Cityscape Affair Series: The Complete Box Set Read online

  Contents

  Praise for The Cityscape Affair Series

  Cityscape Affair Trilogy

  Come Undone

  Come Undone

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Untitled

  Untitled

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Afterword

  Come Alive

  Come Alive

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Untitled

  Untitled

  Untitled

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Afterword

  Come Together

  Come Together

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Untitled

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Untitled

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Untitled

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Untitled

  Epilogue

  Afterword

  Bonus Epilogue

  Also by Jessica Hawkins

  Something in the Way (Something in the Way, #1)

  1. Lake – 1993

  About the Author

  Cityscape Affair is also available in:

  Audiobook

  Paperback

  2nd edition © 2020 Jessica Hawkins

  1st edition © 2013 Jessica Hawkins

  Editing by Elizabeth London Editing

  Beta by Underline This Editing

  Proofreading by Paige Maroney Smith

  Cover Designed by Najla Qamber Designs

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Praise for The Cityscape Affair Series

  “Wanna talk about alpha? Wanna discuss STEAM? Wanna chat about chemistry and angst and total obsession? [David] Dylan is the answer to all of it. And more. If you've been dying for what us OG's call "old school trilogies" that just consume you like FSOG, This Man, and Driven did back in the day, I present to you this trilogy.”

  —USA Today Bestselling Author Adriana Locke

  “This series is a top 5 all-time read for me.”

  —USA Today Bestselling Author Liv Morris

  “The writing is fantastic, the emotional detail, involved, and the connections are so well explored, that we get to LIVE this story (the good, the bad and the ugly). Thoroughly. Intensely. Honestly.”

  —Maryse’s Book Blog

  “This series is incredible. It belongs on every best-seller list. Hell, it belongs on the big screen. FIVE STARS.”

  —Amazon Reviewer

  Olivia Germaine has already found love. Devoted wife, loyal friend, determined career woman—she’s created the life she always envisioned…until she locks eyes with a handsome stranger across a crowded room.

  David Dylan—alleged playboy and Chicago’s most eligible bachelor—awakens a passion in Olivia she buried long ago. He’ll do anything to prove to her that despite his playboy ways, he’s worth leaving behind the stable future her husband can offer her.

  But in order to accept a love she never thought possible, with a man who could be her soul mate, Olivia will have to let go of deeply rooted fears that could ruin everything.

  Everything is what David wants to give her, and it’s what he demands in return. But even though he’s a man who always gets what he wants...this time, David may be fighting for something unattainable.

  The Cityscape Affair series box set includes three full-length novels: Come Undone, Come Alive, and Come Together.

  Come Undone

  Cityscape Affair, Book One

  Olivia Germaine has already found love. Devoted wife, loyal friend, determined career woman—she has the life she always envisioned…until the moment she locks eyes with a handsome stranger across a crowded room.

  David Dylan—alleged playboy and Chicago’s most eligible bachelor—awakens a passion in Olivia she buried long ago. He challenges her to confront the perfect life she’s built and to ask herself questions that could lead to either happiness…or regret.

  Because David knows who she is. He knows what she wants. And he can give it to her. If only she’ll give in…

  1

  Sophistication perfumed the lobby of the downtown performance art center as if it’d been bottled and sold to Chicago’s elite. It clung to red velvet drapes with gold tassels and spiraled up to where I waited on marble steps.

  A pair of large male hands slipped my coat from my shoulders. “Does your husband know you’re here alone?”

  I nearly shivered despite the warm breath on my skin. “Ask him yourself. He’ll be here any moment.”

  “Then I’d better make this quick.” I heard the smile in his voice as his tone lightened. “Is this a new dress?”

  “I’ve worn it before,” I said, glancing back at my husband. “Dinner with your sister.”

  “The green suits you.”

  “Your favorite color.”

  He pecked me quickly on the mouth. “Because it matches your eyes.”

  Having come straight from his office, the day wore on him. The sagging knot of his tie and dark circles under his eyes were evidence of many consecutive late nights at the office. But Bill’s smile never failed to comfort me with its familiarity. “How was work?” I asked.

  “The usual.”

  “Did you defend any criminals?”

  “They’re not criminals,” he said, draping my coat over his elbow. “They’re people accused of committing crimes.”

  “Spoken like a true lawyer.” I tucked my hair behind my ear. “You’re fitting in more at that firm every week.”

  An early-evening spring breeze passed over us as more people shuffled in the theater doors. Smartly dress
ed women carefully stepped down scarlet-carpeted steps, passing beneath elaborate chandeliers that cast shadowy corners.

  I scanned the room for our friends as Bill slipped an arm around my waist, pulling my back to his front. “We can still skip out before anyone notices.”

  “That wouldn’t be fair to Lucy,” I said. “She and Andrew are expecting us.”

  “I’m sure they’d understand.”

  Of course they would. My best friend’s sweet-as-sugar personality didn’t lend itself to guilt trips—and she might’ve found the one man on the planet more amiable than her. Still, Bill and I needed this. Aside from a client dinner last week and a charity function hosted by one of Bill’s bosses, we’d each been spending more time at our respective offices than with each other.

  “It’s good for us to be social,” I said.

  Bill slid his hand up my hip, over my dress, to the elastic of my tights. “We could always be social with each other.”

  We hadn’t had sex in weeks. Why was he suddenly frisky now, at the most inopportune time, while friends waited on us? The answer was obvious—to get out of sitting through the ballet tonight.

  Fortunately, I had a topic on hand equivalent to down, boy.

  “I talked to my dad today,” I said. “He’ll be in Chicago for a night next month and wants to have dinner.”

  Bill released me with a groan. “Great.”

  “It’s only one night,” I said as we checked our coats.

  He pocketed the claim ticket, arching an eyebrow at me. “And you’re so thrilled when my parents drive in.”

  “Touché.” But while my dad was conservative, nobody would dare call him stuffy like the Wilsons. I flipped my hair over my shoulder. “You don’t have to come, but I know he’d like to see you.”

  “Sure he would,” Bill said. “Where else would he get free legal advice?”

  As we navigated through clusters of murmuring theatergoers, I kept a lookout for Lucy. “You’re exaggerating. Dad’s too prideful to ask for free things. Anyway, he has plenty of corporate lawyer friends he can go to.”

  “I’m not talking about work, Olivia. I mean his divorce from Gina. Lawyer friends don’t put up with that shit—they charge you for it.”

  “Luckily, his divorce is almost finalized anyway,” I pointed out. “And I’m sure if you ever need advice on how to win over girls half your age, he’ll be happy to repay the favor.”

  “Half my age? Are you trying to get me locked up?” he asked. “I’d say I’ve got my hands full as it is.”

  I turned, reached up to my six-foot-one husband, and pushed a lock of brown hair out of his eyes—while making a mental note to schedule him a haircut.

  This time, when he hugged me and ran his hands up the hem of my dress, over my backside, I didn’t stop him. Public foreplay was, at least, one thing we hadn’t tried. Maybe it was what we needed. What I needed. After all, Bill wasn’t the one with an issue, but it wasn’t as if he’d come up with a solution, either. I’d have thought our sex life would be sorted five years into our marriage, but here I was, wondering if getting revved in front of a well-to-do crowd might help bring me to orgasm when nothing else with Bill—or any partner—had worked.

  “Oh, there’s Lucy,” Bill said, walking past me. “Did you know Gretchen was coming, too?”

  My two best friends stood at the center of a group of men and women. From behind, they looked about as different as their personalities actually were. Gretchen, boosted by spiky heels, stood tall in a revealing pink dress. Her long platinum hair bounced in signature curls as she gestured wildly with everyone’s eyes glued to her.

  Next to her, petite Lucy dodged Gretchen’s flailing limbs. She wore a boat-neck black dress, her short chestnut-colored hair fashioned into a perfect chignon as she clasped her hands in front of her.

  Lucy’s boyfriend spotted us first. Standing off to the side, wringing a program, Andrew grinned toothily and beckoned us over. “Sorry, Gretch,” he interrupted her mid-sentence. “Everyone, this is Bill and Liv Wilson.”

  I shook hands with one of Andrew’s associates. Since I’d never officially taken Bill’s last name, I was still technically Olivia Germaine, but I didn’t bother correcting Andrew.

  “Liv is Lucy’s other best friend,” Andrew said. “They met in college.”

  “Now I’m the other best friend?” I joked. I’d only introduced Lucy, my college roommate, to Gretchen, who’d befriended me my first day at a new elementary school. We’d stuck the same magazine tear-out of Andrew Keegan in the plastic covers of our respective binders while everyone else in our class fawned over Jonathan Taylor Thomas.

  Lucy showed me her YSL pumps. “Look, we’re the same height tonight.”

  “I don’t know, shrimp,” Bill said. “Liv’s still got some inches on you.”

  She scowled playfully. “I’m glad you guys are here, by the way. To celebrate the tax season ending, Andrew’s boss practically bought out the theater for clients, accountants, and the rest of the staff. Plus, I know Liv has been wanting to see this.”

  “Have you?” Bill looked down at me. “I would’ve brought you if I’d known.”

  “We’ve been busy,” I said. Bill spent more time at the office than at home lately, but I regularly worked eight-to-ten-hour days, too, so I couldn’t complain.

  “Anyway,” Gretchen said, picking up whatever story we’d interrupted, “the plane lands, and I rush to the station, barely making the train. Since it’s now one in the morning and I’ve been traveling for fourteen hours, I immediately pass out. When I wake up, the stewardess says, ‘Welcome to Chile.’”

  “Chile?” one of the women cried.

  “I’d gotten on the wrong train, slept through the entire ride, and ended up in Santiago.”

  I politely joined in everyone’s laughter, though I’d heard the story of her travel blunder twice before.

  “To make matters worse,” Gretchen continued, “it was fifty-something degrees outside, and I was wearing shorts and a tank top.”

  The man next to me guffawed. He was the only one who’d been introduced without a partner—Gretchen’s lure was cast. “What do you do that you can take off to Chile whenever you like?” he asked.

  She turned her megawatt smile on him. “I’m in entertainment PR.”

  “Hook, line, and sinker,” Bill muttered, reading my mind. When I giggled, Gretchen shot us a dirty look, her blue eyes as playful as they were piercing. I couldn’t blame the man for falling under her spell.

  Bill raised his chin over the crowd. “I see an old colleague. Mind if I go say hi?”

  “Make it quick,” I said. “It’s almost curtain.”

  Lucy, ever the hostess, turned sideways to include me in a conversation about mutual funds and expense ratios.

  As I watched Bill walk away, my gaze lingered on different people. Their stiff, deliberate movements countered the elegance of ballet dancers. Strangers. An older woman slid an olive from a spear with her teeth. A businessman checked his cell during a conversation. A couple stood shoulder to shoulder, flipping through their programs. Not a genuine smile in sight. Sometimes it seemed as if everyone was just operating instead of living. Or maybe I was, and it was me who didn’t belong here. Or anywhere.

  A feeling that’d haunted me for sixteen years.

  Since my parents’ abrupt divorce when I was a teenager, I’d never figured out exactly where I was supposed to be. Large crowds heightened that insecurity, as if they were all in on something I wasn’t. I had the unfortunate ability of feeling spectacularly alone in a crowd, even when surrounded by friends and family.

  Or was I alone?

  I had the sensation of being watched seconds before I met a man’s unfamiliar stare across the room. Dark and narrowed intensely in my direction, the handsome stranger seemed to either try to place me—or strip me bare. My toes curled in my high heels. He stood taller than anyone else around him, his hair and eyes midnight-black like his tuxedo. His furrowed brow and
frown exaggerated a long, angular jawline. Something about the way he looked at me slowed time, everything going fuzzy—except my heartbeat, which whipped into a rapid flutter.

  My body only buzzed this way when I’d had just the right amount of wine. I held his gaze longer than I should’ve. My pounding heart echoed in my ears. It wasn’t his immense, tall frame or darkly handsome face that struck me, but a draw so strong that it didn’t break, even when I finally blinked away.