---

“New York, New York”, Frank Sinatra crooned over the airport speakers. How many times a day did the employees here have to hear that song?

Mervyn would kill Becky. Mona too, if she turned up empty-handed. Mervyn was her agent and one of her closest friends. Mona was her New York–based assistant.

The only reason she was in the city now, was because FireQuill Studios required her to sign a contract regarding the film adaptation for her latest novel.

She hadn’t thought the novel would make it to the big screen, especially this quickly. But she’d been wrong about things like that before.

She never was one for the limelight. Mervyn and Mona often told her to suck it up and just do the radio shows and television appearances, but no matter how much experience she garnered with publicity, she struggled. She simply wasn’t comfortable with the heaps of attention she received.

Hell, she was a writer for a reason. Writers were supposed to fade into the background.

Like so many things, fate had twisted that for her.

It was that time of the year when her books popped up as the main attraction in major bookstores across the nation. With a new release, this was commonplace by now, so she should have been used to it. That wasn’t the case, though. It still shocked her.

Her book tour was already mapped out, and she’d have to spend days signing book after book. She hated book signings, but Mervyn and Mona were right—if she wanted to tell her stories, she had to suck it up and accept everything that came with the job.

She’d just gotten off the phone with Cass to let her know she’d arrived safely, and had placed a second call to tell Zach and Chloë she loved them.

Cass had texted her their respective lists of what they wanted from New York. Kids.

“Babe!” Mervyn yelled. He was wearing skinny jeans and a button-down shirt, his hair perfectly gelled.

He wrapped his arms around her in a bear hug, and she inhaled his divine scent. She wished all men smelled like him.

After kissing her twice on each cheek, he handed her a wig and a pair of sunglasses.

Becky glared at him.

“You don’t like it when they bombard you, so you give me no choice. Mona isn’t here to fend off the crazies.”

She laughed. “You’re crazy, but you’re also right.” She donned the wig and glasses, and walked to the limo idling outside. Not that a stretch limo wasn’t a dead giveaway.

The disguise worked. When they were safely ensconced in the car, Mervyn popped a bottle of champagne.

“We haven’t celebrated the release yet. Deal with it.”

She smiled and accepted the proffered crystal flute.

“Oh, babe, you must see the merchandise that comes with Forever Yours. This one is getting its own fashion line, and…” he blabbered on.

Merch was nothing new to Becky, she was into most of it, but some was just over the top. All she’d wanted was to become a writer, so had never expected everything else that came with it.

“…even a board game, can you believe it?” He was quiet for a beat. “Becky?”

She snapped out of her thoughts. “Sorry, you know how I feel about the extras.”

“I don’t understand you half the time. Every other wannabe would cut off their boobs to get even the tiniest bit of what you have.”

At that comment, she snorted, her champagne nearly squirting out of her nose. “Guess I don’t have a choice. I’ll try to be more enthusiastic. Where’s Mona?”

“Jonathan has the flu.”

“Is he okay?”

“He’s fine. You do know she’s pregnant again?”

“Mervyn, there is nothing wrong with being a working mom. She can have as many children as she wants. And I know you didn’t mean it to sound as harsh as it did.” She pointed her finger at him and scowled.

“I know. I love her to bits, but she’s a wild one.”

“She’s the best assistant I could ever ask for. If her kid is sick, she can take as much time as she needs. I’m not replacing her.”

“I didn’t say that, but you could ask her to get a damn assistant. Your assistant needs a damn assistant!”

Becky grinned. “You’re so dramatic, but I’ll see what I can do.”

“She’s promised to be at the contract signing tomorrow. Lesley said she’d meet us there as well. She’s persistent about checking the legalese and making sure they’re offering what you deserve. That last deal was utterly vomit-inducing.”

“I’m getting royalties based on the net revenues.”

“And they bullshit the net, honey. Finding Mavis brought in much more than what they claim.”

“I’m not getting Lesley involved in that. I don’t want the extra press. Even though you think it’s good for me, I disagree. I’m happy. Don’t make me stress. Please.”

He lifted his hands in defense. “Okay. I’ll let it go. But Lesley is going to need to be on top of and all over the next deal.”

“Do I really have to be there?”

“Yes, you do.”

“Give me strength.”

When they reached the hotel, Becky was relieved to see that the usual ocean of cameras were nowhere to be seen. The last time, someone had tipped off the press that she was coming. It had been a royal mess. She’d had a major anxiety attack—Valiums saved the day, and most importantly, her.

“I promised it wasn’t going to be like last time.”

“Thank you,” she mouthed, opening the door.

---

Jack closed the Skype app on his phone, a lazy grin spreading across his face. Even as he got to work, managing dinnertime prep for the family restaurant, he glowed from the chat with Adrian.

Anna had agreed to consider the trip, all while breathing into a bag. Just the idea of flying freaked her out. It was all a balancing act for her; on the one hand she wanted to come, but on the other, her heart galloped like a thousand horses were running amok in her chest every time the thought entered her head.

Jack believed time would make all the difference—tell her early and get her mind set. She had five months to prepare.

Adrian hadn’t been back home in ages. Though Jack saw Bea on his laptop’s screen a lot, it wasn’t the same as seeing her in real life. He’d only met her once, on the day she was born. The whole family had flown out for the occasion.

Jack had loved every second of it. Although he wasn’t as tuned into Adrian’s emotions as Adrian was to his, he’d reveled in his brother’s irrepressible happiness. It was addictive. For the first time in a long fucking time, he’d finally felt his own happiness, too.

But it had fucked him over a few days later, once he was back on American soil.

Seeing Adrian and Anna with their little bundle of joy had made him miss Kate, and he’d spiraled into a mess. He’d started taking Prozac again, and had booked Tawanda for a few sessions to get his head right.

Adrian had felt bad. It didn’t matter how many miles apart they were, Adrian always knew what Jack was going through. He felt it. Just one of the supernatural things twins shared that nobody could explain, not even science.

Jack really missed his brother.

At least Anna had said she would think about it. That was all he wanted.

He walked out of the kitchen when his eyes caught…her. At first, he thought she was a teenager—she was built that way. She was dressed in a pair of shorts, and she was barefoot, running after a little boy, then crawling up behind him in the maze of pipes that made up the restaurant’s—Meat Lover’s Grill—famous play area. She seemed to be having a ton of fun.

But when she emerged out the other side, puffing for breath, it became clear that she wasn’t a teenager.

He couldn’t take his eyes off her. She was so…alive…playing with that little boy with so much energy.

When the boy stopped and coughed, she attended to him, crouching down to pat his back.

Her long, golden hair was tied up in a messy bun. A few strands had come loose, falling around her face, making her look like an angel. A barefoot angel.

A tall, skinny African beauty, probably the boy’s mom, slowly approached the play area’s entrance and caught Jack staring.

He looked away as she eyed the blond playing with the little boy. He walked back to the kitchen with a small grin.

Caught red-handed. It was obvious to him that the second woman knew the angel with no shoes, and that she’d seen how long he’d been watching. To her, it was probably creepy.

The heat of embarrassment singed his cheeks.

He really liked what he’d seen, though. It was evident by the lift in his emotions, a glimmer of happiness breaking through all the shit he normally dealt with.

He started to prep the meat and cut slabs of beef into steaks. Then he prepared the ribs and made sure they’d have that secret, sweet-and-tangy taste customers loved—all done with the grin still plastered on his face as he thought about the mysterious angel.

It wasn’t hard to replicate all the meals on the menu here. He’d created them, so making them was like breathing. Teaching his secret techniques to Robert and the other kitchen staff was the only hard part.

His body ached from his soirée with MJ the previous night. She’d given it to him good.

He didn’t love her, and even if he managed to feel something for her that came close to love, he’d never love her as he’d loved Kate.

His mind shifted back to the woman on the playground as he looked at the clock. He’d been busy in the kitchen for two hours already.

Without further thought, he rushed out of the kitchen and searched the play area wildly for her. When he didn’t see her, he took a walk through the restaurant.

She was gone, and he had absolutely no idea who she was.