Fall Dark

By Zoe York

Two mercenaries: past lovers, now team members who need to get along.

Until two weeks ago, Vince Nash was a Navy SEAL. Now he’s just a guy with a failing family business and a very specific skill set, and if he can get through a job interview at Camo Cay, he’ll be all set. But when he’s greeted on the island by beautiful Larken White—sharpshooter, cynic, and Vince’s first love—he realizes his plan was missing one very important, very pissed-off woman. Problem is, Larken wants nothing to do with him.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bryant Street Publishing
• Release date: Jul 13, 2021
• ISBN: 9781094418179

Zoe York

Zoe York lives in London, Ontario with her young family. She has an English degree and works at a university, so it was probably a foregone conclusion that she’d write a romance novel one day. What Once Was Perfect is her debut novel.  

Book preview

Chapter One

Most men wouldn't get a hard-on if a beautiful woman pointed a gun at them. Vince Nash wasn't most men.

This is a strange welcome, but I like it, he winked at the blonde in the bikini top and snug cut-off jean shorts calmly aiming a pistol at his head. From behind her shiny, oversized aviator sunglasses, he imagined she was having a hard time not being impressed by his cojones.

That’s how he said it in his head, with the emphasis and everything.

If there was one thing Vince had plenty of, it was ego. And muscles.

He was just coming off a kick-ass tour in the Middle East. He could admit he thought he was the bomb.

He flexed his pecs, making the dragon skull tattoo on his chest dance for the hot babe standing on Rik Amundson’s dock at Camo Cay, and thanked the blistering sun overhead for convincing him to strip down to his board shorts on the motorboat ride from Grand Bahama to the private island.

Hefting his ruck sack onto his shoulder, he walked up to her and gave her a blatant once-over as she lowered her weapon to her side, because he was on vacation and deserved a little fun. You on the hiring committee? ‘Cause I am happy to oblige you in any way I can.

Four days of sun, fun, and job negotiations just got a hell of a lot more interesting.

Seriously, Nash? Are you still using that line? The blonde tipped her oversized glasses onto her head and Vince tripped over his cocky swagger.

Larken. As in Larken White. Ex-army, ex-sniper training partner, ex-girlfriend.

Yep.

Thank you for not shooting me.

It was a real toss-up there. The woman he hadn’t seen in more than a dozen years slowly slid her own gaze down his body, then back up again. It would be a shame to mess up such a fine specimen of douchebaggery.

He grimaced and nodded. Okay, I deserve that.

Of course you do. I fucking deserved tops marksman, you asshole. She whirled around, shoved her pistol into her shoulder harness, and stomped off toward the modern glass estate house rising above the greenery separating the beach from the island’s buildings.

So she still hadn’t forgiven him for outshooting her that day.

Good to know.

It was like time had stood still, and he hadn’t spent the last eleven years, eleven months and two weeks as a Navy SEAL. He was still a nineteen-year-old punk ogling Larken’s ass and wondering if he’d ever be good enough to tap that.

Turns out, the answer was not anymore.

Clearing his throat, he followed her up the path. The job interview he badly needed to ace just got a bit more challenging.

Larken was going to kill her boss.

Then she was going to kill Vince Nash for sauntering into her good thing and fucking up her chill vibe.

As she stomped into the foyer of the main house, Calli St. James, her boss’s wife, glanced up from where she was arranging flowers on a pedestal table. Is our guest here?

Larken swallowed the dozen curse words that sprang to the tip of her tongue, because Calli was cool. Yep.

I’ll go get Rik, if you want—

Actually, can I go get him? Larken jerked her thumb over her shoulder at the door she’d just slammed in Vince’s face. That guy looks like he spent too much time baking in the sun on the boat ride over. He’ll need some of your lemonade and lovely bedside manner.

Calli narrowed her eyes, not missing a beat. What’s going on?

Absolutely nothing.

I will punish you at poker tonight for lying to me, Calli called as Larken stormed through the oversized living room and down the hallway to the command center.

The truth was Calli would win anyway, and Larken would—eventually—tell the other woman why she was all out of sorts.

Eventually.

Once she stopped feeling like the world was spinning too fast in the wrong direction.

Jackson Sutter, one of Rik’s first hires—a big, strapping Texan—was coming out of the secure room as she neared the end of the hall, so she didn’t bother to punch in her code, she just whipped past him. Which made Trent McTavish, their tech wizard and ex-British SAS commando, spin around in his chair as a red light went off above the door.

Do not pass Go, do not collect $200. Back up and punch in your code.

Can it, you red-headed freak. I’m leaving in a second.

From across the room, Rik Amundson laughed and stood up. Larken, we have rules for a reason. Is it so hard to follow them?

Yes. That’s why I’m not in the United States Army any longer. And why you hired me for your United Nations of Bad-assery Brigade here.

"You look…pissed, as my beautiful wife would say."

Larken narrowed her eyes. Her boss was half-Norwegian, but the other half was American, just like her, and he’d been speaking English since day one. Why was he sliding under his ever-so-slight Nordic accent and pretending not to know the word for just how irate she really was?

You invited Vince Nash to Camo Cay, she seethed.

Yes.

Why?

We’re getting busier. And not just with security details. We need someone with his skills. Just like I needed someone with yours.

Larken licked her lips. She’d been adrift when Amundson had offered her the sniper job. Unlike her male counterparts, there weren’t a ton of easy security jobs out there for her.

Impotent rage swelled in her chest. Why was she having this reaction?

Is it possible that you’re overreacting a bit?

Larken looked around for something she could throw at her boss’s head.

She never claimed to have great career sense.

Instead, she settled for a quiet growl as she crossed her arms. I want him gone.

This is not a democratic organization. I want him here.

We won’t work well together.

He lifted one eyebrow blandly.

She stomped her foot. You’re making me act like a toddler, Rik! Why won’t you hear me when I say this isn’t a good idea?

"You’re making yourself act like a toddler. In front of Trent, no less."

I’m kind of used to it by now, the stupid Scot snarked from the sidelines.

I take it you know Mr. Nash? Rik continued.

Larken hesitated. No, she didn’t. Not anymore. When I knew him, he was ambitious and selfish.

Rik just shrugged. Ruthlessness is a virtue in our business.

So is loyalty.

Ahhh. Rik stood and crossed his arms in an annoying mirror of her stance. Well, then we shall test that in him. It’s one weekend. If you don’t want him to stay at the end, then you can veto. But for now…I want to meet the man that riles you up. I think I’m going to like him.

Of course you’re going to like him. He’s a brother-in-arms. You’ll drink vodka together and be best friends before you know it.

If I’m not mistaken, I think that’s how you and I become friends as well. He nodded to the door. Would you like to introduce me?

I may have told Calli that he was suffering from heatstroke. She’s probably tucked him into a sick bed by now.

No such luck, her ex-boyfriend said from the doorway behind her.