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Love on the Rebound (Hawaii Billionaire Romance)

Page 16

by Jennifer Youngblood


  FREE BOOK

  Hey there, thanks for taking the time to read Love on the Rebound from the Hawaii Billionaire Series. If you enjoyed it, please take a minute to give us a review on Amazon. We really appreciate your feedback, as we depend largely on word of mouth to promote our books.

  Love on the Rebound is a stand-alone novel, but you’ll also enjoy reading the other books in the Hawaii Billionaire Series. Here’s the order:

  Everything to Lose (Destination Billionaire Romance)

  Love on the Rocks (Hawaii Billionaire Series)

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  EXCERPT OF CRUSHING ON YOU BY CHRISTINE KERSEY

  Crushing on You by Christine Kersey

  “It’s okay, Sadie,” Gabriella Peters murmured to her gray tabby as she carried her into Emerald Falls Veterinary on a mid-August morning. “If you want to start spending time outdoors, your shots will have to be up-to-date.”

  Sadie mewled in protest, but Gabby tucked her against her chest as she stepped up to the counter in the empty waiting room. “I don’t have an appointment,” she said to the woman behind the counter as she tried to hide an embarrassed smile. “But I just moved to town and thought I’d take the chance that the doctor would have time to see Sadie.”

  The woman checked her computer screen, then turned to Gabby with a smile. “Looks like today is your lucky day. The doctor can see Sadie in about fifteen minutes.”

  Smiling with relief, Gabby said, “That’s great. Thank you.”

  The woman placed her fingers on the keyboard. “Let me get some information from you.”

  She gave the woman her contact information, then the woman asked, “What brings you to Emerald Falls?”

  Holding a squirming Sadie in her arms, Gabby thought about the passing of her Aunt Mary, whose cottage she’d inherited, then considered her answer. Had it been serendipity that she’d been given the opportunity to move to Emerald Falls—the place where she’d spent many happy summers in her teenaged years—right when she needed a change of scenery? She liked to think so, although she already missed Aunt Mary and her sage advice.

  She decided to keep her answer simple. “I’m going to be teaching second grade at Emerald Falls Elementary school when school starts in a couple of weeks.”

  “Oh,” the woman said with a smile. “My grandson will be in second grade there this year. Maybe he’ll be in your class.”

  Happy to feel a connection to the community, however small, Gabby’s face lit up. “Really? What’s his name?”

  “Samuel Richards, but he goes by Sam.” The woman paused. “I’m Emily Richards, by the way.”

  “So nice to meet you, Emily.” Emily Richards. Your name doesn’t ring a bell from the summers I spent here. Then again, it’s been ten years since my last full summer here. And I was only fifteen that year and not exactly paying attention to the adults of Emerald Falls.

  “Well,” Emily said with a warm smile. “If you’ll have a seat, the doctor should be with you shortly.”

  With a nod, Gabby turned away, then sat in one of the chairs and placed Sadie in her lap. Stroking Sadie’s soft fur, Gabby thought about the move to her aunt’s cottage—the place that held so many good memories. Her aunt had been there for her when her parents had gone through a nasty divorce when Gabby was only twelve, and for the four summers afterward Aunt Mary had cared for Gabby while her parents had worked.

  The summer Gabby turned fifteen had been her last summer in Emerald Falls. After that, she’d gotten a job in her hometown and hadn’t been able to come for extended visits and she’d lost touch with her Emerald Falls friends. Not much for social media, Gabby had no idea which of those old friends were still in town and which ones had moved away.

  Now, as she struggled to picture the faces of the girls she’d hung out with during her summers in Emerald Falls, another face popped into her mind. A face that made Gabby’s heart do a little flip. She had no trouble remembering that particular face.

  Travis Haywood. The boy I crushed on from afar. The boy I was too shy to even speak to. The boy who went off to college before I’d been able to gather the courage to let him know I was alive.

  Gabby remembered the summer she’d first seen Travis Haywood. She had been fifteen and had just arrived for the summer. He had been eighteen and had just graduated from high school. His family had moved to Emerald Falls late the previous year, and by the time Gabby had shown up, he’d already established himself as the boy all the girls were crazy for.

  With no desire to compete for his attention—not to mention her complete lack of flirting skills—Gabby had developed a king-sized crush on him from a distance. A crush that had not been reciprocated. How could it have been when Travis hadn’t even known Gabby existed?

  Why did I have to be so shy? Why am I still so shy?

  Frustrated with her lack of confidence, Gabby consoled herself by remembering the painful lesson she’d recently learned that taking chances didn’t always pay off.

  Face heating with fresh humiliation, she tried to push the unfortunate incident out of her mind.

  Sadie nipped at Gabby’s finger, yanking her out of her memories, and she realized she was holding her cat a little too tight.

  “Sorry, kitty,” she whispered as she loosened her grip.

  “You must be Gabriella Peters,” a male voice said.

  Gabby lifted her gaze from her cat to meet the deep-blue eyes of the man who stood in front of her. When recognition flooded her a split second later, her eyes widened and her throat closed up.

  The man held out his hand. “I’m Dr. Travis Haywood.”

  Get your FREE copy HERE on Amazon.

  ALSO BY JENNIFER YOUNGBLOOD & SANDRA POOLE

  Hawaii Billionaire Series

  Everything to Lose (Destination Billionaire Series)

  Love on the Rocks

  The Almost an Angel Series

  Candlelight Kisses (Book 1)

  Heart of the Billionaire (Book 2)

  Romantic Thrillers

  False Identity

  When Darkness Falls

  Burned

  Contemporary Romance

  Beastly Charm

  Fairytale Retellings (The Grimm Laws Series)

  Banished

  Love Spell

  Southern Romance

  Livin’ in High Cotton

  The Paper Rose Club

  The Secret Song of the Ditch Lilies (Part 1)

  The Secret Song of the Ditch Lilies (Part 2)

  Short Stories

  The Southern Fried Fix

  ABOUT THE AUTHORS

  Jennifer grew up in rural Alabama and loved living in a town where “everybody knows everybody.” Her love for writing began as a young teenager when she wrote stories for her high school English teacher to critique. She feels that it’s a great privilege to be able to write with her mother, Sandra Poole. “Writing together adds a depth and spice to our work that neither of us could get independently,” she says.

  Jennifer has BA in English and Social Sciences from Brigham Young University where she served as Miss BYU Hawaii in 1989. Before becoming an author, she worked as the owner and editor of a monthly newspaper named The Senior Times. In addition to her love for writing, Jennifer works in the home design industry. She and her husband owned an interior design gallery where she specialized in custom window treatments and floral arrangements. Jennifer continues to do interior design for select clients.

  She now lives in the Rocky Mountains with her family and spends her time writing, carpooling, attending basketball games, and doing all of the wonderful things that make up the life of a busy wife and mother.

  Sandra grew up in a small community in northeast
Alabama called Alder Springs, the setting of Sandra and Jennifer's first novel, Livin' in High Cotton. It was there that she developed a deep love for literature in a two-classroom country school. She recalls that every afternoon the teachers would bring their classes together and read such classics as Rip Van Winkle, Moby Dick, The Headless Horsemen, and The Taming of the Shrew while all their students sat on the floor.

  Sandra has worked in the administrative field for over twenty-five years. She worked her way through college while her daughters were very young and completed a four-year degree in three years. Later, she earned a Masters in Business Administration. Her experience has ranged from being an executive secretary and human resource manager for Fortune 500 companies to being an assistant to one of the vice presidents at the university where she eventually retired. She now works in the education field.

  For Sandra, writing is a continual journey of discovery. She has so many ideas for other books running through her mind that it's hard to focus on one at a time.

  Visit Jennifer and Sandra’s Amazon Author Page by clicking here.

  For more information:

  @authorjenn1

  Authors Jennifer Youngblood & Sandra Poole

  www.jenniferyoungblood.com

  youngbloodpoole@gmail.com

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Your free book awaits …

  Introduction by Taylor Hart

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Free Book

  Excerpt of Crushing on You by Christine Kersey

  Also by Jennifer Youngblood & Sandra Poole

  About the Authors

 

 

 


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