Clarissa, We made a pact many years ago. If we were both single by the time we were thirty we'd just do ourselves a favor and marry each other. It seemed logical to marry your best friend if nothing else worked out. Back then, we were both so young, the whole world was our oyster, and we had such big plans. Thirty seemed so old, so far away. Of course, I'd be married with kids by the time I was thirty. Jeez, how wrong could I have been?

Here I was, at twenty-nine, no ring on my finger and heading back to my hometown. The world had given me a good beating and I needed a place to lick my wounds for a bit. Imagine my surprise when I saw a bar called The Black Swan. Cole had once dreamed of buying a bar and naming it that. Surely, not. Cole wouldn't still be in this forgotten town.

But Fate is a funny thing.

It is Cole's bar!

Even more incredible, he lives in the same building I just moved into... and Cole has grown into what can only be termed a hunk of a man. A blindingly gorgeous, dreamy hunk of a man, who must surely have been snapped by some woman by now.

Nope. Turns out not. He's as firmly single as I am.

Still, he is my best friend, so the pact remains in the shadows of my mind, only half-remembered. No doubt he's forgotten all about it though. Not that I can blame him, we were only kids.

Then the unthinkable happens, and Cole comes to my rescue. Not only does he remember our pact, he wants to make it official. He wants to put a ring on my finger!

Maybe the universe is finally smiling down on me, and maybe, just maybe, Cole and I could make our childhood pact work...