Riding Into Love

Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 14 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 15 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 16 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 17 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 18 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 19 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 20 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 21 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 22 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 23 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 24 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 25 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 26 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 27 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 28 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 29 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 30 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 31 (#litres_trial_promo)

Extract (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 1 (#ulink_4b06db94-d9cc-5cd2-ba9a-22afaa085978)

Alana stormed into Payne, Tate and Associates, the law office she now shared with her best friend, Cadence, marched into her personal office and slammed the door behind her. Tossing her purse and laptop bag on the chair, she paced, her hands parked on her hips as she tried to control her heaving chest. She mumbled inaudibly before a light tap followed by Cadence’s cautious entrance brought her out of her personal rage fest.

Cadence quietly walked in and closed the door behind her. “What’s gotten you so uptight this morning? You blew through here like a tornado.”

“I can’t believe he did this!” Alana waved her cell phone in her hand before snatching her bags from the chair and placing them on the large cherrywood desk. She flopped into the chair.

“Who did what?” Cadence sat in one of the two chairs facing Alana’s desk.

“James!” Alana sucked her teeth. “Can you believe that jerk broke up with me by text! By text!” she yelled. Her voice cracked. “Such a freaking coward! He said he can’t do this anymore. He needs space. I smothered him too much.”

“That’s horrible.” Cadence reached for Alana’s hand.

Alana sighed. “Things have changed between us recently. I don’t know what happened.”

“Alana! You didn’t tell me that.” Cadence’s hand went to her heart.

“I know. That’s why we didn’t show up last Sunday for the dinner you and Blake had to celebrate Hunter and Chey’s engagement. He was supposed to show up at three. By six, he still hadn’t returned my calls or responded to any of my texts. I was so pissed that I wanted to throw my phone but decided he wasn’t worth the deductible I would have had to pay to get it replaced if it broke. I didn’t hear from him until ten that night. I was furious.” Alana’s hands were balled into fists.

“Ten o’clock! Are you serious?” Cadence stood. Now she paced. “That—”

“Exactly!” Alana pounded her hand against the desk and stood too. “I said to him, ‘Listen, Jackie,’ which you know is my code word for jackass, and I lit into him so bad he was quiet for, like, a full minute before he spoke again. All his idiotic behind had to say was sorry. No viable explanation. Nothing! After being together for almost a year, I deserve more than just a weak apology.”

Cadence’s mouth opened, but she said nothing. She closed it again, shook her head and folded her arms across her chest. Alana raged on about all of the follow-up arguments they’d had for the remainder of the week.

“Did you respond to the text?”

“I left him a nice-nasty message. If he can’t be man enough to end our relationship face-to-face or at least pick up the phone, then he was never man enough for me anyway. He just needs to lose my number and my address and forget my name.” Alana sat back down. She placed her elbows on her desk and rested her head in her hands. “I’m done. I don’t even want to date anymore. I think I’ll just put a band on my finger and tell any man who tries to hit on me that I’m married. I don’t even want to be bothered.”

“Oh no!” Cadence rounded Alana’s desk and sat on it. She gripped Alana by the shoulders and looked into Alana’s dejected eyes. “No matter what happened, you were always the one to remain hopeful. You always said your knight was out there waiting for you somewhere and you didn’t mind rolling with a few frogs to find them because you knew he’d be worth it.”

“I said that?” Alana chuckled.

“Yep. Always twisting up clichés to make your point, but I get it. I listened to you when you told me to keep living and practically pushed me on Blake.” Cadence snickered. “And now, look, we’re getting married.”

“Well, I was wrong. I’m sick of these damn frogs. Screw that knight. If he is so worth it, then why do I have to swim through all this filthy pond water to find him?” Alana clucked her teeth. “He needs to come find me, shoot! I’m done, Cay,” Alana said, calling her friend by the nickname she’d given her years ago.

“You can’t be done. What if your prince is next?”

Alana craned her neck and looked at Cadence incredulously. “What the hell did you do with my best friend? Surely you aren’t Cadence with all this ‘keep hope alive’ talk.”

“I’m serious, Alana. Don’t shut down. I did the same thing and it wasn’t fun. I buried myself in work to keep from being lonely, but the more time I spent alone, the more I thought about all that things that went wrong with Kenny and me. I’d gotten over him but didn’t get over the feeling of failing in my relationship. That’s why I avoided dating. When I listened to you and started dating Blake, it was as if I started living again—laughing again. Trust me. That’s not what you want. As outgoing as you are, you’d go completely crazy.”

Alana put her head down. Both were quiet for several moments. “I don’t know. This hurts so much. I thought he was the one, Cadence. I can’t go through this again anytime soon. I’d love to have what you’ve found in Blake, but I’m starting to believe that’s not for everyone.”

Cadence hugged Alana, pulled back and searched her eyes. “You want the truth?”

Alana looked forlorn. “Sure. Why not?” She sighed.

“You fall for men very hard and fast. You have so much to offer the right man, but you have to learn to ease into relationships. Otherwise you scare men off. Save it for the right one. He’ll deserve it and he’ll appreciate you.”

Alana breathed deeply and blew out an exasperated breath. Cadence was right. She hated to think of the number of men who’d left for the same exact reason. “So I need to be a little more discerning with my heart, huh?” Feeling raw, she chuckled timidly.

Cadence tilted her head sideways and nodded.