Jonas: Home Wreckers Construction, #8

JONAS

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This bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks is about to steal her generous heart, or is her trust fund what he’s really after?

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Jonas Knowles

Hard work and a hand up got me where I am today. I’m dedicated to paying my good fortune forward, but my focus gets knocked for a loop when Jenna Nichols crosses my path. She’s beautiful, caring, and a breath of fresh air. Most of all, she brings joy to my stagnant heart.

We couldn’t be more opposite, yet she fills my soul with the hope of a future I don’t deserve.

I want her smile, her heart, her soul. But she’s off-limits to a man like me.

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Jenna Nichols

A winning lottery ticket changed the course of my life forever. My future’s secure and I want for nothing. But material things can’t make up for what I long for most.

True love.

When Jonas Knowles pops up on my radar, he’s a blip I can’t ignore. He’s handsome, hardworking, and makes my heart lighter. I want to trust him with all my secrets, but I’ve been burned by greedy rogues in the past. I’ve learned my lesson, and I won’t let my guard down again.

Can I trust Jonas with something bigger than my bank account? Can I trust him with my heart?

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An opposites attract, friends to lovers, small town, blue collar, forbidden romance, with found family and protective alphas.

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Warning: If you love cheering for the hard-working underdog, then you’ll love Jonas. He’s ready to put his heart on the line for the woman he loves, even if that means risking his future.

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Home Wreckers Construction is full of cinnamon roll alphas, curvy women, and sticky sweet, steamy romance. Don your hardhats and prepare for a bedtime story that’ll give you all the warm, small town, swoony romance feels. Guaranteed HEA with no cliffhangers.

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HOME WRECKERS CONSTRUCTION series: https://geni.us/HomeWreckersSeries

DELICATE FLOWERS

CHAPTER 1

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Jenna

I thought you were going to change? Lola flits past me on the way to the kitchen. We’re supposed to be at Gabby’s in ten minutes.

I am changed. I’m in my standard issue nightly attire, snuggled inside a Winnie the Pooh onesie with my hand hovering above the remote, ready to hit play on the sappiest love story of them all. I’m not going.

Cabinet doors click as Lola opens and closes them. A drawer scrapes against bare wood, singing its broken displeasure with a sharp pitch. A chill scurries up my spine. We’ve got handymen out the wazoo at our beck and call, yet we still haven’t managed to fix a kitchen drawer.

Where are the cookies? And what do you mean you’re not going? We always go. Lola peeks around the corner. She hangs on the doorframe with only her head and shoulder visible. It’s tradition. What we do every Friday.

On top of the fridge behind the bag of potato chips. I hid them so Darby wouldn’t find them. 

Lola retreats to the kitchen. Where else can we ogle hot men without getting hit on? Her snicker carries into the living room.

It’d be nice to be hit on occasionally.

A half-empty bag of potato chips rustles in the background as Lola rattles around. I sink lower into the chair, comforted by the pillows hugging my body.

How will we ever meet an available hot guy if we’re always traipsing to Gabby and Justice’s house on the weekend? Half of the guys are already taken, and those who aren’t are off-limits. Justice nixed that little party favor in the bud when he made the silly no-fraternizing rule.

Justice’s rule is meant to protect us, Gabby’s delicate flower friends, from heartbreak. We’re all adults. What’s the worst that could happen? Two adults have a good time and then find out they’re incompatible. Fine. Deal with it and move on. We aren’t preteen girls navigating raging hormones.

But I know Justice’s rule is about more than heartbreak and ruining friendships. It’s about the greedy son of a biscuit who used me like a tool. He didn’t want me. He wanted a chunk of my trust fund. Justice and Gabby are being overprotective. I learned my lesson. I won’t let my guard down again. I don’t trust anyone outside my circle of friends with the big money secret.

Mom winning a lottery windfall was and still is a double-edged sword. I want to use the money for good, but there are too many rascals who wouldn’t think twice about running a scam on me. The trust funds Mom set up for my brother, sister, and I are enough to allow us to do anything we want, but not enough to do nothing. My future’s secure, and I want for nothing materially. But things can’t buy happiness or what I long for most.

True love and a purpose in life.

There’s no use ruminating over something I can’t change overnight. I hit the remote power button, queueing up the Blu-ray player. My roommates will be gone by the time previews are over. I’ll watch the movie in peace and quiet. At least the cast of characters on the big screen will meet their soulmate and live happily ever after.

Oh, come on, Pooh Bear. You don’t even have to change, Lola calls from the other room.

I’m not feeling sociable tonight. Saying it aloud makes me grumpier still.

I’m grouchy and in no mood to watch all the happy couples mingle while a do not touch bubble follows my every move. I’m out of sorts with a serious case of the blahs. There’s got to be more fulfilling things in life than the same old weekend routine and the same old meaningless nine-to-five job.

Too bad. Lola saunters into the living room as she packs the flat of double-stuffed cookies into a fabric shopping bag full of snacks. She wiggles her brows. Gabby said Justice hired some new guys and invited them tonight.

Big deal. The idea of fresh man meat should cause at least a twinge of interest, but it doesn’t. It isn’t like they’re playing matchmaker over there. We can’t all be as lucky as Gabby. We should plan a night at Kiss Me Quick again.

My suggestion falls on deaf ears. Lola frowns. I’m not serious about it anyway. Gabby and Justice meeting at a singles event was a fluke. They’d seen each other a hundred times across the street, but it took several rounds of speed dating to get them together. I’m happy for them, but maybe a smidge jealous, too.

I want someone to fawn over me like Justice does over Gabby, and Vance over Rumer. Geez, and the way Sloane and Madison set the air around them on fire is hot as Hades. But they’d been percolating for a long time. River should’ve known stamping his sister with a big ole do not disturb sign was a bad idea. Madison doesn’t play ball that way.

I should take a page out of Madison’s playbook and quit playing ball, too. I’m not a preteen, but my hormones are out of whack. I want a man.

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Jonas

I pull onto Shady Lane and scan house numbers. Twinkling lights sparkle in the empty tree branches canopying the street. It’s an old neighborhood with a few renovated houses sprinkled in with those in varying degrees of disrepair. Each home tells a story through its mismatched architecture. But all have a common theme. Sprawling front porches where families once gathered with lemonade and iced tea. I imagine kids playing stickball and bikes lying in grassy yards without fear someone would steal them in the night.

Things looked a lot different in my childhood neighborhood. We kept doors closed with multiple locks. We played occasional pickup basketball games in the street. Those games dwindled when thugs moved in and started stirring up problems. I had my share of run-ins with those looking for a fight and learned quickly not to look anyone in the eye.

I find the house number Justice gave me and a spot to park. A burly guy with a buzz cut ushers a petite woman across the driveway. They disappear behind the back gate as a few women cross the street, giggling and jabbering a mean streak. They follow the same path as the couple ahead of them, disappearing through the same gate.

Justice mentioned it’d be a full house. The Home Wreckers Construction crew gets together every weekend to unwind. Technically, I’m not part of the crew, but Justice insisted I come since I’ll be working directly with his men. I’ve worked with previous outfits, learning the physical skills the job requires. But my lack of degree or formal training leaves me feeling like an imposter when I meet a new crew.

When Ezra asked me to oversee Langford Enterprises’ community outreach program, I assumed I’d be working in the city instead of relocating beyond the burbs. I like sleepy little towns but didn’t think Langford Enterprises would direct its