Chapter One
Before
For a man who’d sworn off risky women, Law Beaumont was fixated. He was mesmerized. On an overly warm Wednesday morning in November, he couldn’t keep his eyes off the assistant principal who’d requested a meeting with him at his daughter’s elementary school. His divorce had been finalized a month ago. He was pulling the pieces of his life back together. But this still felt dangerous—openly staring at Kristen Hemmings the way he hadn’t let himself since he’d moved his family to Chandlerville, hoping a fresh start in this picturesque place would save them. Three years later, there was nothing except common sense to keep him and Kristen apart. And clearly neither one of them possessed an ounce of it. The school secretary had said he could wait in Kristen’s office, or he would find her on the playground. Of course he hadn’t waited. Of course he was walking toward her and the potential trouble she could mean for his life. Of course the sun was egging him on, shining ridiculously bright for this time of year. She probably wanted to talk about how the divorce was affecting his daughter. Chloe had been having a hard time all school year. And he’d come for her, first and foremost. But Kristen had invited him closer, too, for the very first time. And damn it if he wasn’t moving faster with each step it took to reach her side. They’d been circling this moment forever, putting it off each time they’d casually crossed paths in town. Not that his reaction to her had ever felt casual.