When she’d first gotten to her mom’s, she hadn’t had any idea what she was going to do to make a living, so she did the only thing she knew how to do . . . write.
She’d started out by writing about her life with Brendan and all their travels because she’d found it therapeutic. She’d missed Brendan a lot. Even though she’d known they’d made the right decision, it hadn’t meant she had instantly stopped loving him.
She still could remember the day when one of the travel magazine editors she’d freelanced for had called asking if she had any travel content to sell. Riley had joked that the only thing she’d been writing lately was her own personal story about traveling with her ex-boyfriend.
The editor had been intrigued and asked her to send a sample. When she’d sent in a short story about one of her and Brendan’s first trips, no one had been more surprised than Riley when the editor bought it for their online magazine and wanted more.
Looking back, Riley realized this was another one of those moments that had changed everything, where at the time she had no idea of what was to come.
The magazine editor had like Riley’s stories so much she’d given Riley her own online column, which had led to a top New York City literary agent finding her and telling her that she needed to take the inspiration from traveling around the world with Brendan and start writing romance novels. That agent had been Margo, and this advice had led to her first publishing deal.
But while Brendan had inspired her first novel, her next novel had been inspired by Colin, and by novel number three, she was using the inspiration and love she had received from both Colin and Brendan to create handsome, sexy, interesting men that her heroines could eventually fall in love with, after learning how to truly open their own hearts and accept love.
This formula had won her awards until her last book, Heart of Summer, where she’d inadvertently let her last relationship with the third love of her life, Tyler, influence her writing—this time not in a good way.
Her relationship with Tyler had started with Riley’s first trip to Manhattan to meet her new agent. They’d met at The Royal, one of New York’s hot spots for power lunches. They’d drunk ridiculously expensive wine and talked about what she’d wanted to do as an author. Riley had decided right then that if she was going to really make a run at a publishing career, she couldn’t continue living with her mom in a sleepy little Florida beach town.
She also knew she’d still need to do some freelance writing to make ends meet, and the best place to network and pick up assignments was New York City, where all the top magazines, newspapers, and TV stations where.
Determined to make it work, she’d gone to New York with a positive attitude and a burning ambition to not only make her mark as an author but to find a way to make a good living. She was done with being broke and living the fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants lifestyle she’d been living with Brendan.
Being surrounded by so many successful people in Manhattan had made Riley even more determined. She wanted power lunches at The Royal to be the norm, not the exception.
Margo had promised that she’d introduce Riley around when she relocated to New York, and Margo had kept her word. During Riley’s first few months in Manhattan, she’d met some great guys through Margo, but when there had been no one special, she had decided the best relationship to invest in was with herself. So she focused on becoming a best-selling author.
When one of her books, Summer Love Never Ends, caught the eye of a Hollywood producer, that’s when Margo had introduced her to Tyler, the third and last man she had ever truly loved.
She’d been attending a charity event with Margo at a posh Manhattan penthouse when Margo had insisted that they add a sharp entertainment attorney to their team to help handle any Hollywood inquiries. Of course, Margo already knew who she wanted, and he was at the party.
Tyler Caldwell, of the Bridgeport Caldwells, had just been featured in Manhattan Magazine as one of the “Top Forty Under Forty” New York City entertainment attorneys to watch. And people were watching, especially single women, because Tyler was as handsome as he was talented, and he quickly became one of Manhattan’s most eligible bachelors.
When Riley had met him at the cocktail party, she’d been impressed with his professional resume, but she hadn’t been so sure about his personality. She’d always liked confident men, but Tyler took confidence to a whole new level. Still, with Margo’s urging, Riley had agreed to take a meeting with Tyler, which he’d ironically set up at The Royal.
As she had sat across from him during their power lunch, she’d discovered that they had more in common than she’d originally thought. He’d also grown up in Oregon, had gone to college in California, and had passion for travel. He was fascinated by some of the more exotic places she had visited like Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, and Bali.
They’d also talked about being single in the city that never sleeps, and Riley had been surprised to learn that despite what was written about him in the press, he rarely dated with his crazy busy work schedule. He’d told her he’d barely had time to make himself dinner, much less actually go out on a dinner date. He’d said that the women he’d dated sadly didn’t have much tolerance of the fact that he always put work first and that an eighty-hour work week was his norm.
Of course, this lack of work-life balance had
