Title: Abrupt
Author: Kathy Coopmans
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Second Chance Romance, Single Dad Romance
Have you ever wondered if regret will imprison you, or does it set us free as the truth does?
Regret was the one thing I had. It owned my charred black soul. That emotion was digging so deep into my bones like a deadly disease.
I hid it well. Let people believe I was a kind man.
I’m far from one. I’m brash, bold, and angry at the curveball life has thrown at me.
My saving grace came in the form of a tiny bundle wrapped in pink.
My daughter.
The day I learned I’d raise her on my own, was the day I kept the only vow I didn’t intend to break. I wasn’t letting a woman in my bed or my heart. There wasn’t room for one with my daughter owning one half and a woman I let slip through my fingers holding onto the other without her knowing it.
I kept that vow until now.
She’s back.
The one that owns the other half of my heart.
She’s carrying more pain than she left with, I can see it in her eyes. I should never have let her go, and now my regret is here, facing me head-on. I made a mistake, one I plan to rectify.
I am a Mitchell, after all. I’ll stop at nothing to get what I want.
Her.
I have to prove to her that there will be no more broken promises, show her that my heart, the half I gave to her so long ago, is still hers.
PROLOGUE
Lane
“Do I look like a man who gives a shit that’s a two thousand dollar bottle of bourbon? I told you to give me the whole damn bottle.” A breath of disgust passes through my clenched teeth. More of it’s about ready to slip out of my lungs if I don’t get the hell out of this room to breathe some fresh air.
I’m two point five seconds from causing a scene at this farce of a wedding by reaching across the bar and crushing the bartender’s windpipe the minute he turns back around. All the while shouting to everyone that the bride will never love the groom the way she does me.
“Sienna.” Her name leaks out of my aching chest in a barely-there whisper.
“And I told you Mr. Ricci said to cut people off if I thought they had too much. You’ve had enough, pal.” He spins on his feet, daring to stare me down.
I’m not this asshole’s pal. I’m nothing but a miserable man who needs to drink myself into a stupor. He happens to be in my way.
I contemplate jumping over this bar to take my frustration out on his face or scare the shit out of him.
Either way, I will have that bottle.
“I’ll show you, pal, when I ram this down your throat. Do you have a problem with giving me the bourbon now?” I flash my gun, not bothering to thank him when he raises his hands in surrender, grabs my drink of choice, and slides it across the smooth top of the bar.
I hated guns about as much as I hated having to attend this wedding. The problem was, tonight, I wanted to strap it to my side in case I decided to pull the trigger and shoot the groom in the back of the head as he stood at the altar. Now, I wish I had.
Sienna is married, my life, my girl is married.
Fuck.
“Wise choice, asshole.” I snatch hold of it, fingers itching like a bitch to walk up to the groom, dump it over his head and light him on fire.
Yeah, I had a problem with the groom.
I hated his guts. He has my only regret, my life, my everything in his arms.
At twenty years old, I had a list a mile long of regrets, most of them having one thing or another to do with the bride.
Regret number one, she was as much the forbidden fruit as tempting, and I was that much of a dumb ass like Adam was with Eve to take a bite. I knew the commandments and broke them anyway by touching the woman with hair the same color as the apple.
Flaming red.
She’s poisoned me for life.
The woman should be mine instead of some made man’s in her father’s mafia. Bastard jumped at the chance to slide a ring on her finger within two months after I made the biggest mistake of my life.
I might be able to handle it if he wasn’t a piece of scum, I think, to be a traitor. If only I had the proof to back up my instincts. The only thing I have is how my blood boiled every time he shook my hand and smiled with a sinister look in his eyes.
If I find out he’s fucking with my family or trying to destroy what they’ve built, I’ll blow a hole right between those demonic looking eyes.
Taking a swig, I spin around, keeping my eyes on the door, determined to not only look at the bridal table but to take my pity party for one as far away from the glam, glitter, and the celebration as I can get. I need to be drunk and forget about watching the gorgeous woman dressed in white walking down the aisle toward a man I know damn well she doesn’t love.
No. That love will always belong to me.
I need to forget the hurt on her face when she found out what I did at Behind Closed Doors; the sex club me and my brothers own. I need to forget how I should have never fallen for a girl years ago when I knew I couldn’t keep her.
I need to learn how to live my life full of regrets. I need to forget Sienna Ricci ever existed and move on.
If I don’t, I’ll likely get us and a slew of other people I care about killed.
Sunny Shelly’s Review: 3 Stars
Mafia romances are not my jam, and I didn’t realize that this was a Mafia romance until after I started reading it. I didn’t feel like the blurb matched up to the story I was reading. And practically from the get-go, I felt like I had started Lane and Sienna’s story mid-way. Was I missing something? This is supposed to be a standalone, and I had not read any of Lane’s brother’s books, so was there more to their backstory laid out there?
As a hero, I didn’t particularly like Lane. He was bossy and abrasive, and I felt more like he wanted to possess Sienna than have her as his partner. And Sienna — she was a bit of a whimpering mess. I get that she was an emotional wreck with her son missing and was the victim of domestic abuse at the hands of her missing husband, so she was a mess of a character to begin with. But I just couldn’t connect with her.
I kept on reading because I wanted to know how things ended with Sienna’s son, and I was happy with that resolution and the epilogue that the whole extended family got. But overall, this one wasn’t my jam. I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.
USA Today Best Selling Author Kathy Coopmans is a Michigan native where she lives with her husband, Tony. They have two son’s Aaron and Shane.
She is a sports nut. Her favorite sports include NASCAR, Baseball, and Football.
She has recently retired from her day job to become a full-time writer.
She has always been an avid reader and at the young age of 50 decided she wanted to write. She claims she can do several things at once and still stay on task. Her favorite quote is “I got this.”
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