So what if he just flashed that Top Gun smile again? So what if he just wiggled his fingers in another flirty wave? So what if one quick look at him made her belly catch fire?

She was a big girl. She could handle him.

Then he puckered his lips and blew her a kiss and Charlotte's pulse spiked. She jerked her eyes back to the road in front of her. She thought of Kurt Tasker, coming home to her in less than two hours. She focused on her future, on everything noble she had planned for her life, everything she had saved herself for.

With a trembling hand, Charlotte reached for the little notepad on the passenger seat. Maybe seeing Kurt's flight number once more would anchor her, keep her safe.

But a gust of wind ripped the notepad from her grasp and sent it flying out the open roof.

Charlotte watched in horror as the man in the Jeep rose and snagged it from midair.

He shot her a blazing white smile;

And motioned for her to pull off at the scenic overlook.

Chapter One

Charlotte Tasker squinted into the afternoon sun, watching the Buckeye Moving amp; Storage track lumber down the cul-de-sac. She turned toward her best friend.

"I guess if the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off, right?"

Bonnie Preston touched her shoulder in sympathy, and Charlotte managed a smile.

No, it wasn't exactly the end of the world when the neighbors next door got transferred. But one look at her son confirmed that the timing couldn't have been worse.

Matthew held the Techno-Spy binoculars up to his eyes, following the moving van as it disappeared in the distance. His narrow shoulders shook. Charlotte heard him sniffle.