We Could Be Amazing

140 Pages·2015·0.41 MB·English

by  Lockwood Tressie

We Could Be Amazing
By Tressie Lockwood

Copyright © December 2012, Tressie
Lockwood
Cover art by Mina Carter © December
2012
ISBN 978-1-939151-00-1

This is a work of fiction. All characters
and events portrayed in this novel are
fictitious or used fictitiously. All rights
reserved, including the right to reproduce
this book, or portions thereof, in any form.

Sugar and Spice Press
North Carolina, USA
www.sugarnspicepress.com

Chapter One

A bell dinged, and the fasten
seatbelts sign went off. The captain’s
voice came over the intercom system.
“Welcome to Seattle, and thank you for
flying with us at…” Kiona toned the rest
of his message out, unbuckled herself and
her son, and stood. She grabbed her
overnight bag from the compartment above
their heads and set it in her seat.
“Come on, Alex, baby, wake up.
We’re here, and it’s time to get off the
plane.” Her son yawned but didn’t budge.
She tapped his cheek. “Hey, sleepyhead,
you’re going to miss Daddy.”
That did it. The head full of dark
curls popped up, and gray eyes opened
wide. “Daddy? Where’s Daddy?”
Kiona chuckled. “Come on, you. The
sooner we’re there, the better.”
She led him off the plane and down
the long passage to the baggage area. After
waiting what seemed like forever, Alex’s
luggage came around the turnstile, and she
lifted it off. Between juggling the bag and
holding on to a sleepy child’s hand to
keep him moving, she lamented wearing
the heels. Her feet hurt, but that’s what she
got for trying to be cute. Not that it
mattered anymore anyway. She wasn’t
trying to win him back.
“Mrs. Foster?” came a tentative
voice behind her.
She turned and corrected without
thinking, “Ms. Foster.”
The young woman ducked her head
as if in apology. “Ms. Foster, your
husband arranged for me to drive you and
your son to the island. I’m sorry it will be
a long one as we’ve just missed the ferry.
We’ll take the bridge.”
Kiona resisted correcting the woman
again to say that he was her ex-husband.
“Thank you. No problem. We don’t mind
as long as we get there.” She had been to
Bainbridge Island just once during her
whirlwind marriage, and while she
enjoyed the island itself, she could not say
much for the relationship. They had
vowed forever and only lasted two years.
For that, the shame would go on forever,
she suspected, because she could not be
more wrong in her choice of a man—and
because she still loved him with all her
heart.
They left the airport terminal and
walked toward a waiting car, and Kiona
compressed her lips together at its luxury
class. Typical of Ridge and his family, no
expense spared for anything. They strove
to impress at every opportunity. Of course
she had done the same in a way, with the
dress and shoes. Trying to look cute for a
man she wouldn’t take back if he were the
last one on earth, hell, she had to show
him what he was missing.
Bainbridge Island housed about
twenty-three thousand people and was
quaint in her opinion with its comfy small
town feel. Of course the residents were
diverse, ranging from the lower middle
class to the wealthy like the Fosters, but it
was still nothing like Baltimore where she
was born and raised.
All too soon, they turned into the
winding driveway that led to the Fosters’
fourteen acres. Kiona felt the tension
rolling into her shoulders and the stiffness
in her neck. She knew it was too much to
hope Ridge’s mother wasn’t at home. His
father was fine, but the dragon lady, as she
liked to think of the woman, got her back
up and kept it there.
When the car rolled to a stop, she
eased her son’s head up and opened the
car door. At three, with a small build, she
struggled to lift him. She put a foot out and
startled when a hand appeared in front of
her. A fraction before she accepted the
offering, she realized the large hand did
not belong to the female driver, and she
rose to come face-to-face with her ex-
husband.
Craning her neck to look up at him
might be a more accurate description as
Ridge stood at six foot four inches, and
she reached just beneath five foot six. She
liked to add on the extra quarter inch to
her height, but either way, he dwarfed her.
When he should have let her hand go,
Ridge held on, sending shockwaves of
desire ricocheting every which way
through her body. The man’s shoulders
hadn’t diminished in their incredible
width. His rugged sexiness seemed to
have magnified, starting with the midnight
black hair, striking gray eyes, the sharp
nose, full lips, and strong jawline. He
stood as an imposing figure who robbed
her of speech in his designer suit, the
jacket of which he hadn’t unbuttoned.
Leave it to Ridge to be put together
without a flaw while her dress sported
wrinkles from sitting for five hours on the
plane.
“Hello, Ridge,” she managed in a
raspy tone and kicked herself for it.
“You’re looking well, KeyKey.” The
formal speech lost its impact with his use
of her nickname—that and it weakened her
at the knees.
“Thanks, I don’t go by that nickname
anymore,” she informed him.
A dark brow rose as if in disbelief.
“Kiona then. Were’s Alex?”
She turned away from him with
relief. “He’s here. He couldn’t stay
awake.” She busied herself unbuckling her
son, but Ridge touched her arm. She
jumped away, and he frowned at her.
“I’ll get him,” he offered.
Kiona backed up. To take her idiot