By Your Side
𝗧𝘄𝗼 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀.
𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁.
𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗸𝗶𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴.
I never planned on falling for Hunter Cassidy.
He'd been my best friend forever—the steady, loyal guy who fixed everything that broke in my life. My bar. My car. My heart, even when I swore I’d never let anyone near it again.
After my divorce, love was the last thing on my list. I had kids to raise, a business to save, and a thousand pieces of myself to put back together.
But then Hunter reminded me of the pact we had made in high school—the one where we promised that if we were still single at forty, we would marry each other—and suddenly nothing felt safe anymore.
Because the man I once called safe was now the one who made my pulse race.
The one who waited for me outside my bar at closing time to make sure I was okay.
The one who looked at me like I had already been his all along…
Losing him as a friend would break me.
But risking my heart on him? That might finally make me whole.
𝘽𝙮 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙎𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴-𝘵𝘰-𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦.
𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭-𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮, 𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘴𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘯𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘶𝘱 𝘢 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘭, 𝘱𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘮, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘏𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸!