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state of Florida ordinary. Caleb Moreno wasn’t famous, but he was the only man Naomi had wanted to keep around since breaking up with Jake a week after getting her GED.
    By the time her thirtieth birthday had come and gone, Naomi had been ready to settle down, but none of the guys she met measured up to her idea of a “forever man.” Before she met Caleb, Naomi had begun to think she’d never find Mr. Right. But then her ex had walked onto the set of a television special she was filming at one of his historic Florida mansions, and she’d been hooked. With his exotic good looks, skill in the bedroom, and killer sense of humor, Caleb had checked off a good number of her “forever man” boxes. They had dated for a year before becoming engaged and, not long after, pregnant.
    Naomi had been over the moon. At first, Caleb had pretended to be excited about the baby, too, but within weeks of hearing the news, he’d started working late. First, it was three nights a week, then five, and then Naomi could never seem to get him on the phone after four o’clock in the afternoon. She had to resort to texting his assistant to find out if she should even bother setting a place for him at the supper table.
    She’d been so thrilled about the baby that she’d chalked Caleb’s absence up to a resurgence in the real estate market, but looking back Naomi could see the signs that he’d planned to leave. Caleb loved glitz and glamour and shiny new things. Naomi had fulfilled those needs longer than most of his girlfriends, but in the end, he’d been glad to escape without a child to complicate their breakup. He’d made that obvious when he’d elected to skip Grace’s funeral.
    Naomi took a deep breath, pushing away the sad thoughts.
    This was the perfect chance to have that one-on-one chat with Jake. The last thing she needed was to keep dwelling on things that made her emotional. She wanted to offer Jake her compassion for his loss, after all, not sink into a dark place thinking about her own.
    After a quick glance in her mirrored compact to check for caramel stuck in her teeth, Naomi smoothed on a coat of lipstick, ran her fingers through her hair, and headed for the exit, calling out—
    “I’ll be right back!”
    She pushed through the door, pretending she didn’t hear Maddie asking her where she was going.
    Outside, the winter air was crisp and clean-smelling, but not nearly as cold as it had been last night. Naomi could feel the cool wind nipping at her cheeks, but it wasn’t unpleasant. In fact, with the sun shining and tinsel-covered garland glittering above Main Street, the day was gorgeous, the kind of early December afternoon that made the New Year and new beginnings feel like they were just around the corner.
    Naomi held tight to the thought as she hurried across the quiet street, and aimed herself at Jake Hansen.

CHAPTER SEVEN
    Naomi
    Naomi moved quickly, with the determination of a woman on a mission of good will, but she was still a good ten feet away when Jake looked up.
    It was like they had a psychic connection.
    Or like he could smell her coming, the way bees and dogs smell fear.
    Although Naomi couldn’t see Jake’s eyes through his dark sunglasses, she knew he was looking at her. She could read it in his stiffening shoulders, in the jaw that clenched down around his last bite of sandwich, and in the hand that fisted his brown lunch bag into a ball. She could feel his attention on her—making her pulse speed and her mouth go dry—even when he hurled the wadded up bag toward the trashcan at the end of the table, acing the shot on the first try.
    “Two points!” Naomi said, lifting an enthusiastic arm into the air, committing to the lame gesture before she could think better of it.
    But she was too nervous to play it cool. That sky-before-a-lightning-storm energy that had leapt between her and Jake last night at the auction—singeing everyone unlucky enough to be in its path—was sizzling in the air,