I never thought that, at 40, this would be my life. Mourning the loss of the man I vowed to love for life was hard enough. Online dating, starting a business, and falling in love was never the plan.
Victoria Bennett has been blessed with a loving husband, a wonderful son and amazing friends. Always the organized planner, Victoria was thrown life's curve ball when she found herself a widow and single mom before 40. After mourning the loss of her husband and rejoining her friends and family in her once simple life, Victoria finds herself venturing into the world of online dating with little success.
After hanging up her keyboard and focusing on new experiences and hobbies, Victoria is as surprised as everyone else when her favorite pastime leads to a new career and passion for life. When a friendship turns to romance, her life is once again thrown for a loop. Like everything new in her life she takes on the relationship with gusto, and a series of mishaps.
Victoria soon learns that sometimes the life you've planned isn't the life you lead. It is still your life, just your life rewritten.
“I’m sorry, what?”
I had to have heard him wrong, right? There is no way this guy is serious. And yet, by the look on his face, I’m pretty sure he is.
This is the worst date ever.
“I said I would love to take you back to your house and pleasure your feet,” he says with more than a hint of disdain.
Well, hell. I had heard him correctly. He said pleasure and feet. Together. On purpose. Oh, I’m going to pleasure my feet all right, by sticking my stiletto up his ass. This guy is nuts if he thinks I’m taking him back to my house so he can get his rocks off by messing with my feet. I get it; I am wearing some pretty hot shoes. I thought they were ridiculous at first, but my sister, Charlotte, insisted they were a must have for my new life. I still don’t know why I need a new life, but I listened, and if I’m completely honest, I love them. Peep-toe, leopard-print, five-inch stilettos that make me feel like I can hold my own in this crazy world. They give me the power I need for moments like this.
“You know, Phillip, I don’t think I’m really there.”
I’m not likely to ever actually be there. Sadly for Phillip, I lack a poker face and imagine my eyes have fluttered a minimum of ten times while I purse my lips and inhale through my nose and out through my mouth.
Looking across the table, I am greeted with a furrowed brow and a look I can’t quite put my finger on, but I know it isn’t welcoming. Shit. I’d hoped to at least leave this date with a friend.
Andrea Johnston spent her childhood with her nose in a book and a pen to paper. An avid people watcher, her mind is full of stories that yearn to be told. A fan of angsty romance with a happy ending, super sexy erotica and a good mystery, Andrea can always be found with her Kindle nearby fully charged.
Andrea lives in Idaho with her family and two dogs. When she isn’t spending time with her partner in crime aka her husband, she can be found binge watching all things Bravo and enjoying a cocktail. Nothing makes her happier than the laughter of her children, a good book, her feet in the water, and cocktail in hand all at the same time.
