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Chapter One

Willow Cavanaugh entered the property ement office at precisely fivetireeted her led the way to a s Willow to have a seat,to drink while she waited?

Considering she ht barf from even a few sips of water, she was so nervous, Willow offered a polite no thank you and a s, extremely chirpy receptionist bounce out of the room

The moment the receptionist shut the door behind her, Willow collapsed in a chair, placing her sleek black leather portfolio on the table in front of her She was a wreck She’d hardly slept last night, no thanks to her worry over today’s s actually went her way…

This appointment could be the most important of her career Of her entire life She’d finally found the drea business: a storefront with tiny rooe roo where she could create and package all of her product

The location was prime The size of the space—perfect And the cost of the lease was pretty close to ideal She couldn’t afford to let this location get away fro else on the

She was running out of roo so fast she could hardly keep up Five years ago, she’d been drifting, wondering what the heck she was doing with her life Never could she have ianic flavors of cotton candy andand baby showers, graduation parties, and just for fun with her friends could turn into soer than she’d ever hoped Not toa major hit at bachelorette parties

Now she was booked months in advance with a variety of parties She turned people away and had wait lists, which blew her mind She needed more space, more employees, more…

Everything

Tapping her foot against the floor, she checked her phone and saw that it was onelate Sorta hated those ere late evenworse She flat out didn’t have the patience for being kept waiting Had little patience for anything lately, really

Including a certainhave to circle back to him?

Daood ways Her for honest, the first real love of her life always kne to barge right back into her life and mess with her head

Six years ago, for a few blissfulbefore he started as a tight end with the San Jose Hawks football tea affair She’d fallen madly in love with him And he’d left her in his dust—a hard, painful life lesson that still hurt every time she saw him

God, she’d had her hands all over hiht at the restaurant with the tea-woman for Sheridan after she married the Hawks’ quarterback, Jared Quinn One look at Nick and she’d wanted hi she knew, she’d been in his arms His mouth on hers, how he kissed her…her sto about it That he could still work her up into a complete frenzy with only a feords, a touch, and a kiss infuriated her She should hate his guts forever for how easily he made her want him

But she didn’t More like she feared if he walked into the rooive hierously sexy smile of his, she’d probably do it, no questions asked

Clearly, her last encounter—hell, all of her encounters—with Nick left her thinking like an idiot

Nick Hamilton was bad for her Unhealthy An addiction

She’d really not even thought of Nick for years Fine, the Hawks ca, but she never saw hio and ht back into Nick’s path

He’d been hotly pursuing her ever since

The door swung open, and a man appeared, dressed in khakis and a white button-up shirt, his wheat-colored hair buzzed short She automatically stood when he came at her with his hand out

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Miss Cavanaugh I’ave her hand a hearty shake before he sat across from her at the table