Going for It by Elle Kennedy

that night with another woman. What a mistake that had been. He wondered if things would’ve turned out differently if he’d just admitted his attraction to Sam two years ago, instead of fighting it. Instead of hopping into bed with her at the last possible second while keeping the truth from her.
    She’d been gone for almost a month now, and it troubled him just how much he missed her. For two years she’d been the only steady female in his life, and now that she wasn’t here, he realized just how important her friendship had been to him.
    Fuck, he really was an idiot, wasn’t he?
    “Mr. Scott?”
    The male voice jolted him from his thoughts and put a halt to his self-pity session. He glanced up and saw Brad, the foreman of the crew, emerging from the back hallway that led up to the second-floor apartment.
    “What’s up?” Riley asked the older man.
    Brad reached into the back pocket of his paint-spattered jeans. “One of my guys found this in the upstairs bedroom earlier today.” He held up a familiar silver necklace.
    Pain sliced into him. He stared at the dangly silver “B”. Bethany. Sam’s mother. He remembered she’d been wearing the necklace the night before she’d walked out on him, and in her haste to flee from his vicinity, she must have left it behind.
    His chest tightened at the memory of Sam disappearing through that door. The way she hadn’t even turned around when he’d told her he loved her.
    But he didn’t blame her. He’d lied to her about buying the bar—why would she believe his declaration of love? Hell, he didn’t quite believe it either. He’d lived the casual life for so long that he hadn’t thought it possible to want to settle down. Relationships had never interested him. Being with one woman for the rest of his life? The notion used to be as appealing as having his back waxed.
    Now it was all he thought about.
    “I assume you know who owns this,” Brad said, passing the necklace over.
    Riley curled his fingers over the delicate chain. “Yeah, I know the owner.”
    Amusement danced in the other man’s eyes. “Girlfriend?”
    He swallowed hard. “Something like that.”
    “Well, make sure the little lady gets it. You know how women are about their jewelry.” Smiling, Brad headed for the door, stepping over a pile of two-by-fours on the way. “See you tomorrow, boss.”
    After the foreman left, Riley stared down at the necklace again. Make sure the little lady gets it. Yeah, he really should return this to Sam. It was her mother’s, and she would definitely want it back.
    For a moment, he contemplated calling Jane or Callie, and giving the necklace to one of them. Or he could get the address of Sam’s sister and ship it to New York. Or…
    Or he could do what he should have done three weeks ago and hop on the first flight to New York to make things right with Sam.
    He looked at the chain again then glanced around the messy, half-renovated bar.
    And just like that, he knew exactly what he needed to do.
     
     
    After three weeks of sleeping on her older sister’s couch and pounding the pavement looking for work, Sam decided life would probably be a hell of a lot easier if she could simply get Riley Scott out of her mind, but so far she hadn’t quite figured out how to exorcise him from her heart.
    Since she’d been gone, she hadn’t heard a word from him. Jane had told her the Diamond was undergoing some massive renovations and that she’d seen Riley at the site a couple of times. Apparently he’d asked about her. He’d just never called her.
    Well, that’s what happened when you fucked male sluts.
    Standing by the living room window of her sister’s walk-up apartment, Sam sipped her coffee and stared at the lights in the distance. It was nearly nine o’clock on a Wednesday, but the city seemed completely alive to her. The sound of car horns filled the air and the street below was littered with people rushing by. Sighing, she drifted into her sister’s tiny