Once Burned Read online

  This is a disclaimer… pretty standard… this book is not about you or anybody you know, any brands listed are their own and are not being advertised. Please don’t give this book to any other persons… it’s not a cold, don’t share the file please… the FBI looks down on that sort of thing… Plus, I wouldn’t walk into your home and take anything, so please don’t take food from my children’s mouths either.

  I wrote this work, and it is self-edited. Yes, I made this cover as well (using a lovely photo from the Killion group at hotdamnstock.com). So with that being said, all errors are my own and I can’t blame anyone but myself for any mistakes. There are some XXX rated elements in this read (namely tantric elements), but unlike many of my other stories, this one is sweeter in tone and more romance oriented than my standard erotica. With that said, please don’t be offended if you choose to read any further than this page. If you are under the age of consent wherever you are, please read something else and not this book until you are old enough to do so.

  I am not responsible if you try anything I depict in any of my stories this one included. With that said, enjoy and happy reading!

  Jennifer Willows

  Dedication:

  Life is funny. I never imagined as a precocious and erudite teenager that I would be here today writing. Especially not the same books my mother threw out every time she found one secreted under my mattress and swore to high heaven should be banned. Guess than means rebellion is an option at all ages. What a hoot! But seriously, this story is dedicated to love, happiness, and health. May all who seek it, find it.

  This is to Sancha, my favorite cheerleader. You always radiate joy and being around you is a wonderful experience. To Mimi, you are the naughty devil on my shoulder and I love it!

  Publication date: May 2014

  When a man with romance on the brain and patience in his arsenal meets a woman with a heap of baggage and cloaked in armor built from distrust, what common ground could they possibly find together?

  Juniper Berry had been burned once before, and the experience singed her badly enough that she opted to fly solo for years afterwards. She kept her life busy with her career and children after the divorce. She’d even sold herself on the idea that she had no time to date if she even wanted to.

  But the reality? After what happened to her, there was precious little interest in seeking a mate.

  Actually, she’d thought after ten years that she was safe from falling in love again.

  In fact, she assumed that she would choose a man as staid and reliable as she was and be content.

  Eventually.

  However, her solid five year plan is laid to waste in an instant, when she interviews the latest applicant for Sunset Villa.

  Spencer Pines isn’t looking for an apartment, but his mother is. When Juniper takes a single look at Spencer, sparks fly. But she is too cautious to be swept off of her feet by a handsome man with big blue eyes and smile big enough to park a car in.

  Or so she thought.

  He has the patience of Job and a new age way of thinking that combine to disarm her in way that she never imagined.

  But she wasn’t dumb enough to fall in love, right?

  Or was she once burned, but no longer shy?

  Prologue: Herein Lies the Rub

  Summer 1996

  Juniper Berry was terrified. She loved her boyfriend, Javier Ibarra, but she wasn’t ready for the news she had just received. Not at all. This was the time in her life that she was supposed to be having fun and trying to figure herself out.

  Why me, lord?

  She knew something was wrong weeks ago, after she had finished her sophomore year of high school. Her chest ached and her tummy always bothered her when she would get ready for breakfast. It had gotten to the point where she would make a wedge of toast and pray not to throw up.

  After a month of unexplained sickness, she knew when her period never started that she was in trouble.

  Javier had already left town for boxing camp and he wouldn’t appreciate being bothered while he tried to impress the trainers in the hopes of being sponsored for the amateur or semi pro competitions. But she had to tell him.

  For the teenage girl who always did the right thing, what happens the one and only time she made a mistake on prom night?

  Knocked up.

  She drove to the campsite with a leaden ball somewhere in the vicinity of where the baby rested and waited for Javier to finish his morning workout.

  When she gave him the news, he wasn’t thrilled and he was a bit shaken, but he didn’t seem ready to abandon her either. Juniper was still afraid, but a little less with the idea that he would support her decision. Now, she just had to tell her parents.

  But when she came back home, her mother and father waited by the door and waved the irrefutable evidence of her sin in her face.

  How could she have been dumb enough to forget to leave the box out in plain view, but carry the stick?

  After many tears and a shouting match loud enough to rouse the dead, her father silenced them all with his next actions.

  Eldritch Berry the III calmly opened the box stored in the back of his truck bed and loaded the shotgun with shells.

  Chapter One: Best Laid Plans

  Spring 2014

  Juniper Berry was having a case of the Mondays. It seemed like the whole world was conspiring against her. She was going to be late, and by more than five minutes, which was a personal no-no for her. She hated the concept of CPT, with a passion.

  Her mother was always fashionably late to everything. Truly, the woman was a perfectionist. Heck, her mom used to ride to church alone on Sunday mornings because she always needed an extra fifteen minutes that her father didn’t have the patience to wait for.

  But Juniper was of the same school as her father was, that being five minutes early was on time and arrival at the appointed time meant being late. However, this particular day, Juniper had so many things happen that despite her propensity for planning, she was beset by one unfortunate event after another until the morning spun out of control.

  The morning started off badly enough when she woke at six am to take her shower and found that her hot water heater had gone on the fritz overnight.

  Of course, she ended up splashing in a frigid shower that she condensed from her usual fifteen minutes to five wretched ones and left her feeling more scummy than sanitary.

  Note to self, Ivory soap doesn’t wash off well in cold water.

  She knew the kids would have some hellacious complaints if the water was cold when they jumped in. Well, mostly her daughter Paris would gripe about the dearth of modern day comforts. Malik might grumble a bit, but he would suck it up quickly. Juniper peered in on the closet, staring at the myriad hoses and connections that she had little time to dig into.

  She was no Mr. Fix-It, but she could see if anything apparent was out of place. Sometimes, when repairmen came by, Juniper watched what they did. Shoot, she could run a snake into a drain and save herself the hundred bucks.

  Heck, she even had the kit that the tow trucks carried to pop car locks and she had used it. Not on her car as she was very careful with her belongings, but sometimes she found someone in need of it while she was out and about.

  Her schedule was built with a buffer so she could take a little bit to try and fix the problem. After that she would be forced to serve cold cereal for breakfast and drive the kids to school in her bathrobe.

  It was pretty apparent at first sight that the problem was more than she could fix. But she gamely checked every hose and connecting valve anyway. When her time ran out, she emerged filthy from her dive into the body of the water heater. The worst part was that she had to wash the dust bunnies off too.

  As she had guessed, Pari
s fussed eloquently the entire morning from the news that today’s shower would be with either cold water or a duck bath using water heated on the stove. Paris chose the hot water of course, as the teenager refused to give up a single creature comfort in life.

  Her daughter’s hair was a mop of fat tangled curls and she clicked away at her phone. Who does she need to talk to at six thirty?

  “Really mom? A cold shower?” Paris whined, but didn’t bother to look away from the device, even to levy grievance.

  “Looks like it. I lived through mine and you will too.”

  Although, Juniper worked hard to make life seem like a lark for her children.

  Malik on the other hand, displayed his usual patience when she knocked on the door. He emerged with creases on his cheek from the pillow and a smile on his face. The boy was a Zen master in another life, she would swear to it. He took the news with aplomb and shrugged his shoulders.

  “I’m a teenage boy mom, I’ve taken plenty of cold showers.” His voice seemed to be even deeper than normal and his handsome features never failed to bring joy to her heart. In the last year, he had grown so much he towered over her by nearly six inches, just like her father had.

  Juniper grimaced. “Do I even want to have this conversation?”

  “You asked.” He shrugged and stretched his long arms overhead.

  But the morning didn’t stop there. She had to get them both to school as Malik’s car was in the shop for the third time in as many months. The car was her old one, back when she was still with their father and the couple were so poor that they didn’t have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of.

  Malik inherited it after she bought her new baby a year and a half ago. The car was an aging Buick, sturdy, but twenty years old and heavy on the mileage. She needed to buy him another car, but the only spare money was in their college funds and she wouldn’t touch that to save her own life.

  Although, she did need to do something. The repairs were more than the car was worth in reality, but she wanted to give him his new car when he left for college. She had already picked it out. But her car was nearly paid for now, so just a few more months would allow her to take on the additional payment easily.

  When she dropped the kids off at their preparatory school, Brunswick Academy, she still had to go home, get dressed and go to work for herself. Her office was laid back, but Juniper preferred the advantage that an early start gave her on her day.

  Plus, she led by example.

  But when she was almost home, less than three houses away at that, Juniper was clipped in the back by Mr. Dickenson. The elderly neighbor that should have had his license taken years ago. The man had extremely poor vision and if she realized he was in his car, she would have waited for him to back out first.

  Juniper jumped out and surveyed the damage. Now, another car was going to be in the shop. It wasn’t enough to keep her from driving to work, but the bumper looked really bad. The right side sagged almost to the ground and speed bumps would be a problem.

  “Are you alright, Juniper?” He asked, his eighty plus years easily heard in the waver of his voice.

  “Yes sir, are you alright?”

  “I think so.” The older man stopped and placed a hand on his chest for a second and seemed to think on it.

  “Mr. Dickenson?” She asked, as she wondered if she needed to check his vitals.

  “I’m alright! Just lookin’ at my car gal.”

  “Okay, yes sir. Do you have your insurance information?” She even hated to ask him for it. But her budget was tight and she couldn’t afford the higher premiums that came with her insurance footing the entire bill.

  Shoot, if the repairman couldn’t fix it, a new water heater would put her into dipping into her savings account.

  They exchanged the information and she drove back home to hurry up and get ready.

  Note to self, fifteen minutes to get ready.

  Have to call about the water heater when I get to work.

  Oh, and the car too.

  Juniper looked in the mirror, took note of the woman she saw in the reflection. She was attractive, but not overly. Usually, she was the type of woman people saw as cute, or nice. Her eyes were too round to allow her to be considered beautiful. She had decent cheekbones and a fat bow of mouth. Her best feature was her hair, thick and after her last bob haircut, had grown out nicely to hang just past her shoulders.

  She dressed stingily, she applied a little make up but not much. All she had time for was a quick swipe of powder and mascara before she tossed on her scrubs. Even though she could wear her own clothing as a member of management, instead of the villa’s standard golf shirt and khaki pants, Juniper was a nurse first.

  So she liked to be ready in case they had a medical emergency and all hands were needed on deck.

  She already wore her father’s watch, a gold affair that was too heavy for a woman normally, but she wore it almost every day as it was his favorite.

  Juniper snatched up her bag and her lunch before she dove back into her baby. Albeit, her dented baby, but hers none the less and headed to work. She arrived at five after nine, but it felt as if her day had been thrown way off track and she was barely starting out.

  Eventually, she did get her car towed and had Ebony call a guy to fix her water heater. But even then, she was still stuck lingering over paperwork half of the day. As the administrator at a senior living facility, she loved her job, but there were some days that sucked.

  And today was one of them.

  The residents at Sunset Villa tended to be of the same variety. They were all spunky, loved life as seniors and all over the age of fifty-five.

  The Villa was a fun place to be, and Juniper’s hard work made it that way. There was always something for the residents to try. There were weekly classes for painting, glass making, sculpting, and cooking.

  She had recently revamped the athletic program and now the Villa boasted bi-weekly classes for yoga, weight training, spinning and kick boxing. Not to mention the semi-annual group vacations, like the one spent hiking in the Blue Ridge, and the group skydive from Myrtle Beach.

  Her job was awesome and the residents were the main reason for that fact. However, when she had meetings back to back, it was always a long day and today was no exception. She had ten potential resident interviews and another five apartments to have cleaned.

  That was the worst part, when she had to clean the residences of their former owners stamp on the world. Sometimes, they moved out because they were too ill to maintain themselves and needed attentive care that Sunset Villa didn’t offer. Other times, it was because the tenant had passed away.

  In these cases, three of the villa’s dwellers died within the last month and two were unable to care for themselves. But all the same, it broke her heart to see any of her residents leave. They were like family to her.

  There was so much advice and wisdom to be gained from the elder generation. Juniper welcomed the sage words from them, the same way they appreciated her loving care. Her children saw the residents more than they had seen their own father.

  The only thing that could be said for her ex-husband was that he paid his child support. Juniper had never taken a single dime of the money, not in the ten years she had been raising the children alone. The majority of it went into their college funds and the rest was for incidental spending.

  The amount was a pretty penny, after all their father was a professional boxer.

  When her ex, Javier, left her for another woman, she was a nurse on duty at the facility. There was always a medical professional on the staff just in case of any emergencies and she worked the graveyard shift.

  Those first nights, she sat and watched the stars with Mr. Ellis. Being with him made her realize that the universe was big and she was small. So no matter what happened to her, it was nothing more than a speck of flotsam in the never ending void of life.

  Early mornings were spent chatting with Ms. Peachtree, eating French past
ries the former chef made from scratch, and those days were reminders that there was a joy to be found in the simple things if she chose to look for it.

  Not to mention, if all else fails, just add butter.

  There was the occasional night spent with Mr. Armand, a widower who found himself lonely in the wee hours. After the man contrived one reason after another to visit the nurse’s station, she stopped administering bandages for invisible scratches and started conversing.

  And the funny part was that she liked it. Mr. Armand was a Frenchman who spent his nights teaching her his language, at first for kicks then, she found she had an affinity for it. It was in many ways much softer than English, but with more nuances.

  Every resident she met had something to teach her, and by extension her children. In fact, Malik and Paris had dozens of doting grandparents within the walls of the home. Ms. Peachtree always found a way to make goodies for PTA meetings that sold faster than anything else offered.

  And because Juniper was a bad lady, she pretended like the goods were her own.

  There was Mr. Clark, who loved knitting and always made Christmas stockings laden with fun trinkets.

  So, it wasn’t hard for Juniper to feel more at home with the residents than she did within her own four walls. Every resident was given her phone number and many used it, many times for no reason other than to shoot the breeze.

  But today, she would spend the day cleaning with the maids they hired on an as needed basis to pack belongings, the knick knacks that made up a person’s life. By the time lunch came and went, Juniper found herself knee deep in magazines from the 1950’s and moth eaten decades old couture.

  She wondered what would become of these things every time she performed this ritual, but she never asked. It was none of her business, even if the former owners were like family to her.

  Juniper took her lunch at three so she could pick the children up from school in her car as she couldn’t sign for the rental until after she got off.

  It should have been little surprise that Paris had something disparaging to say. “What happened? Did you back up and hit one of the geezers at work?”