Nicole Helm: Too Close to Resist

Forced proximity, natural attraction

Moving in with her brother isn’t what free-spirited Grace McKnight imagined doing at age thirty. But under the circumstances, it’s for the best. The complicating factor? Kyle Clark, her brother’s business partner—aka the most infuriatingly buttoned-up person Grace has ever met.

Living with Kyle causes as much friction as Grace expected. And plenty she didn’t. She and Kyle have more in common than she thought. Now, instead of pressing his buttons, she’d rather undo them. Only, getting closer to Kyle means discovering his darkest secrets, and convincing him—and herself—those secrets won’t tear them apart.

“I wish you wouldn’t push this.”

But Grace wanted to push. It was something far more appealing than dealing with the fact she hadn’t gotten over all her fears in seven long-ass years.

“I’m not pushing anything. If you don’t feel anything for me, walk away.”

Kyle didn’t. Indecision played all over his face. From what she knew about Kyle, she imagined there was quite the internal war going on inside that all-too-active brain of his, but she could wait it out.

She knew what his lips would feel like on hers, but just the faintest of touches. She had a vague sense of what he would taste like, but their kiss from a few days ago had been so brief, so totally on her that it was really just a teaser, an appetizer.

And now, she was really interested in the main course.

Dear Reader,

It’s rather surreal to sit down and write a “dear reader” letter for my very first Mills & Boon Superromance. I’ve been reading these from authors I greatly admire for years, and to now be one of them is...well, something I’m very, very proud of!

When I set out to write Too Close to Resist, I started pretty much as always—trying to write a story people can recognize or relate to. But I knew I wanted to do two things within that realm: first, I wanted to write two main characters who were fundamental opposites. As that idea grew, I realized I wanted them to have dealt with similar things in their pasts, and have that cause those differences. So it wasn’t just that they had different personalities, they had completely different ways of dealing with traumatic events.

The second thing I knew, perhaps even before I knew who Grace and Kyle really were, was that I didn’t want the hero to swoop in and save the heroine in any situation. I wanted Grace, whatever danger might befall her, to be standing in that moment alone. There would be no white knight saving her, but a partner who would stand beside her in the aftermath. Support her and comfort her, but not “fix” anything for her.

I couldn’t be happier with how that turned out, or how much I love these two and the way they stand by each other. I hope you’ll enjoy them too!

If you’re on Twitter, so am I—probably more than I should be. I love to talk to readers, @NicoleTHelm. Visit my website at www.nicolehelm.wordpress.com.

Happy reading!

Nicole Helm

P.S. Keep an eye out for my upcoming titles from Mills & Boon E, coming later this year!

Too Close to Resist

Nicole Helm

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nicole Helm grew up with her nose in a book and a dream of becoming a writer or an artist. When her middle school art teacher poked fun at her stick figure birds, she decided to focus on writing. Luckily, after a few failed career choices, a husband, and two kids, she gets to pursue that writing dream. She lives in Missouri with her husband and two young sons, and writes her books one baby’s nap at a time.

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For my mom.

I’ve been waiting for the perfect book to dedicate to you. One that would mean something extra special, but as I thought about what that “extra special” might be, I realized, that was irrelevant. Every book I’ve written, every character I’ve come up with, goes back to you reading chapters out of Charlotte’s Web and Little House on the Prairie to me. Every heroine with a backbone, a strong belief in herself and a sense of humor is because you taught me those things just by being you. Thank you for everything, always.

Contents

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

EPILOGUE

Extract

CHAPTER ONE

“THANKS AGAIN FOR doing this.” Grace McKnight sat in the passenger side of her brother’s truck and tried not to feel like a coward or a failure.

She wasn’t succeeding.

“Happy to do it.”

Grace fidgeted in her seat. Jacob’s good-natured acceptance of her proposal didn’t make this any easier. Nothing about Barry’s getting out of jail had made life easier. Nothing.

Seven years after he’d beaten her into a three-day coma, Barry was still influencing her life. No matter how Grace tried, she couldn’t find another alternative.

Going to live with her brother currently felt like the only option. Not only because of Barry and what he might do to the woman who’d testified against him, but also because living within walking distance of her parents was driving her insane, or at least turning her back into the jumpy weakling she’d been directly following her incident.

She couldn’t go back to being that person. So a little buffer from her parents was necessary, no matter how much it felt like running away.

Barry hadn’t even been released before Mom and Dad started hovering. Dropping in multiple times a day at the gas station where she worked—even when they should have been at work themselves. Bringing her dinner or breakfast at her tiny house a few streets over from theirs. Filling in every second of her life with false cheer and barely contained worry.

Grace couldn’t blame them, but she also couldn’t handle it. It was hard enough living with the fear that Barry would try to seek some kind of revenge. Her parents’ constant checking up and fake smiles, buying her alarms and talking to county deputies behind her back left her ready to head back to therapy.

She’d worked too hard and come too far to go back to being that woman who hid from everyone and everything.

So she’d stay with Jacob for a month or two, let her parents see that everything was all right. Give them some time to calm down and relax. If she lived with Jacob, they wouldn’t hover as much. Jacob had a security alarm, a roommate. Grace would be safe, constantly surrounded by Jacob or Kyle. They would believe she was safe and looked after. They wouldn’t be by her side constantly.

A few weeks and her parents would see that Barry’s being out of jail changed nothing. She could convince them. Had to. Because if she convinced them, she’d be that much closer to convincing herself.

And then maybe things could go back to normal.