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“Are you ready?”
I took a deep breath. “As I’ll ever be.”
I felt his hands at the back of my head as he pulled off the blindfold.
I slowly blinked my eyes open. The light hurt a little because I’d been in the dark for so long.
“Ta-da,” Liam said with a grin.
I looked around. “Where are we?”
“A tattoo shop.”
“That’s why I recognized the smell.”
“And that’s why I told you to wear a tank top.” He reached over the counter and grabbed a pair of black gloves. “We’re finally going to finish your tattoo.”
Without warning, a tear ran down my cheek, and Liam’s eyes went wide.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “We don’t have to do it. But I want you to know, I have been practicing. I wouldn’t have brought you here if I had an unsteady hand.”
I wiped under my eye. “I know. I’m not sad. I’m happy.”
He shook his head and laughed. “Whew. You had me worried there for a minute.”
“Sorry.”
“So, are we going to do this?”
I pushed the strap of my camisole down. “Hell yes.”
He leaned forward and kissed me. “Happy birthday, Chloe.”
I kissed him back. “Thank you for giving me the best birthday ever.”
MEANT TO BE SAMPLE
CHAPTER ONE
Piper closed the lid of her laptop and rubbed her temples. The pounding in her head matched the pounding of the hammer outside. She reached for the bottle of ibuprofen that had taken up permanent residence on her desk and shook out four tablets.
After Jordan’s death, she had thrown herself into her work, but lately, it hadn’t been bringing the same fulfillment. She still loved her job. She was a women’s advocate at a women’s and children’s abuse shelter, and she would always find satisfaction in helping women or children get away from their abusive spouses or parents.
But she had slowly begun to realize that it couldn’t be her only source of happiness like it had been for the last thirteen months. She’d been exploring jobs for one of her clients today, despite it being Saturday, and even though she enjoyed doing research, a headache hadn’t taken too long to make its appearance.
Piper heard shouting coming from her backyard and pushed her feet into the carpet so that her desk chair rolled back and she could look out the back window. She couldn’t make out the words, but it was obvious that Nate was arguing with Luke about something. He shook his bald head along with the hammer in his hand, as if trying to make a point, and Piper found herself smiling. The two of them were both alphas and often butted heads about what should and what should not be done.
She scanned the backyard. The veranda was coming along somewhat slowly but nicely, and it would be done before fall. She was excited to see the conclusion, but it also brought a deep longing to the surface.
Jordan should have been the one outside, working with Nate. It had been Jordan’s idea in the first place. When they had purchased the house, everything had been perfect, except for the backyard. Jordan had promised her he was going to make it the best yard on the block for their future children, and all the neighborhood kids would want to come over to their house to play.
They’d moved into their home in January, and it had been too cold to start a big project. But, four months later, Jordan was dead, the supplies he had purchased to start on the project a reminder that he was gone.
They’d sat in the garage for almost a year when Piper decided they needed to go. When she’d asked Nate if he wanted any of it, he had proposed to finish what Jordan had barely started. She’d tried to tell him not to bother. After all, there wouldn’t be any children to play back there now, but Nate had insisted.
She didn’t know what had transpired between Nate and Jordan while they sat in the wrecked car, waiting for the first responders to show before Jordan passed, but she suspected that her late husband had made Nate promise to take care of her.
Nate was always available when she needed him. He’d fixed her broken sink and helped her winterize her car and other things like that. She honestly didn’t know what she’d do without him. In a way, he’d become her new husband—if you could count someone who lived in a different house and slept with other women while you were abstinent your husband. So, he might not have become her replacement spouse, but he had definitely become her best friend.
