Chasing Paige (Falling for Words Book 1)

by Tiffany Janine

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and resemblance to persons; living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Chasing Paige

  All rights reserved.

  Published by: Tiffany Janine

  Copyright © 2016 by: Tiffany Janine

  Cover art by: Cover to Cover Designs

  Edited by: Liz Jones and Blue Moon Editing

  eBook and Paperback format: Champagne Formats

  This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the material or artwork herein is prohibited without the express written permission of the author.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  dedication

  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

  chapter fourteen

  chapter fifteen

  chapter sixteen

  chapter seventeen

  chapter eighteen

  chapter nineteen

  chapter twenty

  chapter twenty-one

  chapter twenty-two

  chapter twenty-three

  chapter twenty-four

  chapter twenty-five

  chapter twenty-six

  chapter twenty-seven

  chapter twenty-eight

  epilogue

  From the Author

  acknowledgements

  about the author

  To my mom, Janine - the one person who has never given up on me. The one person who is the best grandparent my children could ever ask for. The one person who has always said to me: “You can achieve anything if you put your mind to it.” To this very day, I still hear those words.

  This is for you.

  J.D. Parker - Minus

  “The darkness only gets darker as I walk down toward the pond, until I get a glimpse of the moonlight cascading all around the calm water. Crickets and frogs, with their heavy music, bring life to the darkness; I don’t feel so scared. Wrapping my arms around myself, I sit on the wet shore and look out into the water. It’s soothing, relaxing, yet a chill blows right through my skin, causing me to shiver. I like it here. I like being by myself. No one to shout at me. No one to tell me what to do. My safe haven - what’s that? What’s that noise? I look to my left, to my right. It’s probably just my imagination or just a wild animal. I know I shouldn’t be out here alone -”

  “Paige.”

  “Ah!” I scream, putting a hand to my chest. I turn around finding my best friend laughing. “Lynn…you scared the bejeezus out of me!” It never fails. Every time I read a horror book I get sucked in and forget everything around me. It’s such a high, which probably puts me in the freak category, but…I love being a freak.

  “What are you reading this time?”

  I hold my book up. “Minus, by J.D. Parker. It’s his newest one. I’m so addicted to it, and I just started it this morning!”

  Lynn puts her hands on her hips and shakes her head. “Why on earth do you like to read about killings and stuff? You’re nuts. Help me unload this, will ya?” She flicks her head to our newest box of books.

  Two months ago, Lynn and I finally opened our very own small, independent bookstore called Chasing Pages. It had been a dream of ours for a long time. We sell independent author books, since the big stores like Target, and Barnes & Noble don’t carry them. We’ve always had a thing for indie authors, and wanted to reach out to them in a new way. It’s been highly successful in such a short amount of time. We’re also big time bloggers on Facebook and have our own website. Since we have a huge following of readers, I’d say we’re pretty popular. Reading and writing reviews has been such a blast. Anything to help gain new readers for our indie authors, we’ll do it.

  Once the box is ripped open, we stare at the shiny new books and grin like two crazy lovebirds. “I just love the smell of new books. Look at them! Beautiful,” Lynn exclaims. The feeling of receiving new books never gets old.

  Completely mesmerized, we each take out a book and glide our fingers across the glossy cover. “I know the perfect spot to display these,” I say, thinking of the small available space in the front part of our store. It’s itching to be filled with the goodies in our hands and will look amazing.

  Emptying out the rest of the box, Lynn chuckles, “Who would have thought opening up a brand new box of books would be better than having your first cup of coffee in the morning.”

  “It’s a beautiful thing.” I sigh.

  “You know it.”

  Oh…that gets me thinking. “Speaking of coffee…”

  “Yeah, on it.” Lynn automatically shifts herself from her knees onto her feet, and hands me one of the books. She grabs her purse and asks, “Same as always?”

  “Yep. Oh, and whipped cream, please.”

  “You’ll be working off that whipped cream starting tomorrow.” She winks.

  Just the thought of working out until I’m almost dead, makes me groan. “Hate working out.”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ll be back.” Lynn walks out from behind the counter and heads next door. “Hate you, too,” I mutter.

  “I heard that!”

  I roll my eyes, because that woman can hear a pin drop, she has the best hearing, and always catches my mutterings. Immediately I get right back to the new books and set up the display. Once I’m satisfied with the look of the display, I open the store for the customers. Usually no one shows up until lunch hour, but every so often, we’ll get someone coming in after they have retrieved their coffee, browsing around. Those are the customers I want to grab, because they’re either enjoying their day off, or taking that extra hour before they head back home to clean their house. I don’t know, that’s just my take on things. Most of the readers are women - stay at home moms. Those are the ones I love to talk with, they seem to love books as well.

  Since I have some time before Lynn comes back with my coffee, I go back to hiding behind the front counter and dig myself right back inside my J.D. book. I seriously cannot get enough of it. There are some things you must do before you start your day, and for me it’s a good chilling novel.

  So anyways, you’re probably wondering who the heck I am, and how Chasing Pages became a dream come true for me and Lynn? Well, it all started two years ago when I became a widow at the age of twenty-six. My husband, Glen, was killed in a car accident while he was traveling for work in Arizona. We met my first year at San Diego State University. While it may have been my first year at the college, it was Glen’s last year. He graduated at the top of his class with a degree in journalism. I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do with my life, but English Literature was always a passion, so I decided to get a degree in that. During the course of my four-year college experience, Glen and I got married. I was twenty-one and he was twenty-six.

  Like any typical newly married couple, we bought a little condo down by Ocean Beach, took romantic walks on the pier, went to the farmers market almost every weekend, and went hiking in Cuyamaca - anything outdoors, we did it. We loved exploring together, loved being near one another. It was hard to imagine my life without him. But having a job that took you out of town almost every month, over time took a toll on our m
arriage. One, maybe two weeks out of the month, he was gone. Journalism was his passion. He worked for a small internet newspaper that demanded his attention. Surprisingly, he was paid great money, yet it took him away from me, away from home. He traveled all over the United States, including Europe. It wasn’t often he went overseas, but when he was told to go over there, he was gone for a month or maybe more. It was truly difficult on me, and I wasn’t sure if our marriage was going to survive. I was lonely, and most times felt forgotten. I immersed myself in books. Lots of books. Reading became more of an addiction. I couldn’t stop and after a while realized there were people out there who loved my review of books, so I started up a website blog for readers. During my start up with the blog, I graduated college and became an editor for indie authors. Reading and editing took up a lot of my time. I loved the distraction because it kept my sanity.

  Up until the time of his death, I only read romance and smut. That was my thing. Anything to do with sex and lust I was there and willing. But once my husband died, all that romance disappeared. It died right along with Glen. The love of my life was no longer traveling on business trips. He was gone. He wouldn’t return from his trip. I was now alone and abandoned. Our marriage hadn’t survived. It vanished the moment he stepped out of our front door. He gave me one last kiss goodbye and whispered “I love you.”

  The night I got the call about my husband’s death, I knew I was never going to be the same. I was a widow.

  Horrible right? Yeah, it’s definitely not a hot topic. However, I often hear the voice of my grandmother inside my head. She always loved singing, and when things in her life became tough, she would say, “Don’t cry for me Argentina.” That’s something I hold dear. She believed in moving forward. Although I know my situation is awful and sad, but I have better things to do than wallow in self-pity all day. So, let me tell you a little more about my healing process. I’m not originally from San Diego. I came from San Luis Obispo, up in Northern California. I spent a month living in my cold, lifeless condo where I thought I was going to go crazy. Everywhere I turned, Glen was there; his clothes, his side of the bed, his shaving cream, and his stupid old recliner chair from his bachelor days. They haunted me. My parents wanted me to come back home, but I loved San Diego too much to leave. Even though Glen was no longer here, my life was.

  I had to figure out my next steps in life. I could either drown in my sorrows forever, which the thought of that made me sick, or I could start picking up my broken pieces, move out of my little condo and find another place to live. I needed a fresh start. Just as my shrink suggested, I attended support groups for widow’s, online support groups, and wrote in my little journal every day. Let me tell ya, I went from being sad to angry within seconds. Every day was and still is a challenge to keep moving forward. Not one day goes by that I don’t think about Glen. My open wounds needed healing, and that all pretty much started when Lynn moved from San Luis Obispo to be with me.

  Lynn stayed with me the entire first month after Glen died and then decided to make a change in her life as well. Since she had been going through a bad divorce, moving south seemed like the perfect choice and the right time for a big change. We grew up together and had always loved the same things, mostly books. Even from a distance, we never grew apart. Having her change her entire life to be with me, meant everything. She had plenty of money from her divorce settlement to help start up our bookstore, but it took almost two years to really get the business going. We took some business courses to get ourselves prepared, and boy are we glad we did. Owning any kind of business is no easy job.

  I continued to edit books and read for enjoyment. Lynn jumped in on the blogging, so I gave her access to my Facebook page and website. Having the two of us manage both sites really helped. However, I couldn’t read romance anymore, so Lynn took over that genre while I began my horror and thriller adventure. It was a win-win.

  And…So here we are. Although life is good, there are moments of struggles, and I keep moving forward. I don’t consider myself entirely “healed,” but the wounds are slowly closing. I’m on the mend.

  Now, back to my J.D. book.

  I’m slumped over on the counter, biting my thumbnail, reading a really intense part when a deep male voice interrupts me. “Good book?”

  Like a spear of lightning, my book goes flying in the air, and onto the ground behind me. I squeal like a dork, “Ah!” I’m once again caught off guard, but this time by a really…oh geez…a really good-looking guy. I mean not just good-looking, but…wow. Hot. My brain starts to melt into a puddle of mush. I can’t seem to focus on anything, other than those amazingly crystal clear blue eyes of his. Get yourself into work mode, Paige!

  This male beauty is leaning his forearm on the counter, silently laughing under his breath. “Sorry.” He grins. He’s got dark blond hair that lands a few inches under his ears and ends in a curl at the bottom. It’s slicked back, like he just washed it, combed it and let it air dry to perfection. No male should look this perfect this early in the morning. Coffee in hand, he’s still grinning at me and waiting for me to say something.

  Breaking the male beauty trance, I bend down, retrieve my book, and flick my blonde wisps of hair away from my face, trying to make this situation less embarrassing. “You’re the second person who’s done that to me today.” I chuckle.

  Still grinning, and showing slight dimples through his facial scruff, he says, “To be that drawn into a book, it must be really good.”

  I look down at the book in my hands and place it on the counter. “More like terrifyingly good.” Tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. “Scares the crap out of me, but I can’t stop reading it.” Why I’m so nervous with this guy, I haven’t got a clue.

  Male Beauty grabs hold of my book, and looks at it. “J.D. Parker. Yeah, he’s got a great reputation. I heard they’re going to make a movie out of his first book.”

  My eyes widen. “Really? Oh wow, that will be fantastic! Definitely movie worthy, but I wouldn’t be able to drag my friends to go along with me. They’re not into horror stuff.” Okay, that sounded awfully lame. My babbling gets the better of me.

  Male Beauty leans a little further in, I can smell his amazing clean scent. “That’s a shame, because…it’s going to be a killer film.”

  I can’t contain from laughing at his corny pun. “Ha, ha, that was funny.” Shaking a finger at him.

  “Yeah, I wouldn’t do so well as a comedian.” He laughs, a really nice deep, throaty laugh. Oh boy.

  “Probably not.” We have an awkward pause, while I gaze deeper into his penetrating blue eyes. He does the same with me, which makes me weak in the knees. I don’t even know how I’m still standing on my own two feet, feels like I’m floating. I clear my throat. “So…uh…”

  Male Beauty releases his elbow from the counter, and extends his hand. “James,” he introduces himself. James. I love it.

  Looking down at his hand for a split second, I quickly grab it and shake it. He has a fantastic grip; it’s warm, and covers my entire hand. Really, how am I still standing? “James,” I repeat with a smile. “I’m Paige. Welcome to my store. What can I do for you?”

  He slowly unleashes our hands, and asks, “Your store?”

  “Yes, I co-own it with my best friend, Lynn. We just opened a couple months ago.”

  “That’s cool. How’s business been?” Male Beauty…I mean, James leans his forearm back on the counter and takes a drink of his coffee. His lips look really nice on that cup. My goodness, I need to stop this!

  I clear my throat again. “It’s been great, actually. We’re more of an independent book store for indie authors. A lot of readers are quite excited to have a store like ours. They still like to read from a paperback versus an eBook. So yeah, it’s going great.” I shrug. “Um…is there anything I can help you with?”

  “Maybe you can. I’m new to the neighborhood, and thought I’d grab a coffee, check out the small businesses by my hotel, when I so happened to gla
nce in your store window. A beautiful woman with long blonde, wavy hair and brown eyes, who was intently reading my favorite genre, caught my eye.” I lightly gasp. Holy moly, is Male Beau - James - flirting with me? My face must be all kinds of fifty shades of red and getting hot. “Sorry. Too much, too soon?”

  I nervously laugh it off. “It’s okay. I’m flattered.” Face. Still. Red. God, this is so humiliating! It’s been so long since Glen said I was beautiful, I have forgotten how to react to it. It’s not my husband who’s complimenting me, but some drop dead, gorgeous stranger who literally popped into my store without giving me a chance to breathe.

  “Change of subject. I see a poster out there for a book signing. Tell me more about it.”

  Letting out a much needed breath, I get down to business. “Yeah, uh…the book I was reading…the author, J.D. Parker…he’s going to be our first author to have a signing here, in a couple days. We’re really excited, because first of all, he’s my favorite author, second I never thought in a million years he would say yes to having one at our little store.”

  “I’m not too surprised. If I’m correct though, I read somewhere that J.D. isn’t a huge fan of big signings. He prefers smaller venues.”

  “Oh, I see. Well…all in all, I’m still shocked over it. I can’t wait to meet him.”

  James gives me another penetrating stare before he says, “Without a doubt, I bet he’s looking forward to meeting you as well.” Good Lord, where did this male beauty come from, and why does he make my heart skip a beat? I desperately need a shot of tequila or something or I’m seriously going to drop dead of a heat stroke.

  “Coffee has arrived!” Saved by Lynn, thank God, she comes barreling deeper into the store, carrying both our coffees. “Man, what a line that was - oh, hello there.” She stops in her tracks, with a huge smile on her face the second she sees James.

  “James, this is my co-owner, and best friend, Lynn.”

  “A pleasure, Lynn.” He extends a hand.