Shiftr: Swipe Left for Love
Jessica
Hope Valley BBW Dating App Romances
ARIANA HAWKES
Copyright ©2016 by Ariana Hawkes
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events and businesses is purely coincidental.
This is a standalone, full length novel. At 42,000 words, it’s the second longest in the series. It contains plenty of romance, heat, and a beautiful HEA of course!
Also by Ariana Hawkes
Shiftr: Hope Valley Dating App Romances
Shiftr: Swipe Left for Love – Book 1 (Dina)
Shiftr: Swipe Left for Love – Book 2 (Kristin)
Shiftr: Swipe Left for Love – Book 3 (Melissa)
Shiftr: Swipe Left for Love – Book 4 (Andrea)
Shiftr: Swipe Left for Love – Book 5 (Lori)
Shiftr: Swipe Left for Love – Book 6 (Adaira)
Shiftr: Swipe Left for Love – Book 7 (Timo)
Shiftr: Swipe Left for Love – Book 8 (Jessica)
Shiftr: Swipe Left for Love – Book 9 (Ryzard)
Winter Bear Shifter Romances
Bear Home for Christmas
Bear Mine for Christmas
Bear My Perfect Gift
Ravished by the Ice Palace Pack
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A 4.5-star rated, comedy romance featuring one kickass roller derby chick, two scorching-hot Alphas, and the naughty nip that changed their lives forever.
The only thing missing from Aspen Richardson’s life is a man who will love her just the way she is. In the small town she calls home, bullies from the past remain, making her wonder if it's ever going to happen. But, things are about to change in a major way, as the secret Aspen’s parents have been keeping from her comes out…
“This book definitely needs to be added to your MUST read list – you will quickly fall in love with this steamy and fast paced story.”
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Contents
Also by Ariana Hawkes
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Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
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A bonus story by Ariana Hawkes
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Chapter One
“Jessica, I’m just popping out to meet an old friend for a spot of lunch. You’ll be okay holding the fort here, won’t you?” Tamika called, striding over to her niece’s desk in the Shiftr office. Jessica jumped. She’d been so absorbed in the piece of code she was writing that Tamika’s voice startled her.
“W-what? You’re leaving me here, by myself?” she stuttered. Tamika perched on the edge of Jessica’s desk and stroked her long dark hair.
“Of course, dear.”
“But, what do I do if people come in?” Tamika chuckled.
“Well, you probably know your way around the app better than I do. So, if a guy comes in – hold on, you do know how to recognize a shifter, don’t you?”
“I’m not sure. I mean, I think I can tell like 80% of the time, but there’s a chance I might make a mistake.” Tamika shook her head.
“Don’t worry, it’ll come. In the meantime, you can get them to authenticate themselves using their thumbprint, and that will give you the answer instantly. If they turn out to be a human, don’t panic, but get their details and call me immediately. If they’re a shifter, sit them down and explain how the app works. Help them to fill out their personal information. Explain that they should take their time answering the personality questions and try to be as honest as possible. Tell them that it might take a little while to find their perfect match, so they shouldn’t get frustrated if she’s not right there the first time they log on to the app. And tell them to feel free to call or drop by the office any time if they want to discuss their matches.” As Tamika spoke, Jessica was getting paler and paler, her brown eyes huge behind her oversized glasses.
“Auntie Tamika, I’m not sure if I can do this. I mean, I’m not a people person. I’m not good at being charming and putting people at their ease like you are.”
“Oh, honey,” Tamika said, trying to suppress a smile. “Just be yourself. You’ve got a lovely personality. You’re the brainiest, kindest, most sarcastic person I know.” Jessica’s forehead wrinkled.
“But what if I say something dumb, and lose you a client?” This time, Tamika threw her head back and gave in to a bray of laughter.
“There’s nothing you could say to put them off, trust me. The shifters who come here are very keen to find a mate. And no-one else offers the service that we do. We’ve got what you could call a captive market.”
“Okay. I’ll bear that in mind,” Jessica said nervously. “And what if a woman comes in?”
“Just take as many details as possible from her, and say we’ll get back to her. And then call me. Humans have no idea that this office exists, so an unknown female walking in here is a very bad sign, and could mean that the shifter secret is at risk of being discovered.”
“Right, right,” Jessica muttered, mentally noting everything down.
“Okay, I’ve got to run,” Tamika said, hopping off the desk and striding to the office door. “But you’ll be fine, I promise. If it comes to the worst, you can just tell them that you’re filling in for me.”
“Have fun,” Jessica called, as Tamika hurtled through the door like a whirlwind, leaving it to slam shut behind her.
Jessica stared at her screensaver and puffed out her cheeks. She’d only been working for her aunt for six weeks, and she was terrified that she was going to mess something up.
“Cripes,” she muttered to herself. Tamika didn’t understand how unprepared she really was. Computers, she could understand. They were predictable, and if they went wrong, there was always a logical explanation. People, on the other hand, were a different story. It wasn’t that she was a loner; she’d just never had a customer-facing job before. Well, there was that one time when she’d worked in a really busy bar when she was in college, and people had been yelling orders at her, and she’d got flustered and overwhelmed, and given them the wrong drinks. It had been a disaster, and she’d run off at the end of the night without even waiting to find out if the manager was going to give her any more shifts. Her cheeks burned at the memory. After that, she decided to put her self-taught computer skills to good use, and she worked freelance for fellow students and the university admin department, and she wound up graduating without any student debt at all. Then she spent a few years working at tech companies in her native London, before Tamika called her and told her about the app she was developing, and offered her a job. Jessica hadn’t known her eccentric aunt too well. There was a fam
ily joke that she’d married a werewolf and been whisked off to the southern states of America, abandoning all of her family and friends. But that was all she knew of her. Jessica had always felt like a bit of a misfit among her family. They were louder, thinner, and all worked in old-school professions, as doctors or lawyers. They couldn’t understand why she’d ‘thrown away’ her law degree to work with computers. She was intrigued by her ‘misfit’ aunt, and she’d always wanted to work in the US, so she said yes to the job immediately. When she arrived in Hope Valley, she’d found Tamika to be warm, friendly and utterly loveable.
The intercom buzzed from the reception desk and Jessica almost jumped out of her skin. She pushed her chair back, got to her feet and stumbled over to answer it.
“C-can I help you?” she stuttered into the phone.
“Hi there,” A deep, rumbly voice said. “I’ve – uh – been having problems opening the app on my phone. I was hoping you could help me with it?” Jessica’s heartbeat slowed. Technical problems. Of course I can help with that.
“Sure thing. Come up to the fourth floor,” she said in the most sophisticated tone she could muster, and pressed the buzzer to let him in.
She shuffled behind the reception desk, trying to look professional, but she felt weird being there. Her hands twitched as she rested them on the desk, unsure what to do with them. The door swung open and a tall, heavy-set man strode in, wearing a lumberjack shirt and dungarees. Bear, she thought, keen to hone her shifter identification skills. Forehead screwed up in frustration, he yanked his phone from his back pocket and thrust it toward her.
“Hi, miss. Are you the one I was speaking to down there?”
“Yes,” she replied, in a small voice, her throat suddenly constricted. She gulped. “Yes, that’s me. What’s the problem with the phone?” He stabbed a thick finger at the home button and the screen illuminated.
“The app keeps getting jammed. I was talking to a pretty sweet lady last night, and it suddenly stopped working and I couldn’t get any further.” He scratched his head, as if the whole thing was far beyond his comprehension.
“Let me just take a look at it,” she said, mentally high-fiving herself as the app confirmed that he was in fact a bear.
It only took her a minute to figure out what was wrong, and, as she’d suspected, it had nothing to do with the app at all. He’d downloaded some rogue app that had tricked his phone into thinking it was full, when it actually wasn’t.
“Where did you get this app from?” she asked, pointing to a little square with a silhouette of a devil on it.
“Uh, I don’t know,” he said slowly. “Maybe it got sent to me in an email?” She worked fast to uninstall it. Then she ran a virus sweep, and when it came back clear, she handed the phone back to him.
“That’s all done for you. I just removed the app and your phone should be back to normal now. In future, be careful downloading anything from an email from someone you don’t know. They can steal your data and your identity. Only use the official app store in future, okay?” He opened the app, and when he was satisfied that it was working again, he grinned.
“Sure thing, little lady. Thanks.”
“Anytime,” she replied and watched his retreating back as he left the office.
When he was gone, she gave a little jump in the air. I’ve served a customer! I didn’t screw it up! I can do this! Excitement fizzed in her chest. She’d been feeling like a loser ever since that bartending episode – and this was the first time she’d worked with a customer since. Maybe it was the drunken, aggressive people who were the problem, and not me? she mused, pushing her glasses up higher on her nose.
Jessica went back to her desk and returned to her work, the confidence boost she’d just gained making her work faster than usual. The office was blissfully quiet for fifteen minutes, but then the buzzer went again as she was just finishing up her project. She sprinted across the room and lifted the receiver.
“Hello there,” a rich, velvety voice intoned. “Is this the office of Shiftr?”
“Can I help you?” she replied.
“There are two of us here. Bears. And we’re interested in signing up to your app.”
“Because we’re looking for our mate,” another, rougher, deeper voice cut in.
“Ok, come on up,” Jessica said, pressing the button. She breathed deeply, unsuccessfully trying to slow her pulse rate. Working with a customer who had a technical problem was fine and she was pleased with her success, but serving customers who wanted to sign up to the app was a completely different challenge! She’d have to be charming and predisposing – and she didn’t know how to do that. Her heart seemed to be doing cartwheels inside her and she was panicking very badly when the door opened.
She stared at the two men who had just walked in. No way! her brain screamed, and she blinked hard. It was like seeing a ghost from her past. Two tall, very handsome ghosts to be exact.
“Christian? Lucas? Oh my god!” was all she was able to say.
“Jessica?” they replied, shock and then pleasure lighting both their faces.
“Is this really you?” Christian, the taller of the two guys said in his deep baritone, coming towards her, hands held out.
“Yes, it’s me!” she said, laughing. She caught at his hands, but he pulled her into a hug, holding her tight against his broad chest. His embrace was gentle, but she still felt like all the breath had been knocked out of her. When he released her, she went to the other guy.
“Lucas! I can’t believe it!” she exclaimed, wrapping her arms around his waist. They were the same, yet so different from the two guys she’d known years ago. Lucas drew back and held her at arms’ length.
“Jessica! I never thought I’d see you again. I feel like I’m dreaming. You look amazing! You haven’t changed a bit.” Jessica giggled.
“I’m sure that’s not true.” She looked at him carefully, then at Christian.
“You’ve both changed a little, I guess,” she said.
“That’s the benefit of ten years’ extra maturity,” Lucas replied with a boyish grin. “What are you doing here in the US?”
“I got a job. I’m living here long term. Maybe forever!” she said, face glowing with all the emotions flooding through her – shock, disbelief and happiness.
“That’s unbelievable!” Christian cut in. “All of us coming here, to this one small town, out of the entire states. It has to be fate!”
“Or a very fortunate coincidence,” she agreed, laughing. The three of them kept looking at each other and laughing, unable to process the fact that they were seeing each other.
“Come sit down,” Jessica said, once the initial shock had died down, and she showed them over to the seating area where Tamika always interviewed her clients.
“So, what are you guys doing at Shiftr?” she asked. And then she clapped her hand over her mouth. “You’re bears. I just heard you say it, but I was so shocked that I instantly forgot.” They laughed.
“Yes we are,” Christian said. “That’s why our parents took us out of high school in London –” He stopped as Jessica’s expression became pained.
“You just disappeared one day,” she said, the memory of the hurt and confusion evident in her voice. Lucas laid a large, long-fingered hand on her knee.
“We didn’t have any choice in the matter. Our parents made us leave in the middle of the night. We were as shocked as you must have been.”
“We came home from school one day as normal,” Christian said. “We did our homework, chatted to you on the phone for hours –” Jessica giggled, recalling the ridiculous amount of time the three of them had spent on the phone together in their teens. “We went to bed. And in the middle of the night, our parents woke us up and said we had to leave. Our suitcases were already packed for us, and they said they’d get the rest of our stuff shipped over. We were hustled into a taxi and the next thing we knew, we were on a plane to the US. It was a huge shock.”
“Our parent
s wouldn’t explain the full details to us, but they said it had something to do with the fact that we were shape shifters,” Lucas continued. “They said we couldn’t call any of our friends in London, because if anyone found out where we were, our friends’ lives could be in danger. We wanted to call you so bad. And a couple of times, I even snuck out to a public phone booth and dialed your number, but at the last second, I couldn’t do it. I was so scared that something bad could happen to you.”
Jessica discovered that her eyes were wet with tears, the memories of losing her two best friends as abruptly as they were describing so sharp in her mind.
“I thought you didn’t care about me,” she blurted out. “The next day, the class teacher announced that you’d left, which is how I found out. But she didn’t know where you’d gone. Nobody else knew either. It was like you’d been abducted. I was so worried. But I kept thinking that you’d get a message to me somehow.” Lucas took her hand.
“It was because we cared about you, so much, that we never got in touch. Because we didn’t want to risk your safety.” She nodded.
“I understand that now.” She took her glasses off and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. Then she gave a bark of laughter. “The rest of that year, I was in such a mess. I failed my end-of-year exams. It wasn’t until the summer holidays that I started to process everything and understand that you weren’t coming back.” Both men’s eyes were full of pain.
“I’m so sorry, Jessica,” Lucas said. “I hate the thought that you suffered like that because of us – actually, because of our parents. Even now, I don’t understand why it had to be such an urgent departure. I know it was because there was a real risk that our identities were going to be discovered. But snatching us away like that in the middle of the night? Please!”
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