Sweet Surprise Read Online Free PDF

them. They all have their own lives, and they’re busy. Reno has the hardware store. Jesse has his veterinary clinic. And Jackson and Abby are moving into their new home and getting ready for their wedding.”
    “But you know they all love you. And you know they’d help you in a blink if you just ask.”
    “I know they would. But . . . I really want to do this on my own.”
    “You’re still trying to prove yourself, aren’t you?”
    Fiona shrugged and flinched with the painful twinge in her neck muscles. Ow. Looked like she had whiplash along with everything else.
    “ Chica . . . let the past go.” Sabrina’s serious tone matched the narrowing of her dark eyes. “You’ve come so far. You should be bragging about your accomplishments instead of letting the past shame you.”
    “That’s not my style.”
    “No? ¡Ridículo! Do you even know what your style is anymore?” When Sabrina got fired up, her Spanish accent came heavily into play, and it became a game of “ What did she say? ”
    There’d been times when they’d been roommates the summer they’d both attended a three-month pastry course at Bellouet Conseil in Paris that Sabrina’s accent turned into a full-blown Latin tizzy. One that continuously baffled their very proper, very composed, and very Parisian professeurs.
    The school tuition had been a college graduation present from Fiona’s grandmother, who’d scrimped and saved to afford such a lavish gift. To this day, the love and generosity with which it had been given still melted Fiona’s heart.
    “We all make mistakes,” Sabrina continued.
    “Well, God knows I made plenty.”
    “Consider the circumstances. You were broken, chica. Greater beings have crumbled for less. But look at you now.”
    At Fiona’s frown, her friend laughed.
    “Okay, maybe not right now, with your sexy compression sock and your forehead looking like you crushed a can of Budweiser into it.”
    Sabrina was a full-blown Mexican fireball. And Fiona considered herself lucky to have such a friend. Especially one who’d stuck with her through the thick of her insanity.
    “The hospital should put you in charge of the morale-boosting committee,” Fiona said.
    “Well, when you get in these moods, it’s no joke. Surely, you can see how well you’ve done.” She arched a brow at Fiona’s silence. “Again with the no? Then let me spell it out for you.”
    And she did—popping up a hot pink fingernail with each point she made.
    “You’re an amazing mom. You’re independent. Self-sufficient. You’ve saved enough to start your own business. You’re a rock star BFF. And you’ve opened your heart to the woman your ex-husband is about to marry. What more can you ask of yourself to make up for those bad-judgment years?”
    “I don’t know.” A twinge of undigested guilt reared its ugly head. “I’m still trying to figure that out.”
    “Well, stop figuring and live. Enjoy yourself.” Sabrina’s wide mouth broke into a grin. “Grab hold of a man like that hunk who just left here and have a little fun.”
    And there lay the problem.
    Fiona had had enough fun to last her—plus ten other people—a lifetime.
    Somehow, by the grace of God, she’d managed to survive. Now it was time to get serious. And serious did not include hooking up with another fireman.
    No matter how sizzling he might be.
    A s he drove past the big iron gates at Wilder Ranch, Mike realized, once again, he was heading into a world completely different from the one in which he’d been raised.
    When his firefighter father died battling a warehouse blaze in downtown Los Angeles, his mother had moved him and his five sisters in with their Avó. Their maternal grandmother had welcomed them with open arms into her little two-bedroom duplex. In the heavily Hispanic neighborhood, however, children from a Brazilian mother and a Caucasian father were viewed as outsiders. Misfits.
    Boyle Heights in East L.A. harbored over twenty gangs, each badder