Two former high school sweethearts get a second chance in this marriage of convenience romance by Kristina Forest, author of The Neighbor Favor.
Intrigued? Well read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from Kristina Forest’s The Partner Plot, which releases February 27th 2024.
To Violet Greene, fashion is everything. As a successful celebrity stylist, she travels all over the world, living out her dreams. Professionally, she’s thriving, but her personal life is in shambles. After surviving a very public breakup with her ex-fiancé six months ago, Violet is now determined to focus on her career. But life hands her something—or rather, someone—that might derail everything…
Xavier Wright did not expect to run into his high school girlfriend Violet—the girl he once thought he’d marry—on a birthday trip to Vegas. As a high school teacher and basketball coach, he rarely leaves his New Jersey hometown, so what were the chances? But when the initial shock wears off, they decide to celebrate together. They feel young and reckless as they party the night away—and reckless they clearly were when the following morning, they wake up beside each other with rings on their fingers.
Their impulsive nuptials might be a blessing in disguise, though, when they realize that both of their careers could benefit from the marriage. So they play the part of a blissfully wedded couple. Yet when their passion comes hurling back, they realize their feelings are just as real as they were back when they were teens. But are their lives too different to stick it through or will they finally get a happy ending?
Violet turned and quickly scanned the clusters of people moving through the lobby. She’d lost her room key at dinner and was waiting to receive a new card while Karina and the rest of their group got ready for the club. She didn’t spot a familiar face in the crowd. Maybe she’d been imagining things. Alex pointing out Violet’s tattoo must have put her on edge. She turned back toward the desk, and the person shouted her name again. This time, Violet spun around and found herself looking directly at Raheem Anderson from high school.
He was walking right toward her, smiling huge and waving. The ceiling lights reflected off his flashy gold chain and grills. Violet was so dumbfounded to run into Raheem here of all places, she could only stare and blink. The last time she saw him, she’d been seventeen years old, smoking a bowl with him and Xavier in his basement. Eleven years ago. She kept in touch with his fiancé Bianca here and there, so she knew that they were the parents of an absolutely adorable one year old, Raheem Jr. But she hadn’t spoken to Raheem directly in a very long time. She’d deactivated her Facebook a while back and had no interest whatsoever in reviving it. And other than Bianca, she didn’t follow anyone from high school on Instagram.
“What’s up, girl?” Raheem reached Violet and enveloped her in a tight hug. As a teenager, he’d been short and scrawny, the kicker for their football team who’d rather run in the opposite direction than be tackled. Now, he was still short, but he’d gotten stockier, like he worked out. He lifted Violet with ease through the sheer strength of his hug before setting her back down. “How you been?”
“Good.” She was still blinking, still baffled. She placed her arms on his shoulders and leaned away slightly, getting a better look at him. His eyelids were droopy, and she inhaled a faint whiff of alcohol on his breath. “Wh—what are you doing here?”
“Partying, of course! What else? You know how I get down.”
“Ha.” She didn’t know how he got down. Not anymore.
“Your room key, miss.”
Startled, Violet turned to the front desk associate who was holding out her replacement key card. She thanked him and slipped the card in her clutch before turning back to Raheem.
“Well, it was good to see you…” She began to edge away, glancing down at her vibrating phone. There was a text from Edwin on behalf of Karina, asking if Violet was having an issue getting another room key. Alex had also texted and asked where Violet had packed the extra roll of boob tape for Karina’s outfit change.
She needed to get back to her team. Plus, suddenly seeing Raheem in this unexpected way stirred up a lot of memories that she’d rather keep buried deep in the crevices of her mind where they belonged.
“Wait, one second,” Raheem said, holding out an arm to still her. He glanced back and stood on tip toe, waving his hand and beckoning someone else over.
Somehow, without having concrete proof, she knew who Raheem was calling out to. Because who else would it be? The blood drained from Violet’s face. Her throat grew dry, and she swallowed thickly. She took another step back, ready to escape.
“Actually,” she croaked. “I can’t—”
“X!” Raheem shouted, his hand placed lightly on her elbow. “Come here, cuzzo!”
She squeezed her eyes closed. Her insides were screaming at her to make a run for it.
I’m not ready for this! I was supposed to be cool, calm, and collected when I saw him again! Not exhausted and running on three hours of sleep! He was supposed to look at me and immediately regret the day he broke my heart!
She forced herself to take a deep breath and open her eyes. Then the air whooshed right out of her. Standing a head taller than everyone around him and striding in her direction was the former love of her life.
Xavier Wright.
He and Violet locked eyes and the room tilted off center. She blinked rapidly and cleared her throat, silently scolding her heart for its erratic beating. But her heartbeat only defied her more as Xavier drew closer. She took in his strong build and alert gaze. His shiny, perfect curls atop his fresh haircut. His smooth, acne free skin. Oh, fuck, he was still gorgeous. Why?! Why hadn’t he developed a receding hairline? Why didn’t he have a struggle bus beard that refused to connect? That was what he deserved!
And he was smiling at her. Smiling. Like he was overjoyed to see her. Like he hadn’t shattered her poor, fragile nineteen-year-old heart into a million little pieces.
“Violet,” Xavier said, coming to a stop right in front of her. He sounded dazed, somewhat breathless. “Hey.”
Then he was hugging her. He wrapped his arms around her, enfolding her against his body. He was still so much taller than her. Her face was adjacent with his chest. Her pulse thundered, and she commanded herself to breathe deeply and stay cool. God, he smelled good. Minty and clean. For a moment, she was so overwhelmed, she didn’t know what to do, how to respond. Stilted, she lifted her arms and brought them around to rest at his upper back. The awkwardness and shock she felt at his presence momentarily melted into familiarity. It was so natural to hug him. Like nine years hadn’t gone by since they’d last spoken, standing on his front porch on the first day of winter break.
Their hug was both never-ending and brief. Xavier’s arms fell away and he stepped back, putting a polite amount of distance between them. Violet cleared her throat again and let her eyes roam his face, noticing the differences between then and now. For one, there was his full beard and the deeper laugh lines around his mouth. He’d put on more weight, and it looked good on him. His cheeks were fuller, his build slightly huskier. He was no longer the wiry beanpole from high school. But some things remained the same, like the beauty mark above his left eyebrow and the scar on his chin from when he’d fallen during a game.
In today’s day and age, it was easy to keep tabs on someone without actually ever talking to them, but as far as Violet could tell, Xavier had zero social media presence. Through her parents, she knew that he still lived in Willow Ridge and that he was teaching at the high school. For some reason, Dahlia often felt the need to inform Violet of Xavier’s existence every time she ran into him at the supermarket or a town event.
“He’s so handsome and kind,” Dahlia often said. Then she’d go on and on about what a difference Xavier was making with the high school students, like she hadn’t called him a menace to Violet’s education when they’d been high school students themselves.
Whenever Dahlia mentioned Xavier, Violet feigned nonchalance and tried her best to ignore the prick in her chest. But now that she and Xavier were face to face, she had proof that her mom had been telling the truth. He was still handsome.
She stared at him, fumbling for something to say.
What do you have to be nervous for? You are that girl. Act like it.
“It’s nice to see you,” she said. Her voice took on a cool level of indifference. Her easy smile required a mountain of effort. “What brings you to Vegas?”
“I won a raffle for a free room at the hotel.” His voice was deeper. Another change. He smiled a little and shrugged. “Celebrating my birthday.”
“Oh, right,” she said, as if she’d forgotten that his birthday had passed just a few days ago on January twelfth. “Happy belated.”
“Thank you.” He was staring at her so intently, her cheeks were beginning to burn under his gaze. “I’m guessing you’re here for work? With Karamel Kitty?”
Ah. He might not have been on social media, but someone had apparently been keeping tabs.
“Yes.” She nodded, even though that was unnecessary because she’d just said yes. “About to go to the club, actually.”
“Oh shit, us too!” Raheem said.
“Oh, really?” Violet glanced over her shoulder, hoping to see Alex or Edwin. Even Karina’s surly bodyguard would do right now. Anyone to pull her away and put an end to this encounter. “Cool.”
“You look beautiful, Vi,” Xavier blurted.
Her gaze snapped back to him. Hearing him say her nickname so softly threatened her mask of composure. She watched his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed, his jaw working as his eyes quickly swept over her. She saw the moment that he noticed the X on her hip. He paused, and his eyes widened for a millisecond. Embarrassed, she adjusted her dress once again to cover the exposed skin. Apologies to Valentino Garavani, but she was going to burn this dress the first chance she got. She could only imagine how she looked right now. Walking around in a dress which showed off the tattoo that was dedicated to him!
Yet she was dying to know if he still had his tattoo as well. Pride kept her from asking.
“Thank you,” she finally said, looking away again.
“This is a beautiful thing.” Raheem put his arms around Violet and Xavier and pulled them into a group hug. “The old crew back together again like old times. We’re just missing B.”
Violet looked across at Xavier, who stared back at her. The corner of his mouth lifted into an awkward smile. God, this was so weird.
Suddenly, the lobby grew louder, and people pulled out their phones, angling them toward the elevator. Fans began shouting for Karamel Kitty.
“That’s my cue,” Violet said, disentangling herself from the group hug. She glanced at Xavier, struggling to come to terms with the fact that he was really in front of her, flesh and blood. “It was, um, nice to—”
“Wait, Violet, you gotta introduce me to Karamel Kitty,” Raheem said, clasping her hand in his. “Please, she’s my favorite rapper. The second love of my life, after Bianca.”
“Uh.”
“You don’t have to do that,” Xavier said, removing Raheem’s grasp on Violet’s hand. He smiled at her again, and her silly, traitorous heartbeat went on the fritz. “But if you’re ever back in Willow Ridge, maybe we—”
“No, I need to meet her!” Raheem begged. “When will I ever get this chance again?”
Violet shot Raheem an annoyed look. What had Xavier been about to say? If she were back in Willow Ridge, maybe what? More importantly, why did she care?!
The shouts from the crowd grew louder, and Raheem’s hold on Violet’s arm went slack. She turned, and Karina and crew were walking in her direction, flanked by her bodyguard and the additional hotel security. Karina waved and blew kisses to her fans. When she spotted Violet, she threw her arms up like, girl, where the hell have you been?
“Sorry,” Violet said, once Karina plus entourage reached them. “These are old friends from high school, Raheem and Xavier.”
Karina raised an eyebrow, and Violet nodded once. Confirming that yes, this was that Xavier. Karina knew all about Violet’s harrowing bout with first love thanks to that fateful day they’d spent trapped inside the elevator in Dubai.
“How y’all doing?” Karina asked. Raheem’s openmouthed stare could have caught flies as he shook Karina’s hand. Xavier shook Karina’s hand as well, but Violet felt his eyes on her the entire time.
“Okay, we really need to get going,” Edwin said, coming forward.
“Oh, which club y’all going to?” Raheem asked.
“The one in the hotel,” Karina answered. She smirked, like Raheem amused her.
“Same as us! We should go together.”
Raheem suggested this so easily as if he and Karina, a Grammy nominated rapper, had been friends for years and didn’t just meet two seconds ago. Beside him, Xavier grimaced.
Violet and Karina exchanged another glance. Karina furrowed her brows, her way of asking if Violet cared whether or not Xavier and Raheem joined them. Violet would prefer it they did not join them. But she didn’t want to make this situation more awkward by telling them no, especially because Raheem looked so excited.
After she and Xavier had officially ended things all those years ago and Raheem had no real reason to keep in contact with Violet, he’d continued to reach out every once in a while to see how she was doing. Before she’d changed her number to a New York zip code.
In answer, Violet subtly lifted her shoulder and shrugged. Karina blinked once. You sure? Violet cleared her throat. Yep.
“Yeah, you can come,” Karina said. She gestured to Edwin. “Can you add their names to the list, boo?”
Edwin quickly took down Xavier and Raheem’s information, and Violet finally had a chance to break away. She went over to Alex and asked if she’d found the boob tape for Karina, then she asked if the rest of the dresses were ready to be shipped back to her Manhattan studio space in the morning. And all the while, she pretended like she couldn’t feel Xavier watching her.
At the club, she’d make sure to put a fair amount of distance between them. She didn’t have to make a big deal out of this. He’d popped her cherry and had been the object of her hormone crazed teenage affections. So what? It was old news.
After tonight, she’d never have to see Xavier again.
