Can't Forget You Read online

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Blurb

  Acclaim for Rachel Lacey

  Also by Rachel Lacey

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Epilogue

  An Excerpt From Run to You

  C hapter One: Chapter One

  About the Author

  Newsletter

  Mark inhaled her scent as they danced.

  Jess smelled like an exotic combination of flowers and incense, a scent as familiar as it was intoxicating. She’d been burning incense for as long as he’d known her, and he’d never been able to smell it since without thinking of her.

  It smelled like sex and fantasies.

  His fingers tightened on her waist. She tipped her face up, her brown eyes locking on his. Her red lips were plump and glossy, parted slightly, and he felt his head dipping toward them, drawn to her like a parched man to a desert mirage. His heart beat a frantic rhythm against his ribs.

  Jess sucked in a breath, leaning forward. Her breasts pressed against his chest, and he silently cursed the many layers of his tuxedo for muffling the sensation. Still, a hot thrill raced through him, scorching every nerve ending in his body.

  Her warm breath teased his lips, and he was absolutely lost.

  ACCLAIM FOR RACHEL LACEY

  CRAZY FOR YOU

  “Lacey’s small-town romance is a perfect weekend read.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “4 Stars! Readers will be able to close their eyes and envision themselves looking out over a mountain or standing in a field of poppies. The primary romantic relationship is well-balanced with the strong friendship between the characters.”

  —RT Book Reviews

  RUN TO YOU

  “4 Stars! Readers will love how the lives of the main characters meld together while still maintaining their individual lives.”

  —RT Book Reviews

  “There’s much to like in this sweet romance, including the strong hero and heroine, the cast of supporting characters and the beautiful mountain setting.”

  —Bookpage.com

  EVER AFTER

  “Lacey’s Love to the Rescue contemporary series keeps getting better and better…Olivia’s foster dogs, her fluffy kitten, and Pete’s dog provide delightful diversions while the humans build their own forever home.”

  ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)

  “4 1/2 Stars! Lacey’s latest is filled with huge doses of humor and passion…[Her] modern storytelling style, with its crisp dialogue and amusing banter, will keep readers engaged until the very end.”

  ―RT Book Reviews

  FOR KEEPS

  “4 Stars! With one super-hot cowboy, one spitfire of a woman, and several lovable dogs, Lacey draws readers into a tender story that will make your heart melt. An engaging plot and colorful, genuine characters make the author’s latest a sweet, enjoyable read.”

  —RT Book Reviews

  “Your heart will be captured many times by the genuine scenarios and the happily-ever-after for all, both human and canine.”

  —HeroesandHeartbreakers.com

  “Lovable men and lovable dogs make this series a winner!”

  —Jill Shalvis, New York Times bestselling author

  UNLEASHED

  “Dog lovers rejoice! The stars of Lacey’s cute series opener, set in Dogwood, N.C., have four legs instead of two, and their happy ending is guaranteed.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “Delightful…a great story…You’ll fall in love!”

  —MyBookAddictionReviews.com

  “Both the man and the dog will rescue your heart. Don’t miss it!”

  —Jill Shalvis, New York Times bestselling author

  “Endearing! Rachel Lacey is a sure-fire star.”

  —Lori Wilde, New York Times bestselling author

  Also by Rachel Lacey

  The Risking It All series

  Rock with You (short story)

  Run to You

  Crazy for You

  Can’t Forget You

  The Love to the Rescue series

  Unleashed

  For Keeps

  Ever After

  Only You (short story)

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Copyright © 2017 by Rachel Bates

  Excerpt from Run to You copyright © 2016 by Rachel Bates

  Cover design by Elizabeth Turner. Cover photograph © Jake Olson / Trevillion Images

  Cover copyright © 2017 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.

  Hachette Book Group supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  Forever

  Hachette Book Group

  1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104

  forever-romance.com

  twitter.com/foreverromance

  First Edition: December 2017

  Forever is an imprint of Grand Central Publishing. The Forever name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

  The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

  The Hachette Speakers Bureau provides a wide range of authors for speaking events. To find out more, go to www.hachettespeakersbureau.com or call (866) 376-6591.

  ISBNs: 978-1-4555-3758-7 (mass market), 978-1-4555-3759-4 (ebook)

  Printed in the United States of America

  OPM

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  Most Hachette Book Group books are available at quantity discounts with bulk purchase for educational, business, or sales promotional use. For information, please call or write:

  Special Markets Department, Hachette Book Group

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  Telephone: 1-800-222-6747 Fax: 1-800-477-5925

  To my husband, Bill, for showing me that first love can be the forever kind

  Acknowledgments

  Thank you so much to my amazing agent, Sarah Younger, and my equally wonderful editor, Alex Logan. I’m so incredibly lucky to work with you both. Also, a big thank-you to the whole Forever team—Lexi Smail, Michelle Cashman, Elizabeth Turner, and everyone else who helped bring this book from my laptop to the shelves. You guys are the best!

  Thank you to Annie Rains, Anna Shepherd, and Tif Marcelo for reading and critiquing this book for
me and to my #girlswritenight ladies, Annie Rains, April Hunt, Sidney Halston, and Tif Marcelo for always being there when I need a nudge.

  A special shout-out to the members of my reader group! You guys are the absolute best, and I appreciate your love and support more than you could know. While I was writing Can’t Forget You, I asked for help choosing and naming a dog for the hero, Mark. You guys had so many great suggestions! Rhonda Ziglar named Bear, and I also used ideas from Brandy Thornton, Kay Luker, and Kimberly Lucia for other names suggested for various characters. You guys also inspired several of the costumes at Jess’s Halloween party—thank you, Josephine Carzo, Amy Bavoso, and Laurie Lemmon.

  And the biggest thank-you of all to the readers and bloggers who’ve bought, read, reviewed, or otherwise supported me along the way. I appreciate you all so much! xoxoxo

  CHAPTER ONE

  Jessica Flynn picked her way along the grassy roadside. To her right, the forest beckoned, wild and beautiful. The timing wasn’t perfect, but after eyeing this undeveloped tract of land next to her spa for years, it had finally been put up for sale. And now it was going to be hers.

  She rubbed at the headache squeezing her temples, remembering—belatedly—that she’d meant to take some ibuprofen before she headed out to meet with the realtor. Oh well, too late now. And actually, now that she was away from the hustle and bustle of the spa, she realized her whole body hurt, a deep ache in her joints and a shivery sensitivity on her skin that felt an awful lot like she was coming down with something.

  Which was just friggin’ great. Half her staff had been out with the flu already this month, and she was booked solid with client appointments for the rest of the week.

  But first things first…

  About ten yards ahead, a white SUV sat in the gravel driveway beside the For Sale sign. As she approached, the vehicle’s front door opened, and a balding, middle-aged man stepped out.

  “Ms. Flynn?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  “I’m Gordon McDermott.” He stuck out a hand, and she shook it. “You said on the phone you own the adjacent property?”

  “That’s right,” she said. The Haven Spa was her baby, the culmination of years of sweat, tears, and dreams. And once she’d bought this additional land, she was going to expand the spa into a rustic yet luxurious resort.

  “Then he must own the property on the other side because he told me the same thing.” Gordon nodded toward a man standing at the end of the gravel driveway, his back to them.

  Jessica’s spine stiffened as if it had turned to steel. He was tall, lean, and muscular, his black hair close-cropped, hands shoved into the front pockets of his jeans. And she’d know him anywhere.

  Mark Dalton, the first man to own—and break—her heart. The man she couldn’t get within five feet of without wanting to kick him in the shins for being such a jerk when they were teenagers. And unluckily for her, he was also one of the owners of the property on the other side of this one.

  He turned, and their eyes met. His were the color of rich espresso, sizzling in their intensity. His bronzed skin was marred by a vicious scar that slashed his right cheek, the only outwardly visible reminder of the accident that ended his Army career. “Jess,” he said, his voice deep and a little scratchy.

  “Mark.” Her hands clenched into fists. It figured he and his friends would have their eye on this property too. Well, she’d just have to outbid them because she’d been dreaming about expanding the spa for a lot longer than they’d been giving zip-line tours over at Off-the-Grid Adventures.

  “I take it you two already know each other?” Gordon said, looking pleased.

  She and Mark both nodded, eyeing each other warily.

  “Great. Well, as you may have heard, the property owner, Randy Wexler, passed away unexpectedly a few weeks ago, and his family is looking to sell this property as quickly as possible to settle his estate. My impression,” he said, raising his eyebrows for emphasis, “is that he left behind quite a few bills that need paying.”

  “That’s sad,” Jessica said. “I wonder why he never got around to building anything out here?”

  “He’d owned this property for decades, hoped to someday retire and build his dream home here,” Gordon said. “Unfortunately, he waited too long to make it happen. Naturally, the family is thrilled that we already have not one, but two, interested buyers for the land.”

  “I bet.” Jessica eyed Mark again. He still stood near the end of the gravel driveway—the driveway that Randy Wexler had envisioned leading to his dream home but instead dead-ended into the forest beyond.

  Mark, never one for casual conversation, said nothing.

  “As you both know, there’s a little over forty acres out there, all undeveloped. The property is zoned residential, but with businesses on both sides, I wouldn’t anticipate a problem having it rezoned commercial.”

  Mark cocked an eyebrow. She’d heard that the guys had had quite a time getting their property rezoned to allow Off-the-Grid to open, but in the end, it had worked out. And the realtor was right—with businesses on both sides, rezoning was a no-brainer.

  “You mind if I have a look around?” Mark asked.

  “Not at all. Take your time. I imagine you both are familiar with where the property lines lie,” Gordon said, gesturing toward the forest before them.

  “Thank you,” Jessica said. “I’d like to poke around a bit too.” She’d already done some snooping on her own, but she couldn’t pass up the chance to openly explore. This land wrapped around behind the spa, and since no one used it for anything, she’d occasionally hiked through, daydreaming about little cabins with private hot tubs nestled in the woods.

  Mark walked to the end of the driveway then turned and looked back, as if waiting for her to catch up. Dammit. She’d been planning to strike out on her own. Well, maybe she could feel him out for how serious he and the guys were about buying. “I didn’t know you guys were interested in more land,” she said as she fell into step beside him—well, kind of beside him. She’d left a few feet of space between them for good measure. Any closer and she might wind up wanting to strangle him. Because if she looked too deeply into his cocoa eyes, the memories threatened to swamp her. So many stolen kisses and whispered promises. This was the man she’d thought she might spend the rest of her life with, right up until he dropped her like a bad habit when he enlisted in the Army.

  Mark kept his eyes on the leaf-strewn ground before them. “We’ve been talking about adding a mountain bike course. Ethan says there are some hills back here that would be perfect.”

  A mountain biking course? She wasn’t opposed to the idea except for the fact that this property bordered her spa on two sides, and she wasn’t sure she wanted adrenaline-seeking men and women racing past her natural spring-fed hot tubs yelling and carrying on while her clients were trying to relax and unwind. “Why can’t you build that on the land you already own?”

  “Hills on our side are too rocky. Perfect for climbing, not biking.”

  “So you’re pretty serious then? About buying?”

  His eyes flicked to hers, just for a moment, and he nodded. “You looking to expand the spa?”

  “Yes,” she said and left it at that. Her headache was getting worse, and ugh, she really felt lousy. She was going to be so pissed if she had to go home from work early today.

  She and Mark walked in silence for a few minutes, crunching over the bed of leaves and pine needles that carpeted this part of the woods. Birds twittered overhead, darting through the colorful foliage. Here in Haven, North Carolina, fall had officially arrived, bringing with it a chill on the breeze and a kaleidoscope of color in the trees.

  October had always been her favorite month, what with the foliage, cool air, fresh apple cider, and Halloween—which was arguably her favorite holiday—closing things out. Yeah, fall rocked, especially out here in the Smoky Mountains, where Mother Nature really got a chance to put on a show. It was almost enough to take her mind
off the stabbing pain behind her eyes and the vicious ache in her bones that intensified with every step she took.

  Mark started toward a steep incline to the left, and she saw her chance to strike out on her own. “I’m headed this way.” She gestured to the right, toward the flatter area she’d been scoping out for her spa cabins. “I’ll see you back by the road.”

  He paused, and those dark eyes met hers again, burning right through her. He nodded and turned away, hiking toward the hillside. She turned away too, before she caught herself doing something stupid like watching his very fine ass as he walked away.

  * * *

  Mark Dalton grabbed the rock and pulled himself up. It didn’t compare with the rock face they used over at Off-the-Grid, but he’d never say no to a new rock to climb. His right knee ached as he moved, stiff and tight in a way he’d never fully get used to.

  He pulled himself over the top of the rock and stood, finally allowing himself to look in the direction Jess had gone. She was nowhere to be seen.

  Just as well.

  Since he’d returned to Haven, she’d made it clear she didn’t want anything to do with him. Not that he blamed her. It was just his dumb luck that he still wanted her something fierce. In the eleven years since he left Haven—and Jess—behind, no woman had ever come close to what he’d had with Jess. They’d shared something intense, something real, that he’d never felt with anyone else.

  But that was in the past. These days, he’d gotten so used to the occasional random hook-up that he’d come to prefer it. He enjoyed being on his own. Always been a loner. Probably always would be. No doubt his fantasies about Jess were better off kept as just that…fantasies.

  Pausing, he surveyed the hilly area where he and his partners had talked about building a mountain bike course. The terrain out here was ideal, lots of gentle slopes and steep drops. He, Ethan Hunter, and Ryan Blake had opened Off-the-Grid Adventures together last year, offering zip-line tours, rock climbing, survival skills classes, and the like. The whole thing had been Ethan’s brainchild, but the timing couldn’t have been more perfect for Mark.