Chapter 1

1

“Shawn! We need to leave in twenty minutes if we’re going to miss traffic,” Maddy Terrell shouted as she walked through the house. “Shawn? Are you ready to go? I didn’t see your bag in the car.”

A door opened and closed upstairs, followed by the creaking of the floorboards as her son came down the hall. She was at the bottom with her purse slung over her shoulder when his carrot-top appeared, but the sight of his bare feet drew her brows together.

“Before you say anything…” Shawn stopped three steps up, palms up in his timeworn Don’t kill me, Mompose. “It’s not my fault.”

“Oh, God…” Maddy pinched the sides of her nose. She hated conversations that began this way. “What’s not your fault, Shawn?”

“I can’t drive you to San Francisco for the wedding.”

Maddy’s lips thinned. “You’re telling me this…seventeen minutes before I need to get on the road? Shawn, of all the thoughtless stunts you pulled, this is right up there on the list.”

“It’s not my fault!”

His gray eyes beseeched her. The rest of his fine features were hers—the heart-shaped face, the red hair, the wide slash of a mouth—but the eyes were all his father’s, who’d been dead for the past eight years. Maddy tamped down the slight edge of sympathy creeping into her frustration to focus on the fact that her twenty-two-year-old son was leaving her high and dry when all she needed was one simple thing he had promised to her months ago.

“Dr. Kauffman is having orientations all weekend for the entire department,” Shawn went on. “Kind of like mini-seminars. For everyone, including the grad students. I’m stuck. I don’t go, and he’ll find a way to fuck me over when it comes time for me to present next year. You know he will.”

It was on the tip of Maddy’s tongue to remind him of all the ways shecould—and would—fuck him over for this, but now she only had fifteen minutes to figure something out.

“That’s great, Shawn. But you couldn’t have told me this morning? Or last night? Now what am I supposed to do? And do notsuggest I just drive myself. You knew I didn’t want to go up there alone.”

“I didn’t tell you because I was trying to figure something else out. Relax, Mom. Everything’s in control.”

“Well, son of mine, what’s your brilliant idea?”

“I got you another ride. A friend of mine.” He smiled, a broad swathe that displayed the thousands she’d poured into his dental work to its best advantage. “It’s not so bad. Tonio said he’d do it. Remember him? He came over at Christmas when his parents took off for the holiday.”

Maddy remembered Tonio Herrera. He wasn’t the sort of young man a person could forget. Two years older than Shawn, with a charming smile and teasing eyes, he had done his best to drive her to distraction the entire time he stayed in their home. The only thing that kept her from responding to his flirtations was reminding herself that he was Shawn’s friend, and so entirely off-limits.

“Is he going to be here within the next ten minutes?”

“Any minute. I just got off the phone with him. See? I’m totally looking after you, Mom.”

It was the smile more than the words that broke her anger. The damned kid knew exactly how to push her buttons, and he always had. Maybe she spoiled him a little, but usually, when he wasn’t trapping her in cars with his gorgeous friends, he was a good son.

“You’re not out of the woods yet, Shawn. If he’s not here in—”

A horn honking loudly from her driveway cut her off. When she opened the front door, he was already out of the car and coming up the walk. Maddy knew she shouldn’t stare at the younger man, but she couldn’t help it. No matter how many times she reminded herself he was off-limits, he was still one of the most gorgeous men she had ever seen.

Tonio Herrera was a lean six feet, with burnished skin stretched taut over his muscular arms. His jeans were designer distressed, almost indecent where the denim frayed across one thigh, and his red T-shirt moved like liquid fire over his torso. Black hair spiked so casually she couldn’t help but question if it was genuine bed head. Sunglasses hid the dark, snapping eyes she remembered, but the smile was firmly in place, a dimple dancing in his chiseled cheek.

“The gods are smiling this weekend,” he said as he paused on the porch. “I didn’t hit a single light on the way over.” He glanced over her shoulder. “Hey, Shawn. We set?”

“I don’t know. Mom?”

“You’re on kitchen duty for the rest of the week,” Maddy said, finally pulling her gaze away from Tonio. “And I want this house sparkling when I get home.” She turned back to her new chauffeur. “My car is already packed, but we can take yours if you’d rather.”

He shrugged. “If you trust me driving yours, I’m easy.”

Maddy nodded. “We’ll do that then. Shawn, be good!”

Shawn’s reply drifted back to her as she shut the door. “I will!”

“So you’ve driven up to San Francisco before?” Maddy asked, pulling her keys out of her purse and holding them out to him.