Falling Fast (18 page)

I agreed to write this story to emphasize, to prove without a shadow of a doubt, how terrible it is when women are pressured into putting themselves up on the bidder’s block for a date. I planned to trash the show and everyone involved.

But then I fell in love.

The kind of love that makes your heart pound like a heavy metal drummer at the Grammies.

The kind of love where you actually are singin’ and dancin’ in the rain.

The kind of love that I had given up on long ago.

Imagine my surprise, when July 1st rolled around and I ended up dating an incredible man who loves me for who I am. A man who would never expect me to be anyone but myself. A man who loves me just the same whether I am barely awake with killer morning breath or I am dressed to kill.

Imagine my shock when I learned, during the two weeks I was on reality TV, that the problem wasn’t just skin deep, although lord knows I spent more time banishing pimples than I did writing my senior thesis in college.

The problem was that
I
didn’t like how I looked on the inside. I was so afraid that people wouldn’t like me once they got to know the real me, that I hid myself away so that no one would ever see me.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be a feminist until the day I die. But I hope it’s not too much to ask that you, my fellow feminists, try and cut me some slack. ‘Cause if you ask me, there’s a really big difference between starving oneself to look like a supermodel and wearing tasteful, flattering clothes and cosmetics.

I’ll never be a beauty queen, that’s for sure.

But, thank god, I’m finally happy in my own skin.

I didn't need an expensive moisturizer to get there.

Just love.

~ THE END ~

More books by Lucy Kevin...

SPARKS FLY (A fun romance about the “magic” of falling in love)
Angelina Morgan is a beautiful consultant who practices an ancient art form called Feng Shui.

Will Scott is an all-business CEO who doesn't believe anything he can't see and touch. With the help of a meddling ex-wife, a well-meaning best friend, and a matchmaking mother, Angelina and Will are about to find out what happens when opposites attract...and sparks fly.

Please enjoy the following excerpt for SPARKS FLY © 2011 Lucy Kevin...

“Wow,” Angelina Morgan said as she got out of her car in front of a huge mansion. “That is one seriously huge house.” She'd seen pictures of places like this in magazines, but had never actually been inside one.

She'd planned two hours for this Feng Shui consultation.

She'd need two weeks.

Feeling much as she imagined Maria must have felt in the
Sound of Music
when she saw the Captain's house for the first time –
I need to have confidence,
she thought – Angelina took a deep breath and headed up the long front path.

She rang the doorbell and waited. Long enough that she rang it again.

Finally, the door opened. Angelina was about to introduce herself....but the words dried up on her tongue.

The man standing before her was, in a word, perfect. Dirty blond hair contrasted with blue eyes. Tanned skin highlighted bold cheekbones, a strong nose and gorgeous lips.

“Are you Angelina Morgan?”

Stunned by her unprofessional thoughts about her client, she barely managed a “Yes.”

She hadn’t had a sexual thought about a man in months and was alarmed that her dead libido should perk up at such an inappropriate time.

She was even more alarmed when her client said, “Will Scott,” then shook her hand, causing a frisson of heat to surge through her.

Quickly pulling her hand back, she said, “I'm so sorry about being a few minutes late. I've rarely been to this neighborhood and I'm afraid I got a little lost. In any case, given that your house is larger than I anticipated, I want you to know that I'm happy to stay and work with you for as long as it takes.”

“Actually, I've got some important work to take care of, so the quicker we can get this done, the better.”

Angelina knew she should be accommodating. Not only was she late, but judging by the size of his mansion, he was probably counting every minute in her company as millions of dollars lost.

Intending to start again with a clean slate, she conjured up her most genuine smile. “First of all, Mr. Scott—”

“Call me Will.”

Angelina gave a slight nod of her head in acquiescence. “OK, Will, I’d like to find out how much you know about Feng Shui. Particularly as this consultation was given to you as a gift from a friend.”

“Not a friend exactly.” He paused slightly. “Susan is my ex-wife.”

Angelina barely stopped herself from exclaiming,
“How strange!”
Clearing her throat, she said, “As I was saying, due to the fact that this Feng Shui consultation was given to you as a gift from your, uh, ex-wife...” She stopped to clear her throat again. “It’s important for me to know how much I'll need to explain.”

“Frankly, the only thing I’m worried about is the neighbors finding out I’m dabbling in magic and witchcraft.”

Silently reminding herself that she had always been able to convert staunch disbelievers into the ancient art’s greatest proponents, she said, “Why don't we discuss the ideas behind Feng Shui for a few minutes before we jump into the consultation? That way you will understand why it has absolutely nothing to do with magic or witches.”

“Just as long as we’re done before my meeting.”

Angelina felt a tension headache coming on. “Didn't Susan make it clear to you that we need at least two hours?”

“Two hours? I don't have two hours.” Will’s cell phone rang and he lifted it up to look at the screen. “I need to take this call.”

As he moved away from the door, a sudden breeze slammed it shut in her face, leaving Angelina standing alone on his front step.

Utterly shocked by how things had played out, for the first time in her life, Angelina actually wished she did know some witchcraft.

If this man thought she was going to wait around for him to get his act together, he was sorely mistaken. His ex-wife Susan—what a forgiving, calm person she must have been to deal with him for as long as she did—could have her money back. First thing Angelina was going to take care of when she got back to her office was getting rid of Mr. Scott as a client, once and for all.

And good riddance.

* * *

Still more than a little irritated when she returned home, Angelina slammed her car door behind her, stalked up to the front door of the cute house she was renting, and jammed the key into the front door.

Letting herself inside, she leaned against the back of the door and surveyed the clutter in her living room. She spent so much time helping other people deal with their messes that she rarely had time to deal with hers anymore.

“I really need to clean my house up soon,” she muttered as she took in the stacks of magazines, books, and papers.

Walking into her office, she picked up a fax that had come in while she was out and quickly noted the time and place of the photo shoot for her cover story in
Professional Woman
magazine.

The irony of her situation was not lost on Angelina. Her job was helping others find balance in all areas of their lives, but since her business had taken off, her personal life had been knocked completely out of balance by her professional success. Case in point, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d been out on a date and actually enjoyed herself.

It figured, somehow, that the first man she was attracted to in years was not only an off-limits client, but arrogant and disrespectful as well.

No. She wouldn't dwell on her lackluster personal life. Not when she had important business to take care of.

Flipping through her client book, she found Will’s ex-wife’s number, picked up the phone with firm purpose and dialed.

“Susan. It’s Angelina Morgan.”

Susan sounded thrilled to hear from her. “How was your consultation with Will?”

Best just to be honest, Angelina thought. “I’m going to have to refund your money. I’m afraid he is not at all interested in having a Feng Shui consultation.”

“How can you say that?” Susan’s tone was accusing.

“He left me standing in his front yard to take a phone call. And he didn’t come back.”

Not to mention the fact that he was insufferably rude.

“Oh, I see,” was Susan’s quiet response.

“I have a policy of not working with clients who need to be sold on Feng Shui, because it tends to do neither the client nor myself a whole lot of good. So really, I’m partially to blame. I never should have accepted your money in the first place.”

“But you’ve got to help him. Somebody has got to help him.”

Angelina sighed. Why couldn’t these things be easier? “Susan, I don’t think -”

“Let me explain about Will. He’s my ex-husband, and now you probably understand some of the reasons why I divorced him. But he didn’t used to be that way. I mean, he always enjoyed working, but when I first met him he was fun too. Unfortunately, as his company grew bigger, he hardly ever came home and when he was around he was glued to the phone or computer.”

Suddenly, Angelina felt like a marriage counselor. But Susan was on a roll, and Angelina didn’t have the heart to cut her off.

“The last year of our marriage was awful. I hardly saw him and I felt like I didn’t even know who he was anymore.” Susan paused and added in dark tones, “And he sure as hell had no idea who I was. So I filed for divorce and moved out. Then I read an article in the Chronicle about how you have a knack for fixing people’s love lives.”

A warning bell went off in Angelina’s head. “Susan, that article was a bunch of hyperbole. I don’t actually fix my client’s love lives.”

“Angelina, don’t be so modest! The woman they interviewed said how after she met with you and followed your advice, she met a wonderful man and now they’re engaged.”

Angelina would have interrupted Susan to inject some reason into the conversation, but Susan was too excited for her to get a word in edgewise.

“She said how one of her friends was going to get a divorce, but after you worked with her, she and her husband worked through their problems and stayed together. Don’t you remember the story? They called you the Feng Shui Cupid.”

Angelina tried not to groan out loud. That article had been dogging her for weeks now.

Evidently the entire lovelorn population of the bay area read the San Francisco Chronicle, because she’d received dozens of calls from people asking if they could meet with the Feng Shui Cupid.

She hated that moniker. Her clients also got better jobs and felt healthier after working with her, but no one was calling her a Feng Shui Recruiter or a Feng Shui Doctor.

“Susan, I agree with you, Will does need a lot of help, but I...”

Susan heard her weakness and jumped in for the kill. “Please help him Angelina. You’re my last hope for reconciliation.”

Angelina was caught between self-preservation and guilt. She had to hand it to Susan, there was nothing quite like making a stranger completely responsible for the fate of your love life.

Against her better judgment Angelina said, “I can’t make the changes for him. It all depends on what he wants.”

“So you’ll try again?”

Angelina was dismayed by how easily she had been roped into taking Will on as a client.

Again.

“I’ll give it one more shot. But don’t expect a miracle.”

* * *

Will sat in his home office, staring intently at the computer screen, typing furiously.

He couldn’t believe the new CFO had countered another one of his ideas. Will sent one final email and then leaned back in his chair to take a thirty-second break before he got on the phone to chew out his CFO for blatantly undermining his authority.

He ran his hands through his hair and shook his head. Lately, running PTI was one headache after another. Whether it was the shareholders, the board members, the employees, or the customers — the troubles seemed endless. Who knew, he found himself thinking, maybe this whole Feng Shui thing could really help. He had heard that Donald Trump used it and look how well he was doing.

Oh no!
He had left the consultant in his front yard.

Will rushed down the hallway to the front door, but she was long gone.

When his ex-wife, Susan, had told him what she was giving him for his thirty-third birthday, his first and only question was “Fung what?” He'd told her he had no intention of meeting any consultant of any kind at 2 p.m. this Thursday, at his house.

Unfortunately, Susan could talk anyone, including him, into a corner.

Against his better judgment, he agreed to waste two precious hours of his workday with some mystical junk. But that was before the new executive staff at his company, Personal Technology Inc., had ambushed him with their radical plans, none of which he agreed with as CEO. After putting in several eighteen hour work days to keep things from blowing up in his face, he was utterly exhausted and in no mood for anything that wasn’t marked URGENT!

Still, even though he thought Angelina's profession was ridiculous—he’d take science over fantasy any day—he owed her an apology. Not to mention the fact that Susan was probably just going to send over one Feng Shui consultant after another until he let one of them in to look through his house.

He grabbed his cell phone and was surprisingly glad to hear the consultant pick up and say, “Angelina Morgan speaking.”

“Angelina. It’s Will Scott.”

Even across the phone lines he felt how much effort it cost her to push “Hello” past her lips. Susan always said he could charm the knickers off a nun. He had a feeling he was going to have to call on all his powers of persuasion to get back into Angelina’s good graces.

“I want to say how sorry I am about abandoning you in my front yard.”

Again, he heard the awful sound of silence across the line. Angelina was definitely angry with him.

“I don't know what to say other than work has been crazy and it’s got me doing things like leaving a beautiful woman standing all alone in my front yard.”

Too late, Will realized he had just admitted he thought she was beautiful. Even now he could remember the way the sunlight had played off of her dark brown hair, the way it had lit up her pretty hazel eyes. And the fact that her mouth had looked so soft.