A Sweet Life-kindle Read online

  A Sweet Life

  In Order of Appearance

  Foreword by Debbie Macomber

  Bella Andre, Barbara Freethy, Heather Graham, Julia Kent, Susan Mallery, Brenda Novak, Carly Phillips, Jennifer Probst, RaeAnne Thayne, Rachel Van Dyken, Susan Wiggs, Lauren Hawkeye, Steena Holmes, Jane Porter

  A Sweet Life

  Copyright 2014

  Cover Design by CrocoDesigns

  Formatted by IRONHORSE Formatting

  ISBN: 978-1-928068-11-2

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the authors’ imagination or are used fictitiously. The authors acknowledge the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite e-book retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of these authors.

  Table of Contents

  Foreword - Debbie Macomber

  Author’s Note from Brenda Novak

  I Only Have Eyes For You - Bella Andre

  On A Night Like This - Barbara Freethy

  May Day - Heather Graham

  Shopping for a Billionaire - Julia Kent

  Built to Last - Susan Mallery

  A Baby of Her Own - Brenda Novak

  Dare to Love - Carly Phillips

  Executive Seduction - Jennifer Probst

  In Too Deep - RaeAnne Thayne

  Every Girl Does It - Rachel Van Dyken

  Homecoming Season - Susan Wiggs

  Unspoken - Lauren Hawkeye

  Sweet Memories - Steena Holmes

  Take Me, Cowboy - Jane Porter

  Acknowledgments

  Foreword

  I have no memories of my paternal grandmother. My best guess is that I was barely four years old when she died. But, I like to think I inherited my love of knitting from her. My older cousins tell the story of sitting in a semi-circle in front of her rocking chair and watching her crochet. Her fingers moved at a frantic speed as she rocked back and forth. The amazing part is that she was sound asleep and snoring!

  My father, who was the youngest boy, was basically raised by his oldest sister, my aunt Betty, because my grandmother was diabetic. She was often tired and sickly, spending the majority of her time in bed.

  Another memory my cousins have shared with me is of our grandmother boiling her hypodermic needles because she was insulin dependent. My father and three of my uncles were also diabetic and, by the end of their lives, insulin-dependent as well. And now several of my cousins are affected by the disease.

  Like my cousins, for the last twenty-five years I've been a Type 2 diet-controlled diabetic.

  Diabetes is a life-changing disease. It's estimated that 25.8 million children and adults in the United States are diabetic. That's 8.3% of the population. My guess is that we all know someone who is diabetic.

  When Brenda Novak's youngest son, Thad, was diagnosed, she went on a one-woman mission to do whatever was necessary to fund research for a cure to this horrible disease. If you've ever met Brenda you know she is passionate about making a difference. This is her tenth year holding an auction to raise money for this cause and to date her efforts have resulted in more than $2 million dollars toward research for a cure.

  The book you've purchased will go toward making the dream of a world free of diabetes a reality. Each one of the authors on this long list of contributors has given of their talent and themselves to aid in this mission. You're about to read some of the biggest names in the field of romance.

  Three of these talented authors, Susan Wiggs, Barbara Freethy and Rachel Van Dyken, have scored #1 placements on the New York Times best seller lists. Now that's impressive. The remaining eleven are all well established authors with booming careers. In other words, you are in for a real treat.

  And really, isn't this the best of all worlds? Not only is this an enjoyable read but at the same time your purchase is contributing to a worthy cause. You can't ask for a better win/win situation.

  It's been my honor to write the foreword. Keep at it, Brenda. Not only are you one amazing author, you're a woman with passion and heart.

  Now enjoy.

  With warmest wishes,

  Debbie Macomber

  Author’s Note from Brenda Novak

  Dear Reader:

  I can’t tell you how excited I am to bring you this boxed set. I have long admired so many of the authors who are partnering with me on this project, and have been excited to get to know those who are new to me. Every one of them was so generous when I emailed to see if they’d be willing to take part. They all got back to me almost immediately with an enthusiastic YES!

  I’m grateful to you, too, for purchasing this set because it is enabling me to raise even more money for diabetes research. For those of you who might not be aware, my youngest son has this disease. He was diagnosed when he was just five years old. Shortly after that, I started Brenda Novak’s Annual Online Auction for Diabetes Research, which is running now at http://brendanovak.auctionanything.com. So far, thanks to the support of both my shoppers and my donors, I’ve been able to raise more than $2 million—and this is our big 10-year anniversary, so we are hoping to raise those totals a lot higher. You are now part of that endeavor! If you would like to be more involved, please register for the auction and jump into the fun. We have nearly 2,000 fabulous items up for grabs (all starting at just $3). Those who support the auction are a community of warm, giving people who are dedicated to making the world a better place, and we’d love to have you join us. “Many hands make light work,” as the saying goes….

  I’d like to give a special shout out to Lauren Hawkeye, who also has a book in this collection. She helped me with the auction for many years before her own son was diagnosed, at just two years old. For obvious reasons, this is a cause near and dear to both our hearts. I’d also like to extend a special thank you to my publisher, Harlequin Enterprises, who generously licensed three works to me in order to make this collection become a reality (the book by me and the novellas by Susan Wiggs and Susan Mallery).

  I recently heard a frightening statistic—that one in three Americans will have diabetes by 2050. That’s crazy, right? I hope the Diabetes Research Institute, which is the recipient of the money we raise, will be able to find a cure soon. I think they are well on their way and pray that what we are doing will help them a great deal.

  Here’s to making a difference!

  Brenda Novak

  I Only Have Eyes For You

  Sophie & Jake ~ The Sullivans

  Bella Andre

  © 2014 Bella Andre

  bella@b
ellaandre.com

  http://www.BellaAndre.com

  Bella on Twitter

  Bella on Facebook

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  Sophie Sullivan, a librarian in San Francisco, was five years old when she fell head over heels in love with Jake McCann. Twenty years later, she’s convinced the notorious bad boy still sees her as the “nice” Sullivan twin. That is, when he bothers to look at her at all. But when they both get caught up in the magic of the first Sullivan wedding, she knows it’s long past time to do whatever it takes to make him see her for who she truly is...the woman who will love him forever.

  Jake has always been a magnet for women, especially since his Irish pubs made him extremely wealthy. But the only woman he really wants is the one he can never have. Not only is Sophie his best friend’s off-limits younger sister...he can’t risk letting her get close enough to discover his deeply hidden secret.

  Only, when Sophie appears on his doorstep as Jake’s every fantasy come to life—smart, beautiful, and shockingly sexy—he doesn’t have a prayer of taking his eyes, or his hands, off her. And he can’t stop craving more of her sweet smiles and sinful kisses. Because even though Jake knows loving Sophie isn’t the right thing to do...how can he possibly resist?

  A Note from Bella:

  As a writer, some books stick with you long after you've typed "The End." I ONLY HAVE EYES FOR YOU is one of those stories that continues to make me smile every time I think of it.

  The last man in the world that anyone expects Sophie Sullivan, a "nice" librarian, to fall in love with is Jake McCann, a tattooed pub owner with a dark past. And yet, the love story that began when she was five years old and he was eleven has never even come close to fading away…

  The only woman Jake wants is the one he can never have. But even though he knows loving Sophie isn’t the right thing to do...how can he possibly resist? Especially when she's bound and determined to prove to him that nice and naughty can sometimes overlap in the most wonderful way.

  I also wanted to take a moment to thank you for the wonderful emails, tweets, Facebook and Goodreads posts you have made to let me know how much you've been enjoying my Sullivans! You’ve made me the happiest writer in the world!

  Happy reading,

  Bella Andre

  Prologue

  Nearly twenty years ago…

  Sophie Sullivan sat cross-legged on a soft blanket in the corner of the backyard, beneath the canopy of one of the smaller oak trees. Now that the rain had ceased to fall in Northern California and it was warm outside, her mother had made her this special area to take her books and read.

  Last year, when she was four years old, Sophie had learned how to read. And books had changed her life.

  When she was reading she wasn’t the quiet Sullivan twin, she wasn’t the one no one ever noticed. She became a princess in a castle. Or a clown juggling under the circus big top. She explored jungles on elephants’ backs and took trips to Mars on spaceships.

  Reading took her anywhere she wanted to go. And Sophie found that she wanted to go absolutely everywhere.

  Right now she was reading the most thrilling story about a girl named Pippi Longstocking, who lived with a monkey and a horse and had a suitcase full of gold. Sophie had been so absorbed by her new book that her mother had asked her twin sister, Lori, to bring her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to eat when she’d missed lunch with everyone else. Of course, Lori had taken a bite out of it before delivering the sandwich, so Sophie had to carefully pull off the teeth marks before eating the rest.

  She loved her sister, but Lori also made her really mad sometimes. Everyone said they were lucky to be twins, and Sophie knew they were right, that it wouldn’t be any fun at all to be the only female Sullivan. Still, she sometimes wished Lori didn’t have quite so many moods.

  Fortunately, Sophie was all alone in the backyard for now, and with a happy little sigh, she leaned back against the tree trunk and flipped the page to continue Pippi’s adventure. Of course, in Sophie’s family the solitude never lasted long, and when the sound of whooping and hollering in another part of the backyard sounded, she couldn’t quite keep her focus on her book anymore.

  She could tune out her six brothers and one sister just fine.

  It was Jake McCann who was the real distraction.

  He was the same age as her brother Zach, and she normally wouldn’t have any interest in eleven-year-old boys. But from the first day she’d seen him walk in the front door with her brother, Jake had captivated her.

  He was bigger, and tougher looking, than her brother. The bonus of no one really noticing her was that it was easy to listen in when her brothers whispered about Jake’s dad being kind of scary and smelling funny, like when someone spilled a drink at their mother’s annual holiday party.

  It made her stomach hurt to think of anyone being mean to Jake, and she was glad that he could come over to their house so much, where everyone was mostly nice to one another. Jake never really talked to her—or paid any attention to her at all, actually—but just knowing he was nearby always made her feel warm and safe and happy.

  Her brothers had been building a tree fort for a while in the biggest oak tree in their backyard. The fort was big and sprawling, and from the ground Sophie thought it looked really dangerous…but exciting, too. She’d never been up that high in anything that wasn’t a real building, and the fall to the ground looked really, really far. Which was why she hadn’t quite worked up the courage to climb the ropes they’d knotted together to use as a ladder with some branches that stuck out here and there.

  Jake’s dark hair was a little too long, but when he laughed he tilted his face back and his hair shifted away from his eyes so that she could see all of his face at once.

  Oh, my. He was so handsome, and intelligent, and just plain wonderful. She could have stared at him forever, and probably would have if he hadn’t caught her looking just then.

  In that moment that their gazes connected, Sophie’s five-year-old heart told her with perfect certainty that he felt the same way about her…that he loved her, too. But then, so quickly she knew she must have imagined it, he scowled and called out to her siblings, “Last one up into the fort is a rotten egg.”

  Her brothers climbed over one another to get up onto the wooden platform, but her sister, Lori, was smaller and quicker than all of them, so she got up the tree trunk before anyone else could. Jake was right after her, and then Sophie’s brothers Gabe, Ryan and Zach followed behind. Her oldest brothers—Chase, Smith and Marcus—were off at baseball practice. Otherwise, the fort would have been bursting at the seams.

  Standing way up high, her brothers and sister pretended to be looking out at the open sea through a couple of old collapsing telescopes that they’d found at a garage sale last month. Only Jake looked down at Sophie. He didn’t say a word to her, but she could read the challenge in his gaze…and the silent question.

  You’re not scared, are you?

  Her heart started beating extra fast as she thought about trying to climb the tree, about being up that high. She clutched the book tighter in her hands, the hard cover and pages slipping beneath her sweaty palms.

  When the book slid from her lap, Sophie looked down at the drawing of the girl on the cover with the crazy red pigtails that stuck out straight.

  Pippi wouldn’t be afraid to climb up the tree.

  Pippi would have even beaten Lori to the top.

  Slowly, Sophie rose to her feet, the crumbs from her peanut butter and jelly sandwich falling from her T-shirt and shorts onto the blanket for the ants to devour. Her legs shook as she walked across the grass toward the big oak tree. Her siblings were all too busy playing pirates to notice her coming over, but Jake’s eyes stayed on her the whole time.

  I will not chicken out. I will not chicken out. I will not chicken out.

  Only, the closer she got, the higher the tree fort seemed. She’d never climbed a rope ladder before, and her hands were so swea
ty now that she knew they’d slip right off just when she got high enough to fall and smash her brains open on the ground.

  She was just on the verge of chickening out when she heard her name, spoken so softly she almost missed it. She looked up at Jake and knew she’d never forgive herself if she turned and ran back to her blanket and book.

  He seemed to think she could do it. And she couldn’t bear to prove him wrong.

  Before she could freak herself out any more than she already had, she picked up her pace and all but jumped onto the rope ladder. She felt as if she’d turned into Pippi Longstocking’s monkey as she clambered up the rope and tree limbs to get into the fort, moving too fast to let fear grab hold of her and toss her to the ground.

  Her brothers and sister looked shocked when they saw her head poking through, and Ryan immediately grabbed her arms to haul her up.

  “You should have told us you were trying to come up,” he said in full-on big-brother mode, since he was the oldest one in the yard.

  Lori pointed to Sophie’s leg. “Ouch.”

  Sophie looked down and realized she had a long scratch up her right shin. She had no idea when she’d gotten it and, even now, she was so flush with triumph from climbing the tree that it didn’t hurt.

  Jake didn’t congratulate her on making it up into the fort—he even made a crack to her brothers about how they should ban girls under six in the future—but she knew he was proud of her.

  And, she thought as she smiled and looked around, she was proud of herself, too.

  Because the world really did look different from way up high…and more than anything, she loved getting to experience the adventure with the boy she would love forever.