It really sucks to be in love with someone
who sees you as nothing more than a friend.
who sees you as nothing more than a friend.
NOT IN MY WILDEST DREAMS
McKenna Series #2
Jamie Hollins
Releasing Feb 7th, 2017
It really sucks to be in love with someone who sees you as nothing more than a friend. Darcy Owens knows this from personal experience. From the moment she met Sean McKenna as a wary ten-year-old, he’s owned her heart. So when he asks for her help with an important construction project, she can’t say no.
Building a boutique hotel on Boston’s waterfront is a career-making opportunity, and Sean needs Darcy’s interior design expertise. She’s incredibly talented, and there is no one he trusts more. He knows he can always count on his childhood friend, but doesn’t know why he’s thinking about her tight skirts and blue eyes instead of tight deadlines and blueprints.
When Sean and Darcy’s excitement about their work turns into an entirely different kind of excitement, it’s a sexy surprise. But they soon realize that building a new relationship is more challenging than building a new hotel, especially when life-long habits and old insecurities create cracks in the foundation.
EXCERPT
She
felt the wheels of their plane lift off the ground and watched out the window
as the ground got farther and farther away.
“Nervous
flyer?”
Her
head jerked over and she found Sean watching her with amusement. She ignored
him and looked down at her magazine.
“What
are you reading?”
He
was just like a gnat that wouldn’t leave her alone!
She
wasn’t planning on answering him but felt him lean toward her over the armrest
to look at the page. When she read the title of the article, she nearly gasped.
Of all the articles to be reading next to Sean, she had to open her magazine to
this particular one.
“Picking the Right Lingerie for Your Body
Type,” Sean read aloud.
Before
she could respond, he flipped the page. Both sides of the magazine had four
different pictures of women in lingerie. Some were modest and some could be
classified as nonexistent. Darcy’s eyes scanned the page, taking in the various
and rainbow selection of lacy, satiny outfits.
An
incredibly thin woman wore a red bustier and garter set. A pale blonde posed
with thin straps of sheer neutral fabric covering her tiny breasts and the
triangle between her legs. A buxom brunette lounged in bed in a silky camisole
and nearly painted-on boy shorts. It was a smorgasbord of scantily clad woman,
and she couldn’t help but cringe.
“Hmmmm,”
he said, scanning the two pages. “I’d pick that one.”
He
pointed to a dark-haired woman wearing a black lacy bra-and-panty set. She
stood with one knee kneeling against a chair, a satin black robe draping off
her shoulders. The top consisted of a lacy demi-bra, which hoisted the model’s
cleavage up into plump mounds below her collarbone. The bikini bottoms were the
same lacy material as the bra and sat well below her smooth, toned stomach.
The
ensemble’s simple color and lines made it sexy, but the flowing satiny fabric
of the robe made it romantic. There were other lingerie sets that were much
more vixen than this one, and she was surprised at Sean’s choice.
“You’d
pick that one if you were a woman, huh?”
“No, I’d pick
that one if I were you.”
Jerking
her gaze away from the magazine, she stared at him with wide eyes. She couldn’t believe
he’d gone there. It was bad enough she had to sit next to him, the source of
her torment and embarrassment. But he crossed into territory that she wasn’t
ready to talk about. Wouldn’t be ready to talk about for at least another year.
Maybe more.
He
looked up, must have seen her bewildered expression, and grinned.
“What? It’s
true. You have these perfect—” he started, cupping his hands in front of his
chest.
“Stop!” That
single word left her breathless as she stared at him.
He
smiled. “It’s
nothing to be embarrassed about. I was just about to say that—”
Darcy
squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head quickly, trying hard to ignore the
warm contentment that settled in her chest over hearing Sean call her breasts
perfect. “No!
Just stop. We are not having this conversation.”
After
a moment, he sighed loudly. “All right. I’m just gonna say this
because it needs to be said. We had sex. Big deal.”
Darcy
snapped her eyes open in time to see the man sitting in front of them turn his
head to where his ear was in the middle of the two seats.
“Jesus
Christ. Shut up.”
“We’re two
consenting adults, and we had sex,” he said, ignoring her. “It changes
nothing.”
“It changes
everything,” she hissed. “And if you don’t shut your fucking mouth, I’m going
to shut it for you.”
“We’ve been
friends forever. I’m not going to let what happened between us change that.
That’s why I’m here. I gave you the time you wanted to think through this, but
I’m impatient, and I decided it was in our friendship’s best interest to force
you to spend time with me. The more time we spend together doing normal things,
the easier it’ll get. It’s time we got back to being Darcy and Sean again.”
It
was a valiant speech full of sincerity and feelings. For just a second, she forgot
about being uncomfortable and just floated in the wonderful sensation of being
wanted. And by Sean, nonetheless. But she wasn’t going to
be able to flip a switch and go back to the way things used to be before they’d
slept together.
Yeah,
she could probably get over the embarrassment. Eventually, she could smile at
him again and laugh at his jokes. But there would always be that part of her
that loved him and wanted more. She wanted his love, to share his dreams, to
feel his passion. They’d already given the passion part a
try, and although it’d started out promising, the ending had ripped out her
heart and torn it into tiny pieces.
And
it still lay broken.
Sean’s
blue eyes studied her as she thought through the emotional roller coaster she
was still riding. He leaned toward her, his shoulder resting against hers.
“Please,
Darce. Can’t we just try? I miss you.”
She
closed her eyes as his soft, deep plea swam around in her ears. She tried not
to think about how good it made her feel. She tried not to notice he wore her
favorite cologne and that his shoulder was burning through her cotton shirt.
She tried not to think about how much she missed him too.
Damn
Sean McKenna, his honeyed tongue, and his goddamn manly cologne.
DON'T MISS ANY OF THE
MCKENNA SERIES
CAT'S REVIEW
"Not In My Wildest Dreams" by Jamie Hollins. What a fun story that made me smile and chuckle and cheer for our delightful couple. Sean and Darcy have been friends forever and, unbeknownst to him, she has been in love with him that long. Sean is a playboy of sorts, rightly so. He's a sexy, hardworking independent man that pretty much has it all, well, except his soul mate (although he doesn't realize that yet). Darcy is quick witted and that friend that is always fun to hang with. Inside though, she is a bit insecure and vulnerable and longs for her best friend, Sean, to see her as a desirable woman. It was so enjoyable to watch Sean's eyes open up to what has been in front of him all along. Their journey is not always an easy one and Ms. Hollins certainly takes the reader through their ups and downs. This is a light and easy read that is uplifting and simply, a real feel good tale. (received copy from NetGalley for honest review)
★★★★
Jamie
Hollins was
born and raised in rural Northeast Ohio.
After graduate school, she embarked on a perilous career in Human
Resources where she met plenty of real life characters. When she’s not writing or chasing after her
toddler, she enjoys reading and golfing.
Jamie lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, son, and their dog,
Winston.
Thank you for reviewing Not In My Wildest Dreams today! Brandy, Tasty Book Tours
ReplyDeleteThanks, Cat, for the review and for featuring Not In My Wildest Dreams on your blog today!
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