Amelia Foster [Foster - Meant To Be Different

Meant

to be

Different

Meant to Be Series

Book Two

By AMELIA FOSTER

Meant to be Different

Copyright 2019 by Amelia Foster.

All rights reserved.

First Print Edition: July 2019

Limitless Publishing, LLC

Kailua, HI 96734

www.limitlesspublishing.com

Formatting: Limitless Publishing

ISBN-13: 978-1-64034-843-1

ISBN-10: 1-64034-843-3

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors rights. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to locales, events, business establishments, or actual personsliving or deadis entirely coincidental.

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Wyatt

Present Day

Im retiring.

Just as Wyatt had anticipated, Jims jaw dropped and his pale complexion mottled. Now son, this is a bit unreasonable. We dont need to be hasty. Lets just talk about this first. Youre only thirty years old

Wyatt held his hand up, cutting off his managers bluster. Thirty is damn near geriatric in this business. And I dont want to wait until my body is broken and useless and my brain has turned to mush.

The older man tapped his pen on the desk several times in rapid succession, regarding Wyatt solemnly. And what are you going to do with yourself? Write a book? Go on that celebrity dance competition show and learn the cha-cha?

He snorted and crossed his leg, resting his ankle on the opposite knee. Im not that desperate for attention. Although some of those girls are pretty hot. He tilted his head back and forth a few times in mock consideration before giving it a definitive shake. Nah, Im done with being in the spotlight.

Jim leaned back in his office chair and folded his hands over his plump midsection, the whitening of his knuckles belying his relaxed posture. So youre going to work some middle management job and go home to your PTA wife and two-point-five kids at the end of the day and mow your picket fence-lined yard on the weekends? Youre just going to fade into oblivion in suburbia?

The confident smile Wyatt had walked in with slipped. His agents derisive questions were hitting a little too close to home. He wanted more than two kids and the only woman hed ever considered marrying could be called a lot of things, but an average PTA mom wasnt one of them.

But everything else? Hell yeah. Jim had unwittingly described Wyatts version of perfect.

He held no disillusions about the mans motivations. While Jim had proven himself competent and capable over the years theyd worked togetherdespite all the warnings Wyatt had been given about the man from other competitorsWyatt knew he was one of Jims highest-grossing clients. Which translated into a nice, fat percentage landing squarely in Jims bank account. He couldnt care less if Wyatt would be bored by a career change, only that his influx of money would drop considerably.

My mind is made up. Five more competitions and then Im done. He stood and straightened the legs of his jeans. Run whatever ads and promotions you need to run. Create whatever hype you can.

He pinned his manager with a knowing stare. Wyatt had made most of his important life decisions by trusting his gut and ignoring rumors, including the ones that Jim had some personal issues that were bleeding into his professional career, but lately his manager was making him uneasy. And, by all means, get as many endorsements lined up as you can to pad your wallet with that fifteen percent you take off the top of all my deals.

With that parting shot, he grabbed the cowboy hat he was never without and jammed it on his head. He pointedly ignored the sputtering from Jim behind him, scrambling for another excuse as to why Wyatt shouldnt retire.

For more than a decade, his life had been a series of nondescript hotel rooms and nearly never-ending aches and pains. Not to mention interviews, flights, buses andperpetual exhaustion.

It was an unpleasant and sometimes irritating lifestyle, but it was also familiar and comfortable. And Wyatts new career path, hell, his new life, was uncertain, risky, and could easily fail long before he even had a chance to get off the ground.

A slow smile spread across his face as he stepped out of the tall, gray office building and into the hot Houston sun. Yeah, he was taking a big chance. Sure, it was damn near terrifying to think of doing something new, something that required more thought than any endeavor before in his life, and something that could possibly end up as the second biggest mistake of his life.

But it was also far more thrilling than eight seconds on any bull hed ridden in his career.

Once his plan began to take shape, he could finally correct the one thing that had been haunting him for nearly a dozen years. That was possibly the biggest draw of all.

He slid into his truck, blasting the AC as high as it would go, and pulled his cell phone from the breast pocket of his black western shirt, his finger landing on the familiar name. Three rings later, a groggy hello greeted him.

Tanner, what the hell are you doing asleep? He shot his arm out straight to view the time on the thick, stainless steel watch. Its almost nine oclock on a Thursday morning!

Remember, brother, Tanners sleep-roughened voice came over the line. Ive got a new work schedule now.

Wyatt was just about to remind him that Tanner Carlisle wasnt the kind of guy to put off work when he heard a giggle in the background that made him roll his eyes. Yeah, and Im sure my hot sister-in-law has absolutely nothing to do with it.

You need to stop saying that. Tanner practically growled, exactly the reaction Wyatt was hoping for, and he couldnt help the laugh that spilled out.

Before he could say anything else, a soft whisper from Izzy and Tanners nausea-inducing enamored response trickled through the phone, and Wyatts gut clenched. Hed always made fun of Tanner for the kind of relationship he had with his wife, but now Wyatt found himself wanting the same thing. Missing something hed never had.

If he were to be completely honestsomething he usually avoided at all costshed admit that he was jealous. Not of Izzy herself, although taunting his brother by shamelessly flirting with her was a favorite pastime. No, his green-eyed monster flared at everything she represented. Everything he could have had years ago.

I need a favor, big brother. He took a deep breath. Can you find me some property? A lot of it. Think three hundred acres.

He heard some rustling, and Tanners voice suddenly cleared. What for?

Im moving home. The words felt even better to say out loud than to play on repeat in his head. He plunged ahead, laying out all his plans. Im going to open a training facility for kids who want to follow in my impressive footsteps, so I need a lot of acreage to build a house and a barn and a paddock and

Tanner coughed dramatically. Yeah, got it. Give you land, lots of land, under starry skies above. Listen, Ill look around and call you back later, little brother, okay?

And without waiting for a response, Tanner ended the phone call and Wyatt was met with only silence. Yeah, they really were disgusting.

But lately he found himself wishing he had a little of their kind of disgusting in his life.

***

Georgia

Present Day

11:34 a.m.

The daily alarm on her phone sounded, pulling Georgia from her frustrated musings over the latest design panel her team had delivered. She uncrossed her legs and stood, pausing just a moment to steady herself on the red-soled, spindly heels she had a love/hate relationship with. She walked to the door, closing it with a soft click, just as she did every day at this time.