One Kiss
For twelve years Tristyn Garrett ignored the near kiss with family friend and current boss Josh Slater...until the confirmed bachelor shows up with three adorable little girls in his arms. Making him simply irresistible...
Two Months
But resist she must, especially when she’s trapped for the summer in an RV on the car-racing circuit with the girls and the one man she can’t allow herself to have. Because he broke her heart once—she won’t let him do it again!
Three Kids
Caring for his nieces on the road, Josh needs Tristyn. But the kiss that got away looms large in the small space...till Josh devises a plan: kiss her again and get it out of his system. With three little chaperones, what can possibly happen?
The inadvertent contact made him groan.
Tristyn backed up. “You’re in my space.” When Josh didn’t step away, she said, “Could you please get out of my space?”
“I could...” Instead, he stepped forward, breaching the distance between them.
“Twelve years,” he murmured as he caught her chin in his hand. “It’s a long time to wonder, don’t you think?”
“I guess that depends on what you’re wondering.” Her tone was neutral but he caught her breathlessness.
“The same thing you are.”
She was trembling. Not with fear, she realized. With desire. But going down that path with Josh now would be dangerous. Still, she played along.
“And what is that?” she asked.
He didn’t say the words. He simply brushed her lips with his.
And with that kiss, any thought of resistance fizzled away. In that moment there was only Josh. And the intoxicating sensation of his kiss.
Twelve years ago she would’ve given anything to experience this. Twelve years ago she’d been totally unprepared for this. Even now, she wasn’t sure what to do with the desire that pulsed through her veins.
All she knew was that if she touched him now, she wouldn’t be able to stop.
* * *
Those Engaging Garretts!— The Carolina Cousins
The Last Single Garrett
Brenda Harlen
BRENDA HARLEN is a former attorney who once had the privilege of appearing before the Supreme Court of Canada. The practice of law taught her a lot about the world and reinforced her determination to become a writer—because in fiction, she could promise a happy ending! Now she is an award-winning, national bestselling author of more than thirty titles for Mills & Boon. You can keep up-to-date with Brenda on Facebook and Twitter or through her website, www.brendaharlen.com.
For my readers—thank you!
XO
Contents
Cover
Back Cover Text
Introduction
Title Page
About the Author
Dedication
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
Epilogue
Extract
Copyright
Chapter One
Tristyn Garrett didn’t get paid to keep tabs on Josh Slater.
Though her responsibilities at Garrett/Slater Racing seemed ever growing and changing, that wasn’t one of them. So when Dave Barkov came into the building for his nine-thirty meeting with her too-sexy-for-his-own-good boss, she buzzed Josh’s office. As a co-owner of the race team, Josh didn’t always keep regular hours, but he was always there when he needed to be.
So why wasn’t he there now?
“Excuse me for a minute,” she said to Mr. Barkov, and made her way down the hall to Josh’s office. The door was open, but the lights were off and the chair behind his desk was empty. His computer, which was always on, was flashing a reminder of the meeting with Dave Barkov, which Josh wasn’t there to see.
Across the hall, her cousin’s office was also empty, but she knew that Daniel was at the wind tunnel with Ren D’Alesio and his crew chief. She had received no communication from Josh to explain his absence.
Ordinarily she wouldn’t worry about where he was, what he was doing or even who he was with, but Mr. Barkov was a potential new sponsor and this tour of the facilities in Charisma, North Carolina, had been set up weeks ago. She knew because she’d set it up, after ensuring that the date and time worked for Josh. Right now, she was silently cursing the fact that she worked for him.
Their relationship was a mostly, if not strictly, professional one. Josh had been friends with her cousin Daniel for as long as she could remember, and over the past several years, he’d become a regular fixture at family events. He was, in many ways, like another cousin to her, except that she got along really well with all her cousins and her relationship with Josh wasn’t always so amicable.
At the shop, they worked well together because each was focused on the performance of their respective duties. But away from GSR, there was often an uncomfortable...friction...between them.
She blamed Josh for that friction. He seemed to enjoy saying and doing things for the sole purpose of riling her, and even aware of that fact, she couldn’t always control her reactions. Her sisters liked to tease that it was sexual tension and suggested that Tristyn could alleviate the problem by getting naked with Josh, but that wasn’t going to happen—no way, no how, not ever.
But his failure to show up for a scheduled meeting with a new sponsor was completely out of character. Because as much as she occasionally accused him of being immature and unreliable, when it came to the business aspects of GSR, he was the poster boy for responsibility. Of course, he’d sunk a large portion of his own money—courtesy of his interest in Slater Industries, the company owned and operated by his parents—into the business and had convinced her cousin to do the same.
While Mr. Barkov waited, Tristyn called Josh’s cell phone. She also sent a text message and an email, but he didn’t respond to any of her attempts at communication. So she put a smile on her face and apologized to the sponsor, explaining that both the team’s owners were tied up in a meeting elsewhere and offering to either reschedule or give him the promised tour of the facilities herself.
Mr. Barkov opted for the tour.
Two hours later, when he had finally gone and Daniel had returned from his meeting, she gave a perfunctory knock on her cousin’s open door before she stepped through it and into his office. “Where the hell is he?”
Daniel looked up from his computer screen, his dark brows drawing together. “Who?”
She rolled her eyes. “The Slater half of Garrett/Slater Racing.”
“I haven’t seen him yet this morning,” Daniel admitted.
“Because he’s AWOL,” Tristyn said, not even trying to hide her irritation.
“A few hours late is hardly AWOL,” he chided.
“It’s not a few hours,” she argued. “Nobody has heard a single word from him since he left the track Saturday afternoon.”
“He said something about having to deal with a family crisis,” her cousin told her.
Concern immediately edged aside her irritation. “What kind of family crisis?”
Daniel shrugged. “I didn’t ask. I figured that came under the heading of ‘personal’ business, which means it’s none of mine—and none of yours, either.”
Tristyn considered that for a minute before nodding in acknowledgment of the point. “Okay—it’s none of my business,” she agreed. “But I think you should call him.”
“Why?”
“Because I’ve tried calling, texting and emailing, with no response, so I’m wondering if there’s a reason that he’s ignoring me.”
Her cousin’s brows winged up. “Is there?”
“Not that I’m aware of,” she said. “But he’s never ignored my communications or been out of touch for so long before.”
Daniel hit the speakerphone button, then punched in his friend’s number. The call went immediately to voice mail—as each of hers had done.
You’ve reached Josh Slater. Please leave a message and I’ll get back to you.
The beep sounded, then Daniel began to speak. “Hey, Josh. Give me a call when you get this message. I’ve got Tris in my office with a worried look on her face because she can’t get in touch with you.”
“I’m only worried that I’ll have to cover for him when Dave Barkov shows up to meet the crew and tour the facilities,” she interjected. “Oh, wait—I already did.”
Daniel disconnected the call and slid her a look. “And you wonder why he might be ignoring you,” he noted drily.
“He blew off a meeting with a potential sponsor,” she said again.
“He’ll check in soon,” her cousin assured her, but she suspected he was trying to convince himself as much as her.
“Let me know when he does,” she suggested.
Tristyn went back to her desk. As the administrative assistant and head of PR for the team, she had more than enough work to keep herself busy for the rest of the day. By three o’clock, when Josh hadn’t checked in with her or returned Daniel’s call, she picked up her purse and stopped by her cousin’s office again.
“I’m going to detour past his place on my way home,” she said.
Daniel glanced at his watch, frowned. “You’re really worried about him, aren’t you?”
Maybe she was a little concerned, because it wasn’t like Josh to be out of touch. The man practically lived with his phone in his hand, answering calls when they came in and responding to emails and text messages right away. But she wasn’t going to admit her concern to her cousin.
“I’m annoyed,” she said, because that was true, too. “I had to work through my lunch today to make up for the time I spent with your sponsor because Josh was a no-show.”
“I’m sure Dave Barkov was more grateful than annoyed,” her cousin said. “After all, you’re a lot prettier than Josh is.”
She kissed his cheek. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
As she drove toward Josh’s condo, she thought about her cousin’s parting remark. While it was true that no one would ever apply the “pretty” label to Josh Slater, there were several others that came to mind. At six feet two inches, with dark blond hair, smoky gray eyes and a mouth that promised all kinds of wicked pleasure, he was tempting. Tantalizing. Hot.
Oh, yes, he was very definitely hot.
And she’d already been burned.
* * *
Josh Slater stared at the disaster zone that used to be his kitchen and tried to decide if he should wade into the mess or call a hazmat team. In addition to the pile of dishes from breakfast and lunch, there was a long drip of dried pancake batter on the oven door, toast crumbs on the counter, Cheerios on the floor and a pot with the congealed remnants of mac and cheese stuck to the bottom. He waded into the mess and had just filled the sink with soapy water when a knock sounded at the door.
He wasn’t expecting any more visitors—he’d already had more than he’d anticipated this weekend and wasn’t eager to add to the number. He decided to ignore the summons and pretend he wasn’t home.
The knock sounded again, louder and more insistent this time. He frowned, thinking that if a knock could exhibit personality traits, this one was brisk and impatient, very much like...Tristyn Garrett.
Because she was on his mind, he wasn’t the least bit surprised to hear her voice come through the door. “If you’re in there, Josh, you better open this door before I call 911 and have the fire department break it down.”
Since she didn’t usually issue idle threats, he wiped his hands on a towel and opened the door. “What are you doing here, Tristyn?”
“Nice greeting.” Her deep green eyes narrowed as they skimmed over him, silently assessing. “You look like hell.”
He scrubbed a hand over his face, felt the rasp of stubble on his jaw. Apparently he’d forgotten to shave this morning. But at least he’d showered. He was pretty sure he’d showered.
Tristyn, by contrast, looked stunning. With her slender build, deep green eyes and perfectly shaped mouth, she could easily have made a fortune in front of a camera. Of course, as a Garrett, she was already heir to a fortune. Still, she worked as hard as anyone else at GSR, often exceeding even his expectations—as she’d done again by showing up at his door.
“I didn’t get much sleep last night,” he finally responded to her comment.
He saw the cool derision in her eyes fade. “Are you sick?” She took a step forward and lifted her hand as if to check his temperature.
He stepped back, forcing her to drop her hand. Since she’d been enticed by her cousin Daniel to work for Garrett/Slater Racing two years earlier, he’d been forced to acknowledge that his best friend’s little cousin was all grown up. But she was still his best friend’s cousin, which meant that even if she looked like every man’s fantasy, she was off-limits to him.
That knowledge hadn’t stopped him from dreaming of her hands on him—frequent and explicit dreams. But he didn’t want her touching him because she felt sorry for him. It was much better if they both respected the walls she’d built between them.
“No, I’m not sick,” he told her. “I’m just exhausted from trying to keep up with three very demanding females.”
As he’d expected, the casual—and yes, deliberately provocative—words erased any hint of sympathy from her pretty green eyes. Now they glittered like emeralds—hard and sharp. “Seriously? You blew off a scheduled meeting with a sponsor because you’re recovering from a weekend orgy?”
Before he could respond, a tiny voice piped up to ask, “Whatsa orgy?”
Ah, hell.
Josh cringed at the sound of the adult word coming out of the little girl’s mouth as he turned to face his five-year-old niece. “I thought you were watching a movie in the bedroom,” he said.
Emily shook her head. “I don’t like the movie—it’s scary.”
“It’s a princess movie,” he pointed out. “How scary can it be?” Although he’d never seen it himself, he’d found it in one of the half dozen suitcases his sister had dumped in his foyer along with her three daughters, so he’d assumed it was suitable for the kids.
“It’s scary,” she insisted.
“This is my niece Emily,” Josh said. “Emily, this is Tristyn.”
“Hi,” the little girl said shyly.
Tristyn crouched down so that she was at eye level with the little girl—inadvertently providing him with a perfect view down the open vee of her blouse. And the view was perfect: sweetly rounded curves peeking over the edge of delicate white lace. He didn’t look away until the lower part of his anatomy began to stir with appreciation.
“What movie are you watching?” Tristyn asked.
“The Princess and the Frog.”
“Are you at the part where the prince goes to see the witch doctor?” she asked.
Emily nodded solemnly, her big blue eyes wide and worried.
“That is a scary part,” Tristyn admitted. “But I watched the movie just a couple of weeks ago with my niece, so I can tell you that the scary part will be over soon, then there are some funny parts and the movie has a happy ending.”
Emily chewed on her lower lip. “For real?”
“For real,” Tristyn promised.
“You wanna watch the movie?” the little girl asked.
“I would love to watch the movie,” she said. “But I need to talk to your uncle for a little bit first, okay?”
“Okay,” Emily agreed, and reluctantly headed back to the bedroom where the “scary” movie was playing.
Tristyn stood up again, tugging down the hem of the short skirt that had ridden up her thighs. She had spectacular legs to go with her tempting feminine curves—an almost irresistible package.
“Is she one of the females who kept you up all night?” she asked him now.
“Yeah,” he admitted, with obvious reluctance. “Emily is my sister’s middle daughter. She has two sisters, Charlotte, who is a couple years older, and Hanna, who is younger.”
Tristyn curled her hand into a fist and punched him in the arm. She put some force behind the motion, but her effort glanced off his biceps.
He lifted a brow. “What was that for?”
“Because you’re an idiot.” She opened her hand, flexed her fingers. “Jeez—your arm is as hard as your head.”
“You’ve often accused me of being an idiot,” he pointed out, ignoring her latter comment. “But it’s never driven you to violence before.”
She just shook her head. “What is wrong with you that you would rather let me believe you spent the weekend participating in an orgy than admit you were taking care of your sister’s kids?”
“Maybe I didn’t want to disillusion you.”
“Into thinking that you had a heart in addition to your hormones?”
He shrugged. “We both know that our relationship is...safer—” he decided “—when you don’t have any illusions about me being a nice guy.”
“Don’t worry—discovering that you spent a weekend with your nieces isn’t going to change my opinion of you.”
“Good to know,” he said.
“Although I am curious about why they’re here—and where your sister is.”
“Long story.”
“And why haven’t you been answering your phone?” she asked.
“Because I can’t find it,” he admitted.
“You’re kidding.”
He shook his head. “I remember answering a text message when I was scooping up ice cream for the girls last night, but I haven’t seen it since then.”
“I assume you’ve looked in the kitchen?”
He hesitated, just a fraction of a second. “Yeah.”
“That didn’t sound very convincing.”
“The kitchen is a bit of a mess right now,” he admitted. “But I’m hoping the phone will turn up as I clear things away.”
“I’ll give you a hand,” she offered, already moving toward the kitchen.
Josh followed, enjoying the sexy sway of her hips—and nearly ran right into the back of her when she halted abruptly in the doorway.
She slowly turned to face him. “This is a bit of a mess?”
“I didn’t have a chance to clear away breakfast dishes before it was time for lunch,” he admitted.
“But you have a dishwasher,” she pointed out.
“Still filled with clean dishes from yesterday.”
She shook her head despairingly. “I’ll put those away while you get the rest of this chaos organized.”
He should have refused her offer of help, but the truth was, he was grateful. He was also appreciative of the fact that every time she bent forward, he could see down her top. Because Tristyn Garrett might be a pain in his ass a lot of the time, but she had a body that seemed to have been designed to fuel male fantasies.
She removed the cutlery basket and set it on the counter, then paused. He gestured to the drawer on the other side of the dishwasher, assuming that she didn’t know where to put the clean forks and knives. But she made no move to open it.
“Um...Josh.”
He immediately shifted his gaze from the nicely rounded curve of her butt to her face, hoping like hell she hadn’t seen him looking where he had no business looking. “What?”
She lifted something out of the basket and held it up. “I found your phone.”
Chapter Two
While his response was a harshly muttered four-letter expletive, Tristyn had to press her lips together so that she didn’t laugh. Because it wasn’t funny.
Well, it was kind of funny.
Because Josh’s phone was as essential to him as the air he breathed into his lungs and the blood that flowed through his veins. A fact that was evidenced by the apoplectic expression on his face.
He snatched the device out of her hand and marched purposefully down the hallway. Curious to see how he would handle this incident, Tristyn followed, her steps faltering when she realized she was in the doorway of the master bedroom.
Josh’s bedroom.
Part of her wanted to turn away, to let his private sanctuary remain private. Another part urged her to take a peek. That part won.
Her gaze moved around the space, noting the enormous king-size platform bed centered on the far wall and flanked by a set of night tables that matched the wardrobe, long dresser and entertainment stand. She glanced up at the ceiling—nope, no mirrors. So maybe he wasn’t quite the degenerate she’d always believed him to be.
And while there was no denying this room was a man’s domain, the decor was simple but inviting. Walls painted in a pale neutral tone that reminded her of the sand on a pristine Caribbean beach; pale floors that she guessed were bamboo and that contrasted nicely with the dark walnut finish of the classic mission-style furniture she recognized from the Garrett catalog.
Usually a man’s domain, she clarified, as her attention shifted to the three girls snuggled together on the bed, propped up on a mountain of pillows against the headboard. Emily—the one who hadn’t wanted to watch the scary movie—was on the side closest to the door. In the middle was Hanna—a preschooler, Tristyn guessed, with big blue eyes focused on the screen and uneven blond pigtails sprouting out of the sides of her head. On the far side was Charlotte—obviously the oldest sibling, also blond and blue-eyed, wearing ripped jeans and a black T-shirt with some kind of picture on the front that Tristyn couldn’t see because the girl’s arms were folded across her chest in a posture that she recognized as pure unhappy female attitude.
None of them paid any attention to their uncle. It was as if they weren’t even aware that he was facing them from the foot of the bed. But that might be because they were all mesmerized by the animated feature playing on a television screen that was probably ten inches bigger than the one Tristyn had in her living room.
Josh scooped up the remote and thumbed a button to pause the movie, which finally succeeded in drawing the girls’ eyes to him.
Charlotte opened her mouth as if to say something, then saw the phone in Josh’s hand, slid a quick glance toward the sister snuggled up beside her and closed it again without saying a word.
“Anyone?” Josh prompted.
“I talk,” Hanna offered, crawling to the end of the mattress and reaching her hand up for the phone.
“That would be great, wouldn’t it?” he said, his gaze moving over each of them in turn. “But someone put it in the dishwasher.”
His littlest niece nodded solemnly. “Make it c’ean.”
Tristyn saw a muscle in his jaw flex. “It didn’t need to go in the dishwasher to be cleaned,” he said through gritted teeth. “It was already clean.”
This time Hanna shook her head. “I dwop ice cweam on it.”
Josh blew out a frustrated breath and scrubbed his free hand over his face.
“You did say that you didn’t want to find sticky fingerprints on any of your things,” Charlotte pointed out in defense of her sibling.
“Meaning that I didn’t want any of you to touch any of my things,” he clarified.
His eldest niece shrugged. “Hanna tends to take things literally.”
“She killed my phone.”
The little girl looked up at him. “I so-wee, Unca Josh.” She reached up to take the phone, puckered her lips and kissed the screen before handing it back to him. “All better?”
He sighed again as he dropped the now useless device into the side pocket of his cargo shorts, but one side of his mouth curved in a half smile. “It’s not that easy, kiddo.” He tapped a finger to his cheek. “You have to give a kiss here to make it all better.”
She smiled and held her arms in the air. He slid one of his around her torso, and the natural ease with which he lifted the little girl onto his hip made something inside Tristyn’s chest flutter. She wasn’t usually the type to get quivery over a man, but apparently seeing this strong, sexy male cuddle with a sweet little girl was all it took for her to feel warm and fuzzy inside.
Hanna wrapped both her arms around his neck and gave him a smacking kiss on the cheek. Then she drew her head back, her nose wrinkling with obvious displeasure. “You’re scwatchy,” she told him.
“Yeah, I forgot to shave this morning,” he admitted, setting her on the bed again.
She immediately returned to the pile of pillows, then smiled at him again. “Movie?” she asked hopefully.
“After your movie is done and the kitchen is clean, we’re going to have to go out so that I can buy a new phone,” Josh told them, as he picked up the remote again.
Tristyn turned to follow him back down the hall. “If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I never would have believed it.”
He glanced over his shoulder. “Believed what?”
“That you’re a marshmallow.”
He stopped then and turned to face her, his brows drawing together over smoke-colored eyes. “I am not.”
“Yes, you are,” she insisted. “You’re all soft and squishy—like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.”
Those eyes narrowed dangerously, the only warning she had before he took two slow and deliberate steps forward. She automatically took two steps back. He laid his palms flat on the wall on either side of her, then leaned in, so that his body brushed against hers. His undeniably lean and very hard body.
“Do I feel soft and squishy to you?” he asked, his mouth close to her ear.
She lifted her palms to his chest, where his heart was beating in a rhythm much steadier than her own, to hold him at a distance. She had to moisten her suddenly dry lips with her tongue before she could reply, but she managed to keep her tone light and casual when she said, “In here.” And tapped her fingers against his rock hard chest. “Your heart is soft and squishy.”
“Because I didn’t yell at a three-year-old?” he challenged.
“You not only didn’t yell,” she pointed out. “You melted. That little girl looked at you with those big blue eyes and said, ‘I so-wee, Unca Josh,’ and it was as if you completely forgot she destroyed an eight hundred dollar phone.”
“It’s just a phone,” he said, conveniently ignoring the monetary value.
“Well, at least now I know why you didn’t answer any of my calls, text messages or emails today,” she noted.
He was still crowding her, standing so close that she could feel the heat emanating from his body. So close she had only to lean forward to touch her mouth to his strong square jaw. Her lips tingled with anticipation; her body whispered “yes, please.” She clamped her lips firmly together and pressed herself back against the wall.
“Were you worried about me, Tris?” he asked, the silky tone of his voice sliding over her like a caress.
“No,” she denied. Lied. “I was annoyed that I had to give Dave Barkov the tour of GSR.”
“I never doubted that you could handle it,” he told her.
“That’s not the point,” she said, ducking under his arm and walking away.
He, naturally, followed. “Do you want an apology? Okay—I’m sorry I was out of touch for a few hours.”
She shook her head as she returned to the kitchen to resume the task she’d abandoned earlier. “You don’t get it, do you? It’s not just that you didn’t tell anyone you wouldn’t be at work today—you didn’t even tell your friends what was going on here.”
He held her gaze for a long moment. “Is that what we are, Tris...friends?” he asked, in that same silky voice that could make any woman go weak in the knees.
Any woman but her, of course, because she was immune to the considerable charms of Josh Slater.
“Maybe not,” she finally said, determined not to give any hint of the feelings churning inside her. “A friend probably would have known you have three nieces.”
“It’s not something that often comes up in conversation,” he pointed out. “And since my sister moved to Seattle when Charlotte was a baby, I don’t get to see them very often.”
“That’s why you go to Washington every Christmas,” she realized.
“Not every Christmas.” He picked up the soapy cloth to wipe down the stovetop. “But I go when I can.”
She finished unloading the clean dishes and began to load the dirty ones. “So why are they here now?”
“Lucinda’s manager decided, at the last minute, to send her to Spain. The company she works for is setting up a new distribution center there and her pregnant boss, who was supposed to supervise the setup and train the staff, was recently put on bed rest by her doctor, so the company tapped Lucy to go.”
“Why did I always think your sister worked at Slater Industries?”
“My older sister, Miranda, does,” he told her. “She lives in London with her husband and their kids and manages the office there.”
Which meant that he probably didn’t get to see them very often, either, and perhaps explained why he was always hanging out at Garrett family events. Something to think about.
“How did you end up with so many dishes from two meals?” she asked, as she continued to fill the dishwasher.
“Each of the girls wanted something different for breakfast,” he admitted.
“And you indulged them,” she guessed.
“Well, Emily was up first and she asked for dippy eggs with toast sticks, so I figured I would make eggs for everyone. Then Charlotte woke up and informed me she doesn’t eat eggs—except if they’re in pancake batter. So while Emily was eating her eggs, I found a recipe for pancakes and started making those for Charlotte. By this time, Hanna was awake, too. But she just wanted cereal and seemed perfectly happy with the Cheerios I put on the table in front of her—until I made the mistake of pouring milk into the bowl.”
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