On a Tuesday

by Whitney G.

  Our art was displayed in over twenty international hotels, and we were receiving design requests from corporate businesses by the hundreds. We also had a new, twenty-year contract with the National Football League to paint ten-foot portraits of each season’s MVP.

  “Are you guys still open?” a soft voice called across the showroom.

  I set down a box and headed downstairs. “No, we’re actually about to—Nadira?” I walked over and hugged her. “What are you doing here?”

  “I wanted to buy some of your art.”

  “You hate my art.”

  She laughed. “No, I hated your last collection. I love everything else.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming into town?” I asked. “I could have made dinner reservations.”

  “I’ll remember that next time.”

  “Did you fly all the way here because you really think I won’t tell Grayson I’m pregnant?” I asked. “Because I’m going to do it tonight. I promise.”

  She didn’t answer. She simply smiled and walked over to my work-in-progress.

  Before I could ask her how long she’d be in town, my parents walked inside. Then Eric. Then Kyle.

  What the...

  “You all know the hours of my gallery.” I crossed my arms. “You all also know that I’m not done with your orders from this month, so if this is your sneaky way of banding together and forcing me to put your orders in front of my paying customers, then you have another thing coming.”

  Nadira and Eric looked at each other and laughed. My parents shook their heads and gave me their typical, “Oh, Charlotte...”

  “So, wait,” Kyle said. “If that was our intention tonight, does that mean it’s possible that I can get my MVP portrait sooner? Because, I mean, I can totally rethink my presence here and I’ve already cleared the space in my condo for the replica version.”

  Nadira slapped the back of his head.

  “Is it someone’s birthday, then?” I asked, glancing at the calendar on the wall. It was October sixteenth, a Tuesday—and that date didn’t apply to any of their birthdays or milestones.

  They ignored my question and started talking amongst themselves, leaving me beyond confused.

  I pulled out my phone to ask Grayson if I’d somehow forgotten about an important event, but he suddenly walked through the doors, making me lose my train of thought. It still amazed me that after all these years, he was still capable of making me blush at the very sight of him. That I never failed to feel a magnetic pull in his direction when he entered a room.

  “Hey.” I walked over to him and kissed his lips. “Am I forgetting something? Why is everyone here?”

  “Because they all know I was supposed to do this nine years ago.”

  This? I turned around and looked at them, but they were now staring at me.

  “Grayson, what—” I gasped when I turned around and saw him getting down on one knee. His ocean blue eyes were locked on mine, and he looked more nervous now than I’d ever seen him.

  “Charlotte Taylor...” He grabbed my hand and kept his voice low. “The past two years have been the best two years of my life, and I know for a fact that the seven before never felt quite right because you weren’t in the picture.”

  Tears welled in my eyes as he pulled a box from his pocket.

  “I fell in love with you months after we met in college, and I knew then that you were the only one for me.” He squeezed my hand. “You are undoubtedly the love of my life, and I want to be with you forever. I know you always need weeks to give me an answer to my questions, but I’m hoping you’ll make an exception for this one. Will you—”

  “Yes.” I didn’t give him a chance to finish. “Yes.”

  —The End—

  A Letter to the Reader

  DEAR INCREDIBLE READER,

  Thank you so much for taking time out of your life to read this book! I hope you were thoroughly entertained and enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

  If you LOVED it and have any extra time, PLEASE leave a review on amazon.com, B&N.com, goodreads.com, OR find me here on Facebook so I can personally thank you :-) If you hated it, well...Keep that shit to yourself! LOL (Just kidding. Feel free to let me know how I can improve next time!)

  I’m forever grateful for you and your time, and I hope to be re-invited to your bookshelf with my next release. Speaking of my next release, if you would like to be a part of my mailing list so you can be notified of my upcoming release dates and special offers, please sign up via this link.

  Love,

  Whitney G.

  THIRTY DAY BOYFRIEND

  (Don’t forget to pre-order my next release!)

  Pre-order Thirty Day Boyfriend

  I SHOULD'VE NEVER AGREED to this arrangement...

  Thirty days ago, my boss—Mr. Wolf of Wall Street, came to me with an offer I couldn't refuse: Sign my name on the dotted line and pretend to be his fiancée for one month. If I agreed, he would let me out of my employment contract with a "very generous" severance package.

  The rules were pretty simple: No intimate kissing, no actual sex. Just pretend to love each other for the press, even though I've secretly wanted to knock that sexy smirk off his face since the first day we met.

  I definitely didn't need to think twice about this. I signed my name and started counting down the seconds to when I would never have to deal with his special brand of ass-holery again.

  I only made it to one minute...

  We argued the entire four-hour flight to his hometown, failed to make a convincing impression with the welcoming press, and right when I was about to knock that arrogant look off his face in real life? He purposely dropped his bath towel in front of me, distracting me with his nine-inch cock to "show me who the bigger person was" in our relationship. Then he gave me his trademark smirk once again and asked if I wanted to consummate our marriage.

  Tragically, this is only day one.

  We still have 29 more days to go...

  Pre-order Thirty Day Boyfriend

  SNEAK PEEK:

  SINCERELY, CARTER

  (A Friends to Lovers Romance)

  Synopsis

  Just friends.

  We’re just friends.

  No, really. She’s just my best friend...

  Arizona Turner has been my best friend since fourth grade, even when we “hated” each other. We’ve been there for one another through first kisses, first “times,” and we’ve been each other’s constant when good relationships turned bad. (We even went to colleges that were minutes away from each other...)

  Throughout the years, and despite what anyone says, we’ve never crossed the line.

  Never thought about it.

  Never wanted to.

  Until one night changed everything.

  At least, it should’ve ...

  Just friends.

  We’re just friends.

  I’m only saying this until I figure out if she’s still “just” my best friend...

  Prologue

  Carter

  I CAN STILL REMEMBER, with the type of clarity that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, the very beginning of bullshit. At least, in my own life.

  I was ten years old, and my parents— “The James at 1100 Joyce Avenue,” were holding a fundraiser in our home. In the middle of the thousand-dollar-a-plate dinner, my father decided to give an unnecessary speech.

  There he was—six foot four, genuine American blue eyes, and genuinely greedy, talking about how he wanted to invest in healthier menus for the kids in school. He also wanted to help invest in better disciplinary ideals since he knew of a certain child (it was me) who couldn’t stay out of trouble to save his life.

  Still, none of those ideals warranted the bullshit label—the next ones did: As he was toasting to all of his sponsors in the room, he lifted his glass and said, “I consider everyone here tonight to be a friend of mine. If you’re not a friend, it’s only because you’re family, and family
is forever. The main reason I’m saying this right now is because my own late father taught me a very important lesson that has stuck with me for all these years: Some people come into your life for a reason, some a season, and some a lifetime.”

  There was loud applause, lots of cheering and heartfelt “So true...So true...” responses tossed around the room at that moment. And then an older man stooped down to my level and said, “Your father is right, you know? Remember everything he just said.”

  “What did he just say?”

  “He said some people come into your life for a reason, some a season, and some a lifetime.” He smiled. “You should keep that in mind as much as you can in your life.” He winked at me and walked away.

  I didn’t know it then, but my father and his fickle follower had practically predicted my future...

  A few years after he gave that speech, he must’ve figured he’d obliged his “reason” in me and my mom’s life because he left us both. Several years after that, my mother decided her “season” of motherhood was done, and decided that she was tired of being a mom—that her real calling could be found in smoke bars and casinos. As far as for ‘a lifetime,’ I could only think of one person who ever came close...

  Fourth Grade

  Carter

  DEAR MISS CARPENTER,

  I am sorry that I was bad in class yesterday. I did not mean to cause a dissrupshun, and I am sorry that I broke your best pens, but I am not sorry that I HATE Arizona Turner.

  She is ugly and she talks way too much. I don’t know why you never send her to the office like you send me. She deserves to be punish too, and I hope she dies tomorrow so I won’t have to see her or her ugly metal mouth anymore.

  Sincerely,

  Carter

  I SMILED AND HANDED the letter to my mom, hoping that this time would be the charm—that she wouldn’t make me rewrite it all over again.

  I was beyond tired of Arizona getting me into trouble and laughing about it. She thought she was so smart because she knew the answers to all the questions in class, but I knew them, too. Especially because I knew where our teacher kept the answer key and I always stole it at lunchtime.

  My parents knew her parents personally because they always had to go to conferences about me “picking on her” and “making her cry,” but no one believed me when I told them that she was the one who started it.

  She always started it...

  “Carter...” My mom took a deep breath and shook her head. “This is a terrible letter. It’s worse than the last three you wrote.”

  “How? I didn’t call Arizona any names this time. I just said I wanted her to die.”

  “You don’t think you’re hurting her feelings whenever you call her ugly?”

  “She is ugly.”

  “She’s not ugly.” My father stepped into the room. “Now, those braces in her mouth might be, but as a whole? She’s pretty cute.”

  “Seriously?” My mom glared at him, and he laughed.

  “Sorry.” He walked over and patted me on the back. “It’s not nice to call someone ugly, son. No matter how much you hate her. You’ve got to stop letting this Arizona girl get to you. This is the fifth time this year you’ve gotten in trouble.”

  “Eighth time.” My mother corrected him. “He pushed her off the swings when she was in mid-air last week.”

  My father looked at me. “And what did you do this time?”

  I didn’t answer him. I looked down at the floor instead.

  “He stood up in the middle of a math test and said, I hate you, Arizona,” my mom said. “He then proceeded to grab the poor girl’s test paper, ball it up, and throw it across the room. He missed and knocked his teacher’s favorite glass pens to the floor.”

  Shaking his head, my dad sighed. “Just stop talking to this girl, okay? Don’t even look her way. You’re going to have to learn to ignore her, no matter what. Something tells me she won’t be a ‘lifetime’ person for you anyway. She’s just seasonal, so she’ll go away soon. Trust me.”

  “Glad to see you finally acting like an adult about this.” My mom ripped my letter in half and focused her attention on me. “Now, sit down and write a nice letter to your teacher, an even nicer one to Arizona, and tell her that you’re not going to be mean to her anymore. Try to think of something nice to say, too. Maybe mention something about those pretty dresses she always wears?”

  I groaned, but I picked up my pen and wrote.

  It took me five more letters to get it right since she made me take out the words “stupid,” “hate,” and “die,” but I finally got it perfect around midnight. Then I promised myself that after I gave Arizona my letter tomorrow, I would never ever speak to her again.

  THE NEXT DAY AT SCHOOL, I set the sorry note on my teacher’s desk super early and walked down the farthest row—plopping down in the very last seat. Then I took out my homework and tried to finish a few more math questions before class started.

  I counted four times seven on my fingers and saw Arizona taking the seat next to me.

  “Good morning, Carter,” she said.

  I pretended that I didn’t hear her.

  “Carter?” She tapped my shoulder and I wrote twenty- eight on my paper.

  “Hello?” She tapped my shoulder even harder. “Carter? Carter?”

  “WHAT?!” I finally looked at her.

  “Don’t you have something for me today? Something nice and important?” She smiled her huge mouth of metal.

  Ugh. She’s so ugly... “Nope.”

  “Your mom didn’t make you write me another ‘I’m very sorry’ note?” She crossed her arms. “Because that’s exactly what she told my mom on the phone this morning.”

  “Well, your mom must be deaf and dumb because I didn’t write anything for you.”

  “What?” She gasped. “Take that back or I’ll snitch!”

  “Go ahead and snitch!” I shrugged, waiting for her to raise her hand and tell on me like always.

  She didn’t. She just stared at me. Then she reached into her pocket and tossed a folded note onto my desk.

  I wanted to crumple it into a ball and throw it right at her face like I should have done yesterday, but I opened it instead and read.

  DEAR CARTER,

  I am sorry that I made you act bad and break Miss Carpenter’s pens yesterday, but I am not sorry that I HATE you. You are ugly and you talk way too much. That’s why I always get you in trouble because you can’t shut up and you think you know everything BUT YOU DON’T! I really wish you will get hit by a bus one day soon because you suck. You suck A LOT.

  Not Sincerely,

  Arizona

  WE BECAME BEST FRIENDS that very day...

  If you’re interested in reading Carter & Arizona’s love story in its entirety, you can purchase the full title via the link below:

  Sincerely, Carter is currently available on all platforms.

  ALSO BY WHITNEY G.

  Erotic Romances:

  Dirty Doctor: A Novella*

  Naughty Boss: A Novella

  The Layover: A Novella

  The Landing: A Novella*

  Reasonable Doubt (Full Series)

  Turbulence

  Malpractice*

  Contemporary Romances

  Resisting the Boss (A Falling for Mr. Statham Novel)

  Loving the Boss (A Falling for Mr. Statham Novel)

  Over Us, Over You (Twisted Love)*

  On a Tuesday: A Second Chance Romance*

  New Adult Romances

  Sincerely, Carter

  Sincerely, Arizona

  Forget You, Ethan*

  The Beautiful Series*

  *denotes that title is available for pre-order and/or an upcoming release

 

 

 
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