Falling for the Good Guy (Can't Resist #2)

Falling for the Good Guy (Can't Resist #2)

Violet Duke



BOOK DESCRIPTION

From the author who brought you RESISTING THE BAD BOY comes the second book in the NICE GIRL TO LOVE (serial romance) series: Abby & Brian's story...

Abby Bartlett is well aware that everyone thinks she's in love with her best friend Brian. He is, after all, the type of man a nice girl should be with--the polar opposite of the bad boy--the kind of guy who didn't let his wife's decade-long illness stop him from showering her with a lifetime of love every second until her dying day. Yes, Brian has been the yardstick against which Abby has measured all other men. But everyone's wrong; she couldn't possibly be in love with him.

Because she's never once allowed herself that option.

It's taken a while but Brian Sullivan has finally come to terms with being a widower at the age of thirty, surviving the woman he spent half his life loving, a third of it losing. Truth is though, he wouldn't have 'survived' any of it really had it not been for Abby--sweet, incredible Abby--the woman he's never once had to picture his life without, never realized he couldn't truly live without. Until now. Now that he's finally able to love her the way she deserves, the way he knows she wants to be loved...by his brother.

Who's giving him exactly one chance to speak now or forever hold his peace.

Print Length: 145 pages (Based on paperback edition, available August 2013)





DEDICATION



To all the amazing doctors and medical professionals in Hawai‘i and Arizona who have saved my life and improved my quality of living countless times over the years. And to my family and friends,Kat who have made every day of this life fully worth fighting for.





CHAPTER ONE



HE WASN’T COMING BACK.

With a heavy sigh, Abby Bartlett turned off the TV, cutting off the raucous sounds of folks getting ready to party in the New Year at Times Square. The resulting silence in her house was almost deafening.

She’d sat and watched the merriment all evening in the hopes that it would miraculously get her into the holiday spirit, maybe even convince her to go out for the night.

It hadn’t.

And it was her own fault, really.

Connor Sullivan had been gone from her life for three and a half months now and she still hadn’t managed to squelch the part of her that kept speeding up her heart rate every time the doorbell rang…and left her damn near holding her breath all through Christmas.

The same part of her that was keeping her hostage at home tonight just in case.

Gathering herself up off the couch, Abby ambled over to her desk and once again picked up the periodical her article had been published in last week—her first. Every time she saw the small milestone in her academic career, she was reminded of how big a deal Connor had made over the whole thing when she’d initially found out about the article acceptance. How he’d been just as proud of her news as he’d been about closing his $7 billion court settlement that same day.

God, she missed him.

Sure, their agreement had always been just one hot and heavy month together, per his rules, but she never expected to fall in love with him. And she certainly never expected him to extract himself from her life so thoroughly afterward. It hurt like hell. Because the truth was, she had connected with Connor in ways that were surprisingly just as deep as the best friend bond she shared with his brother Brian.

Not that she’d ever tell Brian that—he’d been worrying over her more than enough as is lately.

Speak of the devil.

Abby answered her ringing phone with a smile. “How’s the block party going?”

“Same old, same old.” The familiar rumbly timbre of Brian’s voice smiled back over the phone line, warming her as it always did. “But there’s only so much drunken neighborly fun a man can take.”

She glanced out her window at the sight of headlights coming up her dark street.

“So I left. I’ll be at your place in half a minute so go put on a pair of shorts.” Click.

Damn, he knew her too well. She ran to her closet to throw on a pair of bike shorts under the old tshirt she’d changed into at the ripe hour of eight pm. Hearing Brian slam the car door shut, she hurried to slip on a bra as well.

At the sound of the doorbell, she grinned and shook her head. Always the gentleman. They’d been best friends for what, nearly thirteen years now? And he’d never once used his spare key to let himself in when she was home.

She swung open the door with a smile. “Don’t you have better things to do tonight than pay me a pity visit?”

Brian smiled back, almost managing to hide the empathy darkening his eyes before answering, “Of course not. My life is just as sad as yours, remember?” He held up a case of Sam Adams and a tray of take-out from their favorite Mediterranean restaurant. “I brought some refreshments.”

Skylar popped out from behind him, jazz hands afire. “And me!”

“The entertainment,” he deadpanned.

Chuckling, she stepped back to let in the father-daughter variety act.

In a flurry of her usual pre-teen energy, Skylar rushed in the doorway and proceeded to give Abby a warp speed 30-second update of all the drama that had gone on in her life throughout the week before scampering toward the kitchen pantry for a bag of chips. Along the way, she made sure to grab the remote to flip through the TV channels with one hand and still keep at whatever game she was playing on her bright pink smartphone with the other.