ChapterOne
JOSIE
February
Bonnie Tyler’s voice calling out for a hero wakes me up from one of the wildest sex dreams I’ve ever had, involving the back of a police car andbigcuffs. It takes me a moment—or two—to realize my phone is ringing, and it’s not my fantasy policeman putting on some ambient music in my dream.
I glance at the clock on my nightstand, the giant LED numbers a blur in my sleepy stupor. Squeezing my eyes shut once more, I blink the sleep away before I can finally see the time clearly. Two in the morning. Whatever this is, it better be good.
Sitting up, I rummage through the design journals scattered hazardously across the other side of my bed, looking for my cell. I fell asleep browsing the new vendor’s catalogs and getting ready for a high-end client I brought to the firm. I have to find the absolute best for them. Even if I need to sacrifice sleep for the time being.
And maybe, if I’m completely honest, I needed a distraction due to the day I had.
“Yes,” I mumble groggily, not bothering to check the caller ID.
“Hey, Joz!”a cheery male voice greets me.
“Archie?” I pull the phone away, squinting at the sudden brightness. I must be dreaming, right? It’s not like we’re close friends. I’m not sure why he’s calling me this late. “Is everything okay?”
“Oh shit,”he mumbles and clears his throat.“Sorry, I lost track of time, but I found it.”He doesn’t sound even a little bit sorry.
“Your manners?” I settle against the headboard, letting my head rest on the cool wood.
A laugh rumbles through the line—I’ve always found the man to be exceptionally sexy, but there was something about him that toldmybad to stay away fromhisbad. Two people with the same temperament don’t tend to make a healthy relationship. At least one captain must remain calm, or the ship will blow to pieces.
“No,it,”he whispers.“I found where I want to settle down.”
A warmth spreads throughout my chest, and I’m suddenly ready to forgive the rude wake-up. There are a couple of moments in this life that I live for. The sunrise over a new house I’ve helped bring into this world, the sound of birds when the city is still asleep, and that moment when someone has finally found where they want to live. Where they want to set down roots. Grow a family. Build the life they’ve always wanted.
Archie has been on a wild hunt for this place since the moment I met him five years ago, give or take. He wasn’t looking for just a building but a place he could callhome.
He took a chance on me years ago when he hired me for his mansion in Boston. I was an unknown designer. A nobody. It was a beautiful Victorian building, and I put my heart and soul into it. Yet, it still wasn’t home for him. It was too big for one person. Too cold. Despite the praise I received from the job, I could tell he was unhappy. It lackedlove. Someone to share the space with. But because people have to come to that understanding on their own, I never told him. Yet it kept bothering me that it wasn’t what he was looking for. I don’t want to deliver just ‘good’; I want to deliver ‘perfect.’
Regardless of how he felt about his house, he loved my work, so he hired me to redecorate the tattoo parlor he opened a couple of years prior. Since then, every time he buys a new workshop, I’m there to make all his designer dreams come true.
It sounds like he found what he was missing.
“Where?” I ask, very interested.
“Don’t freak out,”he chuckles.“It’s a bit far from where you usually work.”
“Alright,” I stretch my arm across the pillow to my side, fixing my silky red shorts at my hip, “you got me scared now.”
I live and work in New York City, but if the client is an old friend of mine, I’d travel farther. Or, if they pay handsomely, I’d swim to Antarctica. I’m in a line of business that values image first, which means I need money to support myself in this big city, which includes keeping up appearances. My appearance is my brand.
On top of that, I need the money to support someone who relies on me, and she deserves to get the very best.
“It’s in Maine,”he tells me sheepishly.
“You’re shitting me!” I smack the bed in excitement, but Archie takes it as a complaint.
“I know it’s far,”he starts explaining rapidly,“but it’s a cool place, and I love it. And I think you will too. I could totally find someone local, but we’ve worked together so much that I really don’t trust anyone other than you. You know what I like, and I really think you can make our dream come true.”
“Our?” I catch the word he uses.
“Yeah,”his voice turns dreamy,“my girlfriend Leila and me, and she’s been on my ass to bring you here because she wants to start right away.”
“Archi-i-ie!” I singsong, happy about being right—he’s just been looking for thatsomeone. “You finally found the one?”
