The bachelor contract, p.1
The Bachelor Contract, page 1
Table of Contents
Content Warning
Dedication
Prologue
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
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Discover more romance from Entangled… Guarding Her Heart
A Lot Like Forever
The Cowboy’s Sweet Redemption
Forever Starts Now
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2023 by Victoria James. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.
Entangled Publishing, LLC
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Amara is an imprint of Entangled Publishing, LLC.
Edited by Stacy Abrams and Alethea Spiridon
Cover design by Bree Archer
Cover photography by kali9 and GlowingEarth/Getty Images
ISBN 978-1-64937-197-3
Manufactured in the United States of America
First Edition April 2023
At Entangled, we want our readers to be well-informed. If you would like to know if this book contains any elements that might be of concern for you, please check the book’s webpage for details.
https://entangledpublishing.com/books/the-bachelor-contract
To Sammy-thank you for your loyalty and friendship.
Prologue
Eight Years Ago
Austin Merrick stared at his older brother Cooper’s motionless body sprawled across the couch and vowed to never end up like him.
Never fall in love, never get married, never have kids, never strive for the white picket fence. There was nothing, not a thing or a person, worth the risk of losing complete control of his life.
He ran his hand through his hair and blew out a rough breath as his gaze quickly scanned the room, taking in the takeout boxes and empty bottles of beer and whiskey. He opened the garbage bag he was holding and collected the trash as quickly as he could, the clanking of bottles not even causing his brother to flinch. Austin and his older brother Brody’s “night shift” at Cooper’s house was almost over and if his mother, who was responsible for the “day shift,” walked in here to see this, they’d be about how much they were letting Cooper drink. Too much was the answer, and they needed to stop it. Soon.
He paused, tensing as the front door opened. Brody appeared in the doorway with three large cups in a cardboard tray. “Coffee,” he said, his voice grim as he walked in.
Austin swept the trash from the coffee table into the garbage bag in one swoop and then took the coffee Brody handed him. “Thanks.”
Brody glanced over at the couch. “How’s Coop?”
They both stared at the back of Cooper’s head. “The same. Should he still be the same? I mean, I thought the first week for sure…but we can’t keep letting him do this.”
Brody took a sip of coffee, his gaze still on Cooper. “Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. But, hell, I don’t know how to pull him out of this. I mean, I still feel like crap. I still can’t get Catherine off my mind. She should be here yelling at us for trashing their living room. How do we get him to move on without her? They had their whole life planned. Babies. All that stuff. And now she’s gone.”
Austin rubbed the back of his neck, trying to undo the knot that had formed during the night from sleeping on the armchair. It had been Brody’s turn to get the other couch in the room. Everything his brother was saying was true. Their entire family was merely existing in the thick smog of grief that never seemed to lift or break in the four weeks since their sister-in-law had passed away. In some ways, needing to be here for Cooper was the only thing keeping them all going. “I know. I don’t think we can let him keep drinking like this.”
“Agreed.”
Austin took a sip of coffee. “So, what do we do?”
Brody turned to him, his mouth a thin line. “We cut him off from the beer and whiskey. We get it out of here this morning. Then we find a way to move him forward. As for us…we decide never to do this. We can’t ever be him.”
Austin was nodding, until that last statement. He and Brody rarely agreed on anything. It was uncanny they had both been thinking the same thing. “What do you mean?”
Brody tilted his head toward Cooper. “I’m never doing this, Austin. I thought Coop had it all. A great life. Future. Catherine was an amazing person. And now…hell, now he can’t even go into their old bedroom to sleep. I’ll never have a serious relationship. Never let myself fall in love like that.”
Austin let out a rough breath. “I was thinking that before you came in. Self-preservation. Fine. Then we make some kind of deal or pact or whatever. No falling in love. No white picket fences. No marriage. No kids.”
Brody extended his hand, his eyes as grim as his face. “You won’t be able to keep that promise.”
Austin gripped his brother’s hand, something deep inside him stirring. It felt like self-preservation. Or fear. Either way, right now, the only thing that made sense in his world was to never feel remotely as bad as they all did right now. “It’s not a promise. It’s a pact. A contract.”
Brody gripped his hand. “Fine. Penalty for breaking the contract?”
Austin held his gaze. “Penalty?”
“There has to be some kind of repercussions. How about naming rights?”
Austin swallowed hard. “Naming rights?”
“Firstborn kid.”
He met his older brother’s serious gaze and nodded.
Brody gave him a smile, like he’d already won. “Done. I hope you like the name Esmerelda.”
Chapter One
Mable Peterson approached her hometown feeling like a child looking for monsters in her closet. As a kid, she’d always yanked the closet door open and poked her head in. She hadn’t been one to cower and hide under the covers, hoping the monsters wouldn’t come out. No, she’d wanted to know exactly how many monsters were in there.
Thankfully, she didn’t have to worry about monsters anymore. She knew how to deal with them now.
May pulled off her sunglasses and tossed them on the passenger seat of her car as she sped along the quiet country roads leading to her hometown. All those memories she’d managed to keep tucked away came tumbling forward.
She took a deep breath and relaxed her shoulders. She could do this. She could come back to the place that she’d run from. What was eight weeks in the grand scheme of her life? Nothing. Just two months on a calendar.
Finally listing and selling her childhood home would enable her to move on with her life, to start this new chapter without any ties to Maple Hill or her father. And she had friends here still, a best friend who she talked to or texted daily. And if it hadn’t been for her epically embarrassing teenage confession of undying love before she’d left, she could have had another friend here, too. She pushed aside all thoughts of Callie’s older brother, Austin, and focused on the entire Merrick family.
If it hadn’t been for them and their care, May was certain she wouldn’t be a mom to a beautiful, six-month-old baby girl. She’d adopted Caroline six months ago without hesitation when she’d received the call. She’d been on the list to adopt for three years and had been a foster parent to three children up until that point. The day that call had come in was the happiest in her life. She was going to have her own family. A real family. And every day, her child would know how much they were wanted, how much they were loved. Just like at Callie’s house—they had all known the power of being loved unconditionally.
The clouds accumulated and drifted over the wide, open sky, blurring with the grayness of dusk, promising rain. It was still the same sky she remembered, the one that could change in a heartbeat over Lake Erie, the one she’d looked up at from her front porch, wondering what life would be like when she was all grown up. The same sky that would fill with stars at night, ones she’d make silly wishes on.
Well, all that was ancient history, thankfully. And now, here she was, back in Maple Hill after being gone for ten years. She glanced in her rearview, and her heart swelled at the sight via the baby mirror of the sweet baby girl sleeping peacefully in the backseat. She’d make sure that Caroline knew every single day how loved she was.
Driving down the gently winding, tree-lined streets of her hometown, on her way to Sunday night dinner at the Merrick’s, a ripple of excitement ran through her.
Despite everything tha
When she was finished, she’d start the next phase of her new life with the vacation she’d been planning since she was six. It would be even more special with Caroline, symbolic. A true turning point and then she’d be free to live out the rest of her life in peace. Just the two of them. Phase two of her life plan was to buy a cottage on the lake, close to a town where no one knew her. She’d only wear leggings and oversized Disney sweatshirts, drink freshly ground coffee that arrived via mail subscription, and go on walks with Caroline where they wouldn’t meet another soul. Until she had to send Caroline to school…or attend some kind of play group thing for Caroline…but moms wore leggings to those things, and it’s not like she had to make friends or anything.
May would help women still, but online, through virtual sessions. And for those sessions, she’d wear a professional top and have a polished appearance. But she’d never give up the leggings. She’d live a content life where no one could ever hurt her again, where she could keep her promise and keep Caroline safe. Maybe they’d even get a dog. It was the perfect plan. She just needed to get through eight weeks in Maple Hill.
Easing her foot off the gas, she approached the turnoff from the rural highway to downtown Maple Hill. She should turn on the next street to get to the Merricks’ house. She watched that street she should have turned down and kept driving straight.
Dusk had turned to night, and large, heavy raindrops smattered against the windshield. Turning on the wipers, she drove instinctively to the place, to the man, she’d told herself didn’t matter anymore. The winding roads with the towering trees and their branches that bowed and swayed cast shadows. Maybe it was a warning she shouldn’t be doing this.
He hadn’t mattered in ten years. Swallowing hard, she made the turn to the street she knew her father lived on, a street filled with custom estates tucked behind gates and walls and towering trees.
Her hands started shaking, and she forced herself to calm down, hating the old reaction, the reminder of who she was when she left town. She clutched the steering wheel as she slowed the car, forcing the trembling to stop with the strength of her grip. Taking a deep breath, she parked on the side of the road. There’d be no way for him to see her; it was dark out, raining, and he didn’t know what car she drove…and he’d probably forgotten he even had another daughter.
Her gaze raked over the sprawling front yard with its impeccably manicured lawn and perfectly landscaped shrubs and flower bushes. It was a massive red-brick, Georgian-style home in the most exclusive neighbourhood in Maple Hill. It was lit up like an elegant version of Vegas. She’d never been invited here, never even been allowed to tell him what she thought of him, of what he’d done, of what kind of a man she thought he was. And she would never tell him how much power she’d given him until she left town.
It wasn’t that she was bitter or consumed with anger over what he’d done over his very public humiliation… She’d gotten over it after a year in the city, after reaching out for help. But being back here brought it rushing to the surface, because there were so many things left unsaid. And there was something she needed from him. She couldn’t put her finger on it. Maybe it was closure. Maybe it was one last chance to say goodbye, since she’d never been given that with either of her parents.
She should leave and focus on the people who were like family, except she couldn’t make herself shift gears into drive. She bit her lower lip and wondered if it’d be weird to get out of the car and…spy. Or not spy exactly. Maybe pretend she was a pedestrian and walk by. There were some lights on in the front room. They wouldn’t see her, but she’d be able to see them. She had a half sister she’d never met. A sister who was living inside.
It was just May on the outside.
Careful not to wake Caroline, she unzipped one of her bags in the passenger seat beside her and pulled out her favorite pink baseball cap with Minnie Mouse’s silhouette embroidered in white on the front and then grabbed her discarded sunglasses. She was going to do this. No one would recognize her. Sure, she might look a little strange wearing sunglasses when it was pitch black out, but between them and the hat, which she tucked as low as it would go, it was impossible to know who she was. She contemplated texting Callie to see if this was a good idea but then decided against it because knowing her best friend, she’d say to wait for her, always a willing accomplice.
She powered down the window a few inches, then placed her hand on the door handle, her gaze on the brick half wall lining the property, her heart pounding painfully in a way that reminded her how it had growing up. It was a heartbeat that hurt, that made her entire body ache. Opening the door, she cringed as rain pummelled against her hat, and she locked the doors. She didn’t want to show up at the Merricks’ looking like a drowned rat with her curly hair wild in this kind of weather.
She sucked in a breath as she spotted a figure standing in the large bay window. Was it her dad? She shoved her hat down a little further and walked forward, realizing just how dark and difficult it was to see with her sunglasses on. Without thinking about it, she stepped into the middle of the road.
The sound of a horn blaring made her jump as she spotted a truck heading straight for her. She jumped to the side of the road, landing with a thud, her knees scraping against the gravel as tires screeched to a stop. Her heart was pounding, adrenaline making her gasp at the near miss. What had she been thinking?
“What the hell? Are you okay?”
That voice. It couldn’t be. He was supposed to be in Vancouver.
Austin Merrick. May hadn’t expected to run into him so soon—or be run over by him. According to Callie, Austin was going to be in Vancouver on business for the next month.
She tried to scramble to a sitting position, but her body protested, throbbing everywhere, more from shock than pain. Gentle hands on her shoulders pulled her upright, and she stared at the face she’d memorized years ago. Austin. She hadn’t seen the man in ten years, and he was everything he’d been back then but…so much more. He’d filled out, his shoulders broader, his face leaner, his eyes…bluer than she remembered.
“May?”
And just like that, she was eighteen again. Her cheeks burned as reality burst through her daydream, as his blue eyes bore into hers, his strong hands gripping her shoulders. This wasn’t how she was supposed to see him again, and he wasn’t supposed to have this kind of effect on her. She cleared her throat and forced a bright smile, despite how fake it felt. “Sorry, Austin! Hi. Nice to see you. Wow, what a surprise. I was…preoccupied. Didn’t see you.”
“Did I hit you? My God, I could have killed you.” He tipped up her cap, and she winced as she felt her soggy hair fall around her shoulders. She didn’t gawk as she continued to stare at him—that’s what the old May would have done. Austin Merrick all grown up was definitely all man. There wasn’t a hint of the boy she remembered. Now there were a few lines beside those bright blue eyes and stubble along the strong lines of his jaw. And while she was admiring how much of a man he’d become, he was staring at her like she was still a kid.
As children, she and Callie had gotten into their fair share of scrapes and catastrophes. They’d both been into sports. Callie’s older brothers had taught them how to play baseball. Brody, Austin, and Cooper had treated her like a little sister, and when she’d scraped a knee or sprained an ankle from falling out of a tree, it had been Callie’s house she’d gone to. It had been Austin who’d carried her home when she’d been twelve and had fallen off her bike racing down a hill with Callie. She’d looked up at him adoringly and he’d looked at her like a doting older brother, a mix of affection and concern. She’d made a fool of herself.
She placed her hat lower on her forehead, pushing aside all those memories. She had forgotten what it was like to have his undivided attention. “Nope. Totally fine. Great to see you. I was just on my way to your parents’ house and, um, ended up here…” She gasped as she stood and tried to put weight on her ankle.
