The weekend before the Fourth of July, the entire Thornton clan and their various significant others rented a boat to celebrate Caleb’s thirty-fourth birthday. Caleb had told Megan he didn’t want anything big, but she’d decided that he should definitely have a party. Not only to celebrate his birthday, but to celebrate his promotion at work.When Caleb and Megan got on the boat, everyone yelled “Surprise!” when they walked to the stern. Caleb jumped a little and then laughed.“Happy birthday!” Megan kissed him with a smacking sound, and Seth was amused to notice his brother blushing a little.“Didn’t I tell you I didn’t want a party?” Caleb shook his head, but he looked pleased nonetheless. “How did you manage to plan this without me knowing?”“Oh, a woman never tells her secrets,” Megan demurred.That resulted in laughter all around, and then the drinks were being poured. Since Harrison had rented the boat, they had a captain to make certain the boat didn’t go anywhere it shouldn

Rose saw Seth and his brothers sit down at a table in the back at The Fainting Goat, and she almost ran into Rebecca when she whirled around.“Whoa, watch out! I almost dropped my tray.” Rebecca glared as she pushed past her.Rose took a deep breath and forced her heart to slow. She owed Seth an explanation—and an apology. Again. This seemed to be her lot in life: want Seth, offend Seth, avoid Seth. Rinse, repeat ad infinitum.“DiMarco, you okay?” Ash Younger asked as he walked past her to Trent’s office. “You look like you saw a ghost.”She gave him a wan smile. “I’m fine. Sorry, I’ll get back to work.”She didn’t give a chance for Ash to ask more questions before she hurried into the kitchen, only to realize that there weren’t any orders to pick up. She loitered until the chef told her either to start cooking or go be productive.She checked on her tables, refilled water glasses, and made absolutely certain to avoid any glares directed her way via Seth Thornton. Considering she

That night, Rose lay in her nest of blankets with Callie and thought. She thought about everything she’d told Heath, and everything he’d told her.You can’t let fear rule your life.Those words thrummed in her mind like a single chord of music. She stroked Callie as she thought, and considered, and finally, made a decision.She knew very well it wouldn’t be as easy as letting go and dusting her hands of everything that had happened. But that didn’t mean she should stay in a kind of stasis, either.If she didn’t push herself to move forward, no one would.It was close to midnight. She wondered if Seth was asleep, but then she heard the creak of footsteps next door.The universe was giving her a sign, that was for sure.“I’ll be back later,” she whispered to Callie. Before she left, she brushed her teeth—a second time—brushed her hair, put on her prettiest bra-and-panty set, and then added a little lipstick on top of it all.If she was going to seduce a man, she might as well giv

Rose awoke to the sound of Seth’s voice. Yawning, she sat up, her brain slowly clearing of sleep.Seth’s shoulders were tense as he spoke to someone on the phone. “Yeah, you’ll have my answer soon, sir. Yeah. Yeah, I understand. Bye.”He seemed not to realize she was next to him. She began to rub his shoulders, concerned, but he pushed her hands away.“I need to take a shower,” he muttered. “I’ll be back,” he added in a gentler voice.Rose heard the water turn on next door, and as she made breakfast for herself and Seth, she frowned. Who wanted an answer from him? He hadn’t mentioned anything of the sort lately.Rose gave Callie a bite of bacon. “It’s just one thing after another with us, isn’t it?”Seth returned twenty minutes later, his hair wet and looking a little less dazed. They sat down to eat, not speaking, and Rose decided not to press him until he felt ready to tell her what was going on.Seth set his plate down on the table, smiling when Callie tried to nose another p

Rose entered her own apartment and stood in the middle of her living room. Her brain couldn’t compute what had just happened. She stared at the dirty dishes currently sitting in the sink, the mug on the coffee table where she’d left it this morning. It had seemed ages ago, drinking from the mug.Callie whined and sat next to Rose. She whined again, but Rose didn’t respond.It was over. After everything that had happened to her, she’d fallen in love with a man who didn’t want to fight for that love. He wanted to let himself fall deeper into his own doom, and she could do nothing about it.A stray firework exploded some miles away; she flinched. She waited for a second one, and she breathed a sigh of relief when that seemed to be the only one.She washed the dishes that had been sitting in the sink all day. She washed her face, brushed her teeth, got dressed for bed. Pulling out the futon, she realized that her pillow smelled like Seth. Exchanging it for another pillow, she almost sc