Satin & Grit, Chapter One
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We’re TWELVE days from the release of Satin & Grit. You know what that means? It’s time to share the first chapter. But first, here’s what some early readers have said…
“Sometimes we miss what's right in front of us because we're so busy watching everything else. This book proves that.”
“This has it all, there is drama a plenty, romance a smatter, and action that will shock.”
“Mindy Michele turns familiar tropes on their heads with this one! These two write the most delicious stories.”
A friends to more romance, this novel, the third in a four-part series,
returns you to Seaside Pointe and the characters and town you’ve fallen in love with.
Releasing: September 2, 2021
Preorder Amazon US or UK OR paperback available NOW: Buy HERE!
Add to your Goodreads TBR: HERE
Reid
New Year, New Me. A saying spoken mainly by poor souls who likely won’t remember their resolutions in two weeks. Ring out the old, ring in the new. Words repeated to make oneself feel better about leaving behind one year and heading into the next. Like a chapter of a book, your story is waiting to be written. Cheers to 365 days of blank pages! Give me a break. That’s like saying I’m gonna start working out—on Monday. Please, every day is a chance to rewrite the narrative. To change the way things go. Beginning with this damn tie.
“Damn hoity-toity Harrises.” I yank the unruly checkered tie I haven’t worn since Uncle Frank’s funeral from around my neck and unbutton the top two buttons at the first red light I come to. There.
Why did I accept Loe’s invitation to this party? Sure, she’s technically my boss, but I have no obligation to spend New Year’s Eve at her boyfriend’s parents’ house, of all places.
We broke up over six months ago. The sting is still there, but I’ve come to realize it’s more the sting of rejection, of wounded pride. She picked Kip Harris over me. But I wasn’t in love with Chloe Lockwood. On my way to it, maybe, but there was always a barrier between us. Not some solid brick wall, but a thick plastic sheet I could never quite pierce. I tried. Over and over it stretched, making progress, but she never fully let me in.
And whatever. Good for her for finding happiness with Harris. He’s not a complete prick like I thought. We’ve both grown up since our pitching rivalry on the varsity baseball team. Most weekends Loe asks me to help at her new land, Kip’s there right alongside us—mud slung on his clothes, hair not perfectly coiffed—willing to take part in whatever Loe needs.
Maybe that’s why I dug out my navy sport coat and climbed in my truck. Loe’s entrusted me with the Lockwood farm while she preps the new land, the least I can do is go to a party when invited.
My truck isn’t ancient or in poor condition. It’s newer than Loe’s classic Chevy, Betty, but the charcoal F-150 stands out like a sore thumb among the Audis and Mercedes lining Marvin Road. I pull up behind a pristine white Volvo and hop out, tugging at my shirt. Even unbuttoned the collar chokes me.
“I could be at home with Dad watching a bowl game with my feet on the coffee table.” I watch my warm breath curl in the thirty-degree air as I slip on my coat and finger-comb my too-long hair. “Walking half a block to a party for millionaires. You’d think they’d at least have valet parking.” I grumble the entire way toward the lights and sounds of a party well underway.
It’s like Buddy the Elf puked Christmas all over the three-story mansion and yard. Though puked is a bit harsh. There’s a lot, total overkill, but it’s done up nice like they hired someone. The lights strung along the roof are tight and straight like a professional hung them, while wreaths and fresh garland deck the windows and porch. It’s the most festive and lavish house in town. Nothing like the plastic reindeer and wayward twinkle lights Wade and I helped Dad put out this year.
I climb the steps, laughter and chatter filtering from around back and through the front door. It opens as I’m about to let myself in.
“Oh.” Grace stumbles back, sparkling brighter than the lights hanging on the giant Christmas tree at the end of the front porch. A decorated tree on the front porch. Oh, to be filthy rich.
“Hey, Reid.” Grace pauses in the doorway.
“Hi.” I steal a second glance at a Grace Embry I’m not used to. She’s dressed to kill in a flashy gold sequin jumper that leaves little to the imagination. She owns a clothing store, so of course she looks good, but I typically see her at the farm helping out during harvests. She doesn’t look like this when she’s cutting flowers.
Rubbing my chilled hands for warmth, I shift out of her way. “Ditching so soon?”
She shakes her head with a twitch of her light pink lips and slips past. “I’m just grabbing something from my car.”
I allow the front door to close, my gaze following Grace as she floats down the marble steps, her heels clicking with each step. “From your car? I just made the two-mile trek from Marvin Road. Do you need help?”
Twirling around, her light blonde hair so white the strands glow under the festive lights hanging along the circular drive, she walks backward. “Two whole miles, huh?” She grimaces. “Actually, I’m parked right over there.” She waves toward a cluster of cars in the driveway. The rear bumper of her silver Honda peeks out from behind Kip’s Audi.
“Best friend benefits, huh?”
Grace lifts a hand in surrender, and I huff. I’d complain about mistreatment of the common folk, but with what she’s wearing, she’d suffer hypothermia if she’d been forced to park as far away as I did.
“There’s a ton of food in there.” Her upbeat tone draws my attention from her impossibly long legs. “Go have at it. Free food, one perk of a party, am I right?”
I crack a smile. “Only if free alcohol is involved, too.”
“It’s your lucky night,” Grace calls over her shoulder before she disappears between cars.
Exhaling, I rub a hand across my unshaven jaw and step over the threshold. It takes everything in me not to whistle as my eyes rove around the ornate rooms. I didn’t grow up poor, but I definitely didn’t grow up like this. My dad is an electrical engineer, not a commercial development tycoon.
There are so many people, I doubt Loe will know if I made it. Half of the town mills around the house while the other half is outside under heat lamps. I wouldn’t be surprised if Mayor Pete is here. Denton Harris has that kind of sway in Seaside Pointe.
After I grab a plate of food from a long banquet table in the living room, I turn and spot Hayden and Brynn. We’re not best friends, but it’s better than standing in a crowd alone. Though the more I glance around, the more people I recognize. This party isn’t for the elite only. Even May is here, her tassels and rhinestones shimmering in the Christmas lights. As I cross the room, Hayden turns in my direction and tips his chin in greeting.
“You actually showed.” He doesn’t mask his surprise.
I shrug. “How could I miss a chance to rub elbows with Seaside aristocracy?”
He chuckles and takes a swig of his beer.
Since we’ve been working together at Loe’s land here and there, I’ve gotten to know him. He’s a decent guy, and after what he did for Brynn last summer, I’m inclined to think I want to remain on his good side. I don’t know all the details, but the Seaside rumor mill is alive and well. He saved her life and nearly killed a man doing it.
Brynn offers me a smile, but she’s in another conversation with some guy in a suit as she holds Hayden’s hand.
Hayden’s voice lowers as he bends his head toward me. “I’m just glad I’m not the only one here who feels out of place.”
“You’re dating a Harris. This is your life now.” I smirk.
He returns the smirk, the snug hoop ring in his nose twitching, but there’s an easy acceptance in his eyes. Maybe Hayden doesn’t think he fits in—the piercing and tattoos do make him stand out—but he will soon.
“Have any teaching opportunities opened up for you yet?” I pop a meatball in my mouth.
“Not yet. I’ll probably stick around for Chloe for the season. It’s hard going into the middle of a school year.”
“You better be sticking around for the season.” Loe sidles up to my side, Kip in tow. “I need my right-hand man. We’ve got more to do than we did over the summer and fall combined. Spring is going to be booming.”
“If you need, I could send Denise and Meredith over there full time. Maybe we hire a couple more to help out on my side. We’ve got a well-oiled machine going, as you know. We can spare the more experienced for a few newbies.”
“Yeah.” Loe waves me off. “We’ll figure it out. I don’t want to worry about work tonight.”
Unsurprising. When the Lockwood farm comes up, she’s not keen on staying on the topic for too long. I don’t know the last time she spoke to James. Probably not since their big blowup back in June. She doesn’t bring him up, and he doesn’t mention her. The estrangement is killing her. I know it is, but me handling the flowers on her parents’ land is the best option at the moment.
Loe bumps me in the arm with her elbow. “I’m glad you came.”
She looks beautiful tonight, decked out in a shimmery silk dress with her wild curls smoothed into an updo. I offer a polite smile. The jury’s still out on whether I made the right choice. Kip acknowledges my presence with a head tilt but doesn’t speak as he slips his arm around Loe’s waist and tugs her into his side. Is he gonna pee on her next? She’s yours, Harris. I get it.
“Where can I find one of those?” I gesture to Hayden’s hand.
“There’s an open bar over there.” He points to the room across from us.
“I’m just gonna,” I excuse myself with a toss of my hand.
I grab a beer and finish off my food while making the rounds, carrying on lukewarm conversations with people I’ve known most of my life yet rarely speak with. Exhausted, I head outside to check out the property from this side of the fence.
I wave at those I recognize on my self-guided tour of the yard. It is an excellent plot of land. I can’t say I blame Lockwood for being pissed about missing out on it.
When I reach the edge of the garden area where the Christmas lights trickle off, a figure moves out of the shadows. A short, curvy, feminine figure.
Mia Mason.
Less than a year ago, I gave Kip crap about going to lunch with her. And yet, when Loe invited me here tonight, all I could think was how I’d like to see Mia again. She’s practically a Harris. With it being the holidays, it made sense she’d be home from college. Though, I definitely wasn’t planning on getting secluded with her in the dark.
When she helped out on Chloe’s farm this summer, there was something about her, something different that wasn’t there when I saw her with Kip. More mature, maybe? She was beautiful with her long dark hair and expressive eyes, but her demeanor appealed to me as much as her looks. No matter how many times I ordered my eyes away, they steered back. There’s a spark when I look at her. Not a spark of romance or excitement, but this fire in her warm brown eyes that’s hard to ignore. Like a bug to a hot lamp, I’m bound to get zapped.
She’s eighteen. I’ll be twenty-eight in two months. Nothing good would come of getting close to Mia Mason.
“Well, if it isn’t Mr. Jump-To-Judgy-Conclusions.” Her hips sway as she saunters across the grass in a barely-there dress covered by a fitted coat.
Yeah, I had that coming. “I said I was sorry. You can’t blame me for misunderstanding the situation. It’s not common to see a guy my age hanging out with a girl your age when you aren’t family members. It usually only means one thing.”
“Oh?” She sways closer. “And what exactly is that?”
I walked right into that one seeing as how I’m standing alone with her where anyone who stumbles across us could come to the wrong conclusion.
Changing the subject is my best bet. “What are you doing out here all by yourself?”
“I should ask you the same question.” Folding her arms across her chest, she lifts a brow. “Don’t you know it’s rude to snoop around other people’s residences?”
“Snoop?” I scoff. “In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a party going on a few yards away. People hanging out all around this place.”
“Still doesn’t explain why you’re not closer to the party.”
“Same goes for you.” I’m a guest showing myself around. What reason does a young woman have to hide in the shadows? Unless…is she out here with someone?
Her dark-stained lips curve up at the edges, a hint of a smile, though it’s pensive. “I’m more of an outsider these days.”
“A semester away doesn’t make you an outsider.” I slide my hands into the pockets of my suit pants, shielding them from the cold. “Though, you are both a southerner and an east coaster now.”
Mia feigns shock. Her overly expressive heart-shaped face lights up as those plump lips form a silent ‘oh’ and her innocent eyes go wide. A bolt of lust zings through my gut. Eighteen, Reid. She’s eighteen.
She inches closer, her eyes scanning over me. “Imagine that, a girl my age who’s so worldly.”
Dangerous. That’s what she is. The almost ten years between us isn’t even the biggest problem. She’s basically Kip’s little sister. He didn’t take a swing at me over Loe, but he’d definitely land a blow if I messed with Mia.
“College makes you worldly, huh? I guess I wouldn’t know.”
School was never my thing. I like working for Lockwood Blooms. Maybe I settled, but it’s a decent career with decent pay and the crew is like family. I can’t complain.
“You’ve been a townie your whole life?” Mia stops less than a foot away from me.
“Never been referred to as that before, but yeah. I guess I am. Seaside born and raised.”
“Do you regret it? Never leaving, I mean.” Her brows furrow. “Everyone pushed for me to go to college, but honestly, school feels like a giant waste of my time.”
“College isn’t for everyone, but I wouldn’t write it off.” I shrug. “What would you have done if not school?”
“Taken a gap year.” Her stare shifts off into the distance, glazing over. “There are so many humanitarian projects abroad, or even here in the US. Or doing environmental conservation.”
I should hold back my surprise, but I can’t. “A do-gooder?”
“Is that such an unexpected thing?”
Honestly? Yeah. Mia looks like she should be on the arm of a wealthy man or on the internet with all the other WAGS of professional athletes. And that makes me sound like a complete and total dick, but it’s true. That’s what I get. Over and over, I misjudge her.
Circling back to why she’s here alone, I double-check. “You’re not out here with someone, are you?” I glance beyond her shoulder into the dark again. If he’s smart, he’s hiding. I’d hide.
“Just me, myself, and I.” She raises her hands at her sides—flashing more of her bare thighs—before slipping them in her wool coat pockets. “I needed the air. So many people. So much happiness.”
Her last words are a whisper like she didn’t mean to say them out loud. I consider calling her out but leave her to her thoughts.
Before I speak, she straightens her shoulders and morphs into a different person. A happier person. “Are you out here with someone?” Her lips curl into a wide flirtatious smile, flashing deep dimples I haven’t noticed before at the edges of her mouth.
“I’m flying solo tonight.”
“A good-looking man like yourself all alone?” Her lashes flutter. “You’re not still pining for Chloe, are you? I think it’s a safe bet that Kip’s locked her down.”
Everyone assumes I haven’t dated anyone seriously since Loe because I’m hung up on her. She’s a catch, I know, but is it so hard to believe that I’m fine with the breakup? Maybe not the way things went down, but it is what it is. We can be grown-ups about it.
I keep the bite out of my tone. “I’m well aware, but no. Loe and I are better off as friends. Even without Harris, we weren’t a good fit.”
“Hey, you want to go for a walk?”
The question jumps out of the blue. “A walk where?”
“Just around the yard. I can’t bear to go back inside yet. I promise I don’t bite.” Something in her eyes says she might if I asked. She’s lethal in the best way, but what’s real, and how much is the act of a girl who likes flirting with a man? She seems lonely, and it’s her loneliness that makes me cave.
Looking over my shoulder and verifying we’re not being watched, I give in.
We walk the Harris property, moving further and further from the lanterns lighting the garden. The winter moon is bright enough that if someone looked outside, they could see two bodies wandering even if they can’t make out who we are. With that in mind, I maintain a respectable distance from Mia. Every once in a while, she makes a comment about growing up on this property—playing with Brynn and Kip, a birthday party with pony rides—but most of our walk is silent.
Mia stops when the faint shadows of the fenced boundary of the land I work on comes into view. “I made a huge mistake in August, and I don’t know how to forgive myself. I don’t know how to forget it.”
Swiveling my head to see her expression, I try to make sense of what she’s talking about.
Her voice is subdued. “I thought I was so smart, keeping him away from her.”
My eyes trail her frowning profile, shame tinging her far-off stare. “You might have to be a little more specific if you want me to know what you’re talking about.”
“I’m the reason Brynn was attacked.” Her eyes avoid me as she continues staring at the Lockwood farm. “Her ex-boyfriend kept calling, and I screened the calls without telling her. I didn’t want him to enter her life again. If she’d known he was trying to get a hold of her, she would’ve been more cautious. She never would’ve been hurt.”
Heaviness presses on my chest. Is this why she feels like an outsider? All of this misplaced guilt? I’m not sure why she chose me to confide in, but Mia obviously needs someone to talk to.
“There’s something my dad used to say. Give yourself permission to be human. I’m sure he was quoting someone else, but sound advice nonetheless. I don’t know much about that situation, but I know it wasn’t your fault, Mia. You couldn’t have known the extremes that guy would go to. You were trying to protect Brynn. No one is to blame but the man who hurt her. Even if you did tell her about him, there’s no telling he wouldn’t have gotten to her anyway. From what I’ve heard, he was determined and a little unhinged.”
She flicks her hand through the air, her sad smile attesting to my words doing no good. “Nothing is the same. Maybe it’s the shock of coming back after being gone for a few months.” Twisting around, she peers toward the treeline in the distance and chokes on a stifled laugh. “God, I must sound so dramatic. Forget I said anything.”
Shaking my head, I reach for her but think better of it and tuck my hand back in my pocket. “It’s not dramatic to have feelings. Some heavy things went down last summer. You’re just trying to figure life out. Give yourself time.”
Mia’s smile is forced. Nothing I say will penetrate the guilt she’s encased herself in.
We head back to the house, keeping a small distance between us, though holding back takes self-control. After her broken confession, there’s a piece of me that wants to give this girl some comfort.
When we reach the garden bordering the stone patio, we stop. “I should probably go inside,” she says. “I imagine I’ve been missed by more than a few people.”
I doubt I’ve been missed. “You do that. I’m going to head out.” I hang back to give some space between the two of us entering the house. Better to avoid everyone seeing us together.
“Hey, Reid?” Her hand catches the sleeve of my coat, and I still. My eyes dart around as this beautifully sad girl closes the space between us and presses a kiss on my cheek. “Thank you for walking with me. And for listening.” She drops my sleeve and turns toward the garden path without a backward glance.