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Prologue
“That was one crazy wedding, wasn’t it?”
Heather Davis turned from where she was sitting at the bar after her boss, Lily Bloom, married Zane Wolfe. The hot guy chatting her up was in half a tux at this point. Luke Remington had been the best man and was in the Army, only here on leave. His tux jacket, vest and tie were off, the white shirt unbuttoned a few and her mouth was watering more than it had been as she eyed him all night.
His short military cut. Dark eyes that didn’t let you see much of what he was thinking. A charming grin coming her way.
Cool and relaxed was the impression she’d gotten. Cocky too.
Not someone that was her type, or she’d ever talked to, let alone would consider flirting with.
That was her past life though. The one she had in Mystic now was who she was trying to be.
“It was,” she said. “You seemed to be having fun. How long are you in town for?”
“Just a few more days,” Luke said. “I’m staying right here at this hotel.”
“You’re on leave or something? Don’t you get a lot of time off for that?”
She didn’t know much about the service or how time like that worked. “I am. Just another week, but I’ll travel some and then go back.”
“No family to visit?” she asked.
Most of the wedding party was long gone. She’d be getting a new roommate tomorrow. Daisy Jones was recently hired as Rose’s assistant and was going to be living with her.
The few months living alone hadn’t been all it was cracked up to be and she was starting to get lonely.
Heather hadn’t been employed at Blossoms that long, but she’d needed a place to stay and since Poppy moved in with her fiancé, Reese, and was going to sell her condo, she asked if she could rent it out instead. It’d been tight moneywise, but with a roommate soon, life would be smoother sailing.
“No,” he said quickly and held his hand up to the bartender to get another beer. She’d had more wine than she should have, but she wasn’t drunk. Not unless she considered it drunk with happiness over having the time of her life at this wedding.
Heather never felt as if she fit in all that much in her family. Two older brothers that protected her and made her feel as if she couldn’t do much on her own.
Her parents thought she was a disappointment in her career because they wanted her to be a doctor after she went into science. She never had any desire to go into medicine like they hoped.
She’d let herself be talked into doing research, maybe finding cures or saving the world from something. That job didn’t last all that long either because she was miserable letting others make decisions in her life.
She had to remind herself more often than not that her Grandmother Jane, who’d cultivated her love of gardening, also told her repeatedly to be selfish and find what made her happy, not anyone else.
Her grandmother had passed while Heather was in college and never got to see her graduate. It’d been a handful of years now, and once her grief settled, she decided to listen to that advice regardless of her mother telling her she was being foolish.
She was working on fragrances and formulas for healing and relaxing properties for Blossoms and loved how she could blend her education with a love of gardening she’d developed as a kid.
“I don’t blame you. I love my family and all, but I’m glad they are there and I’m here.”
“Where is there?” he asked her.
“Concord, New Hampshire,” she said. “What about you?”
“The not so nice side of Baltimore. Too many places to count. So yeah, not the same thing.”
She looked him over again. His tall build, she was guessing six foot two, which was much bigger than her five foot four. He probably had a hundred pounds on her easily too. His brown hair and eyes, close-cut hair, and five o’clock shadow.
He looked dangerous to her, and she figured it came from being in the service, but now she was guessing it might have been part of his upbringing too. He didn’t look like the guy that would tell you any of that though.
“No,” she said. “I don’t care where someone came from. I only care about the here and now.”
He laughed at her. He’d laughed a lot tonight. He talked to people and mingled and her eyes were always going to him. She couldn’t help it and she wasn’t alone with her gaze.
