RELEASE DATE: APRIL 21, 2015
It’s all fun and games…until someone’s heart is broken.
They’re not kids anymore, but Milo Caro is certain that Colton Mathews will only see her as his best friend’s little sister for the rest of their lives. After all, he made that clear the night before she left for college. But four years later, her brother is getting married and Colt’s the best man—and guess who is the best man’s last-minute date?
Milo vows to use the wedding to either claim the smoldering
firefighter’s heart or douse this torch for good. When Max—her best friend from
college, who may be carrying a torch of his own—crashes the party, they devise
a plan to make Colt see what he’s missing. But after Colt catches on, he
decides to cook up his own revenge.
Now it’s personal. Colt and Milo are at war, and between
Max’s questionable acting methods, an unfortunate trip to jail, and a maniacal
fiancée, what could possibly go right?
Summer 2009
“I can’t believe you’re really going
to college, Milo.” Colton’s teasing smile flashed right in front of me,
rendering me temporarily blind. Man, he was beautiful. His normally dark-brown
hair had shots of gold from the summer sun. Dimples peeked out from his
mega-white smile and I was pretty confident that I saw a twinkle in his green eyes
meant just for me. He’d been home for two months since graduation and was
already off saving the world one fire at a time. I watched his full lips curve
around the mouth of his Corona. He and my brother Jason had organized a
going-away party for me. Apparently me getting accepted into NYU was a big
deal: they’d even gone so far as to get a Star Wars–themed cake from Dairy
Queen and a princess tiara that said “Pretty” across it. It was always their
joke with me. I was a complete and total tomboy—I loved picking fights and
getting muddy—yet still demanded they treat me like a princess.
With a sigh I leaned back on the
picnic blanket and looked up at the stars. My crown fell to the side of my
head, causing my hair to fall all over my face. The party had been over for a
few hours, leaving me, Colt, and Jason. I should have been happy: after all,
who does that for their little sister? What brother would even care?
Furthermore, the fact that it had all been Colt’s idea, someone who wasn’t even
family, was huge. But . . . maybe that’s the part that left me feeling empty. I
might as well be family to Colton. I was the little sister he’d never had—and
secretly, I’d always wanted to be so much more.
“Aw, you messed up your hair,”
Colton teased, lifting the crown with the tip of his finger and giving me a
sexy wink.
“Whatever shall I do?” I huffed.
“I’ll save you.” His voice was just
above a whisper. “I’ve always wanted to save a princess.”
“You did.” My grin was huge. “You
saved me a least a hundred times when we were little—slew the dragon at the top
of the stairs and did it all without getting a scratch.”
“Messy job.” He let out a long,
exaggerated sigh. “I don’t know how I made it to my twenty-first birthday
without getting singed.”
“Donald didn’t breathe fire. He was
a fireless dragon, remember?”
“Oh, right.” His eyes twinkled. “How
is the old dragon anyway?”
I shrugged and chewed on my lower
lip. “Haven’t been in the attic since you guys left for school. I’ve been
busy.”
“Too busy to play?”
I rolled my eyes. “Too busy
graduating to play, yeah.”
“Where’s the fun in that?”
“Fun.” I snorted. “The last time I
had fun was when we snuck into your parents’ pool and—” I clamped my mouth shut
before the words could tumble out on their own. Crap. Crap. Crap.
“Skinny-dipped.” He finished my
thought. “Yeah, that was a blast.”
“Hey, guys!” Jason called as he ran
out of the house. “Dad needs me to grab Mom from work so I’ll be right back!
Don’t do anything fun without me! I mean it!”
The loud roar from his truck drowned
out our conversation for a brief second and then slowly dissipated as the
vehicle barreled down the driveway.
“You thinking what I’m thinking?”
Colton asked.
If his thoughts were along the line
of finally getting him alone, away from my brother? “Absolutely.” I grinned as
he grabbed my hand and helped me off the blanket.
“Come on. Let’s go have fun.”
Curious, I followed Colt as we ran
through a few backyards and finally ended up at his house.
“What are we doing?” I asked in a
hushed voice.
“Having fun.” I swear his grin made
my heart almost stop. “Now strip, Milo, we don’t have all night and Jason’s
going to be pissed he isn’t with us.”
Laughing, I took off my shirt and
shorts—I’d spent years swimming with the guys in my sports bra and underwear,
though as we got older it became weird, but only on my end. It felt strange to
strip down to nothing, knowing that my feelings for Colton were very real
whereas his were nonexistent. I mean, it was Colton. Sure, I had a crush on
him, but he never, ever thought of me that way. Ever.
“Last one in’s a rotten—”
I didn’t hear him finish—but I did
beat him into the water. His mom and stepdad’s pool was always my favorite
place to swim. It had a little waterfall in the deep end that you could swim
under that always made me think of fairy tales and the movies. Then again, that
could be because every time I broke through the water it was Colton’s face I
saw, and his smile that drew me. He was my own personal Prince Charming.
Laughing, Colton splashed around, then
hauled himself out of the pool and did a cannonball right by my face. I was
glad that it was dark—I must have been beet-red. Man, the guy was ripped.
“Wanna race?” he asked, out of
breath.
“Wanna lose?” I countered.
“Never.”
“Um, it’s an everyday occurrence.” I
swam over to the edge. “Ready, set—”
“—go!” He ran instead of swam and
then dove under water.
Bastard! Arms burning, I tried to
make it to the other end of the pool. I usually didn’t open my eyes under
water, but this time I did to see where I was going.
His body was a blur in front of me.
All I saw was hard-lined muscle.
I stopped right in front of him and
jumped to the surface. “You cheated.”
“I like to call it winning.” He
beamed triumphantly.
“Cheating.” My teeth ground together
as I pushed against his chest. Laughing, he fell backward, pulling me with him.
Our bodies ground together, heat against heat, skin against skin.
And suddenly sneaking away from
Jason wasn’t funny anymore.
Neither of us was laughing.
His hands moved from my waist slowly
up my body until they rested on my face. With a curse he pulled my head toward
his. “We should . . .”
“Yeah,” I whispered.
Neither of us pulled away.
His lips brushed mine, just enough
to make me strain toward him—I needed him like I needed air.
“Kids!” His stepdad’s voice rang
through the night air. “You out here making noise?”
Colton pushed me away and I nearly
hit my head on the waterfall rocks.
“Yeah, just . . . hanging out!”
Colton called. “I’m with Jason’s sister.”
I froze. He’d never called me that
before. He even said it in such a final way, as if that was all I would ever
be. Period. My heart didn’t just sink . . . it shuddered, then combusted, as
all the hopes I’d harbored since I was thirteen came to a crushing world-altering
halt. My suspicions were finally confirmed. Out loud. On the day the boy I
liked had thought enough to throw me a party.
The line had been drawn. And I might
as well be on the other side of the universe.
That was the day I lost Colton
Mathews—forever.
COME BACK TOMORROW FOR CHAPTER 1
Rachel Van Dyken is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling author of regency and contemporary romances. When she's not writing you can find her drinking coffee at Starbucks and plotting her next book while watching The Bachelor.
She keeps her home in Idaho with her Husband and their snoring Boxer, Sir Winston Churchill. She loves to hear from readers! You can follow her writing journey at www.rachelvandykenauthor.com
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