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He lost her once. Is this their second chance?
Transforming a vision for Belle Cove Resorts into reality is a breakout move that could take Dakota Carson’s image specialist company to the next level. But it means teaming up with the man who broke her heart. Soon enough, Dakota’s overwhelming desire for the gorgeous entrepreneur reawakens. But giving in to passion could cost her way too much.
Years ago, Logan Montague walked away from everything, including the woman he loved. Now CEO of his family’s international resort chain, he won’t risk losing Dakota another time. With his matchmaking aunt’s blessing, he and Dakota are united in business—and pleasure. And so Logan embarks on his scheme of seduction, sweeping Dakota away to an exotic Jamaican hideaway. With both their professional and personal futures on the line, can they learn to trust and love each other…again?
“What am I going to do with you?”
He held her face between his hands and gently kissed her. “I have some ideas.”
Logan kissed Dakota on her neck, letting his hands roam over her body. He moved around to stand behind her. His fingers poised over her dress zipper. “May I?”
She leaned into his touch. “Please do.”
Expecting to feel a little nervous, Dakota was not prepared for the rush of longing that infused her when he undid her dress. His hand slid inside the garment to touch her back and caress her skin with soft, circular strokes. After a few moments, he used both hands to ease her dress off her shoulders before kissing her right shoulder blade.
Dakota turned around and then wrapped her arms around his neck. She kissed him again before lowering her hands to his shirt and unbuttoning it. “My turn,” she said, easing the material away from his body.
Unable to help herself, her fingers fluttered across his chest. The muscles underneath were hard and firm. Next, her fingers moved to the buckle on his pants. Soon they were standing together in their underwear. Emboldened, Dakota reached around and unhooked her bra. She was completely nude before he had uttered a word.
“You’re the sexiest best friend I’ve ever had.”
She lay back on the bed, motioning for him to follow. “I feel the same way.”
Logan lay down beside her. He traced the lines of her body with his hands as though committing every curve to memory. When he was done with his exploration, he rested the palm of his hand on her heart.
LISA WATSON
is a native of Washington, D.C., and writes multicultural novels. Having her debut novel nominated for Best Contemporary Fiction inspired Lisa to continue creating engaging story lines and strong characters with universal appeal and a keen sense of humor. Lisa also loves traveling, so weaving beautiful destinations into the pages of her novels as lush backdrops or as the heritage of her characters is not uncommon.
Lisa’s first series for Harlequin Kimani Romance, The Match Broker series, introduced readers to matchmaking guru Norma Jean Anderson, aka The Love Broker. Her goal is to have her son, Adrian, and everyone in his immediate circle of friends happily married—period.
Lisa works at a technology consulting firm and is the copublicist for the RT Book Reviews annual RT Booklovers Conventions.
Married for eighteen years, with two teenagers and a Maltipoo, Brinkley, Lisa lives outside Raleigh, N.C., and is avidly working on her next series. Visit her website: www.lisawatson.com.
Dear Reader,
Can a first love be rekindled after years of silence? That’s what Dakota Carson has to decide when Logan Montague returns with a business proposition she can’t refuse. It’s an emotional time for Dakota—Logan was her best childhood friend and the only man she’s ever loved. When he left, she was devastated. His return wreaks havoc, and despite Dakota’s protestations of indifference, it’s an adjustment.
Logan’s never stopped loving Dakota. While familial obligations caused him to leave, it’s not the whole story.
I hope you enjoy this Mills & Boon Kimani Romance story. It’s my favorite in the series, and I know you’ll enjoy these characters as much as I do!
Be inspired…
Lisa
For Dalen… Your guidance is invaluable.
Thanks to Lisa Lanier. Your keen eye is so invaluable to me. You are a wonderful beta reader, and I’m so grateful for your flashes of inspiration!
To Pat Simmons, my literary partner-in-crime and a great storyteller. You excel at keeping me on deadline—and word count!
To Renee Bernard, the newest link in my armor and an amazing author. Thank you so much for all your sage advice and support. The stars definitely aligned the day we met! I’ll be eternally grateful that I took a “detour”!
My thanks to fellow author Michelle Lindo-Rice for making sure my characters’ Patois was irie!
To my FB Divas, Anita Tann, Jackie Roberts and LaVerne Aslam! You ladies are always excited and supportive, and I thank you!
Contents
Cover
Back Cover Text
Introduction
About the Author
Title Page
Dear Reader
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Epilogue
Copyright
Prologue
“I’m going to lose her.”
Logan Montague sat on the bench in Grant Park. His world had just been blown apart, and the shards that were once his hopes and dreams scattered to the four winds. He was leaving Chicago…immediately. The timing of his parents’ decree could not have been worse. He stared down at the grass beneath his feet, but all he saw was time running out. What he wanted least in the world, working in the family business, was going to be his entire future.
He sensed the urgency in his parents, and he wished he could just ignore it and go his own way, but he could not, nor would he shirk his responsibilities to his family. He just wished things had turned out differently.
One disaster at Montague International had his family scrambling to do damage control. His father was insistent that the news of one of their directors suspected of sabotage and trying to jump ship to the competition had to remain out of the public eye at all cost. They could tell no one about it for fear of scandal and plummeting stock prices. It was bad enough having to leave, but not being able to tell Dakota Carson the truth of the situation was unacceptable.
A light of potential that had once burned bright within his heart was just extinguished. As much as it would kill him to do so, he would not tell his best friend the truth about why he was leaving. He had been in love with her for a while, but had yet to make his feelings known. He always assumed he would have time. It had just run out.
“Hey.”
Logan looked up to see her smiling down at him.
“Hey.”
Dakota sat next to him on the park bench. “Sorry I’m late. You can’t believe the amount of time it took me to finish up the chores Granny set out for me. It’s like she knew I was in a rush to come see you and found a million reasons why I had to stay.” She laughed. “But I finished, and here I am.”
Logan nodded.
“So, what did you want to do this afternoon? A movie? A walk through the park? What about a trip to Navy Pier, or a boat ride?”
“I can’t,” he replied. “I won’t be able to stay as long as I’d hoped.”
“Oh, well, that’s okay,” Dakota replied, wrapping her arm around his. “I’m glad to see you, no matter what.”
Logan closed his eyes and sighed. “Koty, there’s something I have to tell you.”
She glanced up at him. “Okay. Shoot.”
“I have to go away…to New York…for the summer. I’m…I leave in a few days.”
She sat up and faced him. “What? New York? Well, that’s not too far away. We can still see each other, right?”
He glanced away. “My father wants me to learn the family business. That’s going to take up most of my time.”
She laughed. “You’re kidding, right?”
Logan shook his head. “No, Koty. I have an internship at Montague. It’s an opportunity I can’t pass up. It’ll help me when I start working there after college.”
“But…I thought you didn’t want to work for the family business? You always said it wasn’t for you.”
“I know…but things change.”
“That’s a pretty big change, Logan. I don’t understand why you’re just now telling me. You’re practically gone tomorrow, and you spring this on me now?”
“I’m sorry. I just found out about it myself. It’s all arranged.”
The hurt in Dakota’s eyes caused Logan’s heart to tighten.
“Well, this sucks.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you sooner.”
Tears fell in earnest now. “It’s not your fault. You didn’t know, right?” She hugged him tightly. “I’m going to miss you, Logan—more than you know.”
He breathed in her scent. She was the most important person in his life. The turmoil he felt at saying goodbye was almost more than he could bear. No, this was wrong. He had to level with her. She deserved the truth, no matter what he promised.
“Dakota, there’s something you need to know. I—”
His cell phone chirped. Logan glanced down at the screen. It was a text message from his mother.
“I’m sorry, Koty, but I have to go.”
“Oh.” She stood up, her expression crestfallen.
“I’ll call you later.” He tried to muster a smile, but failed miserably. “Let me see you home.”
“No, I want to walk for a while. I just… I can’t believe you’re leaving so soon, Logan.”
He pushed the hair out of her eyes. “Me, either. There’s so much I wanted us to do.”
“Me, too.” She turned to face him. “It’s our last summer before college. I thought we’d have more time.”
“Hey.” He reached out and took her hand. “Don’t cry, Koty.”
“I can’t help it, Logan. I feel like my heart’s going to break.”
“You think it’s any different for me?” he said raggedly.
She hugged him tightly, and kissed him on the cheek. “I’ll miss you.”
“Koty…forget waiting. There’s something I want to tell you.”
She smiled. “I know what it is.”
Logan sighed with relief. “You do?”
“Yes, and I love you, too, Logan. You’re the only best friend I’ve ever had.”
She threw herself into his arms. He felt utter disappointment. She loved him. Like a friend. He felt like he had been punched in the gut. His confession about his true feelings halted before it could be voiced. “Me, too. I’m sorry, but I’ve got to head home.”
“I’m glad you told me in person, and that I could see you one last time, Logan.”
He hugged her. “Me, too. Goodbye, Koty. I’ll call you when I get there, okay?”
“You’d better,” she replied tearfully.
He held out his hand, and she took it. They walked back to his car in silence.
They embraced a final time. Logan kissed the top of her head. When he looked into her eyes, he was suddenly lost. Whatever hold he was caught up in, it was more than he could shake. Before he knew it, he lowered his head and kissed Dakota on her lips. He felt her stiffen, but she did not pull away and slap him. That was a good sign.
The kiss lengthened in duration, and after a few moments, Logan reluctantly stepped back. Dakota’s hand flew to her mouth. Her eyes mirrored her shock.
“Dakota, I… You mean the world to me. I don’t want to lose you.”
“You won’t,” she said softly. “Promise me you’ll keep in touch.”
“I promise, Dakota. Don’t worry, I’ll be home before you know it.”
“You’d better,” she choked out.
He glanced at her a final time before sliding behind the wheel and driving off. Logan did not look back. There was no way he could bear the devastated look on her face. Besides, his expression mirrored it perfectly.
Logan gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles were white. The sheer weight of family responsibility rested on his shoulders. He would bear it. He had no choice. The entire ride home, he willed his heart not to break under the pressure of his unrequited love for Dakota.
Dream’s over, Montague. She’s gone, and you’ve blown it.
Chapter 1
Ten years later…
That old letch should’ve been grateful that all I dropped over his bald head was a tureen of minestrone. It should have been a brick!
Dakota Carson was still steaming about the previous evening’s turn of events. If someone would have told her that her perfect day would end with her pouring a bowl of hot soup on a business colleague and threatening him with bodily harm, she would have thought them insane. But it occurred nonetheless.
Roger Thompson had leveraged their business dinner into a ploy to get her into bed. Dakota accepted the dinner meeting because he had something that she wanted—his connection to Amadeus Rothschild, a new designer who specialized in sheets that were elegant and pleasurable to the touch. The fact that he only used a design once made them unique. Since he was the elusive owner of a company called Sheet Music in New England, Dakota had no doubt that he would soon be a household name. The problem was that he only sold his sheets through Roger.
When her client’s wife, Nancy Janson, had seen a set on display at Thompson’s Textiles, she flipped. She wanted them for her St. Charles, Illinois, bed-and-breakfast, and nothing else would do. Since Roger was local, and Dakota had a good relationship with him, they discussed it over dinner. He promised to supply them for her project, but soon it became evident why an evening appointment was better suited for their discussion. The moment his intentions were clear, she turned him down flat. When Roger refused to take no for an answer, Dakota left money to cover her portion of the bill and bid him good-night. When she walked past him, Roger’s arm ensnared her like a vise grip. His mistake.
“Release me,” she had demanded.
“Wait, Dakota. Don’t leave yet. We can come to an arrangement that will benefit both of us. I have what you want, and you have something I want.” Roger had tried to reel her in.
“I don’t think so,” she had countered smoothly. “In fact, you either remove your hand from my arm right now, or I’ll rip that toupee off your head, and then stomp on it like a Flamenco dancer.”
He’d complied immediately, but continued to proposition her. That did it. Dakota’s answer to his vile suggestions was to pour soup on his head. Roger’s toupee cascaded off his dome, along with the soup. She’d chuckled. It had been a sight to see.
“We’re done, Roger. Step through my office door again, and you’ll regret it.”
Her alarm blared into the silence. Stunned at the offending noise that ricocheted off the walls, Dakota almost bolted from her bed. The memory of Roger and his tumbling hairpiece was pushed aside. She had bigger problems.
Last night had caused a hiccup in her plans. Roger’s store was a good source of upscale home goods, and he had lots of connections. Now she needed a plan B, and her colleague was now regaled to the Trouser Snake category of people that Dakota had severed all ties with. She knew he would never give up Rothschild’s contact information. She was desperate to make her client happy, but was not about to play games, or to sleep her way into opportunities. She took her career very seriously, and if somebody didn’t like it, that was their misfortune. That went for the few men she had dated, too.
When Dakota turned on her cell phone, her voice mail icon, email and text message notifications all dinged, buzzed and chirped respectively. Three were from Norma Jean Anderson.
“Now I know you can’t possibly be so busy that you can’t return my phone calls,” Norma Jean said in one message. “It’s obvious that you’re avoiding m—”
Delete. Dakota felt no shame.
“Dakota Carson, I know your grandmother didn’t raise you to—”
Delete. Again.
“Girl, if you don’t call me, I’m coming to see you.”
She pondered that one, then pressed delete.
Norma Jean and her husband, Heathcliffe, lived a few doors down from her grandparents’ house in Chicago. Since the age of thirteen, Dakota considered Norma Jean the neighborhood mom. The woman knew everyone’s name, brought homemade meals when people were sick and wouldn’t hesitate to give a neighbor whatever she had. Norma Jean had become her rock when she desperately needed someone in her corner, and for that Dakota owed her a lifetime of gratitude. Norma Jean Anderson was an amazing humanitarian. But a horrible matchmaker.
Dakota loved Norma Jean, affectionately called Ms. Jeannie, to death, and would do anything for her, but the woman was driving her insane. She was more focused on Dakota’s love life than Dakota was, and had been for years. Personal relationships did not work out for Dakota. An occasional date was one thing, but she wasn’t getting serious—with anyone. She learned the hard way long ago that men came and went, but work was constant. She had governed her life by that simple observation, and she wasn’t about to change now.
* * *
Logan and his cousin, Adrian Anderson, sat in his aunt’s kitchen eating the most delicious cinnamon roll he had ever tasted. He took a sip of coffee. “Aunt Jeannie,” he said slowly. “I appreciate everything you do for me, but I’m not going out with your bowling mate’s sister’s niece—no matter how many times you ask. Adrian already warned me about her, and as much as I love you, I’m not taking the bait.”
Indignant, Norma Jean let out a frustrated breath and pinned her son, Adrian, with a withering look. “This is all your fault.”
“Oh, no, you don’t,” Adrian replied between bites of his breakfast. “You are the one who doesn’t know when to leave well enough alone. I told you two weeks ago that Logan wasn’t interested in being set up. Apparently, you turned down your hearing aid.”
“I don’t wear a hearing aid,” she snapped.
“Well, then you played deaf, because you didn’t listen. He’s been back in town three days, Mom. Let him get acclimated first before you whip out the little black book—or your love-broker encyclopedia.”
“Watch it,” she replied. Getting up from the table, she started clearing away the dishes. She tried to grab Logan’s, but he batted her hand away. “Well, this is a pickle. It’s already been arranged.”
Logan regarded her with determined purpose. “Then unarrange it. Aunt Jeannie, I haven’t even unpacked all my boxes yet, so I definitely don’t have time to date. There’s no way I’m wasting two hours of my evening trying to make small talk with a woman I’ve never met, and that I’m not remotely attracted to.”
“How do you—” Norma Jean stopped and cut her eyes over to Adrian. “You showed him her picture?”
A wide grin shot across his face. “Yep.”
“Adrian,” she chided. “Logan deserves happiness, too. Milán is an incredible woman, and an even better daughter-in-law. She’ll make a wonderful mother, too. That is, whenever you get around to—”
“We’re not having this conversation again,” Adrian interrupted.
“We wouldn’t have to if you’d made good on the promise of giving me grandbabies.”
“Mom, it’s been two years, not ten. Cut us some slack. We’re practicing as much as we can.”
Logan burst out laughing, and patted his cousin on the back.
Norma Jean rolled her eyes. “Do I look amused?”
“Aunt Jeannie, it may not seem like it, but I’m perfectly capable of finding my own dates.”
“You don’t say? Is that why you’re still single?”
“I haven’t found the right girl yet,” he countered.
“Hmph. Seems to me you had the possibility of the right girl, but you let her go.”
His expression darkened. Like he needed a reminder of his ruined relationship with Dakota, or the tense circumstances surrounding why he had left in the first place. Finishing the last of his meal, Logan stood up and put his plate in the dishwasher. “As much as I love these family get-togethers, and reminiscing about subjects I’d prefer not to talk about, I really have to get going. I’m leaving for Jamaica tomorrow.”
Norma Jean frowned. “How long will you be gone?”
“Just a few days.”
“Have you seen Dakota yet?”
“No. At some point I plan to, but I’m not sure how well that’ll go.”
“Tread lightly,” Norma Jean cautioned. “Time has a way of changing folks. Life happens, Logan. She’s not the same girl you left behind years ago.”
He looked at her. “What does that mean?”
Norma Jean shrugged her shoulders. “I’m just saying…things change…people change.”
“Look, I know you mean well, but as far as renewing my friendship with Dakota…I don’t even know if that’s possible. The last few times I’ve been back haven’t gone so well.”
“What did you expect? You haven’t exactly leveled with her, Logan.”
“Aunt Jeannie, I know your heart’s in the right place, but can you just let it go? Right now the water is still, and I’d like to keep it that way.” He kissed Norma Jean’s cheek. “Thanks for breakfast. It was…interesting.”
Norma Jean handed him a plastic container with more cinnamon rolls. “Anytime, sweetie.” She returned the kiss and tapped him on the chest with her index finger. “We’re not done talking yet. Remember what I said, and there’s always time to right a wrong, Logan. You and Dakota were the best of friends and I—”
Logan headed out of the kitchen. “You’re beating a dead horse that ain’t coming alive.”
Adrian kissed his mother and then fell into step beside his cousin. “At least you didn’t get fixed up with one.”
“I heard that,” his mother called out from behind them.
Logan and Adrian continued to laugh and compare notes as they walked out.
Retrieving his car keys from his pocket, Logan glanced at him. “Well, that was brutal. Remind me again how I got on her radar? I’ve only been back three days.”
“Quit complaining. That was two days longer than my friends and I wagered on. I lost fifty bucks on you. Though I may still have a chance. The second bet is that you’ll be off the market by Christmas. Which, by the way, is just three months away.”
“Save your money. I have no intention of being caught up in Aunt Jeannie’s machinations.”
Adrian aimed the remote at his vehicle. “Yeah, that’s what we all said.”
Logan got in and started his car. He glanced at his phone. The ringer was turned down. He had missed several calls, one of them from his mother. There was no way Aunt Jeannie could have called her that fast. Turning the engine off, he decided to get it over with.
“Hey, Mom,” he said when she picked up. “How are you?”
“I’m fine, honey,” Beverly Montague replied with excitement. “How’s Chicago? Are you settling in okay?”
“Yep. The condo is fine. I’m still unpacking, but I should be done by the weekend.”
“I’m glad.”
“How are things going without Dad? Are you lonely?”
“No, indeed,” she said quickly. “Don’t get me wrong. I love and miss my husband, but your father and Heathcliffe are having a ball fishing. I get daily…sometimes more often…reports on what they’re up to.” She laughed. “It’s great to hear them sounding like a bunch of young guys out on a weekend pass.”