Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 97409 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97409 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Natasha Madison turns up the heat when a night of passion brings together a man who was never looking for love and a woman who thinks she doesn’t deserve it.
Theo Williams loved and lost once and isn’t interested in doing it again. He has his family and friends, and plenty of women passing through his new hometown who are happy with a no-strings-attached night of passion. Working as a partner at his cousin’s construction company, he’s perfectly content with his life—until he meets Collins Henderson, the one-night stand who will change his world forever.
Collins grew up on the wrong side of her small hometown. Thanks to her parents’ shady schemes, every local knows a Henderson cannot be trusted. She works hard as a paramedic, putting in every extra hour she can to save for a better life. But every time she starts to get ahead, her parents show up to pull her back down. Having one night of passion with a man she doesn’t know is not something she’d normally do, but there was just something about him … And two months later, she finds herself unexpectedly pregnant.
When she runs into the mysterious stranger again, she has to tell him, not because she needs or wants anything from him, just so he knows. But now he’s showing up at her house, cooking her meals, stocking her refrigerator, and doing everything he can for her. Collins has always taken care of herself. She wasn’t looking for a relationship, but she can’t deny the chemistry between them.
She knows it’s only a matter of time before he learns who she is and changes his mind. She can’t let herself fall for this guy, but every day he’s getting harder to resist
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
PROLOGUE
COLLINS
“Thank you so, so much,” Natalie, one of my coworkers, says when she comes into the room dressed for her shift. “You have no idea how much it meant to me and my kiddo.”
I get up from the couch and stretch, my body achy from being at work for so long. “Don’t mention it.” The room is quiet as most of the guys on shift are lying down on their beds, waiting for the calls to come in.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to take your shift?” Natalie asks. “I don’t mind.”
I think about it for a second, but I know the extra money will be good. I could probably do a little bit of renovation at home. Maybe even buy some patio furniture so I can sit out there when I am actually home.
“I should be fine to replace you at nine,” I tell her. “I have the weekend off, I can always catch up on my sleep then.”
“Yeah,” she says, “unless you take someone else’s shift.” She laughs at me, knowing that if I have a weekend off, I usually only take one day and try to get the extra shift. I’ve worked hard my whole life to get where I am, and I still just barely have my head above the water.
“I’ll see you soon, I guess.” I walk out of the common area and head toward the bathrooms on the second floor. Opening my locker, I think about not changing out of my paramedic uniform but know I’ll feel better if I do. I peel the thick blue cargo pants off and fold them up before sliding on my jean shorts, then unbutton the matching blue shirt before putting on my white tank top.
I walk out of the bathroom with my uniform folded in my hand and put it in my big bag to take home and wash. I walk out of the station, waving at a couple of the guys from the fire crew sitting outside, enjoying the nice warm night. It’s that time of year when it’s not hot and muggy yet, so I think everyone is taking advantage of it. “Drive safe, Collins,” Hudson, the lieutenant fireman, says to me, and I nod at him with a smile.
“Will do.” I throw my bag over my shoulder as I make my way to my Honda Civic. It’s the first car I’ve ever driven. I was lucky that Brock, the local mechanic in town, took payments, so I was able to buy it.
Opening the door, the heat from the day seeps out as I start the car and open the windows right away. I pull out of the parking lot, waving once more at the guys sitting outside.
I drive down Main Street. The local bar, Thatcher’s, is the only thing still open. The music seeps out to the street from the open doors. It’s packed for a random Wednesday. It’s the only bar in Montgavin, and where both locals and visitors hang out—they have a special with most of the bed-and-breakfasts in town. I pull up to the stop sign before turning to head onto the highway. I’m listening to nothing but the wind filling the car as I drive. I don’t normally turn the radio on after my shifts, instead taking the twenty-five-minute drive home to decompress from the day. It’s especially helpful since I just worked an eighteen-hour shift. I am practically dead on my feet when the sound of clunking reverberates through the car. I immediately pull over.
“Please tell me this isn’t happening,” I mutter to myself before getting out of the car. I grab my phone and turn the flashlight on. I don’t have to take more than a couple steps before I inwardly groan. My front tire is very flat.
My long day just got even fucking longer.
A field of corn stands behind me, and across the road, five farmhouses are spaced out, windows dark—no one is up.
“Why me,” I mumble for a good ten minutes before trying to pull up at least three do-it-yourself videos on changing a tire. The first thing they tell you to do is to get your spare out. I close my eyes before going back to my car door and pulling the latch open to unlock the trunk. I think I’m holding my breath at the same time, hoping like fuck I have a spare tire. If I don’t, I’m probably going to have to call a cab to come get me and leave my car here until tomorrow.
I move the bags in the car and pull up the felt cover, revealing the tire with the jack.
“Yes!” I have a mini celebration, thinking I won the jackpot. “Okay, so step one is done.” I put my phone in my back pocket before I take the jack out and then haul out the tire, practically spraining my back doing it. I’m trying to figure out where to place the jack when headlights come toward me. I move onto the side of the road, out of the way, in case they can’t see me. I’ve been a paramedic for a long time, and I’ve seen the accidents from being hit by a car.