Book Title: Trusting Love Again
Publisher: Black Velvet Seductions
Date Published: November 8, 2015
ISBN: 2940156674237
ASIN: B017RNS888
Genre: Contemporary romance
Heat Rating: 3
Page Count: 99
All she wants is to start over, live a peaceful life…
After an abusive marriage and an ugly divorce, Toni needs to rebuild her self-confidence and start a new life in her hometown. Going home again and confronting people she’d hurt when she’d left is never easy. She’d hung onto the idea of buying a long-abandoned old house and remodeling it to help her recover. But a man from her past has recently purchased it for his business. That’s her emotional breaking point and she does something reckless. Now she must pay the legal consequences of her foolish actions…by working for him.
All he wants is to focus on his work…
Chad’s job as a lawyer working to protect the rights of the abused elderly consumes his time and energy. It cost him his marriage and an aborted child he hadn’t known about. Now he works harder, guards his bruised heart. Yet the return of someone he’d held secret feelings for comes back to town. She upsets his world, starting with minor destruction of his business property and causing him minor injury. He shouldn’t become involved in helping this troubled woman, yet he can’t keep from doing so.
Two heart-damaged people have trouble trusting love again.
He glanced at the young woman standing close by, worrying her lower lip.
“Maybe you should call—”
“What? Call my
father? Because I’m acting a little wild?” Toni snorted and cut him off. “I
have every right to act upset. Yet another
man has messed with me, lied to me.”
His angular
face tightened in annoyance. “I still have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He stepped closer and reached for her.
“No!” She jumped back, breaking off the other stiletto heel, and barely
managed to keep from falling. Her entire body tensed.
A memory flashed
into her mind. Stanley had grabbed her arms during their last argument right
after they’d eaten a special meal she’d prepared for him. His grip had been agonizingly
tight. When she’d hissed in pain, he’d shoved her away. She’d landed hard on
the floor, knocking her head against the dining room table. After a half-second
of possibly regret, he’d turned and hurried out of the house. No apology.
“Antoinette,”
Chad said again, sounding cautious.
She pushed the
recollection away and looked at Chad. His expression appeared concerned. Again,
he inched forward and tried to reach for her.
“Don’t touch me!” she gasped, batting his hand away, dropping the heel and
purse. She hated that she was reacting this way but felt helpless to control
it.
“What’s your problem?” Appearing confused, he moved toward her once more.
Panicked, defensive,
and determined to stop him, she snagged the iPad from his grasp, flung it away.
It crashed into the nearby towering, leafless elm tree. The sound of cracking
glass made her flinch. What had she done?
Footsteps
behind her on the sidewalk pounded in her direction. The young woman on the
porch gasped and Chad’s father walked behind him.
“Have you been
drinking?” Chad’s tone dripped with disgust as he seemed to sniff for hints of
alcohol.
Her cheeks
flamed. “No, I haven’t been!” she bit out. It was humiliating to realize that
her brother must have told Chad about her drinking problem, something he must
have read in the gossip columns.
His vivid blue
eyes didn’t look as though he believed her. His jaw taut, he latched onto her
left forearm before she could move. He gripped her tightly.
No! Panicked, she drew on the
self-defense lessons she’d learned after the separation. With a palm strike,
she gave a hard jab to his shoulder.
“What the
hell?” he snapped, jerking but not releasing her. His arm was stretched out
between them.
Heart racing,
she hit his elbow with another palm strike. This time he lost his grasp on her
arm and glowered at her in frustration and pain. She sensed he would reach for
her again, but she couldn’t let it happen.
Starla Kaye wears many hats professionally and as a writer. She is the community coordinator for a Midwestern accounting firm, a gerontologist who volunteers with an active group of senior adults, a mentor/teacher of writing, and a multi-published author. She dabbles in writing romances of many sub-genres: contemporary, historical Western, medieval, sci-fi, fantasy, paranormal, and Regency. To date she has published 20 novels, 39 novellas, 8 anthologies, 18 short stories, and 3 audio books. You can learn more about her work at http://starlakaye.com
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