Copyright 2019 Natalie Ann
All Rights Reserved
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without a written consent.
Author’s Note
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
The Road Series-See where it all started!!
Lucas and Brooke’s Story- Road to Recovery
Jack and Cori’s Story – Road to Redemption
Mac and Beth’s Story- Road to Reality
Ryan and Kaitlin’s Story- Road to Reason
The All Series
William and Isabel’s Story — All for Love
Ben and Presley’s Story – All or Nothing
Phil and Sophia’s Story – All of Me
Alec and Brynn’s Story – All the Way
Sean and Carly’s Story — All I Want
Drew and Jordyn’s Story— All My Love
Finn and Olivia’s Story—All About You
Landon Barber and Kristen Reid- All Of Us
The Lake Placid Series
Nick Buchanan and Mallory Denning – Second Chance
Max Hamilton and Quinn Baker – Give Me A Chance
Caleb Ryder and Celeste McGuire – Our Chance
Cole McGuire and Rene Buchanan – Take A Chance
Zach Monroe and Amber Deacon- Deserve A Chance
Trevor Miles and Riley Hamilton – Last Chance
Matt Winters and Dena Hall- Another Chance
The Fierce Five Series
Gavin Fierce and Jolene O’Malley- How Gavin Stole Christmas
Brody Fierce and Aimee Reed - Brody
Aiden Fierce and Nic Moretti- Aiden
Mason Fierce and Jessica Corning- Mason
Cade Fierce and Alex Marshall - Cade
Ella Fierce and Travis McKinley- Ella
Fierce Family
Sam Fierce and Dani Rhodes- Sam
Bryce Fierce and Payton Davies - Bryce
Love Collection
Vin Steele and Piper Fielding – Secret Love
Jared Hawk and Shelby McDonald – True Love
Erik McMann and Sheldon Case – Finding Love
Connor Landers and Melissa Mahoney- Beach Love
Ian Price and Cam Mason- Intense Love
Liam Sullivan and Ali Rogers - Autumn Love
Owen Taylor and Jill Duncan - Holiday Love
Chase Martin and Noelle Bennett - Christmas Love
Zeke Collins and Kendall Hendricks - Winter Love
Troy Walker and Meena Dawson – Chasing Love
Jace Stratton and Lauren Towne - First Love
Gabe Richards and Leah Morrison - Forever Love
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Will friendship be enough for Kristin while Landon adjusts to single parenthood after discovering he’s the guardian of a niece he never knew existed?
Landon Barber thought he had a fairly normal life. Captain at the police department. Owner of his own martial arts studio. A woman when he wanted or needed one. Yeah, life was going the way he wanted it. Until he got an unexpected call informing him he was now the guardian of his eight-year-old niece. A niece he didn’t even know existed.
Kristen Reid always wanted more than she had. It seemed she never learned either. Men... all she attracted were those with complications, commitment issues, or just plain losers. One of these days she’d find someone normal. She set her sights on Landon and realized that normal just didn’t exist anywhere but in her own mind. And now she has to figure out if she can accept that.
Table of Contents
Prologue
Vats of Jealousy
A Lot of Changes
Everyone Has Drama
Stand Out
Story of Her Life
Time of Need
Punched in The Gut
Real Kiss
More Wisdom
Over My Head
A Little Authority
Trusted the Most
Past My Limits
Girl Stuff
Playing with Fire
Tame Women
Wiggled Her Way
Confidence Boost
Hard Conversation
You Can Trust Him
Only Nice
The Sky Was the Limit
A Nice Balance
More Approachable
A Different Way
Only Surface
Warm His Heart
Something Positive
A Little Crazy
Losing His Patience
Blinders On
An Incident
Hard Day
Got Her Wish
So Critical
Stable Family
Suited Him Well
Stay in Control
Deliver the News
Different with You
Protect Everyone
Felt Betrayed
Uncomfortable Position
Epilogue
Prologue
“Barber,” Landon said, looking down at his phone. He didn’t recognize the number, but that wasn’t unheard of.
“Is this Landon Barber?”
“It is,” he said.
“My name is Lynn Collar. I’m calling about your sister, Jennifer.”
The hair rose on the back of his neck. He hadn’t talked to Jennifer in years. Not since she left home at eighteen. Shit, now that he thought about it, might be ten years since he’d talked to her. “What about her?”
“I’m sorry to say she died in a car accident two weeks ago,” Lynn said, her voice cracking on the other end. This person was obviously a friend, but not one that thought to contact family sooner. He kept that opinion to himself. Who was he to judge since he and Jennifer weren’t close?
He looked around for a chair to sit. He was in the squad room and realized maybe he didn’t want this conversation where others could overhear. Where a few were looking at him now.
“What happened?” he asked, walking to an interrogation room he knew was empty. That’s how he felt right now. Empty. It’d been so long since he’d said her name, let alone heard it.
Sure she was his baby sister—half sister—but with the eight years between them and the constant fighting going on in their house, he just kept to himself more often than not.
When it was time for college, he left and rarely went home after. Not to stay permanently if he could avoid it.
“A tractor trailer went off the road on the thruway causing a massive pile up. Jennifer was one of four people to die.”
“Where?” he asked, realizing he had no clue where his sister had been living.
“Just outside of Buffalo.”
He hadn’t even realized she was in New York State. Last he knew she was down south somewhere. Or at least that was what his mother had told him at one point when Jennifer had called looking for money those first few years she’d left home after high school.
“How did you know my sister?” he asked.
There was silence on the other end, then almost a whisper. “She was my girlfriend.”
His sister was gay? He never saw that coming. Then he
wondered if his mother knew and that was the cause of so many fights between the two of them. His mother was pretty prejudiced. Another reason he didn’t go home after college. He was sick of hearing about everyone she couldn’t stand.
“I’m glad you called and told me. Is she buried there?” he asked, just thinking of that.
“She wanted to be cremated. I’ve got her remains here.”
“And that is why you’re calling? For me to come get them?”
“No. I mean, yes, they should go to her family. But it’s about your niece. Jennifer’s daughter.”
His sister had a daughter? No way his mother knew that. “What?”
“Chloe. Your niece. It took me so long to call because I’ve been going through Jennifer’s paperwork and finally found her will. She listed you as Chloe’s guardian.”
“Her daughter doesn’t even know me. Does she know of me?” Talk about being knocked on his ass.
“I really don’t know. I haven’t been with Jennifer long. Just six months. I can’t keep her. Chloe. I’ve got no right to her and, like I said, Jennifer had a will. But not only that, I’m just not...mother material.”
Like he was father material? “Who has her now?”
“She’s been with me for a few weeks. I don’t really want to disrupt her life, but I can’t keep her. If you don’t want her, then I’ll have to turn her over to social services. I’ve been in contact with them, because I just didn’t know what to do if I couldn’t locate you.”
He couldn’t do that. He didn’t know this child, but she was his flesh and blood. He’d never let her be a ward of the state. “No, no. I’ll come get her.”
“I’d call your mother, but Jennifer never had anything nice to say about her.”
“No. They had a strained relationship.”
“Your mother didn’t think Jennifer was gay. Told her it was a phase.”
Landon snorted. He could totally see his mother saying that. “What about Chloe’s father?” he asked.
“There is no father listed on Chloe’s birth certificate. I honestly don’t know if Jennifer knew who he was. It was a dark time in her life, she’d said, while she was trying to find her identity.”
“How old is Chloe?” he asked. He was starting to get his wits about him...somewhat.
“She’s eight. She’s a good kid. Really shy. Timid even. But her mother’s death has been hard. I think she’s going to need counseling too. I don’t know. Like I said, I just can’t handle her. I can barely take care of myself,” Lynn said, sobbing on the other end.
“Okay. Yeah,” he said, stumbling over his words. He never stumbled over anything. “I’m at work. And it’s like four to five hours away.” He looked at his watch and saw it was only ten in the morning. “I’ll be there within six hours tops. Can you just text me an address?”
“Sure. Thanks. And I’m sorry I had to make this call and dump this on you.”
“You aren’t dumping anything on me,” he said, only he didn’t believe it.
How the hell was he supposed to raise some eight-year-old girl he’d never met and didn’t even know existed?
Vats of Jealousy
“How are you feeling today?” Kristen asked her boss Olivia Hartman-Abraham.
“Better than I felt earlier this morning,” Olivia said. “I really hope it’s only the first trimester this goes on. Though I’ve heard horror stories of women who are sick the whole pregnancy.”
“I doubt you’d get that unlucky,” Kristen said. As lucky women went, Olivia seemed to have it all. Wealth, looks, a hot new husband, and a baby on the way.
“You never know,” Olivia said, rubbing her flat belly. If Kristen didn’t love her boss of almost a year so much, she’d be the Hulk filled with big green vats of jealousy.
If there was one thing Kristen knew in life, it was that not much went her way.
She didn’t have wealth now any more than she had it growing up with a single mother. She was just average in her eyes in terms of looks. There was no husband, hot or otherwise in her future, and a baby wasn’t anything she was thinking of until she got a ring on her finger. If that ever happened.
“For your sake—and mine since I’ve got to listen to you heaving in the back—it will end soon.”
“Thanks for the concern,” Olivia said, laughing.
“You know I am. Since we’re a bit slow, how about I walk over and get you a large decaf green tea? I could use a shot of caffeine myself this morning.”
“Sounds like a good idea. Maybe you wouldn’t mind picking up a breakfast sandwich for me?”
“And that sounds yummy. I think I’ll get one for myself too.”
Kristen walked out of the front door of Hartman’s and down to the corner coffee shop. She was waiting in line when she noticed an officer walk in. Her pulse picked up a few paces and her fingers started to sizzle every time she saw a tall man in uniform with dark brown hair.
Would it be him? Would she get another glimpse of the guy who taught her how to defend herself in a class one night when Olivia’s husband asked them to attend so that he wouldn’t be worried about them alone at night? Imagine that? Having a guy put you first and be worried about your well-being.
It’d been months since she’d seen Landon. Months that she kept thinking of him resulting in some pretty body-gushing dreams.
The officer turned and it wasn’t Landon. She was disappointed, but since she was often disappointed in life, it was nothing new to her.
With her order in her hand, she turned to leave and in walked another officer. This time it was the man of her dreams.
***
Landon couldn’t get a shot of caffeine fast enough.
He’d had a lot of stress and upheaval in his life growing up but nothing like the past few weeks.
He went from bachelorhood, where his biggest concern was if there was enough bread in the house for a sandwich, to a single father in a heartbeat.
This was his first day back to work on top of it. After bringing Chloe home and realizing that he didn’t even have a spare bed for her, he knew right away he had to take time off of work.
In the past two weeks, he’d turned his spare room into a little princess room. Not that she offered much say in it. She barely spoke at all and he couldn’t really blame her. He wasn’t sure what to say to her half the time...being in her shoes had to be much worse.
But her room was set up. They’d had two counseling appointments and he’d secured daycare for her while he worked. The next thing on his list to do was getting her registered for school. At least he had time for that yet.
Sleepless nights for him as an adult normally consisted of cases he was working on or scheduling classes at his studio.
Now it was nutrition, clothing sizes, babysitters, schedule changes, and watching his language.
“Landon?”
He looked at the woman in front of him. He knew that face, but couldn’t recall from where. He came into contact with a lot of people in his line of work.
“Yes,” he said.
“Kristen Reid. I took your self-defense class several months ago with Olivia Abraham.”
“Oh yeah. With Finn’s wife.” He remembered her now. He’d seen her at Finn and Olivia’s wedding over the winter too. He couldn’t remember who his date was for that night or who this woman was with, but he was decent at putting faces with names...once he was reminded.
She was standing there grinning at him now. A pretty blush on her face. She was a cute girl. Woman, not girl. Nothing about her really stood out, but nothing made him look away either.
Her long brown hair was pulled back at the base of her neck. She had more makeup on than most, but it wasn’t offensive. Her long black pants had to be warm in the August heat, but she had a pretty little flower sweater on with it.
Since when did he notice pretty flowers or floral anything?
Since he had a little girl living in his house and he was trying everything he could to communicate with her.
That even meant spending more time than he ever wanted to do in his life looking at clothes online or in the mall and trying to find anything Chloe liked or wanted.
Kristen held her bag up. “I’m picking up breakfast for us. Did you know Olivia was expecting?”
“Expecting what?” he asked.
“A baby?” Kristen said, her eyes dancing a little. Yeah, he put his foot in his mouth there. It seemed he was so out of touch with reality lately.
“No. I hadn’t heard. That’s great. Tell her congrats,” he said, moving forward. He didn’t want to be rude, but small talk wasn’t his thing. Or at least not when he was working. If he was out on the town looking for a woman, he could talk all night long to get a woman in his bed.
“It was nice seeing you again,” she said, sending him a hopeful smile. He caught the sign she was flashing, but the thought of dating was out of reach. Too bad, as he could use a distraction for the moment.
***
“Guess who I just ran into at the coffee shop?” Kristen said as she rushed into the jewelry store.
“Who?” Olivia said. “And hand over the loot. Junior is hungry.”
“Just don’t toss that sandwich up in the bathroom, please. I’d like to keep mine down. I never realized I was a sympathy puker before.”
“Sorry, but I can’t control it. Anyway,” Olivia said, reaching into the bag, “who did you see?”
“Landon Barber.”
“Ohhhhh,” Olivia said, unwrapping her sandwich and taking a monster bite out of it. “Did he talk to you? He’s kind of that broody quiet type. The one with deep thoughts to go with those big hands of his.”
“What are you doing looking at his big hands? You’ve got your own man at home,” she said with her hands on her hips.
“I do. I love my hubby, but I’m not blind either.”
“True. And yes, he sort of talked to me.”