When my eyes popped open, I realized it wasn’t my heartbeat I was hearing. It was someone knocking on the front door of my apartment.
I jumped out of bed and barely managed to grab my robe as I ran for the door. With one arm in a sleeve and the other caught in the sash, I realized that the robe was upside down.
“Jake, I’m here. Just a sec.”
“I’ll just come in.”
I heard the slide of his key in the lock and struggled to get my robe situated over my nightgown. It wasn’t really a nightgown—it was a lacy piece of cloth that barely covered my full-bodied frame.
The knob turned and the door swung open just as I managed to get the robe twisted into place. I folded the sides across my body and watched as Jake stepped inside.
Every time I laid eyes on him, it was like the first time all over again.
At a party thrown by a mutual friend, he’d walked in an hour late, drawing all the attention with his wide smile and big brown eyes. At thirty-five he was in better shape than I’d ever been, and his warm personality made him even more attractive. I’d stared at him—openly. He’d noticed, but I still hadn’t been able to look away—at least not until he’d walked toward me.
“Didn’t you hear me knocking?” He smiled as he closed the door behind him. “For a second there I thought maybe you weren’t home.”
“I was dreaming.” I cleared my throat and clutched my robe tighter around me. It was still surprising for me to be around him in intimate moments. As much as I’d worked on my self-esteem over the past year, I still didn’t expect him to enjoy the sight of my body.
“Oh?” He raised an eyebrow and settled his hands on my hips. “About me?”
His lust-filled voice tantalized my senses.
“Always.” I bit into my bottom lip.
“I know I probably shouldn’t have shown up so early, but honestly, after last night, I can’t stand to be away from you.” He caressed my cheek in one smooth movement.
“Last night was wonderful.” I shivered in response to his touch. “I’m happy you’re here.”
“Good, because I’m going to make you breakfast.”
“You don’t have to do that.” I laughed.
“I want to.” He met my eyes. “I want to make you breakfast for the rest of our lives.”
My heart pounded again. So it wasn’t a dream. It wasn’t a dream at all. I glanced down at my hand where no ring sparkled—because when Jake had tried to slide it onto my finger, it wouldn’t fit. My cheeks flared with heat at the memory.
“I’m sorry, I thought I had the right size.” He slid the ring down as far as it could go.
“It’s alright. I might have put on a few pounds.” I did my best to hold back tears of both happiness and embarrassment.
“Don’t be silly, you look fantastic. I must have just made a mistake. I’ll get it resized right away.”
“No. Don’t. Just give me a few weeks and it should fit.”
“Hanna, I want it to fit you now.” He slid the ring back off my finger. “I love you exactly the way you are. You’re gorgeous from head to toe and there’s no need to change anything. I’ll get it resized. Besides, do you really think you’ve put weight on your fingers?” He grinned, leaned in and kissed my neck.
“Yes, I do think that’s possible, actually. It’ll be good motivation for me. Before we can get married, I need to lose the weight anyway. It’s time for me to be healthy. It’s not just about how I’ll look in a wedding dress. It’s about knowing that we’re starting our lives together as healthy as possible.”
“That’s a good thought—when you put it that way.” He sighed and looked into my eyes. “But if you’d let me, I’d marry you right now.”
“Jake, I want us to get married, but it’ll be a moment that we can look back on for the rest of our lives. I want it to be special.”
“I understand.” He kissed my forehead. “As long as you know that you’re gorgeous and there isn’t a single thing I’d change about you.”
“And the same goes for you.” I drew him into a deep kiss.
As his hands traveled the curves of my body, I felt the love in his touch.
I knew he told the truth—but I still wanted to change.
I brought my attention back to Jake, who seemed to be studying me intently.
“I really want to see that ring on your finger. Are you sure I can’t just get you the right size?” He caught my hand and ran his thumb along my empty ring finger.
“Soon. I put it in a safe place, until…”
“Until…” He nodded. “So, in the interest of you actually showing off the ring, I looked up the healthiest breakfast I could find—I’m about to launch your taste buds into an entirely new experience.”
“Okay.” I grinned. “That sounds delicious. What can I do to help?”
“Nothing. Oh, yes, maybe some music?”
“Sure. Let me get dressed first.”
“Or…” He grabbed me around the waist. “You could just stay in that.” His forehead touched mine as he looked into my eyes. “Or less.”
“Nope, no way.” I smiled as I pulled away from him. “I’ll put on some music.”
As I turned my favorite music channel on, I heard him cracking eggs in the kitchen.
I slipped into my room to change. The mirror on the back of my closet door reflected my body as I shed my nightgown and robe.
I tried not to look. It was a habit—to only look briefly. I didn’t want to think about the rolls I didn’t like or the fat that hung from places it didn’t belong. As I changed, I realized that if I really wanted to be at my goal weight by the wedding, I needed to lose about fifty pounds.
Fifty pounds.
The very thought seemed overwhelming to me.
It wasn’t as if I hadn’t tried. Yo-yo dieting had consumed my twenties and I’d sworn that I’d be at a healthy weight by the time I turned thirty. Then I turned thirty.
I’d met Jake and known almost instantly that I would marry him. I’d been telling myself that I would be at my goal weight by the time he proposed. And now that time had come and gone in the blink of an eye.
After I dressed, I forced myself to look in the mirror. The woman reflected back to me was the same woman Jake had gotten on one knee to propose to. I was the same woman that he looked at with such desire that it made my knees grow weak—without him even speaking a word.
I wanted to be that woman—only fifty pounds lighter.
End of the preview.
Get “Hanna the Bride” here:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06Y5WY3RW
And to see where it all began with Blu and AJ…
Lifeguards and Liars (Summer in Diamond Bay, Book 1)
Chapter 1
The rumble of the waves that crashed into the sand was punctuated by the laughter of children. Blu Parker took a deep breath of the salty air. She loved getting away from the busy city life to spend the summer at the beach house in Diamond Bay. It was one of the best perks of her current nanny job.
She watched Marley’s damp blonde curls bounce as she ran back and forth across the sand in front of her. Joey threatened her with a fist full of wet sand.
“Joey! No throwing sand!” Blu’s sharp voice shattered the otherwise peaceful beach.
Joey stuck out his tongue and puffed out his chest.
“Joey, put it down right this second!” Blu unwound herself from the comfortable position she’d settled into moments before and sprang to her feet.
Joey seemed to sense how thin her patience was as he dropped the mud. “She keeps trying to step on my castle! Make her stop!”
“I am not!” Marley stuck her hands on her hips.
“Here.” Blu used her big toe to draw a wide circle around Joey’s castle. “Marley, you’re not allowed to go inside of this circle. Understand?” She met the four-year-old’s bright blue eyes with her own.
“Okay.” Marley stuck the tips of her toes at the edge of the line.
/> “Stop it!” Joey stomped his foot.
“I’m not in the circle!” Marley stuck out her tongue.
Blu took another deep breath of the salty air. “Look at that, Marley—a little crab.” She pointed to the small creature that scuttled across the sand.
Marley chased after it, forgetting all about her brother’s castle.
Joey was seven, lanky, and on the verge of being a teenager—according to him. He didn’t have much patience for his little sister’s antics. Blu looked forward to the two spending a little time apart when Joey would be going back to school at the end of summer. But summer had just begun, and Blu had to find creative ways to keep the siblings from torturing one another.
She settled back down on the beach blanket and glanced over at the lifeguard tower. She always tried to arrive early at the beach to get a spot near the lifeguard. She chose to be close, because she felt it was safer for the kids. Other nannies fought to be near the tower because of the bronzed god that perched atop it.
The pristine sand was dotted with other young nannies all in perfect shape and unafraid to wear string bikinis, no matter how ridiculous they looked when they bounded after the toddlers they looked after. Blu, on the other hand, had never been able to wear anything other than a one-piece—she felt naked otherwise.
She dug her toenails into the sand to hide the paint job that Marley had done on her nails that morning. There was more polish on her toes than on her nails.
Marley ran by and whacked Blu’s brown ponytail. Blu laughed and caught the little girl around the waist. She pulled her close and tickled her belly. As Marley squealed and broke free Blu was reminded of what a good life she lived. Most of the time she was surrounded by luxury and she got to spend her summers at the beach.
“Blu, want to go for a swim?” Joey looked up at her with one of his rare bright smiles.
“Sure, Joey. Let me wrangle Marley.” She stood up and scooped up Marley before she could evade her. “Let’s cool off in the waves for a bit.”
“Careful now, there’s a strong riptide.”
His voice was as smooth as one of the waves that rolled in the distance. Blu squinted through the sunlight to smile at Sam, the lifeguard. “Thanks for the warning.”
He nodded and returned his eyes to the water.
She could feel the jealous stares of the other girls. That’s what they were to her—girls. At twenty-eight, Blu considered herself a nanny for life, while many of the others were just there for the summer—a way to help pay for college for many of them.
She shielded her green eyes and looked out at the other people in the water. It wasn’t too crowded. She could see one familiar face. “Maddie! Hey, Maddie!”
Maddie ducked a big splash that a ten-year-old girl sent flying in her direction. Her black hair was soaked and her already tanned skin was baked even darker by the sunlight.
“She’s trying to drown me, Blu!”
Sam stood up on the lifeguard stand. “Everything okay out there?”
For just a split second Maddie looked as if she might sink down into the water just to get his attention, but at the last moment she waved her hand to show that she was okay. Blu rolled her eyes. Maddie didn’t care that she was twenty-seven and far too old to be lusting after a man barely out of his teens. Blu, Joey, and Marley waded their way into the water.
“Chrissa, stop it!” Maddie splashed the ten-year-old back.
“My hair, Maddie! What are you thinking!” Chrissa touched her glossy brown hair. “Really, you know better.”
Blu cringed at the way Chrissa talked to Maddie. It wasn’t unusual for spoiled kids to boss their nannies around, but Chrissa could be especially difficult to deal with.
“Well, if you don’t want to get your hair wet, then maybe you shouldn’t be in the water.” Blu spoke in a polite but pointed tone to Chrissa.
“That’s not really any of your business, is it?” Chrissa fluffed her hair, then she dove right into the next wave with no concern for her hair.
“Wow, she’s in rare form today.” Maddie rolled her eyes.
“Don’t let it get to you, Maddie. Remember she’s going to push all your buttons. You have to be able to keep your cool.”
“I know, I know. I don’t know how you’ve done it for so long. I mean, I’m just getting my feet wet, so to speak, and what has it been? Almost ten years for you?”
“Eight. I started nannying while I was in college to help pay my tuition.”
“Right. I remember.” Maddie laughed. “While I was busy trying to get Glenn to marry me, you were busy trying to become a journalist.”
“You see how well that worked out for both of us.” Blu grinned.
“Watch it! The divorce is still fresh!” Maddie laughed. “You’re right, though. Who knew when we graduated high school that our lives would end up like this? I always thought we’d be the rich and the elite, not the ones raising their kids.”
Chapter 2
Blu looked over at Marley and Joey wistfully. “They have their whole lives ahead of them. I always wonder where they’ll end up.”
“Hey, our lives aren’t over! In fact, I have a date tonight with an investment banker.”
“Liar!”
“What?”
“They’re never investment bankers. Any guy that claims to be an investment banker is probably a teller or one of those fly-by-night stockbrokers.”
“Oh, kill my dream, why don’t you!” Maddie stuck out her tongue. “Doesn’t matter—he’s hot enough he could be a bus boy and I wouldn’t care.”
Blu rolled her eyes and splashed her friend. “I thought you were waiting for Sam?”
“Yes, well, Sam might be a bit young for me.”
“Now you see it?”
“I’m not even sure if he’s old enough to drink yet.”
As if summoned by their conversation, Sam leaped down from the lifeguard tower and charged into the water. Blu turned to look in the direction he was headed. She saw that a young boy—about Joey’s age—had been pulled past the waves.
“Maddie, watch Marley and Joey for me!”
“Sure. Why?”
Blu didn’t take time to answer. She dove in and took off swimming toward the boy. She was much closer and could reach him much faster than Sam. As her arms swung through the water she could see that his head had started to bob. He was losing his ability to stay above the water.
She swam harder and faster. Then she felt the smooth skin of his arm. She grabbed it and pulled him close. The boy clung to her a little too tight. In his panic, he pulled at her neck and shoulders. She fought to keep them both above water. Just when she thought she would go under, a strong arm wrapped around her waist.
“It’s alright, I’m here. You’re safe.”
Blu smiled with relief. Sam swam them back toward the shore with the boy tucked under his arm and Blu nestled against his side.
“I’m fine, I can swim from here.” She started to pull away, but he held her tight.
“Not until we’re on the sand.”
Blu tried to ignore the impact of being held by Sam. No, she wasn’t enamored with him, but she also wasn’t immune to the way the warmth of his muscular chest made her forget about what had almost happened.
Once they were on the beach, Maddie and the kids rushed out of the water after them.
The boy’s nanny ran toward him. “Joshua! I told you not to go out so far!”
“I’m sorry.” He started to cry.
“Thank you so much.” The young woman gushed at Sam. “You’re a hero.”
“I had some help.” Sam winked at Blu. “But you should be more careful. He could have drowned you.”
“I learned my lesson.” Blu smiled in return.
“Are you okay?” Maddie gave her a quick hug.
“I’m fine.”
As Sam walked away, Maddie leaned closer to her friend. “Oh, I bet you’re more than fine. You got the royal treatment, hm?”
“Oh, Maddie!�
� Blu rolled her eyes.
“I’m bored. Can we go?” Chrissa flipped her hair over her shoulder, interrupting them.
“Sure, alright. Get your stuff.” Maddie waved to Blu as she walked away.
Blu played in the sand with Joey and Marley as the afternoon hours faded away. She played beach volleyball with them toward the end of the day.
One of her goals as a nanny was always to keep the kids as active as possible. She’d been very active as a child and believed it was a great way to stay healthy and happy.
Joey sent the beach ball flying across the sand. Blu chased after it. It enlivened her to run, as she’d spent her entire high school years on the track team. She fetched the beach ball and turned back to the kids.
As she walked back across the sand, the sunset drew her attention. It was a beautiful evening for a walk on the beach.
Marley tugged at her hand. “I’m starving, Blu. Please, I’m so hungry!”
“We’re going to go have dinner now. As soon as I find your brother’s shoe.” She shook out the beach blanket. In the sand she caught sight of the blue tip of a flip-flop. She reached down to dig it out of the sand. As she did, she heard a familiar voice.
She glanced up in time to see a woman beside the lifeguard tower. Her expensive dress had no place on the beach and she looked totally out of place. Though she wore a wide-brimmed black hat, Blu knew exactly who she was.
Penelope Ross—one of the wealthiest and high-powered female CEOs in America. But in that moment she seemed as enamored with Sam as Maddie was.
“Don’t look, Blu, it’s not your business.” She tried to focus on folding up the blanket. The kids kicked small fountains of sand up into the air as they waited for her.
Blu’s attention was split between them and Penelope. At first she assumed the banter between the man and woman was flirting, but as she gathered the last of the sand toys she heard their voices rise.
“Let’s go, kids.” She herded Marley and Joey toward the car. As she walked, she could hear them arguing, but she couldn’t hear what they were saying. She settled the kids in the backseat and stood up to look back at the beach.
Ex in the City Page 11
