Remember Me

Cover Copy

The plane went down–and took their love with it.

All Brandon Barlow-Barrett wants is a week away from his family’s newspaper empire, time on the slopes to relax and refocus. What he gets is Lucy Cameron, the most extraordinary woman he’s ever met.

Lucy Cameron doesn’t take vacations. Not until now. Her very first vacation is full of highs–falling in love with Brandon Barrett–and lows–realizing she has to tell him she earns her living as a stripper.

But there’s no time to reveal her secret. On the way back from a day trip to a neighboring Colorado town, their plane’s engine sputters and stops. All they have left is the dangerous peaks of the mountains, a nearby lake for a crash-landing, and Brandon’s last-minute declaration of love.

CONTENT WARNING: This is not an easy road to Happily Ever After. Some readers may be disturbed by the detailed description of the plane crash. Also, explicit language.

A Lyrical Press Contemporary
 
Romance | Lyrical Press Embrace

Highlight

“What’s so funny?”

“The fact I have a beautiful woman sitting in my suite while I’m on vacation, and we’re camped out in front of the fire eating cheese and crackers and drinking Cokes.”

Lucy raised her brows. “You mean instead of being in your bed having wild monkey sex?”

He laughed. “Well, yeah. And, you know, I think I like you in my clothes.”

She picked at the sweatshirt with her thumb and forefinger. “This old thing?”

He liked how she had relaxed. It made him feel better about being such an idiot earlier. “I like you having something against your skin that I’ve had against mine.” Her smile faded, and he continued in a soft tone, “That doesn’t freak you out, does it?”

“No.” She touched his cheek. “It makes me feel…I don’t know…like I matter.”

It was an odd comment because he got the feeling she wasn’t just talking about mattering to him. She meant mattering to anyone. As if there might be no one in the world who cared whether she existed or not. Brandon tucked her hair behind her ear. “You matter.”

Remember Me

By Laura Browning

Dedication

To the men in my life who keep me grounded and give me the space I need to work. Thanks guys!

Chapter 1

“I didn’t dump the proposal on your desk and take off. Jesus, Dad,” Brandon Barlow-Barrett growled into his Droid as he waited to check his luggage. His gaze wandered to the check-in line next to him while he continued to listen to his father’s biting tones on the opposite end. “I’d like to remind you I’ve had this vacation scheduled for more than two months. On top of that, I gave you the proposal two weeks early, so you would have time
at your leisure
to go over it in its entirety.”

A curtain of long, blond hair several people ahead in the row next to him caught his eye. The owner towered above the people surrounding her. His gaze traveled from the hair to the ass, outlined in a pair of snug, faded jeans, and he smiled in appreciation. Long, long legs ended in high-heeled cowboy boots that just added to the woman’s already considerable height.

“I won’t listen to your response right now. You’ve had the proposal on your desk for all of one hour, and it’s three hundred pages. I don’t want you to flip through it. I want you to read it. You aren’t Congress, and this isn’t health reform.”

Brandon ground his teeth as his father continued to insist he’d already seen what he needed to.

“Dad! Times are changing. If we don’t change with them, there will be no Barrett Newspapers to pass along to anyone.” He reached the counter and slapped his suitcase in the space next to the ticket agent. “Look, gotta go. I’ll be back in a week. We can talk about the proposal then–once you’ve had the chance to
read
it.”

Brandon clipped the phone to his belt. He knew better than to allow Alexander Barlow-Barrett time to respond. He handed the suitcase to the airline agent, got his baggage claim receipt and his boarding pass, then glanced around in a casual way to see if he could locate “Legs” anywhere, but she was already gone. Damn. Flirting with her could have made for an interesting flight. After locating his gate, he discovered the plane was on time and already boarding. Great. If there was one thing he hated, it was spending any more time than he had to aboard a commercial flight. Even in first class, he found the seats didn’t have the leg room he needed. But, since stepping into his elder brother’s role, he’d become a lot more conservative with the company’s cash, so no taking the private jet for vacation.

A gate agent and a flight steward stood at the open door to the boarding ramp. When he approached he caught the tail-end of their conversation.

“God, what I wouldn’t give for one night with a woman like her.”

“You got that right, dude. Can you imagine those legs wrapped around you?”

“Shit, yeah!”

Brandon arched a brow. The two men grinned at him. After checking his boarding pass, the steward’s demeanor became deferential. “Thank you for flying National, Mr. Barrett. Linda will be your flight attendant. Just let her know what you need.”

Brandon nodded. Laid would be nice. Sex hadn’t happened in months, but he doubted it was one of the choices on Linda’s menu. It turned out she was younger than his mother by only a few years, so he settled for a shot of bourbon on the rocks.

* * * *

Lucy looked out the window, watching with interest the luggage being loaded aboard the jet. It might have been mundane to most travelers, but then she wasn’t most travelers. In fact, this was the first flight she’d ever been on. Little Lucy Cameron was getting a vacation at long last. For a week, she would be able to leave behind Jasmine LeFleur, the name she used as one of the top dancers at Flamingo Road. The high-end strip club catered to well-heeled clients around the Washington, DC area. It also paid extremely well.

Reflected in the glass next to her, her smile gleamed. She’d earned enough dancing at the club to pay off her college loans–even the ones for her masters–in less than five years. So traveling to Colorado to go skiing was a treat she was giving herself. Sure, she would have to stick to the easiest slopes since she didn’t have experience, but her primary purpose in flying there was to see the Rockies.

The baggage handlers had finished their task and were moving the ramp away from the body of the jet. The engines picked up RPMs, and Lucy looked around at her fellow passengers. Most of them looked bored or were already plugged into laptops, iPods or whatever was their technology drug of choice. No one seemed to share the excitement she experienced just being onboard. Okay, maybe she needed to dial down her enthusiasm a couple of notches so she wouldn’t come off like an unsophisticated goofball.

Nevertheless, she paid close attention while the flight attendant went through all the pre-flight instructions about fastening seatbelts, getting emergency oxygen and using her seat cushion as a floatation device. Since they were going from DC to Denver, Lucy had serious doubts a floatation device would be necessary. At least she hoped not.

They roared down the runway, engines whining, and the pressure of take-off weighed on her. The whole time, she watched everything grow smaller and smaller on the ground below until it resembled the patchwork quilt at the foot of her bed, one of the few things she could say had belonged to her real family.

Once they landed in Denver, Lucy checked her schedule. She would be taking a commuter flight from there. The itinerary said it was a propjet, whatever that was. As she made her way to the correct gate, she began to suspect
propjet
was simply a synonym for
small
. Her musings about the plane ended when she reached the gate area and saw the other passengers, one in particular.

He stood out from the skiers and vacationers, his expensive suit making him look like he’d just stepped out of a boardroom, and had in all likelihood. Lucy glanced at him from the corner of her eye. In general, she avoided staring at men because they were usually staring at her. It made her uncomfortable–and wouldn’t that make everyone laugh. Who’d ever heard of an exotic dancer who didn’t want people watching her?

The man’s gaze swung her way, so Lucy averted her eyes, studying the resort poster hanging on the wall to his left. Not very smooth, but the best she could come up with, short of spinning away from him. She’d gotten enough of a glimpse of his face to know he wasn’t the type to have any trouble getting women to fall at his feet. Hazel eyes, more a combination of topaz and green, sun-streaked hair that glinted gold in the light, and a wide mouth with a full lower lip–yeah, he would make most girls’ hearts throb.

“Flight 780 to Falcon’s Head is now ready for boarding. Please use the door for gate 74A and follow the steps.” The disembodied voice came through the public address system. This time there was no ramp. They exited the building straight onto the tarmac, then climbed the short flight of steps into the commuter plane. Propjet not only meant small–it didn’t even mean a jet.

Lucy felt someone’s gaze on her, so when she reached the top step and ducked through the door, she glanced over her shoulder. Mr. Boardroom was right behind her. He smiled. Lucy swallowed and turned away, almost bonking her head as she straightened. Wow! His smile was devastating. Forget other women falling at his feet, she was about to join them.

* * * *

Brandon kept his expression neutral when Legs, as he’d come to think of her, sat in the window seat next to him. The flight from Denver to Falcon’s Head wasn’t long, but he began to wish it was a little longer. He had every intention of leaving with Legs’s name, phone and where she was staying, especially since her finger was bare of rings.

After securing his briefcase beneath his seat, he took off his suitcoat.

“Would you like me to hang your coat?” the young flight attendant asked.

“Thanks.” Brandon settled his big frame into the cramped seat. There was no first class here. His long legs almost bumped the wall in front of him.

“You can angle your legs this way, if you’d like.”

Brandon shifted at his seatmate’s invitation, stretched and then allowed himself to meet Legs’s gaze.
Beautiful
was all he could think, looking into a face with the most arresting dark gray eyes dominating it. Gazing into their depths was like staring into the ocean on a storm-tossed day.

“Thanks.”

One corner of her mouth curved upward and a dimple appeared. “That seems to be a favorite word of yours.”

Brandon blinked. Was she cracking on him? He held out his hand and grinned. “I have others. I’m Brandon Barrett.”

When she slipped her hand in his, he sensed several things at once. First and foremost, he felt like he’d just received an electric shock. From the slight widening of her eyes, he guessed the feeling was mutual. The second thing that struck him was the strength of her grip. So many women shook hands like they were holding out a limp rag, but this woman’s hands held power.

She smiled. Her hands weren’t the only power she possessed. Her smile must have belonged to a model, but damned if he could place her anywhere–and he knew plenty of models, some in the biblical sense.

“I’m Lucy Cameron.”

“Well, Lucy. Are you here to work or play?”

She chuckled. It was a rich, seductive sound that sent a shiver of pleasure along his spine. “I’m going to play.” She eyed his attire. “Business?”

Now he grinned. “No. Vacation too. But I had a breakfast meeting and then had to race to make the flight out of Dulles.” He wanted to keep her talking. “I noticed you in line there. Are you from DC?”

“I work there.”

“Modeling?”

She shook her head with a smile, but didn’t enlighten him. There were definite keep-out vibes coming off her now, increasing his curiosity, but he held it in and changed the subject.

“Have you been to Falcon’s Head before?”

“No. In fact, this is the first time I’ve been to Colorado.”