Chapter One

"Attention all passengers the plane will be arriving at the airport in Alaska shortly, so please return to your seats and fasten your seat belts. Thank you" the airhostess said over the intercom. Flying coach, Abigail Jones kept firm grip of her seat. The woman that sat across from her noticed the sweat dripping from her face. "Nervous flyer?" the woman asked her.

"You could say that. It's just the plunging head first that gets me" Abigail replied. "Didn't you take any sleeping pills? It used to help me."

"I'll try to remember that" she muttered. The plane suddenly hit the ground and Abigail closed her eyes tightly. Her heart was racing so fast like a bullet train. She felt the vibrations from under her seat until the plane stopped. She peeked and saw lots of people exiting their seats. She opened both her eyes fully and let out a big sigh of relief. She quickly unfastened her seat belt and reached for her bag in the top compartment. She rushed past people to get out as quickly as she could. She looked as if she was about to hyperventilate if she didn't get out soon. She finally exited the plane and breathed in the cold wintry air.

Inside the airport she stood at baggage claim waiting for her…well bags. Abigail stood in her heated coat and boots to keep herself warm. She was nearly falling asleep as her baggage was taking forever. She was a beautiful woman. She had green eyes that looked like jade jewels, long brown hair that was tied up in a ponytail and a slender body. Most men would find her very much attractive. Suddenly someone came behind her and covered her eyes. "Guess who?" a male said in a deep voice. "Let me think, an ugly dirty pervert?" she teased. The male's voice softened. "Hey!" he shouted. He uncovered her eyes and she turned to face him. It was Michael Valentine, Abigail's current boyfriend, who has been dating each other for about two months. He gently gives her a peck on her cheek and smiles at her. "Did you really think I was a pervert?"

"I had my doubts." He let out a little laugh.

"Come on, the cars waiting" he informed her.

"What about my bags?"

"There already in the trunk." She folded her arms and glared at him.

"Oh really, so you made me stand here looking like a complete idiot?" she questioned. "A cute idiot" he said defending himself. She dropped her arms to her side and smiled. She grabbed his hand that he held out for her and made it towards the exit.

Driving down the icy road at night, Abby glances out of the window. The road was so secluded that only a few cars passed. "Are you sure your buddies are going to like me?" she muttered under her breath. He glanced toward her, keeping his eyes on and off the road. "Are you kidding? They're gonna love you." She looked at him.

"And you're brother?"

"Yes you've got nothing to worry about." She nodded her head and turned back to the window. The snow started to drop heavily and the beautiful dark blue colour of the car disappeared. The car was covered in snow and the wipers were going back and forth so they could see the road. Wouldn't make a difference there were no cars in sight. They finally made it; Michael's and his brother's condo, courtesy of their father, Samuel Valentine. Could possibly be as rich as the president himself, nah couldn't go that far, but he was rich. Two cars were already parked in the drive. Michael parked up the drive behind the other cars and shut off the engine. The snow had died down a bit, I mean compared to the blizzard before. Michael sighed as if he was content on where he was. He looked at Abby and looked upon the condo in fear. "You ready?" he said breaking the silence. "Do I have to be?" she replied. He laughed and opened his door. The snowflakes fell inside as he stepped out and she could feel the cold even more. Abby huffed and exited the car also. They grabbed the bags from the trunk and made their way to the steps. Michael turned around and locked the car by pressing the button on his keys. Up to the front door they walked in a looked around for his so called buddies. "Hello? Is anybody here?" Michael calls out. He reached for the light switch and turns it on. Suddenly a man jumps on Michael. "I'll get the red hot poker!" Abby yells. She grabs it and is about to swing. "Wait! Wait!" Michael yells and puts his hands up.

"Abby, this is Josh. He likes to jump on people and scare the crap out of em while he's at it."

"Oh" she said and lowered the red hot poker to her side.

"Nice to meet you" he muttered still laughing at himself and puts out his hand for her to shake it. She took his hand firmly and shook it. "Yeah you too, sorry about almost hitting you, too many horror flicks you know" she replies.

"Don't worry, worse things have happened" he says looking towards Michael and smiling. "You should have hit him hard" a female voice uttered. Abby looked in the direction of the stairs where the female voice had come from. Two women came downstairs. The first woman with fiery red hair all over the place took her place next to Joshua. Joshua placed his arm around her waist. The second woman came down the stairs. Her hair, the same colour as Abby's and chocolate brown eyes. She barely glanced at Abby. "Hi…" began the fiery red head. "…I'm Penny it's nice to meet you." They shook hands.

"And this is Danielle" Michael told Abby because she didn't look like she was going to introduce herself. She acknowledged Abby with a nod. "Danielle!" Michael shouted at her. She glared at him with cold eyes and towards Abby and smiled. "Hi I'm Danielle. It's a pleasure to meet you" she said sarcastically. She didn't bother to shake her hand. She just returned up the stair alone. Abby watched as she left and the others rolled their eyes. "Did I do something wrong?" Abby questioned. "Don't worry about her. She's just like that sometimes" Penny replied. "Yeah especially since her and Michael…" Joshua began to say, but Penny suddenly elbowed him in the stomach. "Her and Michael what?" she asked him directly. Joshua tried to find something to say. "They fought over the master bedroom" Penny blurted out. "Abs, why don't we take our bags up to the room?" Michael suggested.

"Sure" she said. She grabbed her bags and made it up the stairs. Michael watched her leave and when she was out of sight, he punched Joshua in the shoulder. He howled in pain and caressed his shoulder. "Idiot!" he yelled so only he could hear.

"Michael?" Abby called from upstairs.

"Be right there" he called back. He grabbed his bags and made his way upstairs. "Don't act like you didn't deserve that" Penny teased.

"Not my fault I can't keep my mouth shut. I got to be a blabber mouth through my family" "My grandpa keeps telling me 'it's all in the genes'" he says and imitates his grandpa. Penny chuckles at him. Michael came back down the stairs and stayed on the last step. "Hey where's James?" he asked.

"Oh he called said he wouldn't be here until first thing this morning" Joshua explained. "Typical" Michael muttered under his breath. "Ok night guys" he said making his way back up the stairs. "Goodnight" they both replied at the same time.

The next morning, Abby rose up from her bed and yawned. She made her way to the bathroom to take a shower. Downstairs the door suddenly opened and James Valentine stumbled inside. He fell on the couch as soon as he walked in. "Damn! I wish they would stop redecorating" he muttered to himself. He made his way upstairs like a drunken fool. He opened the door to his bedroom and fell flat on his face on the bed. The moment he heard the shower, he lifted up his head. "Who in the hell has a shower this early in the morning?!" He fully got up from the bed and went into the bathroom. He suddenly pulls back the shower curtain and Abby shrieks. He is too stunned to look away. Abby covers herself up with the shower curtain. "What the hell are you doing?!" she yells He finally covers his eyes. "I'm so sorry I thought this was my condo…wait this is my condo" he says and uncovers his eyes. "Who the hell are you?" he demanded.

"The girl you just walked in on naked!"

"Cute. I was actually looking for a name."

"Abby"

"Is that name supposed to mean something to me?" "Wait, you're not one of those crazy girls I slept with who won't go away, are you?"

"No I'm your brother's girlfriend"

"Oh so you're Abby?"

"Don't pretend like you knew who I was"

"Ok I didn't have a clue, but at least I get points for trying" he admitted. He made his way to the bathroom floor and lay on his back. "What? How do you get points?" she shouted.

"Could you please keep talking to a minimum?"

"Are you drunk?"

"Little bit" he replied and covered his mouth like he was going to puke. She stared at him for a moment. "I'd like to get back to my shower now" she informed him. "Oh yeah sure, I wouldn't want me in here either" he said and had a difficult time getting up, but managed. He went to leave the bathroom, but he stopped halfway and turned back to face her. "One more thing" he said.

"What?" she yelled.

"That shower curtain doesn't cover you're…"

"Out!" she interrupted.

"Ok I'm going. Jeez." he said rubbing his head in pain and left the bathroom.

A short time after Abby was finished in the bathroom; she made her way down the stairs and looked around to see if he was anywhere. She sighed with relief and sat on the back of the couch. Suddenly, James sprung up from lying down on the couch. "Looking for me?" he asked. She jumped out of her skin and lost her balance. It was like watching the circus with the tightrope for only a few seconds. She fell backwards and landed on top off him. He held onto her so she didn't somersault off the couch. "You're pretty jumpy, aren't you?" he joked.

"Yes especially when you pop out from here there and everywhere" she replied. He smirked at her comment. She just realised where she was sitting and suddenly swung her legs around and practically jumped off him. "Listen Anita I'm sorry about the bathroom incident."

"It's Abby" she corrected him.

"Yeah ok whatever. Anyway I'm sorry" he said.

"Maybe you could remember my name if you cared about someone else other than yourself" she said.

"Ooh attitude, let me guess you're one of those help the needy women aren't you?"

"So what's that make you the selfish rich guy?" she shot back.

"For your information I work for my money. Your boyfriend is the money grabber in the family." She scoffed at him.

"Yeah right, do you get a bonus off Daddy whenever you've been a good boy, is that it?"

"Don't think you know me by a first glance and I won't either" he said and smiled at her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means the first time I saw you I thought wow what a great body." She felt exposed so she covered herself up with her arms, even though she was fully dressed. He smiled even wider than before at her response. "Don't worry, everybody makes mistakes even me. It was really nothing much to look at when I looked the second time" he explained. She then lowered her arms to her sides. He turned to leave and went upstairs. "See you Anita" he called.

"It's Abby!" she shouted back. She sat on the couch and sighed.

Michael rubbed his eyes and walked down the stairs. "Hey bro" He looked up and saw James sitting on the couch doing the crossword in the newspaper. "Oh look who decided to show up" he said and stood in front of James.

"Yeah guess I made it a little too late." Michael sniffed the air.

"Is that you?" he asked.

"Yeah I had a little drink before coming down" he muttered.

"You could have showered man"

"What? So I could be good enough to meet your new girlfriend" he said straightening out the newspaper. "How did you…?"

"I already met her" he interrupted.

"Really?" he asked shocked.

"Yeah she's quite a pistol too. She's totally not your type, so why you dating her?" he replied with another question. Michael's eyebrows drew together.

"You've never cared about whom I've dated before. So why do you care now?"

"There's just something off about her that's all"

"What the fact that she's poor?" He looks up from the newspaper.

"She could be after your money" he guessed.

"She's not" he said defending her. James rearranged himself on the couch so he was sat up and had his feet up. "How do you know?"

"Because she insisted on flying coach on the plane instead of first class" he explained. "So?" he muttered and reached on the side table for his coffee mug. "That doesn't prove anything. She could want to be next to them, you know because she's one of those charity people." He sipped his coffee and placed it back on the side table. "She actually works as a cop in New York"

"What? Citizens on patrol?" he joked.

"No a real live cop; that's how we met actually, I was driving over the speed limit and…" James held his hand up to him.

"Don't want to hear how you met. Frankly to me it's boring" he interrupted.

"Ok so where is she bore?"

"Does it look like I know?" Michael scoffed at him and left to the kitchen.

James walked along the deck of the condo to stretch his legs. He walked around a couple of times and was about to go back in, but he heard someone singing. He tried to make out who it was, but all he knew was it was a woman. He looked around trying to find out where the noise was coming from. He walked down the steps and the noise got louder. He stopped and listened in which direction to take. He walked towards the garage. He poked his head round and it was Abby singing and dancing. She looked like she had ants in her pants. He tried to stop her from hearing his laughter by biting his lower lip. It didn't work she suddenly spun around and noticed him laughing his ass off. "What? What's so funny?" she asked. "Nothing" he replied still laughing.

"It has to be something you're laughing at" she commented.

"You just look like you've had way too many jelly beans." His laughing stopped.

"I don't like jelly beans"

"It was a joke" he said.

"Oh" she muttered. A cheesy grin appeared across his face.

"Why are you dancing in the garage?"

"So no one would laugh at me. Guess my plan didn't work" she replied. His grin became wider. "Don't worry I won't sell you out" he joked. She smiled at him, but her smile disappeared as soon as she realised what she was doing. I mean flirting is one thing, but with her boyfriend's brother that's a whole different thing all together. She suddenly started mumbling. "Um…I'm…gonna go…back now. My…um…crazy dance is over. Bye." She suddenly left and practically ran inside the condo. James still had a big grin on his face.

Outside on the deck surrounding the condo, Danielle sat on the bench. She was reading a book at the time James appeared. "Good book?" he questioned. She didn't look away from her book when she replied. "Great book" She kept her hand at the bottom of the page so she could turn over to the next page. "So how are you?" She looked at him confused. "I mean with Michael's new girlfriend" he added. "Whenever have you cared about who you're brother's dating?"

"Why does everyone keep saying that? I'll have you know that I care a lot about who's going to become my sister-in-law"

"What? She's going to become your sister-in-law?" she asked shocked.

"She might. You know how committed Michael is" he said and sat next to her.

"You think we should do something about it? You know before it gets out of hand."

"No we couldn't do that" he said shaking his head. She put her book down.

"I could" she told him. "I want Michael back. Can you do it?"

"I don't know" he muttered.

"I'll pay you"

"How much?" he asked.

"One thousand" she offered.

"I don't know. I mean I have to try my hardest. Anita's not one to give up"

"Abby" she corrected him.

"Right" he said to himself.

"I'll give you two thousand"

"Deal" They shook on it.

"So you'll try to seduce her and I'll make sure you get a lot of time with her."

"Yeah good plan" he complimented.

"There's still one thing I'm not getting. What's in it for you? I mean besides money." He lowered his head and cleared his throat.

"I have my reasons" he replied.

"But none you're willing to share with me" she guessed.

"Let's just leave it at that I want money"

"That can't be all that you want. I mean…"

"Look you just do your bit and I'll do mine" he interrupted.

"Fine" she said. James got up and left, while Danielle started to read her book again.

It was night time and Abby suddenly walked down the hall to the bathroom to…well to put it nicely she was relieving herself. She opened the door to the bathroom and she suddenly bumped into something hard as a wall. She looked up and it was James. She immediately saw that he was shirtless and had a cheesy grin on his face. She gulped and separated herself from him. "Sorry" she muttered.

"It's ok I'm used to bumping into beautiful women" he informed her.

"What?"

"I said…"

"I heard you" she interrupted. His eyebrows drew together in confusion.

"I'm confused. If you heard what I said then why did you say what?" he questioned. "It was a shocked what not an I didn't hear you what" she explained. He let out a little laugh. "Is there something wrong with complimenting my brother's girlfriend?"

"No it's just…"

"It's just what?" he butted in and moved closer to her. They were within and inch apart from each other. She tried to gulp down the huge lump in her throat. "I have to go" she said. She walked down the hall.

"Don't you need the bathroom?" he called from behind her.

"No I don't need it anymore" she yelled back and started to pick up the pace. She didn't even turn around. She just entered her room and shut her door quickly. He smiled while following her to her room. He knocked on the door. "Come in" she called from behind the door. He poked his head inside as he opened it slightly. "Hey are you sure you don't need to use the bathroom? Because I've already finished in there"

"No thank you" she said as she stood in the middle of the room. He fully entered the room and approached her. She started to walk back as he walked closer and closer. She suddenly hit the wall. He leaned in and held himself up by placing his hand on the wall behind her. She tried move herself the other way he wasn't leaning. He suddenly placed his other hand on the wall behind her, so she was stuck. "Tell me something, do I make you nervous?" he said.

"What? No" she answered in a high pitched voice.

"I think I do. You're breathing heavily and your voice is all high pitched."

"What?" she said in a high pitched voice. She clears her throat and he smiles showing his pearly whites. "Are you starting to get sweaty palms yet?" he teases. He moves in closer looking like he's going to kiss her. She gasps; suddenly Penny calls everyone to dinner. He opens his eyes and they look in each others eyes. "Saved by the bell" he whispers. Her breathing eases and he leaves the room. She falls to the floor and exhales as if she was holding her breath.

Everyone came down the stairs and made their way to the table. Abby was about to sit next to Michael. "Abby, why don't you sit next to James" Danielle suggests.

"Why?" she asks.

"Well to get to know your boyfriend's brother of course. I mean if it's ok with you Michael."

"Sure I don't mind" he told her. She didn't want to argue or everyone would assume something was wrong, so she took her place next to James. She faked a smile and everyone passed the food around the table.