Third Time Lucky

Copyright © 2023 by Aurora Crane Written and published by Aurora Crane Cover by: Cormar Covers Professional Beta Reading and Editing: Abrianna Denae Professional Editing: Lisa Lakeland All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are use fictitiously. Names, characters and places are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events, or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. I always struggle writing this part more than the actual book sometimes! It takes so many people and so many amazing readers to make a book into what it is. First and foremost, my thanks are always to my muse and my soulmate, Briar. She has endless faith in me, even when I am one of those crazy board people, with my hair sticking in all kinds of directions as I go a little bit madder every day. And to Abri, who fit in so well with Briar and I: we don't know what we would do without her. You both kept me calm when I was anything but and make every one of my days so much brighter and this writing journey that much easier. And to my beta readers, Tris (who loved Lake even before he was going to get his own story) and Siobhan (whose comments always make me laugh and brighten everything; never change!) Thank you both so much for your support. You are an invaluable part of my team. And to every reader that picks up my books and falls in love with the stories and characters just like I do every time I put words to the page. Contents 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 Epilogue Contact the Author Books by Aurora Crane Grady Donehue fucking hated parties, and New Year’s Eve parties were the worst of them all. Each year seemed shorter than the last, and it wasn’t like the new year was actually going to bring anything “new.” Just more of the same old shit. The only thing that usually saved them was the amount of alcohol that was available at said parties. He hadn’t originally meant to drink; he’d driven in the hopes he could leave as soon as humanly possible. But the amount of socialising he’d been forced to get through meant that alcohol was the only solution. As it was, he was only halfway to being plastered, but it was only—he rolled up the sleeve of his light-blue button-down shirt as he twisted his wrist and checked his black watch—twenty to twelve; he had plenty of time left. Being newly single and putting himself in a situation where he was surrounded by couples hadn’t been one of his finer ideas. He could read a room, and his bitter thoughts about what relationships turned a person into wouldn’t be well received. He should have declined when his work partner, Quinn Hughes, had invited him. Grady wasn’t good company right now, stewing in his anger and his hurt and all the other emotions that he wasn’t interested in reviewing that were churning in his gut. He should have said no, stayed home, and drank there. He had better alcohol anyway. “You look like you’d prefer to be walking to the gallows than here,” a voice to his left said. He turned to find a man he’d been introduced to earlier in the night. Lake McKenna. A friend of a friend of a friend. Unfortunately for Grady, his work as a New South Wales police detective meant that he never forgot a name or a face. Even ones that were connected to insignificant people he would never see again. It was a curse. “Why? Did you see one on the way in?” Grady asked sarcastically. Lake smiled, flashing dimples that were way too cute to be legal. He was a good-looking guy, and Grady had looked his fill when he’d met him because he was only human. He had nice hazel-brown eyes and short, dark hair that was swept to the side, his ears sticking out a little more than was probably considered “attractive,” though Grady liked them. The three-quarter sleeved navy-and-white baseball tee he wore was tight against his flat stomach, and the distressed denim jeans gave him a frat-boy look that shouldn’t have been as sexy as it was. The beaded and leather bracelets on his left wrist and the thin chain necklace Grady could see poking out of his shirt completed the look. Grady didn’t want to hit that, but window shopping was an acceptable pastime. “I think they were outlawed a while ago, sorry.” Lake genuinely looked sorry, which was just… bizarre. Grady was waiting for the punchline. “But I could buy you a drink?” Not a very inventive punchline. Grady raised his eyebrow. “Is that supposed to be the same thing? Because I hate to break it to you, but one is not like the other.” “It’s more like a consolation prize.” “I can get my own consolation prize.” It wasn’t like they were at a bar. They were at someone’s home—another friend of a friend, and honestly, Grady was sick of learning people’s names—and he could just go to the kitchen and get what he wanted. There was enough alcohol in the house to sink a ship. “It’s like food,” Lake said brightly. “Always tastes better when someone else makes it.” Grady doubted that was true. “And what qualifications do you have?” “Well, I’m an Army pilot,” Lake said. He stood up straighter. “A major to be exact. Got my wings at nineteen;