by Jae
* * *
Annie carefully weaved around the busy catering staff in the kitchen to avoid spilling wine on anyone else. Once had been embarrassing enough. Make that almost twice. She breathed a sigh of relief when she set down the tray on the kitchen counter. Okay, get out of here before Jake—
“There you are!” Jake’s voice wrecked her escape plan. When she turned, her brother squinted up at her, looking annoyed—as always—that his younger sister had outgrown him. “Great party, isn’t it? I bet you’re glad you came.”
Glad? Annie pierced him with a disbelieving stare. Glad?
“What are you doing in here?” He pointed at the tray. “I hired a catering service to take care of that.”
Annie glared at him. “You called me over for help, so that’s what I’m doing,” she said in the coldest, most controlled tone she was capable of mustering. “If you ever pull a stunt like that again, I’ll—”
“Oh, come on. Don’t sulk. Lighten up. Would you have come over if I said we’re having a party?”
“No,” Annie said, “I—”
“See?” Jake wrapped one arm around her. “You would have missed out on all the fun.”
Annie resisted the urge to shove him away. “Our ideas of fun couldn’t be more different, and you know it. If I’d wanted to come to your stupid party, I would have said yes when you asked me. You scared me half to death with your call, you jerk!”
“It’s not a stupid party,” Jake said.
God. Annie wanted to hit him. Discussions with Jake were like trying to reason with a three-year-old. Even if she got him to apologize, his regret wouldn’t be sincere. At the next best opportunity, he would do the same thing again. This is useless. “Forget it. I have to go.”
“Now? It’s not even nine!”
“I’m meeting with a client early tomorrow morning.” Annie shook off her brother’s arm. Besides, an excellent book awaited her at home, but she wasn’t about to tell Jake that. Her brother already thought her life was boring.
“Oh, come on! All work and no play makes Annie a very dull girl.”
That joke was getting old. “And all play and no work makes Jake a very bankrupt boy,” Annie said. “Don’t you have to work tomorrow?”
Jake waved his hand through the air as if chasing away an irritating fly. He gulped his drink and grinned. “Sasha can open the gym for me. What are employees good for if not for covering for me after a party like this? Come on.” He nudged her. “Stay. Just a little longer. Let me introduce you to a friend of mine.”
One more reason to leave. Jake’s friends tended to be adrenaline junkies who talked about nothing but their sports cars, partying, and their latest free-climbing adventure. Annie drove an electric car, hated parties, and hanging from a rock without a safety net was not her idea of a fun vacation. If she said yes to meeting Jake’s friend, she would be bored within seconds.
“No, thanks.” She tried to push past him.
Jake shoved his arm out, blocking her way. “I’ll let you leave on one condition.”
“Let me?” Annie’s voice rose. “I’m no longer the little girl you can boss around.”
“Me?” Hand on his chest, Jake laughed. “Boss you around? You told me what to do from the moment you learned to talk!”
“Because you needed it.” Even as a child, Jake had constantly gotten himself into trouble. She still remembered the chaos twelve-year-old Jake had produced at their cousin’s christening when he poured ink into the basin with the holy water.
When he made no move to withdraw his arm and let her leave, she sighed. “So what’s the condition?”
“My friend Drew wants a date with you.” His eyes twinkled, and his lips twitched in a way that told Annie he was trying to hide a mischievous grin.
Was this another one of his pranks? But even Jake wouldn’t try to play a second practical joke on her on the same evening, would he? “Drew?” She had heard that name before. Maybe one of his college buddies? Every spring break, Jake had come home and boasted about the pranks he had pulled on his friends, but at one point, she had stopped listening. Or was Drew that weird guy Jake had introduced her to when she had helped him paint his house? “Isn’t that the one with the BDMS fetish?”
“That’s BDSM, sis.” Jake laughed at her blush. “And no, that’s Dave. Drew doesn’t have any fetishes as far as I know.”
“Still,” Annie said, “I told you I’m not going out with another one of your friends.”
“Oh, but Drew is not like any of my other friends.” His lips twitched again. “In fact, you have a lot in common.”
Now that would be a first. She eyed her brother, but he looked completely serious now. “Okay, if it’ll get you off my back, I’ll go out with him sometime.” She waved and hurried past him. With any luck, Jake would have forgotten all about it by tomorrow.
Available at Smashwords and many other online bookstores
Other books from Ylva Publishing
http://www.ylva-publishing.com
Something in the Wine
Jae
ISBN: 978-3-95533-005-7 (paperback), 978-3-95533-007-1 (mobi), 978-3-95533-006-4 (epub), 978-3-95533-008-8 (pdf).
Length: 99,100 words (400 pages)
All her life, Annie Prideaux has suffered through her brother’s constant practical jokes only he thinks are funny. But Jake’s last joke is one too many, she decides when he sets her up on a blind date with his friend Drew Corbin—neglecting to tell his straight sister one tiny detail: her date is not a man, but a lesbian.
Annie and Drew decide it’s time to turn the tables on Jake by pretending to fall in love with each other.
At first glance, they have nothing in common. Disillusioned with love, Annie focuses on books, her cat, and her work as an accountant while Drew, more confident and outgoing, owns a dog and spends most of her time working in her beloved vineyard.
Only their common goal to take revenge on Jake unites them. But what starts as a table-turning game soon turns Annie’s and Drew’s lives upside down as the lines between pretending and reality begin to blur.
Something in the Wine is a story about love, friendship, and coming to terms with what it means to be yourself.
Hot Line
Alison Grey
Two women from different worlds.
Linda, a successful psychologist, uses her work to distance herself from her own loneliness.
Christina works for a sex hotline to make ends meet.
Their worlds collide when Linda calls Christina’s sex line. Christina quickly realizes Linda is not her usual customer. Instead of wanting phone sex, Linda makes an unexpected proposition. Does Christina dare accept the offer that will change both their lives?
L.A. Metro
(second edition)
RJ Nolan
Dr. Kimberly Donovan’s life is in shambles. After her medical ethics are questioned, first her family, then her closeted lover, the Chief of the ER, betray her. Determined to make a fresh start, she flees to California and L.A. Metropolitan Hospital.
Dr. Jess McKenna, L.A. Metro’s Chief of the ER, gives new meaning to the phrase emotionally guarded, but she has her reasons.
When Kim and Jess meet, the attraction is immediate. Emotions Jess has tried to repress for years surface. But her interest in Kim also stirs dark memories. They settle for friendship, determined not to repeat past mistakes, but secretly they both wish things could be different.
Will the demons from Jess’s past destroy their future before it can even get started? Or will L.A. Metro be a place to not only heal the sick, but to mend wounded hearts?
Coming from Ylva Publishing in summer and fall 2013
http://www.ylva-publishing.com
Walking the Labyrinth
Lois Cloarec Hart
Is there life after loss? Lee Glenn, co-owner of a private security company, didn’t think so. Crushed by grief after the death of her wife, she uncharacteristically retreats from life.
But lo
ve doesn’t give up easily. After her friends and family stage a dramatic intervention, Lee rejoins the world of the living, resolved to regain some sense of normalcy but only half-believing that it’s possible. Her old friend and business partner convinces her to take on what appears on the surface to be a minor personal protection detail.
The assignment takes her far from home, from the darkness of her loss to the dawning of a life reborn. Along the way, Lee encounters people unlike any she’s ever met before: Wrong-Way Wally, a small-town oracle shunned by the locals for his off-putting speech and mannerisms; and Wally’s best friend, Gaëlle, a woman who not only translates the oracle’s uncanny predictions, but who also appears to have a deep personal connection to life beyond life. Lee is shocked to find herself fascinated by Gaëlle, despite dismissing the woman’s exotic beliefs as “hooey.”
But opening yourself to love also means opening yourself to the possibility of pain. Will Lee have the courage to follow that path, a path that once led to the greatest agony she’d ever experienced? Or will she run back to the cold comfort of a safer solitary life?
See Right Through Me
L.T. Smith
Trust, respect, and love. Three little words—that's all. But these words are powerful, and if we ignore any one of them, then three other little words take their place: jealousy, insecurity, and heartbreak.
Schoolteacher Gemma Hughes is an ordinary woman living an ordinary life. Disorganized and clumsy, she soon finds herself in the capable hands of the beautiful Dr. Maria Moran. Everything goes wonderfully until Gemma starts doubting Maria's intentions and begins listening to the wrong people.
But has Maria something to hide, or is it a case of swapping trust for insecurity, respect for jealousy and finishing with a world of heartbreak and deceit? Can Gemma stop her actions before it's too late? Or will she ruin the best thing to happen in her life?
Given her track record, anything is possible …
