One Jingle or Two E-Book

MK Meredith

• Herausgeber: MK Meredith
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Serie: Cape Van Buren
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 69

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

Breast cancer survivor, Alora Kingsley is fierce and brave…a warrior by all accounts. Then why does she feel like the only thing people see is her missing boob? So, when Nate Ward shows up at her door with his eyes all but falling out of their sockets, she slams the door in his face. Too bad he’s the blind date her best friend set her up with—and the hottest thing walking the cobblestones of Cape Van Buren.

Nathaniel Ward makes no mistake when it comes to love. It’s not for him. Not with the illness in his family genetics, but when his well-meaning best friend sets him up with a sexy, firecracker, she challenges him in all the best ways. Facing what he believes about love becomes a bigger challenge than the Jingle Balls ball he’s organizing to raise money for the Testicular Cancer Awareness Foundation.

The most ridiculous blind date in history soon becomes the perfect answer to a very important question: One Jingle…or two?

*From the USA Today Bestselling anthology Jingle Balls!

Leseprobe

One Jingle or Two

A Cape Van Buren Novella

MK Meredith

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Copyright © 2020 by MK Meredith. All rights reserved,

including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.

MK Meredith

P.O. Box 1724

Ashburn, VA 20146

Visit my website at www.mkmeredith.com.

Edited by Jessica Snyder

Cover design by Kari March Designs

ISBN: 978-1-7358869-5-4

Manufactured in the United States of America

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Also by MK Meredith

Introduction

Hello!

I am so thrilled to share my happy ever afters with you, and I hope you love this book! If you haven’t yet, enjoy your introduction to the wonderful town of Cape Van Buren with Love on the CapeFREE on all retailers. Once you fall in love with Larkin and Ryker (they’re irresistible, LOL!), you won’t want to leave.

Which makes me so excited to offer you the opportunity to meet Blayne and Jamie! Just sign up to my mailing list at the end of this book, and I’ll send Honor on the Cape to your email for download to your favorite reading device!

BTW . . . all of my series are inter-connected.

Hugs, loves, & peanut butter!

MK

To anyone dealing with a diagnosis while looking for love.

Go get 'em, Tiger.

Chapter 1

With the phone smashed between her ear and her shoulder, Alora Kingsley shoved the donut between her teeth, ignoring the crumbs of dried glaze that fell to her shirt, then looped two more donuts on the fingers of one hand and grabbed her coffee cup with the other. Navigating her way around the sprawled forms of her three opportunistic dogs sunbathing in front of the three large windows of her apartment, she wished she could switch places. Sleeping all day and belly rubs seemed like a good gig—if only it didn’t have to include licking herself.

But then again, that’s what Maxine Van Buren would call a self-care opportunity.

Maxine practically ran the town of Cape Van Buren, much to her judge-husband’s chagrin, people wanted her moonshine and advice like they wanted Girl Scouts cookies. No one ever said no, and they could never get away with just one. And with Maxine living in the apartment upstairs, the woman was way too close for comfort at times.

With a groan, Alora sank to the couch, setting her cup and donuts on the coffee table in front of her just in time to catch the one falling from her mouth. She talked while she chewed, wiping her chin with the palm of her hand. “You should have heard the nutless prick, Sage. He kept going on and on about transparency and equal visibility, completely missing the point that Eclectic Finds is offering the largest donation the Cape’s TCAF had ever seen. What’s the big deal anyway? Blayne is trying to give back to the community—the least the foundation can do is feature us at the Jingle Balls ball.”

Her cousin’s chuckle sounded from her cell’s speaker. “You said ball.” Sage was a successful comic artist for The Van Buren Tribune and had the humor of a twelve your old boy. She and her fiancé met through a tumultuous partnership that led to the digitizing of Sage’s grandfather Horace’s newspaper, and now that they were happy, they wanted everyone else romantically happy too.

Alora shoved the rest of her donut into her mouth on a smile, washing it down with her coffee. Snapping her fingers, she chastised, “Focus, woman! I need to figure this out. He’s a complete ass, and I promised Blayne. Besides, I’d really love it if just one damn thing could go right this year.”

“It will. Forget about Adam MacKenzie. He was a player. In my opinion, you had the perfect relationship with him. Fairly easy, decent sexy, and over before you could get too attached.”

Alora frowned. She’d actually really liked Adam, or at least she thought she did? “It’s not just Adam but more…why he left.”

Silence followed for a moment, and Alora filled it with another bite of her second donut.

“I understand. I don’t know how to make you feel better. He was an asshole.”

“No,” Alora said, “I mean, yes, but it’s also very common.” Absentmindedly, she trailed her fingers down the left side of her chest, over the flat nothingness that used to be a breast. It was a numb, barely-there sensation that seemed less real if she didn’t look at it. A unilateral mastectomy that had trouble healing meant delaying reconstruction for a year to increase her chances of healing. And the resulting asymmetry was apparently something Adam couldn’t handle.

With a groan, she flopped back against the couch. “Why did I let you and Parker talk me into this blind date?”

Sage squealed with excitement. “You’ll see. We’re brilliant really. Also…I worry about you. You haven’t even tried to put yourself back out there. Speaking of blind date, won’t he be there soon?”

The doorbell rang just as Alora took a sip of her coffee, making her flinch. “Shit! Shit!” Coffee spilled down her nude second-skin camisole.

“I’ve got to go.” Clicking her phone off, she dried her hands on her boxers and made her way to the door. Keeping track of time was not her forte. Damn it. She wasn’t ready for this. In more ways than one.

Yanking the door open, she pasted a smile on her face. “Hello, you must be Nate.”

Broad shoulders and a shocked stare greeted her. The guy was a looker but apparently not the brightest moose in the forest. Clearing his throat, he dragged his gaze up with such effort she remembered she’d never put on her prosthetic earlier, and she glanced in horror at her chest.

There she stood, coffee spill, donut glaze, and one boob staring up at her blind date.

Fuck a duck in the North Cove pond.

She stepped back and closed the door.

Nathaniel Ward swallowed hard. What the fuck was wrong with him? He’d had his share of hot women before, so what the hell was he thinking, staring at her chest as if his hormones were in charge? His mother would have verbally beaten his ass for that kind of disrespect. A guy doesn’t grow up with three sisters and a single mother and not cultivate proper respect for the opposite sex.

But goddamn.

Alora’s top was skintight and, with whatever she spilled on it, completely see-through. She was distractingly gorgeous. Petite with a wild mass of curly red hair, her light brown eyes almost gold as they bored holes in his head.

His body tightened at the thought of the rest of her. When Parker had told him she was his type, he wasn’t lying. Nate had always had a soft spot for strength in small packages. And this woman had it in spades. No one else would open the door to a stranger in their most natural state. Clearly, she’d been through a lot and gave no fucks about it.

That was something he could climb all over.

Or better yet, let climb all over him.

Knocking on the door, he called out. “Hey! Can we try that again? I’m Nate!”

“You’re early! And rude!” she yelled back.

Fuck.

He’d already spent the better part of his morning arguing with a woman representing Eclectic Finds who wanted special privileges for the gala. It always drove him crazy how people with money felt so entitled.

The blind date was supposed to be a distraction to help him forget about the looming gala or the fact that he had no idea what the hell he was doing but still had to make it the most successful gala yet. Now, he was getting close to a two for two fail, and the day wasn’t over yet.