That One Summer: A Collection of Steamy Contemporary Romance

Prologue

“So, the bet is,” Kateglanced over her cards at Jesse and raised a brow, “if you win, you get to pick the couple and if I win, I get to pick the couple?” Married for only a couple of years, Kate and Jesse had watched their friends flounder in the vast dating pool scene, never quite finding the right person for them.

“Correct, but you’re not winning this hand. I already have two people picked out for the date and where we’ll send them.” Jesse gave her a cocky grin, slouching back in his seat. His thumb rubbed the edge of his cards, tempting her to take his bait.

“Oh, and how do you know I won’t win, or I don’t have a couple picked out as well?” she bluffed. In her hand sat a pair of twos. Her idea of at least making it a three of a kind fell by the wayside when she threw down three and picked up the same mess she’d been dealt.

Lucky her.

“You have a tell, my love. You tuck the corner of your lip between your teeth, and your shoulders fall just slightly when you get a hand you don’t like.” With his cards in one hand, Jesse palmed his bottle of beer with the other and took a sip. “It’s okay though. You never know, I might be thinking of the same people you are.”

Yeah right.

He’d thought of his jock friends before he even considered Violet, and Kate honestly couldn’t blame him. The girl had been super quiet and extremely shy for as long as Kate had known her. She wasn’t someone Jesse would typically call a friend. Where he was boisterous, Kate and her friends had been more reserved and subdued. Which, if she wanted to get technical about it, their entire relationship, it was his wildly outgoing persona that drew her to him. “Well, I guess we’ll have to see about that, won’t we?”

“We will,” he grinned. “I’m ready to call, my lovely bride. What do you have?”

“Wait, shouldn’t we talk about where we’re going to send them first?” She stalled. “We need to make sure wherever they go, both will have fun.”

Jesse grumbled and blew out a breath. “Okay, where do you want to send them?”

“Miami.”

“Miami? Why there?” She’d gotten his attention, giving her a moment’s reprieve from a more than likely losing the hand.

Kate shrugged. “It seems like the best place to send them. Los Angeles is predictable. So are Vegas and Manhattan. Why not send them someplace with a little excitement but also the sand and the surf, especially if we do this during the summer? Miami’s a place where they could go wild and not even think twice about it.” As the owners of a Fortune 500 company, Kate and Jesse had more money than they knew what to do with, and if their funds went to help two of their friends get to know one another and fall in love, so be it.

“Miami it is, then. Now, show me what you have, kitten.” Jesse leaned forward, waiting for Kate to lay down her cards.

“Fine,” she huffed. Her card fanned out on the dark green felt of the poker table, exposing the pair of twos she’d been coveting as something more. “A pair of deuces.”

Jesse laughed. “I knew you were bluffing.” Laying out his cards as well, he grinned. “Full house. I win.”

Well, there were the two I needed, and the jack I also needed as well. Damn. “Okay, fine, Mister Poker Player. Who is your choice for this date to Miami?”

“I was thinking Roman and Violet.”

Kate choked. “He’ll eat her up and spit her out. No way. No. Pick another pair, Jesse. Please.” Roman hadn’t been known for his tact or for his compassion. The man had “badass”, and “player” written all over him. He would sooner screw Violet’s brains out than spend time with her to get to know her. Them together would be worse than a train wreck she couldn’t look away from. In the end, her friend would be left broken.

Kate had no doubt about it.

“Roman isn’t as bad as you think he is.” Kate cocked her brow. “He’s really not. You only see pieces of him. Not the complete picture. He’s got feelings. I swear it.”

“Yeah, all his feelings exist in his dick, apparently. I’ve heard the stories about him Jesse. The guy will hurt her. She’s too sensitive for him. Too... Mousey.”

“All the more reason to put them together, kitten. Think about it.” Jesse shifted in his chair and took her hands in his. “When he sees her, he’ll know she’s not his type, sure. He can’t leave, though. We’ll make not being able to walk away a stipulation of the date. Once he gets to know her, he’ll be intrigued, anyway. Tell me it won’t be explosive between them. You know it will be. He’ll grow from this and so will Violet. You know I’m right.”

“But we’re looking at our pairings to start relationships. Do you honestly believe Roman and Violet can have more than a weekend hookup? What about his friends? His co-workers? Those skanky ass women who hang all over him while he works. I don’t think Violet has the strongest constitution for shit like that.” Just the thought of her friend having to see her man wrapped in the arms of some hussy made Kate’s stomach knot.

“Do you honestly think so little of Roman? Or Violet, for that matter?” Disbelief laced his words.

“No, I like him, but I know his end game. I don’t want Violet hurt.”

“I promise you; Violet won’t get hurt. He’ll be good to her. If you haven’t seen him stare at her, I have. He’s got it bad. Trust me.” He grinned. “I bet if we throw them together, those little groupies of Roman’s will go away, and he’ll make sure she’s never exposed to that shit.”

Kate pouted, sticking out her bottom lip as she contemplated what her husband had said. “Okay, fine. You won the hand. But if he hurts her...”

“I know, I know. You’ll have my nuts lobbed from my body and placed in a glass jar to sit on the shelf with your past lovers who also tried to humiliate one of your friends,” he said, holding up his hands while trying not to smile.

“Exactly,” she laughed. “Now, take me to bed. I have something I need to show you.” Standing up, she held out her hand to him. “And I have a feeling you’re going to like it.”