Chapter Two

Brooke

"M om, I can't find my red leotard!" Karina called out from her bedroom. I could already picture her searching her room frantically for her favorite dance leotard.

"Where did you put it when you took it off?" I asked. We were already running behind schedule.

"I don't know." Her frustration was clear, but I didn't take it personally.

I shook my head. Karina was just seven years old, but some days she had the attitude of a fourteen-year-old. I climbed the steps of the small house we rented in Winter Valley and found my daughter's legs sticking out from under her bed. "This is why we put things where they belong."

She groaned. "Mo-om!"

"Don't you Mom me, little girl. Where would you put a leotard you've already worn?"

Karina shimmied her way from under the bed, stood, and marched to the hamper in the closet, dramatically lifting the lid. "It's dirty."

I knew she needed to be dramatic about it for a moment, she got that from my best friend Lara, so I grabbed her purple leotard and shoved it into her dance bag. "When you get home tonight, bring the laundry down to the laundry room and it'll get washed for next time." I didn't wait for a response because there was a hot cup of coffee downstairs with my name on it.

The front door opened just as I picked up my mug, and then I heard Lara's voice. "Good morning, lovely ladies. Your favorite lawyer is here!"

"Aunt Lara!" Karina's heavy footsteps sounded above me and then flew down the steps, where she wrapped Lara in a tight hug. "You look pretty."

Lara smiled and flipped her hair off her shoulder. "Well, thanks, sugar. You look pretty too. Love those shoes!"

I smiled at those two. They were my two favorite people in the world, which wasn't saying much because I kept my circle small, but it was still true. And I was so grateful to Lara. I didn't know how I would ever repay her for all the help she'd given me over the years. Our friendship survived Lara continuing college and law school, while I worked hard and cared for Karina.

"Thanks, Aunt Lara. I love sparkly shoes," she replied, and showed off her pink shoes the way Lara had taught her.

I finished my coffee and packed my bag while they chatted. I had twenty minutes to make the seventeen-minute drive and park my ass in my office before my boss Ruben came looking for me. "Thanks for handling drop off today," I told Lara. "I owe you."

"You don't owe me a damn thing, Brooke. It's what family does, and family is what we are."

I hugged her. "Still, I owe you. Dinner here whenever you want."

Lara laughed. "And that's different than any other night how?"

I shrugged. "You work late a lot. I'll keep a plate warm for you or try to drop it off at your office for lunch."

"I won't turn down your cooking," she said with a grin. "You've become quite the cook over the years."

"Single motherhood and crap salaries made it necessary," I reminded her. The early years after I had to drop out of college were rough when it was just Karina and me, more so because I'd stubbornly refused my family's help. "Okay, thanks again, Lara. Bye Karina, have a good day."

"Bye, Mom. You have a good day too." Karina hugged me and smacked a kiss on my cheek, and it was moments like this that made all the hardship worth it.

With one last look at my daughter and my best friend, I rushed from the house and jumped into my ten-year-old sedan and headed to Montrose Accounting. The firm sat just on the other side of the border that separated Winter Valley from the city, but it was small enough that even though I was only a bookkeeper, I managed to perform a lot of the tasks of an accountant. Getting pregnant with Karina had made continuing college nigh on impossible, which meant I never received my degree, but over the years I'd managed to take enough classes to become a certified bookkeeper while I worked towards my CPA, one costly online class at a time.

The office buzzed with activity, which I ignored in favor of settling into my office. I smiled when I sat down in my chair because I had about fifteen seconds to spare before I knew Ruben would pop his head in to make sure I'd arrived. You'd think I was the only other employee in the building the way he checked in each morning.

"Brooke, hey!" Ruben poked his head and then his belly into my office. "Good news, we have a new client coming in today!" He rubbed his palms together like a greedy cartoon villain and I had to suppress a laugh.

"You haven't said anything about any new clients." Ruben made a big deal out of every new contract he signed, which was endearing and exhausting all at once.

"Didn't want to jinx this one. He's got a high net worth and yesterday he called to ask me to handle some business for him. Today he's coming in to make it official and I want you in there with me."

I nodded. "Yep. I'll be there."

Ruben was a good boss and he paid well, but he required a lot of mental energy to keep up with him. The pay and the benefits were surprisingly competitive, which was why I overlooked some of the questionable things I saw in some of the accounts I handled. Beggars couldn't be choosers, and this was the best paying job I'd ever had, so I ignored what I needed to get my job done well.

"Excellent." Ruben glanced down at his watch and his grin brightened. "He'll be here at ten fifteen, so don't be late."

"I wouldn't dream of it," I answered, and turned my focus on my current roster of clients. Montrose Accounting was a small firm, but Ruben somehow always managed to land big clients who did more than keep us afloat.

At ten o'clock, I pushed away from my desk and saved my work. It was time to turn my attention to the new client that got Ruben's feathers all fluttery. I grabbed my company tablet, a legal pad and pen, and made my way to the small meeting room that Ruben insisted on calling a conference room.

Ruben preferred the chair at the head of the table because it made him feel important. The truth was he only wanted me there to look like he had a bigger team than he really did. I didn't mind, though, and I was happy to take notes because it would make my job easier when it came down to the day-to-day work. I took notes and smiled politely at new clients while Ruben kissed their asses.

It was a real team effort.

At ten fifteen on the dot, the conference room door opened, and Ruben stepped inside with one hand on his round belly and a gleeful smile on his face. The client entered a beat behind him, and he looked a little more well off than our usual clients. The first thing I noticed was the expensive brown shoes and then the fancy pinstriped suit that hung around a well-formed masculine shape. Blond hair that was slicked on the sides and longer on top completed the look. His profile showed off a strong jawline with the smallest hint of stubble despite the early hour.

"And this here, is my best bookkeeper, Brooke. Brooke, I want you to meet our new client," Ruben said.

The new client turned, and I was shocked by a pair of blue eyes the same color as Karina's. "Ilya," I answered before Ruben could introduce us.

"Yeah." Ruben looked pleased as punch. "This is Ilya Kuznetsov. You've heard of him, which is good." Ruben was completely oblivious while my ears rung like two cymbals clanged beside them.

It was him , the man who'd broken my heart and then gave it back to me in the form of my sweet baby girl, Karina. But on the heels of that thought came the panic. Why was Ilya back in New York after so many years?

Then again, maybe he never left. Or maybe he just wasn't here for me. Was he married? Did he have a wife and family I would be forced to deal with as well?

It didn't matter. That was the lie I told myself because it hurt too much to think of anything else. Ilya was an important businessman, and our past was exactly that, the past. He likely lived in the city, so I wouldn't have to worry about seeing him except for a few yearly visits to the office. And most of all I wouldn't have to worry about him discovering my secret.

Our secret.

Seeing him here and now, it was too much. I tried to listen while Ruben extolled the virtues of his firm and laughed at whatever Ilya said. I tried to focus and take notes, but I could only think about the fact that man I thought was firmly in my past was now sitting inside my workplace, casting sideways glances my way. I tried until it got to be too much for me.

I jumped out of my seat and gathered my things. "Excuse me, gentlemen." I walked slowly out of the meeting room even though my heart was pounding.

This could not be happening. Why in the hell was Ilya back in town and what coincidental hell brought him to the small accounting firm where I worked?