Love Redefined Read online

  Love Redefined

  Delancey Stewart

  Contents

  Love Redefined

  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

  Chapter 19

  Epilogue Part One

  Epilogue Part Two

  Sneak Peek - Love Reclaimed (Chapter One)

  Sneak Peek - Love Reclaimed (Chapter 2)

  Sneak Peek - Love Reclaimed (Chapter 3)

  Afterword

  Also by Delancey Stewart

  Love Redefined

  Kings Grove - Book Three

  by Delancey Stewart

  Copyright © 2018 Delancey Stewart

  All rights reserved.

  LOVE REDEFINED by Delancey Stewart

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States of America.

  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  LOVE REDEFINED is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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  ISBN-978-0-9963421-9-3

  Chapter 1

  Chance

  “Wakey wakey!” I called, pushing through the back door into Sam’s house.

  No answer came from the bedroom down the hall, but that wasn’t unusual. Sam had developed an affinity for sleeping in, now that he and Miranda spent most nights together. Hell, if there was a gorgeous woman in my bed, I might never get out of it either.

  But that wasn’t the case. Hadn’t been for a long time.

  I bustled around in the kitchen, making coffee and stirring up batter for pancakes. I’d be lying if I said I was trying to be quiet.

  And I’m not a liar.

  I generally spent mornings at Sam’s house, even though my own house was about three hundred yards away and I had a modern and functional kitchen I liked very much. In fact, when Sam and I built our houses after the fire took our family’s old home, we spared no expense, and my kitchen here was nicer than most homes in the valley. It was nicer than Sam’s because my tastes were a little higher end. Sam was a quartz countertop kind of guy, but I chose concrete. He was happy with a Mr. Coffee, but I had a Dalla Corte home barista set up that made better espresso than most coffee shops.

  But Sam’s whole house felt more comfortable in some way I couldn’t put my finger on, and I preferred his place to the cold austere elegance of my own home.

  When the coffee pot was full and the sausages were sizzling, I heard movement down the hall and poked my head around the corner to see Miranda shuffle out of the bedroom, her hair sticking up in all directions and her glasses slightly askew. She wore loose pajama pants and a long-sleeved T-shirt, but the thing you noticed first about Miranda was her smile.

  “Morning, Chance,” she said, her voice thick with sleep as she grinned at me and got herself a cup of coffee. She settled into a chair at the end of the table as I finished up, and a few minutes later Sam appeared, looking far less adorable than his wife-to-be.

  “Dude,” he said, his grumpy demeanor settled firmly in place. “You have your own house. Why do you barge in here every weekend and make a bunch of noise at five o’clock in the morning?”

  “It’s after eight,” I informed him.

  “It’s not your house,” he said, picking up a sausage and sticking it in his mouth.

  “Who would cook for you guys if I didn’t come up?”

  “I have an idea,” Sam said, and I prepared myself for a sarcastic assault. “Why don’t you cook breakfast at your own house on that Viking stove you had to have, and then use your phone to invite us over?”

  I raised a shoulder and shot him a grin.

  “It’s fine, Sam,” Miranda said. “It’s nice having breakfast made for us. Chance is like our own personal chef.”

  “No, he’s like my own personal brother I can’t get rid of.”

  Sam might have had a point, actually. The thing was, I never planned to stay in Kings Grove, never wanted to. When I’d gone away to college, I wiped my hands of this place and never planned to come back, except maybe for the occasional holiday. And when I’d met Rebecca at grad school and she had accepted my proposal… Well, that sealed the deal.

  But if my life so far had taught me anything, it was that there was no value in making plans for yourself. The universe had some kind of twisted, screwed-up plan for each of us, and trying to point yourself in a different direction ended only in heartache. I’d had enough of that. If the universe wanted me in Kings Grove, living my life three hundred yards from my baby brother, that’s what I was going to do.

  And I couldn’t help it if my house felt lonely compared to the warmth Sam enjoyed here with Miranda.

  I was staying close. The universe intended it this way.

  “You’ll be happy to know I have a meeting today, and if all goes well, I’ll probably have to go down to the valley for a couple days this week or next,” I told Sam, making a plate of pancakes and sausage for myself and settling into my spot at the long table. “Developer is looking at bringing a high-end resort up here and I’m going to go charm his pants off.”

  “Why do you want his pants off?” Sam asked.

  I threw a pancake at him. “You know what I mean.”

  “Do we need a high-end resort up here?” Miranda asked, smoothing her hair back into a ponytail. “What about the Inn?”

  “Not sure yet,” I said. “Maybe we expand the Inn, maybe we replace it. Maybe both properties serve slightly different audiences. I’m not sure if Annette and Joe want to keep the Inn going anyway.” Annette and Joe Piper had been running the Kings Grove Inn for decades, and were in their seventies. I had a strong feeling they might be looking for an exit strategy, especially since Joe Piper had been sick.

  “Anyway, thanks for breakfast,” I said, taking my plate to the sink. “I’ll see you guys later on. Stay out of trouble.” I kissed Miranda on the cheek, stuck a hand into Sam’s hair and rubbed it around, and was out the door before he could shout at me.

  I walked back to my own house, the clean clear air filling my lungs as the endless blue sky of the Sierra Nevada stretched cloudless over my head. Summer was mild and beautiful, and fall was shaping up to be cool and crisp. Anyone would look around here and feel lucky to be alive, lucky to be in such a magical place.

  Anyone but me. I opened the door to my darkened house and felt my energy sink. Back at home. Back in my quiet, perfect, empty home.

  An hour later, I parked the truck in front of the Palmer Construction office. I glanced over at the main parking lot, surrounded by the central buildings of the village’s downtown. There were plenty of cars parked around, good news for local businesses that depended on tourists in the warmer months to keep themselves going the rest of the year.

  There were little groups of hikers clustered on the sidewalks in front of the ranger’s station and the diner, and the lot in front of the Inn was packed. Kings Grove was pumping. It was perfect, considering I was trying to sell this developer on the place being busy enough to support a high-end property.

  I got out of the truc
k and looked around the for guy I was supposed to be meeting. He didn’t seem to have made it up the hill yet, so I unlocked the office and pushed open the door to wait inside.

  My office usually needed some tidying up, so I forced myself to get to work doing that until the guy appeared. The bell over the door rang after a few minutes and I stepped into my doorway, confused to find a tall woman with dark wavy hair entering the lobby. She was pretty—not just pretty, actually. She was striking, and as she pushed aviator shades back into her hair, a little jolt went through me, unbidden. I might have been staring.

  “Hello?” She said in a voice low and resonant with just a touch of sandpaper in it. “Hey, are you Chance?”

  I stepped fully into the lobby feeling a little bit off balance. I’d been expecting a man, a guy named Mike Grayson. This woman was clearly lost, but as she stood there with dark eyes holding my gaze and a little flush on her cheeks, I found myself wanting to keep her here for a minute. Or longer, if possible.

  “Guilty,” I said, smiling wide. “Can I help you with something?”

  The woman gave me an evaluative look and shifted her weight. She wore dark jeans and boots with a low heel, and a tank top that was professional, but also revealed a figure that was both fit and curvy. Her arms were toned and defined, and for a second I thought I might ask about her workout regime. She clearly had the arm workout dialed in, and I’d been slacking a bit lately.

  “We had a meeting this morning?” She sounded the tiniest bit annoyed.

  Confusion made my smile slip a touch. “I do have a meeting this morning,” I agreed. “With a guy named Mike.”

  “With a girl named Mike, actually.” She sighed and reached out to shake my hand, and I got the sense she’d had this conversation many times. “Michaela Grayson,” she said.

  I took her hand, impressed by her firm grip and soft skin. Her eyes never left mine, and something in my chest warmed uncomfortably. “Okay, well.” I was strangely off guard, and stepped back for a minute to compose myself. “Sorry, I just…”

  “You thought you were going to be doing business with a man. I get it. The owner of McLaren, my boss, likes to throw me off balance, so he does this all the time—sets up meetings without mentioning my full name. I’m sorry if you feel you’ve been misled, but I assure you, I am every bit as capable as I would be if I were in possession of a penis.”

  I processed this statement, amusement making me smile even though she was clearly irritated.

  She pulled her phone from her bag and checked the screen quickly before shoving it back in. “Look, Mr. Palmer, it was a long drive getting up here, and I’m pretty sure we’re barking up the wrong tree anyway, which is what I told my boss. You must be pretty damned charming though, because he insisted I come up here to see the place. So can we just get this done? I need to get back down to the valley before three.”

  “Sure,” I said, regaining my composure. Her terse attitude struck a chord inside me—she was going to be a challenge.

  I liked a challenge. No, actually, I loved a challenge, and there’d never been a woman in the history of women that I couldn’t charm. I grinned at her, realizing my day had just improved considerably. Spending it with Michaela would be immeasurably more pleasant than trying to sell some guy named Mike on Kings Grove. “Would you like to start with the numbers or the tour?” I asked.

  She narrowed her eyes. “You can drop the charm,” she said. “Let’s go look at the property that’s here now. I’m pretty sure we won’t need to go much further than that. You can email the numbers if I think I’ll need them.”

  Challenge accepted.

  “Let’s go,” I said, waving toward the door. I followed her back out into the parking lot, suddenly much more invested in convincing her of the merits of this deal than I’d been before. As we walked toward the sidewalk leading through the center of Kings Grove, I realized I was interested in a deal with Michaela’s company, but it was more than that.

  For the first time in a long time, I was interested in the woman representing it. I was interested in her.

  Chapter 2

  Michaela

  Just a quick drive up the hill, he said. In and out, he said. A couple hours at most.

  “Mom, I think I’m on the road to nowhere. It just winds around and around and never ends.” My knuckles were turning white on the steering wheel as I gripped it hard, concentrating around the hairpin turns up the side of a mountain and my frustration growing with every mile.

  “Don’t worry, honey. If you can’t get back in time, I’ll pick up Finn. I know your work is very important.”

  “Thanks.” I’d let her get my son from school if I had to, but I didn’t like springing surprises on him, and I hadn’t told him I would be late. “I’ll do my best to be back in time, but I don’t think Harvey actually had the first clue where this place was when he sent me up here.” Harvey clearly had no idea where exactly Kings Grove was located. “It might be a great place for the next McLaren resort, but if I’d known it was this far I would planned better.” That’s what I got for not mapping the drive until I was already halfway there.

  “I think you should just relax and try to enjoy it. I’m sure it’s lovely in the mountains.” Mom was always too optimistic for my tastes. My life didn’t usually warrant a heck of a lot of optimism.

  “It’s work, Mom. I just need to check the place out and then I’m heading right back home. I hate being more than a half hour away from Finn.”

  “I’ll get him, Michaela.” I could hear my mother losing patience. This was the story of our relationship, though. I worried and she didn’t. My life went repeatedly off the rails, and hers had been a fairytale until Dad died. Even that hadn’t turned her bitter.

  “Okay. I’ll call you if I’m going to be late.”

  “Good. Now concentrate on driving. I love you, darling girl.”

  “Love you too, Mom.” I switched off the hands-free phone and returned to my audio book. I wasn’t really following the story, but I couldn’t stand silence. I needed something to fill the void inside the little car as I wound it up the mountainside.

  When I finally arrived in Kings Grove, parking in front of a ranger station and stepping out to stretch, it felt a bit like I’d been transported to another world. It was hard to believe this place was as close to civilization as it was, actually. It was beautiful—crisp, clear air, soaring evergreens, and a feeling that time moved just a little more slowly.

  When I found the Palmer Construction office, I realized that besides not mentioning the length of the drive to Kings Grove, Harvey had also not prepared me for meeting Chance Palmer. But then he wouldn’t have. Harvey wasn’t exactly invested in my success at McLaren. Not now, anyway.

  “Palmer seems like a nice guy,” he’d said in that cold, hard voice. “He stopped into the office, suggested we check out the Inn, someplace called Kings Grove. Said it’d be a good fit and is ripe for a buyer like McLaren.”

  Maybe Chance was a nice guy. I shouldn’t blame Harvey for not mentioning Chance’s magnetic smile, or the impression he made walking into a space with those broad shoulders, expressive almost-gray eyes and ridiculously perfect hair. I couldn’t blame Harvey for not sitting me down to say, “Now Michaela, you’ll have to be alert with this one. He’s devastatingly handsome, and you know you’ve had trouble with ridiculously handsome men before. Keep your guard up, kid.” I couldn’t blame Harvey for not mentioning Chance looked like a superhero incarnate.

  No, just because Harvey had once been a father figure to me did not make him my father. And it wasn’t his job to try to save me from my own horrible choices when it came to men. Maybe it was part of his plan for me to make yet another horrible choice and ruin everything in my life that hung so tenuously by a thread. It would certainly make his own life easier if I opened the door for him to let me go.

  Still, my last horrible choice in men gave me my son Finn, so I couldn’t be too sorry. Speaking of which, I was a bit worried what t
hat last horrible choice might be up to. He’d recently been released from prison and had called a couple times, wanting to see Finn. He’d suggested a visit this weekend, which I’d refused—I was not ready to see Jeff—I’d braced myself all weekend for him to show up, pound on my door, to call incessantly. And since he was Harvey’s son, it was only a matter of time before I’d have to face him again, at work if not at home. My arm hurt just at the thought of the last time I’d seen him. The cast had come off years ago now, but the pain in my chest—the hole that had ripped open when I’d realized exactly what he was capable of—that still hadn’t healed.

  Since Jeff was out and unpredictable at best, I couldn’t let this meeting drag out any longer than necessary. As long as I was up here and Finn was in the valley, I was going to be worried, although Harvey assured me my ex was “rehabilitated.” No matter how much Jeff told me he was sorry and ready to be a dad.

  And it also didn’t matter how nice Chance Palmer’s butt looked in the khaki slacks he was wearing as he walked slightly ahead of me back toward the big parking lot that stood in what appeared to be the center of Kings Grove.

  “This is the main hub of town,” Chance said, his smooth low voice rolling on the clear warm summer air. He stopped on the sidewalk just past what appeared to be a diner, and we gazed out at a sprawling green meadow that sat beyond it.

  “I can see the brochure now,” I said. “Come to Kings Grove. We have a big parking lot.”

  Chance didn’t seem hurt by my jab at all, in fact he laughed merrily. “I can see why they don’t put you in marketing,” he said.

  I bristled at the way every nerve in my body seemed to want to respond to this man, and consciously fought against it. His confidence told me he was used to women responding this way to him, too, which made want to resist the urge to grin up at him even more.