Prologue
PROLOGUE
KAYLA
Once upon a time, in a faraway land, lived a damsel in distress who wore her heart on her sleeve despite never feeling loved herself. She didn’t wait around for a knight in shining armor to rescue her from her brokenhearted past; rather, she became the hero. Rescuing animals became her passion and showed her the true meaning of love and compassion. Men didn’t even compare, especially when all they wanted was her body, and she had so much more to offer.
...Excuse me while I cringe at another unsolicited d**k pic.
Do men seriously have no dignity anymore? That’s a rhetorical question considering I’ve been sent over thirty of them on this godforsaken dating website. Just this month alone and it’s not even halfway over.
And I blame Logan Knight.
Detective godsend, mysterious, brooding. He’s every girl’s wet dream.
Too bad he’s full of excuses as to why he can’t date anyone right now.
The timing isn’t right. I’m really focused on my career right now. I don’t have time to date.
Please.
Every time I hear one of his lame excuses, I roll my eyes so hard I nearly give myself whiplash.
More like emotional whiplash.
One moment we’re friends and texting about meeting up to hang out and the next? He disappears. Again, with the excuses. However, this time he forgot to mention one tiny detail of why he’s so guarded and reluctant to date anyone.
He has a daughter.
This revelation wouldn’t be nearly as shocking if I knew anything about him to begin with, and although I’ve had my eyes on him for months, it’s the mystery that keeps me interested. Don’t get me wrong, Logan Knight is freaking gorgeous in every way, but there’s so much more to him than meets the eye, and I can’t help wanting to unravel whatever secrets he’s hiding. He tells me I shouldn’t be with a guy like him, but you know what they say about wanting what you can’t have? You want it even more.
So, when Logan texts me early one morning and asks to meet up, I don’t hesitate for a second. I take the fastest shower ever and get myself ready in record time because when a guy like Logan comes knocking—you answer.
I just hadn’t realized exactly what I was getting myself into by answering that message. He’s hoarding secrets like a double layer of Spanx and there’s barely enough wiggle room to breathe, but that doesn’t mean I’m not up for the challenge.
Of course, Logan doesn’t just come out and tell me he’s a single dad. I must do my own detective work and find out for myself, except now he doesn’t know that I know.
And that’s a secret I’m not sure I should keep to myself or not because if I’ve learned anything from being Logan’s friend, if he wanted me to know about his daughter and his past, he’d tell me. Now that I’ve accidentally found out, I have to pretend as if I don’t know and if there’s one thing I suck at—it’s lying.
I’ve been shuffled around too many times to count as a child and it was always the same thing. It’s the last time, I promise. It was the biggest lie, and I knew it too, but if I kept telling myself that, I could get through another night of uncertainty. I was determined to make my new family fall in love with me. I’d do whatever it took to find the good in them even when they had nothing good to offer. I wanted a home, but that security never came. I’d tell myself that the next home would be the one. Lies on top of lies, and yet, disappointment felt the same every time.
I finally grew up and couldn’t lie to myself anymore—that kind of love didn’t exist. I tried and dated guys, but it never felt right.
If by chance you did find it, you held onto it like your life depended on it. Right now, my lifeline was Logan Knight, and no matter how many times he wanted to lie to himself that the timing wasn’t right for us, I’d be there to remind him otherwise.
