Operation Valentine
Page 1
About the Book
From the author of the bestselling The Girl in Steel-Capped Boots and One Little White Lie, comes a laugh-out-loud romantic comedy about dating in the modern world …
“Once upon a time, there was a young girl called Sarah Dubert who needed to fall in love in six weeks …”
Thanks to food poisoning, broken dates, airport malfunctions and even death, Sarah Dubert has never had a boyfriend on Valentine’s Day. However this year she’s determined to break the curse and snare herself a man before Big V. Signing herself up to the online dating site Soulmates.com, she begins eliminating possible candidates through dates at her favourite bar, The Blue Saloon …
Owen Black, the handsome new owner of The Blue Saloon, likes his women fast, experienced and temporary. A woman on a mission to find love – particularly one with a six-week deadline – would normally have him running for the hills. So why is he so uncharacteristically interested in Sarah’s search? And, more importantly, the success of her dates …?
Contents
Cover
About the Book
Title Page
Dedication
Chapter 1: Week 1, Day 1: Strategising
Chapter 2: Week 1, Day 1: Tactical Considerations
Chapter 3: Week 1, Day 2: Initialisation
Chapter 4: Week 1, Day 2: Profiling
Chapter 5: Week 1, Day 3: First Contact
Chapter 6: Week 2, Day 1: Loading Supplies
Chapter 7: Week 2, Day 3: Date 2
Chapter 8: Week 3, Day 2: Date 3
Chapter 9: Week 3, Day 2: Realisation
Chapter 10: Week 3, Day 3: Intervention
Chapter 11: Week 5, Day 2: The Test
Chapter 12: Week 5, Day 2: Ambush
Chapter 13: Week 6, Day 1: Valentine’s Day
Chapter 14: Week 6, Day 1: A Happily Ever After?
Chapter 15: Week 10, Day 2: Aftermath
About the Author
The Maxwell Sisters
More Random Romance
Wanting Mr Wrong
Lovelorn
Bet On It
Copyright Notice
Loved the book?
For Todd,
Happy anniversary, darling.
It’s been the best ten years of my life.
Chapter 1
Week 1, Day 1: Strategising
‘Okay, ladies.’ Amy, the brunette with the pixie haircut, raised her wine glass. ‘It’s the first week of January. What’s your New Year’s resolution?’
‘Buy less clothes, save more money,’ her friend Mia immediately announced, causing the third girl at the table to groan.
‘Wasn’t that your resolution last year?’
Mia flicked her long blonde hair over one shoulder and said with a sideways glance, ‘Last year I’d just started a new job, Sarah. I needed to look good. We all knew it wasn’t going to happen.’
‘Mia, you work at a bank,’ Sarah protested, lifting her own glass and taking a sip. ‘You have a uniform.’
Mia stuck out her tongue. ‘All right then, smarty-pants. What’s your New Year’s resolution?’
Sarah set her wine glass on the table with a smile that also lit up her wide blue eyes. ‘To have fun, like we’re doing right now.’
It was a Thursday night after work and the three women had chosen to meet at their usual hangout and favourite bar in Perth, The Blue Saloon.
‘Come on,’ Amy scoffed. She was, by far, the most opinionated of the group and was not going to let an opportunity to have her say go by. ‘That’s too easy. It’s not a real resolution unless you’re changing something about yourself.’
‘Seriously?’ Sarah dropped her chin into her palm. ‘Well, I suppose I could start exercising more.’
‘Borring.’ Mia sang the word in mock disapproval. ‘Besides, it’s not like you need to lose weight or anything. Your wardrobe could use some TLC though. Want any help?’
Sarah chuckled. It was clear that if Mia was buying less clothes for herself this year then she was going to require someone else to help her get her fix.
‘Okay.’ Sarah held up her hands in mock fear. ‘Stop looking at me like a new project. Besides, slimming down isn’t the only reason people exercise, you know. I might want to improve my fitness.’
Mia snorted. ‘They all say that, but it’s not true.’
‘Forget exercise,’ Amy interrupted. ‘What really needs a shake-up is Sarah’s love life.’
Sarah coughed. ‘What love life?’
‘Exactly.’ Amy poked her. ‘Why not make it your New Year’s resolution this year to fall in love?’
Sarah rubbed her arm where Amy had jabbed her but didn’t say anything. As much as she hated to admit it, the thought of falling in love sounded wonderful. She hadn’t had a steady relationship for a couple of years straight and independence was starting to feel more like loneliness every day.
‘Maybe,’ she said finally. ‘But isn’t falling in love more to do with luck and chance than premeditation?’
Amy blew her fringe out of her eyes. ‘Not if you’re continually dating all the wrong men.’
‘Okay, so I’m not that good at meeting guys.’ Sarah winced. ‘But a New Year’s resolution isn’t going to fix that.’
‘No …’ Amy’s dismal expression didn’t take long to brighten. ‘What you need is a structured plan!’
Sarah blinked. ‘A what?’
The problem was, Amy had graduated from the University of Western Australia as a mathematician. She worked for the Australian Bureau of Statistics and often considered life a series of numbers and equations waiting to be solved. ‘Your problem,’ she said at length, ‘is that in the past you haven’t looked further afield than your own friendship group, your acquaintances and the bars you frequent. At the bureau –’
‘Here we go.’ Sarah nodded to Mia, who unfortunately turned out to be listening with rapt attention. Sarah sighed.
‘At the bureau,’ Amy said again, ‘we collect data from a broad variety of sources. If you keep going back to the same place and the same lousy demographic, you’ll get poor results. It’s a fact. You need a bigger pool but a tighter net.’
Sarah rolled her eyes. ‘And how am I supposed to achieve that, Doctor?’
‘I have one word for you,’ Amy announced triumphantly. ‘Soulmates.com.’
‘An internet dating site?’ Sarah gasped.
‘Bingo, baby.’ Amy clapped her hands cheerfully. ‘Why leave love to chance, when you can tailor your next date by occupation, hair colour and height?’
Sarah raised her empty glass and eyed it with dissatisfaction. ‘I need another drink.’
‘Internet dating,’ Amy continued informatively, ‘has worked for heaps of people and made many a happy marriage.’
Sarah glanced at Mia. ‘You’re not buying this, are you?’
‘Well,’ Mia tapped one shiny pink nail to her chin, ‘I heard on the radio this morning that one in three couples who were married last year met online.’
‘Mia, you can’t side with her. You’ve known me since high school. She only came into the picture at uni.’
Mia shrugged apologetically. ‘I’m sorry, I can’t help what I heard.’
‘The statistics speak for themselves.’ Amy put her fist into her palm.
‘What I want to know,’ Sarah scoffed, ‘is how this went from me meeting a man, to me needing a husband.’
‘Falling in love is all about meeting the one, isn’t it?’ Mia responded with a slight air of dreaminess. ‘Why aren’t you open to that?’
‘What makes you think I’m closed to it?’
‘Well, take Valentine’s Day, for example,’ Mia pointed out. ‘Didn’t you tell us last week that you’r
e planning on working through it?’
‘That’s different.’ Sarah folded her arms and pursed her lips.
‘How?’
‘You know Valentine’s Day is a completely different ball game. On that day, I’m cursed.’
In the dysfunctional universe that was Sarah’s love life, Valentine’s Day represented a black hole. She’d never actually had a date for it before.
Like ever.
From high school through to university, she’d always spent the day solo.
Always.
Even the years when she’d had a boyfriend had been lonely.
Travis, the cheat, had dumped her two days before.
Brett had been caught in a snow storm in Alaska and couldn’t get a flight home.
And Jake … Poor, unfortunate Jake had caught swine flu and died a month out.
Mia rolled her eyes. ‘Oh, for goodness’ sake, you are not cursed!’
‘Hello!’ Sarah protested. ‘Somebody died.’
‘Come on, Sarah.’
‘No.’ She held up her hand. ‘For the safety of the male population of Perth, it would be better if I just stayed out of it.’
In fact, she thought herself very cunning to have scheduled the Penwick Pty Ltd Inaugural Charity Ball for Valentine’s Day. When the company’s auditors had raised the issue that the company culture wasn’t doing them any favours, it had been her idea to host a variety of well-publicised charity events to boost their image.
As the Public Relations Manager, it was her job to show the media and their employees that, in actual fact, Penwick Pty Ltd was community orientated, environmentally friendly, sympathetic to those less fortunate and concerned about incurable diseases.
What a laugh!
Nonetheless, so far they’d had a bike marathon, a wine-tasting day, a fair and a concert. This ball was going to be their most lavish event yet and a lovely distraction for her. Thanks to her job, she didn’t have to buy into all the Valentine’s hype except in the name of Cancer Research fundraising.
Alleluia.
‘For the record,’ Amy tapped French-manicured fingernails on the table top, ‘Jake was always a very sickly person. He was allergic to just about everything and anaemic as hell. When you were dating him, he had the mumps and whooping cough before he got swine flu. I’m surprised he didn’t die earlier.’
‘Amy.’
‘I’m sorry, I meant no disrespect.’ She clasped her hands together and looked heavenward. ‘May his soul rest in peace.’ Her gaze returned to Sarah. ‘But this only reinforces my previous point.’
‘Which is what?’ Sarah demanded.
‘You choose all the wrong sorts of guys to date. None of them have had any staying power.’
‘And by that you mean …?’
‘Commitment value.’
‘You’re making this sound like a mathematical problem again.’ Sarah shook her head. ‘I don’t believe it’s as easy as that.’
‘You’re right, it’s simpler,’ Amy gasped excitedly. ‘We could add your Valentine’s Day problem to your New Year’s resolution and achieve two outcomes at the same time.’
‘Now you’re definitely talking crazy.’ Sarah folded her arms again. The conversation was rapidly descending to a place she just did not want to go.
‘Valentine’s Day is in six weeks, right?’ Amy asked Mia who nodded. ‘That’s more than enough time in the dating arena to pull this off.’
‘Pull what off?’
Amy lifted her hand as though writing the words across the skyline. ‘I call it Operation Valentine.’
Sarah flicked her eyes to the ceiling. ‘I call it dumb.’
But Amy was in her element. ‘Once upon a time there was a young girl called Sarah Dubert who needed to fall in love in six weeks. So she gets onto Soulmates.com, finds her prince and together they break the evil Valentine’s Day curse and live happily ever after. See?’ Amy looked around at her friends for kudos. ‘It’s a fairytale waiting to happen.’
‘It’s brilliant,’ Mia breathed.
Sarah’s head jerked up. ‘Are you high?’
‘Maybe a little tipsy,’ Mia conceded. ‘I’ve had two glasses of wine. But I still think this plan could work. Obviously there are a few kinks to iron out.’
‘No, no kinks.’ Sarah made a cutting motion with her hands. ‘No plan either. I’m not getting on Soulmates.com. Period.’
Her two friends turned to her in dismay.
‘Why the hell not?’ Amy demanded. ‘It’s foolproof.’
‘Yeah, like a bucket with six holes.’
‘Oh, for goodness’ sake, don’t be a spoil sport.’ Mia swatted the air with her hand. ‘It’s much better than picking up men in bars. Besides, we’ve already established you’re no good at that.’
‘Speaking of picking up in bars,’ Amy drawled. ‘Look who’s at it again.’
Mia and Sarah slowly lifted their eyes and followed the direction of Amy’s hungry gaze.
He was dark-haired and olive-skinned. The white shirt he was wearing, with its unbuttoned collar and rolled up sleeves, only seemed to accentuate his strong, muscular upper body. His eyes, the colour of a short black without the crema, were currently trained on two ladies at the bar who he appeared to be chatting up. At least that’s what Sarah had to assume, given they were hanging on every word that fell from that sumptuous mouth of his.
Sarah sucked in a breath. ‘Man is he gorgeous.’
Amy sighed. ‘Tell me about it. The bad ones get all the looks.’
‘I found out his name the other day,’ Mia informed them both with a certain amount of pride at being the only one at the table with the scoop. ‘It’s Owen Black.’
‘Oooh, Owen Black,’ Amy repeated lazily. ‘I like it.’
‘Yeah, so does every other woman who walks into this bar,’ Mia replied. ‘He seems to do very well for himself.’
Amy nodded. ‘Have you ever seen him not pick someone up when he’s working a shift?’
Sarah shrugged. ‘I’m just glad he hasn’t made any changes to our bar since he took over.’
‘I’ll say,’ Mia agreed.
Sarah and her friends had been using The Blue Saloon as their meeting place for every crisis, catch up, commiseration or congratulations between them for the past three years.
They loved the place.
The decor was comfortable yet eye-catching. A long, traditional polished-timber bar ran the length of one wall. An array of polished circular tables populated the floor in front of it. The windows were large and framed by huge royal blue curtains that were never closed. There was no dance floor but a number of blue couches dotted the corners for those quieter, more relaxing nights. The food was excellent, the music tasteful and the booze flowed freely as long as you paid.
When they’d found out the old owner, Mr Martinelli, was selling they’d been devastated. The last thing they wanted was for new management to make a stack of changes to their favourite haunt. But when Owen Black had sauntered in a few weeks later, the only thing he seemed to be taking out was the ladies. One by one.
Amy nudged Sarah. ‘Why don’t you ask him out?’
‘Are you mad?’ Sarah squeaked. ‘I’ve just made a resolution to fall in love, not get my heart broken. Owen Black is a player. Any girl with half a brain can see that.’
‘Woohoo.’ Amy gave her shoulders a squeeze and said to Mia, ‘She’s made the resolution. Now all we need to do is get her on Soulmates.com.’
With a helpless laugh, Sarah shrugged off her arm. ‘Don’t you ever give up?’
‘Not when I believe in something.’
‘Now I really need that drink.’ Sarah pushed out her chair and stood up. ‘You guys want anything from the bar?’
‘No, thanks.’ Her girlfriends shook their heads and she walked away from them in relief. She hoped the conversation would turn as soon as she left them.
As much as she appreciated Amy and Mia’s support, sometimes their first instincts were a little out o
f whack. Not that she had anything against Internet dating. She was sure that it had helped a lot of people find love. But the thought of putting all her personal details into a computer database so it could spit out a name and contact number just seemed a little too clinical for her.
Sarah had always been a romantic at heart. Her idea of finding true love involved glances exchanged across a crowded room or a misunderstanding that lead to lunch. Even hitting it off in a supermarket checkout line seemed more romantic than surfing the net. Dating websites just took all the fun out of it.
Better to stick with traditional methods. They were slower but safer.
She drummed her fingers on the bar as she waited, pleased with her own sense of purpose. This year she was going to fall in love. She just needed to be a little more careful about it.
A little more choosy.
As though mocking the thought, a shadow crossed her body, causing her fingers to stop drumming. She looked up and, to her dismay, was unable to stop heat from infusing her face and goosebumps from rising on her flesh.
With eyes like that, Owen Black was even more dangerous up close. She swallowed hard and tried to smile, hoping her New Year’s resolution would hold firm. He returned her gaze with his own lazy, seductive appraisal.
‘Now what can I get for you?’ he purred.
Chapter 2
Week 1, Day 1: Tactical Considerations
‘Er …’ She’d pinked up as though he’d interrupted her thoughts. Owen assumed they must have been embarrassing ones because she couldn’t quite meet his eyes.
Interesting.
He gave her a second look. She was cute in a cheeky, untouched kind of way. Her wide blue eyes and dusky curls suggested a certain innocence that he didn’t normally go for. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t bend the rules.
Did he even have rules?
‘I’ll have a cranberry and lime sparkler,’ she said huskily.
His eyes dropped to her dewy lips and then lifted again. ‘Sure.’
He drew a cocktail shaker from under the bar and set it on the counter between them. He watched her lower her lashes self-consciously as he poured in champagne, lemon, lime and bitters, and cranberry juice. At leisure he allowed himself a moment to take her in. She had a lovely slender frame, delicate rounded shoulders, small but well-shaped breasts and creamy smooth skin. All in all, a very nice package. One he wouldn’t mind unwrapping, if she was willing.