Not the One Read online

  His mother didn’t like that one bit as her own mother stood, reaching out for Gen’s hand. “I have something to show you.”

  Before her mother could pull her away, Montgomery said, “I’ll see you later.”

  “Are you working late?”

  “Yeah.”

  Her shoulders fell. While on one hand, that meant his mother would take forever to leave. On the other, once she did, Gen would be able to work. But it meant Verna had to leave first. “Okay.”

  He squeezed her hip before heading out the door, the shoulders of his jacket taut against his wide chest and muscular back. He had gotten a haircut the day before, so his hair was perfectly trimmed, his neck so thick and so sexy that soon a grin pulled at her lips. They had both been so busy for the last couple months that sex hadn’t been a thing that happened often, but realizing his hair was turning her on meant one thing. They needed to fuck.

  ASAP.

  Inhaling hard, she looked to her mother, ignoring the annoyed look on Verna’s face as her mom pulled her to the end of the table where a box was sitting. “Mom, what is all this?”

  Her mother’s gray eyes sparkled as she squeezed Gen’s hand. “Gen, love, I was going through the attic and found this box of your stuff. I had no clue what it was until I opened it and realized it was all your things from when you’d go and stay at Spring Grove.”

  Curiosity took over as she moved past her mother to the box. She thought she had everything packed away up in her own attic, but apparently, that wasn’t the case. On the top of all her things was a Polaroid of her laptop on a table with a beautiful lake behind it. Covering her mouth, Gen exhaled hard. “Wow. I took this when I finished, Capture Me, my first book.”

  Her mother beamed. “I know. I don’t know how this got left behind.”

  “Sorry to bother you, but are we going to get started?”

  Gen ignored Verna as she reached for another picture, this one of only the Blu, a B&B back in Spring Grove, Kentucky, with the tulips in bloom. Smiling, she moved through the contents of the box as chills ran down her back. The Blu was her favorite place in the world. When she was younger—and rebellious as hell—she had gone on a road trip. At the time, it was silly, and the trip was only supposed to be for a weekend, a last hurrah before college, but when they arrived in Spring Grove, she found herself at the Blu. So much had happened in the span of three days that before she knew it, she didn’t leave for a month. Oh, everyone was so mad, but she didn’t care. Especially when she wrote her first novel there.

  Man, the memories.

  “You haven’t been in years.”

  She nodded, running her fingers along the tulips. “Four years. I bet the tulips are up.”

  “Oh, I’m sure.”

  A grin tickled her lips. “Man, I miss that place.”

  “You should go back.”

  She glanced over at her mother, laughing. “I can’t. So much going on. My book…and the wedding.”

  Gen’s gaze returned to the box as her mother thought for a moment. “Don’t you have to have the book finished before the wedding?”

  Gen nodded, looking up. “I do.”

  “So, go. Don’t you think it would be amazing to finish your last novel as a single woman in the house where you wrote your first?”

  Gen grinned at that. “Yeah, it would be awesome.”

  “I think it would be silly, and you’re right, we have so much planning to do,” Verna interjected. “We have a lot of work to do.”

  But her mother waved Verna off. “That we can handle, Verna, surely. She’s so stressed.”

  Verna rolled her eyes. “She wouldn’t be if she’d just quit this silly writing.”

  Gen’s mother looked back at Verna and shook her head. “It’s her dream, and I believe in her dreams. I will take more of the load. I’ll text you if I need you. Go, my love, you need this.”

  But Genevieve just laughed. “I don’t even know if they’re still open! I haven’t even seen anything about them. I don’t know…” She shook her head. It was a crazy thought, an insane one, but she couldn’t shake the feeling it was a great one. She wasn’t sure if she should or even could. She knew she would definitely finish the book. Every time she went to the Blu to write, her writing juices flowed like the Amazon, and it was almost magical. She loved that place, she did, but could she get away? Would Montgomery be okay with it?

  Probably not.

  “I’m sure my son would not appreciate his bride leaving weeks before their wedding.”

  Rolling her eyes, Genevieve tried to ignore Montgomery’s mother, but her mother was glaring back at Verna. “I doubt Montgomery would even notice with how much he is working lately.”

  “Well, Fawn, he is very successful. He has to work.”

  “I never said he didn’t,” her mother countered. “But like your son, my daughter is extremely successful, and she needs to get away.”

  Verna rolled her eyes. “She can write anywhere.”

  Fawn glared. “While this may be true, why don’t you look out for yours, and I’ll look out for mine. She needs a getaway, just her. She’s breaking out.”

  “Thanks, Mom.” Genevieve glared as her mother ran her hands along her pimpled jaw. She was like a teenager going through puberty, but it always happened when she was stressed. She knew she was under pressure, but maybe it was more than usual.

  Shit, maybe her mom was right.

  Shooting her a forgiving smile, Fawn patted her hand. “Go.”

  But Genevieve still wasn’t sure.

  She wanted to. Lord, did she. She’d leave right that second, with nothing but her laptop and toothbrush, but she didn’t. Instead, she replaced the pictures in the box and sat down to plan her wedding.

  While she was sure her mother knew, Gen would never admit to Verna that she wasn’t paying even the least bit of attention to the plans they were making.

  Because her thoughts were captivated by all her memories of the Blu.

  Chapter Two

  When Gen heard the front door close downstairs, she turned off her music and swallowed hard as she shut the lid of her laptop. She hadn’t planned on staying up and waiting for Montgomery to get home, but the more she’d thought about the Blu, the more she knew she had to go. It would be so great for her. Time to herself. Get away from his awful mother and the planning of this spectacle called a wedding. She needed this. For her sanity, at the very least.

  Twirling her engagement ring on the desk, she watched as it spun, the light catching the over-the-top diamond she really didn’t care for. She’d told Montgomery she didn’t want such a huge diamond. She’d wanted a small one, something easy to type with but, of course, this damn diamond weighed more than a baby! Okay, that was an exaggeration, but still. It was heavy, and she hardly ever wore it.

  Placing the ring in the little bowl she kept on her desk for it, she turned in her seat, pushing her hair up into a better bun as she listened to Montgomery move around the downstairs, probably putting away his keys, taking off his coat, and getting something to drink. He had a routine when he came home late at night. He usually settled down with a beer while watching the sports highlights. She was about to get up when she heard him coming up the stairs, which was a tad surprising. When he appeared in the doorway, his brows were raised.

  “I thought I heard you up. I didn’t expect you to be,” he said, undoing the buttons on his wrists before shaking his sleeves out as he came toward her. “It’s almost midnight.”

  She nodded, crossing her legs. “Just working. Our mothers didn’t leave until ten.”

  He made a face before rolling his eyes. He leaned down then, kissing the top of her head. “Yeah, my mother called.” He cupped her chin. “You look exhausted.”

  Her brows pulled together as she nodded. “I am, but what did she want?”

  He shook his head, running his hands through his hair before he tucked them into his pockets. “She wasn’t very happy with your meeting. Asked me not to have your mother