After Hurricane Nina, Reed's Resolution (Hot Hunks-Steamy Romance Collection Book 1)
Copyright 2019 Natalie Ann
All Rights Reserved
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without a written consent.
Author’s Note
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Resolution: To be the man he used to be. To find a way to be happy once again.
Reed Chapman thought he had the perfect life. A beautiful fiancée and a successful business. When tragedy struck, his perfect world imploded like the Titanic hitting the iceberg, making him realize his life had been anything but wonderful. Though his business is still thriving, his personal life and outlook on women are still sinking deep to the ocean floor with no life vests in sight.
Taylor Winston never had much in life, so when Prince Charming entered her life, she figured she had it made. She thought wrong. Now she’s a single mother relocating so that she doesn’t lose custody of her daughter. The last thing she has time for in her life is a man. Then why is her new sexy boss popping into her dreams so frequently and unexpectedly, making her wonder why she’d even consider accepting the proposition he so neatly laid out for her?
All books in After Hurricane Nina—Hot Hunks-Steamy Romance Collection
Natalie Ann- Reed’s Resolution
Angela Stevens- Nolan’s Resolution
Suzanne Jenkins- Jason’s Resolution
Alicia Street- Kip’s Resolution
Katie O’Sullivan- Quinn’s Resolution
Stephanie Morris- Leland’s Resolution
Nicole Morgan- Hayden’s Resolution
Tamara Ferguson- Rand’s Resolution
Meet the authors of After Hurricane Nina:
Natalie Ann is a USA Today bestselling author who writes steamy contemporary romance, romantic suspense, and light paranormal.
Angela Stevens writes steamy contemporary romance, contemporary urban fantasy, paranormal, Native American themes, and children’s books.
Suzanne Jenkins is a USA Today bestselling author who writes women’s fiction, steamy contemporary romance, mystery, and suspense.
Alicia Street is a USA Today bestselling author and Daphne du Maurier award-winner. She writes both sweet and steamy contemporary romance, romantic suspense, and paranormal.
Katie O’Sullivan is an award winning author who writes steamy contemporary romance and young adult paranormal.
Stephanie Morris is a USA Today bestselling author who writes steamy contemporary romance, romantic suspense, and paranormal.
Nicole Morgan is a USA Today bestselling author who writes steamy contemporary romance, paranormal, and romantic suspense.
Tamara Ferguson is a USA Today bestselling author and multi- award winning author including Reader’s Favorite Bronze, Silver, and Gold medals in Military Fiction who writes both sweet and steamy contemporary romance and romantic suspense.
Table of Contents
Disclaimer
Prologue
So Infrequent
Struggling to Adapt
Full of Misery
Play Nice
Throw a Rejection
No Strings Attached
This Situation
To Be Honest
Emotional Well Being
Stoop That Low
The Rest Was History
Caught or Questioned
Real Reason
Ridiculous Suggestion
What Are You Wearing
Trying to Impress
Whole Package
Negative Spin
Right Here and Right Now
Willing to Follow
Better This Way
Warning Signs
Nothing to Hide
Special Treatment
Start a Relationship
Flashbacks
Stolen His Heart
Epilogue
Disclaimer
Hot Hunks-Steamy Romance Collection is a work of fiction. Authors use creative license with titles, characters, and storylines. Though we like facts to be accurate, oftentimes common more relatable terms are used to help make the story flow.
Cyclones hit Indonesia, not necessarily hurricanes. The difference between a hurricane and cyclone is location. But for creative license purposes, After Cyclone Nina just doesn’t have the same ring to it as After Hurricane Nina. We are aware, but again, this is a work of fiction. So please, enjoy our story knowing that whatever terms you use, hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons are all the same weather phenomenon.
Prologue
On November 30, 2016, Hurricane Nina hit Bali, Indonesia. In the aftermath of death and destruction, eight strong sexy men will realize it’s time for a change in their lives. A resolution of sorts. A contractor, personal trainer, a millionaire, a stuntman, a rock star, a thrill-seeker, an army veteran, and a trust fund prodigal will all find a way to conquer their loss and learn to love. This is Reed’s story.
Meanwhile in Albany, New York…
Reed spread the blueprints out on the makeshift sawhorse. “Josh, let’s just double-check things before we start cutting out for the windows.”
“You got it, Boss,” Josh said, smirking as he made his way closer.
Josh and he had been the best of friends since the second grade. Just because Reed was his boss now, it hadn’t changed their friendship. All it did was make Josh bust on him about the fact that his paycheck from Chapman Construction had Reed’s name on the bottom of it.
“I’m not sure why the Wilsons needed to have different sized windows in almost every room,” Reed said, shaking his head. “Some rooms, I get it, but it seems like they are doing it haphazardly.”
Josh scratched his chin like he always did when he was trying to figure out a diplomatic way to say something. Since Josh loved to gossip, there should be a raw spot on his face by now. “There is no accounting for people’s tastes, but as long as their money is green, then we’ll do what they say.”
Reed snorted. “We’ll see. So far I’ve been flexible with things, but at some point I’m sure I’m going to have to tell them no on something.”
“Just be happy they don’t want this house in the development.”
“They wouldn’t be able to. Even though my developments are more lenient than others, they know the guidelines, which is why they came to us to build out of the city limits.”
“I’m still surprised you agreed since we’ve got so many houses lined up for the development,” Josh said. “It’s not like you to take someone on when you’ve got such a big project in the works.”
Reed laughed. “Like you said, their money is green.”
And the Wilsons had a shitload more than most, allowing him to take a detour on filling up the development. He had enough crews to do all the work, but he was overseeing this one more closely.
His cell phone vibrated in his pocket, so he pulled it out, saw it was his sister, Rachel, then with no qualms at all, sent her to voicemail. He didn’t have time for her today.
After a few minutes, the two men verified everything and Josh went off to instruct the crew, so Reed pulled his phone out of his pocket to check Rachel’s message. “Call me now.”
Everything was always life or death in his sister’s eyes. He hit the button to call her back. “What’s up this time, Rachel?” he asked, preparing himself to hear the earth was falling out of orbit.
&nbs
p; “Have you talked to Whitney today?”
“No. It’s hard with the time difference,” Reed said.
His fiancée, Whitney, was in Bali for work right now closing some business deal for the law firm she was trying to work her way up to partner with before she hit thirty-five. The eleven-hour time difference made it hard to talk.
Though you’d think they’d talk each morning since it was after dinner for her there. Then again, Whitney always put her job first and her personal life second. He was used to it now and it didn’t bother him as much as it once had. Not really.
“Reed,” Rachel said, her voice rising to a level that resembled nails scraping down a chalkboard. “A hurricane has been beating on Bali for hours. It’s been building for days. Don’t you watch the news? She hasn’t said anything to you at all? I just read on the internet that the streets are flooding, buildings are destroyed and the loss of life is mounting. They are talking about rain there for days on top of it.”
His heart started to pound so hard he thought it might burst out of his chest. “I haven’t talked to her since she landed there three days ago. She never said a word.”
“Why don’t you ever pay attention to those things when she is traveling?” Rachel asked.
“Because she is always traveling. I’m lucky I know where she is half the time.”
“I’ll never understand your relationship,” Rachel said. “Reed. You need to call her. Something isn’t right. I feel it deep down. You know how I get when I have these feelings.”
Drama was Rachel’s middle name so Reed wasn’t feeling quite as anxious as his sister, but he was starting to get nervous. “I’ll call her. I doubt she’ll answer.”
“Do you know what hotel she’s staying at? I found a news outlet that is listing areas the hardest hit in the city right now.”
“No, I don’t know. She never shares those details.”
“Why?” Rachel screeched.
“Because it’s details that she says mean nothing. We’ve got cell phones and computers,” he argued, but deep down he agreed with his sister. It always bothered him that Whitney never shared or talked about things when she traveled. She always argued she was busy and could be reached by her cell phone. The only problem was, Whitney never answered her phone when he called.
“Well, keep me posted on what you find out and I’ll keep following the news.”
“I’ll call her office right now,” Reed said. He hung up with his sister and then dialed Whitney’s law firm to see if they’d heard anything. If they had any news to share with him.
“McKafrey and Sons,” he heard. “This is Linda, how may I help you?”
“Linda, it’s Reed Chapman. Can you let me know the name of the hotel that Whitney is staying at in Bali?”
There was some silence and then, “I’ll see if I can find out, but I’m not sure anyone would know that here.”
“Why not?” he asked. This time his stomach was filling with dread. He’d felt something had been wrong for months and he couldn’t get Whitney to open up to him. Had she lost her job and didn’t want to tell him? No, it couldn’t be that. She’d been working an ungodly number of hours lately and the two of them had barely seen each other.
“She’s on vacation this week,” Linda said.
“What?” Reed asked, staring off into the distance. He knew he was busy, but that wouldn’t have slipped his mind.
“She said she was going to Bali with a friend. We’re all worried about her here. Someone was going to call you later today to see if you’d heard anything. The death toll has been rising for hours.”
“Thanks,” Reed said softly and disconnected the phone, then tried to call Whitney’s cell. He got a message that service was out.
He turned and walked back to his truck and left without a word, making his way to Whitney’s apartment that they didn’t share. She hadn’t even moved in with him officially, just stayed with him when she wasn’t traveling, if she had time. Lately that time was less and less.
He’d find answers there—he had to. The question was, would he really want to see what he found?
So Infrequent
Three years later
Reed walked through the front door of the family construction firm that would be all his responsibility one day, past the receptionist who always waved and winked at him. She’d been there since his father started the business and was old enough to be his mother. Hell, she was there when he was born.
He grinned and nodded his head, then made his way down the hall to the accounting department.
He hated dealing with the paperwork on the builds, even the vendors, but he needed to know the cost of a generator that had been purchased and installed in a new build last month since the owners were complaining about it. He’d like to push the complaints off to someone else too, but the truth was, as big as their firm was and as wealthy as they’d all become, his father taught him to always deal with the customers one on one. It was that little something extra that allowed them to grow as they had.
“Taylor,” he said to the newest member of his team. “Do you have a second to look something up for me?”
Her head popped up from behind her computer monitor, she took her reading glasses off her face, and he had to stop the saliva from dribbling out of his mouth.
Clear blue eyes were now staring at him, a few freckles on her nose and high cheekbones. Her dirty blonde hair was falling over her shoulders and she was saying something to him.
“What?” he asked.
“I asked what you needed me to look up for you.”
“Oh,” he said, smiling. He’d been flirting with her for weeks, but she never gave him the time of day. Once in a while she’d grin or laugh, but it was so infrequent he didn’t really count it in his mind. “Can you pull up the cost of the generator for the Minkton build we did a few months ago? The owners are questioning the cost because they don’t like the generator.”
“Sure,” she said, “just give me a second.”
Her voice was soft, a caress that just washed over his body more times than it should. He’d look at her and heat would build in places his body loved to feel it. Too bad he couldn’t get her to feel it too.
Reed walked over and sat in the chair in front of her desk while she looked it up. He took that time to glance over the items on the desk and pinned to the wall. Nothing of a personal nature at all, giving him no clue to her life.
There was no ring on her left hand, so he suspected she was single but hadn’t asked yet. He wouldn’t until she showed some sign of being interested in him. Or even talking to him for anything other than work-related questions.
She’d only been employed here two months, so time yet to get to know her better. Until then there was no shortage of women he could entertain himself with for the night when the time arose. It arose often, but he didn’t give in to it much anymore. He found he didn’t enjoy the headache that came along with it now. Of course heartache was all he seemed to experience in the past few years.
“Here it is,” she said after she’d been clicking around on the computer, and now she swiveled away and opened up the filing cabinet. It gave him time to appreciate the view of her curvy backside in some nicely fitted jeans. He’d keep those thoughts to himself though. Then remember them when he was in bed later tonight.
She handed the invoice to him. He looked it over and said, “I’m just going to make a copy of this and then I’ll give it back to you.”
“I can do that if you’d like,” she offered.
“I’ve got it. Thanks.” He stood up and went to the copy room, ran it through the machine, and then returned the original to her.
She reached an elegant hand toward him, void of any polish or jewelry. Now that he thought of it, she was pretty simple at the heart of it.
She always had jeans on like every other employee in the building, but she didn’t wear a lot of makeup and the only jewelry he’d seen on her was a small pair of gold hoops in her ears when she
pushed her hair behind her ears like she was doing now. He wondered if he made her nervous, but doubted it. Nothing seemed to ruffle her feathers, and though he’d hated that trait with Whitney—and most women—he found it kind of sexy on Taylor.
“So how do you like it here?” he asked. Anything to find a reason to stay a little longer and maybe find out something about her. Why? He had no clue, when he never really wanted to know more about a woman other than directions to her house after he picked her up in the bar.
“It’s nice. I like it a lot.”
“That’s good,” he said. “Are you getting used to the area?” He knew she’d moved here in February, just a few weeks before she started. At the time he’d interviewed her she’d relocated to the area, but he didn’t ask why, nor could he really during the interview.
“It’s a little cooler than what I’m used to, but I might enjoy the changing seasons.”
“There probably weren’t that many seasons in Florida other than warm, hot, and holy blazing hell,” he said, smiling at her. He at least saw that was where her last job was located on her resume.
“That about sums it up. But so far I’m enjoying spring. The tail end of winter wasn’t to my liking though. How hot will it get here in the summer?” Taylor asked.
He wanted to sit back down but didn’t as that might be pushing it. “Upstate New York averages in the mid-eighties, but it can get in the high nineties or low seventies. Nothing is really consistent.”
“I can work with that,” she said.
He nodded. “That’s good. I think you’ll appreciate it here.”
“I’ve got no plans of moving even if I don’t appreciate it,” she said dryly. He wasn’t sure what that meant and didn’t feel right asking just yet. Damn, there were so many things he wanted to ask her.