Page 1 of The Love Fix (The Sunrise Cove #8)

It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day to die. For one thing, Lexi Clark’s entire existence was still circling

the drain after being fired and dumped all those months ago. Going toes up before she fixed her life would really suck.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking,” came a voice from the overhead speakers. “When we left Greensboro,

the weather in Reno looked good, but coming in for our approach, we’ve got high winds and dropping temps. So buckle up, buttercups,

it’s going to get a little bumpy.” He clicked off, and then immediately came back on, the speakers screeching, making everyone

groan. “Nearly forgot the silver lining—those of you on the left get a gorgeous view of Lake Tahoe, which is deep enough to

cover the Empire State Building. If the entire lake were to spill out, it’d cover the state of California under fourteen inches

of water. But no worries, after two million years, the odds of that happening are pretty slim. Hold on tight, we’re coming

in hot.”

He hadn’t even finished the sentence when the plane dropped, and so did Lexi’s stomach.

“I need a snack,” the woman on her left whimpered. “We flew all the way across the damn country without a courtesy snack, and now I’m going to die hungry. Why didn’t I just buy food?”

“Because a bag of chips cost seven bucks,” Lexi gritted out, white-knuckling the armrest.

The woman let out a breathless laugh that turned into a gasp when the plane dipped again, yanking shouts and Hail Marys from

the other passengers. Lexi, breaking out into a sweat, reached out at the same time as her seatmate did, their hands blindly

clasping tightly to each other.

“Maybe I should try to sleep through this,” the woman said. “I’m really good at sleeping.”

Lexi had never understood how someone could sleep through a crisis. When did they do all of their panicking and overthinking?

Around them, the cabin turned into a cyclone, the air filled with flying debris and more screams. When she’d boarded, she’d

walked past first class with a twinge of envy, thinking that she wouldn’t mind a little tomato soup to soothe the soul. Especially

if it was cold. Over ice. With a celery stalk.

And vodka.

But now, seeing drinks and trays whip around as their plane seemed to fall out of the sky had her stomach reversing direction,

getting stuck in her throat, making her glad she hadn’t eaten.

They plunged again, so hard her body went airborne, giving her the unnerving sense of being a balloon on a string—until the

seat belt yanked her back.

“The universe will keep us safe. The universe will keep us safe,” the woman next to her chanted softly, squeezing Lexi’s hand

tight enough to crack bones. “Say it with me.”

Lexi didn’t want to blaspheme, but she believed in the universe caring about her about as much as she believed in love.

“Say it!” the woman begged.

Fine. At this point, she had nothing to lose. “The universe will keep us safe.”

A few seconds later, the plane leveled out and everyone gave a sigh of relief as the woman turned to look at Lexi with triumph.

“You’re good at this.”

Ha. Not even close. Proving it, the plane promptly banked right hard enough to rattle her teeth and nearly roll them in a

somersault and then... free fall.

Screams of terror pierced Lexi’s ears, her own and everyone else’s. They were heading down, down, down, right to rock bottom,

apropos since that’s where her life sat anyway.

“No!” her seatmate cried. “This isn’t happening! We’re not going to die. Not when I haven’t had a single man-made orgasm in at least a month.”

A month? That was nothing. Lexi couldn’t even remember the last time she’d had an org—

The plane dropped again, along with Lexi’s organs... just as they hit the tarmac.

Hard.

They bounced a few times, the cabin utterly silent now, struggling against the g-forces as they screeched to a halt at the

very end of the runway.

The woman still holding Lexi’s hand let out a shaky breath. “See? We did it! I’m Summer, by the way.” She dug through her

pocket and came up with a business card.

Summer Roberts, CPO

CHIEF PROFESSIONAL MANIFESTER

“Fifteen percent discount for friends and family,” Summer said. “Contact me anytime. Do you have a card?”

She had until six months ago, when she’d still been an overachieving, na?ve art appraiser, working for a company who handled

estate closure. Currently, her life was in free fall, much like the plane’s approach had been.

Their pilot was talking, apologizing for the rough landing as people scrambled to disembark. Lexi grabbed her carry-on and

joined the herd shuffling into the crowded terminal, heart still pounding in tune to the headache behind her eyes. For the

past half hour, she’d forgotten why she was here, but it all came back to her as she made her way through the throngs of people,

stepping onto the escalator that seemed to crawl down two full floors toward ground level. But for once, her impatience was

gone, beaten back by a case of vicious jitters, her limbs trembling like she’d consumed too much caffeine.

She shouldn’t have come. But her stepsister, Ashley, twenty-three to Lexi’s twenty-nine, had begged her on their last monthly

call.

And for reasons Lexi didn’t want to think about too hard, she’d agreed. Over the years, she’d been back here to Lake Tahoe,

and her childhood home in Sunrise Cove on the north shore, only a handful of times after leaving with her dad when she was

ten.

The last time had been four years ago, for Ashley’s dad’s funeral. It’d been a short trip, but Ashley—and Daisy—had been genuinely

happy to have her. Still, seeing Daisy always stirred up a maelstrom of complicated emotions.

Daisy was gone now, and Lexi had no idea what to expect.

She pulled out her phone to access her Uber app for a ride.

As the escalator slowly brought her down, she caught sight of a pe tite redhead—her sister—holding a huge bouquet of flowers and balloons that spelled out happy birthday, fred !

Lexi grimaced in secondhand embarrassment for poor Fred, grateful that no one would ever confuse Lexi for a flowers-and-balloons

kind of girl. She was more of a please-don’t-bring-attention-to-me girl.

“Lexi!!” Ashley bounced up and down in excitement. “Welcome home!”

Oh boy. The escalator ended and she stumbled off, thanking the guy who reached out and steadied her without taking her eyes

off her sister, who was still bouncing around in a white tank top and flower-power skirt. “Ash? What are you doing here?”

“Picking you up, silly!”

Lexi eyed the balloons. It wasn’t her birthday, nor was her name Fred. “Did you steal those?”

“Didn’t have to. The grocery store gave them to me for free. The clerk told me the wife ordered them for her husband but caught

him cheating. Just another reason I don’t date anyone with a penis.” Ashley grinned and threw herself at Lexi, hugging her

hard, smelling like cotton candy and forgotten dreams as she rocked them back and forth, making little happy noises. “Hi!

It’s really you! You’re here, you’re really here!”

Lexi, who thought she’d buried her emotions a long time ago, found her arms coming up to return the hug. Feeling eyes on her,

she lifted her head.

The guy standing at Ashley’s side, the one who’d steadied Lexi off the escalator, was watching, quietly assessing, and...

amused? Tall and leanly muscled, he wore jeans and an untucked button-down with the sleeves shoved up to his elbows. His wavy

dark brown hair was on the wrong side of a cut, and there was more than a few days’ worth of scruff on his face, but it was

the flash of mischief in those shocking blue gray eyes that held her.

Everything inside her stilled at the sight of her childhood nemesis and one-time crush—okay, two -time crush, but who was counting? Dammit, she was. She was also lying to herself, because it was an ongoing crush. As in

still current.

Heath Bowman, whose eyes got her every single time, those searing, knowing eyes, and that smart-ass smirk—

“She’s turning purple, Ashley,” he said mildly. “Might want to let up on the grip.”

The easy affection in his tone gave away how much he cared about Ashley. Anyone who’d ever met Ashley cared about her, deeply.

It was impossible not to.

At whatever Heath saw on Lexi’s face, his mouth quirked on one side, an expression disarming enough that two women walking

by tripped over each other. “Been a while, Lex.”

Not long enough... “And you’re here why?”

“Oh,” Ashley said. “He’s here as my emotional support.”

Lexi’s heart stuttered as she turned to her sister. “Why? What’s wrong?”

Ashley shored up her expression and quickly shook her head. “It’s nothing, don’t worry.”

Too late. Plus she was a professional worrier. But Lexi would get it out of her later, in private. But if someone had set

off Ashley’s debilitating depression again after she’d been free of it for years now, Lexi was prepared to go to war against

them. “You didn’t have to come get me,” she said in her softest voice, one she didn’t get much use out of these days. “I planned

to Uber. Neither of you needed to take away from your jobs.”

“I didn’t,” Ashley said. “School just got out for summer. I would’ve loved to teach summer school for the extra paychecks,

but kindergarten doesn’t offer it.”

Lexi turned to Heath. He lifted a broad shoulder. “Being a nine-to-fiver isn’t my thing.”

Once upon a time, everything had come easy to him, making friends, melting teachers’ hearts, schoolwork... and she’d crushed on him hard. He’d continued

to skate on that charm and charisma from childhood right into adulthood, where last she’d heard, he was an attorney. “What

happened to trial law?”

Another shrug. “Wasn’t for me.”

Ashley slid her arm into Lexi’s. “As for why we’re here, I wanted you to have a big welcome committee when you arrived, surrounded

by people who love you.”

Lexi bit back the urge to point out there were only two of them here, and she’d have bet her last dollar that the taller of

them had been dragged against his will. No way did he come willingly, not after their last... encounter.

“I know you’re far too busy for a visit, but...” Ashley glanced at Heath. “Well, there’re some things we need to fill you

in on.”

The “we” was deeply disturbing. Lexi had dropped her duffel bag while they talked, but reached down for it now, ending up

in a tug-of-war with Heath.

Ashley laughed. “Mom always said you two could argue over what color the sky was. I didn’t believe her.”

There’d been a time when Lexi had been rotten enough to resent a six-years-younger Ashley, Daisy’s stepdaughter from her second

husband. But that had been more a reflection of Lexi’s complicated feelings about Daisy and nothing against Ashley, whose

genuine sweetness and affection always tore Lexi’s walls down with shocking ease. “That was all a long time ago. We were stupid

kids then.”

Her sister smiled. “If bygones are truly bygones, then where’s the nice-to-see-you-again hug?

” She nudged Lexi right into the man. Repugnant, she told herself, but that was yet another lie.

As she brushed up against his warm, solid frame, something warm unfurled in her gut as if there was a live wire between them.

She blamed Heath for being too sexy for her peace of mind.

The only thing that made her feel better was how he stared down at her, his amusement gone, something pensive in his gaze now.

Ha. He felt it too. Good, because if she had to suffer, then so did he.

“It’s nice to see you,” he murmured.

She blinked at the words, at his surprisingly genuine tone, which threw her off. She could count on one hand the number of

times she’d seen him since their childhood rivalry, and for each of those times, she’d managed to make a fool of herself,

something she did not intend to repeat, ever. She didn’t have the bandwidth for him. Whether that came from her currently

empty confidence tank or exhaustion, it didn’t matter.

But then he leaned in close, and she found herself more breathless than she’d been during the rough plane landing. He smelled

good, dammit, and she could feel the easy strength of him. She blinked slow as an owl, head spinning, because those eyes,

they were warm and kind, and her own smile came utterly unbidden.

Which was when he whispered, his warm breath barely grazing her earlobe, “ Shotgun... ”