by Anna Joung
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2020 Anna Joung – All rights Reserved
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 the copyright owner. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication / use of the trademarks is not authorized, associated with or sponsored by the trademark owners.
Table of Contents
About the Author
Also By Anna Joung
Description
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
About the Author
Anna Joung is a young hopeless romantic soul, who enjoys writing romance stories with happily ever after. She likes to read to forget and escape her everyday living. Her main goal is for readers to have the same escape and they can delve into the stories as she does.
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Also By Anna Joung
Mark My Spot: Alpha Hooked Book 1
Description
Jann
I’m watching the staff members do their tasks and walk around the garden in an orderly fashion, and I am so conflicted by it.
All of them were acting like a small squad in the Army, and the reason for that is standing in the middle of it.
On the one hand, I hate him for taking over my team, but on the other hand, I couldn’t stop the magnetic and emotional pull I was getting from this man and his set-in-stone ways.
We’ve butted heads often but some moments made me want to jump his bones.
I can’t let him have so much of an effect on me. Just because I was the last one amongst my friends who wasn’t married doesn’t mean I was desperate for a man.
But I have to admit…he was beginning to feel different from just any man.
Dwayne
In almost 10 years of my service in the military, I have never had a woman look me straight in the eyes with such intensity before.
She was a tiny, curvy thing and I could probably carry her over one arm without any effort, and yet she has me pinned in my tracks with a mere gaze.
She always seemed to find a reason to get annoyed with me, but even though I don’t go out of my way to frustrate her, I’m enjoying every bit of attention she’s giving me.
Oh, my life is about to get really interesting, that’s for sure…and it was all because of her.
Chapter 1
Jann
There’s a thing about weddings. When you are days away from the affair, you’ll get this feeling of dread, and you really don’t think you want to go there. But when you’re finally there and watching the couple share their first kiss as husband and wife, you can’t help but smile and wonder why you didn’t want to go in the first place.
…and then everybody else that was invited makes you remember why.
I liked to call weddings sometimes as “happy funerals”. Your relatives and other people you’ve met in x number of years—and that you were also surprised your family still kept in touch with—were all invited, friends and ex-friends too, and they know all about your family history and how you grew up, and the awkward questions always have to come from one of them.
“Why aren’t you married yet?”, “When are you going to settle down?”, “Have you tried Tinder?”. Any questions where my love life or lack thereof is brought up, it’s been brought up to me.
And if that hadn’t been awkward enough, my ex-boyfriend was also invited party. He brought along his pregnant wife—who was also the girl he cheated on you with, is sitting on the secluded table by the corner next to the elderly people and they were clearly uncomfortable. My friend, Kennedy, may have been forthcoming with her fiancé to invite all of his buddies (including said ex-boyfriend), but she was nothing if not vindictive to place them in the most uncomfortable table around.
Bless her bitchy heart, though, I think her show of loyalty was sort of backfiring on me. I couldn’t help my eyes from straying to where they were and how my ex looked at her and her pregnant belly so tenderly…the way he never looked at me.
I felt a nudge on my back that was strong enough to force me to plant both of my hands on the table to regain my balance. I sent Melody a mock glare as she emerged from behind me, sticking her tongue out playfully as she dragged an amused Carrie behind her. Kennedy came from the other side and the three of them sat down on my table, Kennedy eyeing the empty, dirty plates around me in distaste.
“Why are you all alone in this table?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at me. I shrugged and pointed my thumb back to the dance floor in response and she scoffed at me, shaking her head. “Oh, come on, J. Are you seriously going to continue being a wallflower even at my wedding?”
“It’s not my fault no one’s asked me to dance,” I said, masking the slight hurt and rejection I felt with another nonchalant shrug. Carrie’s eyes narrowed at me. She was always that friend who can see through me.
“There’s such a thing as ‘Lady’s Choice’, you know,” Carrie pointed out, and Melody crinkled her nose slightly.
“Well, you know Jann. She’s never really been bold enough to do things like asking a guy out first,” she reasoned, and I appreciated the gesture.
“Still. She should at least try and have some fun once in a while,” Kennedy said, rolling her eyes. “How’s it going with the job-hunting? You said you had an interview yesterday, right?”
“Yep, I got the job. I’m starting on Monday,” I said, nodding.
“What are you going to be as again? Something coordinator?” Melody asked.
“I’m going to be an assistant for an events organizer. It’s a small business and it’s not as big as the company I used to work for, but the pay is good,” I replied.
“Oh, wow! That’s great, Jann! Maybe you’ll get to meet someone in one of those events you go to!” Carrie cried, clapping her hands excitedly.
“No way. I am not going to do that to myself again. Remember what happened the last time?” I asked before pointedly staring at the table where my ex-boyfriend and his wife were currently seated. “I mean, if you guys need a reminder, he’s right there.”
“Oh, please. I really don’t understand why Kevin even wanted me to invite that son of a bitch and his whore. If it were up to me, I’d push my wedding cake over them instead of eating it,” Kennedy snapped. “But seriously, Jann. Aren’t you getting tired of this? All three of us are married now, plus your sister.”
“Haven’t you heard of the saying, ‘Always the bridesmaid, never the bride?” Carrie interjected. “I mean, aren’t you afraid it might come true?”
I faltered at her question since it brought out the worries that I’ve tried so hard to push at the back of my head. I mean, I wasn’t reaching that age where most women got desperate to build a family. But I have been the odd one out all the time. I mean, it was somewhat of a miracle already when my ex-boyfriend asked me out and we dated for 2 years until I found out he’d been cheating on me a year into our relationship. Other than that, I have never been in a relationship at all.
I was the last one in our flock who remained
single, it wasn’t that hard to guess why.
I gestured to my body with my hands, looking at them expressively. If I was being kind to myself, the best way to describe me was voluptuous. My boobs were big, but so were my hips, my thighs, and I also have a belly that I try to hide by wearing Spanx over almost everything. Sometimes, even that wasn’t enough to cover all of the fat. Most men don’t even give me the time of day, or even a passing glance.
“Look at me. This is not the kind of body men want,” I said, causing all three of them to scowl at me.
“You’re not even fat, Jann. You just don’t have enough confidence in yourself,” Melody remarked. I shook my head, dismissing her remark.
“Come on, girls. You don’t have to worry about me. I’ll be fine,” I assured them, though they didn’t look like they believed me. “I don’t need a man to keep me happy. I am perfectly content with my job and then working hard so I can save up and open my own event planning company.”
There was a moment of silence around the table after my declaration before Kennedy snorted and said, “Sure, and I’m going to be next fucking Martha Stewart.”
Chapter 2
Dwayne
I smiled as I saw my little sister standing over the bars, one hand holding a card that said, “My brother, Dwayne,” while she waved the other hand in the air like crazy. I shook my head at how adorable it looked. It was kind of giving me flashbacks when she was just a little kid, crying as I left home for the Army.
I pulled my hat off and dropped my duffel to the floor before opening my arms wide, waiting as she climbed over the bars and tackled me with all her might, her arms coming around my neck excitedly. I chuckled, twirling her around before setting her back gently on the ground.
“Jesus, bro! Have you been taking steroids or something?” she cried, her hands patting my arms and shoulders in amazement. “I swear to God, you look buffer than the last time I saw you!”
“Of course not,” I said, snorting. She thought I needed to take steroids? Seriously? “What about you? You look like you’ve gone and grown smaller.”
She narrowed her eyes and slapped my arm with a snap, and I chuckled, smirking at my joke. “You just think that because you’re so huge now. In your perspective, everything is probably fucking tiny in comparison.”
“Watch your language, girl,” I said, and she rolled her eyes.
“I’m not a child!” she exclaimed. I saw the people nearby stare at us and I ducked my head, putting my hat back over my close-cropped hair and picked up my duffel before dragging Emily out of the airport with me.
“Can you not make a scene next time?” I asked with exasperation.
“You’re overreacting. I was nowhere close to making ‘a scene’,” she said.
“Everybody was staring at you,” I pointed out, squinting my eyes to keep the sun from blinding me as we got out of the airport. She raised her keys and clicked it once, a white Hummer flashing in response and making me whistle lowly in approval. “Nice ride. Where’d you get your taste in cars?”
“From my badass big brother who is also a bit of an ass, of course,” she answered quickly, tossing me a joking smirk. I tossed my duffel in the backseat before climbing into the passenger’s side, cracking my neck side to side to get rid of the tension of an 18-hour flight. Emily literally hopped into the driver’s seat and then backed out of the parking lot, heading towards my apartment. I had asked her to house-sit for me while I was gone, and she told me that she just used up a little corner in my den as kind of like her office.
When we hit a red light, she put the stick on neutral before turning her head towards me. I had a very vague idea of what she was about to ask me.
“Are you really not going to go back in the Army?” she asked me softly. She was probably worried it would be a sensitive topic for me to talk about, and I patted her head, ruffling her hair affectionately. She pushed my arm away with a scowl and tried to fix her hair again.
“No. I finished my required eight years about two years ago, and so after I finished my last assignment, I handed over my resignation,” I told her.
“But are you going to go back again someday? I mean, you can go back, right?” she asked, and I considered my response.
“I can go back, but the process isn’t very quick. They can enlist me back too if a war breaks out all of a sudden, and I hope that never happens,” I answered carefully. “Other than that, no. I’m not planning on coming back.”
She breathed a sigh of relief and placed the stick back on the drive, just in time for the light to go green. “Well, since you’re unemployed, how about you come and work for me instead of being a couch potato?”
“Work for you?” I repeated, raising my eyebrows in surprise. “What? You’ve got your own company now, or something?”
“Only a small one,” she said humbly, her cheeks flushing in embarrassment. “I’m an events planner. I plan weddings, birthdays, parties, stuff like that. I even have my own team that goes there and organizes the equipment on the day of. I have connections to different people who can send me stuff to set the events up, too.”
“Seems you have everything all figured out, sis,” I noted, feeling proud of her. “Having said that, what do you still need me for?”
“Well, I need a big man to be my muscle, of course,” she said cheerfully, and I just stared at her. “Hey! The speakers, lighting, and tables aren’t light, you know. Besides, it requires a delicate touch even though they really just need to be hauled off somewhere, basically.”
“So, you want to reduce a lieutenant in the US Army into a bell boy,” I said, trying to bite back an amused smile.
“I mean, you can still be a lieutenant if you want. You can just carry my things while you’re at it,” she replied.
“You’re impossible,” I said, shaking my head.
“Hey, it’ll give you something to do and a way to pay our rent instead of just sleeping on the couch. So, come on. What do you say?”
I turned my head and opened my mouth, ready to tell her no.
***
…I said, “Yes.” Which was why I found myself standing in the middle of a garden, with a bunch of guys running around and everybody screaming and yelling at each other. I was starting to think that I had made a mistake.
I placed the huge pot of plant she told me to carry out of the van and sighed, watching…whatever the hell this was. It was total chaos, and my sister was nowhere to be seen. I looked around trying to find her, and instead, I found something else: a woman carrying a stack of papers and headed right to a big coil of wires.
Chapter 3
Jann
When I met Emily Connor for an interview, she seemed bright, bubbly, and knew really well where she wanted to take Good Events. She had a lot of ideas and said that her team had been getting steady jobs and she was close to opening up her own office space soon. It was kind of weird that I had to have my first job interview at the coffee shop, but she made it work and she had hired me to be her assistant right then and there.
I didn’t know what exactly she had in mind, but for my first day of work, she had me calling over half of the people on this list and canvass pricing for materials and sounds equipment. After I was finished, I sent the price list over to her email and told me that we were going to meet with a client and we were going to use the price list I canvassed to keep our expenses within the budget.
The next few days were spent scouting out the venue and settling for a caterer since they wanted to have the wedding reception in a makeshift tent outside of the place instead of reserving a restaurant. We discussed our plans with regards to themes and decorations and all the tiny details that needed to be ironed out. They had a few ideas and Emily wasted no time creating a little draft of sorts for her entire reception. She did some small edits to the draft when the couple didn’t like something or wanted to add another detail, but overall, they seemed to love her plans. I was learning a lot from her and was really hoping that someday, Emily
would let me handle an event by myself.
Now, I’ve been in chaotic workplaces before, but this was a whole other level. I didn’t know what kind of managing my boss did, but I couldn’t tell if everyone on the team even knew what they were supposed to be doing. I tried to get them to organize, but they just looked at me like they were wondering who I was and why they should listen to me. I flushed with embarrassment and decided to just do the task I was assigned to do instead, and then report back to Emily if they still looked like they were in disarray.
She told me to print these documents and bring it over to the couple so they could sign them, and so I did, gathering the papers into a thick pile with a yellow folder and trying to keep them from falling in my arms. The weather forecast was off and instead of the clear sunny day we were supposed to have, it was windy and the clouds were a little gray. I was a little concerned about how this outdoor wedding would play out, but I was certain Emily had a backup plan in case it started to rain.
I almost lost my balance again, my stilettos sinking a little to the ground because it was too soft, and I had to heave my shoes out to take another step. I was so focused on not dropping the files that I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going. I felt something wrap around my ankle first and suddenly, I felt like everything that happened next went in slow motion. I lost my balance and I instinctively clutched the documents to my chest, closing my eyes while I braced myself for impact.
Instead of the ground, I felt the warmth of a hard body wrap around me, keeping me upright. I felt the warm breath hitting my hair and I turned my head, looking up at the most dazzling hazel eyes I have ever seen. His skin was tan and his dark hair was cut close to his scalp, like the ones sported by the military. His neck and shoulders were large and bulky, perfectly proportionate to the massive chest and arms currently holding me to him.