Running into a man once is an accident. Twice is a coincidence. Three times makes it fate… right?
Unless he is now your grumpy boss who holds the future of your fading dance career in his hands. And you hooked up with him when he was just a mysterious stranger rescuing you…
My life is a hot mess. I’m Dakota Tanner and I speak before I think, I spend before I earn, and I live totally in the moment. Which is why I’m down and out in need of a major life makeover. Cue the hot guy who has it all together and makes my toes curl in bed. Who then disappears before I wake up. When he reappears five months later as head coach of a pro football team he wants a secret romance (aka a no-one-can-ever-know bangfest) while I’m a nanny for his wild-child daughters.
I should say no. But he just might be my one true love … or my biggest mistake yet.
I hadn’t counted on someone being right at the bottom of the railing, pressed against it, holding a drink.
There was no way to stop myself. I tried, attempting to jump off the railing, but my timing was off. I was going too fast, and before I could maneuver, I just plowed into the back of him. As if he had sensed movement behind him, he turned exactly at the moment of collision. My center of gravity was off and I was falling head down.
I took an elbow to the chin.
And a martini in the face.
Vodka went into my mouth. Not bad.
Vodka went up my nose. Not great.
Vodka went in my eye. That freaking sucked. “Ow!”
I grabbed the guy around the midsection and tried to find my feet. My eyes were closed against the blinding, stinging liquid. Damn it. It was a dirty martini. Olive juice on top of vodka really was a bad combination. In my eye, anyway. I licked it off my lips.
“Are you okay?”
I couldn’t see shit, eyes watering viciously and still primarily closed, but I managed to right myself to a standing position. “I think so.”
Except for the fact that a giant manhand was on my face, attempting to wipe away the spilled drink. It almost made me lose my balance all over again.
I took a step back to escape the swiping.
“Dakota?”
The man knew my name. Thank God. That would be way less embarrassing than running into a total stranger. Unless it was the landlord because I owed him two hundred bucks. I wasn’t sure I was ever going to know because my eyes were still stinging and I had zero visibility. But I used my knuckle and dried my tears.
My words died when I realized who this guy was.
It was him.
Brandon.
The man who had helped me escape my surprise wedding and taken me ice-skating at Rockefeller Center.
Standing there in a navy button-up shirt over tight black jeans that showed off his muscular build. Looking big and broad and sexy as hell. His eyes were wide in recognition.
“Dakota,” he murmured again, this time without question.
His tone was so pleased, so sensual, so intimate, like we had shared something more than one hot kiss under the mistletoe, that I nearly had an orgasm listening to him.
“It’s you,” I said, because I’ve always wanted to say that. They do it in movies all the time, and never, ever, in real life is there an opportunity to say something as dramatic as “it’s you.” But this was my chance and I took it. I had been absolutely sure I would never see this man again and yet, here he was standing in front of me.
USA Today and New York Times bestselling author Erin McCarthy sold her first book in 2002 and has since written over seventy-five novels and novellas in the romance and mystery genres. Erin has a special weakness for high-heeled boots, martinis, and Frank Sinatra. She lives with her renovation-addicted husband (he built her a bar, so it’s all good!) and their blended family of kids and rescue dogs.
When the idea for a new script brings Hollywood actor Kelan Hunter to the Wine & Chocolate Festival in the small town of Sweetland Valley, MD, sparks fly with the charming candy shop owner who has a list of reasons for why their love isn’t meant to be.
Ruthlessly organized Sydni Murray’s life goal checklist was derailed after her broken engagement last Valentine’s Day. Now, with the holiday fast approaching again and the town’s biggest chocolate festival on the horizon, she must put her biases about love on the backburner. Until Kelan walks into her shop with his model good looks and a box of his grandparents’ love letters that melt her heart.
But happy ever after may not be in the cards for the couple as Sydni’s in danger of losing her shop and Kelan’s plan to stay in Sweetland is threatened by an unbelievable career opportunity.
Syd hated memories. They crowded her mind more often than she wanted. Uninvited, unwelcome and oftentimes unbelievable. Closing her eyes, she leaned forward until her forehead touched the glass.
“You can try again,” her mother’s voice sounded softly from behind. “Remember you fell off that pretty pink bicycle the day after your daddy bought it for you?”
She didn’t have to turn around to know her mother walked further into the kitchen, going over to the stove area to do something that pertained to the dinner they were all waiting to have.
“I stood on the front porch watching you, my heart beating frantically for fear you’d hurt yourself. I would’ve preferred he’d bought you the dollhouse you’d circled in that catalog that came in the mail. But your daddy said no, it was time for you to learn how to ride and you did. No matter how many times you fell. Your little knees took a beating that summer.”
And so had her pride but she hadn’t given up. She’d finally mastered riding that bike without ever needing the training wheels and when Iman and all the other kids on the block got up early in the morning and set out to roam the town on their bikes three weeks later, Syd had been with them. She was the youngest of the bunch but determined to keep up.
“Life’s not really like riding a bike, Mama. I know it’s a nice sounding cliché, but it doesn’t actually apply to all situations.”
“I don’t know. You’ve opened a store and run it successfully for five years since coming home from Germany. I’d say you got back on that bike after the fall and started riding again.”
Syd sighed because that was something to be proud of, she just hated that the proclamation always came on the heels of thinking about the heart wrenching events that led up to her doing that great thing.
Turning, she walked over to the refrigerator, opened it and pulled out the pitcher of fresh brewed sweet tea her mother always kept chilling. “But I’ve never tried falling in love again.” Those words seemed to echo throughout the kitchen as she set the pitcher on the counter and opened the cabinet above to grab a glass.
Claudia kept on moving. “Now, I didn’t say anything about falling in love. All I said was the movie star guy was handsome and he was coming to the luncheon tomorrow. I’m not cupid, nor do I meddle in matchmaking anybody.”
She was glad she hadn’t been sipping from her glass of sweet tea when her mother spoke those blasphemous words. Claudia and Odell did more matchmaking in Sweetland than Marabelle did gossiping. The thought made her smile as she poured the tea and took a slow sip. Delicious as always. Her mother knew just the right amount of lemon and sugar to add to rival any bottled brand on the grocery store shelves.
“And you’re going to be at the luncheon anyway, so you might as well be nice to him. He’s a tourist and you know we’re a hospitable bunch here in Sweetland. Besides, Odell thinks he might be here to make a movie. Wouldn’t that be something? A movie about Sweetland.”
Claudia kept right on talking, while Syd leaned her backside against the counter, sipping her tea. Kelan had said he was writing a script, something he’d never done before, about a love story no doubt. That was the part that had pricked something inside her. He wanted to write a love story and aside from Valentine’s Day being her most lucrative season, Syd didn’t want anything to do with love. Not after being dumped on the sweetest holiday five years ago. So what were the odds that he’d come into her shop of all places in town and ask her about his grandmother’s letter.
It wasn’t chance or fate or anything like that because Syd didn’t believe in such things. She lived her life by her planner and relied only on that which she could predict and work toward making a reality. Anything else was foolishness and a waste of time. Like standing here thinking about a guy she didn’t know who was going to leave town just as quickly as he’d showed up. When her tea was finished so were her thoughts about Kelan Hunter, at least that’s what she’d intended.
Lacey Baker, a Maryland native, lives with her husband, three children, two grandchildren and English Bulldog in what most would call Suburban America–a townhouse development where everybody knows each other and each other’s kids. Family cook-outs, reunion vacations, and growing up in church have all inspired Lacey to work towards her dreams and to write about the endurance of family and the quest to find everlasting love. To date she has written in several genres including small town romance, YA paranormal (as Artist Arthur), a cozy mystery series titled Rumors and adult paranormal (as A.C. Arthur).
Title: Love in the City Author: Anthology Genre: Romantic Comedy
Get ready for thirteen heart pounding and laugh out loud rom-coms from thirteen bestselling and award winning authors, including Amazon chart toppers and USA Today bestsellers. Filled with mystery, second chances, soulmates, brother’s best friends, bad boys, nobility, and the cute guy in the cubicle next to you, these stories will captivate you and leave you wishing for more.
Download this limited edition box set while you can and indulge in these sweet and sexy leading men and strong and beautiful heroines while they fall in love in cities around the world.
Sariah Wilson – All’s Fair in Love and War Becky Monson -The Love Potion Jennifer Peel – Love the One You’re With Kirsty Greenwood – Love Will Save the Day Whitney Dineen – Love for Sale Aven Ellis – Love, the Viscount, & Me Shari L. Tapscott – Little Lost Love Letter Lucy McConnell – Love: Going Up? Kate O’Keeffe – A Very English Love Story Erin Huss – Love, Lies, and Limo Rides Melissa Baldwin – Thanks for the Love Stephanie Fowers – Love at the Masquerade Kathryn R. Biel – Vision of Love
