Kiss Me, page 1
part #1 of The Donovans Series Series
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Epilogue
More Donovans???
One
Also by Samantha Chase
About Samantha Chase
Copyright 2023 Samantha Chase
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All Rights Reserved.
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No part of this book, with the exception of brief quotations for book reviews or critical articles, may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Cover Design: Kari March Designs
Edits: Jillian Rivera
Praise for Samantha Chase
“If you can’t get enough of stories that get inside your heart and soul and stay there long after you’ve read the last page, then Samantha Chase is for you!”
-NY Times & USA Today Bestselling Author Melanie Shawn
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“A fun, flirty, sweet romance filled with romance and character growth and a perfect happily ever after.”
-NY Times & USA Today Bestselling Author Carly Phillips
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“Samantha Chase writes my kind of happily ever after!”
-NY Times & USA Today Bestselling Author Erin Nicholas
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“The openness between the lovers is refreshing, and their interactions are a balanced blend of sweet and spice. The planets may not have aligned, but the elements of this winning romance are definitely in sync.”
- Publishers Weekly, STARRED review
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“A true romantic delight, A Sky Full of Stars is one of the top gems of romance this year.”
- Night Owl Reviews, TOP PICK
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“Great writing, a winsome ensemble, and the perfect blend of heart and sass.”
- Publishers Weekly
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“Recommend Chase to fans of Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Well-written and uniquely appealing.”
- Booklist
Chapter One
“This cannot be my life.”
What was supposed to be a quick stop at home for lunch had turned into a nightmare. She needed to get back to work but there was no way that was going to happen right now.
And possibly not today at all.
Looking around, Marissa Barrett let out a loud sigh. The house was trashed; every drawer was open, every closet had stuff pulled out of it, and most of the valuables were gone. Heck, even the non-valuables were either gone or smashed into a million pieces on the floor. All the Precious Moments figurines her mother collected along with her worthless collection of commemorative plates were shattered all over the dining room.
She’d known something was up the moment she pulled into the driveway and saw the front door was ajar. Right now, she was the only one living in the house and she knew without a doubt that she’d not only closed the door this morning when she left for work, but locked it as well.
And for the first time in five years, she forgot all about getting back to the office on time and focused on the mess in front of her. It would be easy to text her boss and let him know what was going on, but he had gone out of town and wasn’t due back for two more days.
“So technically, he won’t know I’m late.” Feeling better that she’d come to grips with that, she let out a loud breath.
There were several cops walking around the inside of the house and several more outside. Everyone was talking and asking questions and taking pictures, but all Marissa could think about was how on earth she was going to get everything cleaned up. Somehow she was going to have to go back to work, clean this mess up, get a security system installed, and not have a total breakdown.
“Easy, right?” she murmured.
For several minutes, she didn’t move. Rage simmered inside of her and she wanted to shake her fist at the universe and demand to know why she’d been dealt such a shitty hand in life. She was hardworking and friendly; she volunteered and was nice to animals. So why was she surrounded by all this negativity?
“Because you can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your family.”
Yeah.
Her father had walked out years ago, her mother was an alcoholic who was currently in the hospital after suffering a stroke, and her brother was a criminal.
And he was also the prime suspect in this burglary.
She knew what he was looking for, but she was smart enough not to keep anything of real value here at the house. Besides that, there was never any cash around and all the important documents on insurance policies were kept at her office—along with her laptop, tablet, and anything else with personal information on it. No one knew she kept it there—not even her boss. Though it didn’t matter because Patrick Donovan didn’t care about anything but buying, selling, and managing real estate. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that if she brought in a six-foot tall file cabinet and told him it was her own personal thing, he’d simply shrug and go back to scrolling through local property listings.
She wished she could simply shrug and ignore what was going on in front of her right now.
The urge to take the day off to handle the mess was strong, but the right thing to do was to go to work and try to put in at least a couple of hours, call Patrick and let him know she had some personal business to attend to, and then find someone to come back here with her to clean up. Besides needing the help, she didn’t want to take a chance on her brother showing up and finding her here alone.
And man did it suck that she had to think like that.
What she wanted to do was simply pack her things and leave and say to hell with the house and this entire situation. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option. Three months ago–during one of her mother’s more lucid moments—she signed the house over to Marissa and made her the sole beneficiary on her life insurance. They both knew her brother was growing more and more out of control and he wasn’t even being coy about how he thought he deserved to have control over all their mother’s things.
And if she had to take a guess as to why everything in the house was literally upside down, she’d have to say that Daren was searching for not only money or anything he could sell but also any paperwork he could take and manipulate to try to get the control he was being denied.
“Oh, Mama…why didn’t you set him straight years ago?” she whispered. “Why do I need to keep cleaning up his mess?”
Again, all she wanted was to grab her things and go, but…while her mother might not have been the greatest mom in the world, she was battling an addiction and recovering from a stroke. Did she really want to heap more stress on her by leaving her to clean up this ransacked house when she got out of rehab?
If she got out of rehab…
Rubbing her temple, Marissa sighed loudly and knew she was only going to make herself crazy if she continued to stand here and obsess about all the ways her life was out of control. Walking around, she picked up the overturned kitchen chairs and then fixed the sofa cushions in the living room. Next, she straightened the blinds. Turning around, she faced the space again and shook her head.
“Baby steps,” she said wearily. As much as she wanted to dive in and start cleaning everything up, it was probably best for her to wait until the police officers were done looking around and making their report.
Sighing because she hated standing around feeling useless, she contemplated calling Patrick. In the last few months their relationship had gone from strictly business to a little more personal. He’d become a friend when she needed one the most. Marissa hated showing any kind of weakness, but when Patrick had found her crying one night at the office—and she was definitely there hiding out from her brother—he was her refuge. He’d sat and listened to her and then took her home, fed her dinner, and let her crash in his guest room. And it was exactly what she needed.
It still boggled her mind that her serious and broody and sometimes a total pain in the ass boss was the one who essentially pulled her out of a really dark situation. Although, she really shouldn’t be surprised. They worked well together and Patrick was a problem solver. So naturally, he took one look at her that night and figured out how he could help her.
Which was to get her to stop crying under her desk and get her someplace where she was safe and could relax.
For that one act alone, she’d be forever grateful.
Maybe I should call him…
No. It was far too chaotic in her house right now and as much as she would love a little reassurance that everything would be okay, he was undoubtedly busy and had more important things to do. He was a master at real estate negotiations and was on a mission to totally revamp the little town of Laurel Bay. She loved watching him work and had learned so much from him and her job had basically become a haven for her. They argued, they yelled at each other, and she knew there w
A happy person.
An intelligent person.
A successful person.
But more than anything, an appreciated person.
Yeah, the hours she spent at work took her away from living with two addicts who only cared about the money she brought home.
And she learned early on to only bring home a fraction of it.
She’d been saving and saving and saving, hoping to move out and have a life of her own but that dream kept moving further and further out of her grasp.
That didn’t stop her from dreaming, though.
The sound of her phone ringing had her heart jumping into her throat as she instantly panicked that it might be her brother calling her. But, when she glanced down and saw Patrick’s name, she forced herself to relax.
“Hey,” she said, making sure her voice was steady and confident. “How are things going up in Richmond?”
“Boring as hell,” he replied. “This conference is about as exciting as watching paint dry.”
“Then why are you still there?”
“Because I paid for it and I know if I leave, those last workshops will have information that I need.”
“Ah. FOMO.”
“Um…what?”
“FOMO—fear of missing out. I get it.”
“It’s not a fear…”
“Oh, please. It’s totally a fear,” she countered. “You’ve been at this conference for four days already. I’m pretty sure you could gauge what the rest of the workshops are going to be like.”
“Well, I can’t,” he admitted grumpily. “And besides, I’ve got several meetings set up for tonight and tomorrow so even if I wanted to leave, I couldn’t.”
“You could always move those meetings to Zoom calls,” she suggested as she logged into her computer. “I’m sure we could get them all scheduled in no time.”
Silence.
This was the game they played—he complains, she offers a solution, he goes quiet as he thinks about it, and then he tells her she is right and to set everything up.
“Maybe. I don’t know,” he said, but didn’t sound happy about it.
Normally he was the most decisive person she knew, so this was completely out of character for him.
“To be honest, I need this time away.”
And that was even more surprising.
“How come?”
“It’s nothing.”
With a quiet chuckle, Marissa fixed the sofa cushion and sat down. Patrick might say that it was nothing, but she knew him well enough to know that it was definitely something.
“You know you’ll feel better if you talk about it…”
He sighed loudly.
“Of course, if you’re too embarrassed to talk about it,” she goaded. “I mean…if it’s female troubles or something like that…”
“It’s not that,” he snapped. “Not really. It’s just…” Pausing again, he groaned. “Okay, you know my family, right?”
“Yes, Patrick. I know your family.” He was one of five kids, and they were all pretty awesome. His family owned the local pub and, as far as Marissa could tell, they were everything she wished her own family could be.
“Yeah, well…I just need a bit of a break from them. Between Arianna and Will’s wedding coming up, and Liam and Tessa’s not far behind…”
“Have Ryleigh and Ryker set a date?” she asked.
“Yup. And so did Jamie and Fallon.”
“Already?” she asked excitedly. “Oh, wow! That’s amazing!”
“Are you done?” he asked flatly.
Oh, right. None of this was probably exciting to him.
“I am. Sorry. Go on.”
“I’m very happy for all my siblings, but…they’re all a bit exhausting to be around right now. Plus…now that all four of her children are getting married, you know who my mother has set her sights on, right?”
“Already?” The small laugh was out before she could stop it. “I thought all the wedding hoopla would have bought you some time.”
“You and me both. So obviously, this conference is really helping my sanity.”
“Then you should definitely stay,” she told him. “And don’t worry. Things are quiet here so you have nothing to rush back for.”
“Captain!” one of the officers from outside called out. “We’ve got a situation out here!”
Marissa gasped as she got to her feet.
“Marissa?” Patrick asked, concern lacing his voice. “What’s going on? Is everything okay?”
“Um…” Following the officers outside, she listened in horror as they discussed how gasoline had been poured all along the perimeter of the house.
“It’s too dangerous for us to handle,” Officer Sloane stated. “We’ll need to get the fire department here.”
“I’ll call it in,” someone said.
“Marissa!” Patrick said, louder.
Honestly, she had no idea who to focus on first. “Um…hang on,” she told him before turning back to Officer Sloane. “What’s going on?”
“Whoever was here was definitely looking to do some damage.”
It annoyed the hell out of her that no one seemed to want to call her brother out on all of this, no matter how much proof she presented.
“But…” Honestly, Marissa had no idea what to even ask or say. Why pour gas all along the ground and then leave? And what good would burning the house do? Daren’s name wasn’t on anything; it had all been signed over to her.
“Ms. Barrett, does your mother have homeowner’s insurance?” he asked.
She nodded. “Actually, she recently signed everything over to me, so it’s all in my name.”
“Is your brother listed on the policy?”
Finally! Someone was listening!
“No,” she murmured. “But he used to be on her life insurance policy. She recently took him off, but he doesn’t know that.” Her heart kicked hard in her chest. “You don’t think he’d go to the hospital and…”
She felt dizzy and a little nauseated as everything started to spin. Officer Sloane gently guided her over to the front steps and helped her sit down. It was all too much and she swore someone was calling her name from somewhere. Looking around frantically it took several moments to realize she still had her phone in her hand and Patrick was calling out to her.
“Hey,” she said a little breathlessly. “Sorry.”
“What the hell is going on?” he demanded.
“Um…gas leak,” she lied. If she told him what was really going on, he’d leave the conference early and she’d hate to be the cause of that. “Yeah, so…”
“At the office? Are they evacuating the block?”
“Actually, no. I came home for lunch and this all just happened, so…I should go and deal with it.” She paused. “But…I might not make it back to the office today. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Marissa, you don’t have to ask. I completely trust you.”
And she knew he did.
“I appreciate you saying that, but I wouldn’t have felt right not going back without letting you know.”
“Are you sure this is just about the gas leak? Is everything else okay?”
Ugh…not even a little, but there was no way she would share that with him.
“Everything is fine,” she lied. “But I really should go and see what’s going on with all of this.”
He didn’t say anything right away.
“Was there anything you needed me to take care of today?” she asked. “Because I can go back to the office once everything calms down here.”
“Dan Miller is supposed to drop off a set of keys for a place I’m going to be selling for him. It’s a fishing cabin that’s been in his family for something like forty years. He’s not using it anymore because he’s moving to Maryland and asked me to handle the sale.”
