Year 28 by JL Mac

Title: Year 28

Author: JL Mac

Genre: Contemporary Romance/Enemies to Lovers/Second Chance Romance

Release Date: October 1, 2020

Cover Design: Robin Harper, Wicked by Design

Sylas Broussard. He’s the hometown golden boy. To the residents of sleepy, southern Palmetto Grove he’s a war hero, and a modern-day saint. My view of him does not quite align with the one they hold.

At ten I couldn’t stand him.

At fifteen I loathed him deeply.

At seventeen I loved him completely.

At eighteen I despised him passionately.

At twenty-eight…Well, it’s complicated.

I have been just fine staying in another time zone, keeping my focus on work and off my past. I would prefer to remain in the office, building on my professional reputation but my sister has called me home to attend her wedding where I know I will see him again.

I still hate him but I’d burn my world to the ground to forget our stupid pact and protect him from the awful truth. Keeping my secret in the past is difficult and getting out of the pact I made is harder still.

Not loving Sylas Broussard like everyone else in our hometown—impossible. 

***

Raegan Potter. She’s the former love of my life and the pride of Palmetto Grove turned into an ice queen. She’s been living it up on the east coast in her designer threads and cushy job. I’m betting she won’t think she’s so high and mighty when she’s forced to face me after a decade of radio silence.

Ten years ago she walked away from me without explanation, but not before making me one big promise. She made a pact and I’m going to hold her to it. If she thought I had forgotten, she thought wrong.

With careful precision I crack open one eye just a sliver, then in an instant my heart slams to a violent, jolting halt.

            “Happy twenty-eighth birthday, Rae. Ready to be a woman of your word and make good on our deal?” Familiar chocolate eyes twinkle with amusement as a store-bought carrot cake is pushed toward me on Chicken Nugget’s coffee table.

            Sylas Broussard. 

            I don’t move a muscle—I scarcely draw breath with my eyes still cracked open only a bit. Sylas fishes a cigarette lighter from his shirt pocket and leans his bulky frame forward, then lights a single white candle on top of my favorite cake. Which he did on purpose, no doubt. Of course he’d remember a detail like my favorite cake. 

The orange flame flickers and dances in the stillness between us. He on one side of the coffee table and me sprawled, hung over and significantly worse for the wear on the other. Oh, how flattering this scene is.

            “Make a wish, Rae,” he murmurs, and something mischievous lurks behind his all American smile. I turn my attention to Chick who is by the entrance to his kitchen, freshly showered as evidenced by his wet mop of dark blonde hair. He’s got a mug in one hand and an apologetic smile on his face. 

“No thanks,” I snap at Sylas, hauling myself off the couch. I turn and face Chick. “There for your friends, huh?” I growl at him. He grimaces and clicks his tongue. 

“Never said which friend,” he smiles stiffly. 

“Asshole,” I mouth. 

“Sorry,” he says back. I snag the candle from the cake and turn it over, jamming the wick end down into the creamy icing. My eyes find Sy’s and I feel homicidal seeing his mouth twitch in amusement. I don’t know where my car is but walking back to my parent’s house in Louisiana humidity is far more appealing than sitting here in Chicken Nugget’s living room with Sylas for a moment longer.

Author, J.L. Mac is the USA Today Bestselling Author of the Wrecked series and several other titles. Beginning with her debut novel in January 2013, J.L. Mac has self-published several novels to date. Having successfully written and published nine novels in seven years, J.L. has become a household name in the Indie community with multiple bestsellers, audio editions and foreign editions of multiple titles. JL admittedly has had a long and sordid love affair with the written word and has loved every minute of it. She drinks too many glasses of wine on occasion, and says way too many swear words to be considered “lady-like.” J.L. lives in El Paso, Texas and spends her free time reading, writing, playing with her four children and living her happily ever after with her very own Prince Charming.

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