Restoration Hearts Read online

  Text copyright © 2020 Kiera Jayne

  All Rights Reserved

  Published by Kiera Jayne Author

  No parts of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Under no circumstances may any part of this book be photocopied for resale.

  This is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and situations within its pages and places or persons, living or dead, is unintentional and co-incidental.

  Images © DepositPhotos – Tverdohlib.com & sstoll.aapt.net.au

  Cover Design © Designed with Grace

  About The Book

  When Perie Miller and Flynn Brewer arrive in their hometown to restore an old Queenslander home, neither of them anticipated Vaughn being back. A bloke from their past who turned their world upside down, Vaughn is a man who caused a four-year rift in their rock-solid, lifelong friendship.

  While Perie welcomes him back with open arms, Flynn is more cautious, though no less attracted to him. What will happen when they both realise they still harbour feelings for him?

  Vaughn Forester is a man with a lot of problems. His haunting memories of Afghanistan and war wounds are the least of his worries when the two greatest loves of his life return to Granite Ridge and drag him back into their lives. Can he love two people at once? Can they both love him? The past says no. But together, can they forge a new future?

  Dedicated to the people who have helped me

  become brave in the past few years.

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  ABOUT

  OTHER BOOKS

  FLYNN BREWER LEANED HIS heavily tattooed arms against the steering wheel of his Volkswagen Amarok and peered through the windscreen at the rundown Queenslander house in front of them. “It looks like we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.”

  His beautiful passenger turned her head to the side and studied the rusting veranda railings, the peeling paint, the crappy old shutters . . . basically the never-ending list of problems she could pick up on with this first, fleeting glance. She wrinkled up her cute button nose and those sexy, pouty lips of hers contorted in disgust. “If this is the outside, I shudder to think what it’s going to be like inside.”

  “Whatever it is, Perie, we’ll handle it.” Flynn ruffled her brunette hair and laughed when she pushed him away with a huff. He knew what was coming and caught her arms as she lunged from her side of the front seat in retaliation. “Hey, you know not to mess with my hair! I spend a lot of time making it look good!”

  Laughing, they grappled with one another as she fought to break free and complete her attack. She finally gave up and flopped against her seat. “You’re such a girl.” Perie unplugged her seatbelt and it zipped back into place beside her left shoulder. She opened the passenger door and slid out of the vehicle, her heeled boots hitting the dusty, hard ground.

  “God, it’s so overgrown. What were you thinking, Aunty Denise?” Perie grumbled to herself as she stepped past the skip bin that was delivered that morning and began to navigate her way towards the rickety steps.

  As she gripped the crumbling railing, Perie felt Flynn’s hand on her arm. “Careful. They don’t look too safe.” He studied the brittle timber with his trained eye. “This’ll be my first job.”

  “Building new stairs?” Perie guessed.

  “Yup.” He held her arm tightly as they ascended to the verandah. It would have been beautiful in its heyday. The fretwork was outstanding, and the timber decking—although worn now—was quality ironbark. Whomever had originally built this place must have had a fair amount of money behind them.

  Flynn was a bit pissed off at Perie’s aunty for letting the place get to this state. Sure, she'd spent the last six months of her life in Brisbane fighting ovarian cancer and didn't have any children to take care of things, but this was more than six months’ worth of decay.

  “Aunty Denise left me a dud.” Perie pouted.

  “Don't be like that.” Flynn nudged her. “With you and me on the case, we’ll have this beauty glowing like she did in her heyday.”

  “Hopefully, even better.” After appreciating the view across the paddocks for a few moments, Perie turned to face the front door. She peeked at Flynn out the corner of her eye. “Dare we go in?”

  “Well, we came all this way.”

  Perie dug a key out of her jean’s pocket and pushed it into the old lock on the timber door. It opened with a loud creak and the two friends stepped into the entryway. Perie shivered as the cool air of the house brushed her skin, causing goosebumps to rise all over her.

  Flynn rubbed his hands rapidly along Perie’s arms in an effort to warm her up as they made a left turn into the lounge. With all the furniture gone, it felt cavernous. They had auctioned it off when Denise relocated. “This isn't too bad. It might be a bit sparse, but nothing a few licks of paint and the Perie Miller flair won't fix.”

  Perie continued into the next room and stared at the large, unmade bed. Its frame was wrought iron and the mattress had an obvious indentation in it—the same exact size of Aunty Denise. She sniffled and blinked back tears.

  Flynn immediately pulled her into a hug and she burrowed her face into the blue muscle shirt he wore.

  “I know it's been three months, but I still can't believe Denise is gone.”

  “It sucks, Per. But she clearly loved you and appreciated everything you did for her—taking her to appointments and helping her through her illness. This is her thank you to you. So, let's do her proud, hey?”

  Perie nodded and mumbled, “Okay.” She looked up at Flynn. “I don’t think I can sleep in here. Do you mind if we camp out somewhere else in the house?”

  “Lucky for you, I’ve still got our swags in my truck from camping the other weekend. We can sleep on the living room floor.”

  Perie grinned. “Deal.”

  “Come on, we've still got the rest of the house to inspect.”

  Perie wiped her tears away and followed her ever-cheerful friend through the rest of the house—from the other three dated bedrooms, bathroom, and laundry with their dodgy fittings, loose tiles, and mildew, to the tired kitchen, dining, and family rooms, and out to the back verandah, from which they could see the rickety old shed and overgrown garden. “We’ve certainly got our work cut out for us.”

  Flynn looked at her. “Three months, right? That's our time frame?”

  Perie nodded. “November until the end of January. That's the longest I can afford to take off work.”

  “Me, too,” Flynn sighed, folding his arms. “We’ve got the entire summer. I reckon we can do it if we don't fuck around.” Flynn back peddled. “Let me rephrase
that . . . with minimal fucking around. Because Perie . . . we’re all alone in this big, old house in the middle of nowhere, so you can guarantee there will be at least some fucking.”

  A smart-arsed expression flashed across Perie’s face. “What makes you think that?”

  “It's our thing.” Flynn shrugged. “We like to fuck on occasion.”

  “You cocky bugger!” Perie laughed. “I'm going to get our stuff.”

  Flynn took off after her. “Watch those stairs!”

  ***

  They found a spot in the middle of the living room to put their swags down and once they were set up, Perie made the two of them some coffee. The drive down from Brisbane was long and they had left early so they could arrive at a decent hour. Now that they were here, Perie’s body was beginning to wind down. She didn't want that. Flynn was right, they didn't have time to fuck around.

  As she sipped from the invigorating hot beverage, Flynn silently went through some of Perie’s notes and papers. She watched him for a few moments. “What are you thinking about?”

  “I’m figuring out a plan of attack,” Flynn responded.

  “I think I want to turn Denise’s room into a big, fancy, luxurious bathroom and make this the main bedroom. I want to make the whole house a mixture of modern and country rustic.” The word vomit spilled out of her mouth so quickly, Flynn raised his eyebrows at her. “What?”

  “Duly noted. We should go into town and organise some materials.”

  “Hire a mower man, too. I feel like we’re camping out in the deep jungle.”

  “We also need food.”

  Perie rolled her eyes. “Always thinking with your stomach.” The slight upturn of her mouth told Flynn she was messing with him.

  “A guy’s gotta keep his strength up.”

  “I intend to stop by the bottle-o for some wine, too. I think we can enjoy ourselves once a week, right?” Perie asked.

  Flynn’s voice dropped an octave. “You know where wine leads us to, Per.”

  “Where's that?” She averted her gaze and played with the tip of her boot.

  Flynn suppressed a chuckle. Perie always liked to pretend she wasn't attracted to him, but Flynn knew that wasn't true. Their countless sexual encounters since puberty had attested to that fact. They even practiced kissing on each other, for Christ’s sake.

  Perie and Flynn had been friends since birth. Their mothers gave birth around the same time and they'd shared a room in the Granite Ridge’s hospital back in 1987. They went to the same kindergarten, primary school, and high school and were always inseparable growing up.

  But at sixteen, they were stupid enough to allow someone to come between them and they spent four years not talking. After drifting apart, they rediscovered each other in Brisbane while Perie was studying interior design at Queensland University of Technology.

  Now they were rock-solid again and had been that way for the last five years. Best friends for life, that was what they were. They loved each other more than anyone, couldn't bear to be apart, yet . . . they were apart. They lived in separate houses twenty minutes away from each other and lived independent lives. However, in a way, their lives were inexplicably intertwined, and so were their careers.

  Perie’s interior design business had helped Flynn find new work when the bottom fell out of the building industry a few years back. It was tricky for an independent, small-time builder like himself to stay afloat these days with all the land leases and housing estates going up all over the place. So, with Perie’s help, Flynn rebranded himself as a specialist renovator whom Perie hired for jobs her clients wanted done. Flynn took care of the building side of things, then Perie came in and made their places look all pretty.

  Their arrangement worked well. They were both more than happy with how things were.

  Flynn leaned over and placed a kiss beneath her jaw. “You know exactly where wine leads us.”

  Perie’s breath hitched at the feel of his gentle lips against her skin. She pushed the feeling aside. “Let's head into town.”

  “Okay.” As they got to their feet, he said, “Food first.”

  “Honestly!” Perie giggled, patting Flynn’s hard abs through his shirt. “No one would ever believe what you have under there, given your appetite.”

  “That's a secret I keep for special people.” Flynn winked suggestively at her.

  “Going now.”

  Perie took off towards the front of the house, but Flynn grabbed her arm and guided her to the backdoor. “Front stairs are off-limits for the foreseeable future.”

  Perie quietly agreed and they left via the back staircase.

  “WELL, THIS IS GOING to be interesting,” Flynn said as he drove into their old hometown. “I haven't been home in years.”

  “Are you nervous?” Perie asked.

  “Sort of. As soon as we step out of this vehicle, I'll be bombarded with questions. ‘Hey, Flynn, where have you been all this time?’ ‘You should come home more often.’ ‘How’s business?’”

  Perie giggled. “It's not as bad as I get. ‘Hi, Perie, nice to see you, dear. Oh, you haven't settled down yet, I see.’”

  “Settled down?” Flynn questioned.

  “You know, marriage and babies. People in this town aren't convinced you've succeeded as a woman until you've chained yourself to the kitchen sink, 1950s-style.” She took a breath. “But it's going to be even worse now with Aunty Denise’s passing. Everyone will want to give me their deepest sympathies and condolences and try to offer their words of encouragement. They’ll think they are helping, but they're not and it's going to be shit, Flynn. Shit!” Tears began to well in Perie’s eyes, blurring her vision.

  Flynn pulled into a parking space and turned to his friend. He squeezed her hands tightly. “It's going to be alright, okay? Per, look at me.”

  She managed to lift her eyes to his as she blubbered.

  “I know this'll be hard, but you've got to tough it out for an hour, tops. I'm here with you. Remember that.”

  Perie nodded. She brushed the tears from her face and checked herself in the mirror under the sun visor. God, she looked a wreck. “Okay, let's get this over with, then.”

  Together, the pair made their way along the footpath to the town’s only supermarket. It began before they even entered the shop, when they were pulling a shopping trolley out of the trolley bay.

  “Well, if it isn't Perie Miller and Flynn Brewer!”

  Perie and Flynn froze. They glanced knowingly at each other and with a deep breath, turned to face a woman in her fifties. A woman they had known all their lives, who had seen Perie and Flynn at their best and at their worst.

  “G’day, Mum,” Flynn said with a quirk of his mouth.

  Flynn’s mother hugged her son. “Hello, darl. Did you just get in?”

  “Yep.” He kissed her cheek and stepped back.

  Perie took his place. “It's good to see you, Brooke.”

  “You, too, sweetie. I'm sorry about Denise.”

  Perie went to answer, but Flynn broke in, “Mum, leave it.”

  Brooke studied Perie’s sad face. “Right. It's probably too soon to talk about it, isn’t it? But if you need to, you know I'm all ears.”

  Perie nodded and averted her gaze.

  “Mum,” Flynn repeated, sharper this time.

  Brooke held up her hands in surrender and changed the subject. “Do you need help getting some groceries?”

  “I think we can handle it.”

  Perie glared at Flynn. Why was he being such an arse to his mother? “No, Brooke, please help us. It'll be great to catch up.” Perie grabbed a hold of Brooke and linked her arm through the older woman’s.

  “Oh. Well, if you're sure . . ..”

  “Absolutely! I heard Izzy had a baby recently?”

  “She did! Max is the most gorgeous little darling,” she gushed. “Having a baby in the family again is wonderful.”

  By the time they made it around the supermarket twice and to the checkouts,
Perie and Flynn were filled in on all of the Granite Ridge goings on and it almost felt like they had never left.

  “Will you both come around for a barbecue tonight?” Brooke asked.

  Flynn hesitated. “I don't know, Mum. We have a lot to get done.”

  “Oh, come on. It's your first day back. It's one evening of family. Please, Flynn? Come and meet your new nephew.”

  “Step-nephew,” Flynn corrected.

  “It doesn't matter, he's still your family. I'm still your family, aren't I? You haven't been home in ages, and I'd like to have my son and his best friend over for a meal.” Brooke frowned at her son. “Do I really have to beg you?”

  Flynn squeezed the handlebar on the trolley. “No, I'm sorry, Mum. What time would you like us there?”

  “Six o’clock seems like the perfect time,” Brooke decided.

  Perie grinned. “I can't wait!”

  Flynn sent his mother a tight-lipped smile.

  “See you then.” Brooke turned and walked to her car.

  Perie punched Flynn’s arm hard. “What's your problem?”

  Flynn was surprised at her somewhat violent outburst. “What do you mean?”

  “You're acting like you want nothing to do with your mum.”

  “It's not her . . . it's the rest of them. I don't like my stepfamily. I never have. You know what those big property owners are like, the bloody snobs. I'm the son of a lowly mechanic and they own a three-thousand-acre winery, cattle, and sheep property. I'm the type of person who would work for those people. They've always made me feel like I don't fit in.”

  Perie tossed a bag of toilet paper into the back of the Amarok. “Swallow some cement.”

  Flynn set a bag full of groceries safely in the backseat. “What was that?”

  “I said swallow some cement and harden the fuck up, Phlegm.”

  Flynn started at Perie’s use of the old nickname schoolyard bullies used to give him.

  “Brooke is your mum and you never come home to see her. That must hurt her so much . . . to know that her son can't be bothered with her, just because he doesn't like the family she's chosen for herself. She's your mum. She gave birth to you. She raised your arse, so show her some fucking respect!” Perie shouted.