Full Potential: (A Heart of Seeton Novel) Read online

  FULL POTENTIAL

  A Heart of Seeton Novel

  L.J. Kentowski

  Copyright © 2018 by L.J. Kentowski

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations and incidents are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, things, living or dead, locales or events is entirely coincidental.

  ISBN 978-0692119723

  L.J. Kentowski

  [email protected]

  www.ljkentowski.com

  Editing/Proofreading by Kathy Case

  ~ This book is dedicated to my family, friends, and fans ~

  Without your support, my pages would still be blank.

  Table of Contents

  TITLE PAGE

  COPYRIGHT

  DEDICATION

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  EPILOGUE

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  MORE BOOKS BY L.J.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  CHAPTER ONE

  You’re a shit friend, Jena Morgan.

  Even though the words technically read, SEETON 10, Jena was certain that was what the sign she passed along the highway meant. Funny how the context of said sign matched the words bouncing around in her head for the last three and a half hours, those, along with, how in the world am I going to make up for the fact I’ve avoided my best friend for the last year?

  “By being the best goddamn maid of honor a girl can be,” she answered the devil on her shoulder aloud, slapping the steering wheel for emphasis.

  One Republic’s, “Apologize,” came through the speakers, and for a moment, Jena froze, wondering what kind of voodoo magic Riley was pulling. Realizing it was the ringtone she’d assigned to her best friend, she hit the answer button on the car monitor.

  “You’d better be on your way.” Riley’s voice boomed through the car. She wasn’t much for small talk these days. With her wedding nearly three months away, she was also probably ready to kill the maid of honor.

  “Bridezilla?” Jena tried sarcasm to break the ice.

  “You’re hilarious. Where are you?”

  “I’m ten miles out.”

  “Mmm hmm.”

  “I’m sensing a lack of trust here.” It was a stupid thing for her to say, but didn’t self-flagellation absolve one’s sins?

  “Nah. You’ve only told me you were coming nine times and didn’t show. I’m sure the tenth is a charm.”

  Damn. Riley was much better at the sarcasm thing. When did that happen?

  “I think you’re exaggerating. I’m sure it was only six times.”

  “Nine. Now get your ass here, but don’t speed. The sheriff is a stickler.”

  “Does he like using his handcuffs?”

  Riley’s groan made Jena chuckle. “You’re hopeless. Just get here.”

  “See you in a bit.”

  After they hung up, the radio sounded through the speakers, but Jena was distracted by her thoughts again. As much as she joked with Riley, she felt guilty about the countless times she’d reneged on promises to make the drive and visit. The first excuse was legitimate—her cousin had a baby and needed help with her other kids after the birth. As time went on, however, Jena’s alibis became less…authentic—she was helping with her parents’ restaurant, the weather made roads too hazardous to drive, taxes were due.

  Honestly, it all came down to fear. Seeton terrified Jena. Not so much the town, but the people in it. Okay, one person in it—Tyler Cole, the tall, sexy fireman whom she’d gained carnal knowledge of the last time she’d been there—the kind that rocked her world and flipped her upside down, evoking reactions she’d never experienced and knocking her on her ass.

  The wedding was only three months away now. She’d avoided Seeton, and Tyler, for almost a year. Time and distance had dulled those emotions, so she would be ready to face him again. That was what she’d told herself anyway, despite the fact he’d managed to invade her thoughts, at least once a day.

  A siren blared from behind, blasting Jena back to a reality flashing in shades of red and blue. She peered into the rearview mirror and silently cursed Riley for conjuring up the squad car following her.

  After pulling over and stopping on the side of the road, Jena turned down the radio, opened the window, and grabbed the driver’s license from her wallet.

  She was fishing around in the console for the car registration when a deep voice sounded next to her. “Ma’am, please put your hands on the steering wheel where I can see them.”

  Jesus, he is fast.

  “I was only…” she began while heeding his command. The rest of the explanation escaped when her eyes settled on the hunk of uniform outside the window.

  The policeman’s body filled her vision. From the way a buttoned-down shirt hugged his broad chest and shoulders, he was built. Hand at a hip near the gun holster attached to his belt, his masculine fingers were poised over the snap at the top. Jena ogled those digits until a spark of metal caught her attention, drawing her stare to a set of handcuffs dangling near his groin. Transfixed by the sight, the earlier conversation with Riley played in her head.

  “License and registration, please.”

  The request filtered through her trance, and she slid her gaze to his face.

  Is this guy for real?

  He reminded her of a uniformed stripper, one who received a buttload of tips. Short, dark hair, disheveled enough at the top to appear perfectly mussed; strong angular face; scruff that made a girl want to find out if it was soft or abrasive against her skin. Reflective aviator glasses rested on the bridge of his flawless nose, hiding what she’d wager were soul-consuming eyes.

  “Ma’am?”

  The movement of his lips was…familiar, which was odd. She’d only been to Seeton once before with Riley, and they certainly hadn’t been pulled over by the police. Maybe she’d frequented too many strip clubs in her day or watched one too many Village People videos.

  “Ma’am, do you have your license and registration?”

  Jena shook the puzzling thoughts from her head.

  “You don’t?”

  “No. No, sorry…I have them.” She grabbed the license from between her legs, where she’d placed it while looking for the registration, and held it out to him through the window. “The registration is in my console, which is what I was looking for when you walked up. Can I…can I get it now? I promise, I don’t have any weapons. I’m not registered t
o own a gun, and my pepper spray expired months ago, which I haven’t gotten around to replacing, and…” Christ, I sound like a rambling moron.

  “You can get it. Just…do it slowly.”

  She did as she was told, and finally found the scrap of paper at the bottom of the console. After handing the registration over, she sat back in the seat and tried to read the nametag pinned above the left breast pocket of his uniform. Unfortunately, the cord from the walkie-talkie was coiled over it, preventing her from making out the letters.

  He leaned against the roof of the car and peered at her through the window, or rather, his face was directed that way. The damned sunglasses were still blocking her view of his eyes. The rest of his features were taut in an intimidating, bad cop kind of way. “Do you know why I pulled you over, Ms. Morgan?”

  “To show me your handcuffs?” Damn it. Filter, Jena, filter.

  With a tilt of his head, the cop slid the glasses down, giving her the full-blown experience of his glower.

  The message was clear, but what wasn’t so evident was the second dose of recognition she received. His eyes were the color of the sea, not exactly blue, not quite green, but so crystalline, their depths seemed to go on forever. Jena had only encountered one set of peepers that hue in her life. Blinking back to his nametag, the cord from the walkie-talkie had fallen away, revealing what she’d suspected.

  Cole.

  Eyes wide, she gaped.

  He shoved the sunglasses to the top of his head without taking his gaze off her. “I pulled you over because you were doing eighty in a fifty-five mile per hour zone, Ms. Morgan. That’s twenty-five miles an hour over the speed limit and way too fast.”

  Holy crap, with the aviators off his face, the resemblance to Tyler was indisputable. She had no idea he had a cop in the family. Then again, she was clueless regarding his family. All she knew about Tyler Cole was that he could make her cry out a name like nobody’s business.

  Wait. Did I say that out loud? Tyler-related cop was eyeing her like she’d lost her marbles. Maybe it had to do with the idiotic gawking expression she still wore.

  “I’m so sorry, Officer…Cole? I wasn’t paying attention to my speed. I was in a hurry to get to Seeton. I know it’s no excuse. I promise it’ll never happen again. And that whole handcuff thing…” She waved a hand, dismissing what she’d said earlier.

  His chuckle was a relief. “Why are you in such a hurry to get to Seeton, Ms. Morgan?”

  “My friend is getting married.”

  He stiffened. “Today?”

  “Oh, no. Not today. In a few months. I just…I haven’t seen her in a while, and I’m her maid of honor, and she was yelling at me, and…” Jena stopped and shook her head, mentally reprimanding herself. “Shit…I mean, crap…you don’t need to know all that, do you?”

  He laughed and, sure enough, it held the same tone, gave the same lift of his mouth, as Tyler’s. “Are you talking about Dax and Riley’s wedding?”

  “Yes,” she blurted, happy to be able to answer a question with one simple word.

  “So, obviously, you’re a friend of Riley’s?”

  “Yes.” Oh, this was much, much better. She could do this all day.

  “Yeah, my brother and I are in the wedding too. I’m Wade Cole. My brother, Tyler, is the best man.”

  “I know Tyler.” Christ, now she sounded like a fan. Well, maybe she was, but in her own mind. No one else needed to know. “I came with Riley when she found out she’d inherited Beckett’s. I met him then. He was…ah, working next door…at the firehouse…” Aand…the rambler was back.

  Officer Cole, or Wade…she had no idea what to call him…nodded, apparently fluent in rambling. “Well, I hope that unpleasant experience didn’t taint your opinion of our town, or us Coles.” He added a wink, and she laughed. Little did he know her experience with Tyler was far from unpleasant.

  “How about I cut you a break today, Jena?”

  “You’d do that?”

  His grin was heart-stopping. “How else would I sway you to trust I’m the better Cole brother?”

  Jena’s mind slammed into the gutter, but she masked the dirty thoughts with a grateful smile. “Thank you so much, Officer Cole. I really appreciate that.”

  “No problem.” He handed the license and registration back. “Just slow it down. And call me Wade. You know, since we’ll probably be seeing more of each other in the next few months.”

  “Of course…Wade. Thank you again.”

  With one last smile, he tapped the roof and then sauntered back to the squad car. Jena stared through the side and rearview mirrors, watching him, noting the differences in the Cole brothers. If memory served her right, and it was a well-worn one, Tyler had an inch or two in height on his brother, but they both appeared equally solid as if they’d inherited the same muscle gene in their DNA. One thing was for sure, they both had great asses…among other favorable attributes.

  Sure enough, that thought led Jena into the memory of her hands on Tyler’s favorable attributes, which in turn resulted in dwelling over the very reasons she had avoided going back to Seeton. Wade’s words of seeing each other resonated. It wasn’t seeing him that worried her. It was knowing she’d be in the company of the other Cole brother and how she would handle the encounters. Would it be awkward? Would seeing Tyler again trigger her heart to make the leap into uncharted emotional territory? Maybe he’d act as if nothing ever happened, and she’d wake up realizing she’d imagined the insane connection between them. Hopefully, she’d get one look at him and recognize how irrational she’d been over one measly encounter with a man.

  But as she’d replayed that night in her mind a gazillion times in the past months, measly was far from the word she would use to describe the experience. No, there was nothing measly about Tyler Cole or the emotions she’d felt when they were together. The truth was, he’d rocked her world and there was no going back. While there was no future for them, of that she was sure, Jena’s heart had been opened to something she wasn’t prepared for. It seemed silly to think one night with a man she barely knew could change her whole perspective, but it had. For so long, she’d ridden the waves of life, waiting for the day when she’d know exactly what she wanted and who she wanted it with. Well, the day had come and hit her with a sledgehammer, but the who factor felt like a freaking bulldozer to the gut.

  She was prepared to accept it was time to take control of those waves she’d been riding. And she would…as soon as she stopped picturing Tyler Cole as the one at the helm of her boat.

  CHAPTER TWO

  “You getting a day off today, hon?” Aunt Terry set a coffee on the counter in front of Tyler.

  He regarded her with amusement. “What are those things you speak of?”

  She stuck her bottom lip out dramatically.

  “Eh, I don’t mind. I mean, think of all the damsels in distress I get to meet in my job.” He shot her a flirty wink.

  “Honey, I hate to break it to you, but Seeton doesn’t have any damsels left you haven’t met. Unless you mean those of the feline variety, and you’ve probably met all of them too.”

  “You’re probably right. But I love it.”

  Her smile turned adoring as she reached out and cupped his cheek. “And we love knowing you’re out there for us. You working the late shift then?”

  “Noon to eight.”

  “Well, I’ll throw a couple extra helpings of protein on your plate to get you started.”

  “I appreciate ya, Aunt Terry.”

  She gave him one last smile and left for the kitchen.

  As he waited for his food, Tyler thought about his admission to her. He loved being a fireman. It was what he dreamed of every day of his childhood as he watched his father don the uniform and do the exact same thing. There’d never been a question of him following in his dad’s footsteps. The need to be a firefighter was in his blood. Helping the residents of Seeton made him proud. They were his people. Sure, most of the calls weren’t lif
e-threatening, and as Aunt Terry pointed out, usually involved an animal. But to the townspeople—getting Fluffy off the rooftop she’d climbed in order to evade Fred, the neighborhood stray dog—Fireman Tyler was their hero. It was times like those, coupled with a few occasions when he actually saved a human life, that he knew he was exactly where he was meant to be.

  At other times, he couldn’t wait to leave because the job didn’t satisfy him anymore. He had no idea where the negative thoughts came from, but they’d sparked within the last few months and had become more frequent. Tyler had even filled out applications for fire departments outside of Seeton, in bigger, more exciting cities. He told himself it was only to have options, because if it came down to it, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to leave his hometown.

  “Slackin’ off again today?” Wade smacked the back of Tyler’s shoulder before taking a seat on the stool next to him.

  “No more than you, I’m sure.” He sipped his coffee.

  Even though Tyler wouldn’t be caught dead vocally giving his brother credit for anything, he admired the man he’d become. Not that it was much of a surprise. Wade’s whole life had been about upholding the law in one form or another. It was annoying as hell for Tyler and his best friend, Dax, growing up with little brother tagging along, relaying each and every move they made to Mom and Dad, good and bad. Wade seemed especially happy reporting the bad. As an adult, he was still that annoying little brother, only now he had the means to literally lay down the law. And while the bond of blood was strong in the Cole family, it hadn’t stopped him from locking Tyler up for his wild ways back in the day. He was a pain in Tyler’s ass sometimes, but he still respected the hell out of him.

  Putting a hand to his chest, Wade feigned offense. “I’ll have you know, I’ve been busy today. The miscreants in and around Seeton have been restless.”

  Tyler snorted into his mug. “Yeah, right. Did Mrs. Johnson hit the Mr. with one of her smut books again?”

  “No, that was last week, and I think Mr. Johnson burned all her hardcovers since then. What I have been doing is keeping our streets safe from hot, red-headed speeders on their way into town to help plan a wedding.”