Just Want Somebody to Love. Keri Ford
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Cover Copy
Swept off her feet by a charming restaurateur, Whitney Chester envisions a delicious happily ever after—until her prince turns into a total toad. There’s no way she’ll agree to another date with Justin Rawlings, despite their unforgettable night together. But when Justin insists on helping out on her family-run farm in exchange for another chance, it’s an offer Whitney can’t refuse…if only to get revenge on her sweet-talking suitor.
Justin needs a girlfriend to prove to his business partner that he isn’t all work and no play. Romancing Whitney should have been pure pleasure, if a work conflict hadn’t caused him to stand her up. Now he’s determined to win her back—and win his partner’s approval of their restaurant expansion. Keeping Whitney by his side until the deal closes should be easy—if he doesn’t do something foolish. Like fall in love with the small town beauty…
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Books by Keri Ford
The Bella Warren Series
Just Want Somebody to Love
Published by Kensington Publishing Corporation
Just Want Somebody to Love
A Bella Warren Novel
Keri Ford
LYRICAL PRESS
Kensington Publishing Corp.
www.kensingtonbooks.com
Copyright
Lyrical Press books are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp. 119 West 40th Street New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2015 by Keri Ford
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First Electronic Edition: October 2015
eISBN-13: 1978-1-61650-750-3
eISBN-10: -61650-750-0
First Print Edition: October 2015
ISBN-13: 978-1-61650-751-0
ISBN-10: 1-61650-751-9
Printed in the United States of America
Acknowledgements
Sasha Devlin. There are not words to describe how awesome you are. Your glittery self saved this book.
Melissa Spears and December Gephart. Thanks y’all for the quick read and feedback!
Chapter 1
Saturday poker with her friends usually led to a fun night. Instead, Whitney Chester kissed her Peeps goodbye and folded her twos. In candy poker against her two sugar-holic best friends, these marshmallow babies equaled hundred dollar chips. She hadn’t meant to play them at all, let alone on a pair of twos, but, ugh. Cursed daydreaming.
She was ready to go and get out of this house. Time was ticking to grab a little air before she ended up trapped between a dirt row and her computer. “Let’s get out of here.”
Kara glanced from behind her drink. “To where?”
“Don’t know. Don’t care.” Anywhere. Go shopping. Take a walk. Move and dance. Something. Whitney stopped as an idea formed. “I do care. Let’s go to Bartender Brandon’s.”
“Ohh.” Tasha pumped her brows. “Now you’re talking.”
Ha. If Tasha thought Whitney wanted to flirt with the bartender, then that would just get them there faster. “Does that mean you’ll get your shoes on?”
“As soon as I pee.” Tasha was gone from the kitchen faster than any pregnant woman should be able to move.
Kara, her other best friend, didn’t move quite so fast. Instead, she sat back in her seat and looked to be settling in. “You shouldn’t tease her like that.”
“She’ll get over it.” Fair was fair. Tasha wanted to tease her over Brandon. Whitney ought to have the chance to return the favor. Chance taken.
“What’s at the bar you want to see? Because I know it’s not Brandon like Tasha’s thinking.”
“I don’t know. Nothing in particular. I’m just…” She shrugged, empty for words, and flopped her arms on the counter. “I don’t know. I just want to get out of here.”
Planting season at Chester Farms also meant planting season at all their commercial farms. They all came with a steady inflow of paperwork for fuel usage, seeds, irrigation control, and a host of equipment reported broken. Freedom to stay up late watching TV with a bowl of popcorn or going out with her friends was coming to a quick end. “Planting season will be here in a few weeks, and then we’re going to be stuck here. This year it seems worse.”
Kara chuckled. “Has planting changed much from how it used to be?”
“I forgot you moved back home after we planted last year.”
“I arrived just in time for harvest.”
Kara had come home, started her canning business with Chester Farms’ crops, and fell in love with Whitney’s older brother all in the same summer. Which worked out well for Whitney, since she got her best friend back. “Everything’s the same.”
“You don’t sound like it’s the same.” She shook the ice loose in her glass and still made no move to get up from the chair. Argh. Hazards of being best friends since diapers meant Kara knew everything about Whitney, including her being in a funk.
She waved her arms around, trying to put words to the heavy weight on her shoulders. “Winter blues, I guess. Probably I just need mom to get here and put excitement back on the farm.”
Back in the day, she could escape planting season by sneaking off here and there, but now she had her number of rows to plant and the accounting books to maintain. If she skipped off—Lord help her—she wouldn’t get caught up until mid-May, just in time for harvest to kick in.
Not to mention, she was an adult now, not a teenager.
But as Kara pointed out, that’s how it’d been for a long time. The books weren’t anything new, either. Her mom started her on those years ago, and she’d been running them by herself for what seemed like ages.
“That’s it?” Kara tipped her head to the side.
“Maybe so.”
“You could