Page 1 of One Kind Hand

Chapter One

“Why did I let you talk me into this?” Charlene Moyen fiddled with the metal-spiked, leather cuff bracelet on her wrist then tapped her fingers on the edge of the desk in Pine River Cottages’ main office as she stared at the screen in front of her.

“Because you like adventure, Charlie,” her best friend, Isabel Perri, said as she peered over Charlie’s shoulder.

“I like adventure on my four-wheelers or snowmobiles. My chopper is for work.” Her MD500 helicopter was used to assist in search and rescue missions or as a private charter. Moyen Helicopter Services was not the kind of business that signed up to have its helicopter used in a damn movie.

But Charlie had an online form three-quarters of the way completed to do just that. Isabel had seen a call for chopper pilots who owned their own birds to apply to have their helicopters play a role in the latest Austin Rayhill action-adventure film. It was shooting in Montpelier, Vermont, not that far from their hometown of Maplehaven. Isabel was a humongous Austin Rayhill fan and she’d pleaded—outright got on her knees and begged—Charlie to enter her chopper into the running.

“Look at how much it pays,” Isabel had said in her opening arguments, knowing that dollars and cents always mattered to Charlie. Maintaining her chopper cost money, so she weighed the jobs she took carefully. The pay on this gig was definitely eye-popping. With that kind of coin, Charlie could afford to put a sturdier ramp in at her parents’ house for her wheelchair-bound mother. Any day now, her mother’s chair was going to topple the makeshift ramp her father had installed on the cheap. Then they’d be in a fucking pickle. It was bad enough her mother no longer had the freedom to move under her own power, or communicate for that matter. And her father was already mere steps away from packing his bags and leaving.

Like he’d wanted to about five years back. Only discovering her mother’s condition—ALS—had made her father stick around. The man took care of his wife, but Charlie knew he did so out of obligation, not love. Charlie helped out where she could, but she tended to stay away. Her family wasn’t a close one. It never had been. And frankly, seeing her mother in such a weakened condition with so little mobility scared the shit out of Charlie. Probably why she pushed her body to its physical limits on her four wheelers and snowmobiles whenever she had the chance. She wasn’t going to end up like her mother. Nope. She’d rather go out in some ATV stunt one of her buddies dared her to do than live the life her mother was stuck with.

“C’mon,” Isabel said. “Finish the form and hit submit.” She nudged Charlie’s elbow to move her fingers back toward the keyboard. “You probably won’t even get picked.”

That was true. No doubt every chopper pilot near Montpelier was entering. Charlie knew a fair number of flyboys who had enough ego to want their birds featured in an Austin Rayhill movie. They’d also be drawn to the pay.

“Fine.” Charlie entered information into the final boxes on the form and after a second’s hesitation, she tapped the submit button. “Done.” She stood and snapped the laptop closed. “If they want my bird, but I’m on a rescue, they’re shit out of luck though. Saving lives comes before Austin Rayhill.”

“But will the person you save be as gorgeous as Austin Rayhill?” Isabel fluttered her eyelids and put her clasped hands to her cheek.

“Is she still drooling over that guy?” Jackson, Isabel’s fiancé, asked as he appeared and leaned against the office doorway. “Ever since she found that call for choppers, she’s been ‘Austin Rayhill this’ and ‘Austin Rayhill that.’” He rolled his eyes. “Don’t get me wrong. I love the guy’s movies. He’s a badass, but I’m starting to get a complex.”

Isabel hopped over to stand in front of Jackson. It was almost comical how much shorter she was, and yet, Charlie had never seen a more perfect match than these two high school sweethearts newly reunited and engaged. Isabel and Jackson embodied everything soul mates should, and they gave Charlie hope that real and true love existed in the world.

She’d probably never experience it. Still nice to know it existed though.

“I’m sorry, Doctor Hunky.” Isabel slid her hands up to hook on Jackson’s shoulders. “You know I’ll always choose you.”

“Even over a billionaire Hollywood actor who, according to his movies, can break a man’s kneecaps with one well-placed karate chop?” Charlie whistled. “You must be great in bed, Jackson?”

Jackson’s cheeks pinked and Charlie added a tally to her Ways to Taunt Jackson Henley chart. She made a bona fide hobby out of teasing him and reminding him that if he hurt Isabel, she’d permanently maim him in ways he’d never forget.

“Oh, he is,” Isabel said. “You should see this thing he does with his—” She was silenced by Jackson planting his mouth over hers in a kiss.

With the two of them occupied with the smooch, Charlie squeezed by them in the doorway then rounded the front desk. “See ya around, peeps.”

Neither Jackson nor Isabel replied and Charlie shook her head as she pushed open the main office cottage door, spilling into the cold November air. Inhaling deeply, she scanned the cottages that comprised the property then squinted at the more recently excavated area where Isabel and her grandfather, Eugene, were expanding Pine River Cottages to be more of a mountain resort. The plan included additional guest cottages, an indoor swimming pool and fitness center, and a bunch of other things that would draw in travelers to Maplehaven.

The finished product would be wonderful because Isabel and her grandfather were the most amazing people Charlie knew. As a kid, Charlie had spent more time with the Perris than her own family because, even before her mother had gotten sick, Charlie’s home life wasn’t altogether functional. Meals were never on the table at a predictable time, bedtime stories weren’t ever read, and family time usually included her father cracking open a beer while her mother bitched about something. The time Charlie did spend at her own house was usually in her room with her door closed, headphones on, and the volume up to max.

Things at Isabel’s house were always better. Grandpa Eugene made incredible pizzas with crazy toppings like dandelions and beets and pistachios. Charlie always crinkled her nose when he served her a slice, but after she’d take a bite, she’d fall instantly in love and ask for more. And bless him, Grandpa Eugene would always give her more. As far as Charlie was concerned, the Perris were her true family.

And that was why she’d let Isabel talk her into submitting her chopper for that movie chance.

Silly.

But whatever. As long as she wasn’t in the middle of a rescue as she’d told Isabel, she could take a little detour in the name of showbiz. Isabel also wasn’t wrong about Austin Rayhill being hot. Charlie and Isabel had seen all of his movies, and while Charlie maintained she liked the kickassery of the roles Austin played and the movies’ soundtracks, she could admit the way the man filled out black cargo pants and a black T-shirt was not hard to watch. Muscles bunched in all the right places. No matter how many bad guys he wrestled to the ground, Austin’s brown hair was always perfectly styled and streaked with golden highlights. His characters worked around the clock to finish whatever mission they’d been assigned, but Austin’s blue eyes were never bloodshot. Those characters also had an intensity that was super sexy.

Charlie doubted the real man was anything like his characters, but a girl could dream. And dream she did. Of a guy who would treat her like royalty, but who didn’t fit in the Nice Guy category. Sure, nice guys were . . . nice. Badasses with an attitude, however, were more Charlie’s brand. She needed someone who wouldn’t crumble under her often merciless teasing—ask Jackson—and someone who could zing clever comebacks like a professional. She wouldn’t last two minutes with a guy whose feelings were easily hurt.

She’d tried that. Didn’t bother buying the T-shirt. If she could reduce a guy to tears on the first date, he wasn’t made of the right stuff to be with her. Charlie was coming to the realization that there might not be a Perfect Guy for her out there.

Certainly not within the confines of Maplehaven, Nice Guy Capital of the World.

Charlie had tried hooking up with dudes she met on rescues or charters, but that never went anywhere either. Maybe she was being too choosy, but she absolutely didn’t want to end up like her parents who barely tolerated each other.

Zipping up her vest, Charlie walked along the gravel pathway to her SUV. She’d bought new tires and boy, did they look pretty. Nothing like new treads to barrel through the snow that would soon blanket the area. As it was early November, some snow had fallen in Vermont, but not anything with any true sticking power. She probably had a little more time to play around on her ATV before shifting to snowmobiling. Charlie loved her machines. If only she could find a man who was as thrilling.