CHAPTER 1
DANIELLE
The first time I met Blake James, I was eighteen years old and handing out flyers at a school football game.
I didn’t know then that he would become my first love…
Or that five years later, I’d end up marrying him.
“Danielle, could you hand out these flyers to the visitors after the game?” Barbara fussed, pushing leaflets into my hands while her eyes darted around us. “Remember, cleaning, pressing,anything?—”
“I’ve got this, Barb. Leave it to me, and I’ll hand them out this side,” I promised my mother’s best friend, watching asshe hurried over to the other side of the school field to finish watching the game.
Pushing my hair behind my ears, I gathered the leaflets and forced a smile on my face as people started to leave the stands.
“What’s this?” a woman asked me, hooking a toddler over her hip as she peered at the leaflets.
“It’s a list of all the housekeeping services Barbara offers.” I smiled sweetly at the toddler who gazed at me through shining eyes.
“Does she babysit?” the woman asked hopefully.
“Uh, no.” I winced when the woman shoved the flyer back into my hands.
“No good to me then.”
Jeez.
Most people took the flyers from me to be polite, and I turned a blind eye when they dropped them in the trash.
Poor Barbara.
Her husband had left her—ran off to Vegas to ‘find himself’—leaving Barbara in heavy debt with a mortgage to pay. She had a job at a restaurant nearby, but she needed more money.
“Ugh, so not interested,” one girl huffed at me, shoving past me.
“Ooh, what’s this? I need a cleaner; do you have any references?” A woman scanned the flyer, as a striking guy hovered behind her, rolling his eyes.
“Yes!” I beamed, reeling off a list of jobs that Barbara had done locally, praying I was doing her a favor.
“Great. Can you come over for an interview?” The woman smiled, digging around in her purse as I frowned.
“Oh, I’m not the cleaner?—”
“Sorry?” The woman handed me a business card, shiny silver letters announcing that the woman in front of me was none other than Kayla James—wife of the billionaire Alec James.
I found my tongue, nodding my head at Mrs. James. “Barbaracan come for an interview whenever,” I responded, scanning the crowds for Barbara.
“Wonderful.”
I finally spotted Barbara, and I waved at her like a madwoman until she joined us, her eyes wide when she saw Mrs. James.
“This is Barbara, and Barbara, this is Mrs. James,” I introduced them, suddenly aware of eyes on me. I moved away then, continuing to hand out the flyers, praying that Barbara made the cut with Mrs. James. She would be made for life with a job like that.
“Hello.”
I whirled around to see the guy with Mrs. James gazing at me, his arms folded.
“Hi.” I smiled back, trying not to stare at his navy-blue eyes. I’d never seen eyes such a dark shade of blue before. He wore a loose-fitting tee-shirt over cut-off shorts, his dimples showing when he grinned at me.
