Taking A Chance (Single Dad Romance)

by Mandy Morgan

  Taking a Chance

  A Sweet Single Dad Romance

  Mandy Morgan

  Copyright © 2019 by Mandy Morgan

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a book review.

  First e-book edition October 2019.

  www.facebook.com/mandymorganromance

  Table of Contents

  Summary

  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

  Epilogue

  More Books

  About the Author

  Summary

  A sweet & steamy single dad romance…

  Jenna has finally had it with her abusive boyfriend.

  All she wants is a fresh start and a better life for herself, and she’s determine to do it on her own.

  But then she literally runs into a handsome single dad in the parking lot of the local grocery store.

  Will meeting Tyler and his adorable little boy get in her way to freedom? Or be a blessing in disguise?

  Get notified of NEW releases at www.eepurl.com/gk6MuT

  Chapter One

  Jenna

  A sudden squeal of feedback and a loud crackle of static broke the peace of the Lakeview Community College library. Students sitting around the room jumped and cringed at the noisy interruption.

  To them, it was just an annoyance, but to me it meant trouble, and I froze in the middle of highlighting a passage in my textbook.

  There was a metallic tang of fear in my mouth as I silently prayed that the voice on the intercom was going to make a run-of-the-mill announcement.

  Please, please may this not have anything to do with me…

  “Jenna Stewart, come to the circulation desk. Jenna Stewart, you’re needed at the front desk immediately.”

  The librarian sounded put-out as the intercom clicked off. She was obviously not happy about having to stop what she was doing to chase down a student— we were all supposed to be adults here, after all.

  My stomach clenched into a ball as I quickly gathered up my things and made my way to the front of the library with my head down.

  I could feel the weight of the eyes of my fellow students on me. I couldn’t blame anyone but myself for this intrusion, but that didn’t make it any less embarrassing.

  I should have known better than to turn my phone off while I was studying. It might be the polite thing to do in a library, but Ray insisted on being able to reach me anywhere and everywhere I went. I knew it would blow up with missed calls and messages from him when I turned it back on.

  I approached the circulation desk and stood in front of the woman sitting behind it. She looked like someone’s kindly grandmother, but her eyes were cool as she appraised me, and I felt my embarrassment ratchet up another level.

  “I’m Jenna Stewart,” I said and was sad to hear it come out like a confession. “You wanted to see me?”

  “Actually, no, Miss Stewart. What I want is to be able to do my job without being bombarded by phone calls from a man demanding to speak with you.”

  I felt my face flame up and dropped my eyes to avoid hers. “I’m very sorry about that. I had my cell phone turned off to avoid disturbing anyone.”

  The librarian raised one eyebrow and peered at me over her glasses. “That’s very admirable of you. If only your friend had the same common courtesy.”

  I swallowed hard and nodded. “I’ll call him back as soon as I leave.”

  “No need for that. He insisted upon staying on hold while I made my announcement.”

  “Of course, he did,” I muttered, still not able to look the librarian in the eyes.

  “Please keep it short and quiet,” she said as she handed me the receiver of her desk phone. “We’ve had enough noise for one day, wouldn’t you agree, Miss Stewart?”

  Blinking back tears, I nodded again and wrapped my trembling fingers around the phone. I took a deep breath before bringing it up to my ear and speaking to the man who had caused me so much trouble in my life.

  “I’m here, Ray,” I said in a light and low voice. “I’m headed home as soon as I get off the phone with you, I promise.”

  “Why in the hell aren’t you answering my calls or texts, Jenna?”

  I grimaced as my boyfriend’s voice boomed out of the phone. I turned and put my back to the librarian, hoping to mute the noise and avoid the judgmental look she was surely giving me.

  “I was studying and didn’t want to upset the other students,” I explained, my voice dropping to a whisper. “I’m sorry, Ray, okay? Everything is fine.”

  “No, it’s not okay and everything is most definitely not fine,” Ray grated out. “Get your ass home, Jenna, and I mean right now.”

  My vision blurred with the tears I could no longer hold back as the phone went dead in my hand. I turned around and passed the receiver back to the librarian, accidentally catching her eyes with my own as I struggled to keep my growing sense of panic at bay.

  The older woman’s expression had shifted from irritation to pity. “Is everything alright, Miss Stewart?”

  “Yes, thank you,” I mumbled through numb lips. “I’m sorry about the disturbance.”

  I could feel her concerned gaze on me as I made my way out of the library’s front door. My thoughts were a toxic jumble of fear, sadness, and anger as I walked to my beat-up Honda Civic and tossed my purse and books onto the passenger seat.

  But I didn’t start the car, even though I knew Ray was bound to be pacing the narrow front hallway of the trailer we shared. Instead, I pulled my phone out of the back pocket of my jeans and powered it up.

  Just as I had suspected, it exploded with missed call and message notifications. I sat there staring at the screen, watching the words jump and swim in front of my tear-filled vision.

  There were dozens of them, and even though I couldn’t see well enough to read any of the messages, I knew they would all be angry and nasty.

  I realized I should get moving—I didn’t want things to get physical the way they had the last time Ray hadn’t been able to reach me by phone.

  But I was shaking too hard to drive. I gave into the riot of emotions coursing through me, let my head sink into my hands, and sobbed like a maniac.

  My mind wandered as I cried, and I tried to pinpoint the time in my life where everything had gone so wrong. All I’d ever wanted to do was make a better go of things than my parents had, which was why I’d signed up for courses at Lakeview in the first place.

  I’d lived in the crappy part of town since birth, had watched my mother and father kill themselves with drugs before I’d even finished high school, and worked my fingers to the bone at Walmart six days a week. Yet here I was, bawling my eyes out in my crappy car in the middle of the school’s parking lot.

  Ray had come along right after my parents had died and seemed like the answer to my prayers. He’d swooped in and marked me as his territory when I was in my second year of high school.

  I’d been so proud that a Senior was attracted to me back
then. None of the other guys had even seemed to be interested in a shy, plump Sophomore, so I fell right into Ray’s embrace.

  Now, I was able to see the relationship for the trap that it was, but at twenty-five, I still had no real education or career path, and no hope of ever getting out of the trailer park where I’d lived my whole life.

  I leaned my head back and took a watery breath. It felt good to let myself cry, but I knew each second that ticked by would just piss Ray off more. With a sigh, I reached out and grabbed a napkin from the glove compartment to clean myself up.

  When I looked into the rearview mirror to see how bad the damage was, I caught a glimpse of my eyes and realized they had the haunted look of a caged animal.

  I felt something snap inside of me, and my feelings of sadness and self-pity morphed into a rage-filled moment of clarity like I’d never experienced before.

  I knew right then and there I had to get out. And I started planning my escape before I even turned the key in the ignition.

  Chapter Two

  Tyler

  “Noah, you can’t have Froot Loops for every meal.”

  “But they’re good, Dad!”

  I plucked the massive box of colorful cereal out of my son’s hands. His eyes went big and his chin began to tremble, and I worried I may have just pushed him into tantrum territory.

  I put the box back on the shelf with a sigh. “They might taste good, buddy, but they’re not good for you. Not all of the time. How about we get a smaller box and you can have a bowl or two over the weekend?”

  “Whatever,” he mumbled and then surprised the hell out of me by kicking the wheel of our shopping cart.

  “Noah James Hadley! You better knock that off, right now!”

  My six-year-old shoved his little hands into the front pockets of his jeans and gave a slight roll of his eyes before turning his back on me.

  I took a deep breath to try and keep my cool, grabbed a smaller box of the sugar-laden cereal that had caused Noah’s latest outburst, and tossed it into the cart.

  Ever since Noah had started “real school,” as he called it, he’d been coming home with new behavior that shocked me.

  It was like having a miniature teenager in the house. I’d thought there’d be at least a few good years before eye-rolling and cool indifference, but I’d been dead wrong on that score.

  “Come on, we still have a lot of groceries to get before we can go home. Grab ahold of the cart and let’s get to it, alright?”

  “I’m not a baby anymore,” Noah said in a tone that let me know he thought I was the dumbest guy to ever live. “Why do I have to hold the cart?”

  “I don’t want you to get lost, buddy. It’s better than holding my hand, isn’t it?”

  He didn’t respond at first and I held my breath. Getting the weekly food shopping done was hard enough without him throwing a fit in the middle of the store.

  When his shoulders relaxed and he wrapped his fingers around one side of the cart, I sent up a silent prayer of thanks.

  “Alright, how about we get a pizza for dinner tonight?” I asked as we moved toward the frozen foods aisle. “I’ll let you pick whichever one you want.”

  That seemed to brighten Noah’s mood and I breathed a little easier. Truth be told, the pizza suggestion was as much of a treat for me as it was for my son.

  I still had a ton of paperwork to do, and being able to pop something into the oven instead of preparing a home-cooked meal would take some weight off my shoulders.

  If only his mother was here to help…

  But Natalie had made her choice, so I stopped that line of thinking in its tracks. I had enough going on without adding bitter thoughts about my ex to the mix.

  I knew that worrying about Noah not having a mother in his life was pointless right then, so I turned to my mental checklist of what still needed to be done to finish my latest project out by the mall on time.

  When it came to being in charge, I was a one-man show, both at home and at work, which meant I constantly had to-do lists on my mind.

  It was exhausting, but I was grateful to have my own construction business, thanks to my father passing it on to me when he retired to Florida with my mother years ago.

  There were times when I wanted to feel bad for myself about my single father struggles, but I knew I was much better off than other men who were trying to do the same thing with minimum wage jobs.

  Thanks to the success of my business, I had an almost embarrassing amount of money in the bank, and I didn’t have to worry about making ends meet.

  Which is a definite blessing, I thought as Noah and I made our way to the case of frozen pizzas, and I watched him peer intently at the choices.

  He could be such a serious little boy sometimes, and I worried that he had too much on his mind for a kid his age. Maybe I should get him enrolled in a sport or some other fun activity after school, so he could spend more time just being a six-year-old.

  Then I saw Noah stick his tongue out at a pizza with pineapple on it and laughed. He was a good kid and I loved him with all of my heart. It hadn’t been easy for either of us after his mother took off three years ago for parts unknown, but I was determined to make it work.

  Just as I was about to remind Noah that we were on a tight schedule and he needed to hurry things along, I heard a commotion from the other end of the aisle and looked up to see a cascade of boxes come flowing out of one of the freezer cases.

  I watched as a young woman with dark hair and eye-popping curves bent down to clean up the mess. My heart started thudding in my chest at the sight of her, and I wanted nothing more than to rush over and help her.

  It was hard to tear my gaze away, but I didn’t want her to catch me staring and practically drooling, so I moved my focus back to Noah. “You all set there, buddy? We still have more shopping to do.”

  He grabbed a pepperoni pizza from the freezer and handed it to me. I nodded and put into the cart, and we moved on to the next aisle, but I took a second to check on the curvy brunette before we turned the corner.

  She’d managed to get all of the boxes back into place and was moving in the opposite direction, which gave me the chance to enjoy watching her walk away.

  In a perfect world, I wouldn’t have to settle for sneaky glances …

  Yet another pointless line of thinking, which I squashed just as firmly as I had the one about Natalie. I hadn’t been what anyone could consider successful with women. And as a single father over thirty, I had enough on my plate without adding in dating.

  I turned my mind back to the task at hand, and Noah and I made the rounds, picking up ingredients for quick but nutritious meals for the rest of the week.

  I kept my eye out for another glimpse of the clumsy but cute young woman—she’d been a bright spot I couldn’t ignore, no matter my best intentions.

  But I didn’t see her again, and before much longer, I found myself in the checkout line, supervising Noah as he placed our groceries on the moving belt that still fascinated him so much. He’d loved mechanical things since he was a toddler, and I couldn’t help but smile at his wide-eyed wonder.

  “Good job, my man,” I said after we had our purchases packed away in the back of our SUV. “How about we head home and stuff our faces with that pizza you picked out? Then you can watch a movie while I get some work done.”

  “Any movie that I want?” Noah asked with a glint in his eyes. “Even a PG-13 one?”

  “Maybe a PG-13 one, if you run it by me first. Now, get in and buckle up.”

  Noah gave a whoop of joy and scrambled into the backseat. I moved around behind the 4Runner and headed for the cart corral.

  I should have been watching where I was going, but my head was down and my mind was on getting Noah settled in for the evening.

  I smacked into something, and when I looked up to assess the damage, I saw a beautiful but sad pair of bright green eyes staring back at me.

  I’d run right into another shopping cart being p
ushed by the curvy cutie from the frozen foods aisle…

  Chapter Three

  Jenna

  “Oh my God, I’m so sorry!” I exclaimed. “I should have been watching where I was going…”

  The jolt of the impact had sent shockwaves up my arms, but it was the deep blue eyes I found myself looking into that made my heart race with surprise.

  They were perfectly set in the most handsome face I’d ever seen, and I found that I couldn’t stop staring at the sexy man who’d just bumped into my cart with his.

  “No, no,” he rumbled. “It was totally my fault. I should be apologizing to you. Are you alright?”

  He towered over me and his well-muscled arms bulged out of the sleeves of his t-shirt. I knew I should be afraid of this deep-voiced mountain of a man, but there was kindness in his eyes as he looked me up and down with concern.

  “I’m fine,” I said. “Yes, I’m just fine…”

  Much to my embarrassment, I suddenly burst into laughter, which was quickly followed by tears. I don’t know what caused either, if I was being honest with myself.

  It could be the fact a stranger was more interested in my well-being than the boyfriend I’d left just days before. Or maybe I was simply dumbfounded by the possibility of a man actually apologizing to me for once in my life.

  I might not have known what to do about my abrupt rainstorm of emotion, but the kindly stranger standing in front of me didn’t hesitate. He shoved his shopping cart into the corral and quickly moved to my side.

  I found myself both involuntarily flinching away from him and longing for him to wrap me up in his arms in the same confusing instant.

  “Everything's okay,” he murmured gently. “Just breathe in on the count of four and out on the count of four.”