Shattered Hearts: The Climax Chronicles, #1

By Garnell Wallace

Crimson Island is the last place in the world Calla Crane wants to be. She's only back to fix up her parents' dilapidated property and see her best friend. She hates that she's now the topic of conversation on an island where gossip is the national pastime, and the curious stares ask why she's back without the husband she so defiantly left town with. She keeps her head down on her checklist, and her plan works until she hires Diego Luna to landscape her yard.

Diego is gorgeous. However, the last thing Calla needs is another gorgeous man. Her defenses drop a little bit more when she learns Diego is also very sensitive when he offers her a broad shoulder to cry on, and any other part of his body she'd like to have.

Calla can't trust the desire in his eyes, even as her body clamors for him. She finds it hard to believe that a man as beautiful as Diego would want a woman with some extra pounds and extra baggage when even the man she'd married had repeatedly cheated on her.

She finally gives in and accepts the solace and pleasure Diego offers while her shattered heart and damaged ego look on in suspicion. How can she trust a man who wants so much from her, yet emotionally gives her nothing of himself?
What is Diego hiding that he cannot share with her?

Though Calla blossoms like a rare flower in Diego's arms, she can't get past his secrets. Will the self-confidence he planted in her be the very thing which gives her the strength to walk away from him and into the arms of another man?

This steamy romance is the first installment in a series and contains a threesome scene before Calla and Diego find their way to true love.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Garnell Wallace
• Release date: May 28, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393346005

Garnell Wallace

Growing up, I didn’t dream about being a writer, mainly because I didn’t know I could become one. I fell in love with books to the point where they became my friends, going everywhere with me like a trusted side-kick. So I still find it amazing that I can actually write books which hopefully will become treasured companions to other readers. I love writing sexy paranormal romances and I hope my stories will provide readers with a wonderful escape into a fascinating world with characters they will care about.

Book preview

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PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

PART 1

H ello, my name is Calla Crane, and I am a complete fraud.

Calla critically scrutinized herself in the full-length mirror on her bathroom door for what seemed like the hundredth time and again found something to criticize. Her carefully applied foundation and concealer had added a soft glow to her creamy skin, and also hid the smattering of freckles across her cheeks and nose. The two coats of voluminous mascara made her naturally long and thick eyelashes even more dramatic, especially since they were such a stark contrast to her ice-blue eyes, which were a little red because she hadn’t been sleeping much lately. Her full lips were painted a deep, vibrant red even though her mother used to say only whores wore bright red lipstick. Her wavy black hair cascaded down to the center of her back. She’d always liked long hair because she could disappear behind it, and it hid her fat face-and she could go on and on.

Someone had once told her that she would’ve made a perfect Snow White- if she could just drop forty pounds. Calla sucked in her stomach even though she had on shapewear. No matter how thin she looked, she would never be small. Some days she didn’t mind; however, usually, she saw all her flaws.

Fuck it! she snapped even though she was far from confident. Ever since she’d moved back home a month ago, her self-confidence had been shot to hell. Though she could admit that her self-esteem had taken a sharp nosedive long before she ever decided to pack up her life and crawl back home like the prodigal daughter. A husband who cheats on you one too many times could do that to a woman. She turned from her problems in the mirror and slipped on white mules to match her summer dress and donned her wide-brimmed hat with the black ribbon which trailed down her back.

This is as much of a society lady as I’ll ever be.  She wasn’t a society woman and she should not have joined the Crimson Charity Club. She picked up her little straw purse from her bed and walked through her centuries-old Victorian mansion out into the summer heat. She walked over to her red 1974 Chevrolet convertible and wished she could drive with the top down.  Her joy ride would have to wait because she couldn’t have one hair out of place. She tried not to look at the overgrown yard, which had once been her mother’s pride and joy. It had turned into a real jungle since her mother’s death a year earlier.

Calla wanted to restore the grounds to their former glory as a tribute to her mother, but she just didn’t have the money. Her parents had died basically penniless because they’d spent all their money trying to upkeep an image they couldn’t have afforded anymore. They were not the only family in town who’d looked rich but didn’t have much more than two pennies to rub together.

At least her parents hadn’t been willing to sell their souls for a dollar. No matter how bad things had gotten, her mother had refused to sell the family jewels. Calla had a sizeable fortune in family heirlooms sitting in a bank. There had been a time when the Cranes had been a wealthy and proud family; however, the money had eventually run out. Calla was determined not to spend her life trying to impress the residents of Crimson. She would be gone soon enough. She was still debating whether she should just fix up the house and sell it. She could use the money to relocate to a city where the gossip hounds didn’t watch her every move. If she sold the family jewels and the house she’d have a pretty good nest egg.

However, as much as she hated the town, Calla loved her family’s house, and the jewels were about more than money; they were about family and legacy. They had been passed down for five generations. They had been worn for special occasions and then returned to their secret place. Calla had worn a dainty pair of diamonds for her wedding, and she hadn’t been to the vault since. Hopefully, life would give her more occasions which warranted a trip to the bank, and she hoped to one day have a child of her own so she could pass them down. Although, that didn’t seem like it would ever happen.

She pushed the sad thoughts out of her mind and pulled out of the driveway while listening to Janis Joplin. Today more than any other day, she wished she could be a rebel like Janis. But she didn’t have the courage, so she just tried to fit in with the rest of the residents of Crimson for whom everything was about appearances. Even the town took its name from the beautiful crimson azaleas which bloomed like wildflowers during the colder months. At this time of the year though when temperatures could reach unbearable degrees, the trees were nothing more