Page 1 of Mistaken Intention

Chapter One

Josie

“I know it’s a huge ask, but it would only be for one night.”

I sit back on the couch, trying to get comfortable, although that’s impossible. Not because my couch isn’t cozy, but because this phone call is about as uncomfortable as they get.

That said, it’s not a huge ask. Not really. Lexi is my sister and all she’s asking is if she and her baby daughter can visit for the first time since Maisie’s birth. It’s no big deal at all.

Except that in those four months, we haven’t seen each other. We’ve barely spoken, either… and we both know that’s of my doing, not hers. Admittedly, Lexi and I have never been close. We’re not even proper sisters. We’re step-sisters, not related in the slightest, and during our late teens and into our very early twenties, we went for years without seeing or hearing from each other. That was because of her father, and the way he treated my mom. It had nothing to do with this most recent self-enforced exile.

That’s much more personal.

“Are you still there, Josie?” she says.

“Yes.” I hate that she sounds like she’s begging, like she expects me to say ‘no’. “Of course you can come.”

“Oh, thank you. That’s gonna make things so much easier.”

“It is?” She hasn’t given me a reason for this visit, but I think she’s about to.

“Drew’s flying back from Rome the day after tomorrow, and we’ve arranged that I’ll meet him at the airport and then drive him down to Newport for a few days, so he can spend some time with Maisie.”

I can hear every word she’s saying, but they’re all muddling around in my head. That’s because her sentence started with ‘Drew’… Maisie’s father, Drew Bennett. Just hearing his name is enough to send my mind and body into a maelstrom, because he’s the man I’ve been in love with ever since Lexi brought him to Ingrid’s birthday party last summer.

It’s a night I’ll never forget, because it changed my life… forever.

I didn’t see them arrive to start with. In fact, I didn’t even hear the doorbell ring. I was busy enjoying myself. Someone let them in, though, and when I looked up, I saw him. It was like a scene out of a romance novel. Our eyes met across a crowded room and despite the cliché, I couldn’t help falling for him. He was tall… around six foot two, with dark brown hair and a chiseled, clean-shaven jaw. Someone who was standing between us stepped aside, and I was able to see the rest of him then… his broad shoulders, narrow waist, toned chest and long legs, encased in stonewashed denim. I felt a shiver run through me, even though there was a warmth building right at my core. As I raised my eyes to his, I found he was staring too, and the heat in his eyes was breathtaking.

At that moment, Ingrid walked up to Lexi and dragged her off to the kitchen. Not that I cared. My focus remained on this most perfect stranger, and although I was rooted to the spot, he moved closer, his eyes never leaving mine, until he was standing right in front of me.

“Hi.” His voice sent shivers down my spine, and I swallowed hard.

“Hello.”

“I’m Drew.”

“I’m Josie.”

He took my elbow, steering me to a quiet corner of the living room, where I leaned against the wall, looking up as he stood so close I could feel him.

We talked.

That was all we did, all evening. We just talked.

He told me he was a photographer. I told him I was a nurse, and as the evening wore on, we discovered a shared passion for what we did… and for each other. He couldn’t take his eyes from mine, and I was breathless in his presence. We didn’t kiss, or touch, but I could feel the anticipation coursing between us, and I know he could, too. It was written in his sparkling, coffee-colored eyes.

I think I could have stayed like that forever, pinned against the wall, just gazing at him and listening to the sound of his soothing voice washing over me… right until Lexi interrupted us. It had been years since I’d seen her, although I’d have known her anywhere. As she came up to us, the thing I noticed first was the dress she was almost wearing. As a model she could get away with more daring clothes than the rest of us, but on that evening, she’d gone all out, in the shortest dress I’d ever seen, that was so low cut it left very little to the imagination.

“I see you’ve met my big sister.” She put her arm through Drew’s and that was when the startling realization dawned, and I knew ‘Drew’ wasn’t just ‘Drew’.

When I’d arrived at the party, Ingrid had pulled me aside and told me she’d also invited Lexi. I’d have liked a bit more warning… preferably enough that I could have avoided attending, but it was too late to back out and I’d just nodded my head.

“She’s bringing her boyfriend,” she said. “Or a guy she called her ‘kind-of boyfriend’, anyway.”

“What does that mean?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “Don’t ask me. You know what Lexi’s like.”

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