First Love (Soulmates #4)

  First Love

  A Second Chance Romance

  Hazel Kelly

  © 2016 Hazel Kelly

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, copied, or stored in any form or by any means without permission of the author. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  All characters, events, brands, companies, and locations in this story are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons is purely coincidental.

  Cover Artwork – © 2016 L.J. Anderson of Mayhem Cover Creations

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1: Jolie

  Chapter 2: Adam

  Chapter 3: Jolie

  Flashback: Jolie

  Chapter 4: Adam

  Chapter 5: Jolie

  Chapter 6: Adam

  Chapter 7: Jolie

  Chapter 8: Adam

  Chapter 9: Jolie

  Chapter 10: Adam

  Chapter 11: Jolie

  Chapter 12: Adam

  Flashback: Adam

  Chapter 13: Jolie

  Chapter 14: Adam

  Chapter 15: Jolie

  Chapter 16: Adam

  Chapter 17: Jolie

  Chapter 18: Adam

  Chapter 19: Jolie

  Chapter 20: Adam

  Chapter 21: Jolie

  Chapter 22: Adam

  Chapter 23: Jolie

  Flashback: Adam

  Chapter 24: Adam

  Chapter 25: Jolie

  Chapter 26: Adam

  Chapter 27: Jolie

  Chapter 28: Adam

  Chapter 29: Jolie

  Chapter 30: Adam

  Chapter 31: Jolie

  Chapter 32: Adam

  Chapter 33: Jolie

  Chapter 34: Adam

  Chapter 35: Jolie

  Chapter 36: Adam

  Flashback: Jolie

  Chapter 37: Jolie

  Chapter 38: Adam

  Chapter 39: Jolie

  Chapter 40: Adam

  Chapter 41: Jolie

  Chapter 42: Adam

  Chapter 43: Jolie

  Chapter 44: Adam

  Chapter 45: Jolie

  Epilogue: Jolie

  Note from the Author

  Other Series by Hazel Kelly

  If you love something, let it go.

  If it comes back to you, its yours forever.

  If it doesn’t, then it was never meant to be.

  – Anonymous

  Prologue

  They say you’ll never forget your first love, and that’s definitely true in my case.

  I think that’s because he was my first everything. My first crush, my first kiss, my first… home run.

  I don’t know what it was about Adam, but from the moment I met him, being around him wasn’t just a cerebral stimulant. It was a full body experience.

  Perhaps it was because he seemed foreign compared to the kids I grew up with or maybe it was his magnetic confidence.

  Whatever it was, his instant interest in me made me feel special, as if I were more than the regular girl I believed myself to be before I first heard my name on his lips.

  Unfortunately, the only predictable thing about our relationship- if you could even call it that- was that we never seemed to have enough time together.

  On the one hand, that was a blessing. It meant I never had to deal with the pain of watching the spark between us fizzle as we grew up and grew apart.

  Then again, maybe it wouldn’t have. Maybe it would’ve ignited further and turned into something… more.

  Not that it mattered.

  The past was the past.

  And even though I might’ve preferred the risk of getting temporarily hurt to the permanence of never knowing- to the loose ends and the unfinished business and all the unasked questions- I needed to put my teenage daydreams behind me.

  Sure, I’d always cherish the memories from that summer our childhood fascination with each other matured into life affirming intimacy, but I needed to move on and accept the fact that I’d never see him again.

  Though part of me refused to give up hope.

  But like a candle, hope can only burn for so long, and mine had nearly flickered out.

  After all, so many years had passed since I’d seen him that my perfect summer crush had become nothing but a string of scattered, faded flashbacks that seemed too good to be true and too old to keep on such a dusty pedestal.

  Of course, as soon as I was ready to forgive and forget, he walked back into my life out of the blue- sexier, bolder, and more unattainable than ever.

  And as if invigorated by a gust of warm ocean breeze, my candle burned bright again.

  Chapter 1: Jolie

  I clipped my thin gold name tag to my crisp white shirt, checked to make sure I didn’t have any lipstick on my teeth, and flicked off the lights in my apartment.

  Then I descended the stairs into the backyard and opened the door to my mom’s house. “Good morning,” I said, inhaling the glorious scent of the freshly brewed coffee beans I’d come for.

  “Perfect timing,” she said, filling two mugs without turning around.

  I pulled out a chair at the small round table and took a seat. “How did you sleep?”

  She made her way over in her short yellow robe. “Lying down,” she said, setting our favorite Winnie the Pooh mugs on some coasters.

  “I should try that sometime.”

  She furrowed her thin brows, her face pale without makeup. “Tell me you didn’t fall asleep on the couch again?”

  I shrugged. “What can I say? It’s a comfortable couch.”

  “You’re working too hard,” she said, shaking her head as she sat down.

  I slid my mug towards me, wondering why people got so excited about coffee shops. As far as I was concerned, coffee was best enjoyed out of a favorite mug at home. Bringing lines and ordering and money into the exchange only ruined the otherwise peaceful morning ritual.

  “I blame myself,” she said.

  “Don’t. It’s good that we’re busy.”

  “Not busy enough,” she said.

  I furrowed my brow. “What are you talking about? We literally ran out of margarita mix yesterday.”

  “A hotel like ours shouldn’t run out of margarita mix at the height of summer,” she said. “We shouldn’t even be buying margarita mix.”

  I squinted at her. “Are you sure you slept okay?”

  “The fact that we ran out is down to budget cuts, not a surge of customers.”

  “What do you mean budget cuts?” I asked.

  She sighed and looked down at the steam rising from her mug.

  “Why the long face, Mom? It’s not a big deal.”

  “I know,” she said. “But what I’m about to tell you is.”

  My eyes grew wide. “Are you okay? You’re really freaking me out.”

  “As of today, the hotel is officially under new management.”

  The hair on the back of my neck stood up. “What are you talking about? I’m the manage-”

  “I sold it. To a developer.”

  My throat closed up.

  She kept her sad eyes on me.

  I shook my head. “I don’t understand. What do you mean you sold it?”

  “Someone made me an offer a few weeks ago, and I decided to take it.”

  I craned my neck forward. “How could you not discuss this with me? I’ve given up everything for this place!”

  “I had no choice.”

  I splayed my hands on the table. “Of course you had a choice!”

  “We’ve been losing money ever since your father died, and I didn’t want to run his legacy into the ground.”

  “So you so
ld it?!”

  “It was going to kill me,” she said, her shoulders sagging. “Just like it killed your father.”

  The coffee taste on my tongue turned bitter. “Look, I know you’ve resented the place since dad died, but it was his baby- his dream- and that feeling will pass.” I leaned forward. “We can make it great again. That’s what he would want.”

  “I can’t.” She shook her head. “There’s no money, and I don’t have the energy or the expertise to save it, much less take it to the next level.”

  I sat back. “You’re serious.”

  “I’m afraid so.”

  “I thought we were doing okay.”

  She pressed her lips together. “I may have fudged the truth a bit so I wouldn’t worry you.”

  “So that’s it? Everything you and dad worked so hard for amounts to nothing but a payout?”

  “Of course not.”

  I clenched my jaw. “I find that hard to believe if you could just give it away.”

  “I didn’t give it away,” she said, her voice taking on new strength. “I sold it to someone who wants to make it great again, someone with a passion for the place that I no longer have.”

  “How could you do this to me?”

  “I’m not doing it to you.” She dropped her chin. “I’m doing it for you.”

  I threw my hands in the air. “That’s bullshit. The hotel was all we had left. It was supposed to secure our future.”

  “I’m still hoping it will,” she said. “Now that it will actually have one.”

  I covered my face.

  “The man I sold it to really understands the hotel’s potential. His family used to be regular customers of ours when you were little.”

  I dropped my hands and furrowed my brow. “What kind of loyal customer takes someone’s business away?!”

  “He didn’t take it.”

  “Oh right. Because you gave it to him.”

  “He’s going to save the business, Jolie. That’s why I brought him on board.”

  “You don’t get it. He’s going to have no respect for how we do things, how we’ve always done things.”

  “Of course he will,” she said, wrapping her hands around her mug. “I wouldn’t have sold it to him if I didn’t think he understood our vision for the place.”

  “What vision?!” I asked, sliding my chair back. “Vision is something you have when you plan on sticking around to see something through, and it looks to me like you’re checking out and leaving the rest of us there with a stranger who didn’t even know dad!”

  “It’s what your father would’ve wanted.”

  “It’s what you want.” I stood up. “And only you.”

  “Please calm down, Jo. I need you to support me on this.”

  “Obviously you don’t,” I said, lifting my purse off the back of the chair. “Or you would’ve talked to me about it before you signed Dad’s dream away.”

  “Please don’t go to work upset,” she said, laying her hands on the table. “The rest of the staff is going to look to you for how to take the news. If you can’t hold it together, the whole deal is going to fall apart.”

  I scoffed. “And here I thought you were worried about my stress levels.”

  “I am, honey. I promise things are going to get better because of this.”

  “You can’t promise shit right now,” I said, slinging my purse across my body. “We won’t have any control of the resort going forward. You effectively made me an employee.”

  “You can learn a lot from this man.”

  “Like what? How to take what isn’t mine?” I picked up my mug, walked over to the sink, and poured my coffee down the drain.

  “No,” she said, standing. “Like how to take a struggling business and turn it into a profitable one.”

  I marched to the door, my heels tapping on the linoleum tiles. “I hope that’s what happens for Dad’s sake,” I said, opening the door.

  She pulled her robe tight. “I’m sorry, honey.”

  “No you’re not,” I said, struggling to keep my voice from shaking. “You’re selfish.”

  “It was the only way I could secure our future.”

  I shook my head. “Your future. It was the only way you could secure your future.”

  She sighed. “I understand that you’re upset, but please be strong for the staff. I’m counting on you to make them see that this is a good thing.”

  “I’m a hotel manager, Mom, not a magician,” I said, closing the door behind me, my heart aching with the knowledge that my father’s life’s work had been sold to the highest- no- the only bidder.

  “May Dad forgive you,” I mumbled as I headed down the driveway. “Because that’s more than you can expect from me.”

  Chapter 2: Adam

  “So?” I asked, dragging a french fry through some ketchup. “What do you think?”

  “I think it’s an interesting choice,” Ben said, leaning back.

  “Were there really no words that came to mind before interesting? That’s got to be the least supportive thing you could have said.”

  Ben reached for his lemonade and drank from his straw as his eyes travelled the length of the Harmony Bay Resort Hotel. “It needs a lot of work.”

  “So did your warehouse, if my memory serves.”

  “Yeah, but that was a blank slate,” he said. “This is…”

  I raised my eyebrows.

  “A messy, dated slate.”

  “So it needs some updating to be a five star resort. I get that.” I popped another fry in my mouth. “That’s why I got it for such a steal.”

  “Don’t get me wrong. It has potential. I just think it’s going to take a lot more work than you realize.”

  “I don’t mind a challenge,” I said, raising a finger towards him. “And just you wait. It’ll be so nice you’ll want to open one of your clubs down the street.”

  Ben laughed so hard his eyes watered from the lemonade he coughed up his nose.

  “Now you’re just being a dick.”

  “Sorry.” He shook his head and raised a palm at me. “I didn’t mean to be unsupportive. I just think you’re kidding yourself if you think you’re going to be able to give this place that much of a facelift.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Do you have anything nice to say about the place?”

  He scrunched his face. “Everything’s really cheap?”

  “I know,” I said. “Too cheap.”

  “So that’s good,” he said.

  “Because you think it’ll be profitable?”

  “Oh definitely,” he said. “In a few weeks’ time- after you’ve done some of the most urgent renovations- I think you’ll be able to double the price of everything.”

  I nodded. “That’s promising.”

  “Even this lemonade,” he said, holding it up. “I thought it was going to taste like shit for how cheap it is, but it’s actually delicious. Same with my burger.”

  “Careful now. That’s two nice things. I wouldn’t want you to actually be supportive.”

  He leaned back in his patio chair. “Sorry, bud. My imagination just isn’t active enough to understand why- of all the places you could invest your money- you’d pick this place.”

  “Because it was important to me growing up,” I said, shrugging. “I have such great memories of being a kid here. Plus, hooking families up with a nice holiday is a new challenge for me.”

  “Are you sure you’re not just mixing business and pleasure?” he asked.

  I scoffed. “As if you don’t approve. You literally built a club so you could hang out with beautiful women and put fancy gin cocktails on your expenses.”

  “No. I built the club because I wanted to be in the entertainment industry and-”

  “You have no genuine talent?”

  “Ouch.”

  I dragged my napkin across my mouth. “The point is, I don’t have to have a family to build the best family resort in the southeast.”

  “If you say so.
”

  “I do,” I said. “If anything, it’s probably an advantage to not have the distraction.”

  He looked towards the pool before letting his eyes travel up to the top of the water slide where a short line of kids were egging each other on.

  I crumpled my napkin and shoved it under the edge of my plate. “Maybe if you’re nice, I’ll hook you and Carrie up with a sick room for you and your Abbott offspring someday.”

  “You’ll have to make a competitive offer,” he said. “We get some pretty good deals at my dad’s hotels.”

  “Speaking of which- since your dad basically wrote the book on the hospitality business- what concerns would he have if he were here?”

  Ben twisted his mouth. “I think he’d be worried about how seasonal the business is,” he said, folding his hands in his lap. “Do you have any idea how quiet this place gets in the off season?”

  I nodded. “It does get quiet, but I’m cool with that. It’s only meant to be a side project, and it’s easier to oversee something that doesn’t need year round coddling.”

  “True, but you’ve got a much shorter money making window here than you do with the backpacking tour business.”

  I leaned back and glanced at the families enjoying their lunches on the deck around us, knowing full well that at least fifty percent of them would probably come here every summer until their kids didn’t feel like vacationing with them anymore. Of course, making the place more attractive to older kids was just one of the improvements I intended to make.

  Plus, the pace of life was so free and easy here compared to where I grew up on the Upper East Side. I liked the idea that I might vacation here with my own family someday, that my kids would know how to fly kites and catch waves and build sand castles.

  “I think I can turn the place around one season at a time,” I said. “And if it’s even half as successful as the backpacker tours, I’ll be laughing.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Ben said.

  “What does Carrie think?”

  “Carrie thinks the place needs updating, but she looks at things differently than I do.”

  I raised my eyebrows.

  “She’s already full of ideas for how you can modernize the rooms and the common areas.”