Alex Read online

  Alex

  Twilight Falls #1

  A.M. Salinger

  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

  Epilogue

  One Night (Nights #1) Special Preview

  Chapter 1

  Books by A.M. Salinger

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  Alex Hancock came out of the coffee shop opposite the courthouse and froze in his tracks.

  Someone had parked their dirty, mud-streaked Jeep Wrangler close to his pristine, black and red Triumph motorcycle.

  Alex’s knuckles whitened on his cup of black coffee.

  When it rains, it fucking pours!

  He stormed across the street, stopped in front of the offending vehicle, and glared at it as if it had committed a crime. A car slowly pulled up behind him.

  “Wow,” someone murmured. “You look pissed.”

  Alex turned. A pretty brunette was watching him with an amused expression from behind the wheel of a red, convertible Mini.

  “You would be too if some asshole just blocked you in!” he snapped.

  Izzy Batista’s green eyes sparkled impishly as she observed the grimy, four-wheel drive. “Yup, that guy must be one giant dick.”

  She parked her car and joined him outside the courthouse.

  “I gotta give it to you, Hancock. You sure scrub up nice.” Izzy placed her hands on her hips and scrutinized him with a critical eye.

  Alex sighed irritably and downed his drink. He winced when a burst of acid rose in his throat.

  “Easy on the coffee, stud,” Izzy murmured. “We don’t want you getting an ulcer on your big day.”

  A fresh bout of nerves twisted Alex’s gut at Izzy’s words.

  “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” he mumbled to himself. “Me, Alex Hancock, getting married.”

  Izzy patted his arm. “No backsies.” A trace of steel underscored her friendly tone. “Remember, you got a lot riding on this.”

  He crushed the coffee cup and tossed it in a nearby trash can.

  She’s right.

  It had been a month since the life Alex had carefully built in San Diego had come crashing down around him, after his business partner of two years embezzled from their law firm and ran off to Mexico. Mired in debt and with his new condo on the verge of being repossessed, Alex had desperately been trying to raise the necessary capital to salvage his career and company when Izzy Batista had called him out of the blue ten days ago. The sister of Wyatt Batista, one of Alex’s lifelong friends from his hometown of Twilight Falls, Izzy had discovered the predicament he was in through her older brother.

  “I may have a solution to your problems,” Izzy said. “Word of warning though, it’s pretty unorthodox.”

  Alex stilled where he sat on his couch, his cell phone in hand. “What do you mean?”

  “One of my clients is in trouble,” Izzy said. “They have to get married by the end of the month or they’ll lose their estate and half of their considerable fortune.”

  Alex frowned. “I don’t understand.”

  Izzy sighed. “I’m saying this client needs a mail-order groom. And pronto. They’re willing to pay half a million dollars to the right candidate.”

  Alex’s mouth went dry. “Half a million dollars?” His heart pounded against his ribs as he glanced at the boxes filling the apartment. He’d barely started unpacking when Ryan had pulled the rug out from under him and disappeared with half the company’s funds.

  “Yup, half a million dollars,” Izzy repeated. “The contract’s for six months. Marry the client, live with them, and then walk into the sunset with the money and no strings attached.”

  Alex swallowed, shocked that he was even entertaining the crazy idea Izzy had just proposed.

  “Where does your client live?” he mumbled.

  “Twilight Falls.”

  Alex grimaced at Izzy’s answer. He raked a hand through his hair and stared at the dazzling lights of San Diego Bay through the glass doors overlooking his terrace, a storm of memories and bittersweet emotions crashing over him.

  “I know you don’t like coming back here, Alex,” Izzy said quietly. “Not since the accident. But this could solve all your problems. And my client’s too.”

  Alex chewed the inside of his cheek. “What’s wrong with your client?”

  “What makes you think there’s anything wrong with my client?” Izzy said in a voice that Alex immediately distrusted.

  “Because someone with that much money shouldn’t be struggling to find herself a fiancé, even a fake one. So what is it? Is she unattractive? Does she have a horrible personality?” He pulled a face. “Does she eat puppies for breakfast?”

  “None of the above,” Izzy replied in a cheerful tone. “The client is gorgeous. They’re just a bit…eccentric, is all.”

  Alex mulled Izzy’s words over. Eccentric he could deal with.

  “Are they expecting sex?”

  A soft chuckle travelled down the line.

  “No, it isn’t that kind of arrangement. Besides, I know you’re more into dicks than vaginas.”

  “Yeah, well, my dick hasn’t seen much action lately,” Alex muttered.

  “And here I thought you moved to San Diego for all the gay guys,” Izzy said drily. “You know, since you’d pretty much fucked all the hot ones here in Twilight Falls.”

  Alex scowled. “I only fucked one hot guy in that town.”

  Izzy laughed. Alex found his lips curving in a faint smile at her bubbly voice. Truth be told, he missed Izzy and Wyatt. He missed all the friends he’d left behind when he decided to move to San Diego, after the accident that had changed all of their lives.

  A comfortable silence settled between them.

  “So, what will it be, Alex?” Izzy finally said.

  Alex hesitated. “The end of the month is only ten days away.”

  “Your math is spot on. I knew there was a reason why you became a lawyer.”

  Alex ignored her sarcastic words. “Give me a few days to think about it.”

  It had taken him three days to make his decision. Six days later, he’d put his stuff in storage, returned his apartment keys to his realtor, and climbed on the beautifully restored, classic motorcycle he’d owned since he was seventeen for the one-hundred-and-fifty-mile ride to the San Bernardino Mountains and the quaint, historic town of Twilight Falls.

  Nestled in a valley of towering pine forests and home to the picturesque waterfall and rapids from which it took its name, Twilight Falls started life as a nineteenth-century trading post and mining settlement, during the California Gold Rush. After a slump following the two World Wars, the place saw a strong revival in the second half of the twentieth century, as a result of a sustained campaign by the city council to turn it into a tourist town. The rise in outdoor sports activities meant it now stayed busy pretty much all year around, with the briefest of lulls at Thanksgiving and the New Year.

  Alex had reached Twilight Falls late last night. Having refused Izzy and Wyatt’s offer to put him up at their place, he’d booked himself into a motel outside town; the spring tourist season was just getting started
and there’d still been rooms available at short notice. Not that he would have wanted to stay in town. Even though it had been twelve years since he’d left the place, he was bound to bump into someone he knew and he wasn’t in the mood for small talk.

  “Are you ready?” Izzie said presently, excitement raising the pitch of her voice.

  “Not really,” Alex murmured.

  Izzy grinned. “Yeah, well, if you’d stayed at our place, we could have gotten you wasted and you’d be doing this drunk right now.”

  “I really don’t think the county clerk would be impressed if the groom turned up with a hangover,” Alex said sternly. “Besides, I’m entering a legal agreement with this woman. The least I can do is show up sober.”

  He looked up at the two-story, cream stucco and red-brick building before them and squared his shoulders.

  Whoever this broad is, I only have to live with her for six months. How bad can it be?

  An odd expression danced across Izzy’s face.

  “What is it?” Alex said.

  “Nothing.” Izzy flashed him a bright smile, hooked her arm through his elbow, and guided him up the short flight of steps and into the building.

  They checked in at reception and headed in the direction of the court rooms. Surprise darted through Alex when Izzy walked past the austere wooden doors and continued down the hall.

  “Where are we going?” he said, puzzled.

  “To the chapel,” Izzy replied breezily.

  He arched an eyebrow.

  “The client insisted,” she explained with a mysterious smile.

  The first tendrils of unease started coiling through Alex. Izzy was acting strange. And he wasn’t sure he liked the hint of devilment in the depths of her eyes.

  The chapel doors appeared up ahead. Alex’s pulse speeded up when they opened them and stepped inside a large, airy chamber. The chapel was a relatively new addition to the courthouse and had been designed along the traditional lines of a church, with an altar, a chancel, and a nave split by a central aisle. But it wasn’t the charming ecclesiastical interior or the delightful pastel colors around them that caused Alex to draw a sharp breath and rock to a stop on the checkered marble flooring.

  He stared beyond the bright posies and white lace decorating the wooden pews to the two figures rising to their feet from the front right row.

  “Jesus, Izzy!” Alex hissed, shock reverberating through him. “I can’t marry her! She’s older than my grandmother!”

  The elderly dame in the pink brocade dress and pale floral hat arched an eyebrow.

  “You were right,” she told Izzy. “That one has a smart mouth on him.” The woman’s eyes fairly twinkled with glee as she studied Alex’s stunned expression. “I’m not the one you’re marrying, sonny.”

  Alex’s heart stuttered. His gaze switched to the tall, dark-haired man in the smart, navy-blue suit and the ivory, rose boutonnière next to the woman. A thunderous expression clouded the stranger’s handsome, stubbled features.

  Shit. You’re kidding me.

  “What the hell is going on, Izzy?” the man growled.

  Chapter 2

  Finn West glared at his art consultant.

  Izzy Batista blinked her green eyes innocently at him. “Why, you’re getting married, Finn.”

  Finn observed the striking blond man next to Izzy. The guy was wearing a light azure three-piece suit with a crisp white shirt and a silver-gray silk tie. The outfit highlighted his pale blue eyes, which were currently wide and filled with the same angry bewilderment coursing through Finn.

  “He’s a man!” Finn snarled.

  The stranger next to Izzy stiffened as if he’d been slapped.

  Finn ignored the icy look dawning on the man’s face, clenched his jaw, and directed an accusing stare at his great-aunt.

  “Did you know about this?”

  Margaret Fontanier-West, or Aunt Maggie as Finn called her, smiled beatifically.

  “Yes, I did. The terms of my demands did not include details of the sex of the person you had to marry.”

  “Besides,“ Izzy added, “I quite clearly recall you telling me that you didn’t care if it was a man or a woman you got hitched to.”

  Finn swallowed a curse. He couldn’t believe Izzy and his great-aunt had concocted this plot together.

  And damnit, she’s right. I did say that!

  He winced internally as he recalled the drunken conversation he’d had with Izzy when he’d rang the art consultant for advice late one night, some eleven days ago.

  “Your great-aunt has done what?!” Izzy gasped.

  “She’s given me an ultimatum,” Finn mumbled, head throbbing and hand clasped around his third glass of bourbon. “She wants me to get married by the end of the month or she’ll revoke the family trust. Which means I’ll lose the house and half of my investments.”

  Silence fell on the other end of the line.

  “Izzy, you there?” Finn said.

  “Yeah, I’m here.”

  Relief filled Finn. In the three years since he’d lost his wife Catherine, Izzy was the first woman he’d come to consider as a friend. It was through the owner of an art gallery in L.A. that he’d gotten to know her. Much to Finn’s amazement, Izzy had grown up in Twilight Falls, the place he and Catherine had moved to five years ago, before she fell ill.

  After a stint in Paris and New York, Izzy had returned to California and her home roots. Finn had hired her to work for him in her capacity as an art consultant eight months ago. In that time, he’d come to appreciate her vivacious personality and her brains.

  “What will you do?” Izzy said.

  Despair twisted through Finn, his mind still spinning from the bombshell the woman who had raised him had dropped that afternoon.

  “I don’t know,” he said bitterly. “I’ve already spoken to my lawyers. Aunt Maggie is within her rights to dissolve the trust.”

  “Even though you’ve been pouring money into it through your stock investments?” Izzy said sharply. “I mean, most of that wealth is yours, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah,” Finn murmured. “Catherine and I chose to make her our trustee five years ago. Neither of us had any other family and—” he paused, emotion clogging his throat for a moment, “and we couldn’t have children.”

  “I know you won’t like hearing this, but I kinda understand why your great-aunt is doing this,” Izzy murmured after a while. “You do too, don’t you?”

  Finn stiffened.

  “Even though I’ve been out of town for a while, even I’ve heard the gossip, Finn,” Izzy continued. “You’ve hardly set foot outside your estate since Catherine’s death. And you’ve barely spoken to anyone bar me, your aunt, and your housekeeper in the time since I’ve known you. If it wasn’t for your art, the world would forget Finn West ever existed.”

  “Maybe that’s a good thing,” Finn murmured.

  A frustrated sigh echoed down the line.

  “I don’t know what happened between you and your wife, but nothing you could have done justifies what you’ve put yourself through since her death, Finn,” Izzy said in a hard voice. “It’s about damn time you actually started living again.”

  Finn swallowed, the age-old regret and bitterness that had been a chain around his heart for the last ten years swirling inside him.

  “That’s the thing, Izzy.”

  “What?” she said, puzzled.

  “I didn’t do anything.”

  Izzy blew out a sigh. “Boy, you’re really wasted, aren’t you?”

  Finn knocked his bourbon back and grimaced as the alcohol burned a fiery path down his throat. Anguish turned to anger when he recalled his great-aunt’s cool words once more.

  “All right!” he growled. “She wants me to get married? I’ll get married! I don’t care if it’s a man or a woman, I just need a name on a damn marriage license by the end of this month! And I’m willing to pay good money for it too. Half a million dollars should do it.”

  Izz
y gasped. “You’re kidding, right?! Jesus, Finn, just how much have you had to drink?”

  “I’m not joking,” Finn said in a hard voice. “Will you help me, Izzy?”

  “Are you serious?!”

  “Yes.” Finn grimaced and rubbed the back of his neck. “Look, I have zero interest in checking out the dating scene and trying to find myself a fake fiancée. Once I do this, Aunt Maggie will hopefully leave me the hell alone.”

  “Wow. It’s a good thing you’re not going on the dating scene. That stellar attitude of yours won’t win you any favors.” Izzy paused. “Okay, I’ll see what I can do. In fact—” her tone turned thoughtful, “I just heard of someone who might be in need of some urgent cash.”

  Finn dragged a hand down his face. Izzy had kept her promise. He couldn’t deny that. He just hadn’t expected her to take his words literally. When she’d called him a week ago and told him she’d arranged a marriage license and to turn up at the courthouse today for his wedding with a contract for his new spouse, Finn had presumed the latter would be a woman. He studied the vexed blond next to the art consultant and wondered where she’d magicked the poor schmuck from. The guy looked about ready to spit nails.

  And probably hammer them straight through my and Izzy’s corpses.

  The county clerk who was to officiate Finn’s marriage strolled into the room.

  “Are we ready?” the woman asked with a cheerful grin.

  “Not quite,” Finn muttered.

  “Heck no!” Blond Guy stated vehemently.

  The clerk’s expression fell.

  “Oh.” She pursed her lips. “Having last minute doubts?” She glanced from Finn to the blond. “If it’s any consolation, you two make a cute couple.”