Come Fly With Me Read online

  Praise for

  Baby It’s Cold Outside,

  the first novel in Addison Fox’s “sexy new series”*

  “Heartfelt…. Readers will eagerly await the next novel in Fox’s series after reading this poignant romance.”

  —Booklist

  “A fun, sassy, well-written, hysterical, heartfelt, and entertaining book.”

  —Fiction Vixen Book Reviews

  “Refreshing…. This was a great book that had me laughing out loud.”

  —Night Owl Reviews

  “A cute, funny, fast-paced romantic novel filled with humor [and] heartwarming moments…a great read on a cold night in front of a warm fire.”

  —Manic Readers

  “Addison Fox charmed the heck out of me with her first Alaskan Nights novel. I cannot wait to return to the wonderful town of Indigo, Alaska.”

  —Romance Junkies

  “Steamy encounters…keep the blood pumping all the way to a sweet ending.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “[A] fun, sexy story.”

  —The Romance Dish

  “Fox does a fantastic job…. The characters are dynamic and interesting.”

  —*Romantic Times

  Praise for the

  Sons of the Zodiac Series

  Warrior Betrayed

  “Will delight paranormal romance lovers…. Fox weaves mythology and romance into a fun-filled adventure.”

  —Romantic Times

  “An action-packed and emotionally charged good time.”

  —The Romance Dish

  “A terrific tale.”

  —Alternative Worlds

  “Ms. Fox is definitely an author to watch.”

  —The Romance Readers Connection

  Warrior Avenged

  “Everything I love in a book: a sexy, enigmatic hero; a strong, capable heroine who is his match in every way; action; surprises; and plenty of steam! It’s a fantastic series, and trust me, you won’t want to miss a single moment!”

  —The Romance Dish

  “Another powerfully sexy and exciting entry in this dynamic series.”

  —Fresh Fiction

  “An exciting series.”

  —Risqué Reviews

  “[A] superb…urban romantic fantasy.”

  —Genre Go Round Reviews

  Warrior Ascended

  “[A] powerful romance.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “[A] blast to read…kept me turning the pages until I finished it.”

  —Errant Dreams Reviews

  “Fox debuts with a strong start to the Warriors of the Zodiac series…[a] powerful romance.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “This new series puts a delightful twist to the Greek gods and the myths surrounding them. Each character has [his or her] own depth and talents that will keep you turning the pages and begging for more. A great start to a promising paranormal series!”

  —Fresh Fiction

  “Promise[s] plenty of action, treachery, and romance!”

  —Romantic Times

  Also by Addison Fox

  ALASKAN NIGHTS NOVELS

  Baby It’s Cold Outside

  THE SONS OF THE ZODIAC SERIES

  Warrior Ascended

  Warrior Avenged

  Warrior Betrayed

  Warrior Enchanted

  Come

  Fly

  With Me

  An Alaskan Nights Novel

  Addison Fox

  A SIGNET ECLIPSE BOOK

  SIGNET ECLIPSE

  Published by New American Library, a division of

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street,

  New York, New York 10014, USA

  Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto,

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  Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices:

  80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  First published by Signet Eclipse, an imprint of New American Library,

  a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  First Printing, November 2012

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  ISBN: 978-1-101-60686-5

  Copyright © Frances Karkosak, 2012

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  SIGNET ECLIPSE and logo are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  Printed in the United States of America

  PUBLISHER’S NOTE

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

  If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”

  ALWAYS LEARNING PEARSON

  For Audrey

  You smile and the world is brighter.

  Table of 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

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Epilogue

  Just in Time

  Chapter One

  New York City

  New Year’s Eve

  Grier Thompson lined up the champagne flutes in neat, even rows. Her CPA’s heart gloried in the precise organization and order to be found in the close attention to detail. By her calculation, it would take about three and a half bottles of bubbly to fill all the flutes to properly ring in the new year.

  The sounds of her mother’s annual New Year’s Eve bash swelled from the other side of the swinging kitchen door as she poured glass after glass, but the happy laughter only pushed her further into her own gloomy thoughts. She’d believed coming home for the holidays would be just the thing to shake her out of the doldrums, but unlike her accurate champagne estimate, she’d sorely miscalculated this t
rip.

  Without warning, a barrage of images from the previous New Year’s Eve assailed her. She’d attended the same party and smiled and laughed with all the people she’d known for years, a bright diamond sparkling on her left hand and a smart, handsome fiancé by her side.

  God, so much had changed in the ensuing twelve months.

  The fiancé she’d looked forward to marrying was no longer a part of her life.

  The accounting firm where she’d excelled had abandoned her without so much as a good-bye.

  And the father who’d ignored her for her entire life had come calling in the form of a contested inheritance in the far-flung reaches of Alaska.

  “And now you’ve got an annoying case of self-pity to boot,” she mumbled to herself as she reached for a glass. “Which is about as appealing as an infection.”

  “What did you say, darling?” The door swung open to reveal her mother’s oldest and dearest friend, Monica, as she floated into the kitchen, a surprisingly bright swath of feathers adorning the crown of her head. “I heard you talking about an unpleasant matter?”

  Grier almost choked on her sip of champagne as she glanced quickly around the kitchen. “Oh, it’s nothing.” Her eyes alighted on one of the bottles. “Just muttering about that last cork. What a beast it was.”

  “Of course, darling.” Monica’s bright blue gaze was sharp and radiated understanding, but she said nothing more as she reached for a large tray stacked on the far counter. “I thought you could use some help with the champagne. The natives are getting restless out there.”

  Grier glanced at the clock and saw she had less than ten minutes to go until the new year.

  An unexpected wave of anticipation swamped her, even as she knew her life was so far from figured out, she might as well have been standing on Fifth Avenue, naked and wearing a sign: WILL WORK FOR ANSWERS.

  Yet that stubborn spark of hope persisted.

  Last year she thought she had it all figured out, and through the ensuing months she’d come to realize she understood almost nothing.

  But she did understand herself a hell of a lot better and that had to count for something.

  Monica handed Grier one of the two trays set aside for champagne and busied herself arranging glasses. “Your mother said your friend Sloan was up in Alaska with you.”

  A memory of her best friend bundled head to toe in a quilted coat made Grier smile. “It was nice to have her there for a few weeks.”

  “And she’s getting married?” Although Monica’s voice was casual, Grier sensed something she couldn’t quite put her finger on hovering beneath the question. “To the town lawyer, right?”

  “Yes, to Walker Montgomery.”

  “Isn’t he your lawyer, too?”

  Grier busied herself with her own tray, forcing Monica to ask the questions. “He is.”

  “How’s that all going? You know your mother—she doesn’t say much. I swear, she’s been rattling on about this party for a month and there just hasn’t been room to talk about anything else. I’ve never been so glad to ring in a new year.”

  Do I ever know my mother, Grier thought to herself. Patrice Thompson was a piece of work. One of New York’s most well-established blue bloods—“Patty-cakes” to all who knew and loved her—she wouldn’t deign to discuss anything that delved deeper than surface matters. Or involved complicated emotions. Or even remotely indicated she and her daughter had a family secret. No, she would never touch such a potential scandal—even if it left her at odds with her only daughter.

  “It’s moving slowly.”

  Monica’s smile was comforting when she spoke. “A side product of all that cold weather?”

  The champagne flutes sat in tidy rows on her tray, but Grier still fiddled with them to make the rows perfect. “More like a half sister who doesn’t want me there and who’s contesting the will.”

  “Grier.” Monica’s concerned tone boiled over to something unmistakably possessive as she pulled her into a hug. “I had no idea.”

  Grier couldn’t ignore the warmth—or the comfort—of the embrace that enveloped her even through the cool sequins of Monica’s dress. “Of course not. It’s not like Mom to share that sort of thing.”

  “Your mother is reserved, darling. You know that.”

  It was an oft-repeated phrase throughout her childhood and Grier couldn’t help but hear it as a cop-out. “Reserved” was an excuse, a way of interacting with people that allowed a person to skip over the hard parts of life with a stoic demeanor and an unwillingness to acknowledge anything was wrong.

  A loud ding broke the moment as the buzzer on her phone sounded. She and Monica turned at the same time to look at where it lay on the counter.

  Suddenly Grier was swamped by a new emotion as she read the text that had appeared on the smooth screen.

  WISHING YOU A HAPPY NEW YEAR. WHEN YOU GET BACK TO INDIGO WE NEED TO PICK UP WHERE WE LEFT OFF. I’M NOT WALKING AWAY, GRIER.

  A sly smile lit Monica’s face and Grier knew she’d seen the message. “That’s a rather bold way to wish someone a happy new year.”

  Grier reached for the phone and turned it facedown on the counter. “It’s nothing.”

  Monica’s smile only grew broader. “You sure about that? Because that sounds like unfinished business to me. And I’ve found in my lengthy observations of the males of our species that unfinished business is a rather enjoyable pastime.”

  “It’s really nothing.”

  “Actually, my dear”—Monica reached over and ran a hand down her back—“that blush riding high on your cheeks suggests otherwise. But I also understand the need to keep a secret or two.”

  When Grier didn’t say anything, Monica added, “It also seems like a lovely way to ring in a new year. Text messages full of promise and, if I’m not mistaken, perhaps passion and determination.”

  With that, Monica picked up her tray of champagne and headed through the swinging doors and into the party. Grier reached for the phone, intent on putting it into her pocket before grabbing the tray, but couldn’t resist one more glance at the message.

  I’M NOT WALKING AWAY, GRIER.

  Mick.

  On a soft sigh, Grier followed Monica’s path through the swinging doors. She couldn’t quite muster up the same degree of revelry as the other partygoers, but she had to admit that her spirits were higher than when she’d walked into the kitchen to pour the champagne.

  After the year she’d had, she barely thought herself capable of feeling anything. Yet just the thought of him—all six feet two inches of rugged Alaskan male—made her body quiver as something close to anticipation hummed in her veins.

  He was the one thing she missed from her stay in Indigo, and even after time away and the distance between them, her powerful response to him had her body growing warm and her breath catching in her chest.

  A loud burst of laughter interrupted her thoughts and she lifted her champagne flute to match the other partygoers.

  If she touched the phone in her pocket as the entire room screamed, “Happy New Year!” well, that would be her little secret.

  That stubborn little spark of hope lit once more.

  Perhaps the new year could hold something worth looking forward to—something more than the heartache of sorting through the mess her father had left for her in Indigo.

  Maybe it was time Grier Thompson, New York blue blood, acted on a bit of her reckless Alaskan roots.

  * * *

  The first thing Grier saw as she stepped off the elevator the following morning was Sloan. She was perpetually stunning, with a long, lean, willowy frame and blond hair that artfully fell around her shoulders. Grier knew if she didn’t love her so much, she’d hate her on sight.

  Just on principle.

  Fortunately, she not only loved Sloan McKinley to pieces, but she was exceedingly happy to see that her friend’s normally ethereal beauty had morphed into something even lovelier.

  She held the beauty of a woman in lo
ve.

  The object of her best friend’s affection, Walker Montgomery, moved up behind Sloan to reach for Grier’s bags. “Happy New Year, Grier.” He bussed her cheek with a quick kiss before eyeing the roll-aboard suitcase and oversized tote.

  “This is all you have?”

  “Yep.” She squeezed Sloan’s hand before dropping it to turn toward Walker. “Let me guess. There are at least four pieces of luggage in that car out there”—she pointed toward the front door of her mother’s apartment building—“as well as her full carry-on allotment.”

  “Are you actually siding with him?” Sloan crossed her arms. “What happened to the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood? Besides, I had to bring some stuff back for the move.”

  “Because Armani is so incredibly necessary in the middle of Alaska,” Walker muttered in a whispered voice that no one missed.

  “Exactly,” Sloan hollered at his retreating back before turning toward Grier with a big smile. “If he weren’t so mind-numbingly hot, I know I’d have a better comeback than that.”

  Grier wrapped an arm around Sloan’s waist as they started for the door. “Your brains are just scrambled.”

  “I’m not that far gone.” Sloan squeezed back before dropping her arm to walk through the door the doorman held wide.

  “Oh, I don’t know—your lipstick is awfully smudged, suggesting an arduous kissing session on the car ride over here.”