Chapter One
You’re allowed to scream, you’re allowed to cry,
but you’re never allowed to give up.
—Mel’s Motivational Blog
If there was ever a time for cocktails, it was now. On the flip side of that, Melanie Ramsey couldn’t drink. Her drinking days were over . . . at least for the next seven months and two weeks, because this morning she’d had two thin blue lines staring her in the face.
Still, she found herself in the wine aisle of Quicky Mart choosing a bottle for her best friends because they were certainly going to need it when she broke the news to them.
What paired well with dropping a bomb like an unplanned pregnancy? Blush? Red?
Considering she’d had white the night of the greatest sexual experience of her life, which had landed her here, she chose the only white that was available from this dismal selection.
“Mel.”
Her fingers curled tighter around the neck of the bottle. She knew that voice. She’d replayed over and over how he’d whispered it in her ear as he’d had her pressed against the door in the foyer of his house. For the past six weeks she’d done a remarkable job of dodging him after their one-night stand. What had she been thinking? She wasn’t a one-night stand type of girl . . . then again, if they all were with men like Officer Tanner Roark, she might have to reconsider. Holy smokes that man knew how to pleasure a woman.
But playtime was over . . . and now they both would have to face the consequences.
However, now was not the time to tell Tanner that he was going to be a daddy. She was still grasping the life-changing fact herself.
After their night together she hadn’t known how to handle a situation so foreign to her. Unfortunately, avoiding him had become her go-to method until she thought of something better.
Dodging Tanner had been quite a feat considering her best friend was marrying his cousin, but Melanie had been busy and apparently so had Tanner, because he’d done little more than text. Maybe he’d only wanted one night, too. She’d heard of his widespread reputation as Haven’s most sought-after bachelor.
Melanie had thought for certain they’d been on the same page. She’d only wanted a safe man, someone she could have fun with, and prove to herself that she was in charge of her life and if she wanted to have a fling, then she sure as hell would.
Tanner was a ladies’ man. Oh, he might not exploit his bedroom talents, but Melanie had been in town long enough to see how women looked at him, what they whispered through hushed gossip at the Curl Up and Dye salon.
She’d been so certain she was ready to take full control of her life, including taking a lover of her choice, and afterwards she would go on her way.
The irony of running into Tanner only hours after her world had tilted on its axis wasn’t lost on her. She firmly believed in fate and signs.
Melanie pulled in a breath and pasted a convincing smile on her face—at least she hoped it was convincing. For the first time in two years, her nerve and courage faltered. She’d been shaken from the solid foundation she’d recently rebuilt for herself.
But she wasn’t going to fall. Never again. This moment might shake her stability, but that was life, and she’d discovered long ago as a child growing up in poverty that the more obstacles life threw in your path, the stronger you were from dodging them.
She’d developed a strength she’d never thought possible.
Clutching her cheap wine, Melanie spun around. “Hey, Tanner.”
Try as she might for a casual greeting, her heart sped up and her mouth nearly watered at the sight of him in uniform. She took in his navy uniform, how well his broad frame filled out every piece of that material, and the aviators he had tucked into the top V just above a glossy black button.
The knots in her stomach tightened. He was just as sexy and intriguing as she’d remembered . . . damn it. She’d been hoping her imagination had just conjured up how amazing they’d been together. But one look at him now only had each and every touch rushing back in glorious detail. The tingling she’d felt from his simple touches, the tickling from his warm breath along her bare skin, the passionate way he commanded her.
“What are you doing here
?”
Dark eyes raked over her, giving her chills and even more flashes of their night. He had dark and sultry down without even trying.
After her less than storybook marriage ended, it had taken her a hell of a long time to get up the courage to approach another man. For reasons she couldn’t comprehend, Tanner had been the only man in the past couple years to interest her in any way. And by interest, she meant he drove her absolutely crazy with a want she barely recognized.