He wanted to think things through before he met up with Gabe, and he couldn’t make decisions here, where the music blared and people partied. As much as Club TEN29 was home, Jason needed a break.

After clearing his departure with Tanner and Landon, Jason headed out into the cold air. He pulled his wool jacket around him and headed to his car. Despite it being impractical in the city, he liked having his Jag at his disposal.

Once he was enclosed in the luxurious interior and the heated seats and warmth began to surround him, he relaxed. He turned on some music and decided to drive around a little before heading to his cousin’s. This area of the city wasn’t the grid of ease that was Uptown Manhattan, and he wound his way through the smaller streets, taking in the shops that lined them.

Because it was cold, not many people were out, so when he came upon a lone van parked in front of a run-down apartment building, with two women standing alongside it, he slowed down. When one of the women bent over, her cute ass peeking out from beneath the edge of her down jacket, he noticed. And when she kicked what he realized was a flat tire in frustration, he came to a complete stop, then parked his car in front of hers.

As he climbed out and got a look at the curvy woman with waves of blonde hair, full lips, and a startled expression on her pretty face, currently clutching the lug wrench in her hand like a weapon, he realized his night was about to get much more interesting.

* * *

Faith Lancaster loaded the last of her marshmallow pops into the back of her company van, adjusting the baskets, taking care to space the items far enough apart that nothing would get ruined or crushed. She’d spent all day in her small apartment kitchen, making and wrapping her treats with the intention of dropping off baskets to nearby stores along with her business cards. She planned to request they leave them on the counter for their customers to sample, hoping to drive business to Sweet Treats, her candy store located off the beaten path.

Kelsey Johnson, the culinary school intern Faith had hired to help, joined her after working in the shop all day. Before she and Faith could climb into the car, Faith noticed her flat back tire and groaned.

The deflated tire mocked her and all the time she’d spent creating and preparing. Although she could have handed them out during the day, she’d ended up spending all afternoon cooking and creating, deciding to work from home instead of the shop, and now it was early evening. But she knew the area she wanted to hit up had open stores with people browsing for the evening. A used bookstore, a coffee shop, and a few other boutique-type stores that would hopefully help out a fellow business.

She should have known better than to drop a big chunk of change on an old beat-up delivery van with no known history, but desperation made a woman do stupid things. And Faith, although she’d come a long way, had been desperate when she’d arrived in Manhattan with a new name, a limited amount of funds, and a dream of opening her own candy shop.