Can even the unlikeliest of dreams come true?

He

sees a spinsterish misfit.

If the Guinness Book of World Records had a category for the world’s most

boring life, Millie Stephens knows she would hold the record. After the plain,

strait-laced personal assistant is saved by a total stranger from becoming New

York City’s latest traffic fatality, she has a disheartening epiphany: her

life’s highlight reel didn’t exist. Determined to step out of the shadows and

take a walk on the wild side, she starts Millie-style – by making a list.

She sees a stereotypical thug.

That total stranger, bad boy Ian Brand, is more than the sum of his parts.

Beneath that sexy, tattooed exterior is a man with a painful past who’s

desperate to both hide and overcome his disability in the pursuit of his

dreams. But his decision to bid on a large construction project could both lead

to his downfall and reveal his secret.

Will Millie and Ian look beneath the surface and see there’s more to each other

than meets the eye?

If the

Guinness Book of World Records had a category for the world’s most boring life,

Millie Stephens knew she would hold the record.

Bundled up in her brown wool coat against the chill of a New York fall, she

hurried down the Brooklyn sidewalk to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription

for her boss.

As personal assistant for best-selling romance author, Darcy Butler-Ryan,

Millie kept her calendar, edited her manuscripts, handled her social media, and

through her agent, Gloria Madison, scheduled her public appearances, among

other duties. Since Darcy had become pregnant, Millie had also taken it upon herself

to run errands and generally oversee Darcy’s health and well-being.

Thus, the trip to the pharmacy for Darcy’s anti-nausea medication.

She consulted the day’s to-do list to see what other errands were on it. Lists

were her life. They provided organization, structure, and a sense of

accomplishment. She loved ticking things off her list so much that if she

accomplished something that wasn’t on the list, she’d write it down just so she

could have the pleasure of marking it off.

She had a list for everything. Errands. Tasks. Books to be read. Special dates

to remember. If something needed doing, she had a list for it, all

appropriately categorized, of course. Shoving her errand list into her coat

pocket, she stopped at the corner and waited for the walk signal. As soon as

the light changed, she stepped out into the pedestrian crosswalk, anxious to

get to the pharmacy and out of the cold. She glanced to her left and froze, as

a delivery truck barreled down the street as if the red light meant nothing. And

as if she truly were invisible.

Fear stole her ability to move and she scrunched her eyes closed hoping death

would at least be quick. She strived for invisibility, but now she’d give

anything to stand out.

Next thing she knew she was yanked from behind and hauled up against a hard

object, bands of steel around her waist, her feet dangling in the air.

“Are you okay?” a gruff male voice asked, his breath warm in her ear.

She nodded, unsure if she could do any more than that.

“I’m going to set you back on your feet. Do you think you can stand?”

Nodding again, she realized the hard object at her back was a man’s chest, and

the steel bands were his arms. She slid down his body and felt the sidewalk

beneath her feet. A wave of dizziness washed over her.

“Breathe,” her rescuer encouraged. He turned her to face him, his hands on her

shoulders, and she looked up and into eyes the color of a winter-gray sky,

earnest with concern. His already tousled sandy blond hair ruffled in the wind

whipping around the corner, and his chin bore the stubble so many women were

fond of.

She inhaled deeply, drawing in the scent of something spicy and leathery.

“Better?”

She nodded, still speechless.

“You should always wait after the signal changes before you cross a street.

I’ve got an appointment. You’re sure you’re okay?”

She nodded.

“Be more careful next time,” the stranger in the leather jacket said before he

turned to walk away.

Millie managed to put one foot in front of the other for another block before

coming to a bus stop and collapsing onto the bench. Her legs shook, her hands

quivered, and she struggled to take in a deep breath. All she could think about

was how your life was supposed to flash before your eyes when confronted with a

near-death experience, and hers . . . didn’t. Instead it was like a film

projector that had run out of film – just a blank screen.

What did that mean?

It meant, Millicent Grace Stephens, that your life has been so boring that the

highlight reel was nonexistent. Her thirtieth birthday was right around the

corner, and what had she accomplished with her life?

Not much, that’s what.

Sure, she had a bachelor’s in literature, summa cum laude, with a focus on the

Middle Ages from Sarah Lawrence College. She had a job she loved. And she could

support herself. Other than that, she might as well have become a nun for all

the excitement her life held.

She recalled the hard strength of her rescuer’s chest against her back. The

rough and tumble look of him. She’d bet her first edition autographed copy of

Edith Wharton’s Age of Innocence, that his life wasn’t boring. That if he had a

near-death experience he’d have a highlight reel worthy of an action

movie.

Rising on still-wobbly legs, she drew in a long, slow breath, and resumed her

errand in an I-almost-died daze.

Rebecca

Heflin is an award-winning author who has dreamed of writing romantic fiction

since she was fifteen and her older sister snuck a copy of Kathleen Woodiwiss’

Shanna to her and told her to read it. Rebecca writes women’s fiction and

contemporary romance. When not passionately pursuing her dream, Rebecca is busy

with her day-job as a practicing attorney.

Rebecca is a member of Romance Writers of America (RWA), Florida Romance

Writers, RWA Contemporary Romance, and Florida Writers Association. She and her

mountain-climbing husband live at sea level in sunny Florida.