Green: a friends to lovers romantic comedy

by Kayley Loring

  We mutually decided to let people know we were married by changing our relationship statuses on Facebook, and posting pictures of our Santa Barbara courthouse ceremony, without explaining when we got married. It just looked like we’d eloped.

  We came up with the idea while we were naked, so it wasn’t completely thought-through. When people contacted us privately, we told them we’d be inviting them to a destination wedding in the near future. We were picky about who we told the whole story to, but it felt really good to tell it. For those we didn’t tell the whole story to—it wasn’t exactly a lie, we just left out the details.

  That was Gemma & Theo 4.0.

  Today, we update to Gemma & Theo 5.0. This new version has bug fixes, as well as adding new features and improvements that make us faster, more reliable, and somehow—more in love than ever.

  I remember telling myself at our “sham” ceremony that I’d let myself cry at my real wedding. I didn’t expect that I actually would, but when the string quartet starts playing an instrumental version of Thank You by Dido, and I see Gemma, in her beautiful wedding gown, arm in arm with her Dad, warm liquid starts to leak from the inner corners of my eyes. Ethan, my best man, nudges me with his elbow and winks, whispering, “I cried at my wedding too, bro. It’s what real men do.”

  She’s wearing what I’m told is called a “garland” on the crown of her head. I’m thankful for Gemma Kelly-Walker every day, but when she wears a gown and pretty little flowers in her hair, I’m thankful for everyone and everything that put us on our weird path to this day.

  I wouldn’t change a thing, because now I know that the possibilities for renewal in our relationship are endless.

  The minister says a few nice words, before letting us get to our vows. We had decided early on that there would be more party than ceremony today.

  We had already said so many things to each other over the years, and at our marriage ceremony in Santa Barbara. Things that were true, things that were almost true, things that we didn't realize were true. This time, I just want to say as much as I can in as few words as possible, because this time--we both know this is real. "You're the love of my life," I say. "I'm all yours. Always."

  She smiles at me, doesn't wait for the minister to tell her it's her turn. "You're the love of my life," she says. "You always were. I’ll always be yours. Good talk."

  When I kiss my bride, I know for a fact that we aren’t making a huge mistake by doing this.

  I’m married to my best friend.

  We’ll go through everything together.

  We’ll be great. Things will always be great.

  How could they not be?

  It’s us.

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  Other Books by Kayley Loring

  Rebound With Me

  When you’re in your neighborhood liquor store trying to figure out what kind of alcohol to consume after finding out your fiancé has dumped you for a 22 year-old nanny, and the hottest guy you’ve ever seen comes up to you and offers to get you a drink at the bar down the street, you’d go—right?

  It’s not the kind of thing I would have done before now. I’ve been a Good Girl my whole life. Always played it safe, always followed the rules. I even got engaged to the principal of the school I teach at. Well, look where that got me.

  It got me back here in my apartment, with the sexiest most charming guy I’ve ever met. When I find out that he’s the nanny’s ex-boyfriend and his plan was to sleep with me to get back at my ex—you’d think I’d kick him out, right?

  Wrong.

  This guy Vince Devlin is exactly the kind of trouble I’ve been protecting myself from. Do I want to help him get back at my ex in this way?

  Oh.

  Hell.

  Yes.

  I want him to get back at my ex hard. With wild abandon. All night long.

  I expect the hottest (and only) one-night stand of my life.

  I don’t expect him to come back for more and show me the best summer I’ve ever had. I don’t expect us to fall in love. I don’t plan to invite him to come with me on my weekend getaway, I don’t expect him to say ‘yes,’ and neither of us expects to run into our exes there.

  We don’t expect any of it. The only thing we know for sure is that rebounding with each other is a bad idea. The best bad idea that either of us has ever had.

  REBOUND WITH ME is a sexy and sweet romantic comedy about a hot summer fling that just might turn out to be the real thing.

  Sexy Nerd

  Not gonna lie to you.

  When he walked into my restaurant, I thought he was the hottest man I’d ever seen in person.

  And then he spoke.

  And I realized who he was.

  The world now knows him as John Brandt—ridiculously wealthy handsome genius workaholic startup founder and tech entrepreneur. I will always think of him as the annoying geek who was my older brother’s best friend. He yanked my pigtails and called me Tiny Dancer. I put rubber snakes in his sleeping bag and called him Johnny B. Nerdballs.

  Market research has told him that he needs a girlfriend for an important business trip and gala event. He says he doesn’t want to bring someone that he has to impress or make an effort with, so he thought of me and figures I could use a nice vacation from my life right about now.

  He is one cocky nerd. Even if he’s right.

  I need the money and he can actually help me with my career, but I think he needs to be schooled in the art of treating a lady right. Lucky for him, I am just the woman to finally teach him…Turns out his total lack of social skills does not correspond to a lack of skills in the bedroom. At all. He even teaches me a few new tricks.

  Every time he opens his obnoxious mouth I can’t believe this guy’s for real. Every time he touches me, every time he reminds me of who I was before I started to lose myself in the big city, I can’t believe that what we have right now is fake.

  I’m afraid that by the end of the month either I will have punched him in the face, or the last man on earth I ever thought I’d fall in love with will have broken my heart. Or both.

  SEXY NERD is a standalone older brother’s best friend / fake relationship romantic comedy with a real cocky nerd, real laughs, real steam and a real happy ending. Brainy is the new sexy!

  Every Inch Of You

  VIVIAN: I’m in hell. Three months ago I got dumped and it sent me into a downward spiral of red wine and pie. Now my Type A sister is getting married and she’s hired me a personal trainer so I can look respectable standing next to her as the maid of honor.

  The good news: she’s paying for the hottest hard-ass personal trainer in town.

  The bad news: he used to be the fat kid at my high school, the one my popular friends bullied. He was my friend, the first boy I’d ever kissed, and the one who claimed I broke his heart.

  The worst news: He is now the hottest man I’ve ever known, still hasn’t forgiven me, and I have never wanted anyone more in my life. But I can’t erase the past any easier than I can get rid of those stubborn last five pounds.

  BRAD: A fat boy’s best revenge is to work out, get hot, and then get all the women. In high school, I only wanted one girl. Fate has brought her to my gym, and I am going to make her feel the burn like she’s never felt it before.

  My plan is to torture her with ab work, get her to fall for me, then blow her off and break her heart like she did to me.

  But she’s making it so damned hard…to do that last part.

  I hope s
he doesn’t figure out that deep down I’m still Fat Brad, the book nerd who eats his feelings and would do anything just to kiss her.

  EVERY INCH OF YOU is a standalone sexy second chance romantic comedy with lots of laughs, plenty of steam, an HEA, no cheating, no cliffhanger. It’ll work your heart, your core and your glutes!

  The Workation (Work Less, Play More: Book One)

  When twentysomethings Molly Kidd and Ryan Murphy formed a startup company in Seattle three years ago, they agreed that they were perfect for each other—as business partners.

  Molly made the rules: they will never date each other, they will never talk about their personal lives, they will never visit each other’s homes. Fortunately, they have so much fun spending so much time working together at the office that they barely have time to do or talk about anything else anyway.

  Now that it’s winter and everyone at their small successful company is overworked and grumpy, Murphy gets this crazy idea that they should all take a work vacation at a resort in Hawaii. Yes, the woman who organizes the workations at this resort happens to be gorgeous, but Murphy believes it will benefit the whole team to have more work-life balance.

  Molly refuses to admit that she’s intimidated by the thought of the most important guy in her life falling for this perfect lady, so she agrees to the trip despite being equally uncomfortable with the idea of relaxing in a bikini in front of her coworkers.

  Turns out it’s impossible to draw a line between business and pleasure in the sands of Oahu, and giving in to temptation could lead Molly and Murphy to lose more than just their hearts. But would it be worth it?

  THE WORKATION is a standalone, the first in the Work Less, Play More series.

  It’s a friends to lovers romantic comedy that works!

  The Flirtation (Work Less, Play More: Book Two)

  I like my men like I like my tea—HOT and BRITISH.

  I love my job. The more time I spend working to make my wealthy clients’ financial dreams come true, the easier it is to ignore the shocking reality that there’s no one in New York that I’m even remotely interested in dating and that my sister is convinced my overused vibrator is going to destroy my lady parts.

  Better yet—I actually get paid to Skype with Luke Mason (aka Sir Flirty McFlirtson) a hot British business consultant in London who dampens my knickers and makes me want to lick my computer screen.

  But now our mutual client has invited us both to a private villa in the Bahamas for our first face-to-face meeting. When there’s no longer an ocean separating us, I’m afraid he’ll either find out what a dork I really am—or—this international merger will heat up in ways that neither of us are prepared to deal with.

  THE FLIRTATION is a standalone, the second in the Work Less, Play More series.

  It’s a transatlantic romantic comedy that works!

  THE WEDDING SEASON (Work Less, Play More: Book Three)

  It may be a creative marriage made in heaven, but Erin Duffy is cordially inviting Scott Braddock to go to hell…

  ERIN: There are millions of guys in L.A. so I why do I keep bumping into my nemesis Scott Braddock? He’s hot. He’s rich. He’s cocky. I’ve been competitive with him as a writer since college, and my former dormmate lost her mind after he had hot sex with her. He is nothing but trouble for me.

  Now we keep going to the same weddings, and I keep accidentally hooking up with him. But I will not let the fact that he’s mind-blowing in bed make me lose my head.

  I came to Hollywood to be a successful screenwriter, and I will let nothing stand in my way. Especially not naked Scott Braddock.

  SCOTT: Ever since college, there have been two things I’ve wanted more than anything—to be a successful screenwriter and to date Erin Duffy. She's a pain in the ass, and I want her to be MY pain in the ass. I screwed things up with Erin big time at school, but now our agents want us to work together and I have the chance to make things right.

  It’s going to take everything I’ve got to win her over and have the kind of career we would both kill for, but I will do whatever it takes—on both coasts, at the computer, on the dance floor, in bed...I will rewrite every scene until we get our happy ending.

  THE WEDDING SEASON is a standalone steamy new adult romantic comedy.

  It’s an enemies to lovers romantic comedy that works!