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Chapter One
Haley
Only a few more minutes left in my shift at the library, then I could close up for the night and my holiday vacation would begin. A stack of romance novels two-dozen-deep sat beside my elbow on the desk. My duffel bag was packed, resting on the floor by my feet.
After my shift, my brother, Chase, would pick me up and we would head to the Wyoming-Colorado border where the Talbot family cabin was nestled in a cozy little patch of woods. The rest of the family was already there by now - cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents, all packed into one building.
It was overwhelming to be around that many people, especially that much family, for two weeks straight, all trundling around in the same cabin together like little ants. But it was a Talbot tradition, and while it might tax my patience sometimes, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.
The only thing I really wasn’t looking forward to was the prying questions about my love life. At twenty-one years old, I’d never been kissed, never had a boyfriend, never went on a date. For someone like me who had been devouring romance novels since I was ten years old, I was more than ready to have a love story of my own.
And seeing my best friend, Anna Porter, at the holiday bazaar earlier this week, clearly falling in love with her next door neighbor, Nick Marsden, made me feel even more left out.
I fiddled with my phone, mindlessly swiping through the dating app I’d downloaded a few days ago. I’d always dreamed I would stumble upon the love of my life in a bookstore or at a coffee shop and we would instantly bond over our favorite books. We would flirt shyly for a few minutes, exchange phone numbers, and be married within a year or two.
It hadn’t happened. And I was tired of waiting around. I needed to put some elbow grease into this whole dating thing.
But I was shy and quiet and life seemed so much easier to manage when it was happening between the pages of a book rather than playing out right in front of me. So I swiped through one dating profile after another and nothing had truly clicked yet.
Maybe I was overthinking it and I should just pick one…
“Texting a boy?”
I jumped as my brother peeked over my shoulder with a shit-eating grin. I’d been too preoccupied with finding a potential date to hear him sneaking behind the front desk. For a twenty-six year old man, he acted like a child sometimes with the way he teased me so relentlessly.
I shoved my phone into the back pocket of my jeans.
“None of your business. I thought you were going to wait for me in the parking lot?”
Chase gestured to the deserted library. With the holidays just around the corner, most people were already traveling to see family.
“Are you saying you’re so busy with the crowds of people clamoring for your attention that you can’t make time to visit with your big brother?”
I wrinkled my nose at him. He leaned against the desk and folded his arms.
“Besides, it’s cold out there,” he added.
From the corner of my eye, I spotted a figure entering through the library door. Hoping it was a patron who could distract me from my brother, I turned my attention toward them.
And my heart surged up my throat.
Theo Greely was my brother’s best friend since high school. With a mop of chestnut curls, pale gray eyes, and a laid back charm, he’d had a flurry of girls trailing after him for as long as I’d known him.
I remember the first time I met him. I’d been eleven years old at the time, too shy to speak two words together, with my nose buried in a book full of roguish dukes and damsels in distress. Theo had winked in my direction and called me an adorable little bookworm.
It came as no surprise that I developed a massive crush on him after that. But I never breathed a word of it to another living soul.
“Slight change of plans,” Chase said as Theo approached the front desk. “Theo will be taking us up to the cabin.”
My gaze snapped over to my brother.
“You’re not…driving?”
“My car broke down an hour ago. And Theo will be alone during the holidays. So I invited him to come along.”
Oh. Oh no, this was not good. How was I supposed to function like a normal human being with Theo living under the same roof as me for two whole weeks?
“What about your family?” I asked Theo.
