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ex-boyfriend attacked me in my own house and used me just to get to her. The severe concussion and the raised scar from where he slid the knife along my neck are only minor injuries to overcome, considering I’m still living and breathing. Stone is not. It’s strange how these things happen for a reason. Had Sam never met Josh and fallen in love, neither of us might be here living and breathing at the moment.
    Stone might haunt my dreams for now, but I’ll be damned if he’s going to control my future recovery. I need to push through and find that happiness that used to consume me. That’s why I’m here in Breckenridge. I might have been happy with my derby girls and working at the salon all these years, but I haven’t been completely happy since the day I left everything behind. My happiness was all here until I left. My parents, my sister, this town, and if I’m being entirely honest with myself, Jake might be the only one to help heal me. He has always been the one holding my heart.

    Jake said to wear a dress. Truthfully, he didn’t realize that Breckenridge and Boston fashion are two entirely different realms of the fashion world. The minute I walk down the stairs wearing my strapless tulle dress with caviar beading and stiletto heels, Ellen has no problem pushing my ass back up the stairs to her bedroom, saying, “You wear that out in town and the natives will laugh in your face.”
    I know I might have overdone it a little, but considering I was planning on things getting a little more heated tonight between Jake and me, I stepped it up a bit, so sue me. At least I wasn’t walking the streets of Breck in my platform heels and red leather pants. Knowing Jake, he’d drop them to my ankles in a matter of seconds and take me from behind.
    I fan my face as I think of all the naughty things Jake is capable of doing to me. At this rate, I’ll have to change my panties before I even leave the house.
    “Are you paying attention to me, Luce?” I hear Ellen say from behind me as she continues to twist my hair with the curling iron, snapping my attention from the erotic thoughts that have been filtering through my mind for the past fifteen minutes.
    “What?” I ask as my eyes watch her tame my thick, unruly wavy hair in the mirror.
    Ellen places the curling iron onto the vanity next to her array of hair care products. I don’t have the heart to tell her that the cheap stuff from the department stores doesn’t do anything for her hair. I know she’s on a tight budget, and if it weren’t for my big sister always doing my hair growing up, I might not have learned what I needed to in order to succeed.
    She walks in front of me, grabbing her wine glass off the vanity. She takes a sip before turning her attention to me again. “Luce, I asked if you’re sure you’ll be okay with Jake. I mean… after everything you’ve gone through, do you think you’re ready to be with him?”
    “You mean, like have sex with him?”
    Ellen snorts in her wine. “Not exactly what I meant by ‘be with him,’ but I guess we could bring that up, too, since I had to witness you two getting all hot and heavy on the patio a few days ago.”
    I bring my own glass of wine to my lips and take a long sip of the cool, crisp Chardonnay. Am I ready to have sex with Jake ? There doesn’t appear to be any red flags getting waved in my head right now, and after the patio incident, my guess is I’m on the right path to recovery.
    However, I don’t think there could possibly be anything about Jake that would make me fear him. Just as that thought crosses my mind, I remember something he said. ‘I’ve fucked a shitload of women.’I’m no better than him, but how did our paths end up following the same course and still end up right where we were the summer after our high school graduation? It’s as though time stood still, and yet it didn’t.
    My sister drums her fingers on the vanity, easily breaking my train of thought. “When did you