Valentine Collection (Valentine Anthology)

by Conner, Jennifer

  Valentine Surprise

  Jennifer Conner

  Valentine Surprise

  Copyright 2011

  By Books to Go Now

  For information on the cover illustration and design, contact bookstogonow@gmail.com

  First eBook Edition –January 2011

  Printed in the United States of America

  Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages for review purposes.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to any person, living or dead, any place, events or occurrences, is purely coincidental. The characters and story lines are created from the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously.

  If you are interested in purchasing more works of this nature, please stop by

  www.bookstogonow.com

  If you enjoy Valentine Encounter please look for Jennifer’s other short stories

  Valentine Surprise

  Cupcakes and Cupids

  Do You Hear What I Hear?

  New Year Resolution

  The Duke and the Lost Night

  The Reluctant Heir

  The Wounded Nobleman

  Christmas with Carol

  Auld Lang Sigh

  Rush of Love

  Fields of Gold

  Christmas Chaos

  The Christmas Horse

  The Music of Christmas

  All I Want for Christmas is You

  Weddings First Chance

  and novel

  Kilt by Love

  Valentine Surprise

  Chapter 1

  Cecilia Clayton took another sip of her latte and waited for her best friend’s brother to finish his phone call. This was the downside of Lee being a lawyer; he was always on the phone. He should let calls go to voice mail. That would be the polite thing to do. Hadn’t he been the one who called her to come over? Geesh!

  Wheeling the office chair back a foot she waved her fingers. He spotted her and shrugged a broad shoulder in apology. Barefoot, with Levi’s, chocolate-brown hair that tipped his collar and laser-blue eyes, Lee was suck-the-breath-out-of-you good-looking. She met him and his sister in college where Cecilia grew to be best buddies with Tami. For the past six years she was the tag-along-friend that came with his sister.

  That was when she learned about Lee’s ‘problem’. He was a technophobe. Cecilia asked him once why he hated computers. At college, he said he spent so much time with his nose buried in law books he never learned more than the basics of computer know- how. It just wasn’t important to him.

  Through their college days he began to pay her to type up his dictated papers. He tried to do a paper himself once and it took five hours to hunt-and-peck three pages. The arrangement worked well, and the extra funds helped her pay for food and rent.

  Now she was the lead developer of a growing software design firm. So, why was she still jumping every time Lee called?

  Lee said he’d still happily pay her, but she hadn’t taken money for her tech help in four years. It was much easier to think of herself as a ‘good Samaritan’ than what she was - hopelessly in love with him. This time of the year made her sappy crush on Lee worse than ever.

  It was all that damn Valentine merchandise.

  The day after New Year’s when all the Christmas decorations came down, up went all the sparkly bling hearts and flying cupids. Cecilia hated it. Every store held a blazing reminder that she was alone.

  When Lee called earlier that afternoon, her heart leaped in her throat, but just as quickly dropped down to the carpet. Virus updating? Lee didn’t even know what it was or why the computer was asking for it. Cecilia tried to talk him through the steps, but after fifteen minutes, she decided it was easier to make the five minute drive to his place and fix it herself.

  Cecilia put her palms down on the desk and scooted forward. She needed his password login to update his virus protection software. Lee never made any sense with his random passwords—then couldn’t recall them later. Whatever popped into his mind at that moment became the password.

  Cecelia tapped a pen to her lower lip trying to think of what he may have chosen.

  Porsche.

  No access. Okay, so it wasn’t his car.

  lawyer. court case. court house.

  Nope, didn’t work either. He’d used those in the past, it was worth a try.

  Man of my dreams. Love potion number 9. Cupid, get me out of here!

  She sighed deeply and looked to see if Lee was finished with his phone conversation. Nope still talking away. From the heated debate she could hear on his end, it would be awhile.

  Cecilia noticed a blue folder. It stuck out because it wasn’t the color of the others stacked high on the desk. She shouldn’t snoop but maybe there would be some good celebrity gossip. The local rich and famous who’d posted bail and retained Lee as their lawyer. She lifted the corner with the tip of her finger, looked to make sure he was still on the phone, then flipped it open.

  Cupid’s Okay. It took a minute for the cover sheet info to sink in. An online dating service? What the….

  At first, disappointment flooded her, but then like a beam of Valentine light shining down from above, she had an idea. The only way she was going to get Lee Maxwell out of her life, and her mind, was to find him true love. Then he could stop being her fantasy man.

  She read the first page. Sure enough, it was an introductory packet they’d mailed to his house.

  It was still a shock. Lee could have a date every night with any woman he wanted. Handsome. Rich. Smart. Outdoorsy… was this some kind of a joke? But, he’d told her how busy he was. Maybe that was it. There wouldn’t be much time to meet anyone. He was probably as lonely as she was.

  Cecilia placed the first sheet of paper to the side and read on. He’d started to fill out the first page of information with a pen in neat hand writing. She could read every word. Definitely a lawyer, not a doctor.

  Height: six-foot-two. Weight: One-eighty-five. Nice. Cecilia knew the other personal facts on the sheet.

  Lucky for her the first page was filled out with his password and login:

  leemaxwell. porsche. Predictable. She rolled her eyes to the ceiling.

  She opened the Web, found the Cupid’s Okay website, and finished the steps where he started the sign- up process. He must have gotten stuck; there was no information entered past the first page. Quickly Cecilia typed his info into the boxes.

  She flipped to the next page in the folder and stopped. He’d handwritten the entire box of About Me: A little bit about me: I am a mature, self-confident man. I love travelling, camping (especially next to water) and doing anything outdoors. If you see yourself in this description, and are interested in meeting, please contact me. No pressure on any potential dates, let’s just take it easy and become friends.

  Could be better, but a good start.

  She flipped to the next page. What kind of women I like. Written was: Petite. Blond. Not a lot more, but she was sure that would be enough.

  The last ‘date’ she remembered seeing Lee on was with a French advertising exec, Aurelie
. She was everything Cecilia wasn’t. Petite, blond, AND spoke French. How could she compete with that? Computer programming language probably didn’t count as a foreign language—only to Lee.

  To finish up the application, she found a photo on his desktop of Tami, Lee and her river-rafting. Dragging it into a photo editing program, she cropped herself and his sister out, then resaved the file. Cecilia reached out and touched the screen. She loved this photo. It was such a happy day. Lee’s face was tan, his eyes matched the sky, and his hair was damp and dark from the river’s spray.

  This photo would have every eligible young woman from here to Portland hit right between the eyes by Cupid’s arrow.

  As she clicked apply, she was confident Lee would have eensey-weensey blonds lined up down the hall and around the block. You never know. One might be a computer wiz, and then she could wash her hands of Lee Maxwell once and for all.

  Chapter 2

  Lee finally got Mossberg off the phone. His law partner called almost every night because they were so busy during the day, they didn’t have time to go over all the cases.

  It used to bug him, but now that they’d gone into private practice, he realized he would much rather be home. He could work in his bare feet, with a glass of wine and talk to his law partner on the phone.

  He spoke the saved number into his cell phone and ordered take-out. At least he had that gem of a feature figured out.

  Grabbing another glass out of the wine rack, Lee filled it with a nice Cabernet and padded off down the hall. He propped a hip on the doorjamb and said, “Hey- really sorry about that. Work. But, I’m all yours now.”

  There was a high blush on Cecilia’s cheeks. She pushed back from the desk, took the glass of wine and downed half of it.

  “CC if I didn’t know better, I would say you were snooping through my papers while you were waiting for me to get off the phone,” he kidded.

  Her blush deepened. “I was not ‘snooping’. I was trying to figure out what your stupid password was for your virus protection.” She waved a hand. “You had them written down in that little purple book your grandma gave you. I was looking for that.”

  Lee grinned. This was fun. Whatever she was up to, she was rattled. And Cecilia was never rattled. He flopped down in the large overstuffed leather sofa next to the desk and put his bare feet on the coffee table. “A-1 Teriyaki.”

  She glared at him. “What are you talking about?”

  “You wanted my new password. Ha! You didn’t figure it out and now it’s bugging you.” He raised a clenched fist in victory. “You’ve been harping on me for a year to stop using the same old password-, telling me I would be eaten to bits by the big bad wolf.”

  “Hacked.”

  “So I mixed it up. Uppercase, lowercase— AND a number!”

  She tried to hold a smile back, but it snuck through. “I’m so proud of you. You used a takeout place’s name for your password?”

  “Not just any takeout. This place just opened around the corner and they are my new best friends. Great food, I can remember the name for my password and they are…”

  The doorbell rang.

  “Fast! I think they have ESP and know when I’m going to call.” He rose and moved to open the front door. He paid the delivery kid - then after a side trip to the kitchen, came back with plates and forks.

  Cecilia was hard at work on his computer. After ignoring him for a minute, she turned and said, “There you go. All your virus protection is updated from hackers and big bad wolves.”

  “As usual, I know you won’t let me pay you and I doubt you’ve eaten dinner since you came straight from work. So help me with this double order of General Tao chicken?”

  “It smells awfully good. And I am starving.”

  He scooped out generous portions of the chicken and fried rice onto the plates then they took opposite ends of the couch. It was nice to have CC there. She was over a lot and he liked it. Lee hated spending the evenings in an empty house. He must be getting old, because all the things that seemed terribly important in the past were moving down the list.

  He loved being a lawyer and was good at what he did. Along with that came money for the house and car. Lee glanced at the folder on the desk. He thought of telling Cecilia about the dating service, but she’d never understand. To the outside world, it looked as though he had everything.

  The idea of using a dating service was lame, but he had a friend who used it and met a few nice girls. As he wrote down on his profile, No pressure on any potential dates, let’s just take it easy and become friends. One-night flings were fun, but they were no longer enough. That’s what he really needed right now, good friends, who came over after working an eight hour day to fix your virus protection software.

  He hit the button to turn on his big screen TV and found the Travel Channel.

  “Hey!” Cecilia exclaimed and jumped up. “That’s the Deschutes National Forest. We went hiking there last year with Tami. Remember when she thought she heard a bear and ran to hide in the Sani-can? I’m surprised she ever went hiking again. She still talks about that.”

  Her grin was contagious and he smiled. She dropped her tall, lean body back on the couch and pulled the band off that held her hair in a ponytail. A cascade of rich brown hair fell over one shoulder before she twisted it up in a knot. He tried to remember if he’d ever seen her hair down before, or if he’d just never paid attention. He paid attention now and saw how silky it was.

  As she watched the TV, he watched her.

  With Cupid’s Okay, maybe he’d find someone like CC.

  #

  When CC left, he cracked his knuckles, turned off the TV and buckled down to finish the online profile. Too bad you couldn’t just snap your fingers and have it fill itself in. Ugh. Computer work.

  Lee opened the folder and typed in the web address. He put in the login information and waited.

  The screen said, Welcome back.

  Huh?

  Had he filled out the rest of the application and forgotten he’d already done it? He was really tired last night when he started and had a glass of wine. Maybe it cosmically knew his info. Had he been hacked?

  Well, if it had hacked his info and automatically filled it in… lucky him.

  There were five blinking hearts in the top of the webpage box, with a flashing icon that said, Cupid’s found five matches for you!

  Cautiously he clicked the first heart. A photo of a cute blond popped up. Linzy Bellham. The message read: Hi Lee. Read your profile and thought we might be a perfect match. You’re a lawyer? Great! Let’s meet and have dinner. The message was followed by her cell number and the time to meet at a local French restaurant.

  He clicked through the other heart boxes. All knockout blonds.

  This online dating was much easier than he’d thought.

  No more lonely nights for him.

  Chapter 3

  Cecilia wiggled into her Sponge Bob polar-fleece pajama bottoms, pulled on a grey college sweatshirt and finished towel drying her hair. It had been a long day at the office and a lengthy hot bath felt close to heaven. She wandered out into the kitchen and lifted the bag of popcorn out of the microwave. Starting to reach for a bowl, she decided it would be one more dish to wash so ripped open the bag and stuck her hand in.

  A knock on her door made her jump. She dropped the popcorn bag on the table and moved to the door. Wrapping her hand around her ‘in-home protection’ baseball bat, she asked in a deep voice, “Who is it?”

  “It’s me, Lee. Sorry I didn’t call first. Can I come in for a few minutes?”

  Cecilia looked at her makeup-less face and wet hair, and groaned. “Can we do this tomorrow?”

  There was a pause before he answered, “Not really. It should only take a few minutes. Please, CC?”

 
Was he begging? Did she have no willpower at all? She opened the door.

  There he was Mr. Perfect, wearing a light mint green dress shirt open at the collar and expensive dress pants. Good enough to eat with a spoon, her mom would say.

  He smiled as he looked down at the baseball bat still clenched in her hand. “Are you going to hit me with that?”

  “Should I?” She frowned and dropped it back behind the door. “Can I get you something to drink?”

  “Can I have some of your custom made hot chocolate?”

  She nodded and walked past him as he sat on the couch.

  He checked her out as she walked by. “Hey! Tami gave you those pajamas as a white elephant gift last year.”

  “Yeah… well.” She felt her cheeks -burn -as she stirred hot water into the cup and added the hot chocolate concoction she had invented. “I like them, they keep me warm.”

  “There are better options to keep warm than Sponge Bob pajamas,” he said, as something flashed in his eyes. She swore it was heat. For her? Right…she was one hot-mama in this get-up.

  Cecilia gave him the cup and put a hand on her hip. “You made this sound like a disaster of biblical proportions.”

  “I need your help with something. I know I can trust you won’t tell Tami.” He set the cup down and ran a hand through his hair. “I signed up for an online dating service.”

  She scooped up the popcorn bag and eyed him over the edge. “Did you go out on a date?”

  He threw his hand up and rolled his eyes. “It was a total disaster! Lindzy with a ‘Z”. I thought it was great for about five minutes. When I picked her up she was wearing a dress short enough to see her… well, you get the idea.”