 by Lani Lynn Vale.jpg)
Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 68698 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68698 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Morrigan St. Pete.
The woman that’d been hounding my every step since the day she was born. From the moment we first comforted each other in the hospital, to the day that I left her to follow her dreams, I knew that she was my one.
Through marriage, divorce, and a prison sentence, I had low expectations when it came to her ever coming around to my way of life. What kind of woman wanted a man that’d been to prison, had a child that disliked him and everything he stood for, and had zero prospects in life?
But then she popped into my life again, and that feeling of suffocation slacked off for the first time since I let her go.
***
The first time I tried to come back to Aodhan, I found him married with a kid on the way.
The second time I tried, he was heading to jail.
As one would say, the third time is the charm, right? Wrong.
The third time, he was divorced, fresh from prison, had a kid, and was again with his ex-wife.
That was the final nail in my coffin. I decided to give up.
I would do anything and everything I could to avoid him. Hiding wasn’t beneath me.
I only wish he’d stuck with my plan, because the moment he sees me again, it’s like he’s seen the light. Avoiding him is impossible when he goes out of his way to insinuate himself into every aspect of my life.
If only life was as perfect as my dreams.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
PROLOGUE
If you have a beard, and no valentine, remember. You still have a beard.
-Text from Morrigan to Aodhan
AODHAN
The first time I met her, I didn’t remember.
My parents remembered, though.
That day, the worst thing that could ever happen happened to two different families. My mom and dad, Stella and Abram, were visiting friends and family the week before my mom was due to give birth. Then, while on the way, a car hit them and she went into labor.
Something happened, and during the birth, my twin brother perished before he’d even taken his first breath.
Fast-forward to me in the NICU. I hadn’t calmed down one single second since I was born.
I’d gone from a happy little world with my brother right beside me, to a totally different one with no one at my side. My parents were both in rough shape, banged up from the accident.
Meanwhile, I was all alone with no one close to hold me or comfort me but some overworked nurses.
In the cradle right beside mine, there was another baby that had lost her twin sister that very day. Though her mother hadn’t been in an accident like mine. Her mother had tried to kill herself and had only accomplished killing her twin sister.
Two overworked nurses had seen the two babies crying their little hearts out and noticed that no one was able to come and comfort either baby.
So one nurse chose to see if putting them together would calm them both down.
Well, it worked.
And from that moment on, I had a soul connection to a girl that would stay with me for the rest of my life.
Her name was Morrigan St. Pete.
PROLOGUE II
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Except for country girls. They’ll definitely kill you.
-Text from Aodhan to Morrigan
AODHAN
The first time I met her was in a hospital bed. The second time was eight years later in elementary school.
She’d stolen my lunch box because she thought it was hers, and had eaten half the sandwich before I’d corrected her and taken it back.
She’d shared her actual sandwich with me, since she’d eaten half of mine, and from that moment forward, we were inseparable.
For the next ten years, she was a constant for me.
She was my best friend, confidant, and ultimately the one and only person that I could count on forever.
The only problem was, she had a dream.
One that would lead her out of this small town, and into something big.
So the day we graduated college, we agreed that we would go our separate ways. And, if by the age of thirty, if we were still alone, we would make our way back to each other.
But life was funny. It never, ever worked out like we had planned.
CHAPTER 1
Without a beard, he’s your boyfriend. With a beard, he’s your man.
-Text from Morrigan to Folsom
MORRIGAN
The first time I tried to come back to find Aodhan, I found him married with a kid on the way.
The second time I saw him, he was heading to jail.
The third time I saw him, he was divorced, had a kid, and was again with his ex-wife.
Though, this time, I wasn’t sure if he was with her because he was trying to get back together with her, or because he was just meeting up to talk about their son.
Whatever the reason, they were doing it in my coffee shop, so it was okay that I was spying.
At least, that was what I’d told myself.
At first, I’d tried to sit in my office chair—where I found myself a lot on bad days—and not pay attention to the live feed on the screen of my computer.
A couple of years ago, when I’d moved home and used my inheritance money from my grandmother to open my own business, I’d been told that having cameras was a necessity for business owners.
That person was right, and from that point on, I’d always found myself monitoring the comings and goings of the front room when I had nowhere to go and nothing else to do.
That’d been what I was doing today, when he’d walked in.
He’d never been in my shop before.
In fact, I was fairly sure he didn’t even know I was back in town.
Mostly because, whenever I saw him, I went the other way. I did my damnedest to keep him in the past, where he belonged.
At least, that was what I told myself.
I watched him walk in, take a look around, then go up to the counter and order his drink.
I knew without being told that the drink he’d ordered was a hot chocolate, because Aodhan McBanks didn’t drink caffeine. Aodhan had an irregular heartbeat, and anything that exacerbated that for him wasn’t a good thing. Such as coffee.
Then, his ex-wife walked in the door, and she walked straight up to the counter and ordered.
My heart hitched at just how beautiful his ex-wife was. She had the most gorgeous hair, tanned skin, and longest legs a woman could ever have. If you could fit a supermodel into a normal person, that would be Danyetta Westfield McBanks.