos and hightailed it back to Miami. But she decided that she was going to throw the world’s largest wedding right here on the island. He wasn’t exactly sure why she chose this place.

She was one of those women who was too beautiful. Almost painfully so. She had perfectly smooth brown skin, and midnight-black hair that was always perfectly styled. Her clothes were ultraexpensive, and fit to her thin body like a glove. He never saw her without diamonds in her ears, he never saw her in flip-flops or flat shoes like most people in a beach community wore. He never saw her smile warmly or look happy, for that matter. He mostly saw her as eye candy, hanging on that rich man’s arm. Nothing more than another expensive accessory.

She didn’t fit in here, and yet he couldn’t be mad at her for wanting to get married on the island. Even she had to see that Hideaway Island was one of the most beautiful places on the planet.

Some of her many, many guests had arrived early, filling up all the little inns, bed-and-breakfasts and boutique hotels on the island. They ate in the restaurants and shopped in the stores. A few of them had even stopped into his showroom in town and purchased some pieces. It was a nice little boost for their economy. The island wasn’t antitourist. No, They welcomed all people. They just didn’t want some big corporate enterprise sucking the life out of this place.

Derek saw Ava’s twin, Dr. Elias Bradley, get out of his car. He knew when he saw Elias’s face that something bad had gone down.

“Where the hell is he?” he shouted. The doctor appeared more like a football player than a surgeon as he stalked toward the cottage.

Carlos, her older brother, came out of the house, the former baseball player looking even more furious, if that were possible. “I don’t know, but when I find him. I’m going to kill him. I’m going to smash his head in.”

Carlos’s wife, Virginia, came out after him, holding their daughter. “Would you two hush?” She scolded. “This isn’t what Ava needs right now, and you’re scaring Bria.”

“Give me my baby girl.” Carlos’s voice softened as he took his daughter in his arms and cuddled her. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. Your daddy and uncle aren’t going to kill that slimy bastard today. We don’t know where he is. You don’t have to worry, but he should.”

Derek knew he should step away from the window. Being in his neighbor’s business was not his style, but he couldn’t make himself move. The whole town was buzzing about this wedding. And it all seemed to be falling apart before his eyes.

Ava stepped out of the house then. She hadn’t said a word, but Derek’s eyes went to her as soon as she stepped over the threshold. She was wearing one of those tight pencil skirts and a white blouse that gently flowed over her figure. She was an absolute knockout by any man’s standards, but it was her face that caught Derek’s attention. There were no tears, no blurry eyes from what he could see. Her expression was blank, nearly emotionless, one might see her and think she was cold, but she took her niece from her brother and brought the little girl close to her, squeezing her as she closed her eyes. And just before she did, Derek saw misery there, pure, uncovered misery. It was one of those haunting looks, made even worse by the fact that it had come from one of the most beautiful women that he had ever seen.

He felt sorry for her then. He didn’t want to because he didn’t like her. He didn’t like the way she walked or spoke or dressed. He didn’t like how she let herself be used as some rich man’s accessory. She reminded him of his mother. An incredibly beautiful failed dancer turned social climber, whose self-worth came from being the woman of a rich man.

He learned from a lifetime of living with her that women like that didn’t change. Derek stepped away from the window and back to his work space. It wasn’t his business what caused that hurt look to take over Ava’s face. She would find another man. She would be all right. Women like her always managed to make it somehow.

* * *

Ava sat alone in her rented cottage that night. Carlos, Virginia and Elias had left a few minutes ago after staying with her all day. It was nice to have her family rally around her. Having two large, protective brothers threatening to tear Max limb from limb made her feel surprisingly better.

And her sister-in-law was a godsend. “You want this wedding canceled. We’ll get this wedding canceled.” As an interior designer, Virginia was used to managing large projects and calling dozens and dozens of vendors was no small feat. But she had done it all with a baby on her hip. If Ava hadn’t been so numb, she would have been amazed by her.

She could barely focus on anything; she just leaned against her twin brother, his strong body keeping her upright when she would have slumped. She and Elias usually fought like it was going out of style, but he was her twin. They had gone to college together and lived next door to each other and didn’t let more than a day pass without speaking to each other. Carlos was like a father figure to her, but Elias was like a piece of her soul. She would have fallen apart if he hadn’t ended his shift at the hospital early to get to her.

But she had sent them all away. Elias’s job as a trauma surgeon was too important for him to be away, and Carlos and Virginia needed to put their little girl to bed. And so she was truly left alone with her thoughts again.

What the hell was she going to do with her life now? She had no job. She was sure she could get her old one back, and if not, she could find one someplace else. Maybe in New York or LA, but that thought didn’t appeal to her. She didn’t want to be that far away from her family. The thought of returning to Miami also made her sick. She had so many memories of Max there. So many places where he had wined and dined her all while keeping the fact that he had three children and another woman a secret from her.

He had businesses there. She was bound to run into him over and over again, which was dangerous, because in her current mood she wasn’t sure if she could prevent herself from running over him.

Her cell phone rang, and for a moment she was tempted to ignore it, but it was probably her mother who spent most of her year in Costa Rica now that she was a widow. She hadn’t been home when she had called the first time, and she didn’t want to leave the news in a message. It just wasn’t the kind of thing you said into a machine. She reached over to the side table to retrieve her phone, but the caller ID revealed that it wasn’t her mother. It was Max. She had told half the world she wasn’t getting married, but she had yet to tell him.

“Hello?” she answered, trying to keep the emotion out of her voice. She refused to cry, because she knew if she started, she wouldn’t be able to stop.

“Darling,” he purred in his accent. “Why am I hearing that you have canceled the cake and told the string quartet not to board their plane tomorrow?”

“Oh, that’s simple, Max. I’m not going to marry you.”

“Excuse me?” he sputtered, sounding genuinely surprised. “Why not? You’re being foolish.”

“Foolish?” She immediately felt her anger go up a tick. “I didn’t think it was foolish to not marry a man who is a cheating, lying bastard.”

“Cheating? I’m not cheating on you. I never have.”

“You’re not sleeping with Ingrid anymore? Judging by your family photo album, you looked very happy with her and your children in the South of France.”

He went silent, quiet for so long that she thought he had hung up. “She told you.”

“Yes. She came to see me today. Your oldest—Hugo—he looks quite like you. He’s got your nose and eyes, but he has Ingrid’s coloring. How the hell could you do this to me? And why the hell did you think you could get away with keeping this a secret from me?”

“I was going to tell you after we were married.”

“You were going to let me walk down that aisle, thinking that I was the only woman in your life, thinking that we were going to start a family, when you knew that everything we had was a lie?”

“It wasn’t a lie. Yes, I have three children. Yes, their mother is my best friend, but, darling, you are the only woman I can see myself being married to, and we are going to start a family. I’ve always wanted as many children as possible.”

“It’s hard to keep that big of a secret from the world. Others have to know. You were going to let me make a fool of myself. People have probably been laughing behind my back for years.”

“Nobody would dare laugh at you. Not my chosen bride. I’m from one of the richest and most powerful families in the world. They respect you, and if they do not, I will make them. So don’t worry about what other people think. I will take care of that. Now, stop this little tantrum and call everyone back. I love you. I will take care of you. You are perfect. My princess. You are meant for a grand life with me.”

“You don’t respect me at all—do you?” She didn’t know why she hadn’t known that sooner, but the realization was crushing. She’d spent so long with a man who she was just an object to. “You think that this is something that I’m just supposed to get over. You don’t care about my feelings at all.”

“My father has had the same mistress for over fifty years. I have nearly a dozen half siblings. If my mother can bear it, so can you. You’re giving up so much for your foolish American pride. This is how things work where I come from.”

“I’m not your mother,” she said calmly. “And my foolish American pride won’t allow me to marry you. It’s over.”

“This isn’t over. You’ll see how sad your life is without me, and I will be waiting here for when you get over yourself.”

Ava hung up without saying any more. She had no idea what she was going to do with the rest of her life, but she knew that he would not be in it.

Chapter 3

Derek walked up to his aunt’s house as he did nearly every day after he finished his work. He had always thought of this place as his childhood home because he’d spent much more time sleeping there than at his own house. His aunt and late uncle had been like his parents. His cousin was more like his sister, and his grandmother, his most favorite person in the world, had lived there. Some of his best memories happened around the kitchen table in this house. He would say he was from a tight-knit family and mostly he was, but out of the dozens of holidays he had spent here, there were very few he could recall with his mother. She always seemed to be jetting off somewhere with a new boyfriend.

But maybe it had been better for him to be without her. His uncle was a world-famous architect who taught him how to build things and in the process be creative. He would have never thought about designing and building furniture. He would have never thought about running for mayor when he was only twenty-five years old. It still pained him a bit when he walked through the door and he realized that his uncle wouldn’t be there to greet him. But this house was still a happy place. It wasn’t just that it looked like a large gingerbread house; it was the fact that there was even more love in it now.

He opened the door to see his cousin’s husband, Asa, sitting next to his grandmother on the couch. They were playing video games, which wasn’t something he had expected to see when he walked through the door that evening.

“Are you ready to give up yet?” his grandmother, Nanny, asked Asa as she furiously pressed the buttons on her controller.

“No! How are you this good at this game? We just got it today. I think you’ve been practicing.”

“I think you’re a sore loser, or you will be in a moment when I do this finishing move on you. There, done.”

Asa tossed his controller on the couch beside him and slumped in his seat. “You beat me at cards and now at this. I’m not sure I can hold my head up anymore.”

Derek laughed as he walked farther into the room. Asa had just recently become a member of their family. His cousin Hallie had fallen in love with him hard after only knowing him for a month. There were a few people who thought they wouldn’t make it, especially since Hallie had been engaged to another man just six months before, but Derek knew as soon as he met Asa that he was right for Hallie. He loved her unconditionally. He gave up his career as a rescue paramedic to move down to this tiny island to be with her. Derek could only respect the man for that. “What are you two up to?” he asked them.

“Playing Street Warrior,” Nanny answered.

Nanny was active and looked much younger than her eighty years. She wasn’t one of those elderly people who was going to let her age stop her.

“You all look too serious to interrupt. So I’ll just find Hallie.”

“She’s in the kitchen with Clara.” Nanny answered. “They are making dinner. Afterward, if you’re prepared to battle me, I’d welcome another challenge.”

Derek laughed at his feisty grandmother before he made his way into the kitchen. Hallie was stirring something, while her mother sat at the table chopping vegetables for a salad. “Hello. It smells good in here.”

“Hey, Derek!” Hallie smiled at him. She was glowing. She was just a semester away from finishing her doctorate. She was enjoying being married. He had never seen her so happy. He was happy for her, but it gave him a little twinge. Not that he was jealous of her, but seeing her so in love made him realize that he never had been. He didn’t necessarily want to be in love or in a serious relationship but he was thirty-three and he had never felt a strong connection to any of the women he had been involved with.

He dated. Preferred discreet relationships with divorced women, not looking for a serious commitment. He took his job as mayor very seriously. He wasn’t sure how much longer he would be the mayor but as long as he was, his island would come first.

“Are my son-in-law and mother still playing that crazy fighting game?” his aunt Clara asked.

“They just finished. Nanny destroyed Asa. Apparently she an excellent street fighter.”

Hallie shook her head, grinning. “Don’t tell Asa, but she’s had practice. You know the Johnson kid that she gives piano lessons to? Well, he got the game for his birthday, and he taught her how to play.”

“She’s a sly old lady, isn’t she?”

“She’ll outlive us all,” his aunt said just before she got up from the table and left the room.

“I haven’t seen you in a few days.” Hallie turned down the burner and faced him. “What have you been up to?”

“We’re starting to plan for founder’s day down at city hall, and my own business is growing a little faster than I expected. My showroom is nearly empty.”

“That’s because you are an amazing craftsman. I hope you have time to make a crib for us.”

His eyes widened. “Are you pregnant?”

“No. Not yet. But as soon as I’m done with school we’re going to start trying. Asa isn’t rushing me, but I know he’s ready to be a father. I was just putting in my order now. Hopefully by the time a baby enters our lives, you’ll have it done.”

“Of course.” He took a seat at the table. “Is anything new going on with you?”

“Not really. But I did hear that Ava Bradley canceled her wedding.”

“I figured.”

“You figured? It has been all over town. No one has been able to stop talking about it.”

“I knew something was going on when I heard her brothers threaten to kill Vermeulen. Your husband works with her brother—he didn’t tell you anything?”

She shook her head. “Just that the wedding was off. I feel bad for Ava. I had to cancel a wedding a few months before I walked down the aisle. It must be terrible to call it off when your guests have already started to arrive. Something big must have happened.”

“Yes, she probably realized that he was the slimy, opportunistic scumbag that the rest of us already knew he was.”

“Whoa.” Hallie put her hands up in defense, but she gave him a little smile. “Tell me how you really feel about him.”

The kitchen door opened and his mother, Anita, breezed in. He hadn’t seen her in a few weeks, which was hard to do when they lived on an island so small.

“My baby is here!” She smiled brightly at him, but he couldn’t force his lips to curl in return.

“Hi, Mom.” He offered her a small, almost awkward wave. “How are you?”

She walked toward him, wearing a dress that looked more appropriate for a nightclub than a visit with her family. “I’m just great, sweetie. I’m on my way to meet my new friend. He’s taking me off-island for a little wining and dining.”

“That’s nice,” he said, not really meaning it. His mother was always with a “new friend,” as she called them. She had so many boyfriends by the time he turned fifteen that he had lost count. And each time she thought they would be the one. But it had been heartbreak after heartbreak, all because she never picked the right guy. It all had started with his father. A married man who never planned to leave his wife for his young mistress, even if that young mistress did get pregnant to force his hand.

She walked over, looking at him with a mix of love and dislike as she placed her hand on his cheek. They had always had such a complicated relationship. He looked so much like his father, and he knew that he reminded her of her biggest failed relationship, reminded her of all her mistakes, reminded her that she wasn’t quite good enough to make a millionaire leave his wife.

She was probably why he had never fallen in love. She had enough broken hearts for the both of them.

“How are you, Derek?” She kissed his cheek.

“I’m fine, Mom. I didn’t realize you were on the island.”

“I’ve been off and on,” she said vaguely.

“I haven’t seen you in a few weeks. I think we should have dinner and catch up.” Things were strained between them. They always had been, and Derek knew that it would just be easier to keep her at arm’s length, but he always made the effort even if it was continually rejected. She was his mother. He felt like she should be in his life.

His aunt Clara had come back into the kitchen, but his focus remained on his mother’s face as he waited for her answer. Her makeup was elaborate, not distasteful, crafted to make her look more youthful. Her hair was cut precisely in some sort of asymmetrical style that was popular with the teenagers in town. She looked more like his older sister than his mother, but that’s what happened when your mother was a teenager when she had you.

“Yeah, maybe next week,” she said noncommittally.

It was like déjà vu, little flashbacks to when he was a kid asking her to come to his band concerts or to see him perform on the debate team, or to one of his championship soccer games when he was in college. She had always made excuses, or promises that she couldn’t keep.

He nodded. Not surprised by her answer, not hurt by it, either, just curious as to what was going on in her head.

“I stopped by to see my mother. Where is she?”

“In the living room with Asa,” he answered.

“See you around, kid.” She winked at him and squeezed Hallie’s arm before she left again.

“My baby.” Aunt Clara practically pounced on him, wrapping him in a tight motherly hug. “I love you so much, Derek,” she whispered. “Just like you came from me.”

He closed his eyes and let himself be hugged. He knew his aunt loved him just like she loved her own child and probably twice as much as his own mother loved him. Maybe that thought should have comforted him, but it didn’t. It made him feel kind of hollow.

* * *

Ava lay in bed all day. She couldn’t remember the last time she had done that. Maybe she never had. She always had something to do, a task to accomplish, a job to complete, but now for the first time there was nothing ahead of her. She found that kind of terrifying.

Her stomach growled angrily at her that evening, forcing her out of bed and into the kitchen.

When she looked in the refrigerator she saw that there was nothing there but spinach and kale. Grilled chicken breasts and low-fat yogurt. It wasn’t the kind of thing a woman wanted to eat after a bad breakup. A pool full of hot fudge sundae with forty gallons of whipped cream was what she needed. Or something heavy and filling, something that would momentarily take away the empty sadness.

Her mother was not coming up from Costa Rica. Ava told her to stay home, that she needed a few days of alone time to think, to regroup. But she should have let her mother come. Her mother would have cooked for her. She would have made her world-famous double chocolate cake with the thick, creamy icing. And empanadas and a huge pot of spaghetti and meatballs like she used to do when she was a child. She couldn’t remember the last time she had had pasta or anything resembling a carb. She had eaten so many leafy greens that she was surprised she hadn’t grown branches.

Good food was another thing that Ava had given up for Max. It was even harder than giving up her great job and the high-paying promotion she was offered just before she quit. But she wanted to look beautiful for Max on their wedding day. She had given up pie on Thanksgiving and eggnog at Christmas and grilled beef in the summer and takeout every weekend. She had lost weight for him. Nearly starved herself to fit into a dress that she didn’t like.

From the kitchen she could still see it hanging on the rack. She hadn’t gotten the chance to fully look at it. Ingrid’s visit had stopped her in her tracks.

She didn’t think it was possible to hate a garment so much, but looking at it then just served as a reminder of all the things she had given up for a man who hadn’t respected her at all.

It had to go.

She walked over to it. Unlike the last time she attempted to view it, she yanked the zipper down and pulled the dress from the bag all in one motion. It was heavy, pounds and pounds of fabric and crystals and a train that would rival a princess’s. Lavish, over the top, unapologetically bold. It was everything Max was, and she felt her blood start to boil. For years she had ignored the little things about him that annoyed her. She had defended him when others called him callous. She had done everything to morph herself into a wife he could be proud of, and more than she was mad at Max, she was mad at herself for being so damn stupid.

She marched out her front door and tossed the monstrous piece of fabric into the yard. It needed to be out of the house, out of her sight. Unable to taunt her, remind her of all her wasted years. But even now that it lay in the sandy dirt, she didn’t feel her anger ease. So much effort had gone into that dress; so much effort had gone into building herself into a perfect woman for a man who didn’t deserve her. It wasn’t enough to have the dress out of the house. She stepped off the porch and kicked the dress, letting out a scream of pure frustration as she did.

It felt good to kick the dress. It felt good to let out some of the pent-up emotion she kept bottled up inside.

Don’t raise your voice.

Don’t be too opinionated.

Don’t ruffle feathers.

Be pleasant.

Be passive.

She kicked the dress again. She stomped on it, like she was stomping all the years of reprogramming she had done to herself. She took pleasure in seeing the pristine white fabric getting stained a greenish brown from the grass and dirt.

But it wasn’t enough.

She reached down and pulled on the bodice of the dress, feeling more satisfaction as she heard the popping of threads, but still that wasn’t enough for her. The damn thing needed to be completely destroyed, all of its bad energy gone for good. She spotted a metal garbage can on the side of the house and a lonely bottle of lighter fluid meant for a charcoal grill. An idea took shape in her head.

She wondered how long it would take to barbeque a wedding dress.

* * *

Derek watched Ava from his window, completely in awe. He had gotten home from a planning meeting just a few minutes ago and was preparing to head into his workshop when he heard a strangled scream. He rushed to his window to see Ava jumping up and down on a massive pile of white fabric. He stood transfixed, unable to move, even though he knew it was wrong to watch such an intensely private moment. The Ava Bradley he had known, the incredibly put-together, icily beautiful woman, had disappeared. He was left looking at a woman so full of raw hurt and anger that even he felt the depths of it in his bones.

She was destroying her wedding dress. Her hands pulled furiously at the fabric, ripping it to shreds, little angry grunts escaping with every hard tug.

She must have had so much riding on this marriage. An entire life.

A memory of his mother flashed in his head.

Derek had been a kid, not even ten years old yet. He’d been crouched on the floor in his bedroom, staring through a crack in his door as his father told his mother that he never wanted to see her again.

You need to get it through your head. I’m never leaving her for you.

His father had a wife. His mother was his mistress. And that was one of the million times Derek wished he could have been born to normal parents.

But of course that wish was just too much to ask for. He watched rage take over his beautiful mother.

I planned my life around you. I’ve done everything to be with you.

And she had. Derek’s father was the most important person in her world. Way more than Derek could ever hope to be.

She had hurled a vase at his father’s head as he had turned to leave, letting out a guttural, primal scream as she did. Derek would never forget that sound. He would never forget how his father looked when he felt the glass shards bounce off the wall and hit his back.

You got pregnant, forced a child on me like it was going to magically make us a family. Your plan failed. I’ll take care of him, but don’t ever think that he’s going to turn out to be anything like my other children with you for a mother.

His mother destroyed the house that day. Throwing lamps and chairs, ripping up photographs, stomping on keepsakes.

Derek had called his uncle Hal because he was scared and didn’t know what to do, and he heard his aunt Clara’s voice in the background, ordering Hal to go get him and his belongings. That was the first time he’d lived with his aunt and uncle for an extended amount of time. Over the years he had stayed with them more times than he could count.

His mind snapped back to the present when he saw Ava, dressed in a flimsy nightgown, drag the metal garbage can from the side of the house to the front yard. She hauled the dress off the ground and dumped it into the garbage can before walking away. For a moment Derek thought that that might be it, but she came back with a can of lighter fluid and a box of matches. He watched motionlessly as she squirted the entire bottle into the can.

Something inside of Derek screamed at him to move.

He sprinted from his house and made it to Ava just as she lit a match. He caught her hand, blew it out and took the box away from her.

“Are you insane?” he shouted.

She looked up at him with shocked, angry eyes, and even though she looked crazy as hell, he still found her insanely attractive. “Are you trying to burn down the whole damn neighborhood?”

“Mind your business, Mr. Holier-Than-Thou. This doesn’t concern you.”

“Yes, it does! Anyone who attempts to burn down my island becomes my concern.”

“Get over yourself. I’m just lighting the dress on fire. It’s in a metal garbage can. It’s not like I sprayed lighter fluid on your house.”

“But it’s windy, and you put enough fluid on there to have thirty-five cookouts. My house is full of wood and varnish and every other kind of flammable thing. There was a terrible fire on the island a few years ago that destroyed many homes. Just because you’re pissed that your scumbag fiancé turned out to be an even bigger scumbag than you thought, doesn’t mean you can put my house or anyone else’s in jeopardy.”

“The last thing I need is a lecture from you. Isn’t there a dolphin you could be rescuing or a citizen you could be lecturing about their civic duty?”

“I don’t lecture people. I’m just trying to stop you from being a pyromaniac lunatic!”

“All you do is lecture. It must be exhausting needing to be right every single moment of your life. Tell me, do you get nosebleeds from sticking your nose so high up in the air?”

He had never heard her speak like this; in fact, he rarely heard her speak at all, and when she did, it was in a quiet measured way. She always seemed to ooze class and elegance, and frankly she seemed like a snob to him. But today she was full of fire.

Literally and figuratively.

“Why did you choose to rent a house next to mine? There have to be dozens of rentals on this island.”

“Well, excuse me, Mr. Mayor. I don’t care enough to keep tabs on which house is yours, but if I had known that I would be living next door to such an insufferable jackass, I wouldn’t have rented here. In fact, I would have rented a house on the other side of the island.”

“Why don’t you do us all a favor and go back to where you came from? This way, I won’t have to worry about anything going up in flames.”

“You want me to move?” Her eyes went wide as she pointed to herself. “Well, that’s too damn bad, because I’m going to stay all spring and summer and possibly into fall. I’m going to throw raging keggers and hold a wet T-shirt contest and have a parade of unsavory, big-resort-building ruffians stomping through my house at all hours of the night just to piss you off. And there isn’t a thing you can do about it.”

“I could call the police and make a noise complaint.”

She threw her head back and laughed. “You would do that, wouldn’t you? I bet you were that kid in school who ratted out all the other kids. I can see the headline on the local paper now. ‘Annoyed Mayor Calls Cops on Heartbroken Bride.’ I’m sure your citizens will love you for it, too. Once they find out that you’re living next door to the ex-fiancée of the man who tried to ruin their island, I’m sure they’ll be over here with flaming pitchforks.” He saw more hurt flash in her eyes. It was clearer and sharper than the anger that was radiating from her body, and it made his own anger diminish. He wasn’t sure what happened between her and Vermeulen, but he knew it must have ended terribly. He almost felt bad for her.

“I wouldn’t call the cops. I like to handle disputes myself.”

“There won’t be any more disputes—just give me back the matches. Let me have this. I need to do this.”

“I’m sorry. I just can’t let you risk your safety or any of the homes on this island.”

“Then go to hell.”

She stomped away from him then and he was left feeling...he couldn’t describe it, but he knew he had never had an interaction with a woman like that before. And as he watched Ava’s retreating form, he was pretty sure this wasn’t going to be the last time they would be shouting at each other.

Chapter 4

Ava looked at the box of chocolate-covered mint cookies in her shopping bag and realized that she hadn’t bought a single ounce of organic, fresh, never-processed or frozen food. She had double-chocolate doughnuts and three kinds of chips.

She even had an entire block of cheese among her purchases because she couldn’t make proper nachos without cheese. It was the first time since Maxime had proposed to her that she didn’t care about watching what she ate or how many calories were in a serving size. She didn’t care about getting enough protein or eating kale or how she was going to look in her wedding dress and on the arm of her handsome, rich husband. She was going to have wine tonight. Cheap seven-dollar-a-bottle wine that she really liked but had to pretend to not like to impress her ex and his snobby friends.

She was going to drink alcohol and eat ice cream with chocolate syrup and gummy worms and gnaw on a block of cheese, and she was going to enjoy every damn moment of it. As she grabbed the second junk-filled bag out of the trunk she noticed her neighbor’s classic pickup truck pull into his driveway.

Ava didn’t know why she hadn’t known that Derek Patrick owned the house next to hers. It was odd that out of all the rentals on the island she picked the one next to his. If she had known the young mayor had lived there, she wouldn’t have taken it. Things had gotten rather nasty between him and Maxime during the height of the resort debate. Max would have had a fit if he’d known she was living next door to a man he considered an enemy. But she was glad she hadn’t known, because she had fallen in love with the little candy-colored cottage. The road it was on was sparsely populated and away from the busier downtown. The scenery surrounding the home was lush, with wild flowers, tall green grasses and fruit trees. She was walking distance to a small beach that was only used by the residents on this road. She could go there whenever she wanted. It was paradise. But she hadn’t been to the beach the entire time she had been on the island. She hadn’t taken the time to enjoy herself at all. That was going to change. She wasn’t sure when she decided that she was going to stay for a long while. But it was probably around the time when Derek told her that she should move off the island.

She would stay just to spite him. Besides, she didn’t have anywhere else to go.

She tried not to glance at him as he stepped out of his truck. She wasn’t so sure what it was about him that rubbed her the wrong way. It wasn’t the thing with Max. Any mayor going so hard to protect his island was admirable, but Derek Patrick was always just a little too good. The townspeople were full of stories about him. About how he housed a family when their home was flooded during a storm, about how he drove dialysis patients to their appointments when the community shuttle broke down. He even babysat for a single mother when her sitter canceled so that she could get to an interview. No one was that good. It just seemed unnatural. Everyone had a dark side, a bit of selfishness that ran through them from time to time, but not Derek Patrick. He was the island’s golden boy, and for some reason that annoyed Ava. And it irritated her even more that he was so good-looking on top of it.

He was a big man, with broad shoulders and one of those powerful, long-stride walks that seemed to eat up the ground with each step. He certainly didn’t look like any politician that she had ever seen. His clothes were constantly paint smeared, and he seemed to live in T-shirts that were just tight enough to show off his muscled upper body. He looked like a blue-collar working man.

A type of man she’d never gone out with.

He had a set of gorgeous light-bluish-greenish eyes that combined with this brown skin made him look...interesting.

Some might even say he was one of those men that was hard not to look at, and that’s why Ava made it a point not to look tonight.

“Hey, Ava,” she heard him say from behind. It surprised her that he would acknowledge her after their spat. “You planning on burning anything today?”

She paused and turned to look at him, annoyed with herself for doing so. He was leaning slightly against his truck, looking at her, studying her in a way that wasn’t disrespectful and yet made her feel uncomfortable. It was then she realized that he had probably never seen her like this before. She lived in chic sheath dresses and designer heels. Her face was always perfectly made up, and her hair was always done. But today she wore a cheap pair of flip-flops she bought to wear on the beach and an oversize bathing suit cover-up because it was the only truly comfortable thing she had with her. He had seen her at her absolute worse the other night, and once again he was seeing her at less than her best. It bugged the hell out of her.

“The only thing I plan on burning is your house after you go to sleep tonight.” She didn’t know what possessed her to say that. She had never spoken to anyone like that. But she couldn’t stop the flow of words. She had always been so careful to watch what she said and how she reacted when she was with Max, but she was done with that. Through with taking so much time to think about what she was going to say that she had lost out on the chance to say so many important things.

“Ouch.” He frowned with a little shake of his head. “We have a big bonfire on the beach every year during the founder’s day festivities. If you were a good girl, I was going to let you throw in the match to set the blaze, but since you just threatened to kill me, I’m afraid I’m going to have to give the honor to another fire-loving female.”

She knew that she shouldn’t respond, shouldn’t engage with him any further, but she couldn’t stop herself. “I wasn’t going to kill you, just smoke you out. Kind of like the beady-eyed raccoon that used to live under our porch when I was a kid.”

She thought she might have gone too far with that comment, but Derek surprised her and gave her an amused smile that she could only describe as sexy. His grin hit her right in the chest, and it startled her.

She was heartbroken and hurt and still reeling from the betrayal. She had no business finding any man sexy, especially the next-door neighbor, who, according to her ex, was the enemy.

She didn’t return his smile; in fact, she didn’t even look at him again as she walked away and into her cottage. She put the bags down on the counter, forgetting about the surely melting ice cream and picked up the phone. She dialed her sister-in-law’s number.

“Can you come over here and stay with me tonight?”

“I’ll be there in twenty minutes,” Virginia answered without hesitation.

Ava felt relieved. She didn’t want to be alone, especially when she couldn’t control her feelings.

* * *

Thursdays were the day that Derek kept office hours. He was known as the mobile mayor, and instead of running the island from a stuffy old office, he’d rather get out on the island and actually see the people who lived there. Visit local businesses, talk to his residents, but he couldn’t escape the office totally. So Thursdays were his days to have meetings and sign papers, approve budgets. It was his most exhausting day of the week. Sitting behind a desk drained him. It also reminded him of his father. Most of the times he saw him, the man was sitting behind a desk. Derek never wanted to be like him. Even one day a week in an office made him feel like the man he never wanted to become.

When he got home that night, he headed right to his kitchen and stared into his depressingly empty refrigerator. He couldn’t remember the last time he had been grocery shopping. His usually survived the week on one of his aunt’s meals. His family always sent him home with leftovers and little things they had made just for him. They spoiled him, trying to make up for all the lack of mothering in his young life. He tried to tell them that they didn’t have to go through all the trouble but they seemed to like to.

He shut the door, knowing that he couldn’t make a meal out of pickles and ketchup, and went in search of the dozen or so menus he kept on hand for cases like these. But before he was able to make it to the menus he heard a knock at his door. It surprised him. He lived in an extremely quiet part of town. People didn’t just stop by. When he opened his front door and saw Ava Bradley standing on his porch, he became even more surprised. Ever since their little run-in over the wedding dress he’d had a hard time getting her off his mind. Of course, it wasn’t every day that a man saw an elegant woman ripping her wedding dress to shreds, and it made him curious about her, made him actively think about what would make her get to that point. And then when he saw her a few days later he had literally been blown away by the way she looked. When he had gotten out of his truck, he saw her standing in her driveway wearing a little white bathing suit cover-up that barely skimmed the top of her thighs. Her hair wasn’t in its normal elegantly chic style, but instead in loose, messy waves. Her face was completely clean of makeup. She was always stunningly beautiful, but that day he saw an edge to her that was probably caused by anger and pain, but it also made her damn sexy. And when he realized that what he was feeling was attraction it was like he was hit in the gut with a two-by-four. This evening was no different. She wore little cotton shorts with anchors on them and a white tank top that was so thin it was nearly see-through.

“Are you sure you’re here on time?”

“Excuse me?” She blinked at him, and for the first time he noticed the color of her eyes. They were lighter than her older brother’s, whose eyes seemed to be so deep brown that they were nearly black. Hers seemed almost golden.

“You said that you were going to burn down my house after I went to sleep. You’re at least six hours early.”

The corner of her mouth ticked up in an almost smile. He was sure she had smiled before, that she couldn’t be the icily cool woman who never displayed any kind of happy emotions. Her family was too warm and loving for her to be that way, but he had never seen her smile. And now that he had seen just a hint of it, he wanted more, the full thing, and he wanted it all directed at him.

“I am actually here about fire,” she said in her soft, nearly husky voice. “As in if you don’t help me right now, I’m afraid my house will burn down.”

“What?” That shook him out of his appraisal of her.

“I have an outlet that’s sparking. And since you’re so up on your fire safety, I figured I would come to you and skip the fire department. I didn’t want to disturb you with all those pesky lights and sirens. I know how noise sensitive you are.”

“You want my help?” He knew it was a dumb question, but he couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that she was standing on his porch, looking disturbingly enticing.

“Yes.” She nodded. “Preferably right this moment.”

“Where’s the outlet sparking?”

“In my kitchen.”

“Do you know how to turn off the power to that room?”

“Do you think I know how to turn off the power to that room?” she retorted.

He turned away to get his toolbox. Luckily since he used the entire downstairs of his house as a work space, he didn’t have to go far.

“Sorry. Stupid question. I wouldn’t expect you to know how to do anything with your hands that didn’t require getting your nails done.”

“I can do a lot of good things with my hands. Unfortunately, you’ll never learn what those things are.”

Her words nearly stopped him in his tracks, and a vivid but all-too-brief image of her running her hands down his bare chest flashed in his mind. He shouldn’t be thinking about her that way. He didn’t want to be thinking about her that way. She represented a type of woman he couldn’t stand. “If it includes using Google to find your next rich boyfriend, I’m not interested.”

“Forget it.” She sighed and stepped off the porch. “I’ll call the fire department. Let’s just hope a strong gust of wind doesn’t carry one of those errant sparks to your house.”

“I didn’t say I wasn’t going to help you.” He caught her wrist with his free hand just as she turned to walk away, ignoring how incredibly soft her skin was and the tiny little charge he felt when his skin connected with hers. “Besides, if you called the fire department over this, I would never hear the end of it from the guys.”

“It’s not your job to fix electrical problems.”

“No.” He walked ahead of her to her house, trying to shake off the weird feeling that was rolling around within him. He had been in the house many times before the original owner decided to rent it out and move to the retirement community on the island. He knew where the fuse box was, and as he approached the steps he once again found himself surprised that Ava Bradley had picked this house when she could have rented any of the luxurious oceanfront rentals the island had to offer. The last time he had been here it was decorated in a style that he could only describe as old lady chic. There had been a lot of pink and floral print; he could see it had been redecorated.

The first word that came to Derek’s mind was cozy. There were big, overstuffed couches and chairs, little odds and ends that gave the place a touch of elegance. He would have thought she preferred sleek lines and modern furniture that was more artistic than functional. But she was staying in a place that looked more like a home than a rental. He even glimpsed a family photograph on the bookshelf as he walked through.

He looked over his shoulder to see that she was directly behind him. A little mischievous voice in his head told him to stop short, just so she would crash into him, but he didn’t do it.

“You don’t have to follow so close. I’m not going to steal anything. I’m here to help you, remember?”

“I’m not about to let a strange man loose in my house. Especially one who already seems to know his way around it.”

“Stranger? I’ve known your brother for years. I’m the mayor and probably the most well-known person in this town.”

“I didn’t say stranger. I said strange. And, sweetheart, you are the definition of the word.”

He grinned at her. He couldn’t stop himself. Maybe he was a sadist, but her biting remarks did something to him. No one ever spoke to him that way. Every citizen of Hideaway Island was unfailingly polite to him. But she wasn’t. It was...refreshing. “Come here. Let me show you how to shut off the power in case this ever happens again. This house is old—the wiring might need to be completely replaced.”

“Don’t say that,” she groaned. “I don’t want to move out.”

“Let me check first, but even if it comes to that, it won’t take that long, and your brother lives on the island. His house is so large—they probably wouldn’t see you for days.”

“He would make sure he saw me. Since I called off my wedding he’s been so worried about me that he calls me twice a day to make sure I haven’t flung myself off a bridge.”

“From what I saw the day it went down, I’m surprised he didn’t toss that jackass off the bridge.”

“I’m sure he would have, but my sister-in-law has a calming effect on him.”

She couldn’t hide the sadness in her eyes, and something tugged in his chest. He didn’t want to feel bad for her, so he turned to the box, opened the door and shut off the power to the kitchen. “Come here.” He pointed to the clearly labeled switches without looking at her to see if she understood. He didn’t want to see any more of her hurt.

“Do you have candles?”

“Yes.”

“Would you mind lighting some in the kitchen?”

“I hope this isn’t your way of setting the mood, because whatever you’re thinking, it’s not going to happen.”

“Do you think every man on the planet wants you, because I can assure you that they don’t,” he said, lying through his teeth. A man would be crazy not to want her. “Which outlet is it?”

“The one closest to the stove.”

He nodded. “Get the candles and meet me in there. I’m going to need the extra light to see.”

“Maybe I should leave the power off and call the property manager in the morning.”

“I’m here. Might as well take a look.”

She walked away to get the candles, and he took a deep breath. It was much harder to breathe when she was in the same space as him.

Chapter 5

Ava watched Derek as he removed the cover plate and shined his light into the outlet. His bicep bunched beneath his T-shirt, and he moved with such assuredness that she found it hard not to stare. She should have removed herself to another room completely, but she couldn’t force herself to go. It was a novelty seeing a man who could work with his hands. Maxime’s hands were softer than hers. Elias was a surgeon and very good with his hands, but she had never seen her twin fix anything. Carlos, either. The last man she had seen actually work with his hands was her father. He changed his own oil and repaired the roof, built their deck. He could do anything. Ava didn’t think they made men like him anymore, but there was Derek, removing the outlet with the skill of an electrician.

“How do you know how to do this stuff? Did your father teach you or something?” He turned and looked at her, hardness in his eyes.

He didn’t like her; there was no mistaking it. She didn’t like him, either, and she had wanted to stand there quietly as he worked, but she was getting tired of being alone with her thoughts. She didn’t want to be around her family or friends because she knew they would feel sorry for her and she didn’t want or need that. She wasn’t the delicate flower the world made her out to be.

“No,” he spoke as he turned back to his work. “I’m not sure my father would know a screwdriver from a wrench. In fact, I’m pretty sure his leather office chair is permanently fused to his behind.”

“Oh.” She had touched on a nerve. But that still didn’t explain how he learned. “You taught yourself?”

“Partly. It was just my mother and I, and when I got to be a teenager, it was only me. You learn how to do things when you have no other choice.”

“Oh,” she said again, feeling a little dumb. “I’m sorry.”

He glanced back at her, something flashing in those bluish eyes that she couldn’t read. “Don’t be. I can’t take all the credit. My uncle taught me how to be a man. As far as I’m concerned, he’s my real father.”

“You must be very close.”

“We were. He died almost two years ago.”

“It doesn’t get any easier, does it?” she asked. “My father died just after we graduated from college. I still pick up the phone to call him, only to realize that he won’t be able to answer.” She had done that recently. She had wanted to know the name of the little seafood place he used to take them to, and as she dialed it struck her. And it devastated her all over again.

“No. It doesn’t. It never gets easier,” he answered softly.

The doorbell rang, causing Ava to jump. She was glad for the distraction. Things had gotten too real and too deep with a man she barely knew.

“Are you expecting someone?”

“Yes.” She rushed from the room and answered the door to find a pizza delivery guy standing there. He was a teenager in a tank top, board shorts and long blondish hair covered by a baseball cap with the pizzeria’s logo on it.

“You having a party or something?” he asked her as he handed her the three boxes.

“Nope. Just a bad few weeks.”

“I find that cheesy bread makes the world a brighter place.” He grinned at her, and she tipped him generously before returning to the kitchen, which was lit only with the scented white candles and the glow of Derek’s flashlight.

She had had dozens of candlelight dinners with Max, but somehow this seemed more intimate. She had never talked to Max about her father, about how much it had hurt to lose him. They had been together for three years, and it had never come up.

“You shouldn’t have any more problems. This outlet was installed incorrectly. I don’t think you’ll need the wiring replaced, but to be on the safe side I’ll call my friend to come take a look.”

“You don’t have to do that. I can make the call. One of the things I can do with my hands really well is dial a phone.”

He gave her a little smile and shook his head. “Let me. I know who does the best work in town. He’ll be here first thing in the morning.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that.”

“Is that gratitude from you? I must admit that I’m shocked. I was half expecting you lured me here to club me over the head.”

“Why would I do that? Planning something like that would require wasting my precious thoughts on you.”

“Things got pretty intense between me and your fiancé. I was fairly sure he had put a hit out on me. I’ve never seen a face go that purple with rage when I told him he was never going to be able to build on this island.”

“And you thought that me canceling my wedding, attempting to destroy my dress and telling you my outlet sparked was an elaborate ruse to get you into my clutches so I could carry out some nefarious plan?”

“Well, when you say it like that, it sounds stupid.”

Laughter escaped her. It startled her because she wasn’t expecting it. She couldn’t remember the last time she had really laughed. Even before things came crashing down around her.

“You don’t bring that out often, do you?” He looked at her; there was no smile on his face, no softness to his expression.

“What?”

“That smile. It could knock a lesser man on his ass.”

She didn’t know how to react to his comment. If he was hitting on her, it would have been all too easy for her to throw him out, but he wasn’t hitting on her. She wasn’t sure what he said was a compliment at all.

“Do you like pizza?”

“That is probably the dumbest question you’ve ever asked.”

“Everyone likes pizza, don’t they?” She reached into the cabinet for some plates.

“If they don’t I would have them investigated because they clearly are up to no good.”

“I couldn’t decide between the veggie lover and the meat lover, so I asked them to put both on one jumbo pie. I also got cheesy bread and cinnamon sticks with cream cheese icing,” she said as she placed food on his plate.

“No chicken wings?”

She gasped. “I haven’t had chicken wings in years. Should I call back?”

“I was joking.” He took the plate from her, his fingers brushing her hand as he did. She wasn’t sure what she had felt when he grabbed her wrist earlier, but now as they touched again she definitely knew that there was a little charge there.

She couldn’t explain why she was feeling it when she was still so wrecked from the breakup. She wasn’t looking for a rebound or a man to make her forget. Yes, Derek was tall, strong and very good-looking, but she lived in Miami among some of the world’s most beautiful men and she had felt absolutely nothing around them.

He put his plate down and went to the cabinet to get glasses. “Let me get you something to drink.”

“I’ve got wine, water and chocolate milk. I don’t really want water right now.”

“Wine it is.”

“There’s some in the refrigerator.”

“I love this kind,” he said as he took a bottle from the refrigerator. “My grandmother says I should be ashamed of myself for liking such cheap stuff, but if I have to drink wine over beer, this is the brand I’m picking.”

She grabbed the plates and brought them to the kitchen table as he was pouring them large glasses. “I guess it’s safe to admit that I like ice in my wine, too.”

Derek grinned widely at her. “So does my aunt Clara. We don’t tell my grandmother, though. If you want ice in your wine, you’ll have ice in your wine.”

Ava smiled back at him. She was annoyed with herself for finding it hard to dislike him. Everyone liked him. The entire island was devoted to him, and she was starting to see why. He was easy to be around.

She took her first bite of pizza as he took the chair beside her. For a moment all she could do was sit there and moan. Hot, gooey cheese, spicy sausage and fresh veggies all in one bite. She could remember the last time she had pizza. It was almost two years ago now, and she had been with her brothers. It was right before Carlos had met Virginia. Then it was frozen pizza that Carlos had in his house, but she still loved every bite of it. It was so rare that she allowed herself to enjoy what she was eating.

“I’m surprised to see you eat like that, Ava.” Derek was watching her, she could feel his eyes on her as she ate, but she didn’t care. She was too focused on her food. “I would have thought you would be eating something green.”

“I’m sick of green stuff. I don’t ever want to take another sip of unsweetened green tea, or have a kale smoothie, or eat another salad with no dressing. I was nearly starving myself so that I would look good in my wedding dress, so that I would look good for him. I’m done with that now, and all I want to eat is pizza and cookies and things with more calories than I should consume in a week.” She took another huge bite of pizza and washed it down with a large gulp of wine.

“You are beautiful, Ava. There is no denying that, but I thought you seemed a little too skinny.”

“Did I ask you what you thought?”

“Nope, but I’m telling you that starving yourself for a man is stupid, and if he didn’t appreciate you the way you were, you should have sent his ass packing a long time ago.”

He was right about that. Max never told her that she had to look a certain way. It was simply expected. Be thin. Be fit. Be fashionable.

Her mother was incredibly curvy. The women in her family weren’t thin. Her weight had been a huge struggle for years.

They ate in quiet for a while. It should have been an awkward silence, but for her it wasn’t.

“So are you going to tell me why you ended it? I can list a dozen reasons you should have, but I would like to hear it from you.”

Ava picked up her glass and took a long sip. “Max has a secret family.”

“What?” Derek sat up straight. “There were a million things I thought you were going to say. None of them were that.”

“He has three children. The oldest one is practically an adult.”

“How did you find out?”

“Ingrid, his mistress, came here a couple of weeks ago to tell me. She had a photo album full of candid pictures of Max and his kids.”

“Mistress...he’s still sleeping with his children’s mother?”

“Yes. He loves her. There was a picture of them together. They were laughing. His arm was wrapped around her. The look of love on his face was undeniable. He’s never looked at me that way. Not even once.” She felt herself growing emotional, and her eyes filled with tears. She tried to hold them back. She hadn’t cried yet. She had refused to. Max wasn’t worth it, but she was feeling too much at the moment.

“Ava.” Derek reached across the table and took her hand. The simple gesture was more comforting than it should have been.

“He was never going to tell me about them. If she hadn’t come here, I would have walked down the aisle like an idiot thinking that every time he went away, he was going on a business trip.”

“If he loves her, then why did he ask you to marry him?”

“He was using me. I fit the image. Ingrid doesn’t.”

“So she came here to get back at you?”

“No. She thought I should know that we would be sharing him. I guess she thought having everything out in the open would be for the best. She was quite distressed when I told her that I wasn’t going to marry him.”

“She still expected you to marry him?”

“Of course, and so did he.” She swiped at the tears rolling down her cheeks. “He always gets what he wants. I’m not a person to him. I’m property. I was supposed to be happy spending his money and doing as he wished. I’m not supposed to be angry. I’m supposed to feel lucky that he chose me to spend the rest of his life with.”

“Ava...” His arms came around her, and he pulled her from her chair and into his lap. She felt protected then. Completely safe. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this way.

Actually, she could. It was before he father had died.

“I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with him, and he doesn’t even love me. I’m such an idiot.”

“No, you aren’t. I saw the way he treated you, like you were a precious stone. He loves you in his own way. But a man like that is incapable of true, deep love. Because there is something broken inside of him. You didn’t do anything wrong. You expected him to love you the way you loved him. That’s what every woman should expect of the man she is going to spend the rest of her life with.”

His sweet words made her cry even harder, and she hated him for that. It had been a full two weeks since she had called off her wedding, and she had been holding it together for all that time. But Derek had come and made her think about her father and made her feel safe when she no longer thought that was a feeling she could have, and it undid her.

He held her, rubbing his big hand down her back. She wasn’t sure how long she cried, but she felt his lips graze her cheek. It felt nice. Warm. Comforting.

“You’ll find a new man,” he whispered. “One that will love you.” He kissed her cheek. It was a soft peck, which was probably given to be kind, but as she lifted her head to say something to him, his mouth moved closer and his lips brushed against hers.

Before she had felt an electrical charge when they had touched, a little humming that told her there might be something there. The moment his lips pressed against hers she felt a full zap to her system, and instead of moving away from him, she moved closer to him and allowed him to kiss her again. She allowed him to deepen that kiss. She allowed herself to kiss him back. It was only a moment before she came to her senses and realized what was happening.

“What the hell are you doing?” She jumped off his lap. “Why did you kiss me? Who told you that you could kiss me?” She swiped her hand across her lips, hoping to remove the warm, tingling feeling that he had put there with his mouth. She had never been kissed like that before, never felt that way after she had been kissed. It was like he performed some sort of witchcraft on her.

“You’re wiping your mouth?” He raised a brow. “It was that bad?”

“Yes. You’re a terrible kisser. It was gross. I need to gargle with bleach. Get out.”

“Get out?”

“Yeah, get out, Mr. Grabby-Hands-Kissy-Mouth.”

“You were... I was...” He let out a sound of pure frustration, grabbed his toolbox and stormed out of the room. A moment later she heard the front door slam. She collapsed into her chair then, relieved.

She had no business kissing him.

And certainly no business wanting it to happen over and over again.

* * *

The next day Derek took the ferry to Miami. He needed to get some supplies for his furniture business, but the real reason he had gone off-island was to visit Mariel. Mariel was divorced and in her early forties with a kid in college. They had been casually seeing each other for years since they’d met at a dinner for Florida entrepreneurs. She didn’t want anything from him. Not a relationship, not a commitment, not even much of his time. It was the perfect arrangement. She was smart, funny, good in bed and focused on growing her business. She understood that his work came first. She was exactly the kind of woman he needed in his life.

“I’m a little surprised to see you, Derek. It’s been a while.” They sat on her patio. She was sitting across from him in a designer chair, her legs crossed seductively, a high-heeled red shoe dangling from her foot. It should have turned him on immensely, but he was distracted.

“Is this not a good time?”

“It is always a good time when you are here. I haven’t seen you in a few months. I thought you might’ve moved on to younger pastures.”

“No. I’ve been busy. This is the first chance I’ve gotten to get off-island in weeks.”

“Oh? I’m not sure how you do it. I’d go crazy if I had to wait for a ferry to escape someplace.”

“It’s not escaping. I love it there. There isn’t a place on earth that can compare to Hideaway Island.”

“Yes. It’s beautiful, but if you want good shopping or exciting nightlife, it’s not exactly the place to be. You’re a young man, Derek. A beautiful, talented young man. If you came to Miami after your term is over, I think you would love it here. You would be stepping over women.”

“I’m not looking to step over women. I just need one good one in my life.” Ava’s face annoyingly flashed in his mind for the hundredth time that day. He could not stop thinking about her. It was the real reason he had gone off-island today. To escape his thoughts of her. But she had still managed to follow him.

Last night had been so weird. He had planned to go over there to check her outlet and then leave, but somehow they ended up having dinner together. Just pizza and cheap wine, but in that candlelit kitchen it was the most intimate dinner he’d had in years.

He had gone hard watching her take that first bite of her pizza. She closed her eyes, let out a little moan, reacted as if what she had in her mouth tasted heavenly. He would never forget that sound or the expression on her face. It made him wonder what she would look like in bed as a man worked between her legs. Would she make that same face, close her eyes the same way, give that little moan that would be the end to a weaker man?

He was getting hard thinking about her again. “Come here,” he said to Mariel, hoping that a couple of hours with her would banish thoughts of his neighbor from his mind.

She stood up, long, toned legs looking fantastic in the short dress she wore. She walked over to him with the strides of a practiced seductress. Most men would have been jelly by now, but watching her come closer to him wasn’t making his heart race. He wasn’t overcome with the urge to take her to her bedroom and strip her naked.