I took a deep breath, trying to alleviate the sudden tightness in my chest.
Maybe I’d take the tree down early this year. Get rid of the reminder.
In two days, I’d get some distance from the place and when I returned, it would feel like home again. It had to. There was no other option. No one was going to make me feel afraid in my own home.
As brave as the little pep talk to myself was, hours later, I was still awake. I’d curled up on my sofa with my blanket and pillow, my ears pricked for the slightest sound. I had barely slept since it happened. Giving up on sleep entirely, I made some hot cocoa and grabbed my e-reader. Needing something light, easy and romantic, I downloaded a rom-com. Unfortunately, it was about a woman who was crushing on her father’s best friend.
It hit a little too close to home.
I shut off the e-reader and tried and failed to forget the last time I’d been alone with Joe.
It had been two months ago at Dex’s twentieth birthday party.
I groaned as I took a sip of my cocoa, almost choking on it. I deserved to choke on it! What an idiot. What a selfish idiot. As someone who had always prided herself on being thoughtful and responsible, what I’d done at Dex’s party was the complete opposite. Why Joe Colchester could make my brain fritz and my hormones take over, I’d never know!
The problem was that I was deeply, deeply attracted to my little sister’s father-in-law.
Memories assailed me, taking me back to Dex’s party.
Since arriving at Joe’s house, I’d had insistent flutters in my belly waiting for him to show. It had been Shaw who had opened the door, and Dex who had led me out to the pool where most of the guests were hanging out. The party was at Joe’s because he had a house with an enormous yard and a swimming pool. All of Dex’s family were there and his friends from college. His mom, Renee, was there because she and Joe were friends and the best example of co-parenting I’d ever seen. Renee had brought her husband, Alan, and Dex’s two half-siblings; twins, Austin and Hopper. I was standing around, beer in hand, talking to Shaw and Renee while Dex was hanging out with some guys from school when I felt him.
The hair on the back of my neck rose, and I turned to look toward the house.
There he was.
Joe Colchester.
Bi-fold doors separated his kitchen from his patio and they were pushed all the way open so the inside flowed to the outside. Joe stood there, surveying the party in his yard with a slight smile curling his mouth. I felt a deep tug low in my belly. Just at the sight of him.
I had never been this viscerally attracted to a man in my life.
He was rough, rugged, masculine and charismatic. With a prominent, bold, aquiline nose that crooked slightly to the right from a break years ago, and his deep-set dark eyes, there was nothing pretty about Joe Colchester. Joe was a sexy, successful forty-year old. He owned his own business. Started off as a mechanic and opened up his own garage. Then another and another… until he now had garages all over the state of California. He was a smart guy who rolled with the times, so a few of those garages specialized in converting gas engines to electric. At six feet four, Joe had that loose-limbed swagger cowboys were famous for, and the upper body of a man who kept himself in great shape. I hadn’t seen him with his shirt off, of course, but I had a good imagination and his T-shirts had a tendency to strain against the most amazing biceps. Like right then. His navy plain tee stretched across his broad muscular chest in the most delicious way.
Yum.
He kept his dark hair longish, and lately he’d been sporting salt and pepper scruff that only drew attention to his mouth. A mouth with a full lower lip that made a woman want to nibble on it. I’d had many a fantasy about that mouth.
It was wrong.
I knew it was wrong.
But from the moment I met Joe two years ago, I was instantly attracted to him. He was the kind of guy I didn’t even know still existed. Gruff with a rumbly deep voice and a quiet, sly sense of humor. A great dad who would do anything for Dex and now Shaw.
And a serial monogamist.
Shaw liked to gossip wildly about Joe’s love life, and I liked to listen intently.
According to Dex and Shaw, Joe was the most loyal guy on the planet. He’d never dream of cheating on a woman. Unfortunately, he also didn’t seem to know how to settle down. He dated a woman for a few months and then moved on. And he had a type. Usually dark-haired beauties who were looking for a guy to take care of them in every way—emotionally and financially.