A Kiss Beneath the Stars (The Malone Brothers Book 1) Read online

  A KISS BENEATH THE STARS

  S.L. STERLING

  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

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Epilogue

  A Note From The Author

  About the Author

  Other Books by S.L. Sterling

  A Kiss Beneath the Stars

  Copyright © 2018 by S.L. Sterling

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved about, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in, or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of the book. This is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Disclaimer: This book contains mature content not suitable for those under the age of 18. It involves strong language and sexual situations. All parties portrayed in sexual situations are consenting adults over the age of 18.

  ISBN: 978-1-7751087-3-3

  EDITOR: Erica Russikoff of Erica Edits; www.ericaedits.com

  INTERIOR FORMATTING: Tiffany Black of T.E. Black Designs; www.teblackdesigns.com

  COVER DESIGN: Tiffany Black of T.E. Black Designs; www.teblackdesigns.com

  COVER IMAGE: www.depositphotos.com

  To all of those who have found their true love.

  May you have many more Kisses Beneath the Stars.

  Chapter One

  AUTUMN

  I PULLED UP OUTSIDE OF the home I had known for the last five years. I was meeting with the real estate agent today. Finally, the house had sold and I had been asked to come and sign the deal. I let out a sigh when I saw that the driveway was empty. I should have known better; as usual, she was running behind. I’m not going to lie, I was thrilled to get rid of this place—the memories here too real for me to continue to stay. I’ve been living with my sister, Evelyn, and her husband, Derek, for the last six months anyway. I shut the car off and headed up to the front door.

  I had gone through the whole house, walking from room to room. I knew I was just doing this once again to punish myself for everything that had transpired. When I decided that I’d had enough of memory lane, I headed to the kitchen to wait for her. I could have chosen any room in the entire house to wait for her; why I had chosen this room, I had no idea. The room that held the most vivid memory for me. I looked around. At one point, it had been my favorite room in this whole house. He’d had it designed exactly how I wanted it—my dream kitchen. Now, I hated everything about it.

  I took a seat at the breakfast bar. The silence was deafening, and I wished I had insisted on going to her office as opposed to coming here. As I glanced around the room, my memory traveled back to that morning, that dreaded morning when my once perfect little life came to a screeching halt, ending everything that was left.

  It was my day off and I was sitting eating my breakfast, drinking my tea and reading through the morning paper. Things were still strained between Jason and me. Dr. Plante, my therapist, had told me that until he would come to couple’s therapy to talk through everything that had happened, things would only get worse. Now at times I wished I had been more adamant that he come with me instead of pretending like it didn’t matter.

  I sat reading the entertainment section when I heard papers rustle behind me. I glanced over my shoulder. Jason stood in the doorway. “Morning. I see that new action movie you wanted to see has gotten great reviews. Maybe we could go see it on Friday.”

  “I already saw it,” Jason mumbled and then went quiet again.

  I had figured he would be happy that I had suggested it; after all, he was always complaining that I never wanted to do anything. His words hit me like a slap in the face. I took another bite of my bagel and continued to read the paper, trying to pretend like I wasn’t bothered by his admission.

  After a few minutes, I turned back to Jason and noticed that he hadn’t moved from the spot he was standing. “Is everything all right?”

  “I want a divorce.” His voice shook as the words fell from his lips. I studied him. I couldn’t believe what I had heard, but his head hung low, and he avoided my eyes. The small bit of breakfast that I had consumed threatened to make its return. Looking around, suddenly everything that we had worked so hard to have seemed like a waste, and all it had taken was those four little words.

  I didn’t know what to say. I had barely left the house in the past six months, and I had just returned to work and now this. I could feel the anxiety and depression creeping their way slowly back into me, despite all the medication Dr. Plante had me on. I dropped my bagel onto the plate that sat in front of me and glanced at the envelope he held in his hands. I looked at the man who stood before me. We used to be so in love; now I barely recognized him. How had things come to this?

  “I take it you’re wondering what’s in the envelope?”

  “What do you mean you want a divorce? Why?”

  “I can’t do this with you anymore. I’ve watched you deteriorate for months, ever since…well, ever since…” His eyes stayed down, and his lip quivered. “Well, it’s just you’re not the same person I fell in love with. I’ve been in contact with a lawyer, and the divorce agreement has already been drawn up.”

  “Ever since what, Jason? Why don’t you just say it—ever since I lost our baby. I know you blame me, so just say it!” I glared at him. I would never forget the look in his eyes on that horrible day when he had come to the hospital and found out the news. He blamed me for the loss and blamed me for the fact that I wouldn’t be able to get pregnant again, and now he would add the divorce to that list as well.

  He placed the envelope he was holding on the table in front of me. “I want it to be clean and easy. No stress for you or me. I’ve given you everything, including the house. All you need to do is sign the papers. Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.” He pulled his hand away from the envelope, and that was when I noticed he no longer wore his wedding ring, and by the looks of it, he hadn’t for some time. It was gone, discarded as if it had meant nothing. I started to wonder exactly how long he hadn’t been wearing it. “Did you hear me?”

  “Don’t make this harder than it needs to be,” I mumbled as I stared at the envelope in front of me. Truthfully, this past year had been awful, but I had tried to pick myself back
up, really, I had. Losing a baby wasn’t easy, but being told that you wouldn’t be able to have another was like having your heart ripped out and shredded into a million pieces. We knew that there were other options available, but our relationship had fallen into a state of total disrepair. We hadn’t slept in the same bed in months, and he was never home; when he was, we ignored one another. We had spoken more in the last five minutes than we had in the past five months. I said nothing. I just kept my eyes locked on the envelope, fighting back tears. I jumped when the back door slammed shut. I hadn’t even seen him leave. Just like that, he was gone.

  When my stomach stopped threatening to release its contents, I finally picked up the envelope and opened it. I had nothing left in me. At this point, even if he had taken it all, I wouldn’t have fought him, so it really didn’t matter what that envelope contained. I tried to focus, tried to read what lay on the white paper, but all I saw was a jumbled-up mess of words.

  After he had left me those documents and had walked out that door, he never did come back home. It was almost as if all that had happened didn’t really matter to him and he had washed his hands of me completely. All his clothes hung in the closet, never to be worn again.

  It was almost a month before I had my brother-in-law Derek check over the documents. I knew that if Jason had lied to me about what those documents contained, it could be much worse for me once those papers were signed.

  When I finally got the green light from Derek, I signed the paperwork and dropped the envelope back at Jason’s office, leaving it with the secretary. He might have given me everything, but I was the one who lost. Along with those documents, I handed him whatever was left of me. I didn’t know who I was anymore, and what was worse, I didn’t care. Every little bit of the person I once was had died that day.

  The sound of footsteps in the hallway pulled me out of my memory. I sat, holding my breath, waiting for the person who belonged to those footsteps to come around the corner.

  “There you are. Sorry I am late; I had another offer to close. Let’s get these papers signed,” Rachel sang as she dropped a folder on the counter. Again, that dreaded envelope flashed before my eyes. I blinked the memory out of my head and wiped away the stray tear that floated down my cheek. I took her pen and signed away the home I had once loved. Unfortunately, I couldn’t sign away the memories that went with it, and no matter how hard I tried, I knew they would never leave.

  After everything was completed, I drove back to my sister’s in silence. Everything was gone of the relationship that had once shown so much promise. I pulled into the driveway of my “new home” and sat staring at the house. Soon the front door opened, and Evelyn stood on the front porch waiting for me to get out of the car. I closed my eyes, leaned my head against the headrest, and took a deep breath. It was finally over.

  Suddenly, my door was pulled open and Derek stuck his hand inside the car. “Come on, sis. Let’s get you inside.” Evelyn still stood on the front porch, watching me. I took hold of Derek’s hand and climbed out of the car. But as soon as he wrapped his arms around my shoulders, I couldn’t hold back my tears any longer.

  Chapter Two

  AUTUMN

  SIX MONTHS LATER

  I LAY IN BED, TOTALLY engrossed in the latest release from my favorite romance author, when I heard a quiet knock on my bedroom door. Setting the e-reader down on the bed beside me, I looked up to see Evelyn peek her head in. “What are you doing?”

  “Just reading. What’s up?”

  “I want to talk to you about something.” She made her way into the room and flopped down across the foot of the bed, just like she used to do when we were kids.

  “I know, I know, I’ve overstayed my welcome. Just give me a couple of months to find a place. Dr. Plante says that I should be able to return to work in the new year.”

  “No no no, it’s not that. Don’t be ridiculous. You can stay as long as you want. Derek and I already told you that.”

  I sat back and relaxed a bit. I felt like I was imposing on them. I had been there for almost a year and felt like they were ready to get their own lives back in order. “Okay, then what did you want to talk to me about?”

  “Honey, Derek and I have been talking. We think you need to get out, start doing things again, maybe start dating again.”

  “But this is where I am happy, Evelyn. My God, you sound just like Dr. Plante.” I sighed. I wasn’t in the mood to listen to this again. I had already heard it today at my appointment. None of them would ever understand what I had been through, especially not Evelyn. She was in a happy, wonderful relationship with a man who worshiped everything about her. I had been burned and didn’t even see it coming. The rug had been pulled out from underneath me at a time when I was already broken, and just broke me more in the process. I had absolutely no desire to meet anyone.

  “Derek has a friend that we think might be a good fit for you. We thought you might be interested in meeting him.”

  “Let me stop you right there. I don’t think that this is a good idea, Evelyn. I’m not ready to date.”

  “Autumn, you’ve spent months locked up in this room. You go to the store, doctors’ appointments, and the occasional trip to the mall with me—that’s it. Other than that, you spend your nights lost in the pages of these books with your fantasy men. You’ve got to get back to normal things. We want you to get better. I’m just suggesting a single date. I am not asking you to marry the guy.”

  She wasn’t going to let this go. I knew her. I also knew there was no point at all in arguing with her. “What’s his name?”

  Evelyn jumped off the bed and started dancing around the room. “His name? You’ll find out at dinner.”

  “I’m not going out with a guy whose name I don’t know, Evelyn.”

  “Derek has known him forever. You have a date with him this Friday night, dinner at The Whisperwind Inn at eight.”

  “A date at The Whisperwind Inn—a really expensive restaurant—with a guy whose name I don’t know? Sounds stellar.” I rolled my eyes.

  “He told Derek The Whisperwind Inn. He wanted to pick you up, but I figured that might be too much for you.”

  “Geez, Evelyn, thanks for thinking of me.” The nerve of her. It would be too much for me to have him pick me up. How about the fact that they had both been plotting this fix up for who knows how long, or the fact she wouldn’t even tell me his name?

  “I’ll even loan you my black dress,” she said, practically flying out the door. “You’ll look amazing,” she yelled as she ran down the hall, leaving me in the room with my book. I lay back on my pillow and looked up at the ceiling. I knew nothing about this guy, and as the thought of going out with a stranger flipped around in my mind, my stomach started to turn. I was about to go downstairs and give them both a piece of my mind when the door to my room sprung open and Evelyn came in carrying her dress bag.

  “Here you go. It should fit. I know you have lost some weight since your divorce. If it doesn’t fit, then we will go shopping.” I was reminded of old times; we always shared clothes from the time we were in our teens. Being the same size had its advantages. She came over, pulled me off the bed, and opened the bag. “Try it on.”

  * * *

  EVELYN

  Derek was sprawled out on the couch, watching the news, when I returned to the living room. “Well, how’d it go?”

  “It took a little convincing, but it’s a go. I even got her to try on my dress. I think I even saw a glimpse of happiness in her eyes when she saw herself in the mirror. At least, I think it was happiness. Could have been pure hatred directed straight at me too.” I sat down on the edge of the couch and shrugged my shoulders.

  “You’re absolutely sure this is a good idea?”

  “Yeah, why wouldn’t it be? She needs to start getting out.”

  “Yes, I know, but Hunter, really?”

  “How many other single guy friends do you have? Two, maybe three? I just think he is the most suitable choic
e.”

  “I know, it’s just he’s been in more pants than the whole lot of us guys combined. He’s also just gotten out of a relationship and if I know him, which I do, he’s just going to be looking for his next conquest. He may be too much for her.”

  “You’re talking about him as though he is only after sex, Derek. He’s a decent guy.”

  “Yes, he’s a decent guy. I am not saying he isn’t. But whenever Hunter breaks up with someone, sex is generally all he is after, Evelyn. Remember, I’ve known him a long time.”

  “Whatever, I don’t believe it. I’ve known him a long time too, Derek. He has never given me that impression.” I went to stand, but Derek grabbed me by the hand.

  “Let me ask, how many times do you ever remember seeing him with the same girl twice, aside from Jocelyn and Brandi?” I thought back through all the times we had dated as couples. Shaking my head, I looked at Derek. “My point exactly.”

  “Great. She’ll never forgive me,” I said, looking to Derek, tears filling my eyes.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll talk to him. I’ll tell him to just take her out and show her a good time.”

  I frowned and met Derek’s eyes.

  “Don’t worry. Not like that.”

  Chapter Three

  AUTUMN

  THE WHISPERWIND INN WAS IN the old courthouse and looked out over the bay of Kings Cove. It had been renovated to accommodate the restaurant. I had wanted to go there for years, but Jason always complained, saying it was far too expensive. It basically boiled down to the fact that I just wasn’t worth it. I walked up the front steps of the restaurant, and the doorman held the door open for me. I stepped inside. Everything was bathed in candlelight, and soft violin music floated through the air.

  “Do you have a reservation, miss?” a young woman asked.

  “Yes, I think so. I’m here to meet someone. I’m not sure if he is here yet or not.”

  “Do you have a name the reservation is under?”

  I hesitated. Since Evelyn never gave me a name, I hadn’t a clue what the reservation could be under. I could feel the heat rise in my face. “This is going to sound silly, but I’m here on a blind blind date. I don’t even know his name,” I whispered. I was going to kill my sister.