Forever Kisses E-Book

Kate Russell

• Herausgeber: Kate Russell Books
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

Forever Kisses features three individually published, sweet romance short stories/ short novellas:

Jules Russo's childhood wish finally comes true when Adam Blake asks her out. Her new date may not live up to her preconceived thoughts--he may just be more. Who knew that saving seats, peanut butter and jelly, and street signs could lead to forever? Is This Seat Taken? is a sweet college romance: 12,600 words.

In this companion piece to Is This Seat Taken?, Mandy's life hasn't turned out the way she planned.  Her father died, her mother is bipolar, and she's overwhelmed with responsibility and indecision.  That's why she's so grateful for her boyfriend, Luke.  But just how long does he plan on sticking around? This Heart of Mine is a sweet, new adult romance short story  about loving each other just right: 3,500 words.

He was The One.  Then he dumped me.  Now, three years later, he wants a second chance.  He's crazy if he thinks he's going to win over the heart he broke before.  Right?  Second Chance Boy is a sweet, college romance short story: 11,900 words. It is a companion ebook to Is This Seat Taken?.
 

Leseprobe

Forever Kisses

Kate Russell

Published by Kate Russell Books, 2018.

This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

FOREVER KISSES

First edition. September 6, 2018.

Copyright © 2018 Kate Russell.

ISBN: 978-1386792192

Written by Kate Russell.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Also by Kate Russell

Essays

Kate Russell and the Coupon of Doom

Manwhores, Baby! Yeah!

Pajama Mom Drives Again

The Great Bookstore Disaster of '08

Sweethearts of Sumner County

Never Let You Go

Is This Seat Taken?

This Heart of Mine

Need You Now

Love, Life, and Chicken Pot Pie

You Again

Me and Mr. Jones

His Expectant Ex

Penny

Second Chance Boy

Choosing You Again

Tales of a One-Fourth Vampire

And Then He Bit Me

Standalone

Claus & Frost: The Nearly Disastrous Day Before Christmas

New Adult Romance Trio

Sweet Kisses Trio

Because of You

Burning Ambition: It Starts at Home

The Birthday Wish

What's Love Got to Do With It?

Sweethearts of Sumner County, Vol. 1

Sweethearts of Sumner County, Vol. 2

Forever Kisses

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Also By Kate Russell

Dedication

Is This Seat Taken?

This Heart of Mine

Second Chance Boy

Sign up for Kate Russell's Mailing List

Also By Kate Russell

About the Author

 

Cover design by Cordelia Blackfaire

Cover photography by monkeybusiness

Stock photo provided by Depositphotos

The persons in the image are models and are in no way to be connected with the characters depicted in this story.

Forever Kisses features three individually published, sweet romance short stories/ short novellas:  Is This Seat Taken? (12,600 words), This Heart of Mine (3,500 words), and Second Chance Boy (11,900 words).

Is This Seat Taken?

I knew spring had arrived because of the grape juice.

During winter, the grape juice in the plastic communion cup I tossed back every Sunday morning was icy, sweet, and delicious. During summer, it was warm and sour. This morning, the grape juice was tepid, at best. If I hadn’t already seen the daffodils and Bradford pears blooming as I entered the church building, this would have clinched it.

I must have made a disappointed face. My mother, knowing my passion for anything Welch’s, gave me an annoyed look, as I passed her the silver tray. “Julia!” she murmured in a no-nonsense voice that intimidated me when I was ten. At twenty-one, it was still effective.

I went back to thinking about Christ’s suffering on the cross, how He died that we could live. I had already broken off my piece of unleavened bread, and as I had chewed, I had thought only of His broken body. I had had only good intentions when I lifted the cup up to my lips. It was Jesus’ blood, and not to be taken lightly. And then it was tepid.

Sighing, I closed my eyes, and tried to focus better. This was why we all gathered together, to remember this last supper. To partake in it every Lord’s day, with fellow Christians. I knew all of this. And yet, I was having a hard time. I prayed silently to God to forgive my wandering thoughts. I started to tack on a P.S. about future grape juice temperature, but decided not to push my luck.

At least I had remembered to write out my contribution check earlier. Lately, since I had been so scattered, I did good to write it out as they were passing the contribution tray down my pew. Did I sign it? I quickly turned it over, and reassured myself one more time. I placed the check face-down in the tray, and passed the tray to Mom. I used to fold my contribution check twice, but my brother-in-law, Shane, complained about having to unfold all of those checks when he and the other men were counting the contribution.

I glanced up and saw Adam Blake standing at the end of the pew, as he took the tray from my dad. Adam, my one-time crush at church camp when I was an eighth-grader and he was a senior and one of the counselors, met my eyes with amusement. He must have seen me flipping the check over. He also probably heard my mother’s scolding.

Great. The blush was starting. I was twenty-one, after all, and I should have been past all this by now. Today was not the first time I was grateful for my olive complexion. I bent my head, allowing my dark chin-length hair to cover my flushed cheeks, just in case.

Ah, Adam. He was the one who’d always made my heart accelerate, especially when he’d flash that easy smile of his at me. Thick chestnut hair, hazel eyes, a long, lean body, he’d made all the older girls sigh and try to find excuses to sit next to him in the sanctuary. I knew he’d enjoyed the attention. He was a guy, after all.

He and I had been attending the same class this past quarter since the Young Professionals and College classes had merged together because of people continuing to get hitched and join the Young Married. Whenever I was running late (which was more often than not), I always tried to search for a chair in the back. Usually, I ended up having to go to the front row. Of course there were plenty of seats up there. However, the last couple of times I’d been in there, Adam had been sitting in the back row, his Bible on the seat next to him. Seeing me rushing through the doorway, he’d moved the Bible, as I slid in beside him. I was grateful not to have everyone’s eyes on me, but the shyness factor was still there, hence the blushing and hair adjustment at this moment in time.

Okay, I told myself, time to focus. Oh, and panic.

Any other Sunday, I would have been happy when Jeff, our preacher, got up and began his sermon. However, I had just skimmed the worship guide and one dreaded word stood out and told me what the topic was about. MARRIAGE. This fabulous moment only seemed to lack a screaming baby sneezing into my hair. If I’d bothered looking in the worship guide before the service, or even almost to the Welch’s moment, I could have prepared myself. In other words, I could have escaped. I could have sat with my best friend, Mandy, and her boyfriend. Or a stranger. Anyone other than my parents, particularly my mother. I was really going to have to quit coming home on the weekends.

I’d had a brief engagement last year with my college sweetheart, Mike, until we both decided that we couldn’t go through with it. Mike was a terrific guy, and would make some lucky girl a wonderful husband in the future. However, I was not the girl in question. My mother had yet to forgive me for this failing.

Oh, in theory, my parents were grateful that we’d cancelled the wedding, instead of dealing with a possible divorce later on. There was the added benefit that we hadn’t reserved anything for the wedding yet, because we’d just planned on getting married as soon as we’d both graduated in a couple of years, so there were no lost deposits. The reality was that for the past year, my mother, who adored my former fiancé, reminded me on a semi-weekly basis that Mike was still single, and that he would probably take me back. My face should have been purple after not being able to convince my mother that our breakup was mutual.

I don’t know why she was terrified that I wouldn’t ever get married. It certainly couldn’t be a fear for my biological clock. My mother flat-out believed that I’d never find another decent boy, and that I was destined to be an old maid. I can only think that it had something to do with the fact, that ever since Mom started going through The Change, she’d gone a little off the deep end. My father confessed that he thought I’d end up with some rich jerk. Maybe his excuse was sympathy pains with my mother. Either way, thanks, Mom and Dad, for that vote of confidence.

So I was going to have to sit through the next twenty minutes or so and listen to our preacher go on and on about marriage, with my mother giving me subtle glances, and not-so-subtle jabs with her elbow. I scooted away from her, a bit closer to the Hendersons on my right. Mom’s pretty solid, but those elbows of hers are like bony knives. I tried to focus, but all I could think about was the third degree at lunch afterwards. I was beginning to believe I didn’t really like Mexican food after all, and that a peanut butter and jelly sandwich was starting to sound pretty good.