One
Kiss by Lisa Fox
Sometimes one kiss can change everything.
New Year's Eve is supposed to be a night for
celebration and new beginnings. For best friends Kat and Dean, it is a
nightmare filled with disastrous dates and enraged ex-girlfriends!
Lucky for them, they've got each other to help laugh
off the embarrassing, and downright inappropriate, moments. But then midnight
rolls around and neither of them have anyone to kiss…
There's no doubt this is a night they will always
remember.
The real question is whether it will be a night they
want to forget…
An Excerpt
From: ONE KISS
Copyright ©
LISA FOX, 2014
All Rights
Reserved, Harper Impulse, a Division of HarperCollins Publishers
CHAPTER ONE
Kat spun around when her cell
phone rang, and the stiletto heel on her brand new shoes snapped, knocking her
off-balance. She crashed down on the living room carpet with a loud thump,
grunting out a string of vile curses. Her short, sparkly dress twisted around
her hips as she scrambled to get up, and a few sequins fell off when she
collided with the coffee table. The phone slid off the glass top, bounced
twice, and hit the floor. She snatched it off the ground as the last bars of
“Tank!” played, brought it to her ear, and winced as the missed call beep
blasted her eardrum.
“Son of a bitch,” she muttered,
and checked the caller ID to see who had caused her all this grief. Dean. It
figured. Her eyebrows furrowed. She hadn’t expected to hear from him for
another few days. He was supposed to be out somewhere swank tonight, spending a
very expensive, very exclusive New Year’s Eve with his girlfriend, Marine. The
more expensive, the better. Marine wouldn’t settle for anything less. And she
would not be happy if she knew he was calling Kat in the middle of their date.
There had to be something wrong.
She slipped off her broken shoes
as she called him back, grimacing when she tossed them into the trash can. It
was a damn tragedy to have to throw out a cute pair of shoes. This was not a
positive omen for the evening.
“Hey, Kat,” he answered on the
second ring, and the familiar sound of his deep voice made her smile. Dean had
a way of always making her smile. He also had a way of getting under her skin
and driving her crazy too, but right now it was good to hear his voice. She’d
missed him a lot during the Christmas break.
“Hey, yourself.” She switched the
phone to her other ear and pushed open her bedroom door. Going out tonight was
probably a bad idea. She was beginning to regret letting Ron talk her into this
ridiculous blind date. If there was any time left to back out, she would have.
Well, maybe that wasn’t entirely true. She was kind of excited. Curious anyway.
She’d been so stagnate lately. It was time to shake things up. “What’s going
on?”
“Nothing. I just got back and I
wanted to say hi.”
“Huh-huh,” she said, allowing him
to hear the skepticism in her voice. This was not a “just say hi” call.
Something was up. She could feel it. “I thought you’d be out with Marine by
now.” She knelt down in front of her closet and pushed her half-unpacked
suitcases aside. Her shoulders sagged as she peered into the dark, chaotic
recesses. She was never going to find anything in there. Why had she never
organized? Maybe that ought to be her New Year’s resolution. She dug around and
pulled out a pair of red, patent leather Mary Jane’s, which she examined and
promptly tossed aside. Definitely not right. “What are you guys doing tonight?”
He took a deep breath and
exhaled. “Mari and I broke up.”
Kat sat back on her heels. That
was news—and not the bad kind. The last time she’d seen them together, Marine
had been clinging to Dean’s arm as hard as usual. Found someone with a bigger
wallet, did she? formed on her lips, but she bit the words back. He knew
exactly how she felt about Marine. He didn’t need to hear it right now. “What
happened?”
She heard the phone shift and
knew that he was raking his fingers through his thick, curly hair. It was what
he did whenever he was upset. “It started out like it always does, you know?
She bitched about my job, cried over all the money I was ‘losing’ by not going
somewhere else, and then she got all twisted, went on this rampage about how we
can’t get married if—”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” She shook her
head so violently, her hair got caught on a button of the only business suit
she owned. She winced as she pulled herself free, ripping out a fair amount of
hair in the process. “Please don’t tell me you proposed to her?”
“What? No. But it’s what she
wants.”
I’ll bet. Marine was no fool. She
was entering her late twenties and while she was a working model, she wasn’t
one of the elite. One day very soon she was going to be nothing more than an
old face in a sea of younger, fresher faces. For women like Marine, marrying
well became the next logical step. Dean was an excellent candidate. He was
young, ambitious, an award-winning designer on the ground floor of a successful
boutique web design and marketing firm. He’d already been headhunted a number
of times by the corporate giants. If he ever decided to make a move, he’d be
able to name his price. And, as an added bonus, he looked great in a suit. “I
don’t understand. You broke up over that? You guys have had that fight a
million times before.”
“Well, this time when she left, I
didn’t stop her.” He paused. “I haven’t heard from her since.”
Good riddance, she almost said
aloud. He deserved so much better. “When was this?”
“Tuesday.” She heard him sit down
on his couch, the familiar creak of the springs in the background. “Right after
the holiday dinner.”
Kat’s mouth dropped open. “Before
Christmas? Dean, that was over a week ago! You’re just telling me now?”
She could feel him shrug, see his
sheepish grin. “You were in California, and I only got back from Colorado last
night. There was nothing you could do.”
She huffed in reply and dove back
into the closet. There was probably something she should be saying, some
comfort she should be offering, but he didn’t really sound all that upset, and
a deep, mean, little part of her was glad Marine was gone. A deep, selfish
little part of her actually rejoiced. “So, what happens now?”
He didn’t get a chance to answer
because Kat yelped as a pile of boxes fell down around her head.
“Kat,” he called, his voice sharp
with alarm. “Are you all right?”
She couldn’t help but smile. She
knew without any doubt that he was on his feet, that he’d leapt up the moment
she screamed, and was ready to jet over to her place to save her immediately.
Sir Galahad had nothing on Dean. Sickening as it was, it never failed to strum
a cord way back in the depths of her black, little heart. She wasn’t used to
people wanting to care for her and every time he did, it left her feeling a bit
unbalanced, yet oddly touched. But, no matter how sweet, it was the reason
behind most of his problems. He was a sucker for a female in distress—or at
least the ones who were convincingly in distress.
“I’m fine,” she said, pressing
her palm against the side of her head where the corner of a box had struck. She
supposed she should have been grateful there was no blood. A great, big river
of blood gushing out of her head would only have made the night that much more
awesome. “I’m trying to get ready for Ron and Alan’s party.”
“I didn’t think you were going.”
“I wasn’t.” She had intended to
stay home and work, maybe have a glass of champagne alone at midnight, but then
Ron approached her the day after the holiday dinner with his idea, and she had
randomly said yes, surprising both him and herself. A sigh escaped her lips as
her gaze touched the disarray spanning out into the center of her bedroom. She
should have stuck with her original plan.
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About
Lisa:
World-renowned
neurosurgeon, jet fighter pilot, secret member of American royalty, seducer of
legions of beautiful, outrageously sexy angels and demons and vampires and
werewolves and the occasional pirate, Lisa Fox has done it all…in her own mind.
In reality, she can generally be found at her desk with a cup of coffee close
at hand. Or maybe a martini. It really depends on the day.
Feedback, comments, opinions, words of wisdom,
chocolate cake and the addresses of super hot men are always appreciated and
encouraged. Please feel free to contact Lisa any time.
Email:
lisa@lisafoxromance.com
Website:
www.lisafoxromance.com
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/LisaFoxRomance
Twitter:
@LisaFoxRomance
Thanks so much for having me over!
ReplyDeleteHi Lisa,
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure :-)