Beautiful Mistakes
A Contemporary Romance Box Set
Victoria Snow
Copyright © 2019 by Victoria Snow
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Contents
Married by Mistake
Description
1. Amber
2. Mickey
3. Amber
4. Amber
5. Mickey
6. Amber
7. Mickey
8. Amber
9. Mickey
10. Mickey
11. Amber
12. Amber
13. Mickey
14. Amber
15. Amber
16. Amber
17. Mickey
18. Amber
19. Amber
20. Mickey
Epilogue
Baby by Mistake
Description
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
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Epilogue
Pregnant by Mistake
Description
Prologue
1. Six Weeks Earlier
2. Blake
3. Bella
4. Blake
5. Bella
6. Blake
7. Bella
8. Blake
9. Bella
10. Blake
11. Bella
12. Blake
13. Bella
14. Blake
15. Bella
16. Blake
17. Bella
18. Blake
19. Bella
20. Blake
Epilogue: One Year Later
Daddy by Mistake
Description
1. Jillian
2. Jack
3. Jillian
4. Jack
5. Jillian
6. Jack
7. Jillian
8. Jack
9. Jillian
10. Jack
11. Jillian
Best Friend’s Daddy (Excerpt)
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Also by Victoria Snow
Married by Mistake
Description
Mistake number one: Getting drunk in Vegas.
Mistake number two: Waking up on HIS bed with a HUGE rock on my finger (and our clothes missing).
Mistake number three: He turns out to be your best friend’s brother!
Nooo….get it together girl. You did not do this.
You did not just get married to your best friend’s brother.
Okay cool down babes…mistakes happen but everything can be fixed, right?
This marriage needs to be annulled.
Wait…why does the pregnancy test show those lines?
Another mistake probably?
Oops…Did I just get pregnant with his baby?
1
Amber
I took one last glance at my phone before the ceremony really kicked into gear. I wasn’t one of those tools who constantly leaned into photographer’s shots or tried to act like I was some sort of camera aficionado, so my phone could happily be tucked into my purse. I hadn’t even been intending on taking it out at all, but my old alarm had been buzzing insistently to take my birth control.
Which, obviously, I didn’t need anymore because I was both painfully single and scheduled to get an implant in a couple of weeks. I was looking forward to not having to live and die by my alarm, but after taking a pill at the same time every day for four years, it felt strange to delete the stupid notification, so I hadn’t done that yet.
Wait, what kind of person mused about their birth control when they were at a friend’s wedding? Only a real weirdo or someone who was real desperate, and I was neither, so I quickly returned my attention to the actual ceremony.
Just in time too, because the doors to the back of the large, beautiful conservatory opened and a little flower girl stepped in.
She was almost too cute, all blond curls and chocolate eyes. She had the chubby, chubby cheeks of a little cherub and was haphazardly throwing multicolored rose petals this way and that. Of course, I cooed and aww’ed with everyone else until she reached the end where I recognized Annika’s sister crouching with open arms.
Beth and I weren’t anything like enemies, but we’d never gotten along either. Only two years older than Annika -who I had been best friends with since the fifth grade- I got the feeling that she had always considered me as the loud-mouthed companion to her little sis.
Maybe that was why I wasn’t in the wedding party like my ultimate best friend, Michelle was. Well… no, I knew that wasn’t true. Between the bridal shower, the bachelorette party, the fittings, and everything else, I just hadn’t had the time to commit. It was hard, running my own company, and if I wasn’t on the ball then I was getting run over by it.
Yeah, it sucked sometimes being a woman who ran a stunt performer company with only one other partner, but in a lot of ways it was what I had always dreamed of.
Ever since I was little, I had been a mix of everything. I was rough and tumble and into sports, but I also loved heels and make up and dressing to the nines. When I got older, I got into martial arts, but also was in drama club. I loved being feminine, but I also absolutely loved kicking ass. So, considering my job often got me gigs that satisfied all of my multifaceted sides, I couldn’t ask for anything better.
…except, you know, better insurance and steadier workflow and more work/life separation, but there was a thing such as being too greedy.
The music changed and reminded me to focus on the scene at hand. The beautiful scene at hand. One of my good friends was getting married and I was going to sit there and pay attention. I hadn’t taken a whole two days off work and I wasn’t going to spend them thinking about work.
I couldn’t remember the last time I had taken a vacation that wasn’t prompted by an injury, and normally it grated against my nerves. But now I found myself excited and enjoying all the lavish ceremony all around me.
Mickey went down the aisle first as one of the groomsmen. He really had filled out his lanky frame since we had been kids. In fact, he was quite the muscleman now. I was faintly aware that he had a very successful career as an MMA fighter, but I had been so wrapped up in my own company that I hadn’t managed to catch all the details of it.
But maybe that was because I still partially saw him as the tall and lanky ten-month-older brother of my best friend, Michelle.
While Annika’s older sister had never really liked me, Mickey was the exact opposite. It wa
s clear from very early on that he had been enamored with me, which was pretty weird considering how churlish and moon-faced I had been around my middle school and high school era. He had trailed after us like a lost puppy dog and while I never took offense, I wasn’t really interested.
And not because there was anything wrong with him, just mostly because boys were stupid, and I was busy. Also, I’d been quite the chubby high schooler and of course I had a whole lot of internalized self-hatred from that.
Thankfully I was mostly over that.
Mostly.
It was hard, being a fit stunt woman who was still chunky. Despite all I worked out, and fought, and ran, my body still held onto a layer of fat over everything. When I had first really gotten into martial arts, I’d been so confused. But then my sensei told me that not all strong bodies looked the same and as long as I did my best to be healthy, that I was exactly where I needed to be.
It was too bad the industry’s opinion was that anyone over a size four was obese. It made getting a job hard sometimes, but with the increase in plus size actresses, I was getting to spend more time on camera instead of the behind the scenes trainer or choreographer.
I shook my head. Wasn’t I supposed to not be thinking about business? I was doing a terrible job. Looking back to the wedding party, I saw Mickey had taken his place in the lineup and Michelle was coming up the aisle with the best man.
Wow. She looked so beautiful.
While I was muscled and what people called ‘thick’, she was tall, graceful and willowy. We were on opposite ends of the spectrum in every way, and it was like we’d been brought together to balance each other out. Although we weren’t nearly as close as we had been when we were kids -you know, being an adult and all that- we still loved each other very much and I could always trust her to be honest with me.
She caught my gaze and gave me a little wink. I returned it and we shared a smile before the music started and the bride came in.
Naturally I was up on my feet, my hands going to my heart. Annika looked so beautiful.
Annika had always been a relatively pretty woman, but there was something otherworldly to her as she walked down the aisle. Her hair was done up, her dress hugged her body just right while still being elegant, and I swore that she was literally glowing as she looked at her husband standing there at the end of her little stroll.
Wow.
It would be nice to have someone who made me smile like that. Or at least I liked to think it would. But I’d never met a man who ever sparked that kind of sheer joy across her face and I wondered if maybe I just wasn’t wired that way.
Either way, it wasn’t like my own work wasn’t fulfilling, and I refused to darken Annika’s wedding with jealousy, so I just let my happiness for her pour outwards. She’d always been a nice and funny girl. I was glad that she had found some happiness.
The ceremony was beautiful, of course, with fitting songs and hand-written vows. I allowed myself to take all of it in. After all, one never knew when there might be a mid-wedding fight my stunt studio would be hired to do the blocking for. I watched as some people dabbed at their eyes, moved by the couple’s love, and I watched as others subtly checked their phones, clearly waiting for the reception so they could stuff their faces with no doubt expensive food.
It was all beautiful and lovely but by the end of it, I found all my good feelings starting to wane. Yes, I was still happy for Annika and… what was his name? Trevor? Tom? Travis?
…Maybe this was why I wasn’t asked to be in the bridal shower.
I chuckled to myself before clearing my throat. Right, this was supposed to be a romantic moment. The wedding was ramping up towards its big crescendo which meant the waterworks were really going to kick into gear on some people.
The music swelled, the preacher’s tone grew grander, and then the happy couple were locking lips together. But as they kissed, I couldn’t help but think that Annika and what’s his name had just paid a whole lot of money to make their lives so much more complicated.
But still, I hoped that it was worth it.
2
Mickey
I adjusted my bowtie for what was probably the sixth time since the toasts had finished, but what could I say, I was nervous, and it felt like the damn thing was choking me. One would think that after two years of fighting professionally and making a name for myself taking down brawlers and beasts alike that nothing would get my goat, but goodness, there was nothing that could intimidate me and make me sweat like seeing Amber in the getup she had chosen to wear to the wedding.
Dear Lord, it should have been a crime for her to look so good, and yet there she was, sitting at a table and nursing some bubbly while she eyed the food like a shark. I’d seen the girl go to town many times on a spread and I didn’t know how it was possible for that to be so attractive, but it was.
I’d heard the saying that absence made the heart grow fonder, so I was pretty sure that was the only explanation for why my heart was thundering in my chest like a locomotive. Sure, I’d had a crush on the girl since I started noticing girls, but I’d never been so stricken, and tongue tied by her mere presence.
I tensed my legs, as if I was going to go over and talk to her, but then a lone auburn curl fell from the updo she was wearing, bouncing right below that almost heart-shaped birthmark on her cheek and I melted right back into my seat.
God, she was gorgeous. She had curves for days, flared hips and soft skin, but at the same time, there was a sturdy musculature under all of it. She reminded me of old school depictions of amazons and warrior women. Females who were allowed to be feminine and strong and beautiful without being tiny little waifs running around. Not that there was anything wrong with slender women, my own sister was as willowy as they came, I just got sick of media and society trying to shove them down my throat like it was unnatural that I wanted a bigger woman. I was attracted to what I was attracted to and that was that.
And I was definitely attracted to Amber.
She was sitting there in a little burgundy number, clinging to her in all the right places while still being wedding appropriate. There was just enough cleavage to let my mind wander where it probably shouldn’t, and while she was currently covered by the table, I knew her thighs looked killer in it.
Her eyeshadow emphasized her heady, hazel eyes and her thick lashes made her look like some sort of mysterious assassin. And given that she was a professional stunt woman, I was sure that she could be. And her lips… her lips were just-
That was it. I was going to stand up and go talk to her! I was a grown man and MMA fighter; I wasn’t going to let just talking to a beautiful woman intimidate me! And it wasn’t even like she was a stranger. We had been friends since my sister had brought her over for their first sleep over and we’d talked plenty of times.
So, what if the last time had been about two years ago?
I let out a breath and forced myself to my feet. The bridesmaid beside me gave me a curious look and I gave her my best, charming smile that I could muster. “I’ll be back in a minute. I see an old, family friend.”
“Oh, that’s lovely. And it’s fine. I’m not your date, you know, so you don’t have to check in.”
I grinned sheepishly. Karen was a sweet girl and I was glad I was paired with her instead of some of the less pleasant girls of the wedding party. “Appreciated. But I’ll be back in a bit.”
“I won’t complain about the company but take your time.”
I gave her a bit of a nod then made a beeline for Amber, who was still nursing her drink and had just pulled her phone out. My mind screamed at me to turn around, that I would just be a bother to her, but I clamped down on that and then suddenly, I was right in front of her.
“Hey, Amber,” I said, trying to be cool and confident like my normal fighter persona. And that was the thing, normally I was plenty confident around women. And men. And people in general. But there was something about being face to face with my childhood crush that could
shake even the most stalwart of folks. I’d rather face down another champion bantamweight than make myself a fool in front of her.
“Mickey!” she said cheerily, standing up and throwing her arms around me in a hug. For a moment my senses were filled with her, from the soft and heated press of her body, to the gentle scent of her body spray, to the silky, stretchy sort of texture of her dress. “It’s been forever! How are you! Geeze, your sister wasn’t kidding about you having beefed up, was she?”
“Uh, yeah. I kinda took to fighting in college.”
“I heard. I guess I just didn’t get how much. Is it vain of me to like to think that I inspired you a bit?”
Beautiful Mistakes: Contemporary Romance Boxset Books 1-4 Page 1