Real estate broker, Claire Rocklin, buys distressed properties, rehabs, and sells them to support her pet project, ‘Senior Housing Apartments'. She believes nobody has time for the elderly—and no one ever had time for her. After the death of her mother when Claire was a child, her serial-cheater father remarried several times, but those marriages didn't last more than two years each.

Three years ago, Claire’s once-upon-a time, stepbrother, Master Sergeant Tony Baldusi, retired from the Army and became a fulltime business partner in Claire's brokerages. The son of a single mother who divorced Claire’s father, Tony learned how to survive long before he enlisted in the U.S. Army. He's been packing a proverbial torch for Claire, along with a diamond engagement ring for three years.

When Claire’s grandparents invite them home for Thanksgiving, Tony suggests they pretend to be engaged. After all, they’re already business partners, and their families would easily believe the relationship runs deeper. But can he convince commitment-phobic Claire that she deserves real happiness? Will their little deception turn into something real, or will she run from love again, breaking both their hearts in the process?

 

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Release Date: December 15, 2025
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Pink Satin Romance

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Excerpt

Chapter One

November 2022

The crash of thunder drowned out the classic rock station. Lightning flashed. High winds howled and the powerlines swayed. Torrential rain pounded the pavement. The  drive from the Washington Coast to her Magnolia area penthouse in Seattle had been treacherous, making the typical four-hour trip take twice as long. Even in western Washington state, which was famous for its rainfall, this storm called an ‘atmospheric river’ was one for the record books. The news anchor on the radio warned flooding and power outages might last for days.

Lights from the apartment house windows greeted her. Thankfully, her building still had electricity. Claire Rocklin breathed a sigh of relief as she guided her Lincoln Navigator through one last huge puddle before pulling into the safety and security of the underground garage. Bang!

Outside, another electrical transformer burst into a shower of white and blue light. She shuddered.

Pulling into the reserved parking space, she grimaced when she noticed the distinctive, dark blue, late-model Hummer in the spot next to hers. It belonged to her business partner, Tony Baldusi. During her time away, she’d ignored his barrage of texts and voicemails. When she heard about a winter storm to end all storms, she opted to speak directly to their office managers, instructing them to close the real estate brokerages and send everyone home.

Closing her eyes, she took a moment to center herself before wearily unloading the SUV. Somehow, she—suitcase, laptop bag, briefcase, and the pizza she’d picked up on her last potty stop at her favorite Italian restaurant made it to the elevator. She’d sold one of her houses on the Washington Coast for an optimum price, reason for any realtor to celebrate. She’d planned on a quiet evening at home so she could focus on the paperwork, although if her twin brother Connor hadn’t been pulling extra shifts at the cop shop, she might have made an exception for him.

She’d spent the past three days doing his ex-girlfriend’s emotional laundry while the younger woman updated Claire’s apartment. Fancy Flannagan was a total sweetheart who didn’t deserve the cavalier treatment Connor had apparently handed out. He didn’t have any business acting like a total slut-puppy. Clearly, they needed to have another of their conversations about his behavior.

Riding up in the elevator, Claire caught a glimpse of herself in the mirrored wall. Jeans, a white sweater, and low-heeled boots. At least she didn’t look as haggard as she felt even if her shoulder-length black hair was a tangled mess. A heavy layer of makeup hid the dark circles under her eyes.

She’d need all her skills at subterfuge to avoid tipping her hand since she didn’t want Tony to know what she’d been doing. Once on the sixth floor, she glanced up and down the hall, but he was nowhere in sight. Thankful for the reprieve, her thoughts turned to the bottle of wine chilling in the special fridge in her chef’s kitchen. Once inside, she’d pour herself a glass or three, warm up her pizza and turn on the TV to stream one of her favorite crime dramas. And under no circumstances would she answer the door!

Rude? Maybe. But she didn’t have the bandwidth to deal with Tony or his habit of ignoring boundaries tonight. Most of her real estate properties were hers alone, even if he was under the misapprehension that his investment in her company granted him special personal and professional rights.

Not hardly, she thought. As she’d said more than once, if she intended to be controlled, she’d have come with a remote.

Her two-bedroom apartment took up half the top floor while Connor’s used the rest. She slid the key into the lock and stepped into the stark white foyer, towing her suitcase into the hall, and closing the door behind her. Unexpected light from the living room spilled through the arched doorway and she frowned.

Hadn’t she decided it was enough to leave on the overhead hallway and kitchen lights? Did she forget to turn off the oversized floor lamps three days ago when they left town? Had Fancy?

Pizza box in hand, Claire entered the front room. And froze. A tall, brown-haired man stood watching her. Behind him the storm raged, captured in the picture windows like a movie. In the gray pinstriped suit that matched his eyes, he still reminded her of the combat soldier who marched back into her life three years before when he was thirty-six, saying he’d taken early retirement from the U.S. Army. He was home to stay and wanted to see his office.

His face had never been handsome. It was too weathered, too rawboned, each harsh plane fitting into the other. The shadow of dark beard stubble on his strong jaw made his rugged features even more attractive, not that she’d tell him so. Ignoring the silver threads in his dark brown hair, he kept it short in what he referred to as a ‘high and tight’ style similar to the way he wore it when he was in uniform.

For a moment, she wished she wore one of her favorite pairs of stilettos, so they’d be eye-level, rather than giving him those extra three inches over her. At five feet, eight, she wasn’t a short woman, but at six feet, two, he wasn’t as big as some of the men she’d dated in the past. He could be intimidating, but he’d never scared her. How had he managed to enter the apartment? Well…she wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of asking if he used his military training to break in or swiped her brother’s key.

Placing the pizza carton on the tiled vintage table, she paused to remove her boots so she wouldn’t track dirt on the new, white wall-to-wall carpet. “Hello, Tony. Did you get lost on the way home?”

“Did you get lost on the way to work?” He strode toward her. “Where the hell have you been?”

Claire shrugged out of her classic, gold bomber jacket and crossed to the black recliner, dropping the leather coat on the seat. “I told you I had plans.”

“And I said we had too many closings on the calendar for you to run off to Mexico for two weeks.”

She didn’t bother to answer. She didn’t do holidays, so she’d already booked tickets to go to Cancun at Thanksgiving for the holiday weekend, not two weeks. That happened at Christmas.

His tone took on an edge. “I’m waiting, Claire.”

“I guess you didn’t check your messages. I told you I needed a mini-vacay.” She looked out the window at the storm before she closed the white drapes. Another flash of lightning. Another transformer exploded in a shower of blue and white sparks. And another section of the city went dark. She shivered, feeling her anxiety mount.

Turning, Claire faced him again. She’d allow him to distract her from the weather which set her nerves on edge. “If you bothered to check in with the office managers, they could have shared my itinerary.”

“Would they have been able to tell me where the Designated Broker was hiding? Nobody at the Seattle realty can do your job, Claire. Did you actually expect those ten associates to stop selling houses for three days? They needed you to review their sales contracts before those go to the title company as you well know.”

“I told you when you joined us that I run the Seattle brokerage, but I’m not going to be more than the head broker for the satellite offices. Step up, Tony. You’re licensed. There’s no reason you can’t approve any potential sales contracts.”

“Bullshit. I’m already up to my ass in alligators and I don’t have time to drain the swamp. You draw the most we can afford in addition to your commissions. It means you make more than the brokers in the Everett, Eastside and Lake Maynard offices.” His voice lowered. “You do less than half the work. Step up. You already know what needs to be done.”

“And Seattle still makes more money than the rest of them. Without it, we’ll never recover after the pandemic. If you kicked ass on the Eastside associates, they’d do better. All those tech employees living in Bellevue and Issaquah want multi-million-dollar homes. But Perry can’t handle that much pressure. He should have thought of that before he convinced you he could be Designated Broker when Ryan left.”

“Perry did fine until you messed with his head.” Tony scowled, narrowing his steel gray eyes. “You know better than to crap where you eat. After you finished toying with Ryan, he couldn’t run fast enough to Eastern Washington. Are you trying to bankrupt us? Or just drive me crazy?”

Claire swept him with a dispassionate gaze, telling herself she was only interested in learning how riled up she could make him. It was a lie. Even though he’d just turned thirty-nine, he was still extremely hot. It was impossible not to notice how his jacket emphasized his broad shoulders and muscular arms. Narrow hips and long legs—she shook her head. Focus, she told herself sternly. Quit leering and pretend you’re listening to his temper tantrum.

She tilted her head to one side and decided to play her hole card. They both knew she wasn’t serious, but it generally worked as a temporary truce. “You can always buy me out and I’ll walk away.”

“We both know that will never happen. We have a non-compete clause, remember? You can’t work anywhere else in Washington State and I’m not going anywhere either.” He took a step closer. “What’s the game, Claire?”

“So, what if I enjoy dating a lot of men, Tony? They amuse me. Perry chased me for two months before I went out with him. I dumped him weeks ago. I’m tired of his drama.”

“Right. And if I believe that, you’ll sell me a bridge in Arizona.” He folded his arms, his jaw tightening. “Do you know how many calls I’ve answered from your boys in the last couple of days?”

Claire adopted a cool tone. “If they actually were important, one of the receptionists would have contacted me.”

“Ryan left messages and wants you to call him in Spokane. Perry whined. Even Mike Flannagan wants to talk to you and he’s one of our competitors. What’s that about?”

“Poor baby,” Claire cooed. “Do what I do. Ignore them.”

“You’ve been engaged three times since last August,” Tony continued. “I know because I’ve talked to all three of the poor slobs this past week.”

Shaking her head, Claire gaped at him. “Now, that’s sheer bullshit! I’m never getting married. And you know why!”

 

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