Ages are as The Proviso opens. The story spans August 2004 – January 2009.
GISELLE COX, 35. PhD in literature whose bookstore burned, leaving her deep in debt with her life’s work gone. She is now struggling with law school and religiously enforced virginity—although not always in that order. She lives with her cousin Sebastian and assists her other cousins in their questionable schemes, which may or may not include accessory to cold-blooded murder.BRYCE KENARD, 38. Knox’s college roommate and a savage of a tort lawyer. His success is all on paper, though: He was reared to do his duty, to tend others’ needs at home, at work, and at church without a break, all the while being deprived of love of any kind. Alone and forgotten, his only real family was Knox—until his wife ruined that for him. Then he lost his beloved children and said wife in a house fire that scarred him forever.Giselle is the Dunham family’s Girl Friday, forklift, physical therapist, advice columnist, grief counselor, fashion consultant, dietitian, English tutor, grad student advisor, moving company, avenging angel, and personal trainer, which she never questions until Bryce comes along—a man who appreciates her for who she is, not what she can do for him, who’s able and willing to protect her from the only people she can’t say no to. The left side of Bryce’s face and body is badly burnt. The scars have left him unrecognizable to those who knew him before his fire, dateable only for his money, and suffering from constant physical pain. His misery has led him to a severe crisis of faith. Then he meets a woman who looks at him the way women did before his fire. Giselle has a long fuse and a short temper, so when a completely amazing savage all wrapped up in bespoke wool and silk blend walks into her workplace, she decides to flirt (badly). When he shoots her down with not a little contempt, then tries to walk it back, she makes her displeasure known with a gun to his head and a hot kiss.The gun is almost as arousing as her kiss, but Bryce has to make sure she’s not faking it. He knows what he looks like and furthermore, he knows that this woman, who is the embodiment of his taste in women—petite, muscular, nice rack, bold and brash, with a mind that can keep up with his—is either an extraordinary actress (probably not) or genuinely interested in him.Challenge accepted.Challenge accepted.
