No Cooldown for Love (Rock Falls), page 1
Table of Contents
Content Warning
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Discover more romance from Entangled… Catch and Release Groom
The (ex) Spy Who (maybe) Loved Me
The Firefighter’s Dilemma
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2023 by Aliyah Burke. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.
Entangled Publishing, LLC
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Amara is an imprint of Entangled Publishing, LLC.
Edited by Erin Molta
Cover design by LJ Anderson/Mayhem Cover Creations
ISBN 978-1-64937-597-1
Manufactured in the United States of America
First Edition June 2023
At Entangled, we want our readers to be well-informed. If you would like to know if this book contains any elements that might be of concern for you, please check the book’s webpage for details.
https://entangledpublishing.com/books/no-cooldown-for-love
To Opal,
I miss you more every single day. Tally Ho! Run free, my sweet girl.
Chapter One
Mitchell Anderson walked around his kitchen as his two best friends in the world moved through their usual reactions to his latest announcement of his ex-wife’s antics. Tully Faulkner, ex-professional hockey player, and Linc Conner, ex-professional baseball player. The best two friends he could ever have and part of the reason he no longer lost his shit when dealing with The Viper.
That and meditation.
“Let me get this straight,” Tully said as he pulled out a massive amount of food from the refrigerator to begin assembling a sandwich. “According to The Viper, you’re a fucking bastard because you divorced her—due to her infidelity—but also because you won’t give her any more money? That about right?”
Mitchell leaned on the marble countertop with a nod. “You got it. My fault because I don’t understand what it was like for her.” A self-deprecating laugh escaped. “Years I was married to her, loved her, and it was hard for her.”
“Fuck her,” Linc snapped. “She should be happy she wasn’t dragged through the mud for all the whoring around she did.”
Mitchell joined his friends in making a sandwich. “No, no, Linc. That was her supporting my career.”
Like she stood in the room with him, he could see her plain as day and hear the voice he’d once believed he loved. Only now, it was akin to rusted nails being ripped over his skin. Like she was using an ancient, unkempt Shuko on him.
The room quieted as if he’d stepped into a vacuum. Hell, even the air around him got colder. Perfectly coifed hair. A skintight dress which didn’t leave anything to the imagination. And the six-carat oval diamond set he’d given her. But it had been her eyes that cut deep.
They’d been hungry. Not for him, he’d learned, but for the money he could give her. Back when he’d been foolish and in love, he’d believed that unquenchable desire had been for him.
Fingers snapped before his face, yanking him off the road his memory had reluctantly dragged him down.
He blinked. “What?”
Linc scowled. “Lost you for a moment.”
Mitchell groaned and leaned over the counter, pressing his cheek into the cold marble. “She’s in my head. All the damn time, and if it’s not her, it’s my mother.”
Tully slid a plate toward him piled high with a sandwich, followed by a bag of chips. The man scratched his chin, muscles flexing in his arm.
“Look, we all know she turned sleeping with teammates and other players into a profession. But you’ve gotten away from her. Yes, it sucks that she did that to you. Made you look like an ass.”
He bolted up. “Wait a minute. An ass? I was a fool, sure, but how the fuck does her cheating on me for years make me look like an ass?”
The men looked at each other before glaring at him. “Because you ignored us. Ergo, you’re an ass.” Linc shrugged as he picked up his sandwich and took a bite.
“There are days I hate you fuckers.”
Tully gestured to his body. “Liar, you love all this.”
Mitchell snorted. “Not that much.”
Both stopped and watched Linc put away his sandwich like it had been nothing more than a tiny appetizer.
“Jesus, man. Don’t you eat anymore?”
Linc wiped his hands off after demolishing his sandwich, then raked his fingers through his hair. “Unlike some of us in this room, I worked up an appetite last night.” A smirk. “And again this morning. And about sixty minutes before I came here.”
“Don’t make him jealous, Linc,” Tully said, taking a large bite. “He’s not getting any.”
That was the truth. He wasn’t, and after The Viper, it was the last thing he was looking for. He looked at a woman and pictured his ex-wife.
Shawnee Deveraux.
He breathed out slowly and realized the high-pitched squalling that had made him cringe was only in his head. Even though it sounded as if the woman stood in the room with him.
Slow breathing.
Stay calm.
She wasn’t here. They weren’t even in the same state and he would do well to remember that.
His friends watched him but didn’t say a damn word while he regained control. “I have no use for a woman right now. I’m still trying to get rid of the last one. Who, according to the screeching voicemail she left, and my mother’s subsequent calls, claims her life was hard as my wife and I will never know what it was like for her.”
What a crock of shit.
He sure as hell knew what it had been like for her. Unlimited money at her fingertips for whatever she wanted. Which was why she was determined to keep her claws in him. She hadn’t realized what her infidelity would net her. Loss of her god—which was money. The other men she’d fucked had seen her as nothing more than a quick lay. They hadn’t wanted to marry her and give her access like he had.
Bastards had been far smarter than him.
With a deep breath, he faced the window and focused on the fat snowflakes falling faster to the ground. His sandwich sat by his hand, forgotten.
Right now, he needed a meditation session. A long one. Dealing with that woman drained him and not in a good way.
“I’m curious,” Tully said, leaning over the wide island and dragging Mitchell’s plate closer to him. “What more is she thinking to get? She’s already taken half of what you got for playing ball. No offense, but she’s lucky you gave her that, all things considered. That’s enough. The two of you are divorced.”
Thank God.
“I know we are, and trust me, had I listened to you two and not married her in the first place, I would have even more money. And no battle scars.”
Because damn, those scars were deep.
“She still thinks she gets Inicio, or rather proceeds from it?” Linc popped open a soda and drained nearly half before reaching for Mitchell’s chips. “Because that’s not in your name.”
“She feels that I withheld it from her and because it’s computer things and ‘big money’ she should get part. She’s going to the papers, which means people are after me about interviews and I’m not doing them. I’ll only do one when I finally take the company back from you two and am ready to make my announcement.”
Linc muttered something entirely unflattering about her before he demolished the bag of chips. Mitchell didn’t argue. He agreed with his friends. That woman, well, she wasn’t worth a damn in his mind.
“And since I’ve paid her a shit ton, she can afford a lot of expensive lawyers.”
Tully wiped some mustard from the corner of his mouth and belched. “Sounds to me like they’re expecting a big payout when she wins.” He smirked. “Which she won’t.”
“She’s not wrong, Inicio is making a lot of money.” Linc again.
And dammit. It was his money. Two more months. That was it. Then the company would officially be returned to him and he wouldn’t have to worry that his ex-wife could get her hooks in his profits. His legal team had suggested waiting a certain amount of time before putting it in his name and he wasn’t going to ignore that advice.<
“Not my money.” He looked around the kitchen, one of the few rooms in the house that was finished.
Thankfully, he’d had the foresight to put everything in his best friends’ names. Also, he was blessed to have Tully and Linc who he could trust with such a favor.
“No, it’s not.” Linc went to the fridge and opened it.
“Christ, do you have a fucking tapeworm?”
“Told you. Hungry.” Linc rooted around before pulling out some leftover pasta.
“She’s complaining that I want her to suffer because of, how did she put it? Oh yeah, that one little indiscretion. It’s purely that I’m spiteful.”
“She start crying?” Tully’s words were drenched in disgust.
Mitchell put his back to the sprawling view of his backyard, currently covered in snowflakes. “Of course she did. And when that failed to stir a response, she went to anger.” He looked at his left hand, the tan line where he had worn his ring no longer visible. “Then she began chucking things.”
“Hope she knows you’re not replacing anything she broke. None of us are.”
“That woman, Tully, I don’t know anymore.”
He swallowed his snort.
One.
Little.
Indiscretion.
Like hell.
“Meaning?”
He stared at the ex-hockey player who, with Linc, was polishing off the leftover pasta.
“The fact that she is trying to lump all of the men she cheated on me with into one is fucking hilarious. If that’s what she called fucking some—and that is estimating lightly—of my teammates, not to mention the multiple men from rival teams.”
Slow, deep breathing.
“I told her we have attorneys for a reason. Use mine. Don’t call me again. Then I hung up on her.”
Linc watched him, black eyes unflinching as he held a fork in his mouth. “And your temper?”
“I didn’t lose it.” A shrug. “Not completely.” He returned to the large island and braced his hands on it. “I wanted to rage and call her more names than books in the Bible.”
They nodded.
He smacked a hand on the counter. “I want a medal. I deserve sainthood. Actually, I’d be good with a fucking cookie.”
Like a large one, right out of the oven so the chocolate chips were still gooey and warm. Not that it had to be chocolate chip. He would be happy with any type of cookie.
Great. Now he wanted a cookie. And he didn’t have any in the house.
“Dammit!”
Linc smirked. “He doesn’t have any cookies in the house.”
“Fuck off,” he snarled. “I don’t have a woman who loves me, baking me sweets like you two do.” He held up a hand to hold off their next words. “I don’t want one, either. Bad enough The Viper is going to drive me to change my number.”
Both their phones rang and he knew their women were calling them. They glanced at him and waited, eyebrows up. He waved them on, not wanting to interrupt any more of their time with family. Especially with it being the lull between Christmas and New Year’s.
He had no use for relationships now, but he was thrilled for his friends. It hadn’t escaped his notice that the women they had fallen for were nothing like The Viper he’d married. The woman his mom had pushed him toward. Had approved of.
Shawnee had been the perfect WAG. Wore the perfect clothing, never a hair out of place. A size double zero. She’d loved the power that came with being married to one of the hottest players in the NBA. He snorted. The only reason she’d stayed with him when they’d first gotten together was because she could see his potential. And he was fairly certain she would have dumped him with remarkable swiftness if he’d not rocketed up the fame ladder.
It wasn’t a world he wanted part of anymore. She’d sucked the joy out of it for him.
All he wanted to do was run his company, Inicio, and develop video games. Play the occasional pickup game and help out at his buddy Linc’s community center. Somewhere down the road, perhaps he’d take the risk and put his heart on the line again. Maybe.
“Go,” he instructed. “Go home to your families.” He took their dishes and put them in the dishwasher. “I need a change of scenery.”
He really did. Snow fell from the sky, fast and heavy. It didn’t matter, he needed to get away.
“I’m heading out. You two keep an eye on the place for me.”
They stood in front of him, expressions serious.
“You going to be okay, man?”
Forcing a smile he didn’t feel, Mitchell nodded. “I will be. First, I’m going to get myself a goddamn cookie. Then I’m going to get out of town for a while. Avoid my mother and, well, take a breather. I’m going to be gone for a few weeks. At least.”
They nodded in understanding. After hugging both, he walked them out to the front porch.
“You call us if you need anything.” Tully walked backward until he hit the bumper of his fiancée Dawson’s Acadia. “Don’t be a prat like that one and go it alone purely because you think you need to.”
Linc flipped Tully off but didn’t disagree. Mitchell waited on the porch until they both drove off, Tully in the SUV and Linc in his jacked-up truck.
Back inside, he packed for a few weeks away. After tossing two bags in the back of his SUV, Mitchell jogged back inside. He started the engine from the kitchen as he made sure the house was good to leave, even though for a year or so now it had been in a state of reconstruction.
His mother, Vera, called as he got in his vehicle. He declined her call and drove away from Rock Falls. He knew the reason she was calling. She had reached out with tears and a fake simper which had gotten his mother on her side. Not that it truly mattered. His mother had always thought Shawnee was perfect. He was the fuckup, not his cheating, money-hungry ex.
…
Two weeks, four days and numerous ignored calls from both his mother and his ex-wife later, he was on his way home from a vacation in Canada. He’d gone to visit a friend, an ex-NBA player who was now one of the stars of the Canadian Elite Basketball League—the CEBL. It had been great to play the game with friends and enjoy himself, his phone shut off and ignored other than when he’d checked in with Linc and Tully.
The mountains were damn near impassable. The narrow two-lane roads were covered by heavy, wet snow and smart people weren’t out. Explained why he was on the road. He snorted and shook his head. The driving was slow so he was taking his time. The trip had been worth it, even given the current conditions.
All those years in California and he still considered himself a New Englander and there were some things that were a given. Driving in shitty snow was one. Part of the reason he had climbed into this vehicle when he left Rock Falls instead of his sports car.
Slowing around another curve, he tapped the brakes as he saw a car upside down, headlights pointing into the woods, angled unsteadily as it hovered off the road, ready to slide out of sight.
He touched his call button and dialed emergency services. When they answered, he didn’t waste time. “I’m on Route 5 heading toward Darnell, about twenty-five miles from Wiltshire, and there’s an overturned car. Off the road, but you’re going to want to send a tow when you can.”
Mitchell parked the SUV, leaving it running as he put in his earbuds. No way the person, or people, in that car would survive the night. The back end of the vehicle was smashed in, as was the front. The snow had increased and he realized even he wasn’t going to make it home—so-called expert New England driver or not.
“I’m checking to see about the passengers.” Hazards on, he climbed out, shivering from the biting wind and wet snow.
“Sir, you need to stay in—”
Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen. He hung up and slid to where the car hovered.
“Anyone hear me?”
“Help.” A woman’s low drawling voice reached him.
He slogged through the deep snow. “Are you the only one in here?”
“Yes. My leg’s pinned.” A slight wobble in her voice but she’d not succumbed to hysterics.
Moving with caution, he got to the driver’s side. He crouched to peer in the window. Mitchell opened the door and swore it was colder in the car than out.
“Name’s Mitchell. Which leg is pinned?”
