The only good thing about my life so far was in the backseat of the car… my daughter.

My car died just when I was almost home, but who finds me first…

The one whose heart I broke when I left him because my parents hated him.

And the years were kind to him. Trillionaire, muscular and still sweet.

I thought I was too broken to notice a man, but years ago his kiss burned into my soul.

He offers to fix everything in my life. New job, new clothes, new apartment, new school for my daughter.

I shouldn’t depend on him. No one’s perfect right? But he doesn’t seem to have a flaw and I have tons.

No one should want me, but he’s wonderful, respectful and delicious.

I just don’t know if I can trust myself, but then you’d never guess what happened next because I never would.

Arman

The smell of the ocean at the end of Long Island was salty and fresh. My father, Bâbâ, had bought our beach home twenty minutes from the Hamptons. Everyone who was anyone escaped to the Hamptons. The beach house was on Virgin Cove, a small island with a bridge connecting it to the mainland. Virgin Cove was hard to find on maps, but it was poised to be the next hot spot. That meant the way we lived there like princes might end.

As I drove up to the mansion overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and the small town, I sighed. This was my favorite place. I preferred the slower pace it offered to the Manhattan condo or even my parents’ penthouse in Beverly Hills. The sea air reminded me that I’d once been denied by a beautiful girl when I was a boy.

I parked my silver Audi R8 Spyder in the driveway and saw one of my brothers stepping out of a limo, which meant I wasn’t the last person to arrive. Cyrus waited as servants brought the bags in and I parked, but the moment I stepped out, he patted me on my back and said, “Arman, the favorite son, has returned.”

I laughed and shook my head. As the oldest, I was teased by everyone. We stepped up to the house, whose wall decorations were recreated from ancient Persepolis. My favorite was the lion head that adorned a horn like it was the Thanksgiving feast and not various fruits.

I said, “You’re the doctor, Cyrus, so you get that honor.”

He winked as servants flung open the door for us. “No matter how many degrees I have, I’ll never be you, the oldest and most precious.”

We passed into the foyer, and I could see my mother sitting at the dining room table with four of my brothers. She rose from her seat, came to us with her arms open, and smiled. “The last two, as usual, to arrive for my birthday.

I hugged her and gave my feeble excuse: “My flight from LA and stopover in Manhattan took more time than I hoped.”

The truth was, my business partner and adopted brother, Joel, had taken two weeks off for a honeymoon, and I was running the game company solo, which meant extra hours until we closed that day. But like my bâbâ, who was renowned on Wall Street, we never gave work as an excuse in my family.

My mother looped her arms around us and steered us into the dining room as Bâbâ came in from the kitchen, carrying a fresh carafe of black tea. He took his usual seat. I sat down next to him.

Cyrus took a seat on the other side. “Looks like your bet against buying the beach home in the Hamptons was right on, Dad. Looks like someone else is building a Persian palace in Virgin Cove.”

I shook my head and grabbed the carafe to pour myself a cup of tea. “That’s so LA.”

“Now she’s back on the East Coast with you…” Cyrus’s dark eyes didn’t blink. “Maybe this summer, she’ll refocus her attention on her oldest and pressure you to get married now that Joel here brought home a wife.”

Joel—my partner, brother, and friend—was lucky, a successful heart doctor. I was more like our dad and had no time for dating. I winked. “I’m hopeless, remember?”

Mom came in with dates and passed them out as three more of my brothers were laughing and coming down the stairs. Half of my family had been adopted, but that never mattered at the table.

“You’ve been lucky.” Bâbâ took one of the dates. “Your mother isn’t a fan of being in New York for long these days, but now that she has Joel and Kendal, she thinks you’re next and wants to be here more.”

My mother brought me the dates as my two youngest brothers took their seats on the other end. Mâmân asked, “What are you two talking about?”

I stood and scooted her seat out for her. “How happy we are to be here with everyone. Let’s sit.” She slid into her chair and I kissed her cheek as I said, “Happy birthday, Mâmân.”

She put down the silver platter of dates, and Bâbâ passed it down the table. The last three of my brothers came into the room and took their seats. My mother caught my eye and winked, looking excited. She reached for the pocketbook hanging on the back of her chair, brought it around, and rifled through it.

She came out with a photograph. “Let me show you this picture.”

“Of what?”

She slid the photo across the table to me. It showed a dark-haired Persian girl who’d had a nose job. “I think Salma, here, is very beautiful, and she loves New York winters.”

I chewed on my date and grimaced. Cyrus laughed and slapped his knee. Once I finished my bite, I shook my head. “No.”

“No what?” She slipped the picture into my hand. I vaguely recognized the woman from one of my mother’s holiday parties. She invited about a thousand well-to-do New York Persians to her annual New Year’s gala. I handed the picture back as she said, “You need to get married like Joel and set the right example for the rest of your brothers and so your staff takes you seriously.”

She implied that I, as the oldest, had some sort of duty. I took her hand. “You brought us here and raised us to be American, Mom. This means we all want to choose our own brides.”

She sighed and put the picture back. “You’re not choosing anyone, working all the time in your office.”

I refilled my tea and said to Bâbâ, “My business just passed our goals for the first year by leaps and bounds, and we need to ensure that we’re successful.”

He held up his cup like he’d cheer me with tea.

My mother shook her head as some of my brothers finished their tea and shifted to go. She nodded her approval at them. “We’ll talk about Salma later. The Ghormeh sabzi will still be an hour. Can you go and pick up the wine?”

Jumping at the chance to get out, I smiled brightly and said, “Sure. Be right back. I’m hoping you share your recipe this time, Mâmân. You add something to this I’ve never been able to figure out.”

She called out behind me as I turned to go, “It’s called a mother’s love for her children, and now, I want grandchildren to make this for.”

I hugged her and left. Mâmân loved me. She was the driving force in our lives, and her obsession about getting us married could fall on any of my eleven brothers.

As I hopped into the car and drove, I started to think. No woman I’d ever met had convinced me that I needed to stick around for more than a year. A lifetime attached to one person would end in disaster because being tethered felt stifling. I loved that I had the ability to go anywhere and not answer to anyone. Besides, I’d had my first kiss on the beaches here, and that girl had proven that even the sweetest girl will walk away.

As I made it down to the bottom of my family’s estate, I saw an older-model Honda CRV on the side of the curb. On Virgin Cove, neighbors helped if they could, so I pulled behind the car. A blond woman and her daughter were inside it.

Something about that car made my hair stand on end. When I knocked on the window to find out what was wrong, I saw the tear-stained cheeks and brightest blue eyes of the girl who had been my first kiss. She jumped, startled, then rolled down the window.

My skin felt sparks of magnetic pull, and I leaned closer. The air was fresh and rosy near her. It was as if my thoughts had brought her into reality.

“Maddie.” My voice broke over her name as she turned to face me.

“Oh my God, Arman. How are you?” She swiped her eyes and smiled. Her tearstained face and the quiver of her lip told me I had found her on a very bad day.

“Can I help you?” I asked. She stared at me for a long second, as if not certain that I was there. I lowered my head. “It’s been a long time.”

Her smile brightened. “It has. It’s so good to see you.” She turned in her seat. “This is my daughter, Aurora.”

I bent farther down to see the girl in the back seat. She was the spitting image of her mother. “Hey.” I waved.

“Hey.” She waved back.

“Well, look, let me give you a ride or call a tow.”

She covered her lip. “We’re okay. But it was really great to see you again.”

Maddie spoke in the same tone she’d used when she told me that she never wanted to see me again that day on the beach when we were children. She’d had no explanation and had been near tears then too. I squared my shoulders. No one ever denied me anything, and all I’d done was offer help, like I would with a total stranger.

I rubbed the back of my head. “Look, it’s clear you’re in trouble. I’ll call Henry’s garage.”

Her face flushed, and she shook her head. “They’re coming… we’re going to my parents.”

Her father’s opinion of me, based on the fact that my parents were from another country, still rang in my ears. He’d told me I needed to stay away from his daughter. I tapped on her car door. “I’ll give you both a ride, then, so you’re not stuck.”

Henry’s beat-up blue tow truck pulled up behind my Audi. She smiled. “No. Look, the tow truck is here. We’ll be fine.”

Once again, she was the only woman who’d ever blown me off. I reached into my wallet, found my info card, and quickly handed it to her. “Here is my business card, and that’s my cell. Call me if you change your mind or if you need anything, even if it’s just to talk.”

“Okay.” She clutched the card like I’d given her something meaningful.

Madeleine had once been the only woman I ever thought I’d love forever. She’d shattered that dream. Seeing her again, I felt the memories of childhood float back. However, she didn’t want me or my help. I waved to the tow truck and hopped back into my Audi.

Madeleine

Arman Norouzi had grown hotter with age. And he was still the exact opposite of me. As a teenager, he’d been attractive, but as an adult, he was devastating. He took my breath away.

However, I hadn’t showered in two days, as we’d been kicked out of the motel before I got a chance. I’d driven from Kansas to Virgin Cove straight through the night. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d washed my hair.

I’d barely survived my last encounter with Bob since he’d found himself a new girlfriend who was superior to his broken wife—me. The bruises on my belly still stung far more than his words.

Accepting an offer from the man I’d once dreamed about scared me, and my daughter was burned out. I was too. Arman was the exact opposite of Bob in every way. Caring, rich, successful, smart, and intuitive were words I would use to describe the first boy I’d ever kissed. He was my age with dark hair and smoldering brown eyes, and I had goose bumps when I was near him. But there was no way he wanted to do anything more than just help in a neighborly way. And besides, he was moral, and I was still technically married.

I jumped out of the car as the tow truck drove in front of me and called out, “Wait.” Henry parked the tow, and I tapped my seat behind me. “Aurora, get out of the car.”

As I stepped onto the pavement and waved, I half expected Arman to get in his car and drive away from me, but he walked toward me. Whatever his cologne was, it made him smell delicious. My mouth watered. I sucked on my bottom lip and wished I’d been stronger when I was younger and had followed my heart and stayed with Arman.

I shook off the thought. “Arman, do you think you can fit us and the luggage?”

He winked. “We’ll make it work.” As Aurora joined us, he clicked his car fob and reached inside his black leather seats. “You look hot. Can I give you some water?” He handed a bottle of water to each of us.

Aurora opened hers fast. “Awesome.” Then she downed it in one gulp. She passed us and slipped into the back seat.

Arman said, “Your daughter looks like you.”

She was beautiful and still innocent and sweet. I’d lost that. But I kept my mouth shut. I realized my heart beat differently when I was near Arman. I decided to tell him a bit of the truth. “Arman, you surprised me. You’re the last person I ever expected to see.”

I handed Aurora my bottle of water, and she gulped it down. Arman stopped, reached back into his car, and opened a refrigerator. “Help yourself,” he told my daughter and handed me another one.

I let out a sigh. “That’s nice of you.”

He tilted his head. “Why didn’t you expect to see me? My family summers here. That’s how we were friends.”

Friends wasn’t how I thought of him. I hadn’t seen or heard his name in well over a dozen years. But it wasn’t his fault I’d moved halfway across the country.

I swallowed. “We’re adults now. You must be married. You probably have a passel of kids. I figured you’d live in New York or LA and not have time to visit the island.”

He opened the car door and held it. I took a seat, and the air-conditioning of his clean car helped blast away some of my veils of doubt. He closed my door, and once he’d taken the seat opposite me, he said, “Nope. There are hardly any new people in Virgin Cove, and everyone knows each other, even the ones from the Persian Palace on the cliff. But you haven’t been back in a long time. What happened to you?”

I sipped water and closed my eyes. My father and his friends had hated the New Yorkers with plenty of cash who’d built that palace on the cliff. I’d made so many mistakes, but my problems had started when my parents signed off on me marrying a man before it was legal for me to do it on my own.

My heart pounded, but I’d already told Arman the tip of the iceberg, so I continued. “I… got married when I was eighteen.”

“Your father told me.” He kept the car in park instead of moving forward. “That’s why you weren’t here the summer before college.”

“Yeah. I married days after graduating high school and never went to college.” I glanced behind me at my ten-year-old. Now that my father was gone and her father was miles away, no one was ever going to sign off on anything like that for Aurora. I would protect her. I smiled at her and then back at Arman. “I was too young. I wanted to say I am sorry for how things ended with us.”

He took off then, and his car zoomed. “I was really disappointed when you didn’t come back the next year.” He glanced at me, and I wondered if he was remembering that kiss when we were seventeen. “I always wondered if I’d scared you off or what I did wrong.”

He must be joking. I shook my head. “You? Never. Honestly, you’re why I always google… never mind.”

He tapped the wheel. “Google what?”

Damn. Arman was the last person I wanted to know about this portion of my life. He wore Armani as casual wear. I still wore clothes I’d gotten from church donations before the people at the church started ignoring me because of… I needed to stop dwelling on the past.

I finished my water. “I looked up your last name and what your family was up to, including some gossip blogs. You weren’t usually mentioned like the others, so I assumed you were stable. When I think about how nice you always were to me, I realize just how foolish those stories are.”

“Joel’s the only one who’s married,” he said.

I glanced at my ten-year-old, who nodded. I smiled back at her. I hoped she would never have the kind of problems I’d had.

Then Arman slowed his car. “Well, it’s good to stay in touch. Here we are.”

And he stopped in front of our yellow colonial. It was exactly how I remembered it. Chips in the stucco had grown, and several roof tiles needed replacing. My mother, Catherine, had never once agreed with me on anything, but she was all I had left, and she hadn’t forgotten I existed.

I got out of the car, and Aurora followed. Once Arman had taken our bags out of his back seat, I took them from him. “Well, this is us. Thanks for the ride.”

Arman said, “Look, if you want to meet up and maybe grab some dinner later, I’ll buy.”

I pressed back the urge to touch him. “Maybe. Look, I’ll call you.”

He winked as he stepped back. “Glad you’re here again, Maddie.”

“Thanks.” I felt more than thankful. The sweet way he’d said my name washed through me.

Arman had seen something in me, and his nearness had awakened a part of my soul that had been dead. As he returned to his car, my heart thrashed. Once upon a time, I’d left him at my father’s demand, and my world had shattered after that. I was worried I’d made another mistake.

My mother opened the door, hugged Aurora, and directed her to the kitchen table, where a chicken dinner was set. She took a deep breath as she stared at Arman’s car, which was still on the street.

Right. We are here again. I closed my eyes and let my heart settle. Until I had a means of paying for anything and finding a job, we had to stay with my mother. She might have agreed with everything my father had ever said, but at least she hadn’t pushed.

I watched Arman’s car drive down the street. I’d made a mistake by letting him go again. But wanting to be with him was a silly wish from a long-ago summer.

My mother took my bag. “Were you just talking to one of the princes of Persia out there?” It was a horrible old nickname for Arman and his family that my father had started. He’d used it as a dividing line between us and them.

I followed her into my old room. “Our car broke down. He found us on the side of the road and gave us a ride.”

She glanced across her house. My daughter was out of sight. “Just because he was nice enough to give you a ride doesn’t mean you should start consorting with his kind. You’re a married woman.”

The words of my father. Unlike me, my mother had never questioned anything she’d been told. My father had never been violent, but he’d taken privileges from us. However, his beliefs didn’t fit with mine. I didn’t think God divided us into groups with separate rooms in heaven and only picked certain people. It was our actions that counted.

I opened the door to my old room, which hadn’t ever been changed since I left. My cheerleader outfit still hung on the wall hook. “Kind? Because of his religion? Or just because he’s rich?”

“Both. God doesn’t let his sheep sleep with the lions.”

Again, she sounded like my father. He’d died two years before, but she hadn’t become enlightened since then. I gripped her arm to thank for her kindness in letting us in but told her my truth. “Mom, we’re only here temporarily until I figure out where Aurora and I can go and until I can afford a divorce. Don’t start, okay?”

She went to the door. “You can start by going to the house of the Lord and asking forgiveness for your sins.”

Or maybe I won’t go to Reverend Jerry, who agreed with everything my father said and pushed me to marry Bob. I only said, “Right. Maybe later.”

I put my suitcase in the closet and took out my ancient, cracked cell phone and Arman’s card.

His life was so different from this. Maybe if I saw him again, after a shower, I would realize he had some faults I’d never noticed. I’d get over the what-if fantasy if I saw just one horrible fault.

My heart stirred at the plan. I shouldn’t tempt fate, but I typed out a message to him: Drinks sound great. Meet you at seven.

Dots appeared, and I smiled and waited. I’d never texted anyone except my daughter. Then I read his answer: I’ll pick you up.

I tensed. I hadn’t caused my mother more drama, but she would likely kick us out if I got together with Arman. But he was the first boy I’d ever kissed, and he’d never been far from my mind.

I typed: No. I’ll meet you there. Don’t be late.

Once, I’d been a girl like my daughter, and her independent spirit clearly guided me that day. Sure, it was my time to protect her and find a new way for us to live, but I needed a clue for that. Now that her father was out of the picture, I needed to show her I could guide us both to a better life than we could have imagined. Or at least, I hoped so.

So I decided to go see Arman and watch intently to find faults and quash that fantasy so I could focus entirely on my life and what I needed to do.